Chapter 1: Chapter 1: It was supposed to be a business meeting
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
We open on a Saturday afternoon, it was four pm, which unfortunately meant fifteen year old Marinette Dupain Cheng was late, again. While this is not an uncommon occurrence for the young Parisan, the panic that accompanied being late never subsided. Overcome by the need to rush, to be as close to ontime as possible, Marinette flitted around her room, trying her best to remember everything she’ll need for her meeting with Jagged.
“Sketchbook, check. Tape measure, check. Fabric samples, check. I’m missing something. I’m definitely missing something. Tikki, what am I missing?” As she remembered more of what she needed, more and more things were added to her arms.
“Your new planner Marinette. The one we got you so you could keep better track of your business meetings.” Tikki giggled, flying over to hand the book to Marinette.
“Of course Tikki, what would I do without you?” Tikki zipped into Marinette’s purse as Marinette sprinted down the stairs. She yelled goodbye to her Maman and Papa, and almost ran into the car waiting for her, nearly dropping her armful of supplies. For a moment she paused, confused, wondering why there was a car there.
“There’s my favorite rockin’ niece!” Jagged exclaimed, “We knew you’d be runnin’ a bit behind so we figured we’d just come and get ya!” Marinette smiled, her Uncle Jagged knew her so well and he always put her in the best mood.
“Can’t wait to see what you’ve got for me today. Have you finished the new album cover?”
Penny, Jagged’s soulmate and assistant, held the door open for the two and got in behind them. Marinette showed Jagged the fabric samples she brought on the way to the studio. Smiling all the way, Jagged was one of her favorite people to work with. He was so creative and eccentric that Marinette never ran out of inspiration, and she’d gained enough acclaim as MDC to essentially ensure her place at any fashion university she wanted. Not of course, that it was common knowledge who MDC was. After that terrible and invasive interview, MDC was just a faceless designer, one that didn’t have her room barged into by her uncle and several major news networks.
As they pulled up the studio, Marinette’s phone rang. “Oh, I’m sorry Jagged, would it be okay if I took this?”
“Of course Marinette!”
Marinette answered the phone as she followed Jagged and Penny inside the studio. “Hey Luka, what’s up?”
“Hey Marinette, Adrien’s schedule just cleared up so we’re having a last minute band practice today. We were wondering if you wanted to come hang out and we could maybe discuss your progress on our new masks?” She could hear the enthusiasm in Luka’s voice, it was a shame she’d have to burst his bubble.
“Oh, last minute band practice? I’m sorry Lu-” Marinette was cut off.
“Band practice? Marinette you have to participate! Have everyone come on over here and you guys can practice here when you and I are done!” Marinette could feel the excitement coming off of Jagged in waves.
“Wait what’s going on? Where are you Mari?” Luka seemed confused by Jagged’s voice in the background.
"I’m at Jagged’s studio, we’re in the middle of a meeting. But he just invited the band to practice here so I can hang out when we’re done.”
“Jagged? As in Stone?” Marinette, why are you there.” Oh, right. because Even to Luka, MDC was just a faceless designer. Marinette silently cursed her cautiousness.
“I’ll explain later, have Adrien’s bodyguard bring you all over. You can play in a real studio Luka. You deserve it. Get your gear, get the girls plus Ivan and call Adrien. I’ll tell you all about it when we’re done.” With that, she hung up. She had business to finish and didn’t want to waste more time answering Luka’s questions prematurely.
She turned to Jagged smiling ear to ear. “Jagged this is so kind of you. Thank you for letting Kitty Section use your studio this afternoon.”
“Anything for you Marinette!” Jagged looked so excited, “I can’t believe I didn’t know you were in a band!” Marinette’s heart sunk.
“Oh, no Jagged. I’m sorry for the confusion, I’m not in the band. I’m their creative director, I do their sets, their costumes, I did their album cover too. But not as MDC, just as plain old Marinette.” Marinette smiled a self deprecating smile, “If you don’t want to have them over now, I can call Luka back.” Marinette pulled out her phone. Jagged stopped her.
“That’s okay Marinette! I’ve never been one to rescind an invitation. I was just thrilled at the thought of my favorite rocker being an actual rock star! I’d be happy to host you and your friends though.”
“You’re the best Jagged, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I can’t play any instruments and I can’t read sheet music. I’m certainly not a rock star, but I’ll be glad to support all the real rockers from behind the scene.” Marinette smiled and hugged her honorary uncle. “Now let’s finish our meeting before the band gets here.”
Penny led Jagged and Marinette into a conference room. As she did so, the neckline of her shirt shifted, revealing her soul mark, a purple microphone with a small green alligator paw print near it. While Marinette knew they were soulmates, she’d never seen Penny or Jagged’s soul marks. She couldn’t help but smile at the symbols that represented her chaotic uncle. Pushing the thoughts aside, Marinette began her presentation and progress report, and blew away her favorite musician. With a few notes from Penny, they signed the contracts for this project and she was given the go ahead to begin her work.
“Fantastic as always Marinette. Let me show you something before your friends get here. Penny will wait for them and bring them to meet us.” Jagged was too calm. He’s never calm, he’s an excitement person, an exclamation mark person, practically every sentence that comes out of his mouth requires an exclamation point! Nevertheless, Marinette pushed her thoughts aside and followed her uncle.
He led her through his studio, making idle chit chat along the way. When they finally reached their destination, Marinette was so overwhelmed by the size of the place that she didn’t fully comprehend where he had taken her until she was inside the sound booth.
“Jagged? What are we doing in a sound booth?” Maybe he wanted some help on a new song, it wouldn’t be the first time, though it would be the first time from in a sound booth. Seriously, what was she doing in a sound booth? How many times would she think the words sound booth?
“You said you couldn’t read sheet music and you can’t play any instruments. But anyone can sing! Anyone! I’ve heard you sing, not really, not loud enough to actually hear your voice, but I’ve heard you enough to know you do it a lot! So now, you’re gonna sing! Just to humor your ol’ Uncle Jagged!” Jagged was practically vibrating, thrilled he found a loophole in her whole “I’m not a rock star” schtick.
Marinette was dumbfounded. Actually speechlessly dumbfounded. Why did he want her to be a rock star this badly, why did he want her to sing this badly. She went to open her mouth, figure out some way to politely tell Jagged to shove off, she was not going to sing. That was an activity to keep herself from being too intense or hard on herself while she was designing or sewing. Not a share with your honorary uncle who is an international rock star kind of thing. Certainly not. But Jagged cut her off before she had the opportunity to tell him any of that.
“Just sing whatever comes into your mind Marinette, any song. You know I don’t judge, I’ll even step outside, you won’t be able to see me, I won’t be able to see you until I move the curtain.” He gave her the puppy dog eyes, damn Manon, does she have a flipping blog explaining how to pull this off or something, why can everyone do this, “Come on, appease your ol’ Uncle Jagged.”
She planned on saying no. Her mouth had other plans. “One song and you’ll leave me be?” Her uncle nodded.
“Let me see what you're made of Marinette! I’ll be on the other side of the wall, in the producing booth, if you need anything give me a holler.” Before she had a chance to say anything, he slipped out the door. Leaving a reeling Marinette behind, staring a microphone in the face.
Chapter 2: Chapter 2: And she sings
Summary:
And, she sings.
Notes:
I'm not too thrilled with the first chapter, so I am sorry if you didn't enjoy it. I like this one a lot more.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 2
Marinette gulped. She could do this, she knew she could. Sure, she’d never sang for anyone before, but this barely counts, she’s practically alone, she can’t even see him. And as soon as she’s done he’ll be happy and we won’t speak of it again after today. She’d just sing that song that’d been stuck in her head. The one the Tic Toc pov-ers got her hooked on, Line without a Hook .
She walked up to the microphone, “Jagged can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear Marinette, you’re on!” Jagged’s voice surrounded her, coming from every speaker in the room.
With the good to go, she began. “I don’t really give a damn about the way you touch me, when we’re alone. . .” She sang.
She was a bit apprehensive at first, but soon she gained some confidence, some volume. Performing like she did in front of her mirror at home. Suddenly out of nowhere, she felt right. She felt the music in every part of her body, she felt as if the beat was ingrained into her soul. The lyrics flew out of her, she happily poured her pent up emotions and intensity into the melody. Giving the originally soft, sad lyrics a bit of edge.
By the time she got to the last chorus, she completely forgot where she was and how uncomfortable she’d been.
“Baby, I am a wreck when I'm without you,” She smiled, a face flashed in her mind. “I need you here to stay.” She felt this odd sense of awe wash over her.
“I broke all my bones that day I found you,” She paused, preparing to sing the high notes in the next verse, “Crying at the lake!” Pride swelled through her as she hit the notes.
“Was it something I said to make you feel like you're a burden, oh? And if I could take it all back...” Marinette took deep breath, letting most of the intensity and edge wash out of her voice. “I swear that I, would pull you from the tide.”
As she finished her last words, she snapped out of her trance. Immediately becoming shy again. On the edge of her mind, she could feel amazement. She thought maybe it was hers, but considering the proximity of her sixteenth birthday, she knew there was a chance it was her soulmate's. She cleared her throat, saving those thoughts for later.
“Jagged? Are you appeased now ol’ uncle? Can we go see if my friends are here yet?” Marinette went to move towards the door, when Jagged pulled back the curtain on his side of the plexiglass. Her heart sank. Well shit.
Staring at her from the other side of the glass with varying levels of surprise were her friends, Penny and Jagged. Marinette felt the confidence she’d gained in the booth disappear. She blushed heavily, feeling the tips of her ears burn, and carefully looked out at her surprise audience. Penny and Jagged we’re smiling; Ivan and Mylene were beaming, Mylene giving her a thumbs up; Rose was staring at Adrien smirking; Adrien was staring at her, with a faint dusting of pink across his features; similarly, Juleka was smirking at Luka; Luka was full on red, looking at her with his mouth hanging open. Luka was flustered, it was a good look on him, and she wanted to make him do that more. She would’ve stared at him longer, but Jagged finally broke the silence settled among the group.
“I told ya this was a good idea! I had no idea you could sing like that!” he turned to Luka, “Did you know she could sing like that?”
There was no response from Luka for a few seconds, when he finally seemed to shake from his stupor he responded, “ I-uh. Um no. Nope, most definitely did not know M-m-Marinette could do that.” Juleka laughed, it was more of a cackle really.
“I um. I thought it was just me and Jagged. He begged me to sing for him, I didn’t want to disappoint. It’s just that you all weren’t supposed to see that, I uh, I don’t sing for people. So I-uh, yeah I’m sorry you guys were here for um, for that.” Marinette paused, looking down at her feet, “Let me just get out of here and I can watch you guys practice and um this never happened. "She opened the door and went to the room on the other side of the glass. She was met with more stares. This was gonna be a thing wasn’t it?
Luka was in awe. Marinette Dupain Cheng was amazing. Hearing her sing, it was like the final piece of the puzzle for him. Everything he felt in his heart made so much more sense, so did so many of the things in his head. Thoughts, emotions he knew weren’t his. He was glad to have solved one of the great mysteries of his life. Though she was uncomfortable. He could tell that right now, without tapping into the barely formed bond he suspected was between them. She was amazing, she clearly didn’t know that though. He needed to help her. To make her feel more comfortable, to help her feel calm and at home in the music the way he could tell she wanted to. The beginnings of a plan formed in Luka’s mind. He wanted to hear her sing again, he wanted to see her sing this time. He knew what he needed to do, he just had to get everyone else in on it.
“Guys whatever you just heard wasn’t that good, I just sing to keep myself from getting too intense while sewing. Now let’s get you guys set up for practice.” She grabbed Penny’s wrist and dragged her down the hall, hoping Kitty Section took the hint and followed them. They did. Penny took them to the practice space, and everyone began setting up. Though she did notice Luka and Adrien sending the odd look her way every so often.
Penny sat in the corner observing quietly, every so often she’d look down at her phone and type furiously. The embarrassment and discomfort was wafting off Marinette, she couldn’t seem to calm down. She finally decided to just get her materials ready for the Kitty Section progress report and presentation. Since this was more of a spur of the moment meeting she didn’t have everything she needed on hand, so she prepared a quick slideshow on her tablet and emailed a copy to each member of the band, she’d have them refer to that when they were done practicing.
As she finished up, and began to get comfortable to watch them practice, Rose interrupted her thoughts, “Hey Marinette! Do you want to warm up with us?”
Marinette knew this was gonna be a thing, as she opened her mouth to politely decline, Rose interrupted again, “Don’t worry Marinette, this is just for fun! We’re not gonna force you to do anything you don’t want to, and we promise it’s just a one time thing. We’re not gonna ask you to join us, it’s clearly not your jam. Plus your sound is plenty different from ours.” Rose looked so happy. Of course it was pretty easy to make Rose happy, but everyone else seemed thrilled at the suggestion too. So as Marinette agreed to warm up with them, on the contingency that it was a one time thing, she didn’t notice Penny sit down and begin to covertly record her.
“So how do we start?” Mari asked, hoping to control the waver in her voice.
Notes:
It's kind of awkward to write someone singing, and yet I based a whole fic on it. Hmm, weird.
Anyway. Thoughts? Next chapter's coming Sunday :)
Chapter 3: Chapter 3: She sings again, this time almost willingly
Summary:
In which Rose is persuasive and Juleka is mean.
Notes:
Did I say chapter update Sunday? I meant Saturday *smirks evilly* Oh my gosh, over 500 people have read my story!! Thank you guys for the overwhelming support :) Enjoy
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 3
She was happy to see that it was Luka who came up to her to explain everything, everyone else began to get ready. “Us who play instruments will start independently. We tune, we strum, play some scales. Juleka usually does Rose’s tuning so she can run some scales with Adrien.” He pointed over at Adrien who was playing scales, “That’s where you’ll start. When you guys are done, we come together and play a song. Usually not one of ours, just to get in the grove, to get in the rhythm of playing together.” Luka looked at her and smiled, “Today we’re gonna let you pick.” He looked down at his shoes, a blush covering his face, “And uh, if you-um, wanted to pick a song that would let me hear your voice,” he looked up, “I’d-uh, I’d really like to hear more.”
Luka led the blushing girl over to Adrien and Rose. They walked her through vocal warm ups as everyone else played independently, Luka hovered nearby as a reassuring presence. “The way you do it Marinette is Adrien will play a note, then we sing through the vowels, running the scale for that note. We’ll demonstrate.” Adrien played a note, and Rose ran through the scale singing “Ah,” then “ee,” then “i” all the way through the vowels, voice getting higher and higher each time.
Adrien and Rose stared at her with excitement when it was her turn. As she finished the last vowel, Rose spoke up, “That didn’t sound strained at all, do you think you can go higher than that?” As Marinette nodded her head, Rose instructed her to cycle through the vowels again, continuing to go higher and higher. As she finished her second and third sets of vowels she finally looked up at her friends. They wore the same shocked expressions they had in the studio.
“I had no idea your range was so impressive Mari!” Adrien looked at her in amazement, “I mean look how far up the keyboard I’m playing. You’re amazing.” He turned a deeper shade of pink, “I-I mean your voice! Yeah! Your voice is amazing.” Marinette couldn’t count the times she’d blushed in the last hour. She decided not to try and pushed the feelings aside.
Marinette looked over to Rose, “I don’t know what we should play. Why don’t you look at my sewing playlist and pick a song? Anything on there is something I know like the back of my hand and sing pretty often.” Rose squealed excitedly and took it over to Juleka. They scrolled through the playlist excitedly, pointing out a few songs they liked. After a moment or two, they paused on a song and whispered excitedly back and forth.
Juleka excitedly looked at her brother, “Luka, switch with me, I’m taking lead guitar on this one. You’re on the bass.” She smirked as her brother traded instruments with her dumbfounded. Marinette knew when Juleka had an evil plan, she’d never been on the receiving end of one before, but she had a feeling that was about to change.
“Okay Mari take the mic, you’re gonna be singing Pierre . Luka doesn’t know it so he’s on bass.” Juleka smiled smugly at Marinette, Marinette on the other hand opened her mouth and started gaping like a fish. Rose came up and handed her the microphone, smiling innocently.
‘Et tu brute?’ Marinette thought. She knew she could probably object, but she did like the song. It also gave her the opportunity to showcase her voice like Luka had asked her to. She shook her head, deciding it would be best to just accept her fate.
“I um, yeah. Okay. Hit it.” She started and the band followed suit, with Rose clapping out the beat.
“I danced in the desert in the pouring rain, danced with the devil and forgot my name, walked with somebody till the morning came, no one there to shame me for my youth.” She sent a glare over at Juleka who was smiling ear to ear, “‘Cause I couldn't be with you.”
Her heart started racing as the music swelled, “And then I found me a lover who could play the bass,” she did not look at Luka, she would not look at Luka.
“He’s kinda quiet but his body ain’t.” She was not red, Marinette was calm.
“Spend the days dreaming and the nights awake,”
Oof, oooof, oooooooof, Marinette was a calm normal teenage girl casually avoiding eye contact with her friends, “Doing things we know we shouldn’t do.”
Marinette died. Marinette was dead, there was a pod person in her place. The pod person seemed to just kinda decide that she couldn’t get more embarrassed, so she embraced the song. Singing and dancing around with Rose. Finally comfortable in the song, she looked at the ceiling and spun around, enjoying the moment. She danced around the stage flushed and happy, singing to her heart's content. This was how it felt when she sang in her room.
Pod person Marinette felt exhilarated. She allowed Rose to dance her around the stage, smiling and singing all the way. She didn’t know that this is what it felt like to sing with people. She didn’t know it could be this fun. She felt admiration, she just wasn’t sure she was really the one feeling it. As she flowed through the song bouncing through the upbeat tempo, she had an idea to put a bit of edge on the song. During a musical break she told Rose, who flitted around to the other band members, explaining what Marinette wanted.
As she finished the bridge, moving onto the last chorus. She felt, rather than heard her plan in action. Everything, everyone had slowed down to half tempo, she felt Ivan’s drums radiate through her body. Marinette knew it was her time to give Luka what he wanted.
“Oh, I can't let him in.” Marinette sang, allowing herself a small riff on ‘in,’ “You call me up and ask me how I've been.” She smiled, changing the notes of the song, showcasing how easily she can switch in between high notes.
“I'll call your bluff and,” she paused, “Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies,” Singing ‘lies’ in a soft high note. “Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies.” She almost whispered. She sang her way through the rest of the song, softly and gently. Trying her best to put a contrast on the ‘I don’t give a damn’ vibe the song put out. Because regardless of what the artist was feeling, Marinette did care. She probably cared too much.
As the song ended, she smiled, “I’ll come around.” She sang, turning around to see the band, her eyes met Lukas.
Luka was dead. But he was planning on making a reappearance to slaughter his sister. Sister bad. Juleka evil. As soon as she asked to switch with him he should’ve known something was up. But he was too focused on his excitement, he could hear Marinette sing again. That was all he ever wanted and more, he had no idea she could do that but god if he didn’t want to hear it again, and again. And she started singing and his heart stopped, it was so beautiful, she was so beautiful. Even when she was glaring at his sister.
Wait, why was she glaring at his sister? Then she opened her mouth again “And then I found me a lover who could play the bass.” Oh. “He’s kinda quiet, but his body ain’t” Oh shit. “Spend the days dreaming and the nights awake, doing things we know we shouldn’t do.” Fucking hell.
And Luka burned. He stood there playing the bass, burning. He knew he was red, he knew his band mates were laughing at him. Apart from Adrien who seemed to be frowning. He also knew he was lucky that the guitar covered where it did, because after she had sung the lines that slaughtered him, she seemed to get more and more comfortable. She was glowing and he couldn’t look away. She and Rose were dancing, bouncing around the stage. She was sailing through high notes like it was nothing and belting without breaking a sweat. And for the millionth time that day, he was in awe of Marinette Dupain Cheng. Like he was hypnotized, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. So when she mercifully, devastatingly finished the song, smiling all the way, and looked at him, their eyes met. And he burned hotter.
Penny could barely believe her eyes, Jagged’s young design protege, her honorary niece, could
sing
. Why didn’t she know this? She was supposed to know everything, be Jagged’s eyes and ears. She couldn’t help but feel that she had failed him in some regard. While he had a different meeting to attend after Marinette’s performance in the sound booth, she didn’t have anywhere to be. So she accompanied the young musicians, knowing they’d get her to sing again. She was right, naturally, Penny didn’t often make mistakes. So when she sang again she was ready, and recorded it for Jagged. She couldn’t wait to see her soulmate’s face when he got a look at this.
Notes:
Thoughts? Hope you liked it!
Chapter 4: Chapter 4: We've got you
Summary:
Marinette deals with the aftermath of everyone hearing her sing, Jagged oversteps a boundary and Luka is perfect.
Notes:
Guys, 1,000 people have read my story!! I'm so thankful for all of you, I hope my writing will live up to your expectations.
I've kinda been posting all over the place because I've been excited about the response. From here on out I'll be posting on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 4
“Gentleman!” Jagged yelled as he entered the conference room, “It’s fantastic to see you all today!” He sat down, putting his feet up on the table.
“You seem uncharacteristically excited today Jagged.” A board member noted suspiciously.
“Well my dear suits, I have something for your consideration.” He pointed at one of the men, “Suit number 4, please hook the projector up to my phone.”
“You don’t pay me. That’s not what I’m here for, what are-” Suit number four was fuming, ready to lay into Jagged like he’d been dreaming of doing for years.
“My Penny is busy, the sooner someone does this for me the sooner I will sign off on whatever you bigwigs want and I’ll leave you to go about your day.” Jagged leaned back, smirking. Two men stood, scrambling to take Jagged’s phone. “Fantastic, could you please play the last audio file I have saved?” He asked almost politely.
Immediately the recording began, “Jagged can you hear me?” the recording of Marinette asked. “Loud and clear BEEP, you’re on.” Soon Marinette’s voice filled the room, singing Line Without a Hook .
As Marinette’s voice finished the last lines, Jagged stood back up. “Gentleman, what do we think?”
“Jagged you know how this goes, we need a name, we need to know who we’re dealing with and if we can brand them.” The man sounded bored, like he’d explained this to Jagged millions of times. Maybe he had, we don’t know their lives.
“I have all of that, I promise you that you can. But I’m not giving you any until you tell me what you think.” Jagged shot him a bored look. Clearly, he knew the drill.
“There’s talent there.”
“Fantastic I think so too, she didn’t know she was being recorded, she wasn’t trying to audition. This was her just singing because I asked her to.”
“It’s impressive Jagged, but we’d need to hear her actually try, and more importantly we need a name, a face, a brand, a-”
“It’s Marinette.”
“Your designer?”
“Yup, and I’ve got a video. Penny sent it to me, why don’t you play that for us Mr.Suitman.”
A video of Marinette singing scales appeared on the wall.
“Her range is impressive.”
“Wait until she starts singing, admittedly the first few lines are a little awkward, but it’s because she’s got a thing for the kid playing the bass. She really comes out of her shell though.” Jagged the board watch Marinette. He could tell they were impressed.
“If you want her, don’t lowball her. You know her, you know she’s got a good head on her shoulders, you know what she’d ask for. Just give it to her. We’re gonna have a hard time getting her in the first place. She has no idea this is happening right now.” He knew that his battle was only half over, Marinette was gonna kick his ass.
Marinette came down for her high faster than she thought possible. As she looked into Luka’s eyes, she felt embarrassed all over again. Her flush covered her from head to toe. She shook her head, snapping herself out of it. Looking over at the rest of the band she asked, “Are you all appeased now?” It was more a plea than a question.
Luka spoke up before he even knew what he was doing, “Did you know you could do that? Do you have any idea how good you are?” He paused looking her over, “I can see the answer is no, you have no idea how talented you are. And thank god because if you knew and you kept that from me, I would’ve never forgiven you.” Marinette looked at him abruptly, her mouth hanging open and her face red, “You can deny it all you want but you clearly love to sing. We won't make you perform with us, hell, we won’t even ask, but don’t deny yourself, don’t deny me from your singing.” He paused, “Maybe we can just play for fun, just hang out, no other people involved.”
“Yeah!” Adrien cut in, “I’d be happy to play so you can sing Mari!”
“You know we’re in too.” Juleka pulled her girlfriend to her side, sending Adrien a look.
“And what would you all do without my drums in the background?” Ivan asked excitedly.
“See? We can still be Kitty Section, but on the side we can be ‘Marinette’s Confidence Building Group,’ everyone here wants you to succeed Marinette. We all want you to be happy. And this,” Luka gestured to the microphone in her hand, “clearly makes you happy.”
Before she could really comprehend what she was doing, Marinette threw her arms around Luka, locking them behind his neck. She stood on the tips of her toes, burying her face in his chest. Luckily he had set down his sister’s bass. Momentarily stunned, it took him a few seconds to hug her back. He wrapped his hands around her waist, looked down at her and smiled. He wasn’t really sure how long they stayed like that, all he did know was that they were rudely interrupted.
“Now that we’re all on the same page, should we start practice?” Never had Adrien ever been on the receiving end of quite so many glares.
Marinette scrambled to let go of Luka, “Oh of course! I am so sorry for holding you guys up. I’ll just sit with Penny and Mylenne and watch.”
Marinette went to sit down, but Luka grabbed her wrist, keeping her from leaving, “Remember, you still owe me an explanation as to what we’re doing here and how you pulled this off.” He whispered. Marinette blushed and looked down at his hand, she nodded her head, promising an explanation when they were done.
When Marinette finally, blissfully sat down next to Penny and Mylenne, the thoughts and feeling she’d been pushing down since Jagged dragged her into a recording studio overwhelmed her. She buried her face in her hands, blushing as she recalled the day's events. She felt Tikki press against her leg from inside her purse, helping Marinette calm down some. Tikki had always loved when Mari sang. It made her feel special to know that one of the most powerful beings in the universe thought her voice was beautiful. Admittedly, the attention today did make her feel special too. Though it was all just a bit too much for her. Mylenne seemed to notice this, she leaned over and gave her friend a hug.
“You were amazing. Calm down Mari, just because we were- are impressed by you doesn’t change who we are. We’re your friends, and you being another kind of impressive doesn’t change that. There’s no pressure here.” Mylenne smiled. “I know you’re going to build this up in your head. Don’t let yourself create crazy kinds of pressure and expectations. We’ve got you Mari.” Mylenne returned to her seat next to Marinette and watched her boyfriend contently.
Marinette couldn’t help but smile. Her friends were the best, of course Mylenne was right. Between her reassuring words, and Tikki’s calming presence against her thigh, Marinette was able to finally feel her anxiety subside. However a calm Marinette never really had the opportunity to stay calm for very long. Right in the middle of Kitty Section’s practice, everyone’s favorite rock star uncle burst through the door.
“Where’s my favorite rockin’ niece?” He all but yelled. “Oh, I’m sorry all, didn’t mean to interrupt. Just need a word with my niece here.” Jagged left the room, motioning for Marinette to follow him.
Marinette got up to follow Jagged, she looked over at her friends, “I’d like to clarify, we are not related. Jagged just kinda decided that we’re family.” She quickly flitted out of the room, leaving her bewildered friends behind. As she stepped out of the room, with Penny on her tail, she heard the band resume playing.
“So darling Marinette, please don’t be angry at me for what I’m about to say. But I’ve just returned from a meeting with some of the record label’s head honchos.” Marinette’s blood froze as Jagged continued on, “And I brought them the recording of you in the sound booth. And I know I didn’t get your permission before taking that recording and I’m so sorry. But you should know, they were impressed. They were even more impressed when Penny sent in the video she took, again without your permission please don’t hate us, of you warming up, and performing with Kitty Section . They marveled at your range, and were in awe of your stage presence when you got into it. They’d like to know if you’d be interested in recording a demo.”
Jagged looked like he expected Marinette to hit him. She kind of wanted to. She honestly felt numb, she wanted to cry, she wanted to yell, but if you asked her why, she wouldn’t really be able to tell you. Had he invaded her privacy, yes, but only with the best intentions.
Marinette took a shuddering breath, unable to look Penny or Jagged in the eye, “Send over the terms to my business email. You know the one, and I will look them over. You’ll have an answer by next Friday.” She looked down at her feet, “You’ve given me a lot to think about. So I am going to go home to do that. To think. Tell the band I’m sorry that I’m skipping our progress report meeting but that they have an email in their inboxes outlining what I was going to discuss.”
Marinette turned on her heel before they could stop her or say anything and returned to the practice room. Heading over to the corner where she was situated and grabbed her belongings. She whispered a quick goodbye to Mylenne, and quickly left the room. She rushed through the building, nearly running. When she finally made it outside, she felt as if she was finally able to breath. She took three deep, shaky breaths, and began her journey home.
Notes:
What do we think is gonna happen next guys?
Chapter 5: Chapter 5: It's all gonna be okay
Summary:
In which Mari is freaking and Luka makes it better, (and then he freaks (I mean as much as Luka can freak, he's pretty chill)).
Notes:
Morning everyone. Here's your Tuesday update! I hope you enjoy it, thank you to all 1,600 (wow!!!!) of you who have read this!! I hope everyone has a splendiferous day.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 5
As soon as Marinette walked into the bakery, she gave her father a huge bear hug. Yes, there were customers, yes, they were staring. But Marinette was just a fifteen year old girl and she’d had a long day! She needed a hug from her Papa, and one from her Maman but she was actively serving customers so she had to wait. She told her Papa that when they closed she needed to talk to them. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and trudged her way up the stairs into her room.
Flopping down onto her bed, Marinette pulled out her tablet. She didn’t want this thing with Jagged hanging over her head, she wanted the details and she wanted them now. As she read she could tell that this was a good deal. Nepotism will get you everywhere. The demo would be for ten songs, she’d be presented fifteen choices to pick the ten from. Jagged would work on it with her directly, and she’d have a lot of creative control, though most decisions would need to be approved by the board. As far as the anonymity she so valued as MDC, she could maintain that if she so chose, either under the same or a different name. She’d never been offered a contract by a record label, she didn’t know what was and wasn’t standard, but she certainly knew whatever she had been presented had been Jagged-tized.
Marinette was overwhelmed. She didn’t know if she wanted this. While the offer tempted her and Luka was right, she loved to sing, she didn’t want to be the joke of the music industry. She didn’t mind being Jagged’s little niece in private, but to the whole world? No one would take her seriously as a musician. Holy hell, a musician, she’d never thought of herself that way. Marinette groaned and screamed into her pillow. She was overwhelmed, it was moments like these that she wished she’d already met her soulmate. Mari couldn’t help but feel that she needed her universe approved partner to help her calm down and figure out what she should be doing.
She didn’t notice her trap door open, Marinette was too busy having an existential crisis while lying face down in her bed. She didn’t notice Luka shuffling his way up her ladder, or the sound of him setting down his bag. In fact it barely registered with her when he called her name.
“Mari?” Luka asked “Where are you?”
Her blood froze in her veins, what was Luka doing here? She scrambled to get off her bed and down her loft to see him. “Sorry I’m up here, I’m coming down.” She awkwardly climbed down her ladder, getting down to his level.
“What’s up Luka?” She asked.
Luka looked at her worriedly, “You left. It’s not like you and I was worried. I thought that maybe I pushed too hard. I will never make you do something you don’t want to do and I am so sorry if I came across as pushy. All I want is for you to be happy.”
The tears Marinette had been pushing off began to fall. For the second time that day, she threw her arms around Luka’s neck and hugged him. “You didn't do anything wrong Luka. As per usual, you are perfect. I am so sorry for being a mess.” She hugged him tighter, “Thank you for coming to see me.”
Luka pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Well I came for another reason too,” the smirk was evident in his voice. “You never did tell me how you were able to get us in there today, or why Jagged’s running around calling you his niece.”
Marinette groaned into Luka’s shirt. “I’m MDC.” She mumbled weakly.
“Yeah I know, Marinette Dupain Cheng, what does that have to do with Jagged Stone?” She groaned again, she’d forgotten that Luka only ever paid attention to music. She slowly released him. “Gimme your phone.” He handed it to her. She looked up the album art for Jagged’s latest album. She showed him, pointing at the bottom right corner of the screen, where her MDC logo was barely visible.
“I’m Jagged’s designer. I do his costumes, accessories, album covers, I even help with lighting design from time to time.” She looked down at her feet. “I started when I was thirteen, and after a super embarrassing tv interview, I became the faceless MDC.” Marinette took a deep breath, “I was at the studio today because we had a meeting to go over the contracts for the next album. When you called Jagged thought I was in the band and got excited. He invited you all to hear me play. When he found out I wasn’t actually in Kitty Section he wanted to see what I could do. That’s why I was in the sound booth.”
Luka sat down on her chaise, motioning for her to do the same. “So that’s how you were able to get me Jagged’s autograph for my birthday last year.” Mari nodded. “I always knew you were talented Mari, I’m so proud of you. That’s huge!” He wrapped his arm around her, “I know you're embarrassed, by him, by being the center of everyone’s attention today, but that doesn’t explain why you’re this worked up. What else ya got M?”
“They want me to make a demo.” She paused, “Penny recorded us when I sang, and Jagged recorded me in the sound booth. Both of them without my permission. Jagged already had a meeting scheduled with the label’s bigwigs, he showed them. I don’t know if they actually like me or if its Jagged’s influence. He said they were impressed. I read over the contract and either way there is some kind of crazy nepotism going on here because read this fucking contract! They’re handing me whatever I want, that can’t be how its supposed to work.” She looked over at Luka, “And I feel guilty. Because Jagged is giving me the opportunity for a dream. And it's tempting, so tempting. But they’re just giving it to me, and this wasn’t my dream, it was yours. I think this is something I’d like to do. But something about it feels dirty, I don’t want to take something from you.”
“Hey hey hey. That’s not what’s happening here. Maybe this is slightly nepotism-y. But you are talented and you deserve this. That doesn’t make me any less talented or deserving.” He wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned into him.
“I wish someone would just tell me what to do. I keep thinking about my soulmate and what they would say or tell me to do.” She looked up at Luka, “Do you ever think about your soulmate. Do you know them yet?”
Luka blushed, “My soulmate situation is complicated.” Suddenly he found the rug very interesting.
“I’m sorry, I know it’s rude to ask. I just keep getting these faint thoughts and feelings bombarding me, and I know they’re not mine. My birthday is less than two weeks away, and I can’t stop wondering what they’re gonna be like. What my mark will look like.” She paused, about to continue.
“What if you have more than one?” Luka asked abruptly.
Marinette was surprised by the question. “Oh. Well I’ve heard of that, I know it’s rare. I’ve never met someone with two soulmates, but as far as I’m concerned they’re just like everybody else. Except with them they have extra love to go around.” She looked over at Luka, “And as far as I’m concerned there is nothing wrong with that.” She smiled, “And that means I’d get two marks, that is two free, universe approved tattoos my friend.”
She looked over at Luka who was very red, “And you know, you’re my very best friend, and I would never judge you, even if you had fifty soul marks.”
“I have two.” He said very abruptly. Marinette couldn’t help herself, she was curious.
“I know it’s rude to ask, and you can totally say no. But I’ve never even seen a picture of two marks, can I see?” Luka looked like he wanted to catch on fire, “I am so sorry that was so rude. Can we forget I said that?”
Luka pulled down his sleeve. “I have been hoping for two years, that you would amaze me like you did today. That you would pull some kind of musical ability out of the hat. Because of this.” He looked down at his arm, Marinette followed suit.
Luka’s marks were beautiful. They were in the middle of his forearm. The one on top was a music note, at the top it was cherry blossom pink and it faded into bright red. The whole thing was covered in black dots, ladybug spots. It was hers. If the cherry blossom pink, her signature pink, wasn’t enough, if the music note wasn’t enough, the ladybug spots and the red sealed the deal. She barely even looked at the other mark. She grabbed his arm, tracing the lines of the music note.
“This is mine. I mean, it's supposed to be me.” She knew she was red, she was burning, but she looked up at Luka regardless.
Luka took his eyes off of his arm and looked at her, “I know.” He paused, “Like I said, I’ve been hoping for years. I could immediately connect the pink to you, and uh, don’t be mad but I knew about the spots too. I just didn’t know you could sing.”
Marinette’s head snapped up immediately, “How did you-?”
“I was Viperion for a few big battles. Unfortunately the more second chances I took, the more likely it was I’d see something. I’ve seen some earth shattering things. I know who everyone is, I’ve seen you all die, I’ve seen Hawkmoth unmask you.” Luka took a deep breath, “I’ve spent hours worrying about you, knowing you have such a burden on your shoulders. Sometimes my heart breaks for you. I try to be there for you the best I can, but it can be hard because you didn’t know I knew. And I am so sorry, because I know you didn’t want me to know at all-” Marinette couldn’t help but smirk, he was rivaling her ability to ramble.
“Luka, can I kiss you?” Marinette didn’t even have time to process what she said before Luka’s arms were pulling her close and his lips were on hers.
Notes:
Let me know what you think. . .
Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Who was that?
Summary:
Luka and Marinette are thrilled to have found each other and they get a little carried away.
Notes:
I normally post earlier than this sorry everyone! I had some adulting chores to do. It's a bit shorter today, but y'all are gonna love Saturday's chapter!!!!
The first part of this chapter is our two lovebirds making out, partially because that's how my fiancé and I were when we started dating and partially because I thought it would be funny to mess with Damian. If this is a trigger for you try to skip say 4 paragraphs.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 6
Immediately Marinette felt right. Luka’s lips were soft, he was soft, and being near him made her heart sing. She felt a deep seated need to be closer to him. Forgetting herself and giving in, she pushed back against him. She pushed him deeper into his seat on the chaise and against the wall, keeping her mouth on his the whole time. She swung her leg over him and situated herself on his lap. She made a happy sound at the back of her throat, burying her hands in his hair. Luka moaned into her mouth and Marinette’s soul left her body.
Luka could not believe where he was. He was in his soulmate’s bedroom, twelve hours ago he didn't even know who his soulmate was, now he was on her chaise, being pinned down by her. And the best part? One of his soulmates was the girl he’d been in love with for years. And did he mention they were making out? Fucking hell, they were making out.
It had started out innocently enough. She asked him for permission to kiss him, and he certainly wasn’t one to deny. But he’d wanted to kiss her first. So he leaned in and kissed her, and immediately after fireworks went off in his head. Every bone in his body begged to move closer to her, but he’d been trying to respect her space. Thank fucking god she didn’t have such reservations. She leaned in closer to him, deepening their kiss, and he took the opportunity to slip his arms around her waist. His fingers felt electrified where he touched her. And then she pinned him against the wall and he lost himself. He couldn’t even feel his toes by the time she climbed into his lap. But damn, he couldn’t help himself when she made that sound and buried her fingers in his hair. He moaned into her mouth.
At first embarrassment washed through him, but through their bond he felt an overwhelming sense of want. He knew they had more to talk about. He knew they needed to stop. He bit her lip. Well damn, that probably didn’t help. She whimpered into his mouth. Holy hell, she whimpered into his mouth . He felt electrified. His body begged for more, more anything. But some rational part of his mind kept trying to beg him to stop.
“Remember the mission , ” the voice in his head reminded. He felt Mari freeze on top of him. Was that?
“Was that our second soulmate?” Marinette asked inches from his face. She shifted her weight back so she was sitting down on the tops of Luka’s knees. She was warm, impossibly warm so she shed her blazer.
Luka blinked, dazed. “You’re beautiful. I want to tell you nearly every time I see you, you’re fucking beautiful.” She blushed, looking down at her hands. “I- uh sorry. Don’t know where that came from.” He smiled self deprecatingly, “Um yeah. That must’ve been him. I’ve never heard him before, but I think as your birthday gets closer and we get closer, our bond gets stronger.” Luka took a deep breath, “I’m inclined to believe that you’re the youngest of us, and that’s why your birthday seems to be changing so much.”
Marinette giggled, “I think we were distracting him. I could feel how I was affecting you, I’m willing to bet you could feel how you were affecting me, and our poor soulmate felt all of it. I hope his mission wasn’t too important.” She smiled at Luka conspiratorially.
“I’m sorry to say that I was so focused on seeing my mark that I didn’t even look at his. May I?” Marinette slid off of Luka’s lap and cuddled into his side. She picked up his forearm and looked at the second mark. She couldn’t help but smile at it, “So we’re all artists.”
The mark was unique, she’d never seen anything like it. The main part of it was a sword, but it was hazy, in a different style than any other soul mark she’d ever seen. As she looked closer she noticed a paintbrush hanging off of it, seemingly painting the hilt. She realized that the sword was being painted into Luka’s skin.
“It’s beautiful.” She looked up at Luka, “You heard his voice too didn’t you?”
“Yes, I heard what you heard. The French was impressive, but I heard the American accent too.” Luka wrapped his arm around her, “Think we should expand our English studies Nette?”
Marinette nodded, “I definitely think we should.” She leaned in and kissed him, because she could, because he was her soulmate.
“Hey there missy,” Luka said, laughter gleaming in his eyes, “I don’t know if our soulmate can take anymore of that. We’ve got to be fair.” Marinette pouted. “None of that,” he continued. “We’ve got plenty to discuss anyway. For example, Juleka definitely knows that you're my soulmate”
Marinette pouted again, “She totally knew before me. That just doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“Sorry Melody, it wasn’t intentional. But when I first turned sixteen and neither of my marks made any sense to you, I was bummed out.”
She smiled at him, “Well luckily that’s all sorted and you are mine.” She leaned in to kiss him again but was instead met with a finger to her lips.
“We are respecting our soulmate’s needs. Besides we still have more to talk about. For example, you have been offered the chance of a lifetime. What are we doing about that?”
“Luka, I don't know,” Marinette began, “It just feels so-”
“Nepotism-y?” Luka took her face in his hands, “I’ll agree it is faintly nepotism-y. But every one in the music business knows that it’s who you know. You aren’t the first person to be in a position like this, though you might just be the first person who cared. All they’re giving you is an opportunity, it is everything and nothing. It is nothing if you don’t have the talent to make a career out of it. This will be what you make it Melody.”
“You think I should do this.” It was a statement, she could feel his surety.
“If you don’t you will spend the rest of your life wondering what could’ve been. Besides, this is just a demo. It’s not a record deal, for right now your life will barely change, you’ll just sing and see Jagged more.” Marinette groaned at the mention of Jagged.
“I know you want to make your own way, and I’m not asking you to be in the theoretical spotlight with me, but will you stand by me while I do this?” Marinette looked into his eyes, he could see the vulnerability shining in them.
“There is no where I’d rather be.”
Notes:
Hey, this story is rated teen for a reason.
Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Messing with Damian
Summary:
The much awaited Damian POV. . .
Notes:
I'm sorry for teasing bat boy's introduction last chapter everyone. It's possible that I like messing with you guys as much as I like messing with my characters.
Please forgive me, I hope this chapter is everything you were looking for and more.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 7
Across the world, Damian Wayne was having a terrible day. All day, he could feel his bond with his soulmates strengthening. He’d felt it slowly happening for weeks, but today he’d been overwhelmed with emotions . Mostly he’d felt amazement and embarrassment coming from his soulmates. It seemed to come in waves, an overwhelming sense of emotion, then a calm few moments. Though the calm moments never lasted long. It had been a distracting day.
He’d been in English class when he’d first heard them. He’d never heard his soulmates before. They must’ve been together, that was what was reinforcing their bond and allowing him to listen in. At first, there was nothing, then some faint singing. He could barely hear it, but he could feel his soulmates’ reactions to it. The volume grew. Was that French? Damian smirked despite himself, his soul mates were French. Soon all he could hear was the music, all he could feel was embarrassment and amazement. Embarrassment? That wouldn’t make any sense if they were just listening to music, what could be-?
Oh. Ohh, she was singing. One of his soulmates was singing. He smiled, actually smiled before he knew what he was doing, and in the middle of New Jersey, an entire classroom worth of people thought the apocalypse was starting. Damian was none the wiser, he lost himself in his soulmate’s music. She was talented, he had thought she was a professional. He listened to the song, marveling at her singing. He was devastated when the song ended, sad he couldn’t listen to her anymore, he immediately felt alone. He knew he needed more, abruptly Damian stood up.
“Miss!” Damian all but yelled, “May I be excused?”
The entire class looked at him bewildered. The teacher could barely believe the interruption, “Unless you can provide a good reason for needing to leave, I’m afraid I cannot excuse you Damian.” She turned back to the white board, about to continue her lecture.
He started towards the door anyway, “I have a one hundred and two percent in your class, I could teach it better than you. I’m afraid I wasn’t asking for permission.” With that he closed the door behind him and called Alfred to come and get him.
He went to his locker and retrieved the rest of his belongings, then went to the front of the school to meet the family butler. Speedy as ever, Alfred was already there waiting for him. He climbed into the back seat and they began their journey home. Damian was enjoying the silence, but of course Alfred had to go and break it.
“So Master Damian, you know I don’t mind arranging the occasional jailbreak, but may I ask why I am arranging one today?” Alfred’s voice was passive, his eyes never left the road.
Damian knew he should’ve expected the questions. “I’ve got some research to do. On a possible threat in France.”
“Master Damian, we are well aware of the Hawkmoth issue. Unfortunately it is under the jurisdiction of the European Justice League. And they have not so kindly told us to bugger off. Nevertheless, if you’d like to do some research, maybe find a new angle for us to challenge their decision, it certainly couldn’t do any harm.”
Damian filed that information away for later. When they arrived home, he rushed to his room. He had research to do. He flopped onto his bed, grabbing his laptop and calling Titus to lay with him. He began scrolling through France’s music charts. He went through the top one hundred musicians, playing short excerpts from their songs. He knew her voice, it was ingrained into his soul, tattooed into his memory; and nothing he was listening to was her. He tried artist after artist and nothing was matching. He was there for two hours before Todd came through his door.
“Suit up Demon Spawn, we’ve got a tip on a potential bank robbery.” Jason came up to his bed to take the headphones off of his head. “Did you hear me? What are you listening to anyway?” Jason put the headphones on, “Do you even speak French?” He asked incredulously.
“I speak some, enough to hold a basic conversation.” He paused, considering something, “Although I’ll definitely need to do a more thorough study of it.”
“Why would you-?” Jason began.
“That’s really none of your concern.” Damian paused, remembering what Todd had said, “A bank robbery? I’ll suit up.”
Assuming Jason would leave and drop it, Damian went to his closet and took off his shirt, reaching for his Robin uniform. Jason looked at the marks on his younger brother’s right bicep.
“This is about them.” Jason said, it wasn’t a question. “You are only ever this strung up when it's about them. They’re French, huh?”
“Not important.” Damian put on his shirt, looking over at his brother. “Get out so I can finish changing, I’ll be down in two minutes.”
Jason left and Damian finished changing. He double checked that he had all of his weapons and equipment and went down to the cave. When he got there everyone else was getting ready. Oracle gave them a rundown about the night's activities so far and the tip they got. They split up into pairs and headed out. This evening, Robin and Nightwing were together. As they began their patrol, heading over to the bank, Damian began to feel his soulmates emotions poking through again. He knew he didn’t have time to analyze, so he did his best to bury them down.
As they watched the bank, Damian noticed it was harder and harder to ignore what his soulmates were feeling. He was pretty sure they were falling in love with each other. It was distracting . He nearly missed the masked rogue slipping through one of the bank’s windows. Nearly.
“Nightwing.” He hissed, pulling out his grappling hook.
“I saw it too, baby bird, let’s roll.” Nightwing paused, “Everyone, Robin and I have eyes on one of the thieves, the suspect entered through a second story window. Permission to engage?” Nightwing whispered into his comm.
“Granted, the rest of us will move into position.” They heard Batman say.
Nightwing and Robin followed the suspect through the window. When they were through they scanned the room back to back to assess the danger. That’s when it hit him. Seemingly out of nowhere, he felt this overwhelming sense of want. Damian’s mouth went dry, fucking hell. His soulmates, they were trying to drive him insane. He knew he was a liability the way he was. Desperately he tried everything to snap himself out of it. But it was impossible, he was helpless if it was both of them against him.
“Nightwing,” he hissed, “I can’t be here. I am a liability.”
“What?” Drake hissed at him, “We don’t have time for this Robin.”
“I know. I know, but I can’t.” Damian paused, he couldn’t believe he had to say this. “My soulmates, they’re um, busy, I can’t think my own thoughts right now.”
Nightwing turned to look at him like he had six heads, he looked like he was about to say something when Batman cut him off, “Robin, stay there until Hood gets there to relieve you. Do not engage, remain in defensive positions.”
Damian was definitely distracted, so much so that his uniform pants didn’t fit right and he didn’t notice anyone coming up to him until he was getting punched in the gut. Fucking hell, purely out of instinct, Robin fought back. It was minorly effective, but nothing compared to what he’d be able to do if he had his wits about him; he couldn’t strategize. Nevertheless, between the two of them, Robin and Nightwing knocked out the thief and got him tied up. Robin’s thoughts were still cloudy. A part of him that he’d thought he buried yearned to be with them. He remembered hearing her voice earlier when she was singing, and an idea popped into his head.
“Souviens-toi de la mission. Souviens-toi de la mission. Souviens-toi de la mission.” He repeated the phrase like a prayer. Hoping it’d reach his soulmates. It did. He could tell because he could feel their shock at hearing him, he could feel their embarrassment that they had distracted him so. And he was glad. The horndogs should be embarrassed, he’d gotten punched because of them.
When Jason Hood finally slipped through the window, Robin was finally starting to get his mind back. He wanted the time to himself anyway. So he left without a word to either of them. “I’m going to the cave.” He said into the comms.
When he entered the cave, Oracle sent him a look. One he ignored as he traipsed up to his room. So his soulmates were together, he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. When they finally met, he’d be the odd one out. He was always the odd one out. He was angry, he always tried so hard to keep them to himself. Before tonight, he wasn’t even sure how many of his teammates knew about them.
He didn’t like this feeling. The feeling of being compromised, being vulnerable. He made a mental to do list.
- Keep track of the French music scene.
- Get better at controlling emotions, especially the ones that weren’t his.
- Learn French.
- Find
the horn dogs, his soulmates, and make them pay for distracting him. He’d show them a fucking distraction.
Notes:
Don't be shy, what do we think?
Chapter 8: Chapter 8: What can happen in a year
Summary:
AKA a poorly written time skip.
Notes:
I've tried over and over to make this flow better everyone, this is kinda what it is. I'm not super thrilled with it but this is more a filler chapter to relay information than anything else. It is also the shortest update I've ever written.
Because I feel eh about this chapter I'll be posting another in an hour or so.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 8
Marinette’s sixteenth birthday came and went. She celebrated with Luka and her parents, thrilled to finally have proof that Luka was hers. To no one’s surprise she received two soul marks, a sword being painted into her skin and a beautiful blue guitar pick with a cobra motif on it. When she woke on the day she frantically checked all over her body for the marks, she was slightly sad to see they’d appeared on the right side of her rib cage, just under her chest. She’d been looking forward to showing off her marks, but instead they were destined to hide under her shirt.
A week after, she’d begun recording her demo, with Luka by her side all the way. Luka was right, she loved doing it. She loved every part of it, from picking the songs to singing them, to the cover art and her wardrobe design. She decided she would not be MDC in the arena of singing. Being MDC, being Jagged’s designer was impressive, but should her cover get blown it wasn’t ‘get stopped in the street’ amazing. She knew that wouldn’t be the case if she was a successful singer. So she created someone new, someone separate from Marinette and MDC. She loved every part that went into creating her new persona, Lady Ri. Lady Ri was strong, and anonymous. Marinette created a collection of ten masks for Lady Ri to wear, they were beautiful, intricate, and kept Marinette’s face a mystery.
Before she knew it, it was time for Lady Ri to go public. It was three months after her sixteenth birthday when her demo was picked by the label, and one month after that her album was released. Marinette had planned to go about her life as normal, she knew it could take months or years for new artists to gain any traction. But Jagged had other plans. He’d done an Instagram live to interact with some fans, but soon into it, it turned into a promo for Lady Ri. He sang a cover of her song, plugged her album, the whole nine.
The next day, Lady Ri began her rise on the Parisian charts, and across the world Damian Wayne watched it happen, pride blooming in his chest. At first she was practically hanging off them, barely on the board, but then she claimed her spot as sixty four, then forty two, thirty seven, twenty one, seventeen, fourteen, ten, six, soon she was rivaling Jagged himself. Lady Ri was soon Paris famous, as far as the rest of the world, she wasn’t really sure.
She was never seen without her right hand Serpent, because Luka was one hundred percent behind her rise to the top and she was determined that if she had to deal with the public eye, so did he. Serpent didn’t need anything exceedingly extravagant, though he did wear a black mask to conceal his identity and Marinette created a leather jacket in Luka’s signature teal with a beautiful cobra embroidered on the back. It’d taken her weeks.
Lady Ri did a number of concerts locally, each one more packed than the last. She’d come out of her shell, as every version of herself. Lady Ri came into her own as a performer. MDC could negotiate a contract with the best of them. Marinette was braver, she’d look you dead in the eyes and tell you to take a long walk off a short pier if you had a problem with her soul marks. There were a number of times she had to do so as well. And Ladybug finally had The Talk with Chat Noir. He was heartbroken when she’d told him she met her soulmate. She didn’t tell him about her soul marks, in that they were plural. She didn’t want to add fuel to the fire and she didn’t want him to figure out her identity.
As her seventeenth birthday approached, the public’s demand for a second album was finally heard. Marinette got back to work in the studio, planning on having her new album done within two months. It was done in one. Luka only had a few months of school left so he’d decided to finish his out normally, but Marinette decided it was for the best to continue her education remotely from home. It was the best decision for her, juggling her two careers as a musician and Jagged’s creative director was made much easier when she could remote into school from the studio.
When she finished her second album, her rise to the top was expedited. Soon, the label decided to send her on a world tour with Jagged. Lady Ri was a household name in France, but with her ability to speak and sing in English, they had their hopes for her to do well in America as well. Ladybug gave Chat Noir the dragon of the Miraculous to pass onto Kagami. Together they would keep an eye on Paris. Naturally she took Kalaki with her so she could be back in Paris in time to purify any akuma that were to come along.
With the biggest obstacle to Marinette leaving Paris taken care of, they got the tour scheduled for the summer so Serpent could attend as well. They did shows across Europe and Asia before heading to America. She celebrated her birthday in Shanghai with her Uncle Cheng Shifu, Luka and her musical family. It was a wonderful day. After Shanghai they finished out Asia and headed to California to begin the American leg of the tour. They worked from the West Coast to the East Coast. All the while Marinette scanned the crowds, looking for her soulmate.
After their last show in New York City, Marinette was disappointed. She knew her soulmate was American and she had hoped to finally meet him while on tour. She was bummed that it didn’t seem to be meant to be. Luka tried to comfort her, he’d say they were destined to meet and it would happen sooner or later, because fate demanded it. She smiled at his words, but she wanted it to be sooner, not later. Her funk stayed with her for days, until Jagged announced he had a surprise for them. Determined to make this trip the best for Marinette, Jagged arranged for them to stay in America a little longer, with an old friend of his, Bruce Wayne.
Notes:
Next chapter to come.
Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Meeting the Waynes
Summary:
The music fam arrives at Wayne Manor.
Notes:
Here is the promised 2nd Sunday Post!
This chapter is fast paced and a bit hectic, but I didn't feel any particular need to fix it because that is frankly how I picture most of Marinette's life going. Marinette doesn't do things half way, that includes making new friends. Let's see how Damian and the rest of the Waynes cope with Marinette's fast paced way of doing things.
Also, Marinette and Luka are great English speakers, but as someone who speaks multiple languages, English is a bitch. We've got lots of words that mean the same thing, words that are spelled the same and pronounced differently and don't even get me started on the grammar comparisons. So I fully love the trope that Marinette stumbles over her words in English, it's really not realistic for her to make no errors. Please enjoy Luka, Jagged and the Wayne's teasing her for it.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 9
“Jagged,” Marinette could not believe her uncle, “As much as I want to stay in America, why are we bothering your friend?” Marinette hated being a burden. “I have money, you pay me, the record label pays me, and then they pay me again for being your creative designer! And you're an international pop star! We can afford a hotel.”
“Correction Nette, we are international pop stars.” Marinette put her head in her hands. “Brucie has the best security in the country, and his boys are fans, of me and of you and of you again. We are completely protected with them, we are not a burden, we are the most exciting thing to ever happen to them.”
Marinette’s head snapped up, “They don’t know do they?”
“Relax Darning, you know Jagged wouldn’t reveal that information without telling you.” Luka wrapped his arm around her, instantly calming her down.
“They know you’re MDC. They mentioned having a party in my honor and that they’d need new suits. I knew you were looking for a project anyway and offered your services.” Jagged beamed at her. “See, I’ve even found you some entertainment.”
“I hate you. You are so lucky that I’ve been going stir crazy, unable to sew.”
“We love you too Precious.” Penny replied not even looking up from her tablet.
Marinette groaned and cuddled into Luka’s side, she closed her eyes and slept the rest of the car ride to the Wayne’s. When they arrived he gently shook her awake. She took his hand as they were led inside. Marinette couldn’t believe her eyes, this place was huge, it was more like a palace than a house. When they made it through the door, she noticed six men lined up to greet them.
“Hello, I am Alfred, the Wayne family butler. We are most excited to be hosting you while you are in America, if you ever need anything do not hesitate to ask.” Alfred smiled, “Allow me to introduce my Masters. From left to right we have Master Bruce, Master Timothy, Master Richard, Master Jason and Master Damian.”
As he finished, Jagged sprung into action, “Brucie! Good to see you man! Thank you for having us!” He engulfed the head of Wayne Enterprises in a hug. The Wayne’s plus Alfred seemed shocked, but the Parisians all shook their heads.
Marinette stepped forward to peel her uncle off of their host, “Jagged, we have discussed personal boundaries, non?” She pulled him off and smiled apologetically at Mr. Wayne, “I am very sorry Monsieur Wayne. Jagged is not one for propriety.”
“It is okay Mademoiselle, I am well aware. Please, call me Bruce.” He held out his hand for her to shake.
“Only if you will call me Marinette.” She smiled, shaking his hand.
“Ah Brucie, Marinette is my designer, the one I was telling you about. That is Penny, she’s my assistant and my fiancé, and that is Luka.”
“A pleasure to meet you all.” He smiled. He looked like he was going to continue when Timothy cut him off.
“You’re Jagged’s designer?” He asked incredulously.
She smiled walking over to him, “Oui, I am Marinette Dupain Cheng. MDC to most.” She offered him her hand.
“You’re like fifteen.” He seemed surprised.
“I turned seventeen two months ago. I started my job with Jagged when I was thirteen. I assure you, I am good at my job.”
Jagged cackled, “Tell him Nette!” She noticed the youngest Wayne, Damian(?) chuckling as well.
“No, I’m sorry that came out wrong. I wasn’t questioning your qualifications or your talent, I am just surprised that you are so young. I am a big fan of your work, you are quite impressive. I love the album art for Rock Giant.” Timothy looked like he was going to pass out, she kinda felt bad.
Luka laughed, “Darning take it easy on the guy.”
Soon Marinette joined him, “I am sorry, I was- what do you Americans call it? Pulling your limb? Yes. I was pulling your limb! I get the age thing a lot, whenever I drop the MDC facade. I am not offended. It is a pleasure to meet a fan.” She shook his hand, giggling again as she saw his shoulders sag in relief.
Luka came up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head, “We’ve got to work on your English Darning, the phrase is ‘Pulling your leg.’”
“Why do they have so many words meaning the same thing.” Marinette looked up at her boyfriend confused, “I have a fulltime job and school, I cannot be expected to learn all of their words.”
“Then don’t. I certainly don’t know them all.” Jason stepped forward, Marinette released herself from her boyfriend’s grasp to meet him, “Hi, I’m Jason Todd-Wayne. I like you, you’re feisty. How do you feel about nickname’s Marinette?”
“My friends call me Mari, or Jagged calls me Nette, sometimes Nettie.”
“Too generic, you mind if I come up with something else?” Mischief filled his eyes, and Marinette liked it.
Marinette’s eyes sparkled, “I look forward to seeing what you come up with Jason.” Jason shook her hand and then went to shake Luka’s but paused when he noticed the bandage on Luka’s arm. “You okay man?” he asked, gesturing to the bandage.
Luka and Marinette blushed, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s a, I mean it’s just.” He looked at Mari helpless.
“Luka is my soulmate. That’s where his soulmark is, but it reveals something about me that would blow my cover as MDC. He covers it up. It was too hot in the car for long sleeves.” Technically the soulmark did blow her cover, just not as MDC.
“Wow, you guys are so young, you’re very lucky to know each other so soon.” Richard said.
“We were very lucky, we knew before I even received my mark. When I was fifteen, and then my birthday came around and I got a blue guitar pick and it only reaffirmed what we already knew.” Marinette smiled, looking up at her boyfriend.
She didn’t notice the Wayne boy’s reaction to her soul mark, or Damian stiffen.
Alfred cleared his throat, knowing that he needed to interrupt before someone said something without Damian’s permission. “Let’s show our guests to their rooms, allow them to settle.”
Marinette returned to the car and grabbed her bags, following the youngest Wayne, Damian, to her room.
“Thank you for having us Damian,” she smiled at him as he led her towards the room, “I know that Jagged is a disruption, that we all are a disruption to your normal routine. I am sorry to have inconvenienced you in any way, I will do my best to be the very best guest.”
Damian looked over at her surprised, “You are not an inconvenience, in fact I find myself looking forward to having you here. I have hopes that you will continue to mess with Tim.” She laughed, it was cute, “Here we are, this is your room. The one next to it will be Luka’s, after we learned you are soulmates, we thought you’d like to be closer to each other. I’m across the hall,” he motioned to the door across from hers, “If you need anything don’t hesitate to come knock.”
He went to turn away, to give her some space, to give himself some space to process, when he heard her squeal, “There is a puppy on my bed!” She yelled excitedly.
Damian rushed into the room, sure enough, the “puppy” she was referring to was his one hundred and fifty pound Saint Bernard, Titus. “Oh I’m sorry Marinette, that’s my dog Titus, he comes in here to wait for me when my door is closed. I’ll collect him.”
“Noo!” Marinette whined, “I’ve never had a puppy, or a pet at all. He can stay with me, we can cuddle.” She threw her arms around Titus, who seemed to be sending him a smug look.
“Tt, you can keep him, he drools in his sleep.” Damian couldn’t help but think the girl looked adorable, and he did try to stop himself from thinking so.
“I will. He’s the perfect size for a pillow.” She laid down, cuddling into Titus.
“He’s bigger than you.”
“I’m small, I’m used to it.”
“You’ve never had a dog?” Damian asked incredulously, seeming to be playing catch up as far as the actual conversation went.
“Titus is a puppy,” she cooed, scratching the ‘puppy’ behind the ears, “And no, I grew up above a bakery that my parents owned. It would’ve been a health code violation for me to have any kind of pet.”
“Titus is four years old and weighs more than you. In English an adult puppy is a dog.”
“She knows. But she won’t say it. She says all dogs are puppies at heart.” Luka appeared in the doorway, “She is trying to be affectionate with him.” He turned to Damian, “You’re Damian, yes? We didn’t have a chance to be introduced earlier.” Luka held out his hand, “I’m Luka.”
Damian took it. “Damian Wayne, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
For the first time, Damian took the time to actually consider Marinette and Luka. They were beautiful. Marinette was tiny, 5’3” at most? But the way she held herself made her seem strong. Her hair was a deep ink color, and she had adorable freckles that covered her face. Her eyes were gorgeous blue, and they seemed to sparkle when she was excited. Her smile made his heart falter. Luka was tall, taller than him, he had at least a foot on his girlfriend. He seemed slim, long. Long just seemed a good descriptor for Luka. His hair was mostly blue, though he could see his roots were a deep chocolate brown, his eyes were like Marinette’s. His face was angular, handsome. While Marinette was very expressive, Luka looked like the type that wouldn’t reveal much unless he felt so inclined. They looked like his soul marks, Marinette bright and expressive, Luka beautiful and cool. Though if he were right, that would mean...
“So you guys have been on tour the whole time with Jagged? That’s so cool, you must know Lady Ri then right?”
The effect was instantaneous. Marinette froze and Luka chuckled. “Yeah, she’s really sweet, super talented. Her and Mari are close, they even shared a room a few times.” He was laughing now, not necessarily slick.
“You’re lucky. She’s beautiful. I can’t get her voice out of my head.” Damian seemed keen to go on, to embarrass his soulmates, but Marinette cut him off.
“You can’t even see her face.” Marinette said, he couldn’t tell if it was anger, hurt or genuine confusion, “How do you know she’s beautiful?”
“No one who sings like that isn’t beautiful. Law of nature.” He began, counting his reasons out on his fingers. “Her eyes are gorgeous, and deep, like she’s constantly in some state of serious thought. And god her lips, don’t get me started on her lips.” Again, Damian would’ve been happy to continue.
“We won’t.” She said quickly. He looked at his soulmates, Luka was laughing and Marinette had her face buried in Titus’ back.
“He’s not wrong Mar, girl’s hot.” Luka smirked. “I know you’re wound up from being in a car all afternoon. Wanna train?” Luka looked at Damian, counting down from three on his fingers. Sure enough, just as his last finger went down, Marinette’s head shot up.
“We haven’t gotten to get a good session in since we left Europe. Yes! I want to hit things.” She turned from Luka to Damian, “Where’s the nearest gym?”
“The basement, get changed and I’ll take you there.”
“You rock!” She beamed at him, “Now everyone except Titus get out.” The boys retired to their rooms to change, and left Marinette to her business.
Notes:
Again, hectic. But I really love that about it. Update coming Tuesday!
Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Pregame
Summary:
In which Mari is a fucking badass at the gym, blowing the Wayne's minds.
Notes:
Hi everyone! Did you know we have over 4000 hits on the story?! *Screams into the void* I'm so glad you guys are enjoying it. Before we get into it today I have a few points to address.
Firstly I'd like to apologize. I know my Miraculous characters. I grew up with them, I understand them inside and out. Whereas while I love the Batfam, and I love writing them, I'm not sure I'm doing it properly. Properly meaning writing them as close to their canon personalities as possible. I hope you guys are okay with reading my version of them, which is as close to canon as I can reasonably understand. Damian specifically, is not as sharp in my story, but this was intended. Damian for about a year and a half has had Luka and Marinette all up in his head. Having Little Miss Sunshine up in there will inevitably soften you, its really unavoidable.
Secondly, I've had some loyal readers ask me what I'm going to be doing in this story regarding the sexual tension I've been building. I.E, will there be smut. Originally, my intention was to write a smut free story, though I would like to know what you guys want. Comment below on this chapter not just what you thought of the chapter, but a 'Yay' vs, 'Nay' on including smut in the story.
*Also thank you for the catch everyone. My only proof reader is my fiancé and we are both dyslexic!*
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 10
By the time she was done, they were waiting for her in the hallway. She’d opted for her favorite pink athletic leggings, a grey sports bra and a loose tank top over it. Her hair was done in french braided pigtails, so she could practice gymnastics without it getting in the way.
She looked at the two boys, mentally critiquing their fashion choices. Luka wore his favorite tank top, it had a large cobra on the front of it that Marinette had drawn and printed out for him, paired with grey basketball shorts. It wasn’t bad considering he was going to be working out. Damian was the problem. He wore basketball shorts similar to Luka, those weren’t her issue. Her issue was the baggy t-shirt he was wearing that looked two sizes too big for him, it would show his sweat stains and restrict his movement. She made a mental note to discuss it during his fitting.
“Let’s go!” Marinette was practically vibrating with excitement.
They made their way to the gym, on their way they made idle chit chat and the boys checked Marinette out. When they finally got there, she let out an excited squeal. The gym was huge and had everything someone working out could want and then some. They even had gymnastics equipment, uneven bars, balance beams and was that a trapeze?
“Merde.” Luka cursed, “I’m gonna have a hard time getting you out of here aren’t I?”
“Tell Alfred I want my bed moved here.” She ran off, grabbed a mat from the wall and began stretching.
Marinette loved stretching. It was calming, the dull ache in your muscles, holding positions just outside your comfort zone, getting lost in the concentration of holding those positions. She started with touching her toes, then placed her hands flat on the ground, and then wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling her torso flush with her thighs. Unaware of her audience.
Damian and Luka were staring. Luka hadn’t gotten to see her do this in a while, and for Damian it was a first time experience. Luka noticed him looking and chucked. Damian went beet red and tried to apologize but Luka cut him off.
“It’s okay man. I get it. I know you’re not being creepy, she’s just a bendy freak of nature.” Luka smiled, “Besides, my girlfriend’s hot.”
Damian blushed again. “LuLu!” Marinette yelled from where she was, “Toss me another mat!” He pulled a rolled mat off of the wall and brought it to his girlfriend.
“Why does she need two?” Damian asked bewildered.
“You’ll see.” And see they did. Marinette slid into a split on both sides with ease. She hadn’t even stretched that part of her body yet. Then with one hand, she held the rolled matt in place and slid into a split with it under her ankle. “She says a normal split isn’t ‘very stretchy.’ It doesn’t give her the dull ache she’s looking for, this allows her to stretch her legs over one hundred and eighty degrees.” He shrugged his shoulders as she held the position, bending her nose down to her kneecap.
Marinette moved through her stretching routine, leaving Damian and Luka to stare at her. Damian amazed that any of what she was doing was physically possible, Luka in awe that his girlfriend was so pretty. She looked over to the boys with an odd look on her face. At first they thought they were busted.
“Have you guys even started working out?” She asked, “Because I will not be taking it easy on you Lu, better use your warm up time.”
“Taking it easy?” Damian asked.
“It’s a game we made up. Marinette is very agile, we play, ‘Can You Catch Me.’ I have to try to tap her. Extra points if I can get her on her mark.” Luka gestured to his rib cage, “But sometimes I can’t even get her, let alone land such a direct hit.” He shrugged, “I probably should stretch though.”
Marinette began her gymnastics warm up. She started with cartwheels, then roundoffs, then some back handsprings. Then she moved into doing it all with one hand, then with none. She almost fell on her front aerial. “See that Lu?” She asked, “I nearly fell, that’s what happens when you are a couch potato for two months.”
Luka scoffed at her, “You ran at least six miles at every stop we made, and stretched in the aisles of the bus, pissing off Penny.”
“Penny had a stick up her ass.” Mari grumbled.
“You’ll find most people do at three in the morning. Go to the beam Darning, I know you’ve been dying. I’m not done stretching.”
Damian was surprised to see Luka was pretty flexible himself. He didn’t watch Marinette on the beam. He didn’t feel any particular need to have his mind blown again. The rest of the Wayne’s however did watch from the observation window on the first floor.
“That girl is a bendy freak of nature,” Jason whispered to himself as he watched Marinette finish stretching. The rest of the Wayne’s nodded, dumbfounded at the small French girl.
She approached the bar, pulling herself onto it with ease, settling into a seated position with a leg on either side of the bar. She put her elbows down in front of her and kicked her legs up onto the beam, from there she kicked up into an elbow stand. At first with both legs straight, before arching her back further and bending a leg. Her shirt was down by her neck, revealing her abs and her marks for any to see.
When Luka looked up to see his girlfriend, he knew the damage had already been done. “Mari, we’ve got company!” He yelled causing Damian to look up.
“You guys see it too right?” Bruce asked.
“You mean the abs on that chick or the two soul marks on those abs?” Jason scoffed, “Either way yes. Figure’s Demon Spawn’s soulmate would be a gym shark.”
“Her form is very good,” Dick whispered to himself, “Do you think she’d consider trying the trapeze with me?”
“No one wants to get on that death trap with you Circus Freak.” Jason responded.
Marinette looked over at her boyfriend incredulously. She kicked her legs down into a forearm bridge, then raised into a regular bridge before standing up. “Damian is our friend, he should not care that we have two soul marks.” Marinette fumed, “The only reason you cover yours is it blows my whole ‘anonymous’ schtick. I am not ashamed, I will have two great loves in my life.” She glared at her boyfriend, she did an aerial forward than a back handspring flipping off of the beam.
“Besides, I’ve been on a bus for a month, don’t make me hold back.” She came up to them. She looked Damian in the eye defiantly, “I have two soul marks and if you have a problem with that, we will leave.”
“Ha! She told him!” Jason yelled.
“He looks like he’s going to throw up.” Dick noted. Bruce nodded solemnly.
“Why doesn’t he just show her?” Tim asked incredulously.
Damian had no idea how he got where he was now. She wanted a gym, he took her to the best gym on the east coast; she wanted to stretch, he ogled a little, but she got to stretch; she wanted to flip and flop around on an elevated stick, he let her! Now he was in trouble, for something he didn’t even do! He’d never judge her or Luka, even if they weren’t his soulmates. But they were. He loved the way she was willing to stick up for him, she didn’t even know him yet. His soulmate was scary.
“I don’t. Um, have a problem with it that is. It’s your business and I’d never judge you for that. I didn’t mean to imply that I wasn’t cool with it or anything-”
“You didn’t. I did.” Luka started, “I know I will love our second soulmate, I’m not ashamed of that. But I don’t go shouting it from the rooftops the way Mari does, it’s embarrassing sometimes, to have to explain it. Guys have asked me if I would be willing to share her because of our marks. I don’t like to advertise and when I told her to cover it she jumped to conclusions.” Luka sent a knowing look to his girlfriend, who blushed and looked down.
“You mean he didn’t-”
“No Mar, he didn’t say anything rude or untoward, nothing like the way he did.”
“You can say his name, I won’t break.”
“He doesn’t deserve it.” Luka sighed, “Damian has done nothing wrong. So kiss and make up.” He lightly pushed his girlfriend over to their friend. She stumbled and nearly fell into Damian, but he caught her and helped her up. Only for her to lean back into him and wrap her arms around him.
“I am so sorry Damian, we’ve had friends who are no longer our friends because of our marks. People say vile things to Luka, about how I must be a freak. People already think stuff like that when I am in the gym, so I assumed when he reacted that you were like him , but you are not and I am sorry.” She pushed her face into his chest. “I should have known better, Titus would never be such a bad judge of character! Again I am so sorry, what can I do to make it up-”
Damian threw his arms around her, “There is nothing to make up for Angel. I understand bad experiences, you were defending yourself and your love. You have done nothing wrong, I’m not offended, I’m not hurt, no harm no foul.” He paused, considering his next move carefully, “You know, I didn’t even see your marks. Nothing for me to judge in the first place.” He released her.
“Do you want me to show you? My marks are so beautiful!” She beamed up at him, “LuLu’s looks like him! And our other soulmate must be an artist like us! We also know he’s and American like you, we bet he’s handsome because his mark is so pretty.”
“Did he just hug her?” Bruce asked disbelieving.
“Is he blushing?” Dick asked, even more confused.
“No that’s impossible, he must be having a stroke. Summon Alfred!” Jason nearly yelled.
“What the hell did he say to her? She seems all cheerful and happy and holy hell is she taking off her shirt?” Tim was impressed, he didn’t think Damian was that smooth.
“Relax, she’s showing him her marks.” Bruce mumbled, he knew he was going to have his work cut out for him.
Before Damian could respond, the small girl, his soulmate was lifting her shirt up. She held it up so it was just covering her bra but her stomach was showing. He looked down at her and sure enough on the left side of her body were two soul marks, Luka’s on top and what must’ve been his below it.
“You’re right,” he said quietly, “It is beautiful.” He could hardly believe something so beautiful and soft was meant to represent him. He went to look back at her when his eyes caught on something. “Do you have a tattoo?” He wondered aloud.
“Oh, uh yeah. It says ‘Souviens-toi de la mission.’ It’s the first thing we heard our soulmate say. He was trying to focus, it was the night we got together and we were being distracting.”
“Distracting?” She was being distracting again, he couldn’t take his eyes off of the curling script poking out from under the seam of her bra.
“That was the night we found each other, but I’d been in love with Mari for years before that. We got carried away with each other.” Luka wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, “Apparently he was busy.”
Marinette turned to look at Luka, blushing at the memory, “Can we play now?”
“We don’t want to leave Damian out Love.”
“Damian can play too!” She turned, smiling at him, “Wanna play with us?”
Notes:
You know the drill guys, I'm dying to know what you thought. Comment below!!
Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Let's play a game
Summary:
Mari shows Damian (plus the rest of the Batboys) how good she is at playing games.
Notes:
Morning everyone! We're at over 5,000 views!!!!!!!
Anyway here is Damian and Luka vs. Marinette in a game of keep away. I really just love writing our girl being impressive and buff.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 11
“What are we playing again?” Damian tore his eyes from the skin of Marinette’s stomach, he decided not to think about her tattoo, “That keep away game?”
“You got it, I get a ten second head start and you boys have to come get me!” She declared before flitting away laughing. His eyes followed her as she flipped around, laughing all the way. As Damian reached eight in his head, she whipped around, “Though, usually Luka gets tired and calls ‘uncle,’ but I can’t do that with both of you. So I propose a rule change! You boys get five minutes to try to catch me, when those five minutes are up I can try to get you, but I have to tap you on your mark. LuLu’s are on his right forearm, where is yours Damian?”
Damian blushed , trying to figure out how to play this, “Right bicep M.” Luka responded for him. He blushed further, maybe Luka was paying just as much attention to him as he was to Luka.
“Okay, I can make that work, give me five seconds boys, then come get me!”
She ran away, using her momentum to launch into an aerial. As she landed, her time was up, she moved into a defensive stance. She was ready when Luka got close to her, but he wasn’t ready for her. She lunged, sweeping his feet out from under him. She sprung, pinning him to the ground as he fell, grabbing his forearms and holding them down.
“That would’ve been a point for me, Love.” She gloated.
“You’re right Darning,” he smirked, “I must be rusty.”
“I’m not stupid.” She launched into action, fully aware Damian was coming up behind her. She jumped forward, keeping her hands where they were to continue to restrain Luka, she used them as a support while she landed into her backbend. She quickly released Luka’s arms and stood up, running away again. She laughed, smiling as though the move was effortless to her.
“I’d say we were close but it looks like she knew what we were up to from the beginning.” Damian looked over to Luka who was flushed.
“You’re right,” He paused, dragging himself up from off the ground, “She just likes to make me flustered.”
“And I’m beginning to see what you mean by ‘agile.’ Getting into a backbend from that angle would’ve required a good amount of core and arm strength.” Damian mused.
“I mean yeah, you did see her abs didn’t you?” The boys blushed at the thought before charging again.
She was waiting for them on the trampoline, bouncing from foot to foot. Some might’ve written it off as anxiousness, but Damian knew she was building momentum. He stepped forward, ready to engage her. Though it soon became clear that she was messing with him as well. She bounced from foot to foot one more time, before launching herself at Damian. She jumped at him, using her hands to brace most of her weight on his shoulder. She swung her leg around his neck. She sat on his shoulders for what couldn’t've been more than a millisecond, she brought her hands up to his head, bracing her weight there before swinging her legs down and using the momentum of the trampoline to back handspring away.
“What the hell is she on?” Jason yelled.
“She could’ve taken him down if she’d been so inclined.” Tim mused.
“He would’ve been able to touch her if she lingered for any longer, she would’ve lost.” Dick realized.
“Pixie’s pretty calculating.”
She smiled at the boys from a safe distance, “You guys have enough time for maybe one more play, then the mouse gets to chase the cats around.” She laughed, looking them up and down appraisingly.
“How the hell did she do that?” Damian asked Luka while trying to figure out a game plan.
“Mari is small. But she hates being helpless,” he paused trying to figure out how to explain away her talents, “When she first started with Jagged some guys tried to grab her backstage. Creeps think small means an easy target. She knew enough to hit them where it hurt. She’s also been targeted by Hawkmoth’s akuma’s a few times. Her mom and great Uncle Fu decided to get her in some martial arts and self defense classes. Mari took to it.” When in doubt, Luka defaulted to half truths.
“We’re only gonna be able to get her if her guard is down.” Damian said more to himself than anyone else.
“Her guard doesn’t go down.” Luka responded, “I’ve been attacked while sleeping.”
“So we’re winging this then.”
“Try and keep a decent distance between you and her, that timer is going to go off soon and she won’t hesitate.” And with that, the boys charged.
They barely got close to her before the alarm went off. She smirked as the sound filled the room. “Ready to play for real?” She asked her boyfriend as he got close to her. He swung his left arm out at her, hoping to wrap it around her and pull her in close enough to get at her mark. She ducked under it, sliding on her knees towards him. A quick jab to the back of his knee had him tumbling. She grabbed his leg, redirecting his weight to control his fall. He landed on his back with his girlfriend over him. She had his left leg tucked under her arm and she used her other hand to pin him down by his right forearm. She smiled at him sweetly, leaning down to give him a soft kiss, “I gotcha.”
The floor behind her creaked, she rolled over Luka’s shoulder quickly. As she stood back up, Damian was already on her again. He swept down at her feet, but she’d anticipated that and she was already flipping away. She smiled at him before running back at him. He’d been ready for her to strike at his right side where his mark was, so when she started towards his left, he was admittedly a bit thrown. She launched herself at him, wrapping her legs around him as an anchor she tried to reach behind him over to his right bicep. Damian backed into the wall so she couldn’t reach behind him, she shifted her weight to grab at his arm with her right hand. Now they were face to face, though she wasn’t looking at him, she was reaching for his mark. Damian’s hands came up to support her. Her hand reached his mark seconds after he reached hers.
“Gotcha.” They said at the same time, finally looking at each other. They both turned red realizing the precarious position they were in. Mari looked down at herself, Damian was essentially pinned against the wall and her legs were wrapped around his waist. His hand was under her shirt both holding her up and resting on her mark. One of her hands was pressing his left shoulder into the wall and the other was under his sleeve, gripping his bicep.
“Should we be watching this?” Tim asked his brothers.
“I mean B left the first time she wrapped her legs around his neck.” Dick shrugged.
“Don’t you guys want to know if he has moves or not?” Jason asked with a devilish smile.
“No, I want nothing to do with any of this!”
“If I were a lesser man I might be jealous,” Luka teased.
Marinette locked her legs tighter around Damian, “You’re not the jealous type LuLu. Besides Dami and I were playing.” She looked at Damian smirking. “Do me a favor and hold my waist.” As he readjusted his grip on her she began leaning back, as her hands reached the ground she unlocked her legs and kicked up off of him. She lingered in the handstand for a moment before kicking the rest of the way down. She stood beaming.
“That was so much fun, it’s so much more challenging with two people!”
“It certainly didn’t seem that way Angel.” Damian looked over at her, “It was like you were playing with your food.”
“What do you mean? You beat me!”
That surprised Luka, “You beat her?”
“Barely, by two seconds max.” He smirked at Luka, “She thought she’d already won, her guard was down.”
“It is possible that I get slightly cocky when I know I’m winning.” Marinette grumbled. “Either way, Damian definitely beat me. Finally, I was on a seven month winning streak.”
“That’s not fair!” Luka started, “We were on tour for two of those months.”
“We could’ve played before sound checks but you never challenged me.”
Damian watched the two bicker back and forth. They poked fun at each other, flirting and enjoying the other’s conversation. They looked good together, they looked right. They’ve been together for a year, been friends for four. They had so much history and they made each other so happy, how could he possibly fit into their dynamic. They fit together so well without him like two pieces of a puzzle, what could they possibly need him for. He watched them closely, they looked so happy. They were both so beautiful and he didn’t want to ruin their dynamic, maybe he should just-
“Right Damian?”
“What?” Damian looked up at Luka, “Sorry can you repeat that?”
“You okay Dami?” Marinette asked, eyes full of concern.
“Dami?” Both boys looked at her confused.
“If he can call me Angel, surely I can call him Dami.” She paused looking at him, “If it is not okay I will stop. I just adore nicknames.” She smiled at him, his knees went weak.
“I- uh, no. That’s fine.” Damian paused realizing the time, “Knowing Alfred, dinner’s gonna be in about thirty. I’ll take you guys back to your rooms so you can get ready.”
Notes:
See y'all Saturday!!
Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Hors D'oeuvres
Summary:
A little pre-dinner action to get your appetites going.
Notes:
Hi all, I hope you like it. Honestly almost no plot in this chapter, just fluff and blushing.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 12
When he finally returned to his bedroom, Damian felt like his normal self for the first time in what felt like days. He showered and changed quickly, hoping to get in some good old fashioned Titus cuddles before dinner. If there was anything Damian needed now, it was some alone time, just him, his dog and some space for processing. But of course, he realized as he finished, he couldn’t do that. Because his weird athletic bendy soulmate stole his dog! He wanted his dog back, quickly, without thinking about it he stormed across the hall.
“Marinette!” He banged on her door loudly, “Can I please have my dog back?” No answer. “Marinette! I know I complained about him but I really need my dog!”
“You need your dog?” Damian jumped, he hadn’t heard Luka sneak up behind him. Fucking soulmates, he was getting distracted and losing his touch.
“Yes, I have something I need to discuss with him.” Damian said seriously.
Luka chuckled, “I’m sure you do. Come on, she’s still in the shower anway, she won’t mind.” Luka opened the door and went inside, dumbfounded, Damian could only follow.
Luka was right, Marinette was still in the shower. He noticed all of her things were still packed apart from her sketchbook which laid open on her bed. Titus was laying by the bathroom door, at first Damian thought he was guarding Marinette. However at a deeper inspection, he realized his eyes were closed. Now Damian knew Titus snored, so the dog wasn’t sleeping. He came up to his dog to pet him, crouching down next to him, that’s when he heard it. Marinette was singing, his dog was outside the bathroom door listening to her sing.
Behind him, Luka chuckled, “Yeah, she has that effect on people, lots of animals too.” Damian nodded, mystified. He hadn’t heard her sing live in such a long time, he’d only been able to listen to recordings of her voice. And frankly, the recordings did her no justice.
“So call me blind. I've been waiting all my life,” He heard the smile in her voice, and it was infectious.
“Please don't scar this young heart, Just take my hand.” He gasped as her voice gained volume, filling the bathroom, beautiful.
“I was made for loving you.” Damian blushed, “Even though we may be hopeless hearts just passing through. Every bone screaming, I don't know what we should do.” His heart fluttered as she sailed through the high notes with ease, “All I know is, darling, I was made for loving you.” He knew she wasn’t singing to him, he knew it. But damn it all to hell, every part of him wished she was.
Damian listened to her, enamoured. Luka smiled, he could feel Damian’s amazement through their bond.
“You know, if you asked her, she might sing for you.” Damian looked up at him shocked, “She won’t do it for just anybody, but she seems to like you, to enjoy your company.” Luka smirked down at him. “I find I do as well, I know there is more to you than meets the eye.”
Damian didn’t have time to respond before the door he was leaning against opened. Titus looked up at a wet Marinette practically beaming. “Woof,” he barked at her.
“Hi handsome,” She leaned down to pet him, “I missed you too,” She looked up, just now noticing her non-canine guests, “Did you throw a party while I was gone Titus?”
“Damian apparently needed his dog. Do you mind Melody?” Luka asked her.
“Of course not. Though I wished you boys stopped by when I was a bit more clothed.” Damian took his eyes off the ground and finally looked at Marinette. Her cheeks were stained pink from the warm water, just being near her made him warm. Her hair was wet, it dripped on him. A quick glance down from her face confirmed his fears, all that was covering her was a towel that she held closed with one hand.
“If you boys don’t mind I’d like to rectify the lack of clothing issue.” She said, clearly meaning ‘Hey please leave my fucking room you mild perverts.’ She stood, Damian was about to follow suit and leave when Luka put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him down.
“We don’t mind at all Darning. Carry on.” He smiled at her with a devilish look in his eye. A flush covered Marinette, it began at the tips of her ears and ended somewhere beneath the towel- NOPE BAD THOUGHT DAMIAN. ABORT. Soon enough Damian was sure he looked like her.
“You vile, sneaky snake.” She practically whispered, barely succeeding to keep the laughter from her voice, “Are you sure I’m the one that likes to fluster you?” She was laughing for real now. “If you boys want a show I’m afraid I’ve got nothing for you. Damian if you need Titus you may try to take him on your way out. Though he seems quite taken with me.”
Damian shot up, fully ready to bolt. He didn’t even have the mental capacity to deal with regular soulmate Marinette, now he had naked soulmate Marinette.
“Are you sure I can’t stay Darning?” Luka leaned in close to her, his face inches from hers. Part of Marinette wanted to kiss him, the other part of her screamed that Damian was there and she was still only wearing a towel. Little did she know, most of Damian wanted to watch Luka kiss her.
“Everyone out!” Marinette was very red. “And you!” She pointed at Luka, switching to French, “ Remember what I promised you, after months of bunking with my uncle and his fiance? Remember what I promised you tonight? Gone. Nope done. None for you buddy .”
Damian laughed, “ Serves you right ‘you vile, sneaky snake .’” He spoke in near perfect French.
“Shit.” Marinette could barely function, “Damian, please take him out of here. I’m either going to fuck him or fuck him up if he stays any longer. I just want to get dressed.”
“You know, I’m willing to take my chances, I feel the pros are outweighing the cons here.”
“Damian, please.”
“Titus, come.” Damian said. The dog stood and trotted out of the room, Damian followed closely behind pulling Luka by the wrist. Marinette slammed the door behind them and screamed.
“I hope you enjoyed my informative lesson on how to push Marinette’s buttons.” Luka smirked at him, looking down at Damian’s hand on his wrist. “If you ask her nicely, I’m sure she’ll show you how to push mine.”
Damian couldn’t take it anymore. “You. Are driving me insane. And you know it. I need time. Please.”
Luka visibly softened, “Anything you need.” He smiled at Damian, “Though I fully plan on using you to fluster Marinette.”
“When I am done, you fuckers are going to pay for your constant distractions.” He turned on his heel, with Titus following along happily.
“Promise?” Luka yelled as he left.
Damian enjoyed a calming walk through the gardens with his best boy Titus. Naturally, the calm couldn’t last too long because it was almost time for dinner. But he did enjoy it while he could. He sat down on the benches with Titus. Thinking about his day. So, he met his soul mates. Yesterday if you had asked him, he would’ve told you soulmates are stupid, a needless distraction. And while his soulmates were definitely a distraction. He couldn’t hold any disdain for them. He found them both so fascinating, so beautiful. He wanted to know more about them, he wanted to make them pay for distracting him, he wanted to be with them. They were both so kind, so good, so good together. How could he fit in with them? He could feel the way they’d changed him over the years, where he was once sharp, the bond wore him down into something less cutting. In the year their bond had been fully formed they had done more to help Damian heal than his family had in the years he’d been with them.
“Damian?” her voice shook him from his stupor, he’d know her voice anywhere. He looked up at her and his throat went dry. Her hair was dry now, it came down around her shoulders in loose curls. She wore a beautiful off the shoulder white dress with pink flowers on it, it wrapped around her waist tantalizingly.
“Yes Marinette?” he asked carefully.
“Alfred wanted to tell you that dinner is ready.” She smiled at him, “May I walk you?”
“Of course you can.” He got up, leaving Titus to roam as he wanted. They walked in silence for a few moments, but Marinette being herself couldn’t let that stand.
“I wanted to apologize Damian, I’m very sorry. I’m afraid I have made things weird. I made you play our game and then I paraded around my room in a towel and I am so sorry. I have forgotten my propriety.”
Despite himself and his overwhelmed state, Damian laughed. “Angel, you haven’t done anything wrong!” He stopped in his tracks looking down at her, “It was a pleasure to play that game with you. You are a real challenge, and it was surprising and a delight to realize. As far as the ‘parading in a towel,’ you were in your own room. I was an intruder, if anything you were the victim, you don’t owe me an apology.”
“I want to be your friend Damian. I think you want to be mine, but I can tell some part of you is fighting it.” She looked up at him and he found himself wondering how her eyes were so big and so blue, “Do you want to be my friend?”
“Angel, of course I want to be your friend.” He sighed heavily, trying to figure out how to word this, “You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever met, admittedly, you’re throwing me for a bit of a loop. You heard my brothers call me ‘Demon Spawn,’ I am normally very abrasive, but something about you brings out this side of me that I didn’t know I had. I know it’s probably the best side of me, someone like you can only bring out the best in people, but some part of me is angry that you’ve been able to change me so.”
She threw her arms around him. “You don’t need to change to be my friend Dami. You can be whoever you want to be! I can handle mean.”
“I’m not sure if either of us can control it Angel. Though if you’re behind it I’m willing to bet it's for the best.” For the second time that day, Damian hugged her.
Notes:
Tomorrow is the much awaited dinner chapter. . .
Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Dinner Reveals All
Summary:
Dinner with the Waynes! Attention seems awfully focused on Marinette and she gets flustered.
Notes:
Morning everyone! I really liked writing this chapter, its the exact kind of frenzied that I think would happen if you take all the Waynes, stick them in a room with new people, and tell them two of those people are Damian's soulmates.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 13
“Are you ready to meet the rest of my family?” Damian asked her carefully, he made sure to put a tone in his voice that made clear this was a bad thing.
“I am very ready. Alfred said they all seem very excited to meet us.” She looked over at him, “They must all listen to Jagged, non?”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her that to his family Jagged was now the least interesting Parisian in the manor to his family. He hoped he’d be able to keep up with their questions and side step their poking and prodding.
When they entered the dining room everyone was already at the table. “Mr. Stone I didn’t get a chance to tell you earlier but I really am a big fan of your work. I love how diverse your music is, from your hardcore stuff like the Rock Giant album to your softer songs like Penny and She’s Miraculous .” Tim was fawning over Jagged. Marinette shot him a smug look that screamed ‘I told you so.’
“Did she ever forgive you for She’s Miraculous Jagged?” Luka asked playfully.
“Ask your girlfriend. She’d certainly know better than me.”
“For the last time Jagged, she’s not mad.” Marinette announced from the door, “She just wants to be taken seriously. As a hero, not a public figure.”
“Who are we talking about?” Jason piped in.
“Ladybug.” The four Parisians said at the same time.
“She’s your hero right? Why would Marinette know what she thought?”
“Lulu please don’t-”
“Marinette was a temporary hero on and off.” He said with a shit eating grin.
“Now you’ve done it.” Marinette mumbled.
“Damn straight she was! My little niece is a close confidant of LB. She was Multimouse for a year or so. But her cover got blown, she’s retired.”
“Todd-”
“Already googling it Demon Spawn.”
Marinette sat down, promptly putting her head down on the table. “You are all torturing me.”
At the end of the table, Jason turned his laptop around, revealing a video of Marinette fighting an akuma. She was doing well, holding her own, beating the shit out of the guy really. One of his hands caught on her necklace, the miraculous of the mouse, it didn’t even look intentional, like the guy just got lucky. Nevertheless, the necklace came off and Marinette was revealed. “Fuckass Hawk-bitch!” Marinette screamed at him. She punched the guy in the face, spinning on her heel she roundhouse kicked him in the face. Breaking his glasses, releasing the akuma from the object. “Cunt.” She told him as she ripped the necklace from the de-transforming akuma’s hand. She put on her miraculous and transformed.
“She was a meme for a little while, very popular amongst her peers. I’m so proud.”
“I’ll fuck you up Couffaine.”
“That was sick Pixie!”
“This explains so much,” Damian mumbled.
“Is there anything you don’t do?” Tim asked her from the end of the table.
“Reach things off the top shelf.” She muttered to herself. Though apparently she was louder than she thought because the table erupted in laughter.
“You look awfully young in this video Marinette, how old were you ?” Bruce interrupted concerned.
Marinette looked over to Luka for help, “I was fourteen? Fifteen?”
“It was like a month before your fifteenth birthday. Your parents were worried sick and you were basically grounded until then.”
“And are all of your hero’s so young?”
“Ladybug and I are the youngest, both with summer birthdays. Everyone else is a bit older, Viperion is the oldest of us I think. He’s probably got a year or two on us.” Marinette paused, she needed to end the subject, “But like you saw, my cover was blown. It wasn’t safe for me to have a miraculous anymore. Ladybug is still my friend, admittedly so is Chat, but that part of my life is over. Now I’m just a civilian who is overly cautious. And I’ve developed a bit of a gym obsession.”
“From what the boys are telling me, it’s a pretty big obsession.” Marinette looked up and in the doorway were three women, the blonde one was the one talking, “Sorry we’re late. Someone got lost in a case she was working on.” The blonde woman shot a look at her friend who looked down blushing.
Marinette stood up smiling, happy to meet the rest of the Waynes and happy for the change of topic, “You just be Stephanie, Barbara and Cassandra.” She went over to them offering her hand, “Alfred told me we’d be meeting you at dinner, I’m so happy to meet you.”
She shook Stephanie and Barbara’s hands, as she approached Cass she switched to ASL ‘My name is Marinette, it is very nice to meet you.’ She signed before offering her hand.
Cass beamed at her, “Do you sign Marinette?” Steph asked her, shocked.
“No,” Marinette blushed, “But Alfred told me that Cass is non verbal, I didn’t want to leave her out, Luka and I did some light googling before dinner.” She smiled, “LuLu come introduce yourself.”
Damian couldn’t help but smile as his soul mates introduced themselves to the rest of his family. Of course they were that considerate. He looked at Cass, she already loved them, Cass was never this happy to meet people. He’d never seen Cass or really anyone in his family take to new people so quickly. He watched them contently chat with his family with a small smile on his face. An elbow to his side shook him from his stupor.
“Do they know?” Dick asked him quietly, “Because I’ve got to know if they’re really this nice or if their kissing ass because we’re their soulmate’s family.”
“We haven’t discussed it yet. I wanted to know them first, but I think Luka figured me out. Marinette’s definitely clueless though if the conversation we had before dinner is any indication.” Damian whispered back.
“Not that I’m trying to rush you, but why are you holding back. They’re great.”
“Exactly.”
“Everyone, please sit down, I will be serving dinner momentarily.” Alfred came into the room and left as quick as he came.
Together the Waynes plus their French guests enjoyed dinner. Jagged and Bruce told a story about when they were younger. Penny and Tim had a conversation about something business-y, honestly Damian wasn’t paying attention. Luka, Jason and Babs were talking about music, Jagged cut in a few times when his name came up. Inevitably when Lady Ri came up Marinette blushed, pulling her and Steph into the conversation as well.
“I’m just saying, all due respect to Mr. Stone of course,” Jason nodded at Jagged, “Lady Ri is fantastic, she’s gonna be huge not just in Europe but here as well.” He paused looking over at Luka, “She’s been out for what a year? And she’s got two albums out and she’s sold out stadiums here.”
“She didn’t do any of that alone! Jagged helped her with all of that!” Marinette cut in.
“No Nettie. I showed her off to the record execs and plugged her on Instagram once. Her talent got her the rest of the way.” He sent her a pointed look. “Student’s gonna surpass the master eventually. Though maybe eventually isn’t the right word. Her American following may already be bigger than mine.”
“Jagged.” Marinette looked at her Uncle, eyes full of concern.
“No Precious, it’s okay. We love you and we’re proud.” He wrapped his arm around his fiancé, “I could retire happy now. That’s not in the cards quite yet, but when the time comes, I’ll be happy to watch you carry on.” He smiled at her. For a moment, they forgot where they were, they were just the music fam on the tour bus, enjoying each other’s company.
Then Jason cut in. “Holy hell!” He got up from his chair and kneeled down by Marinette, covering parts of her face with his hands, “You’re her!”
“Ooops. Sorry Nette.”
“No dessert for you Jagged.” Marinette sighed, pulling Jason’s hands away from her face.
“We love your music!” Tim announced loudly, “Damian got us hooked on the French music scene like two years ago. We’ve been listening to you since the beginning.”
“So to be clear; you were a superhero, you are a critically acclaimed fashion designer, and you are an international pop star? And you’re seventeen?” Stephanie nearly yelled.
Marinette looked down at her plate and blushed, “I mean, I don’t really think of myself as critically acclaimed or an international pop star. I just like to be creative. Jagged needs clothes or album covers and his music inspires me. I just like to sing, be near my music family. Sometimes that goes down in a sound booth, sometimes that goes down in my bedroom. And recently that’s been happening in stadiums. I don’t really think about it the way you guys are describing it, because that makes it too big, too unmanageable. I just like to be busy.” She paused looking up, “I wear the mask for a reason. I don’t want the special treatment, I don’t want the amazement. I want to create. I want the honest reactions that come with that. I want to make people happy and I don’t want them to thank me, certainly not as Marinette.”
“You’re an Angel.” The words were out of Damian’s mouth before he could stop them.
She looked over to him smiling, “And you’re too kind Dami.” Luka smirked at them, his soulmates were dense.
“She thinks Damian is kind?” Barbara asked Dick. When he nodded she fake whispered, “What happened today while we were gone?”
“If everyone is done, Marinette took the liberty of providing dessert tonight.” Alfred announced trying to break the tension.
“How did she get him to drop the honorific?” Tim asked frantically, “I’m still Master Timothy, I’ve known you for years Alfred!”
“I’ll help you Alfred.” Marinette got up and followed him out of the room.
As she left, all eyes fell on Damian. Luka laughed, “You have no idea how royally fucked you are man. Where you are right now, I was there for two years.”
Marinette and Alfred came back into the room carrying boxes from a bakery. “I had Maman and Papa express deliver some of our award winning macrons when I found out we would be staying here. My way of saying thank you for opening your home to us.” She sent a look over at Jagged, “You only get one Mr. ‘Let me blow my niece’s cover.’” She put a macron in front of her Uncle.
Jagged had a pouty look on his face, “It’s fair,” He said, taking a bite.
She and Alfred walked around the table, allowing everyone to pick a few cookies from the box. “Bon appetit!” She announces as she handed the last of the cookies to Bruce.
She sat down as everyone began eating the macrons. Naturally the compliments began flooding in. “Merci beaucoup! I will pass the kind words on to Maman and Papa. They will be glad to hear everyone enjoyed them.” She gave them all a shy smile, “If it is okay with everyone, I think I will retire for the evening. I have some sketches to do, and I want to leave a message for my parents.” She got up and began heading to her room.
Luka and Damian felt it. How overwhelmed she was. They looked up at each other, “Do you want me to handle this alone or are you ready to talk?” Luka asked him gently.
“There is no way I’m not going to go to her when she’s feeling like this.” He got up and took Luka’s hand, together they went after her.
“So is he their third?” Jagged asked as they left.
Notes:
Poor Mari, good thing she has two knights in shining armor ;)
Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Discovery
Summary:
Luka and Damian go help to help their girl, inevitably the conversation shifts.
Notes:
Morning everyone! Have you ever just written something and and read it over, suddenly faced with the reality that you can't tell if you love it or hate it? That's where I am at with this chapter. I feel strong emotions, I just can't tell if they're good or bad.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 14
Damian dragged Luka through the manor, guided by the swirl of negative feelings Marinette was sending out. As they finally arrived at Marinette’s door, he paused. He knew he wanted to help, but if he was being honest, he didn’t know what that entailed.
“I can feel you getting overwhelmed too.” Luka said quietly, “Are we really that scary?” Luka moved closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Marinette is a literal Angel, and you with your teasing. You guys are so good together, and you make me different. I don’t know how to be around you.”
“If you have to force it, you’re not doing it right.” Luka looked down at him, moving his hand to cup his face. “We just want you.”
Damian didn’t know what to say at that, people were always asking him to be something he wasn’t. He always needed to be kinder, smile for the cameras, be less harsh, less mean. No one wanted Just Damian.
“None of that, we want you. The way you are, only you.” Luka leaned closer to him, close enough where he could close the distance and kiss him, should he be so inclined. And damn him, he wanted to kiss Luka. He grabbed him by the collar and kissed him fiercely. The minute their lips connected he saw stars. He felt Luka gasp against him, well that was a nice sound. He turned them around, pushing Luka against Marinette’s door. After all that teasing, he was glad to finally have Luka at his mercy. He let his hands snake into his hair, enjoying Luka’s reactions against him. He leaned in closer to deepen the kiss fully planning on flustering Luka more and getting more reactions, but then the fucking door opened.
“LuLu is that you?” He vaguely heard Marinette say, but of course he wasn’t really sure what she said because he was a bit busy falling through the doorway, pinning Luka to the ground. He was honestly afraid to look up, afraid Marinette was going to beat his ass for making a move on her boyfriend.
“Care to explain boys?” She asked in a bored tone.
“We were coming to check on you Melody.” Luka said from under him, Damian moved to get off Luka, but Luka’s hands shot out to stop him. So instead of getting off of Marinette’s boyfriend he was stuck straddling him. Luka looked at Damian intently, “We know you’re overwhelmed and we’ve come to make it better. And we have something to talk about, all three of us.”
Marinette opened the door the rest of the way, “Damian, get off of my boyfriend. Both of you come in, Titus and I were cuddling.” She sat back down on the bed and wrapped her arms around Titus. Damian got up off of Luka, and Luka only pouted about it a little. They sat down on her bed, and Damian tried his best not to squirm and be awkward.
“Spill Darning.” Luka said, “I know what you’re thinking but why don’t you let Damian in on the action.”
“Everyone knows everything.” She looked at him with a sad look in her eyes. “I wanted to be Just Marinette. Now I have to be impressive.”
“Angel, you don’t need to try to be impressive, Just Marinette is plenty.” Damian understood better than she thought, he often thought of himself in a very similar way.
“Dami, I like you a lot. But I met you like six hours ago. Just Marinette is not as cool as you think.” She paused, looking down at Titus. “Just Marinette is an anxious push over, she was bullied, afraid to sing, or be creative in any public capacity. That’s why there are so many Marinettes. They all hide behind some kind of mask, so no unrealistic expectations fall onto Just Marinette. Your family seems so nice Dami, but realistically, I don’t know them. It takes me months to decide whether or not I’m gonna bring people into the fold. Instead, people I met thirty minutes ago know. They know almost every side of me. I much prefer hiding.”
“No no no.” Damian said softly, he grabbed her hand, getting her to look back at him, “There can be eight million different Marinettes to the public. But in private, those of us who care about you will only see one. Those of us who care about you aren’t looking to judge you, only to support you, and help all the Marinettes be the best they can be, but also to keep Just Marinette sane.”
Marinette leaned over Titus and kissed him on the cheek, she hugged him tightly. “Damian I am not the angel. You are surely an angel that was sent to me.” Damian wrapped his arms around her. How did these people get so much of him so quickly without his permission. Hell, even though he didn’t give the permission, had he been asked, he would’ve granted it readily. He buried his face in her shoulder, enjoying being this close to her. He felt the bed shift, and heard Titus’s paws clack against the ground as he left the room. He didn’t notice Luka getting closer to them until he was practically on top of them.
“He’s right Mari, but you already knew that.” Luka said quietly into her ears, “It’s okay to need reminding every once in a while Darning.” He slung an arm around her, “For the next part of our conversation, you should ask Damian to take his shirt off.” He whispered into her ear quietly.
Marinette let go of Damian so fast he was afraid she’d hurt herself. “Excuse moi?” She whipped her head around at her boyfriend, “I should ask Damian to do what?” She quickly turned pink.
“If you don’t ask him to I will,” Luka shrugged before leaning back over to his girlfriend. “Ask Damian to take off his shirt. You’ll see why in a moment.” He rubbed her back, “You can do it.” Luka looked at Damian hungrily.
“Damian, will you please takeoffyourshirt?” She squeaked out.
A slight twinge of pink appeared on Damian’s features, “Anything you’d like Angel.” He replied eloquently. He began unbuttoning his shirt, button by button, tantalizingly slow. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying the sight of his soulmates sitting on a bed practically salivating at him taking off his shirt. Luka was outright staring at him, his eyes bulging every time a button popped and more skin was revealed. Marinette was red, trying her best to look anywhere else, but every few seconds her eyes would find his chest.
As he finished the last button, he shrugged off his shirt. Subconsciously he kept his right arm further away from them. “Why exactly, did we have Damian take off his shirt?” Marinette asked looking down at the bed spread.
“We deserve some eye candy Mar.” Luka teased, “Why don’t you take a look.”
“Lu, what are you doin-” She looked up, eyes catching on Damian’s bicep. “Is that? Are those?” Forgetting herself, Marinette moved to the end of the bed, grabbing Damian’s arm. She smiled as she traced the outlines of the marks on his skin. “Your ours?” She asked excitedly.
Damian turned red at that, “I-um, if you’ll have me.” He gave her a small smile.
Marinette beamed at him for a moment before turning to Luka. “You knew!” She accused, he nodded. “Why am I always the last person to know about my soulmates?” She looked down, seeming to consider something, “You two were making out in the hallway!”
“Aren’t you jealous Mar? That Damian kissed me first?” Luka came closer to them.
“Yes!” She yelled “How come he got to kiss you first Dami?” She looked up at him with her big puppy dog eyes.
“He kept teasing me Angel, I could only take so much before-”
“Will you please kiss me now?” And who was Damian to refuse such a request. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close before he moved his hand up to her face, brushing her hair out of the way. He leaned in slowly, wanting to make the moment sweet and tender. He wanted to take her time with her, like he didn’t with Luka. But apparently, patience just wasn’t meant to be with them.
She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her hands in his hair. The last thing he saw before he kissed her was the endless blue of her eyes. Immediately fireworks started going off in his head. Marinette was giving him no hesitation, everything was fast and hectic and beautiful, just like her. He had a feeling there wouldn’t be very much room in his life for patience with her around.
Luka’s voice broke through the trance Marinette had him under, “Fuck you guys are pretty.” Marinette broke the kiss to look at him.
“He is so pretty Lu,” she said looking into Damian’s eyes, “And even the universe knows you have a type. Bad asses with dark hair, light eyes and can beat you to a pulp.” She ran a hand tantalizingly over Damian’s chest. “So, who wants to tell me how long they knew about this?”
“I’m not falling for that trap Mar.” Luka replied.
“Damian,” she asked slowly, “How long have you known that we are your soulmates?” She asked nicely, giving him her pleading eyes.
“Trap?” He asked, dazed.
“Yes” “No” His soulmates said at the same time.
“No trap Dami, I’m just curious.” She smiled at him, and he knew he was a goner.
“About seven hours, as soon as you said your soul mark was a blue guitar pick.” He wrapped his hands around her waist, “Which is really pretty by the way, you should let me see it again.” He moved towards her, intending to pin her to the bed.
“Now you’ve done it.”
“He hasn’t done anything yet,” Marinette said carefully, She sat down next to Luka, “Why’d you wait? I could feel you today, you were having such a good time with us. You like us and you know it, so why did you wait to tell us?” There was no edge to her voice, it wasn’t accusatory or prying, she was clearly just curious.
Damian kneeled down in front of his soulmates. “You too are so perfect together, I didn’t know, I don’t know how I would fit in. You guys have a history, you’re in love. You're both so beautiful and you fit together like puzzle pieces. How the hell do I fit into this?”
“We have been waiting for you. You think you were not there? You are wrong. We could feel you, we talk about you all the time. ‘What do you think happened to make him so annoyed?’ ‘He had such a good day, could you feel it?’ ‘We have to figure out what makes his days good like that, we have to do it all the time.’ We studied English, we studied American Geography, trying to figure out the most efficient way to hit as many places as possible to increase our likelihood of finding you. Damian, you are the missing piece. We love each other, yes. But so much of our relationship was enjoying each other, trying to figure out ways to find you.” Marinette leaned forward, her hand moved up to cup his jaw. “We cannot wait to know you, we will figure out our relationship together.”
“We have matching tattoos based on you, not our marks, ones we designed. You saw Mari’s. Admittedly I’m not quite sure what mine means, but when I think of you, I often see images of birds.” Luka pulled off his shirt to reveal a small tattoo of a bird flying towards his heart.
Damian flushed, fully aware he was staring. Luka was pretty, all soft lines and light definition. And his tattoo was beautiful against his chest. “The bird is for me?” He leaned forward, reaching out his hand to touch the inked skin. He was so focused on the bird on Luka’s chest, that he almost didn’t notice the words inked across Luka’s left side. Almost. “What is this one?” His hands ran down Luka, moving from his chest to his waist.
He felt Luka shiver beneath his hands, and felt a surge of want. “I- uh, it’s Mari’s,” he leaned into Damian’s touch, “It’s the first line I heard her sing.”
Damian smiled at the memory, “I remember that song. Though this is about halfway through it, did you miss the beginning?” He thumbed the text across Luka’s stomach, ‘She’s a lady,’ it read.
“You were there?” Marniette asked beaming, “That’s amazing.”
“It was the first time I’d heard either of you, it made me so happy. I was in class, and when the song was over I got up and left. I thought you were a professional so I started stalking the French music scene, I’ve known Lady Ri is my soulmate since she began.”
“So earlier, all that raving about Lady Ri, you were teasing me?” Marinette asked.
“Uh oh. Damian say nothing.” Luka warned.
“I-uh-um, yes?” Damian said at the same time.
“You’ve done it. You had her mind changed for a minute bub, but now you’ve done it.”
“Yes, you have. I’ve decided it was a trap after all. Six hours you said nothing? Both of you? Six days, you get nothing. We can talk, we can bond, get to know each other, but nothing physical.” She threw their shirts at them, “Might as well put these on boys.” She smirked menacingly.
Notes:
Do you guys love it or hate it?
Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Getting to Know you
Summary:
In which our soulmates try to get to know each other better before being rudely interrupted.
Notes:
Hi everyone! 8,000 hits on this story, can you believe it?????? I'd like to thank every one for the overwhelming support! I never thought that when I wrote my first fanfiction I'd get this kind of reaction.
Anyways, in this chapter we focus on our three cuties trying to get to know each other better, trying to come to terms with everything that's happened, because really its a lot. And then more happens! Because I'm evil ;)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 15
“Now Melody, that doesn’t seem quite fair.” Luka wrapped his hands around her waist, “Poor Dami was overwhelmed.”
“I suppose you are right, extenuating circumstances and all. I will reduce your sentence to three days.” She smiled sweetly.
Luka inched closer to her, pulling Damian with him, “Are you sure you’ll be able to resist us, both of us for three days?”
Using her pointer finger, she pushed Luka way by the nose, “Well I’ll have plenty to do, so I’ll just distract myself if it’s a problem. Which it won’t be Mr. Full of himself. I have five tuxes for the Wayne boys to make, I’m sure yours needs to be tailored, you’ve lost some weight on tour, I need to make my dress and do Jagged and Penny’s consult about what they’ll be wearing. Oh! And I’ve got to decide who's going to the Wayne gala, Marinette or Lady Ri.” She listed her upcoming tasks out on her fingers, and damn it if she didn’t look adorable. Damian marveled at the way she spoke so passionately about her work. “Plus, we need to get to know Damian!” She looked over at him smiling.
“If you say so Melody, for now I’ll leave you be, but Damian and I are going to make you eat your words.” He tried to move closer to her again, wearing his ‘Tempting Smirk.’
Once again, Marinette pushed him away playfully. “Okay boys, here’s our game plan. We are going to make a pillow fort, and sit in it in blanket burritos. Then we’re going to play a quick game of twenty questions.”
Damian had never made a pillow fort, so mostly he stood to the side, watching his soul mates be cute and handing them pillows as they needed them. Though as they finished up and he finally looked at their creation rather than them, he had to admit that it really just looked like a pile of pillows with a blanket on top. Marinette and Luka got down onto the floor, crawling into the shack they’d made. Quickly as she’d entered, Marinette popped back out of the fort, grabbing her sketchbook and Damian by the wrist, intent on bringing him into the fort.
“Come on Dami, it’s cozy in there!”
Damian allowed Marinette to pull him into their fort, it was small, but it was indeed cozy. Though it might’ve been how the size of the fort that forced them to be close to each other rather than the fort itself. They laid on the floor together, Marinette wrapped them in a blanket and asked, “Who wants to go first?”
The boys looked at her blankly. “Okay, me I guess.” She smiled. “Okay, I know LuLu’s but Damian when is your birthday?”
And so the game began. Marinette opened to a clean page in her sketchbook and began jotting down Damian’s answers for future reference. In between questions she worked on a sketch of him, his features were so striking she couldn’t help herself. She smiled at the picture forming on the page. The game continued on as they each kept coming up with more and more questions. At first they were general, pointed at everyone. They shared their favorite colors: blue, green and pink; favorite things to do: play guitar, paint and sew; whether or not they were morning people: yes, yes and a resounding no. They shared the little things, the things that friends should know about each other. It was fun, they poked fun at each other, enjoying the company. But soon enough, they all got hungry for more. They began asking the things that soulmates should know about each other.
Damian asked Luka why he wrote music, and couldn’t help but smile when he said he was bad with words but he could use his harmonies to communicate with the world.
Marinette asked Damian what he painted, and she fought every bone in her body that begged to kiss him when he said the things he thought but was afraid to say aloud were beautiful.
Damian asked Marinette how she became Lady Ri, and together they laughed as she and Luka explained the intricacies of one of the most overwhelming days of her life. Now second only to today.
As they looped around again, Luka asked Marinette how she was going to go three days without physical intimacy, and she lifted her ban on kisses. Then at the end of every question, they took turns kissing.
They continued the game for another hour, but to them it felt like minutes. They could’ve continued on through the night had it not been for the twin alarms that came blaring from Marinette and Luka’s phone. He looked over to them quizzically and he watched the color drain from their faces. “What is that?” He asked carefully.
“That is the akuma alarm.” Marinette said carefully, “My friend Alya runs a blog, it's really more of a social media platform at this point, that helps Parisians stay updated on Akuma news and alerts them when there is an attack going on, so they can stay safe.” She sighed, “I have to go.” She said, beginning to rise.
“Wait, what? Why?” Damian asked quickly, “You’re not in Paris, you’re safe.”
“I have to call Maman and Papa. Not just to check on them, but so they know I’m okay. They kinda have PTSD over it all, I was personally targeted by several Akumas and I’ve been bloodied up pretty bad during my heroing days.” She looked at Damian with a sad expression on, “Now whenever there is an attack I stay on the phone with them. I’m sorry, but can you and Luka head into his room or your room until Ladybug handle’s this?”
“Of course Angel, whatever you need.” He kissed her sweetly on the lips and then on her forehead.
“Stay safe Melody,” Luka whispered to her before doing the same.
The boys left and headed next door into Luka’s room. They cuddled up on the bed and pulled up the Ladyblog to watch the livestream at Damian’s request.
“What? I need to know if the woman guarding my soulmates half the time is competent! Please can we watch?” He’d begged.
And who was Luka to refuse such a kind and well meaning request. Damian didn’t know that watching the attacks as they happened were hell for Luka. He had no way of knowing that the heroine they watched on the screen was their soulmate, so he couldn’t blame him, all he could do was hide the fact he was scared as Ladybug appeared on screen.
Damian didn’t know why Luka was so tense, all he did know was that he needed to see what this Ladybug was made of.
They watched the livestream for a few minutes before Ladybug actually showed up. He watched her confer with the other two heroes, the black cat and the dragon before they swung into action. From what he could tell, the akuma was a girl who had been sexually harassed on her way to or from work. Honestly, all this fast paced French was the tiniest bit above Damian’s head. Immediately he could tell that while the team were close, used to working with each other, they would fall apart without Ladybug. She was the brains and from the looks of it most of the brawn. It wasn’t that she was particularly stronger than either the cat or the dragon, it's just that her fighting style was the most effective for the kind of combat that seemed to be standard with Akumas. One moment, she’d be up close and personal, trying to disarm the Akuma and find the object, and then in the next she’d be fleeing trying to avoid a fatal attack. It was a good strategy, tiring out one's opponent and finding out what they protect as they fight, she was smart.
After a few minutes of this, she called for her Lucky Charm. To the public, it wasn’t clear what it was, it was tiny and as it fell back into her hand she immediately paled. She looked up at her teammates, about to yell something when to her right, Ryuuko was incapacitated by the Akuma’s power.
“Chat!” She yelled, “Distract her!” And with that she fled the scene. Damian watched entranced, as Chat Noir taunted the Akuma, seemingly carelessly. He knew better, that cat was planning his moves, scouting out his next point before actually heading there. He was impressed that the hero was able to use his brain like that. His schoolyard taunts however, left something to be desired.
Damian didn’t notice Luka tense as Ladybug left the scene. All he could do was hope the Lucky Charm wasn’t asking for Viperion. But you know, the luck of the ladybug never extended to her boyfriend(s). A bright light flashed in the room, drawing the boys attention to it. Luka began to groan.
“LuLu!” A voice yelled from the light, in seconds Ladybug stepped out of it holding an octagonal box and a spotted guitar pick, “Lucky charm gave me a guitar pick you know what that means-” Ladybug noticed Damian on the bed.
“Shit! I mean Luka Couffaine, the lucky charm, the universe’s power of creation led me to you, will you take up the role of Viperion and help me defend Paris?” Ladybug switched to her formal guardian voice, before dropping it at the look on the boys faces, “I'd thought there was a chance Damian went to bed. It’s too late for this isn’t it. ” The boys nodded as Ladybug’s earrings beeped their final warning and Marinette appeared in front of them.
Damian was the first to speak, “Fucking hell Angel, you really do everything.” He shook his head, “Except tell decent excuses, if you weren’t so damn cute I would’ve seen right through that whole dutiful daughter bullshit.”
“I swear we were going to tell you-” Marinette began, but Damian cut her off.
“I’m not mad, you haven’t done anything wrong. I understand needing to keep a secret like this, I still have secrets. We’ve only known each other for a day. Not even, you don’t owe me anything.” He smiled at her, something that was becoming increasingly easy to do as he spent more time with his soulmates. “Now do what you're here to do and save Paris, we’ll talk about it when you get back.”
Marinette stared at him open mouthed, she couldn’t believe how amazing Damian was. Apparently Luka was thinking the same thing, because he grabbed Damian and kissed him, long and hard, leaving Marinette jealous. She sat down on the bed, crawling over to them. As soon as Luka let him go, she took her turn with Damian. Wrapping her fingers around his chin, pulling his face towards hers and kissing him slow and soft. As she pulled away from him blushing, a small voice interrupted their thoughts.
“Marinette! I need to eat, Kaalki needs to eat, Luka needs to suit up, and we have to go back to Paris!” Damian looked over to see a small, red, mouse(?) floating nearby.
“Yes sorry Tikki!” Marinette looked back over to Damian, who looked to be full of questions, “Later.” She promised.
She handed the small flying thing a cookie, and gave Luka the octagonal box. “He’s missed you,” she said as he opened it.
Another small flying thing joined the first one, though this one was a teal blue, the same color of Luka’s hair. If he was being honest. Damian kind of blacked out at this point. His mind was racing. Both of his soul mates were heroes, he was a hero, a vigilante rather, either way, the universe kinda sucked. He should tell them, but he had to clear it with B first, could he even tell B about this? This kinda seemed like it was supposed to be one of the universe’s secrets. What the hell was he supposed to-
Damian’s thoughts were cut off by two more bright lights filling his vision. As they faded, Damian looked up, seeing Ladybug and Viperion in front of him.
“We’re sorry Dami, we’ll tell you everything when we get back.” Together they came over to him, giving him a kiss on each cheek. He certainly didn’t think about what else they could do to him at the same time, or wonder the specifics of what Ladybug could do with her yoyo. He didn’t even notice them leave. He mostly just sat there stunned for a moment trying not to think impure thoughts about his soulmates.
It took him a few minutes, but Damian finally shook himself from his trance and picked up Luka’s phone to continue watching the Ladyblog’s live stream. He’d clearly missed some action, but as he tuned in, Ladybug and Viperion were fighting side by side and Chat Noir was sneaking up behind the Akuma. He tried not to think too hard at how well his soulmates fought and how beautiful they looked doing it. The cat ripped the necklace from around the akumatized victim’s neck and tossed it to Ladybug. She broke it and purified the akuma, rushing to comfort the victim. Alya zoomed in on the heros comforting the crying girl and Chat Noir took her away. Alya began to squeal and speak in quick, excited French as Ladybug and Viperon came over to see her.
“Alya, you’re live streaming right?” As Alya gave her affirmative answer, Ladybug continued, “Fantastic. That girl was sixteen. Some disgusting man stopped her on the street and tried to touch her. Chat is taking her to a police sketch artist now, and should she be okay with it, not only will that man be facing everything Paris’s finest have to throw at him, he will personally be meeting me and my partners.” She smiled menacingly at the camera. “Let’s be better Paris. Bug. Out.” And with that she left.
Moments later, the lights flashed in the room again and Damian looked up to see his soulmates appear from nowhere.
“I’m Robin.” He blurted before he knew what he was doing.
There was silence for a moment, the most tortuous moment of Damian’s life, before Marientte spoke up, “Does that mean you’ll help us castrate the perv who tried to touch that girl?”
Notes:
I think our next chapter is going down in the Bat Cave friends. . .
Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The Bug Meets the Bats
Summary:
Damian tells his family what they did and they have a family meeting in the cave.
Notes:
Morning, I worked really hard on this chapter, and I'm very pleased with it. I think it's the longest one I've posted.
Anyway, the bats learn Mari and Luka know their secret, they go get them wayy to early for a family meeting to discuss everything. They reap the consequences of waking Marinette up too early.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 16
You may be wondering what they did then. After all, all the cards were finally on the table; there were no more secrets. They went to bed. No, it’s not a euphemism, you try having a day full of surprises and realizations like that and tell me you’re not tired. With promises to talk in the morning, the three exchanged kisses and returned to their respective rooms to their own beds.
Damian woke even earlier than he normally did. He knew that B was going to be a bit peeved, his brothers were never going to let him hear the end of this. Groaning, he got up out of bed and got dressed quickly. He decided it was just best to rip off the bandage and face the music. He left his room before his courage failed him and went to the kitchen to see Alfred. He sat down and let out a heavy sigh.
“You know who she is.” Alfred said suddenly.
Well, that was unexpected. “What do you know Alfred?” Damian asked with the slightest bit of edge in his voice.
“More than you I suppose.” And with that Alfred left, likely to wake his brothers Damian assumed.
As he sat there, trying to figure out how to tell his father, his brothers began slowly filtering in. Dick and Tim paid him no mind, leaving him to his thoughts but Jason was disruptive.
“So Demon Spawn, how’d it go last night? Didja get laid?” Jason came up behind him, ruffling his hair.
“They know I’m Robin.”
“What?” “Excuse me?” “Damn, how’d you mess up that bad?” His brothers all asked him at the same time.
“They need to meet the Bats, they’re heroes. Marinette more than Luka, she’s not retired she’s just got a different miraculous.”
“What’s B going to say?” Dick asked no one and everyone.
“He's going to be pissed at first, but he’ll calm down when I tell him that we have a free pass to intervene in Paris.” Damian said quietly, mostly to himself.
“Why am I going to be pissed and how out of nowhere did we get a free pass into Paris?” Bruce said from behind him.
“Sucks to suck Demon Spawn.” Jason nearly yelled. Damian sent him a glare before telling his father what he’d told his brothers, that he’d revealed his identity to his soulmates who were also heroes.
Bruce said nothing for a moment, “Which heroes are they?”
“This is a conversation they need to be privy to.” Damian responded.
“Okay.” Tim said loudly, “Time to get all the cards on the table, let’s go get them. Get the girls too, sounds like it's time for a family meeting in the cave. Let’s do this now, while that cooky uncle of hers isn’t looking for them.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Damian got up to leave.
“Damian.” Bruce’s hand shot out, stopping his son for a moment, “I just wanted you to know I’m not mad at you. I do wish you’d waited a little longer to tell them, or maybe told us about it first, but I trust your judgment.”
And with that, the BatFam went to rouse the heroing Parisians. The poor souls, they didn’t know what they were doing when they knocked on Mari’s door at 7:30 in the morning. The dumbasses knocked four separate times, before they finally heard groaning on the other side of the door. After the groaning, they heard her shuffle out of bed and towards the door.
“Jagged. I don’t care what kind of song you have that you want me to run through, I will skin you for waking me up so early.” She opened the door and the Waynes began to realize how much they fucked up. Before them stood a very small, very perturbed, very powerful looking woman. Marinette stood before them with the cutest bedhead, in a crop top that let the underpart of her tattoo and her marks stand on display and short shorts that rode low on her hips and let the top of another tattoo Damian had never seen peak out the top.
“What the hell do you dumbasses want? Do you know what time it is?” She asked.
“We need to get all the cards on the table. It’s time for a conversation, you need to meet the bats.” Bruce said, trying to sound as official and powerful as he could.
“No shit Sherlock. But don’t bats come out at night? This couldn’t wait for a more godly hour?” She glared at them before walking away. At first they were confused, then she started banging on the wall that separated her room from Luka’s.
“Hey LuLu!” She yelled pounding on the wall, “Bats wanna meet, wake up get dressed and come tell these fuckers how much they fucked up while I get dressed.” She slammed the door in their faces.
“I forgot.” Damian said sheepishly, “Last night she told me that she was the antithesis of a morning person.” He looked at his family who seemed to be experiencing various levels of amusement and fear. They waited in the hallway for a few seconds, Damian trying not to think about how absolutely beautiful Marinette had looked when she’d come out, the rest of the boys were trying to remember that they were trained in combat and the small ball of anger that had emerged from the room couldn’t do anything to them. Their thoughts were interrupted when Luka came bursting out of the door next to Marinette’s.
“You guys didn’t.” He said out of breath.
“We did.” Dick said, voice full of regret. “What do we do so we get a productive meeting out of this?”
“Copious amounts of caffeine.” Luka said darkly.
All eyes turned to Tim’s coffee mug. Damian took it and handed it to Luka, ignoring Tim’s protests. “Sorry Tim, I’d rather have a zombie brother than a homicidal girlfriend.”
Luka smiled, “She’ll like that, call her that again and she’ll turn around.” Luka knocked on the door before opening it, leaving Damian to realize that he’d called Marinette his girlfriend. And hell if he didn’t like the way that sounded.
The door opened again to reveal Marinette dressed the same as before, except this time her hair was brushed. “I don’t feel like changing so this is just gonna have to do.” She said ready to follow them to the cave, but Luka stopped her.
“You’re barely wearing anything, you’re gonna get cold, come on”. He dragged her into the room and riffled through one of her bags. He pulled out two pieces of clothing and tossed them at her. “Put those on, and when you’re done with them today you’re gonna give them back. I’ve been looking for that shirt.” He turned on his heel and closed the door behind him so Marinette could put on the clothes.
As the door closed behind him, Luka turned to Damian, “Our girlfriend is a powerful goddess. She’s impressive, creative as hell and fucking hot. But before 9 in the morning she is basically an evil four year old who will fuck you up. If you ever need her this early again, bring espresso.”
“This dynamic is weird, but I like it.” Jason said suddenly.
“Yeah, yeah they’re cute. Why does the small ball of rage get my coffee?” Tim asked, reaching for the cup still in Luka’s hands.
“Because she is a potential ally.” Bruce responded, doing his best not to look uncomfortable.
“Damn right I am.” Marinette said emerging from the bedroom. This time she was wearing flannel blue pajama pants that were too big to be hers and a men's dress shirt that was also too big to be hers over her crop top. She took the coffee mug out of Luka’s hands, “Take me to the cave batboys.”
It was an awkward walk through the mansion to say the least. The Wayne’s seemed to be paying attention to anything but the three teenagers. Marinette sipped on her coffee happily, and Luka walked next to her with his arm wrapped around her waist. As if she felt his eyes on her, Marinette looked up at him with curious eyes.
“So I am your girlfriend?” She asked with a smirk on her face, “I mean I am honored to have the title, but I was never informed. Does this mean Luka is your boyfriend?” She smiled at him innocently before taking another large sip of Tim’s coffee.
“Mari cut Damian a break for now.” Luka scolded her.
“I’d love to have this conversation when my brothers and father aren’t here, and we aren’t on our way to discuss the family business with them, my adoptive sisters and my butler slash grandfather. But to give you a short answer to hold you over until then, yes.”
If they noticed Jason’s snort, no one said anything.
She made a quiet humming noise in the back of her throat and the group was silent the rest of the way to the cave.
As they entered the cave, Marinette was in much better spirits, whatever Tim put in his coffee was super effective, she made a mental note to ask him about it later. Waiting for them in the cave were Alfred, Cass, Babs and Steph.
“Why are we here B? And more important question, why are they here?” Babs asked when she noticed they’d arrived.
“They know, and apparently Marinette is not quite as retired as she implied last night at dinner.” Bruce said as calmly as he could manage. “So it's time to get all the cards on the table. We are going to go around the room and introduce ourselves, as our hero personas, our guests will go last, so they understand how safe their secrets are.”
“Actually I think I’ve worked it out, I’m going to guess.” She gestured to Damian. “I know he is Robin.”
She pointed to Bruce, “Which makes you Batman, by the way your Justice League is filled with pricks.”
Next she looked at Dick, “You must be Nightwing, age wise it makes sense.”
Then Jason, “And with your level of snark and attitude you have to be Red Hood.”
Followed by Tim, “Which makes you Red Robin.”
She turned to the girls, “Barbara is Oracle, she’s obviously one of the smartest ones here and she’s got the wheelchair. Cass is Black Bat and Steph is Bat Girl.”
She turned her back to them, looking at Alfred beaming, “And you, Monsieur Peafowl must be Agent A.”
“You are a marvel young Guardian,” He replied smiling.
“So I am right then?” She turned back to the rest of the group with a smirk.
“Like you’re ever wrong Melody.” Luka said, the smugness evident in his voice. The Bat Fam mostly just stared at them with varying degrees of surprise.
“Yes you’re correct Marinette,” Bruce announced, breaking the silence, “That was very impressive. Now if you don’t mind we are still in the dark about you.”
“Of course. LuLu you go first, I’ve gotta figure out how to phrase this.” She nudged her boyfriend. All eyes turned to Luka as Marinette appeared to be deep in thought.
“I am not a permanent hero, I sub in when LB needs me. When her powers direct her to me, when they do she brings me a miraculous and I give it back to her when the battle is over. But when she needs me I am Viperion. I wear the Miraculous of the Snake and use the power of the Second Chance to reset time as needed in five minute increments to ensure Team Miraculous’ success.”
Barbara began typing furiously on the Bat Computer, and soon enough pictures of Viperion began filling the wall of monitors. “Makes sense,” She said, “You look exactly the same.” She turned to him smiling, “The time travel thing is cool.”
“No no no. I can’t time travel. That is the power of a different Miraculous. Before a battle begins I will pick a set point in time, and as we fail and learn more I can return us to that point in time and I relay the information to the team. A more appropriate description would be that I can reset time.”
“Why do Demon Spawn’s soulmates get to be so badass? Not only are they heroes, but their heroes with superpowers ?” Jason scoffed.
Ignoring his brother, Tim cut in, “And you Marinette? I’ve got to say I’m definitely curious.” The rest of the Waynes made some kind of gesture affirming what Tim said.
“Well I’m honestly hoping Alfred will be able to help me explain the intricacies of my job. But to start out with the easy part I am Ladybug.”
“Oh, so our free pass to intervene in Paris is that you’re boning their head honcho?” Jason asked obnoxiously. Marinette had had about enough.
Marinette turned to Jason glaring, “I am the head honcho, I am Ladybug, Guardian of the Miraculous, and you will not speak to my soulmate that way.” She started walking towards him, as menacingly as one can when they’re wearing their boyfriend's pajamas. “What we did or did not do is none of your business and I haven’t given anyone a pass to come into my city.”
She whipped her head around to glare at Bruce, “Your Justice League told me no one would be there to help me. I was barely fourteen. They told me to go home and stop playing dress up. They told me that if I kept prank calling them that they’d send the police. They didn’t believe me, and by the time they did, two years later, they declared that my powers were impressive enough that I didn’t need the help. That as long as I kept the damage in Paris and fixed it after the battles, they’d let me keep my miraculous.” She let out a scoff, “Imagine telling the guardian of the Miraculous that you’ll allow her to have the miraculous.”
She was getting angry, “Look, I don’t want to be mad at you people. I know the Justice League has different sections, I know you’re broken up by continents or whatever. I have respect for what you do here in Gotham, I respect your family, and I want to like you because you’re my soulmate’s family. But if you’re looking to come into my city, and disrespect me, I will fight you with everything I have.”
The Waynes stood there in stunned silence for a moment. None of them had seen this angry, overwhelmed side of Marinette before. In the limited experience they’d had with her, they’d only ever seen the bubbly, impressive bundle of joy.
“We know what they did.” It was Alfred who broke the silence. “I’d been scouring the globe for signs of the Miraculous for years, I missed my friend. I found you in Paris a week after your first battle. I told the team and we wanted to go, we wanted to help you. You were young, at the time your fighting skills weren’t up to par. We were in Paris when we were stopped by the European Justice League. We were stopped by the red tape that we'd put up. I’m so sorry that this has all happened to you Madame Guardian. We’ve been trying to find a way to help you for years.” Alfred gestured to the screens, Barbara had pulled up all the correspondence they’d had with JLE about Paris over the years.
“Then you know, that Duusu is one of the Kwamis that we are working to rescue.” Marinette said solemnly, as her eyes fitted across the screens.
“Hi, I’m sorry to cut in. I know we’re indirectly responsible for the hell you’ve been put through for most of your adolescent life, and that Jason’s a dick, but we’re still pretty lost and we’re gonna need some more info.” Even as Dick said it as confidently as he could, he still cowered a bit in front of the small ball of rage they’d come to know this morning.
“Alfred used to wield a miraculous. Like Luka and I do now. A miraculous is a piece of jewelry that tethers a kwami to our realm. A kwami is a small god-like creature, they all have different powers. I was declared Guardian on the Miraculous when I was fifteen in the heat of battle. Now I guard all the jewelry, all the kwamis. It is my divine prerogative to defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura and retrieve their Miraculi.” She said in a bored tone. She paused pointing to the screen. “You have been trying to help me? Why did you not just come and help me?” She looked over to them broken.
Damian came up to her and gave her a hug, which she gladly accepted. “If we went into their territory without approval we would’ve started a war.” He said to her quietly.
She released Damian, looking over to Bruce. “Your Justice League sucks. Is it not enough for good guys to fight on the side of good? They have to monopolize it?” She glared down at her feet, “Infuriating but not the point. The point is, I have not decided whether or not I will let you into my city. I do not know you. But I will give you the opportunity to earn my trust.”
“I’m sorry.” Jason said, drawing everyone’s attention, “You’re so impressive, I forgot that you’re just seventeen. I’m sorry for what you’ve been through, I’m sorry for the jokes. I want to be your family Pixie Pop, and I want to help you.”
“We all do.” Tim added.
“It’s okay, you’ll find many people do the same.” She said sadly.
“Are these stats right?” Steph asked. She was looking over Bab’s shoulder reading the Ladyblog.
“Yes.” Luka said solemnly, “They all are.”
“This says that one of your battles resulted in 74% of Paris dying.” Barbra said incredulously.
“Yes. One of Mari’s powers is she can reverse the damage done by the battle. That includes reversing death, but she can’t reverse the trama that comes with dying. Mari and I have both died before. It’s been two or three times for me, but Mari’s lost count.”
“This isn’t what I wanted to talk about when we agreed to get the cards on the table.” Marinette looked up at the bats with a fierce look in her eyes, “As of right now, no one is coming into Paris. But I’m willing to get to know you guys as heroes and give you the opportunity to earn my trust. If the true peafowl holder likes you guys, surely you have some redeeming qualities. But I’m awake now and I have work to do. Tim I expect you in my room in thirty for your fitting.” And with that she turned on her heel and left.
Notes:
Is it slightly angsty? Yes. But Marinette has earned the right to be slightly angsty after all the absolute BS she has been put through to protect Paris. Don't worry, we all know she's not truly mad at them, more the situation. Next chapter she works on her relationship with the Wayne boys one by one.
As usual, let me know what you think!
Chapter 17: Chapter 17: M Gets to Work
Summary:
In which Marinette starts working on the suits for the Wayne boys and betters her relationships with them, one by one.
Notes:
Happy Easter everyone!
I know this is a bit later than normal, sorry about that, I was up late last night. Anyway, please enjoy Mari and the Batboys becoming BFFs. Jasonette is my BROTP, so I really enjoyed writing the whole "Jason fucking it up" dynamic for a bit of *spice.*
Anyway you know the drill, Tim is in awe, Dick is a mother hen and Jason is to be her chaotic best friend.
Enjoy :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 17
Marinette walked back to her room briskly. That was enough of that. She wasn’t Ladybug right now, that was the point of the tour, to be Marinette for a while. She was angry. They put her in a shitty position, they poked and prodded, they forgot who she was. She slammed her door behind her, flinching at the sound. Being Ladybug was her duty, but sewing was what she loved. And it was time to do some of that. She dumped her bags out on her bed, hoping sorting and putting away her clothes would help her calm down and clear her mind.
It did. Marinette relished in touching all of her clothes, piece by piece, admiring them and hanging them up in the closet. It helped her take her mind off not just her meeting with the Waynes but also Damian and Luka’s worry that she felt in the back of her mind. She selected a casual blue wrap dress and a blazer to wear for the day. She dressed, satisfied with her job organizing her clothes. She sat down on her bed and opened her sketchbook. She sketched five generic tuxedos out on five separate pages. She’d worry about colors and personalization during their fittings.
She did the deep breathing Tikki had taught her back when Lila had tried to ruin her life. Tikki was sleeping somewhere, and Marinette didn’t really feel like listening to her lecture about how the bats mean well. She knows that. That doesn’t mean they didn’t royally step in it. Regardless, Marinette knew she shouldn’t and wouldn’t stay mad for very long. She’d forgive them, she forgives everyone, especially when they mean well. As she finished up the final sketch, she’d heard a knock on her door.
She opened the door with a small smile. “Hi Tim. I understand you’re a fan. I hope I live up to the expectations you have set.” She moves out of the way to let him in.
“You’re right.” Tim says as he steps inside, “I am a huge fan. I always pictured some dramatic twenty something who drank pretentious tea and never did outside commissions. Though when you arrived I googled MDC and realized I’ve been psychologically torturing myself for years because you have a website where you do actually take commissions every so often. I could’ve been on your wait list or something.” He smiled self depreciatingly before handing her a coffee. “A peace offering. I’m really sorry. About everything. But I’m excited to get to know you, as one of my favorite designers: it's going to be a pleasure to work with you by the way; as one of my favorite singers: I really would love to hear you and Jagged work on some stuff, maybe we can have a karaoke night; as a little sister: your basically part of the family now; and as a hero: I can tell you take your job seriously and I respect that, plus we have similar fighting styles, I want to spar.”
“I can’t wait to meet you in all of those ways Tim. But to start, would you like to be friends?” She took the coffee with a smile. “Let’s get to work. What colors do you like to wear? Because I think a deep blue would suit your coloring beautifully.”
An hour later, Marinette felt light again. Back into her designing grove. She was wrapping up Tim’s consultation. She’d taken his measurements, got an approved color pallet and had some ideas to do some personalization on the suit, though she’d decided to leave it a surprise. Tim had even told her how he makes his coffee, why hadn't she thought about adding energy drinks?
“We’ll do the first fitting in a few days. I’ll let you know. Why don’t you find Dick and send him my way.” She smiled, shaking Tim’s hand.
“I don’t know why Marinette, but already, you’re my favorite sister.” He pushed her hand aside and gave her a hug.
“Excluding Steph?”
Tim gave her a blank look that soon turned to disgust, “Never call her my sister again. She is your sister in the way that you are mine. Not through adoption, but through love.” And with that, Tim got up and left. Presumably to get Dick.
As she waited, Marinette laid on her bed changing the generic sketch she had done for Tim. She added in notes about fabric choices and colors, and started doodling different motifs that she could add on the lapel. No, she didn’t like that, maybe if she-
Her thoughts were interrupted by the eldest Wayne knocking at the door. She got up and opened it, “Welcome to my makeshift studio Dick.” She said with a smile.
Marinette quickly learned that while Dick was the oldest Wayne brother, he was also the most awkward. At the very least, he was the most awkward around her. They’d exchanged polite hellos, and other than that the first part of their meeting was mostly silent. Measuring, and Marinette would ask him the occasional question that he would answer quickly and succinctly. Eventually though, he’d had enough of it.
“You know, Damian is one of three of us to have met his soulmate. He is the only one who hasn’t royally fucked it up. Granted he’s only known you a day, but I see the way he looks at you and Luka and he is going to do everything in his power not to fuck it up. Bruce isn’t even speaking with his soulmate right now. And I don’t want to be part of an issue that gets in the way of your relationship.” He paused, looking up to look her in the eyes. “I know that you’ve been through shit, I know what you’ve been doing this pretty much by yourself since you were fourteen, and I know the last thing you want is some pricks a part of the same organization that told you to go fuck yourself getting involved. We’re not looking to come in and take control of the situation, hell if you don’t want us there we’re not even looking to be there. We’re just looking to offer some support and follow your lead.”
“I am sorry for the way I reacted.” She cut him off. “I am normally not so short tempered, but it was too early for me. And finding out my soulmate's family had a part in creating the reason that I am mostly on my own battling an emotional terrorist was also a lot. Either way, neither of those things excuse my behavior. I am truly sorry.”
“Sunshine, there is no need to apologize. Honestly I would’ve reacted worse.”
“No you don’t understand. Do you know what would’ve happened if I reacted like that in Paris? I could’ve been akumatized. Paris would be doomed without Ladybug, I can’t let myself do that. Ever. Regardless of the circumstances. I am not only sorry for upsetting you, which I am, I am also sorry that I failed.”
Dick was soon faced with the crushing reality that this little girl had probably faced more shit than he had.
“That’s too terrible, that can’t be how that works.” He mumbled mostly to himself.
“He’s akumatized children. He’s taken a child’s mind hostage, giving them evil powers, over the dumbest shit. Kid didn’t get to be the line leader? Akuma. Mom said no candy? Akuma. A mean girl at school is bullying you for having two soulmarks? Akuma. He takes people’s lowest moments, the moments everyone should be allowed to have, and he weaponizes them. Almost everyone I know has been akumatized.” She paused, voice catching, “I’ve battled my Maman, my Papa, my friends, Luka. I’ve battled Luka twice. Another reason I reacted that way is I don’t think people should come to Paris in general. I’m not doing the best job of catching Hawkmoth, all I can really do at this point is battle his akumas. I don’t want to have to fight Damian. I don’t want to fight anyone else I love ever again. And I don’t want to make them fight me.”
Dick didn’t know when he’d started to cry. All he knew was that tears were silently sliding down his cheeks. He was going to kick Jason’s ass. She clearly had anxiety over having to talk to them about it at all, and he’d been a snide asshole and it went about as bad as it could’ve gone. Without realizing what he was doing, Dick wrapped his arms around her.
“I’ve decided that you are my baby sister, and I’m not going to let you go through any of this alone ever again. You have too much bottled up in that small body of yours Sunshine.”
Marinette and gave him a small smile hugged him back, “I haven’t been truly alone since Luka found me. But I look forward to adding you to my support system Dick.”
She pulled back, wiping the tears from her face and then his, “So what is your favorite color? I could see you in maroon.”
It was much easier after that. Marinette asked him some more questions about his personal style and tastes, and they were able to talk. About everything and nothing, she told him about how she’d gotten her job designing for Jagged and he told her about the time Damian brought home a pet turkey. It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship indeed.
“Okay big brother,” Marinette said with a smirk, “You are all set. Send Jason my way please.”
“Are you sure, I don’t like him right now.”
“I’m sure, I’ve got a job to do, and there’s some air that needs clearing. Send him my way.” She gave him another hug and pushed him out the door before he could protest.
She waited patiently for Jason, running through some songs that were to be featured on her new album and adding notes in the margins of the drawing for Dick’s suit.
He sure was taking a while though. She put on the playlist Luka had made her, it was instrumentals of her favorite songs played by him. The first one up was by one of her favorite American artists Ben Platt, it was called Grow As You Go . As the music queued up, she prepared to sing. She thought about how much Luka loved this song, it was soft and slow and showcased her voice, both her range and her control over it.
“You say there’s so much, you don’t know. You need to go and find yourself.” She paused smiling, “You say you’d rather be alone, cause you think you won’t find it tied to someone else.”
She loved this song, it reminded her that it’s okay to continue to change, to continue to grow, and that you can do it with the people you love. It reminded her that she never needed to be alone again.
“Ooh, who said it's true? That the growing only happens on your own? They don't know me and you.” She smiled as the music picked up, she prepared her voice for the high notes to come, “I don't think you have to leave. If to change is what you need. You can change right next to me.” She allowed herself a soft riff on ‘me’ enjoying the control she’s fought to earn over her voice.
“When you're high, I'll take the lows,” She thought of Damian and Luka, “You can ebb and I can flow.” This is what she wanted out of their relationship, a true partnership. Or rather there were three of them, a true team. “And we'll take it slow. And grow as we go. Grow as we go.” She couldn’t keep the smile off of her face or out of her voice as she sang, and when she felt rather than heard Damian’s presence outside her door, she let out an excited squeal. She paused her music and ran to the door.
“I was just thinking about you!” She said as she opened it, though her beaming smile faded off her face as the door opened. Before her, for the second time the day, were all of the batboys. “Oh.” She said curiously, “This is something. You know, I’d only invited one of you, but I was willing to make an exception for Damian.”
She looked at her boyfriend, he was pink and staring at her. ‘Is something wrong?” She asked cautiously.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, he just looked at her; it wasn’t until Dick elbowed him in the ribs that he actually replied. “I uh, everything is perfect Angel, I uh, I just keep forgetting that you sing like that. I don’t get to hear you in person very often.” He looked down at his feet.
“I got a record deal when I was fifteen without auditioning. You were there remember?” She teased.
“This is not why we’re here. Wait, you didn’t audition? Nope, not the point, you’ll tell us that story later. We’ve unanimously decided we don’t trust Jason not to put his foot in it again. So we are here to supervise.” Dick announced. The rest of the Waynes nodded.
Marinette stared at them for a moment dumbfounded. “No. We’re not doing this.” She sighed heavily. “You guys are interfering with my job.” She looked Jason in the eyes. “You were a massive dickwad this morning. I’m gonna tell you off for it, then we’re gonna talk, we’re gonna bond and we’re gonna be friends.” She turned to Damian, “Kiss me and then remove yourself and the rest of your family from my doorstep.”
Damian stepped forward, “Did you miss the part where we said unanimously? Jason agreed. In fact it was practically his idea.”
“I don’t care. Jason’s being a ninny, he knows I’m going to chew him out. I’m in charge and I say you are all overruled. Now you can either leave now, or kiss me and then leave.”
“Marine-” He started.
“I see you have chosen no kisses.” She grabbed Jason by the wrist and pulled him into her room, closing the door.
“Guys! Help me! The small ball of rage is kidnapping me!” Jason yelled as he was dragged away. Marinette turned the lock on her door solidifying Jason’s fate.
“Calm down. Business first.” She chastised. She dragged him to the middle of her room and took his measurements. He was silent the whole time and honestly Marinette didn’t know he was capable of that. She jotted them down and looked up at Jason.
“What’s going on here bub?” She asked.
“I am afraid to talk to you.”
“Yeah no I’ve got that. Why?”
“I’ve never met someone as strong and soft as you. You still have feelings and I don’t really know how to talk to someone with feelings that function normally. Everyone likes you and I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“And this, what you’re doing right now isn’t fucking it up?” Marinette asked with an edge.
Jason pondered that for a moment, “I see what you mean yes.”
“You were an asshole this morning. You made a joke about your brother fucking me and I’m underage and we were having a meeting and I was in an uncomfortable situation and you’d woken me up two hours too early. I’m sorry I snapped on you. I don’t mind the jokes normally, I was just on edge.” She shrugged, “I get your thing. The snide comments that are borderline cruel, I get it. I did that for a minute, back before Luka. The difference here is the reason I was holding my emotions in is because there is a literal terrorist in my city who takes bad emotions and turns you into a monster. What’s your excuse? You’re a grown man. Time to act like it bub.”
Jason laughed despite himself, “I like you Pixie.”
“No I want an answer. I was not kidding.”
“I died. Actually.” He took a deep breath, “I was brought back by something called the Lazarus Pit, not by something good like your magic. Not something I normally like to talk about but it’s not really a secret in this family. You’d find out sooner or later.”
“I'm sorry to hear that. I’ve died. Multiple times. Sometimes when I try to sleep I feel it.” She said softly.
“Me too.”
“You are sorry? For overwhelming me and being a dick?”
“Yeah, I am. I am genuinely sorry Pixie.” He looked her in the eyes as he said it. She believed him. “You came across as so strong, so impressive, I forgot that you’re young and you’ve got some trauma.”
“It is okay. Plenty of people do. I forgive you as long as you try not to forget again. I want to be your friend. Is that going to be possible?” She asked gently.
“Please Pixie. I like you a lot, why do you think I was so afraid to talk to you? You’re my kickass little sister!” Jason wrapped an arm around her, and she returned the hug happily. Outside the door, Dick, Tim and Damian were listening in proud. Bruce abandoned them after the small girl stole his son. Little did they know, they were eavesdropping in on the beginnings of the most chaotic partners in crime, pranking pair in the world.
As they began to get down to business, discussing fabrics and colors for the suit, Tim and Dick left. After all, it sounded like the two were getting along fine now. But Damian waited, he wanted some Marinette time. He sat in between Marinette and Luka’s doors listening to the music coming from Luka’s room. Finally, Jason and Marinette were done, her door opened and the pair came into the hallway.
“Just the man I’ve been looking to see!” They both said at the same time.
“Me first!” Jason announced, pulling Damian down the hallway a few paces, out of Mari’s earshot. “I love your soulmate.” Jason announced, “She is now my best friend and baby sister and if you hurt her I will hurt you.” He paused, “Also, I know I was making a lot of inappropriate jokes, but that’s my little sister and you’re not allowed to fuck her.”
“Excuse me?” Damian asked incredulously.
“You heard me Demon Spawn, keep it in your pants.” And with that Jason Todd let go of his brother and went about his business.
“If you boys are done, it’s time for your fitting.” Marinette called from down the hallway. Damian looked up to see her and Luka waiting for him, and smiling he went to them.
Notes:
You know I wanna know what you think!
Next update coming Tuesday everyone ;)
Chapter 18: Chapter 18: In which the author falls off the deep end
Summary:
In which Damian tells Marinette something heavy and then they tease each other for 1000+ words.
Notes:
Hey sorry everyone, I normally post in the morning but I'm covering for a coworker and I am working way earlier than I'm used to. Sorry I'm late, but here's the chapter!
There is almost no plot here. The first like three paragraphs is plot and then it gets *spicy.* Nothing Explicit, though its implied, I don't think I will be putting anything explicit in this story, though when it's done I may post a one shot of the explicit stuff. I will be very clearly marking it as I know some of you aren't here for that and it can be skipped, no plot missed.
I don't know why I wrote this, I had plot planned and then I just wrote this instead. I HONESTLY DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I LIKE IT. I hope you like it anyway, but again if your not into touchy touchy stuff maybe stop after the clearly marked line.
Enjoy ;)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 18
“So what have you boys been up to while I’ve been doing consultations?” Marinette asked her boyfriends as they entered her room.
“Damian was yelling at his brothers and father. I was trying to figure out how to get you to not beat yourself up over this morning's meeting.” Luka flopped onto her bed unceremoniously.
“Why were we yelling?” She asked Damian kindly, herding him to the middle of her room.
“When you left Babs kept poking through our Paris file.” He sighed, “We found some correspondence between father and JLE. They’d finally accepted the proof we’d sent over and realized they’d fucked up. Batman is pretty much the top of the Justice League along with Superman, they’d asked what they should do.” He looked her in the eyes, “He told them to leave you alone. That’d they’d put you through enough and they shouldn’t intervene. Batman told them that he’d keep an eye on it and if it ever looked like you couldn’t handle it he’d send them in.”
Her heart broke for Damian. “I know.” She said quietly. “They’d told me the order not to engage came from the top. I knew who the top was.” She wrapped her arms around him, “In a way he was right. I didn’t want their help anymore. They didn’t need to be so rude about it, but I don’t think that was Batman, I think that was them being sore about being wrong.”
She pulled away from him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “This has nothing to do with you or your brothers. I’ll speak to him directly after dinner during his consultation. For now let’s get you measured.” She turned around to get her measuring tape, not noticing her boyfriends moving behind her.
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When she turned back around, she was stunned to say the least. In front of her, before her eyes, were her beautiful boyfriends kissing. She stood there stunned for a moment, she wanted to touch them, she wanted to remind them that she was there, and join them. Then she remembered. They were being punished and they knew it. And they were trying to get out of it.
She weighed her options carefully, while they made out. Option one, stop them, boring but effective. Option two, call off the punishment and get busy with her boyfriends. Option three, give it as good as she’s getting it.
And we all know Marinette is too adventurous for option one and too stubborn for option two.
“You boys are pretty.” She said wistfully. Running a few fingers up Luka’s arm. She felt his body’s reaction to her prodding. Though surprisingly, Damian was the one to break the kiss.
“Not as pretty as you Angel. Our poor Angel has been busy all morning, she should let us spoil her.” He slid his hands under Luka’s shirt, “Right Luka?”
“Fucking hell, you two are going to destroy me.” Though he was clearly the instigator, Luka was definitely the one being most affected by their antics so far.
“You can’t spoil me yet.” Marinette keened, “I’ve still got to measure you.” She looked over to Luka, “I should probably retake your measurements to see if your suit needs to be refitted.”
“So you’re saying that after we’re measured we can spoil you.” Damian asked hopefully.
“I’m saying it’s not even a possibility until then.” She dug her nails into her hand, trying to focus, trying to remember how to tease. God, this was going to be infinitely harder now that there were two of them. “Take off your shirt.” She whispered in his ear.
She felt Damian tense against her, and the heat rising to his face. “Looking to get the most exact measurements you can?” He asked in a choked voice.
“Only the best for such a high profile client.” She replied with a smirk, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt. “Unless of course you want to keep it on. I just thought that it was warm in here, and I could get exact measurements this way. But if you prefer, you can leave it.” She said, popping another button.
Next thing she knew, Damian was scrambling to get his shirt off. So much so he’d actually ripped one of his buttons off of the shirt.
Marinette watched him feeling powerful, and Luka watched him practically drooling. “That’s a neat party trick M, can you get him to take off his pants too?”
Marinette laughed as Damian blushed heavily. “I could, but why ruin the anticipation?” Both boys' eyes shot to her, as they got redder. While she had their attention, she abused it. “But it really is quite hot in here,” She shed her blazer, revealing her toned arms and her collarbones.
“You’re evil.” Luka declared, Damian nodded his head dumbly.
“You boys haven’t seen anything yet.” She moved towards Damian, measuring tape in hand. “You have been measured before yes?” She asked, as she wrapped her arms around his chest, taking the first measurement.
“Yes. But something tells me this will be an entirely different experience.” Damian said quietly.
“Well, yes.” She said quietly, taking note of the number, “Because I have to make up for lost time with you. So you get a kiss for every measurement I take.” She placed a kiss on his chest, where the end of the measuring tape crossed over itself. “And maybe then some, because you are beautiful.” She looked up into his eyes before moving to kiss his collarbone lightly. She tried to pretend like it didn’t affect her when she watched his eyes darken as her lips met his skin.
“And what do I do while all of this is happening?” Luka asked in a pouty tone.
“Sit on the bed with your hands on your lap and watch.” Marinette said in a sharp tone.
“Fuck.” The boys said at the same time.
“Oh this is going to be fun.” Mari said quietly. Luka sat down on the bed as instructed. She moved her hands up taking another measurement and kissing his left shoulder. She walked around him, dragging her hand against his back, relishing the goosebumps raising on his skin. She looked down at his right arm, smiling at the marks on his skin.
She had known Damian an impossibly short amount of time, but she was already head over heels for him. And for him to be affecting her the way he was, so quickly, damn the universe for sending her sexy soulmates. She was supposed to be making them wait, torturing them, now she was torturing herself. She traced the marks with her fingers before wrapping her measuring tape around his bicep. She took the measurement and kissed each of his soul marks softly. She looked up at Damian, he was looking down at her entranced, she grabbed his chin and kissed him softly. When she pulled away, his head followed hers, begging for more. She pushed him back with her finger.
On the bed, Luka made a whining sound.
With an evil smile, Marinette dropped to her knees in front of Damian to measure his waist and inseam. The effect was instantaneous, the boys gasped, entranced by her every move. She wrapped her arms around his waist, taking the measurement before looking up at him and kissing his hip bone. And if Marinette angled herself just so Damian could see down her dress, well surely she couldn’t be blamed.
If Marinette noticed Damian’s pants no longer fit properly, she didn’t do anything to indicate it. She moved her hands in between his legs and took his inseam measurement. Damian held his breath wondering where she’d kiss him next and let it out hastily when she kissed the top of his thigh. She took her last measurement and gave him one last, long kiss.
“Okay boys, we are all done. Wanna hit the gym?”
“Absolutely the fuck not.” Damian said, moving closer to her.
Luka stood up behind her, locking her in place, “Yeah that’s not quite how this is going down here Melody.”
And who was Marinette to refuse?
Notes:
ALSO WE OFFICIALLY HAVE 10,000+ HITS ON THIS ARE YOU KIDDING ME? GUYS THIS IS THE FIRST WRITING I'VE DONE IN LIKE 3 YEARS BC HIGH SCHOOL WAS ROUGH I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT.
anyway, let me know what you think
Chapter 19: Chapter 19: B Faces the Music
Summary:
A dash of Luka POV because it’s been a second since we’ve heard from our boy, and Marinette and Bruce finally get into it.
Notes:
Morning everyone. You wouldn’t believe the morning I had. . . GRRRR!!!
Anyway here is your Thursday update, and I wanted to give you guys a heads up. Next chapters are gonna be getting longer and more dramatic because *insert drum roll* the story is going to be over in 5-6 chapters!
I’ve got the wrap up planned and if there’s anything else you guys are dying to happen speak now or forever hold your peace!
Anyways you guys know I love y’all and I hope you enjoy the story!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 19
It had been an amusing two days for Luka. Hell, it had been an amusing year for Luka. Ever since he’d found out Marinette was one of his soulmates, his life had changed forever.
Starting with hero-ing, Viperion was much more active. After all, a soulbond was a huge advantage in battle. It’s been argued that now LB and Viperion fight even more seamlessly than the original crime fighting duo. Secretly, the thought filled him with pride. He loved being able to fight alongside Marinette, to fight with her, help her and protect her. Plus, have you ever made out with the love of your life on a Parisian rooftop? Luka recommended it, it was a 10/10 experience.
Then there was her new career. Luka was never jealous of his girlfriend, simply in awe of her. He was so glad that music had become such a huge part of her life, she clearly loved making it, and he loved to listen. And when she rose to the top, it was fun to play groupie for a while. Though eventually that evolved too. He went from amazed boyfriend/groupie to backstage bodyguard/right hand man to right hand man/lead guitarist. Marinette had begged him to be a part of their band while she went on tour, and eventually he realized how much he’d wanted to play by her side. But he didn’t want handouts. He submitted an audition tape anonymously, and was hired the good old fashioned way. It was hilarious to watch Marinette mope for a month before he revealed himself at their first rehearsal.
Tour was amazing, it was a great warmup for when he made it himself. And though he’d tried to pretend he didn’t, he spent it doing exactly what Marinette was doing, scanning the crowds for a secret artist who liked katannas. He’d been disappointed too, when the tour was coming to a close and they hadn’t found him. But he felt it, inexplicably in his bones that whoever their soulmate was, was close. And he knew from the second he saw Damian who he was.
I mean, the universe knew he had a type: badasses with dark hair, light eyes and could kick his ass.
Everything about Damian’s song fit with his and Marinette’s. Immediately, Damian got their dynamic. He teased Marinette mercilessly, yeah, Luka was positive Damian was their soulmate. He knew there was more to it than meets the eye, some sort of dark bassline that they’d surely learn more about with time. But he hadn’t expected to learn, on day one no less, that his other soulmate was Robin .
Apparently superheroes were his type too.
But where there was one bird, there were sure to be more, maybe some bats too. If Robin was Damian, then the Waynes were the Batfam. He knew it, Damian knew it and Marinette knew it. Batman was a bit of a touchy subject for Marinette, so he was concerned, all he could do is hope that their meeting with the bats would go okay.
It didn’t. The dumbasses woke her up . It was doomed from there.
Then he found out Batman, just casually didn’t mention to his family that he left a fifteen year old girl to fend for herself in Paris. Look, Luka’s a pretty chill guy, but this made even him a bit angry. Batman had yet to face the music. He wanted to like him, he was Damian’s dad and all, but it did seem like the guy was avoiding his girlfriend.
He knew her, he knew she wanted to make nice. With everyone, probably even Bruce. So as she started spending one on one time with the Batboys, he smiled as he felt her happiness about her new friendships. He felt Damian’s happiness too, his relief that his brothers like his soulmate. She made friends with all of them. He knew they’d love her, who wouldn’t? Marinette was done making nice with the Waynes (minus Bruce), Luka wasn’t surprised to find her at his door. He knew what she wanted, he knew what he wanted and he knew what Damian wanted. Luka knew what was going to go down.
Okay, so Luka didn’t know the particulars of what was going to go down. He didn’t expect his two hot as hell soulmates to utterly wreck him. Luka certainly didn’t know he was so much of a fucking sub. But sure enough, he was laying in bed with his soulmates, basking in the postcoital glow.
“So,” he said quietly, resting his hand on Damian’s jaw, “We are very good at what we do Birdy,” he kissed him on the cheek, “She lasted like sixteen hours.” He smiled, referencing their “punishment” Marinette had assigned them.
Marinette groaned from on top of Damian and Damian chuckled darkly. “She didn’t stand a chance and she knew it.” Damian wrapped his arms around Marinette and flipped them around, pinning her to the bed. “Didn’t you Angel?” He smirked from above her, snaking down her body to kiss her on her soulmarks. They were Damian’s favorite places to lavish attention, she already had hickeys surrounding them.
“None of that Dami.” She said stopping him, “We’ve got to get ready for dinner and I’ve still got to meet with your father, which I honestly want to do before dinner if I can find the time.” She flipped them back around, leaving Damian reeling again at how beautifully strong she was, and climbed out of bed.
Both boys watched her as she got dressed again, deflating a little for each article she put back on. She tossed them their shirts as she began tying her dress closed. “I am going to find Bruce, come or don’t. I do not mind either way. But if you two carry on without me, I will be both mad and sad.”
She closed the door behind her and marched her way through the manor. Luka got up quickly, scrambling to get dressed. “She wants to make nice with him.” He told Damian, “I know it, but I’m concerned. She’s known for years that Batman is a big part of the reason she’s still fighting Hawkmoth. She has years of pent up resentment, and I’m just worried about how this is going to go if we’re not there to remind her what she’s there for.”
Damian rose up, wrapping his arms around Luka’s neck, kissing him softly. “I understand Habibti. I’d feel the same, let’s go help our Angel.” Quickly they dressed and went to find Marientte.
They found them in the cave, having a heated discussion, though neither of them were yelling.
“And I understand where you were coming from Monsieur Wayne, but I stand by the fact you went about it all in the wrong way. And by the time it was said and done, you should have extended the choice to me, rather than deciding my fate. I cannot deny that I am angry, that I have spent years being angry. But I don’t want to be. Not anymore.” At first she was loud, somewhere in between yelling and passionately explaining, but as she continued, her volume dropped.
Luka felt his heart clench for his Melody,he felt her fear, sadness and uncertainty. Damian must’ve as well, considering how tightly he was holding Luka’s hand.
“I know!” Bruce raised his voice, it was unlike him and all three of them flinched, “I know that I made an error, a lapse in judgement. It wasn’t just what I initially told everyone, that you wouldn’t have wanted our help at that point, I also didn’t want to admit I’d made a mistake, that the Justice League had made a mistake. They- we, are supposed to be a pillar of justice, that people can put their faith in. What if it’d gotten out that a mistake of that caliber was made? They’d lose their faith in us and-”
“What about me? What about us? What about Paris?” Marinette yelled back, “Do you think it’s all rainbows and sunshine over there? Because I am there? Because the seventeen year old is so capable of doing it herself, with her team of other teenagers? People are losing faith in me . I’ve been doing this for three years and I am no closer to catching Hawkmoth now than I was when I first became a hero! I was a child, I am still a child! And people are finally starting to notice. I need help. For years it has been a choice, Ladybug or Marinette. And finally I got tired, this has been the year of Marinette. And while I love my life, love my jobs and the things I get to do, I wake up everyday feeling guilty. I should be holed up somewhere training and doing detective work, cracking the case. But I can’t, it is too much for one person, and the heroes didn’t want to help me.” Her voice cracked and Luka fought every nerve in his body that wanted to run to her, “I just don’t want to do it anymore. I need help, so are you going to give it to me or not?”
Then the most unexpected thing happened. Bruce hugged her . The small girl started to cry, and wrapped her arms around him. Accepting his comfort and crying. Luka and Damian couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation, but they felt the emotion the Marinette was pouring out, the emotion she had been bottling up for years, and they felt her begin to calm down as Bruce whispered reassurances to her.
When her sobbing was reduced to sniffles, Bruce let her go, and Damian couldn’t stop himself anymore. He ran to his Angel, giving her a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her up, her legs snaked around his waist. And for a moment, Bruce was gone. It was just Marinette, Damian and Luka, who had obviously raced across the room with Damian and was rubbing reassuring circles on her back.
As Damian put down Marinette, Bruce began to grovel. Though Marinette cut him off. “I have already told you Bruce, I forgive you.” She smiled at him, “It is okay. You have agreed to help me, both with some detective work and some extra training and that is all I have wanted for years. Besides, I just fucked your son, let’s call it even.”
And with that Marinette turned on her heel, starting to leave the Bat Cave. “I think dinner is going to be ready soon. Shall we go?”
In her wake, she left a flustered Bruce, a red Damian and a laughing Luka
Notes:
Y’all know the drill, thoughts?
Also, remember, the end is near and if there’s something you’re craving let me know!
Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Superhero Business
Summary:
After dinner, the Batfam plus Lula and Marinette head to the gym to train and then have a debriefing meeting.
Notes:
Morning everyone!
I hope you enjoy! Honestly not too much to say today, this chapter sets the stage for our grand finale. We should be finishing up this story by this time next week.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 20
Dinner was good. Damian enjoyed himself. He enjoyed watching his soulmates mingle with his family. They were far better at it than he was. So for the second time, the Wayne’s ate with their Parisian guests, enjoying every second. This time however, there were no shocking revelations, no secrets revealed, just happy conversations. While it was uneventful, it was pleasant and ended all to soon.
“And Marinette,” Jagged called to her as dinner was ending, “Remember, meeting tomorrow. It’s a biggie, we got wardrobe consultations, a tour recap, some discussions to have about album number three, and we gotta decide if we’re bringing Damian in too.”
“You got it Jagged, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She turned around and went to hug him and Penny. She let them go, “Remember to pull wardrobe options!” She ran back towards her boyfriends who were waiting for her wearing amused expressions.
“Album number three?” Luka asked beaming.
Marinette smiled self depreciatingly, “I meant to tell you yesterday, but there was a lot going on yesterday.” She grabbed his hand, and then Damian’s, she walked in between them, swinging their hands, “Yeah tour went great. My American following has basically tripled, my numbers in Asia are on the rise, and I mean we know I’m well received in Europe. I prepared a quick proposal last night instead of sleeping, hence why I was particularly cranky this morning. I want to call it “Papillion” and I want to be about healing. Because Paris needs some of that, we all need some of that.”
“That sounds perfect Angel,” Damian smiled at her, pulling her hand up to his mouth to kiss it. “Though the not sleeping thing probably warrants more discussion.”
Marinette waved him off, “Thank you very much. I was thinking we could have a good old fashioned song writing session later on Luka.”
Luka agreed and they continued walking towards their rooms, before Damian spoke up again. “What was that about me?”
Marinette blushed, “I used to get bad stage fright, I couldn’t perform, at least I couldn’t perform well without Luka there. We made it a family business, I never perform without Luka, Penny and Jagged there. They are my music family. Now we have you and you are obviously invited to be a part of that, if that is something you are interested in. But in order to ensure anonymity, you’d need a new persona. So we could still act like soulmates without blowing my cover. There would be some discussions about what you want and getting everyone on the same page.”
Damian smiled. He hadn’t really thought about the future, he’d frankly been a bit caught up in the fact he had soulmates to begin with. He was ecstatic to hear that she had thought about the future, all three of them together in the future. He turned to her, letting go of her hand to wrap his arms around her and kiss her. She made a small noise of surprise in the back of her throat before wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing him back.
They got lost in each other for a moment, and Luka got lost in how fucking pretty his soulmates were, but after a moment, he remembered what they were supposed to be doing.
“Lovely as you two look, we’ve got to go get changed to go meet the bats. For the training you yelled at Batman to get. Besides, Tikki’s been going insane waiting for you to introduce her.”
Reluctantly, Marinette stopped kissing Damian. “Yes, yes I know. Superhero stuff, no time for kissing boyfriends.” She sighed dejectedly, causing her boyfriends to chuckle. Together they returned to their rooms to change.
Marinette waited in the hallway for Damian and Luka. She was changed and ready, she wore some black athletic pants and a ladybug spotted sports bra with a loose fitting white tank top over it. Normally, she’d forgo the tank top, but Damian left hickeys on her soulmarks and tattoos during their earlier *ahem* encounter. Tikki was resting on the top of her head, lounging around, waiting to be introduced to literally anyone. To say Tikki was inpatient at this point was an understatement.
She had planned on waiting for her boyfriends for longer, but every part of her body was itching to go to the gym. She wanted to do some stretching and maybe hit somethings before the rest of the bats were there. She left a sticky note on her door explaining where she had gone and went to the gym. She left Tikki to rest on the mat rack and began stretching. She worked her way through her gymnastics warm up before going to the beams. She did a few of her favorite routines and was working her way through a new one when she was interrupted.
“Your form really is quite impressive,” Dick said startling her, “But you might want to cool it before the rest of my family gets here. The more you flip around, the more your shirt pools up revealing the hickeys on your stomach. Don’t tell me who put those there please.”
Marinette kicked down from her handstand and backflipped off the beam. She allowed herself a moment to linger in her dismount before turning to Dick. “Big bird, I have been on a tour bus with my Uncle for months. Let a girl have some fun.”
“Big bird?” He asked with a smile on his face.
“You are the biggest bird.” She smiled back, “It fit. Do you enjoy gymnastics?”
He chuckled at her, “That’s an understatement. How would you like to fly with me Spots?” He gestured up to the trapeze.
Marinette had stars in her eyes, “Fuck yeah!” She looked over to the mats where Tikki was, “But first, I’ve got someone to introduce you to.”
Luka and Damian walked to the gym hand in hand talking quietly amongst themselves. Though when they arrived and took in the sight in front of them, the words died in their mouths. There, flying through the air, was their girlfriend. They couldn’t even react, they just stood there staring for a moment. Though Steph called them over as soon as she noticed them.
“Which one of you jerks covered the girl in hickeys knowing we had training?” She asked them with barely contained laughter. “Because when she gets down from there Jay is going to tease her mercilessly.”
“It’s true.” Jason said not taking his eyes off of Marinette. “Also, I’m going to ask her where she got her ink, the snake is cool.” He pried his eyes away from her and looked at Damian, “Have you met Tikki? She’s the cutest little thing!”
That’s when Damina noticed the thing on Jason’s shoulder. “You’re the mouse-bug that I saw last night.”
Tikki flew up to him, laughing. “You and Marinette are definitely soul mates, when she first met me she called me a ‘Cockroach Mouse.’ I am Marinette’s kwami, I am part of what helps her transform into Ladybug.” Damian introduced himself to her politely. Prompting a smile from the small goddess. “Look at our bug fly! She’s so happy, can’t you feel it?”
Damian and Luka’s faces broke out into twin smiles. Sure enough, their bug let out a whoop as she dismounted the trapeze, she did three flips through the air before landing safely on the net. Once she had climbed off the net, Dick landed on it. Immediately raving about his new trapeze partner. Making Marinette blush.
“Are you sure you weren’t in the circus Spots?” He asked, ruffling her hair.
She swatted his hands away, “Of course I am sure. Your instructions were very clear, I was able to follow them, it was not that impressive. Though it was surely fun, we should make that a routine.” She turned her attention away from Dick and finally noticed the crowd that had amassed. She blushed lightly, trying to play it off. “Has everyone warmed up? Are we ready to train?”
“No, we were a bit distracted Sunshine. Because you were flying through the air like you’ve done it for years.” Tim spoke for the group.
“Yeah, and because you’re covered in hickeys.” Jason turned to Damian, “Didn’t I explicitly tell her not to fuck her?”
“Yeah, nope not having this conversation.” She clapped her hands, “Warm up you slackers. Batman and I have made up, we’re friends now. Yay. That means now you are helping me with Paris so we’ve got a debriefing to do after training.” Marinette’s take charge attitude took them a bit by surprise.
“She’s gunning for your job B.” Barbara said with a smirk.
“Or she is distracting us, so we can’t tease her.” Jason said with narrowed eyes.
“Unlikely, considering I’m probably getting paired with you Jay.” She said more to herself than anyone else. Though the statement got Batman’s attention.
“How did you know that?” He asked incredulously.
She shrugged her shoulders, “I’ve worked with weapons before, but not too often. I can fight against someone with a weapon fine, I can even use one okay enough, but I don’t usually need to use one. I have my yoyo, that’s all I tend to use. I know the biggest gap in my combat skills is fighting effectively with knives and or guns.” She gestured to Damian, “He uses swords but he is a distraction.” She points at Dick, “He’d be the next most obvious choice, but you are going to pair him with Luka.” Then she gestured to Jason, “He can teach me about guns and I bet he knows his way around a knife. Plus, you want to challenge me, see how I can do in a situation I don’t necessarily want to be in.”
Bruce stared at her for a moment. “I don’t like this.” He said quietly, “Everyone warm up.”
And so the BatFam plus Luka warmed up. Marinette had already, so she instead just went to the punching bag, practicing a few new combos she had thought up while reviewing akuma footage. She had just begun moving onto kicks when Bruce called everyone over to give assignments.
“Okay. Tonight we’ve got Jason and Marinette working with knives in close combat. Luka and Dick doing some basic close combat training. Steph and Cass are on strength training today. Damian and Tim I want you both to work on your defense, you’ll be spending the night on the mats trying to hit each other.” He looked up from his clipboard, “Any questions?”
“Yes!” Steph’s hand shot up, “When we’re done can we initiate the Frenchies?”
“After our debriefing.”
Marinette looked up at Jason wearing a confused expression, “You’ll be fine Pixie.” He whispered, ruffling her hair.
And so the group broke up, splitting off to do their assigned tasks.
Jason handed Marinette a dagger and began walking her through the basics of fighting with a knife. The best way to hold it, what to avoid, how to angle it, where to stab for non fatal attacks, where to stab for fatal attacks, everything he could think of. She was pleasantly surprised to see how thorough and patient a teacher Jason was. They even did some light sparing using the dagger sheaths in place of the daggers themselves. Though after about thirty minutes, once he thought she had a firm grasp on the subject, the tables turned.
“So,” Jason began, “You fucked Little D.”
“If you are about to make a pun asking me if he really is ‘Little D,’ I will stab you.”
“Fair enough, you’re more fun to tease when he can hear me anyway.” He smiled at her, “I’ll talk about something else instead.” He paused, “It is concerning how much like Batman you are.”
Marinette scoffed. “No, I am not like Batman. Personally I think his whole no killing thing is bullshit. At some point, the kiddie gloves have to come off and the Joker has to die. And just because I bottle up my negative emotions, for the safety of Paris mind you, doesn’t mean I won’t show my emotions or affection. I just understand him. I am a leader, once you get in that headspace it can be easy to read other leaders. It is a necessity really, to know at all times what your competitors or allies must be thinking.”
“It’s sad.” Jason said quietly, “That you can understand Batman because you have the same amount of responsibilities. You’re a kid.”
Marinette shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose. You’re right it is sad, but I haven’t really gotten to be a kid since I took over the role of Guardian. I had so much on my plate, between being LB, school, class president duties, commissions for Jagged, commissions for Kitty Section, I also had to find time to do this.” She gestured around the room, “I had to start taking martial arts and self defense classes and I had to train Chat and the other temporary heroes.”
Jason looked at her sadly, “No, no no, none of that.” She said stopping him, “It got better after I found Luka, besides, now I have all of you to help me. You guys are going to help me unmask Hawkmoth, I’ll kick his ass in whatever epic showdown that leads to, then I can write my new album and move the hell out of Paris.” She smiled at him and gave him a hug. “Come on, help me prep my debrief with Babs.”
“Whatever you need Pixie.”
“Are we ready?” She asked the group of Bats. They'd finished training a few moments ago and had begun slowly trickling over to join her. As she got a few answers to the affirmative she began. “You guys know I am Ladybug, Luka is Viperion. My earrings are my miraculous, they bond with my kwami Tikki to make me Ladybug.” She paused looking around, “Tikki, come formally meet everyone!” She called.
Tikki came flying from seemingly out of nowhere, “Hi, I am Tikki, the kwami of creation!”
“What does that mean, to be the kwami of creation?” Tim asked.
“It means that Marinette is a creation soul. She has a soul rooted in creating things, being creative, making others happy, finding balance. Because she has a soul that is like this, I can work with her, her being who she is is what makes her Ladybug. If a regular person were to wear the earrings, their powers wouldn’t work properly.” A faint blush dusted Marinette's cheeks as Tikki complimented her and more of the Bats began to look at her, she decided it was best to simply keep moving.
“My partner is Chat Noir, he wears the ring of the black cat. He is my equal in every way, his kwami is Plagg the kwami of destruction. He is a soul of chaos. We also have Ryuko in play right now to help Chat with patrols while I am away. Together with a few other temporary heroes that I don’t put in the game very often anymore, we fight Hawkmoth.”
She nodded to Babs who put a picture up on the screen. “This is him. What does he want? Our Miraculous. When combined, the miraculous of creation and destruction can grant the bearer a single wish. What does he want to wish for? I don’t know. I do know that we cannot let him use the wish. First of all he is evil, this can corrupt a miraculous. Second of all, the universe will demand balance, the consequences of whatever he wishes for could be catastrophic. Someone could die, multiple people could die, life as we know it could end. Realistically the possibilities are endlessly bad.”
“Who is Hawkmoth? What does he do? Hawkmoth bears the miraculous of the butterfly, the miraculous of champions. It is supposed to be used to grant people the power to fight for justice, he uses it to take advantage of negative emotions. Any negative emotions, he can take then and abuse them. Turning the person into a monster that will do his bidding without question. These people are victims.” She motioned for Babs to change the picture, a picture of an akumatized baby filled the screen, “Any negative emotion. Most of his victims are children or young teenagers who have more issues controlling themselves. The victim will remember nothing from their time being akumatized, with one notable exception.”
The picture changed on screen, showing Lila Rossi, “Lila Rossi is not a victim, she is working with Hawkmoth. She has knowingly and willingly become akumatized and has gone out of her way to help stir negative emotions in others. Including me. She hates me, both in and out of the mask, I have never been able to get any information out of her, and the police don’t believe me. As for Hawkmoth himself, I have no specific leads. He must have some sort of connection to her, to be willing to work with her; he must have time on his hands, because akumatizations happen at all hours of the day; he must have money to have the time on his hands and to buy the butterflies, Nooroo can’t make as many butterflies as he uses, he must supplement them somehow.”
Babs changed the picture on the screen again. "A few years ago, a partner emerged out of no where. Mayura. Mayura uses the miraculous of the Peafowl." Marinette looked at Alfred sadly, "Alfred is the true bearer of this miraculous. I don't know how the bad guys got a hold of it, or the butterfly for that matter. The peafowl allows its user to give champions a companion in battle. Though again, because of the evil nature of Mayura's acts, this power has been twisted. Something is up with her, Hawkmoth is behind every attack, though Mayura, isn't. It is a relatively rare occurrence to see her, or even her powers. Which in itself, must be some sort of clue."
“I think that's about it." Marinette sighed. "Any questions? Anything to add Luka?”
“No, let’s get this started.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading everyone, see you tomorrow!
Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Breaking Down
Summary:
Marinette realizes how much it aches to summarize the last four years of her life. She pushes it down, trying to have fun with her new family, when she makes a blood curdling discovery.
Notes:
Good morning everyone!
I had fun writing this chapter (at first), I enjoyed thinking out battle scenes in my head. But when Marinette connects the dots that have been so clearly laid out in front of her, my heart broke for her.
If it's not too much trouble, can you guys tell me how I did writing the breakdown? I tried to cover it from multiple POVs and I tried to write it very hectically like how I think when I have panic attacks. For now I'm happy with it, but I need you guys to tell me if it was believable and heartbreaking. (I want to be a writer IRL so I've been doing some skill building).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 21
Marinette kind of wanted to cry. Which was stupid, she was getting help, she needed to talk about it to get help. But it felt silly and dismissive to talk about the last four years of her life like this. Basically, she broke down four years of battles, tramas and clues into a five minute summary, and it fucking hurt.
Instead of breaking down, she did what she always did; she pushed it down and kept moving. “I hate to say it Bats,” She started, “But the best way to do this is going to be using my generic leads. Make a list of everyone who fits the rich bill that lives in Paris full time. That should help us narrow it down a little, most rich people in Paris don’t live there full time, they bounce around multiple homes in Europe. Then cross reference with connections to Lila Rossi and look into financial records for evidence of butterfly trafficking or whatever.”
“I agree.” Babs said, “Let me get on this. You guys initiate the Frenchies, Nettie looks like she wants to hit something anyway.”
Marinette looked down at her feet. “I am sorry. It is frustrating, knowing what you need to do but not being able to do it. I am not used to it. I have wanted to do this for a while but I cannot access the financial records,” She looked up at Babs with a smirk, “Something tells me that your super computer can.”
“Let me do this for you. Go hit things with the bats.”
Initiation as it were, was just sparring. To be initiated, Damian explained, one had to battle their way through the bats. Marinette wasn’t concerned for herself, for her it would be fun. She was, however, concerned for Luka. She loved her boyfriend, and she knew he was strong and capable, but she also knew that most of the time he was most useful from standing off to the side, observing. When she brought Luka in, he very rarely fought close range.
She looked at him gently, “You gonna be okay?” She asked quietly.
“Don’t worry Melody, this is all in good fun.”
“The better question Angel, is are you okay?” Damian cut in, “We both felt you up there. I’m sorry that this is so hard for you.”
“C’est la vie.” Marinette responded quietly, “For now, this is what it is. I can start to process and heal when we take him down. For now, getting to hit Jason is enough.”
Her boyfriends exchanged a look that Marinette decided to ignore. She stepped up to the mat, “Who is volunteering to let me hit them first?”
The answer was Steph. Steph talked a big talk, but Marinette wasn’t concerned about her. Her fighting style was similar to Chloe’s, albeit Steph was more skilled. She was tall, all long limbs and agility. Though Marinette was more agile. All she had to do was stay out of Steph’s range of motion for a few hits until she began to lag. That was all Marinette needed. She swept at her feet, when she dodged that, she was off her balance. Marinette used this to shoulder her in the stomach, pinning her to the ground.
“That was fun.” She said with a smile, “But who is next?”
Tim was next. She smiled, Marinette was used to adapting her fighting style to who she was fighting. But she hadn’t revealed very much about her style specifically because she knew Tim would be paying close attention. Where in the last round she was all defence, she started out swinging with him. She knew he wouldn’t expect it. And he certainly didn’t. She saw the look of surprise that graced his features as she charged at him. He quickly schooled it, preparing for her attack. She ducked down low, faking like she was going to sweep at his legs. She’d never do that really, he was too big for that to work and it was predictable, she’d just pulled it on Steph. Though again, as he prepared to dodge her sweep, he rendered himself off balance. She slid across the ground, past his legs. Once she was behind him, she threw two well placed jabs to the back of his legs. His knees buckled at her assault, she was on him in an instant. She pushed him the rest of the way to the ground, sitting on his back, holding his right arm there.
“Damn Sunshine,” He said, she could hear the smirk in his voice, “I give.”
She got off of him and offered him a hand to help her up. She gave him a hug once he was up, “Just so you know,” Tim whispered to her quietly, “We all talk a big talk, but we love Little D, if you hurt him, I’ll be forced to come for you.”
Marinette hugged him tighter, hiding her smile at that.
“I’m next Pixie!” Jason announced. A feral grin appeared across Marinette’s features, one that would’ve given any sane person the chills. But we all know Jason isn’t sane.
He stepped onto the mat, as soon as Bruce said the match began, Marinette launched herself at him. She landed on his left side, pinning his arm to his body as she wrapped her legs around his middle. She climbed onto his back from there, kicking into his knee like she’d done with Tim. He crumpled to his knees and Marinette moved to get him in a chokehold. For a moment she’d thought she had him, but he rolled to the side as best he could, hoping to lose her in the process. However because Marinette had such a tight hold on him, she was able to control most of the way they moved. They ended with Marinette on top of Jason, his face down on the mat, pinning his hands to the ground with her knees.
“Igve!” He said as best he could, keep in mind, he had a face full of mat.
She got off of him and helped him up. “I’ve been wanting to do that all evening between the jokes.”
“Yeah yeah. I know Pixie,” he pulled her closer, “Just know, that while I’ll never, ever fucking tell him,” Jason mumbled, “I will protect Demon Spawn to my dying breath.”
“I’m glad to hear that Jay. I’ll pass the message along to Lu.” She hugged him, Marinette liked this side of him.
Marinette was actually nervous to fight Dick. Of the Batboys, he’d been doing the vigilante-ing the longest, and having grown up in a circus, he knew all of her tricks. Hell, he could probably do some of the must as well if not better than her. She quickly decided that it would be best to let him come to her. As the fight began, neither of them seemed to be in any rush to engage the other. To test the waters, Marinette inched towards him, continually bouncing from foot to foot. She threw two jabs which he quickly dodged. She waited for his attack, and it never came. So again, she encroached on his space and aimed a roundhouse kick at his middle. He caught her foot, and she smiled wickedly. With him anchoring her foot and supporting its weight, she shifted her weight into that foot. Using his hand as a stepstool, she swung her other leg around and ended up on his shoulders. She squeezed her thighs for a moment, both building her strength and choking him, then she prepared to take him down by shifting her weight back to pull them both to the ground.
She never got that far. She got distracted. She had spared a glance at the monitors and saw pictures of Gabriel Agreste. But he couldn’t be a suspect, she’d cleared him. He’d been akumatized, Hawkmoth couldn’t akumatize himself. Her blood froze. Hawkmoth had a partner, a partner that could, fuck, she’d fucked up, she’d fucked up so badly.
She swung her legs down off of Dick, “That is not possible. No. No, no no. How did I overlook that?” Before she knew what was happening, genuine panic filled her.
“Lu, how could I miss that?” The words were pouring out of her, so fast they were hard to understand, “Yes, he’d been akumatized, but when Mayura came into the public view I should’ve reconsidered. How could I? Lu, I figured him out years ago.” Her voice broke, “This. This isn’t possible, what are we going to tell Adrien? What are we going to tell Paris?” Marinette was growing frantic, she began walking over to the screens. “I had hoped that I was wrong, so much so I overlooked the obvious. Mayura wore the butterfly miraculous to akumatize him, to throw me off his trail and it worked. How could I fall for something so cheap?” She wasn’t breathing properly at this point, “That abusive son of a bitch, I am going to skin him alive. How dare he do this to his son, to Paris? Lu I fucked up.”
The bats watched her with various levels of confusion as she broke in front of them. “Babs you’re so right. I am so stupid, so so stupid. That asshole, he had me. Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth, it all makes sense, just like it did all those years ago.” Marinette began laughing, “I could’ve been done. I could’ve been done three years ago! I fell for that dumb trick.”
She turned to the bats, “Gabriel Agreste has fuck you money, and a steady stream of incoming fuck you money. He works from home, a mansion that will undoubtedly have some kind of secret lair like this one has. Lila Rossi is one of his models. His assistant Nathalie does most of the actual work behind running Gabriel so she is more busy, less available to do supervillon work, but is so devoted to him, she’d do anything. Their garden! Lu, we’ve had dates in that garden, remember the butterflies? We’d blamed it on the amount of flowers. We’re fucking stupid. I am so fucking stupid. I told myself he couldn’t be Hawkmoth, even though I was so sure. At the time, Hawkmoth didn’t have a partner, at least not that we knew of, and it is impossible to akumatize yourself. But he knew I was getting close! He just had Nathalie wear it to trick me!” She looked up at the Bats, they were looking at her with pity. Of course they were, she was so stupid, she is so stupid.
Fuck, Adrien. “Lu, we’ve gotta get Adrien out of there. Plagg is in danger. Plagg can’t stay there. I’m the worst guardian. What time is it over there? If I call, will he answer or do I need to go?”
Damian and Luka were on her in an instant. Marinette tried to push them off, “We don’t have time for this, Chat can’t be there! Tikki! Tikki tell them!” Marinette didn’t know when she started to cry, she just felt the hot tears running down her face. She didn’t know how frantic she seemed, how heartbreaking her ramblings and screams were, she just knew she had to save her partner.
Damian wasn’t quite sure what happened. One second, his girlfriend was beating the shit out of his siblings, then the next second she had left the ring, right as she was about to win and began rambling. He felt panic, genuine panic and anger and fear coursing through his veins. He looked at Luka, who looked like his heart was breaking.
“That is Gabriel Agreste." Luka explained, "He was Marinette’s idol, he is our friend Adrien’s father. Adrien is Chat Noir. This means that Chat Noir’s father has been trying to kill him for years. And Marinette had suspected him, but ruled him out after he’d been akumatized. That was three years ago.” Damian sucked in a breath sharply. Marinette was yelling at his family, trying her best to explain what was happening in her panicked state.
They watched her for a minute, watching her get angry at herself for being stupid, for missing the signs. Then she got even more panicked as she realized Hawkmoth was in the same house as her partner. That’s when they cut in.
At first, she fought back. She was screaming for Tikki, that she had to go to Paris and save him. “Angel!” Damian yelled. “You can’t do this, you’re going to put him in more danger and show our hand. You need to listen to the sound of my voice!”
“No Dami, you don’t understand, I fucked up so bad.”
“No Melody.” Luka said quietly, “You need to listen. Can you hear me?” Marinette nodded her head, her breathing was ragged, she was hyperventilating.
“Can we hug you?” Marinette looked confused for a second.
“No we have to go-”
“No. We’re not going anywhere.” Damian cut in, “Right now you need to focus on us, take my hand.” She did without thought, “Good girl. Now you need to breathe for us. You’re going to breath in really deep for seven seconds and then let it out nice and slow. And you can squeeze my hand if you need to.”
Marinette nodded, her confused expression being replaced with a look of determination. She tried to breathe like Damian told her, but her breath kept catching. She squeezed his hand in frustration.
“It’s okay Darning. We know it’s hard, you need to keep trying though.”
Dick watched it happen. He’d been watching her all night, he’d been worried that she’d break down. She was holding in too much, it was heart wrenching to watch it all come out before she was ready to process it. He watched in horror as she connected the dots. She’d suspected him before. She was blaming herself. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she seemed to disintegrate in front of them. Then he’d overheard Luka.
He made eye contact with Tim, yeah, he’d heard that too. This bastard was her partner’s father, no wonder she was so panicked. His eyes fanned over his family, they all watched in horrid fascination. No one suspected this of Marinette, except for him. Even Luka looked absolutely shell shocked. This was not going to happen to her on his watch, because as far as he was concerned, Marinette and Luka were Waynes now.
And Waynes help each other, he thought as he watched Damian carry Marinette out of the room, Luka trailing close behind.
Notes:
Please note: Marinette knows Adrien's identity because she has to as the guardian, he doesn't know hers. More on that next chapter.
Anyway guys, thoughts?
Chapter 22: Chapter 22: So Gabe's Hawkmoth
Summary:
And so we deal with the revelation of Gabe being Hawk-bitch.
Notes:
Hi everyone! I'm really sorry I missed Tuesday's update. Unfortunately I wasn't really in my best mental state, I got into it with some people I love and it left me mopey for a few days. I think I'm doing a bit better now.
Anyway, thank you to everyone for the feedback on the last chapter, I think I'll be rewriting it after the story is done using that feedback. Again I really appreciate it.
I think we have 2, maybe 3 chapters left here, so we should be done on Sunday or Tuesday at the latest, then I'll be going back to rewrite a few things and write a smutty one shot as requested by one of my favorite readers (I can have favorites, leave me be).
There are a lot of you who comment on every chapter, I just wanted to let you know that I relish in hearing from you guys. Throughout my day, I'll refresh my inbox to see one of you left me a comment, and then I can thrive off of the giddy feeling it gives me for the rest of the day. I know I've said it before, but I love to write. For the longest time it was my passion, but I lost sight of that through high school because high school sucks. I really love getting back to it, and I'm thrilled that you guys enjoy my writing and tune in every few days to read it.
Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, it sets up our final battle. I also want to prepare you guys, I'm not great at writing huge battle scenes, so I'm trying but I may end this a bit unconventionally.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 22
Luka was afraid of something like this. Logically, Luka knew that getting the Bat’s help was rational. They had more resources, more training and more of a team. But he also knew that meant they’d be ending Hawkmoth’s reign much quicker. And frankly, Luka wasn’t sure Marinette was ready for that. Of course she didn’t enjoy the necessity behind being Ladybug, she certainly hated the emotional terrorist holding her city hostage. But Marinette was Ladybug, through and through, she wasn’t ready to face the reality that it might be time to hang up the spots. He knew this would dredge up all kinds of trauma she’d been pushing down for years. So yeah, Luka was apprehensive from the start.
Then Hawkmoth turned out to be Gabriel Fucking Agreste . He didn’t think it was possible to hate someone more. Then Hawkmoth turned out to be someone his girlfriend knew personally; someone she used to admire; her partner’s father. Oh yeah, Luka had a bone to pick with this guy, but first, he had to help her heal enough so she could beat the shit out of him.
He walked along Damian, feeling completely overwhelmed, helpless and angry. He hardly noticed they were getting close to her room until Damian was opening the door. He watched helplessly as Damian sat her down on the edge of the bed and crouched in front of her. He watched helplessly as Damian desperately tried to snap her out of it. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t face her. How could he possibly help? How could he fix this? What could he-
“No no no. None of that Habibti.” He kissed Luka’s cheek lightly, “It’s okay, we’re gonna help her and we’re gonna do it together.” Damian got up and dragged him over to where he and Mari were sitting. He sat on the floor with Damian, each of them holding one of Mari’s hands. She was shaking, her eyes were screwed shut and there were tear marks on her cheeks, but she was breathing. Pretty well too considering.
“It’s okay Angel.” Damian spoke softly, “We’re gonna get him.”
She opened her eyes to look at him, and as if his chest wasn’t aching enough, Damian’s heart hurt for her. Damian hadn’t processed what it felt like to see her like that. He’d never seen her like that, he’d never seen her panic and he’d never seen her break. Hell, he’d barely ever even seen her weak. Marinette was always strong, even when she was hurt, and watching her crumble in front of him, in front of his family, was surprising and heart breaking. He couldn’t even think about it at the time, he could feel anything about it. All he could do is rush to her, do anything to make it better. Even as he carried her through the halls of his home, whispering reassurances to her, all he could do was focus on helping her. And then as he knelt in front of her, feeling how crushed she was, and how overwhelmed Luka was through the bond, it hit him all at once, how much his heart was shattering for her. Before he could stop them, tears were welling in his eyes.
“Oh, Dami! I’m so sorry” Marinette wrapped her arms around him, “I didn’t mean to do that, that hasn’t happened to me in so long. I can’t believe that all that stuff I’ve been pushing off came up in front of your entire family. And I’m so sorry for breaking down like that! And I’m so sorry for overwhelming you both, I can feel it. I’m so-”
“Darning, if you say sorry one more time we’re going to yell at you.” Mari pulled back from Damian so she could look at both of them.
“But-”
“No buts. Honey, you didn’t do anything wrong. Your reaction was completely normal and expected considering all the nonsense you’ve been shoving down all these years. Yeah, you threw us for a loop, we’re a bit overwhelmed, but we’re not upset with you. All we want to do is help you through this. We want to help you calm down and come to terms with this now, and then we want to help you take this asshole down.”
Damian leaned over and kissed Luka’s cheek before leaning in to kiss Marinette’s. He wrapped his hand on her jaw and wiped her tears away with his thumb. “I’m going to tell you something, something my family has been telling me for years Angel. It’s okay to feel. It’s okay to rely on others to help you out sometimes. That’s what families are for, that’s part of being human.”
Marinette threw her arms around both of them, she knew she would be okay. After all, she had not one, but two knights in shining armour to help her. Together, they spent the rest of the night comforting each other, cuddling and making vague yet violent threats against Gabriel.
They woke up in each other’s arms, calmer and ready to face the music. They quickly dressed and called a family meeting in the cave. As they walked in, Marinette ignored the pitying looks she was getting. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore, all she wanted was a plan to fuck up Gabriel. So as she turned to address the group, she pretended like last night didn’t happen.
She turned to them and clapped her hands, “Okay. so now we know who we’re fighting. We need to get my team in on this and we need a plan.”
She was met with blank stares.
Tim slowly raised his hand, “Uh, Nette? Are we gonna talk about last night?”
“Nope.” She announced, popping the ‘p,’ “At least, not until after I cut off Gabriel’s arms.”
Then Jason opened his mouth, “Okay, even I know this isn’t healthy.”
“Yeah, I really don’t care. I haven’t been allowed to feel emotions regularly in like four years. I’m not going to start now, before I beat the shit out of Gabriel Agreste.” She paused, clapping her hands again. “So, plan.” She focused on Babs,” Let’s start with getting a map up of Agreste mansion. See about the security measures too. There are tons. I always assumed Gabriel thought he was way more important than he actually was. Turns out he was just preparing for what he had coming because he’s an evil, manipulative, jerk off emotional terrorist.”
And so, the Bat’s huddled around the monitors. Learning all about the Agreste mansion. They began rattling off ideas, which Babs and Alfred kept track of for later.
“We can’t go much further planning wise without inside knowledge Bug.” Dick told her sadly.
“Yeah. I know.” She sighed, and called for her transformation. “Tikki, spot’s on!” Just when the Bats finally thought they’d seen it all, finally had some kind of grasp on understanding Marinette, she blew their minds again. Logically, they knew she was a superhero with magical powers, but they hadn’t expected an anime magical girl style transformation.
“She’s a magical girl.” Tim whispered under his breath. His brothers nodded dumbfounded.
“Tikki, Kalaki, unify!” She called out again.
“Damn, she’s got powerups too.” Jason grumbled.
“So I’m going to get Chat. We will be back in fifteen. No civvy names. At least not mine. I’m not doing this dramatic reveal right now. I suggest you bats at the very least mask up.” And with that, she called up a portal to Paris and jumped through. Damian and Luka stared at the spot the portal had been sadly for a moment.
“Okay.” Dick said, trying to command everyone’s attention, “Let’s suit up.”
Exactly thirteen minutes later, Ladybug and Chat Noir portaled into the Batcave. “Kalaki, dismount.” She looked over to Chat, “This is the Batcave, we’ve got the entirety of Batman’s team here to help us, and Luka.”
Chat looked at her, opening his mouth like he was about to ask a question. “Please don’t make me explain his presence right now Kitty Cat.”
“Okay,” He sighed, “And they all know my identity?”
“Yeah.”
“Great, that's super. Super happy to hear that. And they think my Dad is Hawkmoth?”
“I know your dad is Hawkmoth.” She said sadly.
“Cool, super cool. I’m not dealing with that right now.” He sighed heavily, “What do we need to do LB?”
Ladybug gave Chat a hug, “I’m so sorry Kitty.”
After a moment he returned it, “This is not your fault Bugaboo. This totally seems like the type of bullshit he’d pull. Besides, we definitely know what he wants to wish for.”
She pulled back at that, “We do?”
“He wants Maman. However bad he used to be, he got ten times worse when she died. Whatever he thinks he’s doing, he’s doing it to try to bring back Maman.”
“Well that’s bad.” She looked away from him and out to the Bats, “I suppose we should get introductions out of the way and then come up with a gameplan.”
“I am so sorry that you two were put in this position.” Batman said, stepping forward, “Clearly JLE needs to be monitored closely. Either way, regardless of them, I am so sorry that you two were chosen in the first place. I’m sorry that you both are so similar to me, and I will do everything in my power to help you end this and help you heal.”
“Holy shit,” Steph whispered, “Did B have a stroke?”
“Holy shit,” Chat said right after, “That’s The Batman.”
“I don’t think the ‘the’ is necessary Chat.”
“No it definitely is.”
“You can fangirl later. Now, we’re doing introductions and you’re gonna give us the rundown on the Agreste Mansion.”
So the Bats plus most of Team Miraculous spent the next two hours discussing Gabriel’s security system, and making jokes about how much of a dickwad he was. By the time they were done, they had a pretty detailed description of the way the security system worked, the different security measures, and its blind spots. And Adrien, needing to sneak out every night for patrol, knew a lot about the blind spots.
“And yeah, that’s about it.” He sighed, “Okay, LB you’ve got the info. Take me home.”
“What? Kitty, you can’t stay there.” Ladybug tensed, “Besides, now we need a plan.”
“LB, I gotta go home. I don’t know these people and I’ve just had a bomb dropped on me.”
“Adrien. It is not safe for Plagg to stay in that house. And we still don’t have a plan.”
“Don’t make me stay. Don’t make me decide how we put my father behind bars. Let me go home, lick my wounds and prepare myself for this. Please Marinette.”
“Wha-”
“You used my name first. Besides, Luka’s here, it's a giveaway. Take me home Nette.”
“Take him home Darning.” Luka cut in, “Let him breathe for a night.”
“Besides, having him not go home, that’d show our hand Angel. Gabriel would know something else.” Robin cut in.
Marinette looked down at the floor. “I’ll take you home. But tomorrow, I’m gonna come get you again, Ryuko too, we’re gonna discuss the plan, and then you and I are gonna talk.” She walked up to Adrien and pulled him into a tight hug before taking his hand. She called on her transformation and together they walked through the portal.
Notes:
Let me know what you think everyone!
Again, I'm sorry for missing Tuesday, I'm on track to hit my normal Saturday/ Sunday posts.
Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Lightening it up
Summary:
Basically, I thought it was getting too depressing, so I add in a chapter of mostly fluff.
Notes:
Y'all probably thought I forgot about you! Don't worry, I didn't, I just had an early doctors appointment and then my mom wanted to hang out, (Tbh, she's not doing great now that I've moved out.)
Anyways, even though its late, here is today's chapter. I really wanted to lighten it up a little bit, I felt bad for hurting our girl, so this is her getting to vent some emotions through her music.
Hope you enjoy!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 23
“Okay,” Marinette said as she re-entered the Bat Cave, “I’ve got a meeting with Jagged in a few hours. Let’s plan this out.”
“Is your partner okay?” Tim asked abruptly, like he couldn’t stop the words from coming out.
Marinette stared at him blankly for a moment before speaking. “Probably not. He didn’t want to talk to me, he’s a bit bitter. About his father, that I’m me, that I have two soulmates and he is not one of them. His world is falling apart and the only support system he has is a tiny god of destruction that only talks about camembert. I’m concerned.”
“He’s angry that you’re you?” Dick asked quietly.
“Yes, and no. He’s been in love with Ladybug for years. Back when I found Luka I told him as Ladybug that I’d found my soulmate. He looked crushed. But he understood. Now he’s found out that I have two soulmates, both of whom are not him. He’s not angry per se, but it’s another blow for him to deal with. He told me he still loves me, I don’t know what he wanted me to do with that.”
“I’m sorry Melody. He won’t be able to stop until he finds his other half, being in love with you is a big part of who he is by now.” Luka came closer to her, reaching out to hug her. She stopped him gently.
“He never loved Marinette, he loves Ladybug. They’re not the same, LB is a front, someone designed to be perfect. He fell for it with everyone else, and he was the one person who I was supposed to get to be myself with. He was the one person who could’ve understood.”
“Are you concerned that he’ll turn on you?” Jason asked softly.
“No. I am concerned for my longtime friend, that this will break him.” She took a deep breath, “Enough is enough. We need to formulate a plan and we need to end this. First things first, the team. I’m in, I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll be letting Chat in on this. I won’t make you guys fight my battles for me. If I catch him by surprise, I could get him myself, I’d probably need to wear multiple miraculous but-”
“Are you crazy?”
“Marinette, you’re never going to be alone again. You’ll always have Luka and I, and now you are our family.” He gestured to the Bats, “We are at your disposal here. We will formulate a plan, and a contingency plan and a backup contingency plan. We will bring whoever is required to complete the plans, we will destroy Gabriel, save Adrien, save Paris and then you can breathe again.” Damian joined Luka by her side with a fierce look in his eyes.
“But this is not your fight. You Bat’s have enough on your plates, you don’t need to add my stuff.”
“No. This became our stuff the second I told JLE not to intervene.” Batman stepped up to her. “Let’s finish this together Ladybug.”
Together, they spent the next three hours planning. Marinette, Damian and Luka sat on the floor in front of the monitors, Marinette sandwiched between her boys who were rubbing comforting circles on her back. Together, with the rest of the Batfam, they spit balled ideas, over and over until they had a plan, and a contingency plan and a backup contingency plan. The whole time, Marinette had her boys there to help her. She was able to contribute to the planning, even offer them a small smile at one point, but for the most part she felt dejected and tired.
“Let’s meet back here after dinner to run some drills.” Marinette rose to her feet, “I’ve got a meeting with Jagged. I’ve got to sign some paperwork for my third album and tell him what I want it to be. Luckily with this shit show, I’m feeling pretty inspired.”
“Wait. You’re doing a third album?” Tim asked excitedly, “That’s so cool! Will we get to hear the music early? What is it going to be about?”
Despite herself and the situation, she smiled. “It’s going to be about Hawkmoth actually. It’ll be called Papillon. It’s going to be about anger and healing, not just for me, but for Paris. At least it will be if my proposal goes well with Jagged.”
“That sounds awesome Pixie. Of course he’ll say yes.” Jason said.
“I think you’re right but we’ll have to see. I don’t normally sing angry, it’s not my sound. So I’ve pulled some reference songs to sing for him to sway him.”
“We haven’t gotten to see you sing you know.” Tim said with a pleading smile, “Do you think you could turn that part of your meeting into an impromptu concert?”
“I don’t want to be a bother, you guys have other things to do.”
“No we don’t!” Jason and Steph said at the same time.
Marinette pondered it for a moment, “I mean, yeah I guess, after I sign the contracts and get the green light on my concepts, I’ll sing for Jagged in the living room, anyone interested can meet us there. But right now I’ve got to go get changed, and so does Luka, and Dami, you need to decide if you want to be a part of the music fam.”
“If he doesn’t I’ll take his spot!” Jason yelled.
“I don’t have the mental capacity for your antics right now, I’m going to get changed.” And with that, Marinette turned on her heel and left the cave.
For the second time on her trip, Marinette found herself distracting herself in the art of picking out an outfit. To her, sorting through hangers of clothes was meditation. For this she was going for edgy, she needed to sell angry to Jagged. Though that wasn’t what she wanted the whole album to be, maybe three songs max, she was still concerned he’d tell her to follow her normal sound.
She smiled when she found the jacket. She’d made it to a million years ago, when she first started seeing Luka, It was a deep purple, almost black faux leather, with her signature blossoms embroidered on the cuffs and lapel. She selected a lacy pink camisole for under it and through on a pair of medium wash shredded jeans. To finish the look she put on her spiky biker boot heels, relishing in the four inches she gained from them.
This was a power outfit. If only she could just walk up to Gabriel wearing this and deck him. She threw on her signature Lady Ri red lipstick and let her hair down before meeting her boys in the hallway.
“So my princes, how do I look?” She asked as she stepped through the door.
“Hot as usual Mar.” Luka said with a smirk, looking at their boyfriend, “Though I don’t think Dami’s used to the look.” He gestured to Damian, who couldn’t stop looking at her with hungry eyes.
“Is that so?” She looked over at Damian with an evil glint in her eye, she walked up to him and placed a hand on his chest, “Have you decided whether or not you’re going to be one of my groupies?” She asked quietly.
Damian blinked at her blankly for a moment, gaping like a fish out of water, “You look amazing Angel.”
She chuckled, “I’m not an Angel right now. Do I look like one?” She gestured at her outfit, “Angel’s don’t normally wear leather.” She said, her lips centimeters from his. Her red lips turned up into a wicked smile, “Now Dami, do you want to join us as part of our Music Family? It means another secret identity and being present at all my shows.”
A dark look filled Damian’s eyes, he wrapped his hands around her waist, “There is nowhere I’d rather be than by your side, little Devil.”
Luka laughed next to them, “Damn Darning, you broke him so hard you got a new nickname.” He leaned over and kissed Marinette’s and then Damian’s cheek. “As entertaining as this is, and promises to be, we’re going to be late for our meeting.” He leaned in to whisper in Damian’s ear, “You can punish your little Devil for teasing you later.”
And with that, Luka dragged his two easily distracted soulmates down the hall to Jagged’s room.
“So it’s about Hawkmoth then?” Jagged mused as she finished her pitch, “I like it, but shouldn’t this wait until after he’s taken care of?” He asked carefully.
“A little bug told me that will be happening sooner rather than later.” Marinette told him quietly.
Jagged smiled, “I’m proud of you Bug.” He held his finger to his lips as Marinette began to open her mouth, “That’s not important now Nette, just know I’m proud. And if that’s the case, your theme is wholeheartedly approved.” He looked down at the proposal sheet she’d given him, “So these healing songs will be a cinch, this is already what you do. The angry ones I think would fit well, but I need more context here, did you pull songs?”
Marinette smiled, “Of course I did. We’ll be having an impromptu concert in the living room to show you.” She paused looking at Damian, “But before we do that, I need to introduce you to Sparrow. If Serpent is my right hand, then he is my left. He is the newest addition to our music family.” She smiled at her boyfriends, feeling their support through the bond.
“I love it, I’ll get PR on it tomorrow. Get an outfit made up for him and we’ll do a photoshoot before we leave.” Penny said with a smile. Damian did his best not to tense at that, causing both Luka and Marinette to let out a small laugh at his expense.
“That’s not all.” Marinette said after a moment, “I want to come out to my fans, as someone in a polyamory relationship. I want to help normalize it. I want to tell them that Serpent and Sparrow are my soulmates.”
Jagged pumped his fist at that, “Yes! I love it!” He looked over to his niece, “It is so rock n’ roll of you to be who you are like that Nette. I love it. You boys are okay with this right?” He asked Luka and Damian.
“I’d follow her to the ends of the earth, I’m proud to be her soulmate.” Damian said with a proud look in his eyes.
“Of course I am. This is everything I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.” Luka said softly, “I’m so proud of you Darning. This is the most personal detail you’ve shared with them.” Marinette faltered for a fraction of a second at that, she wanted to keep what was private private, but this was different. This was about her loves.
“I know, but I just want to be with you both, regardless of what Marinette I am.” She looked up to Jagged, happy with her bravery, “Well if we're in agreement, it is time to sign on the dotted line.” She reached out and took the contract from Penny, signing her third album into existence.
“Now, let me show you how well I can do angry.” Marinette led the Music Fam, including its newest member to the living room, where the Waynes were all waiting.
“I didn’t think you would all want to hear this.” She said as she entered, “This isn’t even my song, this is just going to be a cover to give us a starting point. This is just workshopping, you are all this interested?” She asked with genuine confusion.
“Pixie, you’re an international pop star.” Jason said laughing, “And you’re surprised we want to listen to you sing?”
Marinette blushed, looking down at her feet, “I suppose I do often forget myself. Well if I have an actual audience, I want some music in the background. LuLu, can I borrow your black guitar and the amp?”
“Of course Melody, want me to play?”
“No, I want to. Let me go grab it from your room.” With that, Marinette ran to get the gear.
“Sunshine looks badass.” Dick said as she left, “I mean look at that leather jacket, and she’s running in those scary looking shoes! No wonder no one ever puts it together she’s Lady Ri, it’s so different seeing her dressed like that.”
“Add the mask into the equation, it's nearly impossible.” Luka added, “It’s part of why she doesn’t normally wear leather.”
“Please, LuLu,” She said, running back into the room carrying an amp and a black guitar, “It’s vegan leather.” She chuckled, plugging in the amp and quickly tuning the guitar. “Okay kind patrons, take a seat.” She stepped into the middle of the room, looking for the go ahead from Jagged. When she got it, she played the opening notes. Channeling her anger until it was ready to pour out of her.
So she sang, “Did you really think?” She sang quietly, with an edge, like a trap about to be sprung, “I'd just forgive and forget? No.” She did a small run on ‘no.’
She snarled, changing the lyrics to fit into what Gabriel did to her, focusing on her rage. “After catching you with him? Your blood should run cold, so cold.” She felt everyone’s eyes on her, she knew she had them captivated, “You, you cowardly, abusive, tyrant. You're a fool, if you thought that I'd just let this go.” She built up her volume, building the tension for the chorus.
“I see red, red, oh red!” She smiled as she sang through the high notes, allowing a small rasp on her voice, “A gun to your head, head, to your head! Now all I see is red, red, red.” She belted at the end, it wasn’t something she normally did, but it fit the angry vibe she was selling.
From the second she’d opened her mouth, she’d had her audience in the palm of her hand. Her voice was hypnotizing and the raw emotion coming from it left them in awe. It didn’t hurt that they all thought she looked badass in her outfit with the guitar.
“Run, hide! Oh, you're so done” She looked at Jason with a smile, the mischief in her eyes matching his, “Oh, better sleep with one eye open tonight!” She allowed herself another riff, “I see red, red, oh red, oh. A gun to your head, head, to your head, oh.” She changed from using the top of her range and belting to dropping her voice dangerously low on it, “Executioner style, and there won't be no trial,” Working her way back up her range in the next verse, “Don't you know that you're better off dead?” Jason let out a whoop at that. “All I see is red, red, oh red! Now all I see is red, red.” She ended with a devious smirk.
“Well, you can certainly do angry.” Penny said nearly dumbfounded.
Seconds later, she had a standing ovation from her new family.
Notes:
Thoughts everyone?
The song is "I See Red" by Everybody loves an Outlaw.
Also we have over 600 kudos on here, wtf, I'm so grateful.
Chapter 24: Chapter 24: The Takedown
Summary:
The final battle isn't as much of a physical battle as Ladybug thought it would be. But it would leave her emotions in shambles.
Notes:
Happy Sunday everyone!
I think I like this chapter but I can't be sure. I definitely like parts of this chapter. I know I took a different direction with the final battle, but I don't regret it. I 100% think this is how it would happen if LB had a qualified team behind her and was able to surprise Gabriel.
The next chapter will be the last, but it will be long. We're going to see the aftermath of the final showdown, Marinette start to get the help she needs, the Wayne gala and a look into the far off future.
I'm going to post it as soon as I'm done so it might be up tomorrow rather than Tuesday like normal.
Again, I want to thank you all for reading this, for commenting and leaving kudos. This was a wonderful way to rediscover my passion. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 24
The rest of the evening went by without incident. Together, the group at dinner, they focused on lighter topics, Marinette’s third album became a happy distraction. With Jagged more or less in the loop, they could make jokes to their hearts’ content.
“One of your songs should be called ‘Fuck-ass Hawkbitch.’ After the time you were a meme!” Jason announced as he passed Marinette a roll.
“No!” Tim yelled back, “It should be called ‘Punching Gabriel in the Face.’ That’s the catharsis Paris will need!”
“Well if we’re going based off of catharsis we should call one of the songs should be ‘Castrating the stupid butterfly man.’” Damian deadpanned.
Needless to say, it was a fun dinner at the expense of Gabriel and under the excitement of Marinette’s new album.
After dinner the Bats plus Ladybug and Viperion ran drills. Working through various things that were worked into their plan. After they spent some time doing that, focusing on the partner work between them and Ladybug and Viperion. Even when they finished up, Marinette stayed behind to hit things. She spent an extra forty minutes beating the shit out of a punching bag. All the while, Damian and Luka stayed with her to offer their silent support. They all knew what was going to happen, tomorrow Ladybug would defeat Hawkmoth once and for all.
As she threw her final punch, she remembered the other thing she had to do before tomorrow. “I have to go to Paris.” She said abruptly.
“I know.” Luka responded, “Do you want us there?”
“He won’t, want you there that is.” She looked over at her boyfriends, “But I’m worried about him and how he’s going to respond to the news that we are going to take his father down tomorrow. So yes, but suit up and stay in the shadows. You can listen in with the miraculous earpiece.”
“You got it Angel. Give me five minutes.” Damian raced to the cave to suit up.
Seven minutes later, they stepped through the portal to Paris, arriving on a rooftop across from the Agreste mansion. “Okay boys,” Marinette said as she called off Kalaki’s transformation, “Stay here.” She watched as her boys ducked behind a chimney and popped in her earpiece before she swung over to Adrien’s window.
She knew it was late, but all she could do was hope he was awake. She tapped on his window three times, hoping at the very least to get Plagg’s attention. But like she’d feared suspected, he was awake. He turned on the light before meeting her to open the window.
“Hey Bug.” He said with a small smile, her heart hurt for him, he sounded so tired.
“Hey Kitty. Can I come in?” He opened the window the rest of the way and gestured for her to come in.
“We need to talk.” They said at the same time. She couldn’t help the smirk that came to her face at how completely in sync they were, regardless of whether or not they were trying. She took his hand and led him to the couch, they sat down and looked at each other.
“I came to fill you in on the plan, and to give you the opportunity to bow out.” She said to him carefully. “You know I care about you Kitty Cat and if you want to be there to help us take him down then you’re there. But I don’t want to force you into that situation.” She watched Adrien’s shoulders sag in relief and something in her began to ache.
“I used to dream of this you know.” Adrien whispered to her, “I used to dream about us taking down Hawkmoth together, though of course he was some faceless middle aged dumbass, not my father.” He scoffed, “We’d kick his ass, because how could we not, after all those years of buildup. And you’d turn to me and tell me that we were safe. That we were all done and that we could finally reveal ourselves.” He closed his eyes, like he was picturing it, “You’d see me, and fall for my model good looks. We were going to fall in love and live happily ever after.” He looked up at her, with tears welling up in his eyes, “But you’ve fallen in love twice now, and it wasn’t with me either time. And Hawkmoth isn’t some random dumbass messing with the forces of nature, it’s my father. And he’s been shitty for the longest time, but I never could’ve pictured this.”
Marinette threw her arms around him, “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be there for you Adrien.”
“Marinette, I want you to take my miraculous.” That caused her to falter, she pulled back to look at him.
“What are you-?”
“I’m in a terrible place right now. And all I want in the world is a hug from my Maman. I don’t want to do anything stupid, I don’t want to hurt you M’Lady. Plagg and I have already spoken, he’s not happy. But he gets it. I want you to take him, keep him safe, feed him camembert. I want you to take down my father and Nathalie, I want them to be legally arrested so I have access to my trust fund, and I want to use that trust fund to move away. I want to find my soulmate and start my life with her or him or them.” He looked up at her with sadness burning in his eyes, “I want to get out of Paris and start over.”
“Adrien-”
“No Marinette, don’t talk me out of this. I know I’m being selfish, but I don’t want the responsibility anymore. I don’t want to be tied to this any more than I already am.”
“I get it.” She cut him off, “Actually, after the battle and the trials to follow, I think I’m going to move to America. I think Ladybug will retire. I’ll become someone else, do good somewhere else.” She looked at him sadly, “I’m sorry that this is how this went. And I know it’s not the way you want, but I do love you Kitty. There was a time when you were my only friend, you saved me.” She sighed heavily, “I accept your resignation. On the condition that you let me take you out of here tonight, something’s going down tomorrow morning, and I don’t want you near it.”
“You got it Buginette.” He hugged her again, before taking off the ring, “Plagg and I already said goodbye. We knew you’d drop by.” He handed it to her, “Can you take me to Nino’s? I told him something like this would be happening in the next week or so.”
“Princess style?” She asked him with a sad smile.
“Princess style.” He agreed as she scooped him into her arms.
As she swung through Paris, carrying her former partner, she knew that there’d be an Adrien sized hole in her heart when he left. She’d meant what she’d said, Adrien was her only friend for a while, even if she didn’t know it was him. She held back tears as she brought them down in front of the Lahiffe’s apartment building.
“Is it too much to ask you to stay in touch with me?” She asked him gently.
“I don’t know yet.” He responded honestly, “You can write me. When I’m ready I’ll respond. I do love you Bug, I don’t know how I’ll live without you.”
“One day, you’ll wake up and you won’t even think of me. I hope you have a wonderful life Chaton, know that I’ll miss you.” She zipped away before she did something stupid like cry.
“That went about as well as it could’ve.” Damian said to Luka.
“Yeah, but she’s still going to be crushed.” Luka responded darkly. “That was a cowardly move for a hero.”
“You and I both know that Ladybug is the real powerhouse. He did his best, but he wasn’t meant for this.”
Luka opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by Marinette’s voice coming in through the comms, “I’m going to get the dragon miraculous from Kagami. I don’t want to work her into the plan for tomorrow, and after tomorrow there’s no reason for her to have it. I’ll see you guys soon. And don’t talk bad about him while I can hear, I know you’re right but its too fresh. I love you both. I'll see you soon.”
They heard the telltale sign of her comm turning off. Leaving Damian reeling. “She loves me?” He whispered to himself quietly.
“You can’t feel it through our bond?” Luka asked, surprised, “The only reason I haven’t told you is because I thought you knew. Marinette probably doesn’t know how she feels yet or that she said that. But I know how I feel,” He inched closer to Damian, pulling his face close to his, “I love you Damian Wayne.”
Robin sat on the roof, next to his beautiful boyfriend, absolutely shell shocked. “Now, I don’t want you freaking out,” Luka continued, “If you need to we can push this off until after our big battle, I don’t mind.”
The next thing either of them knew, they were making out on the rooftop. Rooftop make outs were one of Luka’s favorite things. He didn’t really know how long they spent there, he was too busy getting completely lost in Damian. Because regardless of what he wanted everyone to think, Damian was soft and he tasted sweet and he was easy to get lost in.
“Okay lovebirds.” They sprang apart at Marinette’s voice, “Let’s get some sleep before the big day.”
They had the nerve to look embarrassed, Marinette kissed each of their cheeks before she called up Kalaki’s transformation and opened the portal home. Marinette returned the miraculous to the miracle box before meeting her boy’s in Damian’s room/ Together, they slept in Damian’s bed. Knowing they’d only get to sleep for a few hours before having to wake up again to launch the ambush on Gabriel.
They only got three hours of rest before it was time to suit up again. Alfred came to them and gently woke them at midnight, it would be six in the morning in Paris. They wanted to get to Gabriel before he realized Adrien was missing. They were silent as they rose from bed, there was too much to say and not enough time to say it. It would have to wait until they were done, there was so much to be said when they were done.
They walked down to the cave, hand in hand and began to warm up. Slowly the bats began to filter in, chatting amongst themselves quietly. Marinette ignored them, she was tired and her being ached. She was ready for this to be over, but simultaneously wasn’t ready if she was ready for the final battle. Despite the plan, despite the planning and the back up, there was a part of her that wanted to tuck tail and run. She looked over at Damian and Luka, who were stretching next to her. They were why she’d be fighting today, because they deserved every part of her; and right now, Gabriel was holding her down.
Abruptly, she rose. Calling for her transformation, she didn’t want to be Marinette at this moment. She wanted to be Ladybug, the spotted heroine who was always ready to kick ass. She looked over to the bats, most of whom were already in uniform.
“Are we ready?” She asked, “I want to finish this.”
“We will be in a moment, but we still need to know about your partner Ladybug. Will he be joining us?” Batman asked her with care.
“No. As of last night, Chat Noir is retired. He’s been removed from Agreste mansion. After we officially arrest Gabriel he’ll be leaving France.” Ladybug looked down at her feet, avoiding looking them in the eyes.
Batman nodded at that, but Red Robin was pissed. “I know he wasn’t integral to our plan, but he’s your partner.” He fumed, “And he left you to deal by yourself?”
“I’m not alone.” Ladybug looked up at him sharply, “You guys are with me.” She paused, softening at the thought of Chat, “He’s just a kid, one who spent years with an emotionally abusive father. And now he’s expected to beat the shit out of him and take him to jail? No. I knew what I was signing up for when I brought him here yesterday, and it wasn’t a Hawkmoth takedown with Team Miraculous.”
“You’re supposed to be a kid too.” Steph said sadly.
“Well here we are.” She said back, “It’s just a few years too late for that.” She sighed, “Look, I’m not trying to get into this right now. If you want, after we’re done, I’ll scream and cry and complain about the injustice of it all. But I’m not doing it before. So I’ll ask again. Are we ready?”
A moment later, the team was stepping through the portal to Paris, landing on the same roof she’d left Damian and Luka on last night. They put in their comms and did a quick communications test with Babs back in the cave. Then they split up, preparing for the infiltration of the manor.
They got into position. Nightwing and Black Bat were stationed by Adrien’s window; Batgirl and Red Robin by the window to the security office, which thanks to Adrien talking to his bodyguard, was unattended; Batman and Red Hood waited outside the large stained glass window that led to the atrium; and Ladybug, Robin and Viperion crouched outside of the window to Gabriel’s office.
“I’ve got eyes on Hawky.” Robin hissed into the comms, “He’s in his office, just like we knew he’d be.” He glared at the man, who was too engrossed in his computer to notice their presence.
“Batgirl, Red Robin,” Ladybug whispered, “Get into the security office, see if you can pinpoint Nat’s location.”
“On it LB.” Red Robin replied. Quietly, they slipped through the window, Oracle had already disabled the alarms on them. Quickly, he raced to the screens, flipping through the different security feeds, Batgirl got into position to watch his back. “I’m coming up blank Bug.” He whispered to her, “There’s no sign of her.”
“She’s here. But if we can’t catch her on camera, odds are she’s somewhere where there aren’t any. Batman, Hood, any sign of her in the nest?”
“Too dark to tell. But you’re probably right, with the amount of cameras in this place she has to be here.” Batman replied, “You are leading this mission LB, it’s your call. Should we risk not seeing her and infiltrate anyway?”
Ladybug looked to Viperion and nodded, “Yes. Viperion is setting his second chance.” She watched as he set his bracelet, “Okay. Let’s do this.”
With that, she broke the window, busting into the office. At the noise, Gabriel looked up, snarling as he saw Ladybug. He opened his mouth to call on his transformation, but Ladybug’s yoyo wound its way around him too quickly. She pulled it tight, dragging him to her. She shoved her hand on his mouth before he could even finish saying Noroo’s name.
“So you’re wearing it then.” She glowered at him, “How convenient. Search him Viperion, Robin watch our backs.”
She relished in the way Gabriel’s eyes widened as Luka began. In a few seconds, he pulled the miraculous of the moth from under his tie.
“You know the deal, Viperion, take the horse miraculous and return that to the miracle box. We will be waiting here for your return.” She smiled as she watched Luka go through the portal. “Robin, get the chair. Gabe and I are going to have a little chat.”
She released her hold on him for a moment, only to force him down into the chair and re-yoyo him in place. “Batman,” she said into her comm, “Hawk-bitch has been apprehended, Viperion is returning his miraculous to the box. Eyes on Nathalie?” She asked hopefully.
“No. She clearly was here. But she’s gone. Keep an eye out, she’s still in the mansion. Oracle hasn’t seen anyone leave the premises.”
“Red Robin, keep monitoring the situation.” She paused looking at Gabriel, “You know this is over right? We had this whole ass elaborate plan, but we didn’t even need to use it. You’re a pathetic excuse for a miraculous holder.”
“I just wanted her back.” He responded with venom, “Was that too much to ask for.”
“You know the costs!” She yelled. “You have taken my childhood from me, for nothing. You wanted to be a family again. Even if you got her back, Adrien would’ve never forgiven you. You broke him. You think I’m damaged? He is in shambles and it is your fault.”
“Adrien would’ve understood.”
“Adrien was Chat Noir. You spent four years trying to kill him. He knows it, after I put you behind bars, neither of us will ever see him again.” She hissed at him, “You took my best friend and broke him. And now I’m left to find that you are this.” She gestured to him, “I find that I lost four years of my life to a weakling. It took me thirty seconds to apprehend you, you human equivalent of a moldy sandwich.”
“Hood!” She yelled into her comm, “Come relieve me. I’m going to find Nathalie.”
“Yes ma’am.” He responded.
“Oracle, get the police here. I want a perimeter on this mansion. Tell them the ‘The butterfly is down.’ They’ll know what that means. Make sure they know Nathalie’s still out and about.”
“Adrien can’t be Chat Noir!” Gabriel screamed at her.
“He’s not anymore.” She said to him, “Because like I said, you broke him.”
“That’s not possible. It was you! You broke him. You hurt my son!” Gabriel yelled, trying to wiggle his way out of the yoyo.
“Gabriel Agreste. Do you know that we know each other personally? Relatively well considering how much of a hermit you are.” Marinette scoffed at him, “You were my idol. I was Adrien’s friend in and out of the mask. There was a time that you liked me, you thought I was a good influence. Though that stopped, and I couldn’t figure out why. But now it’s so clear.” She crouched down to look him in the eyes, “You sent your little lackey Lila Rossi after me, to ruin my life. You wanted to akumatize me, and I wouldn’t let you.” She watched Gabriel’s eyes widen in recognition, “You sent eighteen butterflies after me before I left Paris. And I fought off every single one.”
“Of course. Of course Ladybug would be the one girl who was able to resist my influence. You will pay Marinette Dupain Cheng.”
“Yes. I will spend the rest of my life paying for your actions. I’m seventeen and I have PTSD you sick fuck.”
They caught Nathalie fifteen minutes later. Red Robin had caught her on the cameras trying to get a gun out of a safe. Ladybug and Batman stopped her before she could even leave the room. She was quickly apprehended and the miraculous of the peafowl was recovered. And Ladybug was done. Now all she had to do was deal with the aftermath. Honestly, the thought made her throat want to close up, but luckily, Marinette had the two loves of her life by her side to help her.
Notes:
I'm sorry if you guys wanted something different, some long drawn out battle, but I didn't want to write it and I still don't think Gabe would've been prepared for something like that.
Let me know what you think because I might come back and revise this chapter.
Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Living Life
Summary:
The aftermath of the final confrontation, the healing to follow, and then just life.
Notes:
Hi guys, remember when I said, 'Oh I might even post the final chapter early?'
Yeah, sorry about that. Basically what happened is I had this sweet little three page wrap up planned. And then I started thinking about more of their lives, and instead I sat down and wrote this eleven page monstrosity.
So we see a few things here.
1) The rest of the day after the final confrontation
2) A few snippets from in between the final battle and the Wayne gala
3) The Wayne gala (like a lot of it, it's long)
4) The all of the after, which I'm not going to put here because it'll spoil itAnyway, thank you a million trillion times over to those who read this story, enjoyed it, commented on it. You guys have helped me remember how much I love to write.
This isn't the last you're going to hear of me. As promised my next project will be a smutty one shot to accompany this work, but I know that's not all of your jams. I've got another Daminette story planned. It'll be probably about as long as this one, expect it to drop in say two weeks.
Anyway, I hope you all love it, let me know what you think down below.
-XOXO, your dyslexic writer friend
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 25
Four hours later, Ladybug stood at a podium in front of city hall. Her and her team had already handed the villains over to the police, along with all the proof they’d need to prosecute them. Lila Rossi was arrested shortly thereafter. She’d even sent Adrien a text message, “It’s done.” He hadn’t responded. She’d given the authorities statement after statement, her whole team did. She made sure they recorded each statement on video, because she made it clear to them she would be leaving Paris.
Now all she had to do was tell everyone else.
“I’m sure you are all wondering what this is about.” She began with her signature Ladybug confidence. “I have some big news to share. This morning around 6, Hawkmoth was defeated.”
The crowd became deafening. And Marinette was too tired to put up with the bullshit. “Nope. We’re not doing this. I'm tired. If you would all be quiet, I’ll tell you what happened and take a few questions afterwards.” Not only did the mob of reporters calm down, some of them even had the nerve to look embarrassed.
“Wonderful. Now allow me to continue. Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste,” She paused, glaring at the audience, daring them to get loud again, “Mayura was Nathalie Sancouer, his assistant. After my team and I apprehended them, we turned them over to the authorities along with all the proof they’ll need to prosecute them. This will be handled through a court of law.”
Ladybug took a deep breath. “I would now like to make clear that Adrien Agreste is free of blame here. He had no knowledge of his father’s extracurricular activities, and when we came to him, he was instrumental in providing us with the knowledge we needed to take him down. Not only is Adrien Agreste not to blame, Adrien Agreste is a hero.”
“Now, while Hawkmoth and Mayura have been arrested, and will be getting their comeuppance through the courts, I will not be here to see it.” Ladybug paused, taking a deep breath, “After today, I will be leaving Paris.” A gasp rippled through the mob that had amassed.
“I have done my duty. I have helped protect my city, my fellow Parisians for years. Four years. I’m sure you can all tell that I am young, but for context, I am going to share with you how young. I am seventeen years old, I took up the mantle of Ladybug when I was thirteen.” She took a deep, shuddering breath, “And while I am honored to have gotten to serve you Paris, I was too young. I am still too young. I have fought against evil incarnate, against my own partner, my family and friends all being influenced by mind control. I have seen people I love die, I have died. I need time to heal. I will be watching Paris. I will make sure that you are all okay, and if I am needed again, truly needed again, I will be back to help.”
“I am taking the miraculous, all of them, away. I will keep them safe, and there will never be another Hawkmoth, or any other Miraculous super villain ever again. There will be no more miraculous users in Paris at all. I am leaving Paris not just so I can heal, but so you can heal as well. I will now take questions.”
She answered five questions. Each of them more prying and invasive than the last, but nevertheless she answered them. And when she was done, she really wished she’d taken the opportunity to punch Gabriel in the throat.
“That is all Paris. We will see eachother again someday, I wish you all the best. Bug out.” With that, Ladybug zipped away for the last time.
The first thing Ladybug did as she stepped through the portal into the Batcave, was scream. It was long and loud and guttural and raw, and pure emotion. It was a summation of the last four years of her life. When she finished, she looked up to apologise for the action, but she didn’t get the chance.
“Do you feel better?” Jason asked her with concern filling his eyes.
“No.”
“Then do it again, and then we’ll spar. You’ve got too much pent up aggression and adrenaline.”
“You guys are the best.” She said before screaming at the top of her lungs.
She kicked Jason’s ass four times before she finally became tired. She looked around the cave to realize everyone was still there, she’d expected them to go rest.
“You’re all still here.” She said voicing her surprise.
“Yeah, we’re not leaving you alone today.” Dick responded, “You’ve got a lot pent up Sunshine, we don’t want you to be alone, to feel alone when it comes up.”
“Besides, we’re not all here.” Steph said jokingly, “Bruce is with Jagged holding him back. We know he knows more than he should, but still no civvies in the cave.”
Marinette paled at that, “I forgot about him, Jagged and Penny must be freaking.” She paused, “Well I suppose if you’re all going to be shadowing me for the day, then we’re all going to see Uncle Jagged.”
She began to exit the cave, all too aware of the group following her. She began to feel uncomfortable, she knew they meant well but it was a lot. Anxiousness began to overwhelm her, when she felt her boyfriends come up on either side of her taking her hands.
“You guys go ahead.” Damian said to them not taking his eyes off of her, “We’ll be there in a minute. Help Bruce calm down Jagged.”
As they left, Luka began to whisper to her. “It’s okay my Melody, my sweet Darning. You did so good.”
“We didn’t get a chance to talk to you after you caught Gabriel.” Damian said to her quietly, “We are so sorry, for everything you’ve had to go through. But we are so proud of you. You beat him. You handled the aftermath perfectly, so professionally. You are a wonder, but even wonders get tired, and anxious.”
“It’s okay to feel that way Mar.”
Marinette threw her arms around her boyfriends, immediately she felt safe. It was going to be okay.
They stayed like that for longer than they probably should have, but they found themselves relishing in the feeling of holding each other. Eventually though, they realized they still hadn’t gone to Jagged. So they walked hand in hand the rest of the way to the living room.
“Brucie! I’ve been dying to see her! You need to let me see her, it’s too much for her. I-”
“Jarred, she has Luka and Damian with her right now. They’ll be here in a few minutes. They didn’t get a chance to catch up with her after the battle either. Soulmates trump uncles.”
“Well I don’t know abo-”
“That’s enough.” She said, declaring her presence, “I am here now. I’m sorry for not giving you more of a heads up about this morning but-” Jagged crossed the room in three steps, throwing his arms around his niece.
“You did amazing, Little Bug. I’m so proud of you.” Jagged lifted her up into the air, “You realize I’m signing you up for therapy right?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t the second you found me out.”
Marinette didn’t sleep that night. But neither did anyone else in the manor. Knowing it would be an issue from the beginning, they held the first ever Wayne Movie Marathon. It became a tradition busted out whenever a family member needed it, regardless of how much time passed or how far away everyone moved, whenever one of them texted the family group chat ‘WMM Time,’ everyone would drop what they were doing and head to the manor.
The first one however, was the only one that allowed outside distractions, because no one had the heart to tell Marinette she couldn’t bring her sewing machine down and work on their Gala outfits. And so, Marinette finished two suits that night all the while humming to Disney music.
At Marinette’s first therapy session, she cried. So much so that Luka and Damian who had been patiently waiting outside burst in. Soon they were crying too, even the therapist cried. Yeah, Marinette had gotten a pretty raw deal, but she was ready to lick her wounds and heal. The therapist told her she should probably cry more, that being sad about it first was really the only way to move on healthily. So began Marinette’s twice weekly appointments, but she never did them alone again. Marinette had been alone for far too long, so now someone from the family came too. It wasn’t always Luka or Damian, though it usually was, they cycled through, even Bruce came a few times. And if anyone noticed the therapist’s blatant crush on Jason, no one ever mentioned it.
Before any of them knew it, it was time for the Wayne gala. In preparation for her first Gala, the girls had planned an epic at home spa day. They’d barred the boys from Marinette’s room. No one had ever seen Damian Wayne, the broody heir to Wayne Enterprises, pout before. Of course, they’d learn over time, not to impede on Damian’s Marinette Time. He simply gets far too grumpy to deal with. Regardless, on this day, he seemed to have the good sense not to ruin Marinette and Luka’s debut.
To say Marinette was excited would be an understatement, she was over the moon. At this Gala, two very important things would be happening. Firstly, Marinette and Luka would be walking the red carpet as themselves for the first time ever. Bruce would be introducing them as Damian’s soulmates. Then later, Lady Ri would be introducing Sparrow. Now I know what you’re thinking, wouldn’t two thruples at one event with the same coloring be a dead giveaway? Yes. But thanks to Babs, and a certain foxxy kwami, it will look like both thruples are there at the same time. So of course that meant Marinette made herself two dresses. It was pretty easy considering she hadn’t slept more than four hours a night since the final confrontation. (Look man, she’s working on it.)
Together with her new sisters, Marinette enjoyed a day of crappy nineties romcoms, facemasks, manicures and fancy grooming. They chatted and gabbed, and Marinette blushed scarlet when they asked questions about what her and her boyfriends were really doing all night if she couldn’t sleep. When it was finally time to actually get ready, Marinette could feel the excitement vibrating from her chest all the way to her finger tips. Steph did her hair, first curling it into perfect ringlets, then pinning it to her head into an elegant updo she never would’ve been able to do herself. She did her own makeup, because as much as she loved her new sisters, she doubted their ability to do makeup on Asian eyes. She used light colors, pinks with light glitter, aiming to look as different as possible to her second look of the night.
Before she knew it she was slipping into her first dress, her Marinette dress. It was a beautiful baby pink tea length number, it was off the shoulder, and the dress was made mostly of tulle, though she’d stitched cherry blossoms into the top layer. She slipped on her silver strappy heels before coming out of the bathroom, earning coos from the girls. Marinette felt like a princess. She quickly packed everything she’d need for her outfit change and declared she was ready.
“Okay,” Stephanie announced after she was satisfied with how everyone looked, “We look hot. Time to release you to your boyfriends.”
“Why do I feel like you’re trying to make a bigger deal out of this than it is?” Marinette asked no one in particular, “LuLu’s seen me dolled up like this for school dances. Dami’s seen pictures, and they’ve both seen me in, well nope nevermind, not the correct audience.”
“Please Mar. You’re a fashion designer, we know you must have kickass lingerie.” Babs said with a laugh.
Marinette fought down a blush. “Let’s just go, you pretty buffoons.” Marinette opened the door, holding it as the group of girls poured out.Though as soon as they were out of the room, Cass and Steph raced down the hall, pushing Babs along with them. “Children, evil children, the lot of them.” Marinette mumbled to herself. Readjusting her purse on her shoulder, Marinette started after them. As she reached the end of the hallway, approaching the entryway, she noticed everyone else was already there.
“And may we present,” Stephanie yelled, “The belle of the ball herself.”
“It’s your favorite Parisian superhero slash fashion designer slash international pop star!” Babs yelled back.
“Marinette Dupain Cheng!” They yelled together, motioning to Marinette as she entered the foyer.
“You are both ridiculous. You too Cass, don’t think I don’t know you’re in on it.” Marinette grumbled to them, looking down at the floor.
“You look beautiful Miss Marinette.” Alfred said to her tenderly. She looked up at her family with a smile on her face.
“Thank you Alfred. I’m pretty proud of this dress, but wait until you see dress number two.”
Damian and Luka were by her side in an instant. “You can’t possibly get any more beautiful than this.” Damian said to her quietly, taking her hand.
“I tried to warn you Wonderboy.” Luka responded, “When it comes to this kind of event, our girlfriend plays hard.”
Damian didn’t say anything, he just held her hand and stared at her, looking her up and down like a meal. She wasn't used to the attention of anyone like this, and now she had two boyfriends looking at her like she hung the moon.
Jason’s laugh broke the trance. “Damn Pixie. I told you this was going to happen, remember?”
Marinette began to giggle too, “Yes, when I showed you my dress. You told me that I would make Damian simp for me.” She looked at her boyfriend again, “Is that what this is?”
Dick looked flabbergasted at that and Steph started cackling, “Did Jason teach you that word?” She asked between laughs.
“Yes. He told me it was when a boy would go to the ends of the earth for his love.” She looked at Damian, who was flushed to the tips of his ears, “Is that not what it means?”
Everyone started laughing, so she could only assume she was tricked. “Jay, I am not going to forget this.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way Pixie Pop.” And with that the Waynes piled into the car.
Marinette sat between Damian and Luka, holding their hands in her lap. She focused on their bond, she could feel their nervous excitement. She knew they could feel the same coming from her. Tonight was about having a good time, yes. She was looking forward to dancing with her boyfriends, but tonight was also about introductions. Polyamory couples weren’t common, and some people didn’t respect them, even if they were soulmates. And as much as Marinette didn’t really care what other people thought, she knew that their lives together would be more difficult if tonight went poorly.
“They’re going to love you both,” Bruce said to them, anticipating their nervousness, “Regardless of how they feel about poly relationships, people have been excited to see Damian get into a relationship for years. They’ll catch on quick at the way you turn him to putty, they’ll eat it up.”
“Just focus on getting to be there together,” Babs said as they pulled up to the venue, “That’ll shine through, the press will eat it up and you’ll kill two birds with one stone.”
And with that final piece of advice ringing in her mind, she stepped out of the limo onto the red carpet. As soon as the press noticed her holding Damian’s hand, the effect was instantaneous, if they were loud before they became deafening then. It was overwhelming, she knew they were yelling questions but she couldn’t discern any of them well enough to answer.
She allowed Damian to pull her and Luka to the center of the carpet and they posed for pictures. First with Luka and Damian bookending Marinette, then with her and Luka bookending Damian, they even leaned in and planted kisses on his cheeks, tilting their heads back in laughter as he blushed. Before they went inside, Babs took the, to a family friend. Her name was Lois, and apparently she was some kind of reporter.
“Congratulations Lois,” Damian said as they approached her, “You're the only reporter here that hasn’t pissed me off, so you get an exclusive. Everyone else will hear from the announcement, but you get an interview.”
She chuckled at that, “Well I’m honored Mr. Wayne,” She turned in her recorder, “Okay Damian, to start with, who are these two lovely people?”
“These are my soulmates, the beautiful Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and the enchanting Luka Couffaine.”
“Wow soulmates! How exciting, where are you from?” She asked with a small smile on her face.
“We are from Paris.” Luka responded with a smile of his own.
“We met Damian when we came on my uncle's business trip to the states.”
“How long have you all been together?” She asked, jotting something down.
“It’s new,” Damian said lightly, “But I can’t imagine my life without them, you’ll be seeing plenty more of them.” The rest of the interview went perfectly, they seemed to have Lois eating from the palms of their hands.
When it was finally time to go inside, Marinette could hardly believe her eyes. Sure, Lady Ri had been to plenty of fancy events, but damn, the Wayne’s knew how to throw a party. She took in the scenery, desperately wishing she could sit down in the middle of the room and sketch. Luka and Damian chuckled at her antics before leading her to the dance floor.
She danced with Damian first, allowing herself to be spun around the dance floor to a formal waltz. All eyes were on them as soon as they began, people were captivated by the way they moved in synchronicity and the way they looked at each other. Though she didn’t notice the eyes of everyone in the room on them, or the way the band kept extending the song so they could keep dancing. To her, it was just a wonderful dance with her wonderful soulmate.
As the song ended, she let Luka steal her away and together they danced for the next song. They weren’t nearly as graceful, but they were just as sweet. Instead of a formal waltz, the music was much more laid back. So Marinette and Luka spun around the dance floor smiling and joking the whole time.
Then Bruce stole her for a dance, and she was touched by the gesture. He danced stiffly, but Marinette didn’t mind. She spoke with him softly, thanking him for everything he’d done for her. “It is nothing compared to all you have done for my son.” He responded easily.
She was going to respond, but then she saw them. Her soulmates were beautiful, and they moved in such harmony. She’d been so surprised at Bruce cutting in, she hadn’t even noticed they’d started their own dance. Bruce chucked as she went on autopilot, focusing in on watching them move than her own movements.
As their dance finished he spoke up again, “Go to them, enjoy your last ten minutes of mystery, in ten minutes, during opening remarks I’m introducing you both.”
And so she did, she went up to them and threw her arms around them, planting a kiss on each of their cheeks. “Bruce says we have ten minutes of peace left, anything you want to do before?”
“Sneak off and see what you’re wearing under your-”
“Damian!” She chastised, faux scandalized.
“You did ask what we wanted Darning.”
“I can’t take either of you anywhere.” She sighed. “Take me to get a drink.”
Eight minutes later on the dot, Bruce stepped up onto the stage. Damian’s hands tightened around hers and Luka’s, as they stepped up to the stage. She squeezed it back reassuringly.
“Welcome everyone. Today we are here to celebrate my longtime friend Jagged Stone and the commencement of his recent world tour. All proceeds of tonight’s gala will be going to funding the arts in our public schools, one of Jagged’s passions. We will be hearing from him later tonight, and get the pleasure of a performance not only from him but the up and coming Lady Ri.” He paused, allowing the audience to clap. “But before any of that. I have an announcement I’d like to make to kick off this event. Or rather, my son has an announcement. Everyone give a warm welcome to my youngest, Damian Wayne.”
Bruce stepped to the side, motioning for Damian to come up on stage. Marinette wasn’t sure what she should be doing at first, but found herself and Luka being pulled along by Damian. He stepped up to the microphone, leaving Marinette and Luka to stand on either side of him.
“Good evening everyone,” He began lightly. “As you know I am Damian Wayne, the Ice Prince of Gotham.” He paused, allowing himself a small chuckle, “You have always known me as the callous Wayne, the one that wouldn’t get close to anyone. I never shared any of my personal life with any of you and that was intentional. But there’s been a recent development that I feel obligated to tell you all about, so that you hear it from me rather than making assumptions.” He paused, sparing a glance at Luka and then at Marinette, “This is Marinette Dupain Cheng,” He said, motioning to his girlfriend, “And this is Luka Couffaine.” He said gesturing to his boyfriend. “They’re my soulmates, we are in a relationship and you will be seeing much, much more of them.” The audience seemed stunned at that, “That is all.” Damian turned to get off stage, pulling them off the stage, leaving the audience to begin clapping.
Marinette began laughing as they descended the staircase off the stage, “I’m proud of you Dami.” She said in between laughs.
“What?” He asked incredulously, “They didn’t need to know any more.”
“No they didn’t.” Luka agreed.
And so they spent the next hour of the Gala having as much fun as one could possibly have at a Gala. They danced, avoided people, messed with Jason, and really, thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Then, it was time for a costume change.
Marinette quickly double checked with Babs that she knew her cue to begin the illusion, and then went off to the back room where Alfred stashed her costume change duffel. She got started on darkening her makeup, adding eyeliner and deep brown eyeshadow. Then swapped out her pretty pink lipstick for her signature Lady Ri red. She pulled the pins out of her hair, letting it fall loose around her shoulders.
She took off her shoes and got ready to change when she heard a soft knock at the door, seconds later Luka and Damian were coming in.
“Hi Angel,” Damian said, pulling Luka into the room, “I had my big announcement, are you ready for yours?”
“I am. I just need to get changed. Can you unzip me?” She asked lightly, turning her back to them. “Your outfits are in those garment bags hanging.” She said, as Damian unzipped her dress, his fingers lingering on the now revealed skin of her back. He leaned down, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.
“Oh Dami. You’re very pretty, and I definitely want to play later, but we are not doing this right now. I’ve got a mini concert to do.”
“I should’ve warned you Wonder Boy,” Luka murmured lightly, “She has a pre show ritual. It does not include messing around.”
And so, the three got ready. With masks fixed onto their faces they gave each other a final look over. And head out to face the music. They slipped out the back and got into a limo to loop back around and walk the red carpet for a second time. It was much less overwhelming this time, the masks helped. Though it was clear the press had questions about Sparrow, Marinette smirked. All would be revealed in due time.
As they stepped into the ballroom all eyes were on them. Which she felt mildly bad about because Jagged was onstage talking about the charity the proceeds would be going to. Deciding to lean into it, he announced her presence, causing anyone who was trying to not be rude began looking at her as well. Lady Ri’s beautiful midnight blue dress caught everyone’s attention, she’d embroidered gold and silver stars into it, and the neckline was more plunging than anything else she’d ever worn. She knew what she was doing in making this dress, she was declaring ‘I’m a goddess, I’m fucking hot and don’t fucking question me.’ And the power was intoxicating.
She linked arms with Serpent and Sparrow, leading them up to the stage where Jagged was waiting to hand the microphone off to her. She released her boyfriends and kissed Jagged on both cheeks before taking the mic.
“Good evening everyone,” She smiled at the audience, remembering to dazzle them, “As you know I am Lady Ri, and tonight is an exciting night. Not only are we here to celebrate the commencement of our recent world tour, we are here to raise money for an excellent cause. I am honored to get to work with such amazing people, Jagged is my family and the Wayne’s are simply the best people. I also have a few big announcements to make tonight, about the future of my career. Once we meet our donation goal, I will be making these announcements and then, Jagged and I will be performing.”
Marinette led her boys off the stage, going over to the Wayne’s to mingle a bit before the goal was met. She made sure to be seen talking to the illusion of herself and her boyfriends. Though she hardly had a chance to have anymore fun, the donation goal was met within seven minutes of her getting off the stage.
She made her way back up to the microphone, a huge smile plastered onto her face, “Well,” She said cheekily, “I am glad to know that a good old fashioned announcement is enough to help raise money for such an important cause.” She paused to allow the audience a chuckle, “Though I will say, I didn’t even have time to get a drink you nosy Americans.” The audience laughed at that. “Though a deal is a deal. As you all know, I am originally from Paris. I started my career there, I grew up there, Paris has been my home for a long time. I’d like to announce that I have begun working on my third album, entitled Papillon in honor of my home city. It will be about healing for all of us, after the war that had been raging there for years. Hawkmoth has been defeated, and left a damaged city in his wake, and I want to do my part to help us grow and move on.”
She knew most of the crowd didn’t know what she was talking about, almost no Americans knew about Hawkmoth. But they’d learn, they’d go home, confused and google it. And that was another reason for her album. Despite their confusion, the room went wild at the announcement of another album.
“I have two more announcements.” She said, silencing the crowd, “Firstly. I will be moving to America. For multiple reasons, the first being I have many traumatic memories of Paris from during Hawkmoth’s reign. And the second is I have met my second soulmate, and Serpent and I will be moving to America to be with him.” She smiled brightly, “This brings me to my final announcement.” She gestured to her boyfriends. “You all know Serpent, and this is Sparrow. They are my soulmates and boyfriends. So everyone welcome the newest addition to the Music Fam, Sparrow!” She allowed them a moment to clap before she sent a pointed look at the reporters, “We will not be taking any questions at this time, expect something coming from my team in the next week or two.” She clapped her hands together, “Now, let’s liven up this party! Jagged!”
And so she sang, it was a gala to remember.
Two months later Marinette and Luka moved into a four bedroom penthouse in Gotham, right across the hall from Jagged and Penny’s new Gotham home. The Wayne’s helped them move in. There was trashy pop music, organization advice from Alfred, pizza and Jason only dropped two boxes. Damian didn’t technically live there yet. But he was there more often than not, and he even got to hang some of his swords up in the living room. Their first night there was spent in a fort made of moving boxes, eating Chinese takeout, Damian slept over. In fact, he didn’t go back to the manor for a week after the move.
They each had their own room, but they practically always shared Luka’s bed rather than sleeping in their own. Marinette’s bedroom quickly became a bedroom/sewing room, Damian’s a bedroom/ art studio, and the spare bedroom a makeshift recording studio. They settled into their routine quickly. Every morning at 7:30, Damian would come by, if he hadn’t slept over, waking Marinette and taking Luka off to school. They both attended Gotham University. Marinette did her school at home, excited to finally be on her last year of lycée. They’d always reconvene at the apartment around 1. By then everyone was done with their classes and Damian brought lunch, which they would devour, before spending the rest of the afternoon doing homework, enjoying each other’s company and creating (either music, clothes or paintings). Obviously, they had family dinners at the Wayne’s, Damian would stay after regardless of where he was sleeping to take part in patrol. So they’d kiss him goodbye before returning to the penthouse to start it all over again the next day.
Eight months later, Damian moved in officially.
Marinette’s new album dropped during her final month of high school. It was an instant hit. What can I say? Marinette did angry well, she did soft well, she did remorse well, she did everything well. Her album helped millions heal, and she donated a third of the proceeds to a new program in Paris that helped civilians learn to cope with the trauma that they’d endured during Hawkmoth’s reign.
During the summer before university, Lady Ri, Serpent and Sparrow did a tour across America. By the end of it, the world knew who Hawkmoth was, and what the mayor had done to keep it quiet. He faced international backlash and was removed from office nearly immediately, facing legal repercussions.
A year later, Marinette grew restless. She loved every aspect of her life, especially her professors, Gotham University’s business program was truly top notch, but something felt like it was missing. She tried to pretend like she didn’t know what it was. But Marinette sucked at lying, especially to herself.
For the first time in a long time, Marinette called for her transformation. Looking down at herself, she realized how much she’d grown and healed. Instead of her old spots, her bodysuit was mostly black, with thin red lines following the contours of her body. Marinette knew what was missing, and she knew who she wanted to be.
Two weeks later, Scarabée Noir made her debut, beating the shit out of a man who had tried to corner a little girl in an alley. No one had ever seen Robin smile before.
After Marinette graduated university, she had trouble figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. She had too many options. (Ikr? Like Mari stfu). She didn’t really have the time to open a fashion house and start from the bottom, not if she wanted to continue to sing and patrol. The answer came in the form of a surprise visitor.
He knocked on the door on a slow Sunday afternoon. Marinette opened the door to find a lawyer. “Hello, sir. How can I help you?” She asked carefully.
“Are you Marinette Dupain Cheng?” He asked coarsely.
“Yes sir. How can I help you?”
“May I come in? I have a gift from Monsieur Agreste.” When Marinette froze at that he continued, “Junior.”
Dazed, Marinette let him enter. “The young master didn’t write to you or anything, in fact I myself haven’t heard from him in years. However, around the time of his father’s arrest, he set this up.” He sat down at the kitchen table, pulling out a portfolio, “He put the shares of Gabriel in a trust for you. They were to be delivered when you finished university. Now you have. Sign here and you will own nearly 80% of Gabriel .”
“What?” Was all Marinette could muster.
“He is giving it to you. To do with what you wish. To tank it, to rebuild it from the ground up, to leave and simply enjoy the influx of cash. He doesn’t care. He didn’t want it. And in his words, ‘Marinette Dupain Cheng is the only person who could possibly make anything good come out of that horrible place.’”
“Luka! Damian!” She screamed, startling the man.
Her boyfriends came rushing out of the bedroom in various states of undress. “I’m about to own most of Gabriel .” She said, sitting down to sign the paper.
Across the world, in Tokyo, Adrien Agreste smiled when the relaunch of MDC Design Co, affectionately called MDC-DC, became official.
Three years later, Marinette Dupain Cheng was exactly where she wanted to be. She was married to her soulmates (because a marriage can be between any people who have matching soulmarks here, fight me); she was still the anonymous Lady Ri, popping out hit albums every year; she was the illustrious CEO MDC, running a fashion house that helped rebuild her old partner’s legacy; and she got to fight crime with part of his name, remembering him every time she stepped out to protect Gotham. Everything was perfect. Until her period was late.
Then, everything was hectic.
She stopped patrols immediately. She designed as fast as she could, needing to finish the spring line before she left for maternity leave. She even finished writing the songs for her next album. But she was missing something.
Oh right, telling literally anyone else why she was working herself to the bone.
But Bruce’s birthday was in just a few days, only two weeks after she discovered she was pregnant, it was the perfect opportunity. So she stayed up late one night, making an extra present for Bruce’s birthday. It was the perfect way to tell everyone, she smiled wickedly.
Bruce’s birthday was always one of Marinette’s favorite days of the year, for a lot of reasons. The first being Bruce just so clearly hated being the center of attention, even on his birthday, that it was hugely fun to make it a big party and watch him squirm. The next reason was Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny had made it a tradition to fly out to come for said big party. Her third reason was a little self indulgent, but Jagged would inevitably bring a cake from her parent’s bakery, and she missed the taste of home.
So when it was time for presents, Marinette insisted she go last. She enjoyed her second piece of cake, which she deserved, because she was pregnant, and watched Bruce open presents, with a mildly uncomfortable look on his face. When Alfred announced that was all the presents from the pile, the relieved look that came across his face made her cackle.
She stood up, pulling a small gift bag from by her feet. “You’re not off the hook yet Brucie, this one is just from me.” She walked over to him, “Alfred can you record this?” She asked, making sure she pointed to a spot where he could capture Luka and Damian’s reactions too. She put the small bag in front of him, and he shot her a look before pulling out the tissue paper and then the tie from the bag. It was a simple green tie that had the word ‘Grandpa’ embroidered down the length.
“You’re not.” He said, looking up at her shocked.
“I am.” She said back with a smirk.
“What is it B?” Jason yelled, tossing his napkin at them. With a stunned expression, Bruce held the tie up for the table to see. There were shrieks, screams, and everything in between. Damian and Luka shot up and ran to her, throwing their arms around her.
“All I’ve got to say is, ‘world’s greatest detective’s my ass.’” Marinette said between giggles, still being held by her husbands. “I’ve known for two weeks.”
Seven months later, Amara was born. Followed a year later by Aria. And then three years later by Elijah.
And they were happy. The kids grew up, the Wayne family expanded more and more, growing to include soulmates and eventually cousins for Marinette’s children. The Wayne’s were basically an army now. And yes, their family was special. Huge, powerful in like dozens of ways, but they still faced normal family stuff.
Like meeting your daughter’s boyfriend’s family. When she was seventeen, Aria met her soulmate Hugo and fell hopelessly in love with him. Luka, Damian and Marinette liked Hugo, he was a good kid, trustworthy, left the door open when he’d come over. They were excited to meet his family.
They weren’t quite sure what to expect, but they definitely weren’t expecting what they got. The doorbell rang, indicating Hugo and his family had arrived for dinner. Aria was still upstairs getting ready so Marinette went to get the door. She opened the door to Hugo.
“Hey Marinette,” He said politely, “My Mom and Dad are just pulling the car around, they’ll be here in a second. Can I come in?”
“Of course Hugo. She’s upstairs getting ready, but Elijah has a game loaded up in the living room for you to play while you wait.” She smiled as he thanked her and scampered off to the living room. When she turned back to the door she saw a ghost.
“Adrien.”
“My Lady.” He said with his signature Chat Noir smirk, “I brought wine. I thought we might need it.”
“I do!” His wife announced with a laugh. “I’m Aimee. I’ve heard so much about you, from Adrien and from Hugo.” She stepped through the threshold, hugging Marinette, “Thank you for watching over both of my boys.”
“It’s been my pleasure.” Marinette responded earnestly. She released Aimee, and hugged Adrien, hard.
“I’ve missed you Chaton.”
“I’ve missed you too Bug.” He said hugging her back, “Good thing we’re family now.”
Notes:
Please let me know what you think everyone.
See you soon!
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