Save Myself

by Izanae

Summary:

Tim needs a break. A real one. With actual sleep. He's overworked, underappreciated, and just plain fed up.
It was time he took matters into his own hands - and saved himself for once.

Notes:

Okay, this was the first fic I ever wrote (May 2021 - saw Gang of Secrets and raged and stopped watching the show entirely). (So be nice >.<) I am very slowly editing it when I have spare time, so patience on the updates.

Takes place after Season 4 episode 4, Gang of Secrets, only the ending has changed. Marinette didn’t call Alya back into her room.

Chapter 1

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne sighed heavily as he filled his sixth cup of coffee for the day. Maybe. He wasn’t sure anymore. Only the glaring date of his latest appointment reminder on his phone let him know what day it was. It had to be at least two days since he had had even a cat nap.

Alfred might know how long it had been.

He did know that he hadn’t left the office since he last slept. Did a day count from sleep to sleep or just a 24-hour period?

Alfred would probably know that too. He knew everything about everything. Alfred was the greatest detective in the world. Screw Batman - Alfred was the scary one. He showed up just when he’s needed even if no one asked. He must be magic or something. Or a really good stalker. Maybe he just watched them on the security cameras all day… Nah. The guy was magic. He, like, never aged.

And now he was talking like a 90’s girl. In his head. To himself.

He really needed to sleep.

Still… it was better than nightmares. Sleep meant nightmares. Sleep meant facing reality consciously. Consciousness meant feelings.

Couldn’t have that.

90’s girl talk it was then. Sleep later.

As if.

Cher would be, like, so proud. He was definitely forcing Damian to watch Clueless on the next movie night. He should, like, totally go skateboarding while playing ‘Rollin with my homies.’

Oou, skateboarding. He missed boarding. He should go do that now.

He raised his head up. He was in his office. At some point he had sat down and had been staring at his cup. It was empty.

Why was he here when he could go boarding?

His phone beeped for a reminder. Oh, right, useless board meeting to appease investors that don’t actually care about the company. Bruce was scheduled to come to the meeting, but he wouldn’t show up. He was probably sleeping from a late patrol.

Huh. Patrol.

When was the last time he went on patrol? Four days? Five? More?

He recalled setting up a drug bust… but the others took care of it so he could stay at Wayne Enterprises to work. He really should have gone.

A knock on the door brought him out of his caffeine-enhanced haze.

Oh. The meeting.

He unplugged his laptop and followed his assistant. The room was full of stuffy old men who just wanted to argue about cutting costs that would just cost more in the long run with repairs, rather than just producing quality products to begin with. So, after letting them ramble as he drank coffee number seven brought over by his assistant, he set them straight, then let the tech department in charge of production take over.

His stomach churned, and Tim vaguely thought that maybe all the coffee was making him sick… nah. He looked down at his once again empty cup. There was a croissant beside it.

Food? When had he last eaten? He was running on coffee, and that was fine, but maybe he should eat it…

He half-listened as he absently chewed on the croissant and went over a police report of activity over by one of the schools. He flagged it as something Damian should check out as he was nearest and would look the least suspicious if caught in the area.

The meeting drew to a close, and he headed back to his office. The sun was glaring through the windows, making his tired eyes wish he had closed the blinds, but if he did, he would likely fall asleep. He didn’t have time for that.

There on the desk was a stack of papers for Bruce to review and sign. Once again, he was required to forge his adoptive father’s signature and do his work. Another sigh left him, and he reviewed one as he waited for his next cup of coffee to finish filling. The work was something a low-level assistant could have vetted and just handed to Bruce to sign. He skimmed the rest of the pile. Most of these could be handled by assistants or department heads. Why did these even land on his desk? They were a complete waste of his time. Was this really all Bruce was expected to do at work? Why did Bruce not just do it himself?

He looked down again at the pile. They were all due today. That’s why he got them. How long had they been sitting in Bruce’s office before some panicked assistant put them on his desk? There was no way he would get through them all by the end of the day.

Ugh. He did not want to do this. He would rather get punched in the face by some random drug dealer.

He whipped out his phone and sent everyone a message that he would not be going on patrol tonight. Again. He sent the details about the case for Damian to look into, then returned to the problem in front of him.

Poking his head out of his office, he flagged down the two executive assistants nearby. “I need you to review these reports before the end of the day so that I can sign them. Pull whoever you need to get it done. Tomorrow we will need to have a meeting about delegation to proper departments. Please set aside some time in the calendar for it.”

He dumped the stack on the first desk, and the two paled at the giant work load they were just handed, nodding weakly. “Thank you, Ms. Kelly, Mrs. Lurdem. If you or anyone else you pull in to help end up staying late, please charge any meals or expenses to the company, including safe rides home.”

He returned to his office and looked at his own stack of work. It was massive.

Could one die from paperwork overload? Could it happen now so he didn’t have to deal with the stack?

How much of this could actually be done by an assistant or another department? Rather than returning to another police report like he had planned, once again putting his vigilante duties aside for Wayne Enterprises maintenance, he reviewed the emails he had received. Hundreds of unopened emails. Many items with due dates in the next two to three days.

When had he fallen so far behind? How did he have this much work? Drake Industries barely had to bother him with anything. Just the annual board meeting and more important contract to sign.

There was no way Wayne Enterprises was more poorly managed than his own Drake Industries, right? He needed to fix this now.

He pinched his nose in irritation before diving into the stack. Instead of actually reviewing them, he began to scan through them, marking which department should have taken over the review process. How many should have just been a signature after a brief note saying it was approved by the department heads?

After four more hours, he discovered only a handful of items he actually needed to pay attention to. Great. None of them were due any time soon.

He knew why it began. He would always get it done, even last-minute things put on his desk. Everyone knew it. They depended on it. Departments claimed they didn’t have the time or resources, so he would ‘help’ until he finally took it over. No time? Young Mr. Wayne will do it! But at that time, everything had been urgent and important. It slowly turned into any paperwork that took any significant amount of time, or was annoying.

Finally, he was left with this mess. It was likely almost all the WE paperwork went through him now. He should have put a stop to it ages ago.

His head hurt. Lack of caffeine? Too much? Annoyance? No, he didn’t have time for emotions.

Next problem. When did all of this begin? When did he start having to sign Bruce’s papers?

He scanned through his emails. There was such a mass of emails every day that it became tiresome. He wasn’t getting anywhere with it. Maybe he wasn’t looking back far enough. He skipped back to last year, when he was only with the company for about six months, when his phone beeped.

Damian had sent confirmation that he would check out the case. No comment about him missing patrol again. They were all really picky about everyone sticking to their assigned patrols – why was no one hassling him? Didn’t they normally bug him about it? Dick usually said something and fussed over him not sleeping and working too hard.

But no other messages came.

When had this become normal? When did they stop bugging him about patrols?

Huh. He actually missed his family harassing him about missing patrols?

When did they stop caring? Did they care about him?

He sighed once again and began to dig through his messages. He didn’t have time to wallow or wonder about his adoptive family and their general inability to talk about emotions, but curiosity got the better of him. Six months after he started at WE he started missing patrols. Bruce never sent more than a confirmation text. Damian would send an annoyed message and Jason had teased him about ‘all work and no play’ on occasion. Dick fussed with every one of his messages.

Until three months of it, when the reply messages dwindled. Then stopped. Even Dick hadn’t responded to the five most recent cancellations. The only messages he appeared to receive were requests to research something and confirmation of places to investigate.

They didn’t care.

Would they notice when he died of paperwork overload? Maybe the paperwork would be merciful and it would be swift. Now would be good.

They didn’t notice he was gone anyway. He missed Dick checking on him.

No… He missed them?

That didn’t make sense. Maybe it was caffeine withdrawal. He needed another cup.

His family had become so used to him bailing on patrol that they expected it. This really needed to change.

He didn’t join Bruce to sit at WE all day. He joined to set Batman straight. To be a Robin. He joined to help people. To help Batman save the city.

He hadn’t been out in ages. He just drowned in paperwork every day. He frowned at the thought that he had lost his way at some point.

Time to get back on track.

~~~~

He never left the office.

But there it was, morning again according to the sun coming through his office window. He had a plan now. Set up a system to review and delegate the work that could easily be handled by assistants. Hire two more assistants to skim through the files and be in charge of the delegation process to streamline it.

The meeting itself went well. He had to pull in the legal department and finance departments to ensure that all reports went to them to review as well. Minor contracts and spending would be filtered through department heads, finance and legal, and finally to his executive assistants to ensure they maintained WE standards and missions. Only the completed, signed contracts would reach his desk in case he wanted to override the decision. Large accounts would be sent to him or Bruce to review like normal.

They were resistant at the extra workload, but accepted it as well within their purview if they had an extra hand or two hired. He showed everyone the stack of papers the executive assistants had gone through that never should have even seen his desk for more than a signature that belonged to Bruce. Then he pulled out the even larger stack of his own. He had divided them up by department review priority.

In the end, everyone was content; they were getting additional support in their offices to take up the extra workload, so no department would be overwhelmed. And Tim could possibly sleep for once.

He left the meeting with the five reports he actually needed to review and sat down to coffee number… shit. Did he count from last sleep? He lost count. If he only counted from sunrise, he was on coffee number two. That wasn’t too bad. Right?

He looked at his meetings for the day. Most looked like something he could sleep through and not be missed. Ugh. Maybe that was next on the delegation list.

He completed his remaining reports as he sat in the meetings, not paying attention. Come 5PM he was actually done all of his work for the day. He checked in with his assistants, and they appeared to be finishing up as well. Odd. Everyone was ready to leave on time. Maybe he was having a caffeine- and lack of sleep-induced hallucination again.

He returned to the manor, and actually went to bed after a quick meal with Alfred. In his haze of exhaustion, he forgot to text everyone to mention that he was going to crash for a while before joining them on patrol.

~~~~

Ladybug groaned as her back slammed into a nearby wall. She stumbled back to her feet, watching as Chat Noir knocked back the akuma, stealing the arm band and tearing it apart. She whipped out her yoyo and cleansed the damn butterfly.

It had been the second attack that day. She was tired. They met up for their usual post-akuma fist bump and took off, Chat promising to return the citizen this time, since he hadn’t used his Cataclysm.

Ladybug fell through the open skylight, and a half-asleep Marinette Dupain-Cheng collapsed onto her bed. She pulled the closest pillow towards her head, eager to get some sleep. Tikki zoomed off to grab a cookie from the stash in her desk drawer. She felt two other kwami pull her blanket up over her, and she mumbled a thank you.

She hummed her contentment at finally being able to sleep. The akuma had taken hours. A 2AM akuma was not a fun way to be woken up. The Ladybug miraculous cure had taken care of her injuries, but she was still a bit sore just from general exertion, being overworked and just plain tired. She shifted her position, and was just about out cold when suddenly her alarm blared.

No.

No. It couldn’t be time to get up already!

She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes as she forced them to open. She checked the clock. It really was time to go to school. Damnit. The kwami saw her slowly lift herself out of bed, and turned off the alarm for her. Several of them had sad looks on their faces. She knew they felt bad for her, and would help if there was anything they could do.

She groaned as she changed into her usual school clothes automatically. Looked like there was no sleep for the superhero today.

She stumbled downstairs to see her parents up in the bakery. They gave her a sympathetic look. They would have heard the akuma battle while they were baking bread. Surely most of the school would be tired from lack of sleep from the noise. She wouldn’t stand out. Her mother came up to her with a cup.

“Coffee sweetie?”

She looked at her maman with mild surprise. They had discouraged her drinking any before now. Sure, she was almost 17 now, and most of the other kids in her class had started drinking it long before her, but her mother providing it was not something she had predicted.

She took a sip, cringing at the bitter, dry taste. Her mom let out a small laugh, handing her some cream and sugar.

“Try two spoonfuls of sugar. It’s a bit of an acquired taste,” she said. Her maman poured in a small amount of creamer to the take the drink to the top of the cup.

Marinette looked warily at the drink, but tried another sip. Much better. This she could drink. She watched as her mother poured herself a cup of black coffee. She was sure she would be drinking it like her maman soon enough.

She gave her a hug before heading out the door, a croissant in one hand, the coffee in the other. She sipped on it as she walked the very short distance to her school.

She took a seat in the back of the classroom. She was too tired to fight with Lila over the seating arrangements today. Alya would be happy either way, and this way she could zone out without Mme. Bustier calling on her too much. She sat and started doodling absentmindedly. Class came to a start before she knew it. She thought that maybe Alya and Nino had tried to greet her when they came in, but she was just too tired to care.

At the end of their first lesson, Marinette realised that she had not even paid attention to what subject it was. She looked down to see what she had made while she had sipped on her coffee. An asymmetrical dress with bold triangle shapes. A few were cut-outs, while others were jeweled. It would be perfect for one of Clara Nightingale’s next music videos. This one was supposed to be edgy and a bit more outside of Clara’s normal style, and she wanted an edgy outfit to go with it. Marinette was sure that this would fit the bill. Still very Clara, with the bright colours and large shapes, but with a very Jagged Stone feel to the rest. She quickly added some extra crystals to the shoulder, and created a hairclip, bracelet, and knee-high boots to match.

After a few minutes, Marinette realised that Mme. Bustier was attempting to get the students’ attention back.

“Class, a reminder that we will be going on our trip to America next week as part of the French-American friendship week, much like we did with our New York trip a few years ago. Adrien, could you pass around packets please?” She held out the packets and paused for a few moments as he started handing them out. “Everyone, you’ll notice that once again, the packet contains the permission slips and the recommended packing lists, as well as a list of precautions and safety protocols recommended for each city with known supervillains. This shouldn’t be much different than the New York packet on our previous trip.”

Adrien came up to her last, and gave her a big smile. “Here, Mari. This one is yours,” he said quietly, their fingers brushing as she grabbed the stack of papers from him. “You’re coming on the trip, right?”

She nodded, unable to help the small smile she gave him in return.

Adrien had not stuck up for her or been there for her over the years as he had hinted he would be back when Lila first appeared. It had slowly killed her obsessive crush on him to where she could now see how unhealthy her obsession had been.

She did still like Adrien, but she had come to realise that all he wanted was to be ‘just friends,’ no matter what she thought of him. She was content if that was all they could ever be. She could only be rejected and called a friend so many times. She liked to think that her feelings towards him had matured beyond 13-year-old her’s obsessive crush to something more manageable. More realistic. She could see Adrien for what he was now. Good and kind (and gorgeous), but non-confrontational and unwilling to stand up for himself or others in social situations. He seemed to be pretty dependable during akuma attacks, helping others to escape and showing no fear.

On days when Lila was worse and Adrien still didn’t stick up for her, she wasn’t sure if even the friends title fit. He would always apologize later, but Marinette wasn’t really sure if it mattered anymore if he was sorry. She understood the pressure he was under from his father to be nice to her, but she could only take so much. She really did get it. She didn’t blame him for his situation, and tried not to take it personally when he turned away from a situation.

She had attempted to date Luka at one point, but she had never really felt more than a small attraction and friendship with him. They had broken up before they even reached their third date, and they had all ended early due to akuma attacks. She felt bad about it, but knew it was better to just cut out relationship issues early. After a very awkward period, they had returned to being friends. Adrien had dated Kagami for a while, which helped her move on quite a bit, but they had broken up around the same time she and Luka had.

Neither Marinette nor Adrien had entered a relationship since.

However, Adrien did act somewhat passive-aggressive towards Luka on occasion when the three of them were together for Kitty Section practice. She never could determine a reason why, and neither of them wanted to talk to her about it.

Marinette glanced at the packet, seeing absolutely nothing concerning or new. They would be visiting Metropolis, home of the Daily Planet, which Alya was excited to visit, and the Supers. They would then be touring Gotham, home of the Bats. They would make a quick stop in New York to visit the friends they had made on their previous trip after that. She looked forward to catching up with Jess and Aeon in person. It was also the home of the Justice Society of America and the United HeroeZ, the local branch of the Justice Society. She looked down at the rest of the cities. All were home to some major superhero (and villains…) or another. The Flashes in Central City, San Francisco where the Teen Titans had their main base of operations these days, and Star City, home of the Arrows. She was looking forward to the history and differences from both sides of the country. The Star Labs tour would be cool, but they were also the cause of a huge majority of the meta villains and problems. Wayne Enterprises and Queen Industries would also be useful and worth the tour, even if not very interesting.

The packing list just had basics. She spent the rest of the time that the class rambled on about what they were looking forward to making a list of things she really needed – like which kwami would be best for each main type of villain present, just in case they were caught in an attack. Trixx was a must regardless of who they were against because she could use her to alter her appearance enough that she wouldn’t look like a miraculous user.

Another note to get gear related to each villain for an attack if she was stuck as a civilian, if possible. Gas masks for Joker’s laughing gas or Scarecrow’s fear gas. A quick search on her phone made her realise that the big ones used by the military would not be realistic for her to carry around, but the mouth covering ones used by doctors should be enough to keep out the particles, they were smaller, and much more affordable.

Non-conductive material for lightning- or electricity-based villains like Dr. Light. Heated outfits for ice-based ones like Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold, or Killer Frost. Kevlar or some other bulletproof and knife resistant cloth. It was… a bit much.

She started looking up all the different bullet-proof materials costs that were light enough to not be obvious while still providing protection. It turned out that bulletproof outfits weren’t all that expensive. Apparently, there were tons of Kevlar alternatives, known as aramid fibers.

She quickly fell down the rabbit hole of her searches. It would make a great market to dive into, considering Jagged and most of his referrals were more likely to get into situations where they would need protection. She marked that down for later.

In the end, she decided that an aramid fiber and rubber lined coat that had a heating element that she could take out of an electric blanket would be ideal to market. An all-in-one thing that could kept in a backpack to pull out if needed.

It was unrealistic for the trip – she didn’t have a portable power source, and didn’t have time to find contacts that could make her one. Bulletproofing would likely be all she could pull off in time, but it was definitely marketable in the future.

She was the guardian now. She could not afford to die on a school trip. She thought for a bit that she was maybe overdoing it, or that maybe it was her anxiety kicking into overthinking mode again, but if nothing else, she could use it as a prototype jacket to market to Gotham in the future. Kwami knew they had enough attacks, she could easily make it in mass marketing there. It made her wonder why Gotham, in particular, was so bad for hostage situations and villains. It was smaller than Paris. She would have thought the crime rate would be lower, or at least proportional to the size of the city.

Her list done, Marinette tuned back into the class’s conversation. Lila, being herself, was quick to say that she knew famous people from each city from her mother’s work as an ambassador. If Marinette’s luck ran as it normally did, they would be attacked in every city because of Lila.

Marinette sighed.

It would be a long trip.

Notes:

Feel like you relate just a bit too much? Help is there if you want it, or even if you just have questions.
Child/Teen Helplines (International, just find your country):
https://childhelplineinternational.org/helplines/
Any Age Suicide Help Lines (International, just find your country):
https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/

Chapter 2

Marinette and her class arrived in the US in the morning after a nine-hour flight. Despite it being almost time for lunch, to Marinette and the rest of her class, it was almost time for bed. She hadn’t slept much on the plane. She kept expecting Lila to try something. She was half surprised that Lila hadn’t tried to get her left behind at this point.

Metropolis was huge. They really seemed to treasure their tall buildings. Skyscrapers and excessively tall apartment buildings lined every street. Marinette couldn’t understand the desire to live so high up. Could the fire trucks even get their ladders up that high? What if there was an emergency? She loved sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower, but she could never imagine living that high up all the time.

Their tours on the first day were relaxed. A bus tour through the city and souvenir shopping. Marinette sat up front with the tour guide, soaking up what history of the place she could. They talked a lot about Superman. The thing that caught her attention the most was the amount of destruction the city regularly encountered in his battles. It was on par with what Paris experienced during the worst attacks, but they had no miraculous cure to fix it all. Billions must have been spent rebuilding the city multiple times. She hated to think about how many lives had been lost in the process.

The next day they went on a tour of the Daily Planet – the thing Alya was looking forward to most on the trip (outside of possibly seeing a hero). Despite the hours of listening to Alya rant about her vlog and journalism, Marinette really couldn’t get into the tour. The most interesting thing was sitting in on the morning’s delegation of stories and the organization it took. Lois Lane-Kent and Clark Kent were in attendance, and Alya spent most of the meeting making heart eyes at them. She even ignored Lila while they were there, opting to listen intently to her idol’s speech to the group, but forgetting to take notes. Sighing, Marinette took a few extra notes about interesting things to give to Alya later.

In the end, they escaped Metropolis with no major incidences. Lila hadn’t even tried anything more than claiming that she had met Lois in the past during a conference – something that was a mildly believable lie. Marinette had to assume that it was because she knew they would actually be meeting them and wanted the lie to be something less easy to be caught in.

The most exciting thing was seeing Superman and the younger Superboy (because that wasn’t confusing at all to have two heroes with the exact same name) flying overhead.

“Look!” Rose screeched, pointing upwards.

Alya, ever obsessed with heroes as she was, got a decent video as she followed them through the crowds. “Superman! Superboy! Wait!!” she yelled after them. “Can I get an interview?!”

They disappeared quickly after she yelled at them, so her video was quite short. Thankfully, Nino had followed her, stopping her from running right into traffic after them.

She really couldn’t blame the heroes for flying away as fast as they could. Marinette hated giving interviews as Ladybug.

“Sorry about her,” she whispered, hoping they could hear her. “She’s just really excited about heroes. Good luck on your mission.” She smiled at her own joke. If anyone could wish good luck to someone, it was her and Tikki.

~~~~

Tim woke up to his alarm going off and the sun in the window. He had slept the whole night. Given how early he had gone to bed, he must have gotten at least eleven hours of sleep! His mind felt clear for the first time in days.

His body was still complaining to go back to sleep, but he had to get up. It had been a dreamless sleep too. Not a single nightmare. Exhaustion collapsing was the only way he had dreamless sleeps. Sure, the exhaustion was inconvenient, and he didn’t function as well, but it beat nightmares.

Wait. He had slept the whole night. Shit! He had missed patrol!

He glanced down at his phone, about to text everyone a sorry for worrying them, when he realized he had no new messages. No missed calls. Maybe they had been too busy to get the chance.

Tim found himself feeling the crushing weight of loneliness and neglect that he often associated with his biological parents. Once again, he had joined a neglectful family. He had just traded one form of neglect for another. No one was checking on him to make sure he was okay. It made him feel worthless.

Tim knew he had depression, not that he had ever sought treatment for it. It was usually manageable. His worst symptom was typically alexithymia – an inability to recognize or process his emotions. It was a symptom of a few things, but Tim knew.

He never felt happy.

He wasn't even really sure what happy was anymore. Sure, he could smile. He could laugh. But he never felt that pure joy that others described or that he read about in books. At this point he was pretty sure it was a lie the masses told themselves to keep from diving into the realization that life just sucked. He could remember a few times as a kid, but even before joining Batman, during one of the years at boarding school, he just realised that he couldn’t remember what being happy felt like.

The result was Tim just feeling… flat… most of the time. Numb. He had boughts of sadness when something hit hard, but most of the time he lived in a perpetual state of nothing. It was hard to continue the fight when all you had was nothing and the hopelessness, worthlessness, and sadness that came along with depressive episodes. Years of blocking out the pain and sadness and crippling depression had left him with only one thing. Numb. His work and exhaustion kept the numbness feeling normal.

The numbness had an unexpected side effect. Everyone thought he was cold. Cold and calculating and unable to feel normal human emotions. It was suggested on occasion that he had a neurodevelopmental disorder, but he had looked it up. He didn’t meet the criteria. He didn’t have any issues at boarding school. His paediatric records indicated no concerns by anyone who worked with him when he was young. No, he was just shy, blunt, rational, and depressed, with a long history of trauma and neglect. He knew he was having issues now. He knew what was triggering it: his current disconnect from his adoptive family.

Ugh, he didn’t want to admit he missed his highly dysfunctional family. He couldn’t even blame caffeine withdrawal this time. He didn’t want to admit it hurt that they ignored him unless it was for information or backup.

So, he defaulted back to his emotionless analytical thinking mode and pushed back the urge to lie back in bed for the rest of the day and cry, which was what his body really wanted him to do. He could deal with the emotions later when he had caffeine in his system. Or never. Never was good. If he kept busy enough, maybe he wouldn’t ever have to deal with it. He had to remain functional – for the company, for the city.

He wandered down to breakfast and grabbed the biggest coffee he could get away with without Alfred’s disapproving look. He entered around the same time as Dick was taking his seat, colourful cereal box in hand. No one said anything.

They must have had a rough night. It would explain the lack of messages checking on him.

“How was patrol last night?” he asked. “Busy?”

“Nah. Just a purse snatcher and a couple of kids getting into a fight that we broke up. So slow, I should have stayed home,” Jason replied from behind him. He must have just gotten in. It was rare that he stayed at the manor, so he was likely there to pilfer some food.

Well, there went that theory.

The table was oddly silent for a while. When was the last time they had all eaten together? Tim must have missed out on at least the last month of meals with them. Even during the mandatory family dinners, he was stuck at the office catching up on work. He hadn’t been nagged to join them either. At the time, he thought it was considerate of them to just leave him to get things done without the harassment.

Now? He wasn’t so sure.

He watched as Damian and Jason got into another useless fight. Jason had taken the gremlin’s strawberry from off his plate. There was a whole bowl on the table in front of Tim. Jason had done it just to piss the kid off, and boy had it worked. Rather than just getting another, Damian had retaliated by attempting to shove Jason off his chair. When that didn’t work, they started batting back and forth. It was obvious that it wasn’t serious, but it was the easiest way they interacted with one another.

It was exhausting.

Dick was busy on his phone, texting someone, seemingly oblivious to the fight in front of him. Tim wasn’t fooled. He kept checking on them in case he had to move or intervene. Bruce read the paper in an attempt to ignore their antics.

Tim finished and got up to head to work, saying, “I’ll see you all later for patrol.”

Dick sent a quick wave of his hand in acknowledgment as he left the room, but never looked up from his phone.

Tim was frustrated. No one really seemed to care if he was there or not. It was starting to feel like his parents all over again. He felt lightheaded as his thoughts spiraled. Would he ever find the kind of affection and love that were in the books he read as a kid? Would his family ever just fucking pay attention to him? Was it really so much to ask?

Maybe it was. Was he just not loveable? Was it his fault everyone abandoned him? What was it about him that everyone just… left? Was his inability to really recognize his own emotions turning everyone away, or maybe it was how he was so work-oriented? Was there something else he wasn’t aware of that just put people off? He had to be the reason. Everyone else left. It had to be him.

Why? Why couldn’t he have someone – anyone – stick around?

He attempted to fight back the weight that had returned to his chest at the thoughts in his head. He was not very successful until he reached WE and the day’s work began to distract him.

At WE, he reviewed his workload. Only two things needing to be reviewed by him, due in a week. He glanced at his calendar… only to find the same issue as the reports the other day. There was no way he needed to be at most of these meetings. He called in Ms. Kelly and together they streamlined the meetings to departments and matched them to the people who were reviewing the reports that were related to them so that they could attend the meetings instead. The new hires were starting tomorrow (it was amazing how motivated HR and the departments could be when faced with mountains of work if they didn’t hire people), and next week they could begin to cut out his meetings.

They were finishing up when Mrs. Lurdem came in, asking Tim to review something of Bruce’s that was unable to be delegated.

“Bruce can’t do it?” Tim asked.

“Mr. Wayne isn’t here, and it is needed for a meeting tomorrow,” Mrs. Lurdem sounded stressed.

“I can do it,” Tim sighed. At least it was still less than his usual workload. “When was the last time Bruce was in the office?” he asked absently as he skimmed the file.

The two assistants glanced at each other. That wasn’t good. “Uhm, at least a month?” Ms. Kelly stammered out.

“Almost two,” Mrs. Lurdem stated with a frown.

Tim was actually surprised. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was surprised. He couldn’t recall seeing him. Then again, he was usually so sleep deprived that it wasn’t a shock that he missed it.

Boy, he really needed more sleep. He missed a lot. Some detective he was – he didn’t even notice his own father missing at work for two months. Stupid caffeine haze. Stupid sleep. Stupid nightmares.

Sighing once again (this seemed to be becoming a new habit), and pushing back the feelings of abandonment and uselessness that were creeping in before they could turn into the perpetual feelings of worthlessness and crippling depression he avoided at all cost, he took another sip of coffee and pushed it back into the numbness he lived in. Analytical thought was so much easier. The detachment meant he kept functioning. He had to function. He returned to his day of meetings, completing Bruce’s review and signing it before lunch.

He decided he would actually take lunch for once, and walked to a nearby café. He couldn’t recall the last time he had done this. He ordered a latte with four extra shots of espresso and frowned.

His life was a mess.

When had he talked to anyone that wasn’t WE-related or Robin-related? His last message from Conner was over a month ago stating he was going off-world for a while. His family was even longer than that.

Maybe he had been shutting them out too long with all the work. That was a thing, right? Say no to plans too many times and people stop inviting you. Maybe that’s what he did, even by accident.

It must be his fault if they were all doing it. He was the common factor after all. But it also meant he had the solution.

Feeling a bit better, as this was something he could remedy, he sent a message to Conner that he would like to just hang out some time when he got back. Then one to his family saying he would join them on patrol for sure tonight. Baby steps.

~~~~

That night, Tim beat everyone down to the cave, and was suited up ready to go. As everyone was getting ready to head out, Batman called out, “Red Robin, you’ll monitor the comms again tonight. Oracle can’t make it again.”

Again? He hadn’t manned the comms in at least three weeks. How long had Oracle been gone? Why did no one tell him? He would have put work aside to be there.

He had been really looking forward to going out with them and reconnecting a bit.

“B, I’d really like to go out tonight,” he said quietly. “Spend some time with everyone, since I haven’t been out in a while.”

“You were out recently, and it’s your turn on the comms. You can come tomorrow night,” Batman said with a frown. He didn’t like his plans being questioned.

Everyone left without waiting for his reply. As if that was the end of the discussion. As if none of their opinions mattered. As if his opinion didn’t matter. Maybe it didn’t. He frowned and turned to the computer.

He caught up on their reports from the past few weeks, listening to their banter over the comms in case something important came up. Their reports were lacking in details and thoroughness that the police had come to expect, but they would pass enough with their credibility and standing with the station. Some of the arrests might not stick from lack of evidence, but there was nothing Tim could do about it now without spending days reviewing and digging.

When they all returned, Batman gave them a typical job well done speech that they had all heard dozens of times before leaving. Dick had waved at him, but otherwise he went unacknowledged.

Maybe he just needed to try harder. His family tended to be emotionally distant, so maybe they needed a more direct approach.

He caught up to them and asked quickly, “Anyone want to watch a movie tonight?”

Bruce hadn’t acknowledged he had even spoken and continued to walk away.

“Goin’ home Timbers,” Jason said flatly.

“Tt,” Damian vocalised his no in his typical way before walking away.

“Sorry Tim, I was going to go call Babs to see if she needed any help,” Dick stated without looking up from his phone.

… Or not.

Maybe tomorrow would be better.

~~~~

It wasn’t better.

His new assistants were hired and being trained. His meetings were delegated out for next week, and he had the appropriate departments shadowing his meetings today. He had finished all his work before lunch. Bruce didn’t show up to work, again. The afternoon had originally been set aside for emergency paperwork, but since he had none, he left work early.

It was… weird. He wandered around town aimlessly, ending up at the botanical gardens. A tour was taking place.

The tourists were chatting happily in French about their travels. Tim had never had a chance to leave the US without it being for Justice League or Robin work. He never got to sightsee when on a mission or when it was over. He never got to see the sights they were talking about. He missed out on so much. How had he not noticed?

During patrol that night, Red Robin was barely noticed. Nightwing had engaged a group of muggers without even signaling to him that he was going to engage or waiting for him.

“Hand me some zip ties?” Nightwing asked when Red Robin finally bothered to catch up with him. Red handed them over silently. Nightwing never even turned around. “Thanks.” Did he even know which brother was with him?

He enjoyed running around and letting off some steam, but he may as well have gone alone for how much they talked to him.

He began to wonder if they even noticed he had been gone for weeks from any of their ‘nighttime activities.’ Comments from last night suggested they hadn’t.

~~~~

The weekend wasn’t any better either. Tim was beginning to get frustrated. On Saturday, he asked them to watch a movie, to go out for lunch, and even to spar once they declined everything not vigilante-related. No one was interested in spending time with him now that he actually had time.

“Hey Dick? Could we hang out? Maybe go to the arcade?”

“Sorry Timbers, I need to go help Babs clean her place, and then Damian-”

“What if Damian came too?”

“Sorry bud, can we go another day?” he apologized, “I’ll go with you another day. Promise.”

“…Sure.” Tim knew it would never happen. Unless Dick made a reminder in his phone now, it would be forgotten. His phone wasn’t out at the time, so he knew it was useless. Dick would forget. He was always too busy. Always helping someone somewhere. If it wasn’t from vigilante-related business, it was someone else needing him more than he thought Tim did.

He just wanted to spend some time with his brother. Was that really too much to ask?

Dick never made the reminder as he rushed off to go help everyone but Tim.

Tim… well, he had too much time. Maybe if he went rogue his family would make the time for him. Rob a bank or two? Kidnap some diplomat? Nah, he would wind up in jail for those. Maybe he could ‘kidnap’ himself. That would work, wouldn’t it? Actually, that wasn’t a half-bad idea.

~~~~

Chatter on patrol indicated that Bruce had moved to prevent a mugging on Saturday.

“Mugging outside the theatre. Moving to intercept” he had said abruptly.

Oracle brought him up on her tracking map. Turned out the victim, whoever they were, had some basic self-defence training, and used it to stop them before he had to intervene. It had shaken Bruce a bit, as it had been in the same spot that his parents had been mugged and killed in, but of course there was no way he would admit to that.

Tim heard the slight catch in his voice when he reported that “The girl managed to disarm the man. Seems okay.” It was clear by the relief in his voice that he had originally thought that he wouldn’t make it in time.

~~~~

He had asked the others to hang out again after patrol. They still hadn’t accepted. Dick had clearly forgotten his promise as he went off to do something with Damian. Jason hadn’t even come back to the manor, so that was out. Not that Jason would want to hang out with him anyways. He still called him ‘Pretender’ half of the time. Bruce had shut himself away after the mugging incident. Why couldn’t he have the kind of father-son relationship with Bruce (or, hell, even his own dad when he was around) that Dick and Damian had together?

Bored out of his mind, he perused the website of his favourite artist, Jagged Stone, and tried once again to get onto the waitlist for Jagged’s designer. They had branched out into amazing protective wear recently for higher maintenance clients with concerns over getting attacked. Clients like him.

He listened to the Ladybug song, the ode to heroes across the world that Jagged had written a few years back for that kid’s movie that came out ‘Ladybug and Chat Noir’ (he had never watched it, it looked ridiculous), trying to remind himself of his worth to Gotham and the world as a whole. He had a purpose. The song helped remind him of it often. The song was in multiple languages, each with a slightly different message. The original French version was his favourite. A normal girl with a normal life donning a mask to save the world. Like he had been. Like he tried to be.

‘When evil comes, I find a way, to use my force and save the day.’

‘Miraculous! Simply the best! Up to the test when things go wrong! Miraculous, the luckiest! The power of love, always so strong!’

It reminded him that even without superpowers like Kon or the others he had worked with, that he had his own special way of fighting that was equally important.

But that purpose seemed lesser and lesser every day.

Tim was so used to being busy at all hours of the day, and now he had nothing. He caught up on sleep. He actually caught up on sleep, despite his insomnia. Despite his damn nightmares. For the first time in years.

It didn’t stop his coffee consumption, but it did slow it down to a somewhat healthier amount. But he was also bored. And alert. And feeling.

Hell, the feelings. It made his family’s rejections worse when he had to feel the damn emotions that went along with it. Each rejection stung. Each time they failed to notice him even in the room, it hurt.

He wasn’t happy.

He needed the work and the caffeine and the lack of sleep to feel emotionless. To shut it all off. Numb was better. All the ‘laters’ he had made to push back his feelings – “I’ll deal with this later,” “I don’t have time to worry about this,” “Shit, that’s tomorrow’s problem” – were suddenly now’s problem. Unresolved issues with Jason? Now’s problem. Bruce’s lack of presence outside of vigilantism? Now’s problem. Implications and prognosis for his missing spleen? Now’s problem. Complete lack of social life? Now’s problem.

He really needed to make a new to-do-list. Calls to his other Young Justice friends had resulted in voicemails and rushed ‘can I call you back later’s. Seemed everyone was busy except him. He debated pulling out cold cases, but that was just making work for himself, and he really needed to connect with his family.

He spent Sunday offering to do their activities or tag along on their outings, and was denied. Sunday was Tim’s night off of patrol, so after his family had shut him out again, he spent the day catching up on some reading, and organized his room.

When he finished those, he moved on to helping Alfred, by getting the groceries for him. It came with the added bonus of getting a coffee that had a higher caffeine content than normal without tipping Alfred off. Not that he had been drinking as much coffee lately. He had only had three cups that day now. Two in the morning and one in the afternoon. He liked to think that he was bordering on healthy at this point.

He couldn’t deny his feelings by the time the evening had rolled around. It was beginning to feel as if he wasn’t wanted there.

But then… he was the one who had sought out Nightwing and Batman originally to help. He had forced his way into the family.

Bruce had chosen the rest.

Despite the praise they gave him, in the long run, he was the one that had wanted to be there, not the other way around. No one had chosen him. He had served a purpose at the time, when Batman needed a Robin. He had shoved his way into their lives.

He began to wonder if he had ever been wanted to begin with. When Damian had appeared, Dick had shoved him out of the role as handily as he had shoved himself into it.

There was a new Robin now.

Maybe he wasn’t needed anymore.

Chapter 3

The class was noisily touring the Gotham Botanical Gardens when Marinette went up to Alya.

“I noticed you were a bit starstruck during the Daily Planet tour…” she began awkwardly.

“That’s for sure. They were amazing! I only hope I can be as amazing as them one day! Clark’s work is so underrated compared to Lois, but she is just so… ah she’s just larger than life!” Alya gushed, interrupting the reason Marinette had started talking in her enthusiasm.

Marinette giggled at her friend. Well, sort of friend. They weren’t nearly as close as they had been. “I made notes for you, if you want them,” she offered up the two pages of notes she had made for her.

“Really?! You’re the BEST gurl!” she complimented as she grabbed the notes hungrily. “Come on, they’ve got some amazing plants over there that Poison Ivy is supposed to take care of!”

She grabbed Marinette’s hand and led her over to the biggest flower she had ever seen. Marinette couldn’t help but see the difference in how her friend acted. When Lila was around, she practically fawned over the girl. But how separated they were now, with Lila and the rest of the class on the other side of the gardens, Alya was acting a bit more like the Alya Marinette remembered. Or, well, the Alya that seemed to forgive her for shutting them all out – at least partially.

Things would never be the same between them again, with Marinette having to put her guardian duties first and shutting everyone out a bit, but it was nice to pretend, even for a few minutes. After the blowout in her room over the friendship bracelet, she had distanced herself. She had been tempted to call Alya back and explain, but her duties came first, and it was too much of a risk. She didn’t see any of them outside of school or class events anymore. She couldn’t say she consistently talked to any of them anymore.

She saw Luka occasionally, but it was usually because he had tagged along with Juleka. Kagami dragged her out for orange juice on occasion after her fencing practices, but that was rare. Maybe once or twice per month.

She knew a large portion of the blame for how the class treated her now was her own fault, but she couldn’t help but blame Lila for the other part. It was always worse when she was around. When she was, it was often as if the class forgot she existed. While she knew that was what she signed up for, fading into history, she didn’t expect it to be quite so drastic or so quick in coming.

It was her and Chat against the world. Well, and the kwami – the only ones who truly knew what she was going through and who she really was, but they didn’t really get the human part of the struggle. Her best friends had quickly become a bunch of floating chibi animal gods.

Marinette smiled at Alya, and reveled in the fleeting moment. Soon enough, they were closer to the group, passing by a young man in a smart blazer and short black hair that was checking out the hibiscus plant, and Marinette could hear Lila rambling about all the places she claimed she and her mother had visited. It led to everyone else comparing where they had gone as well. Lila didn’t look thrilled at the attention being shifted from her, but she kept bringing the conversation back to her ‘adventures.’ Even Adrien was talking about where he had gone for modeling. It wasn’t long before Alya joined in. Marinette didn’t, but couldn’t help but think about her trips to Shanghai, London, and Rome to visit family, and the class trip to New York a few years before. She would see Jess and Aeon again soon.

~~~~

Saturday evening brought Marinette and her class to the theatre to see a showing of Cats after a day of bus tours and souvenir shopping around Gotham. Gotham had a big theatre scene, and seemed to be something the locals were proud of.

Marinette was surprised to see how much the city had to offer. It was a hub of tourism despite the higher-than-average crime rate. The city really was beautiful outside of the few very shady areas.

This was likely to be the most exciting day in Gotham, as the rest of the trip there was filled with business tours of Wayne Enterprises head office and Wayne Industries main manufacturing warehouse, and the tour of the astronomy centre. While useful, and fulfilling the education requirements of their trips, they weren’t terribly exciting.

The theatre was packed. Mme. Bustier and Mme. Mendeleiev were visibly stressed, as was the parent chaperone, Officer Raincomprix.

Adrien was unusually excited about seeing the show. Apparently, he had a thing for cats. “An entire show about cats!” Adrien rambled again.

It was clear the whole class was shocked at how much he was talking. He was normally very reserved, but something about the cat show had put him in a very good mood. Maybe it was just the chance to be away from Nathalie, his father and bodyguard.

They had just settled in for act two when akuma alerts went off on everyone’s phones. Thankfully they had all been prompted to put them on silent before the show began. But the vibrating in Marinette’s hand did not stop. She needed to leave.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Marinette explained to Mme. Mendeleiev, who was closest to her, four seats away. She nodded her approval, and Marinette took off as quickly as she could without rousing suspicion.

When she was out of the theatre, she saw the lineup. There was no way she could sneak in the bathroom to get away. Instead, she ran for the side exit, hoping she would be able to get in again later if she jammed the door with a rock from the alley.

As quickly as she could, she called on Tikki and Kaalki, and teleported back to Paris.

The akuma of the day was an artist, who’s painting had been rejected from a new exhibit in an upcoming gallery show. He was going around and turning people into artwork, so that ‘someone could finally appreciate his work.’

Thankfully, the akuma was a quick one, because Chat Noir never showed up. It wasn’t the first time that he couldn’t get away, but it made her life harder when he didn’t show. She just hoped he was okay. She managed to take the akuma’s rejection letter and rip it up with little effort.

She rushed back to a good spot to transform again using Kaalki, and hurried back to the alley.

She had just dropped her transformation when someone came around the corner. ‘That was close,’ she thought. She walked towards the door, which was still cracked open, to her relief.

That relief turned to panic when the man came closer to her, saying, “Drop the purse, sweetheart, and you can walk away with your life.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Marinette muttered under her breath. Was this seriously happening to her? Normally she would have just given it to him if there was nothing of value in it. But Tikki and Kaalki were in there. The miraculous glasses were in there. Nothing on this earth would separate her from them. Not if she could help it. “Can I just take out my glasses and-”

“Now, girlie,” the man interrupted. He pulled out a gun so she could see. It was trained onto her heart.

She finally took in his appearance, now that he was close enough. Desperate. His eyes were screaming of need and desperation. He wouldn’t give in. His hand was shaking. He didn’t like doing this, but he would. His clothes looked worn but clean enough. He had a good 30 kilograms on her.

She had seen guns before, of course, on patrol. But usually she was in a kwami-given suit that would protect her. She was just… Marinette now. Just Marinette.

Sure, she had her lined jacket she had made, but she had left that in her backpack. Her backpack which was currently lying on her theatre seat. She had left it behind in her panic to get to the akuma. She hadn’t anticipated needing to leave the theatre.

She took a deep breath, reaching up to take the purse off her. As she did, she subtly twisted her body so that the gun was no longer aimed point blank at her heart. Bringing the purse over her shoulder, she whipped it around as quickly as she could, knocking the gun to the side. It went off, a few centimeters away from her shoulder.

Not taking a moment to breathe her relief that it had worked, she swept his legs out from under him, knocking the man down. She knocked the gun away down the alley.

“No! No! Don’t hurt me!” he screamed suddenly, his eyes wide with panic and utter fear.

“Huh?” Marinette wondered. What had happened to cause his sudden change in demeanour?

“You did well, miss,” a gruff voice came from behind her. “I’ll take it from here.”

She whipped around to see who it was. Batman. She stared incredulously at him as he picked up the man who had tried to mug her and carted him off. Wasn’t he even going to ask if she was okay? What if she was going into shock? Sure, she wasn’t, but that wasn’t the point!

Grumbling to herself, she picked up the gun the man had left behind, shoving it into her purse after she had taken out the clip and put the safety on. She would transform back at the hotel and put it in her pocket dimension then. There was a collection of them in there from Paris anyways.

She slipped back into the theatre in time for act three to start.

~~~~

The next day, Marinette and the class went on a tour of the astronomy centre. It was home to a gigantic telescope that used perfect artificial diamonds to focus the light via refracting, rather than the typical mirrors or lenses that have faults in them. The result was one of the most expensive telescopes on land.

Marinette thought it was great, and loved the pictures they managed to capture. It made her think of an entire line of space and star inspired clothes. She made several notes to look up more pictures from some of the space telescopes when she got home. They allowed the students to look through the telescope, one at a time, at one of the closer constellations. Marinette had been luck enough to go third, so she spent the rest of the time waiting for everyone sitting up against a wall and drawing.  

She was part way through drawing an intricate high-low skirt that would be a swirl of purples and blues and blacks interspersed with crystals for stars when a shout pulled her attention away from her page. One of the tour guides was being held at gunpoint.

Really? Two days in a row? Was Gotham really that bad? At least this time she had her backpack with her. She whipped out the coat, putting it on as quickly as she could. She had one arm in before the gunman’s boss entered the room. Clad in a full metal suit, was Mr. Freeze.

She’d read about him in her research. She had seen pictures. Nora Fries was like Snow White, waiting in a glass casket for her prince to cure her. A sad, cautionary tale about villainy being used to save a loved one. He certainly wasn’t the only one. He wouldn’t be the last.

She stared in horror as Mr. Freeze used the freezing ray gun that he was famous for having. The room instantly chilled, the walls covered in a huge layer of ice. A tourist who was part of another group had been in the way of the ray. He had been instantly frozen solid. It was as instant as Frozer. Hell, her coat was no match for that! She needed to transform in order to survive a blast like that. One look at the victim and it was clear. There was no way they would survive that. The man had no oxygen. Two minutes. They had two minutes until he died – and that was ignoring the damage that it would have caused to his body otherwise. It… was almost more merciful to leave him. The gun wasn’t magic. Her cure wouldn’t fix it. She couldn’t save him.

That hit her harder than anything. She couldn’t save him. Even if she intervened now, this man would be dead before she could defeat Mr. Freeze and his henchmen. Who knows how many others would be caught in the collateral damage. And her identity would be revealed.

Freeze looked around the room, and said to his goons, “Don’t hurt the kids of they cooperate. Just… chill... kids and it’ll be over soon.”

She helped herd her classmates into a corner, listening to the gunmen that were pointing their weapons at them. It was clear they weren’t taking the situation as seriously as they should. Too many miraculous Ladybug cures. They’d been desensitized to violence.

“Ah, here we are again,” Freeze began. “Once again, I require your beautiful diamonds. I would appreciate it if you all cooperated this time, so the bats don’t interfere, and so no more of you need to be hurt. I really do need the diamond to continue my work.”

Freeze wasted no time beginning to instruct the astronomers to remove the giant artificial diamond from the excessively large telescope.

They had just been corralled when all of their phones went off, drowning out whatever speech Mr. Freeze was continuing to make.

Everyone turned to face them.

Shit.

An akuma. NOW. Seriously?!

She wanted to cry.

“Silence those damn things,” Freeze ordered waiving his gun in their direction.

Tikki must have silenced hers, because it was no longer ringing when she went to fish it out of her bag. They all rushed to take out their phones and comply, and they were unceremoniously ripped from their hands and taken away. Marinette caught a quick glance at Alix’s screen before they had snagged hers.

They were thrown into a pile, and Mr. Freeze shot it, silencing all the phones at once. Adrien and Alya looked devastated.

She thought that would be it, but instead, he created a giant barrier of ice, caging them all inside.

She sat, tapping her foot against the ice quietly. She needed to leave. She needed to save them all. She needed to stop the akuma. Somehow Andre had been akumatized again. She was cursed with ice-based villains today!

The rest of the class huddled closer together, while Marinette kept looking for a chance to escape. Her hope came as Batman entered through the door, and Robin and Nightwing burst into the room by falling from the space between the telescope and the ceiling.

Chaos. It was damn chaos.

She pulled up the hood of her coat as the bullets began to go in all directions. A few had even hit their ice barrier, creating cracks. The ice was harder and thicker than she had given credit for. Regardless, even though it was likely the safest place in the room, she needed to leave.

She kicked the crack as hard as she could, and it shattered a space large enough for her to crawl out of.

She could hear as Adrien shouted at her, “Mari, don’t go out there!” He lunged for her foot to pull her back inside, but was too late. She had escaped… sort of.

The movement in the corner had drawn the attention of one of the gunmen, who had automatically shot in her direction. It hit her just below her shoulder blade. Damn that hurt, even with the bulletproofing. She kept running, and had almost made it to the door when Red Hood burst through the very door she had been gunning for. She smacked straight into him in her mad dash to get out, sending them both to the floor. She landed on his legs painfully.

Hood’s arrival drew the ire of Freeze. He aimed his freeze gun at the pair. Hood managed to throw a nearby piece of debris at one incoming blast, the piece of drywall freezing in mid-air. Another blast came, and Marinette threw the pen that she still somehow seemed to have in her hand at it.

But they were both out of things to throw.

She rolled off his legs, and Hood got up as quickly as he could to avoid the next blast. Marinette continued for the door for her own villain as Red Hood continued forward towards his.

Marinette didn’t dare look back when she made it to the door. She should have, however, as right before the door shut all the way, one last blast made it through.

It hit her and she could feel the ice making its way across her back and down her arms. It stung and burned as it hit her bare hands. She called out as quickly as she could “Kaalki-full-gallop-voyage!” before the ice could make it over her face.

A moment later, she found herself in a much more durable suit, still covered in ice, falling from a height that would have killed her outside her suit. As it was, the fall shattered the ice, leaving a cold but generally okay horse hero in its place.

She groaned, getting up, and asked, “Tikki? You okay in there?”

“Of course, Marinette! I’m just glad you’re okay!” Tikki said as she phased through the block of ice that she was lying on.

“Think we could have a nice, warm lucky charm this time? Heat up the situation?” she asked Tikki, jokingly as she gave Kaalki a sugar cube.

Tikki smiled. “I think I might be able to do that.”

She called on her transformation and her lucky charm. A portable space heater. She turned it on when she got near Glaciator, and he melted. Ladybug laughed at how easy that one was. She broke the object and purified his akuma.

A quick cure later, and a cookie to Tikki, and she was hopping a portal back to the other warzone. She just hoped everyone was okay.

She listened intently at the door before daring to go inside. There were some muffled sounds, but it no longer sounded like the chaos she had left. She was almost sad. She would have liked to see the other heroes in action – maybe pick up some moves. Choosing to risk it, she went inside.

There her pen sat in a block of ice, along with two other people. One more casualty. One of the henchmen by the looks of it had been hit by his own boss’s ray gun. Two more people were sitting to the side, grasping onto bullet wounds. Another one of the goons was dead on the floor, bleeding out.

Batman and Robin were guarding Mr. Freeze as Nightwing and Red Hood tied up the remaining henchmen that were out cold on the floor.

She poked her head into the hole she had made earlier. “It’s safe to come out,” she said, offering her hand to Adrien, who clambered out quickly.

She blushed at the contact when he gave her a hug, saying, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Paramedics arrived soon after. Most of her class had made it out with mild hypothermia, and their guardians were told to watch for signs of worsening condition, such as shivering, weak pulse, slowed breathing, coordination issues, irritability, and sleepiness. A few of them gave statements to the police before they were sent back to the hotel for the night.

She didn’t envy the phone calls home to parents that their teachers would be making that night.

She decided that before they left town, she was going to pick up those joke shirts she had seen on their first day, “I survived Gotham” and “Checklist for True Gothamites” which included check marks for being mugged, held at gunpoint, run in with the Batfam, and supervillain attack.

~~~~

Monday came slowly for Tim.

Some French class was touring Wayne Enterprises corporate building on Monday. As he watched them, he realised that they seemed familiar. Looked like the same one that had been at the gardens before.

He was about to greet them all and welcome them to WE, when Bruce actually appeared, doing his full ‘Brucie’ persona. It was strange for him to greet any tour group, especially one full of high school kids. Tim frowned as Bruce went forward and began speaking to them all, welcoming them to Gotham, and hoping that they would see the positive attributes the city had to offer.

Tim tuned it out after a few moments, paying more attention to the class that had Bruce making an exception, but the class seemed to eat it up for the most part. They didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. One girl with dark hair in the back did not look impressed. She remained separate from her classmates, her head down towards a book in her hands.

Tim hung back and watched.

After Bruce left the class, he left the building entirely, not even going to his office. Tim sighed, but continued to listen to the class. They were so excited to travel and tour places. Sounded like they were headed to New York next. They were also going to visit the home cities of several of his friends. It made Tim want to get out of Gotham for a bit. If things didn’t improve, maybe he would.

He did feel a bit bad for Mike. The poor guy was being completely ignored by almost everyone except a tall boy in glasses who was determined to correct him whenever he mentioned statistics of any kind, a tall blonde boy, and the short girl - who finally had taken her nose out of her book – not that he could see her face from his vantage point behind them. 

~~~~

Some guy named Mike was giving the tour of Wayne Enterprises. Marinette couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He looked as bored as the kids in her class as he rambled on about what they would be viewing that day.

“But before we begin our tour, one of our CEOs, young Mr. Drake should be making an appearance! Mr. Drake has been especially influential in making changes to- to- to- OH!” he interrupted his rambling. Mike became flustered when Mr. Wayne walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Mike began to stutter through an introduction.  “Uhm, everyone? This is… Mr. Wayne! Wayne Enterprises other co-co-CEO!”

Marinette guessed that he likely hadn’t had many opportunities to meet the CEO if this was how he behaved. He had clearly been expecting Mr. Drake, who was infinitely less intimidating as he was ‘just a young kid’ like them.

“Welcome everyone! I hope that your stay has generally been very educational and positive! Gotham has many opportunities and experiences for you and other young adults to experience. I hope that any negative events can be seen as a minor setback to an otherwise pleasant stay while you are here. That said, if anyone would like to reach out to access services to counseling or other resources, please let your guide know. He will be able to direct you to the correct department.”

Mr. Wayne’s fake smile grated on her nerves. She rolled her eyes at the boisterous, carefree attitude he gave off. It was insulting to the three lives that had been lost just yesterday, whether it was a common occurrence in Gotham or not! While the offer of counseling was appreciated, what was he going to do when they were leaving soon? One day would do nothing. It was an empty gesture. Her class was completely desensitized to death at this point – what with all the akumas – and frankly, she was a bit too, but the weight of the deaths in Paris were on her shoulders. These ones… even if she had transformed and helped in Gotham instead of Paris, it was unlikely she would have been able to save the other two. She refused to let her brain take responsibility for them, no matter how much it wanted to. Regardless, Mr. Wayne’s casual dismissal grated on her as much as her classmate’s reactions did.

She shoved her head into her sketchbook, her new pen in hand, as she tried to finish up the design she had started yesterday to distract herself. Her hands were a little sore still. She had escaped serious frostbite, but the skin was a bit raw. She decided to push past it, and added a reminder to place heated gloves on the list of things she would make available with the protective coats she had imagined before. Those already existed, so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to make in the future.

She was thankful when Mr. Wayne left. Lucius Fox gave a tour of the Research and Development department. Marinette found it to be the most interesting on the tour, as WE was known to have made protective gear and gadgets for the US military. She would love to see if the akumas could be picked up on a heat sensor. Probably not, but it was worth a shot if she ever got her hands on one. They would probably have resources for everything she wanted to do in the protective line and mass production. She made a note to contact them using her label.

She worked on ideas for Jagged’s new album cover and matching costumes while Mike rambled about something to do with the legal department and recent streamlining of management. She should probably have paid attention, but she just found herself cringing, and her head went back into the clouds, imagining the cut of the bizarre shoulder pads Jagged would eat up.

The marketing division was useful, but infinitely less interesting. It did give her some good ideas on how to run her label’s social media, and the later tour of the manufacturing plant was eye opening. She knew running a line and getting into mass production would be expensive, but after that tour, she worried she might never work up enough funds. It seemed there would be more to launching her products from ‘originals’ to ‘in stores’ would be a bit more complicated than she had anticipated.

Chapter 4

Things didn’t improve.

Monday night after another patrol where he was ignored, Tim learned about a major villain attack that had happened on the weekend that he hadn’t even been called in for. Mr. Freeze had held up the astronomy centre, trying to get his hands on some gigantic artificial diamond that would be useful in his designs.

Bruce had shown up at WE Monday morning for the tour because it was the same class that had been at the attack the day before. At least that made sense now. He had gone to check on them. But… that made it the same class he had seen twice now. The ones who had been talking animatedly about their travels. How were they still so positive after that?

Tim sat in shock, listening to the debrief. He couldn’t believe it. It had been a disaster. Two people had died from freezing. Another from gunshot wounds. Several others in the hospital. Kids had been there, and one of them had almost been killed by Freeze as she ran away. And no one had called him.

He had literally been sleeping the weekend away because of boredom. He had been available during the attack. No one had called him! No one! Not one of them thought of him, even when they NEEDED him!

Did he even have a purpose anymore?

His mind spiraled and stuck on the biggest facts. A major villain attack and no one had called him. No one had needed him. He hadn’t been wanted.

He tried to remind himself of Jagged’s lyrics. He had done a lot of good in the past. He just wasn’t needed there at the time. Right?

Right?

The casualties screamed that he was wrong.

That night he left the debrief without trying to reconnect with anyone.

He had earned his place as a detective. As a fighter. Surely someone needed him out there. Someone needed a hero… right?

~~~~

Aeon was looking forward to seeing Marinette and Adrien today. Jess appeared excited as well – well, as excited as Jess ever got.

She watched with mild amusement at the two. They were late getting off the bus, and their teacher, Mme. Mendeleiev was watching them with exasperation as Adrien attempted to carry both of their luggage, and Marinette argued that she wasn’t a damsel in distress, that she could carry her own, while simultaneously looking thrilled and blushing bright red. Adrien was far more attentive of Marinette than he had been in the past – not that he had neglected her before. It made Aeon and Jess smile.

“Think they finally got together?” Aeon asked Jess from their vantage point on the stairs above.

“I hope so. Those idiots are going to drive us crazy if they aren’t.”

Marinette met up with them as soon as Adrien had dropped her stuff in her room. “He’s been so over-protective since that attack in Gotham… Nothing even happened!” she grumbled as she sat down beside them.

“Is that not a good thing? Caring and worry can be displays of affection,” Aeon asked for clarification.

“Sure, if he thought of me as anything more than just a ‘really good friend,’” she replied bitterly. “If anything would have changed it, it would have been a life-or-death situation. But nothing happened. I’m tired of it. He even compared me to his mom. We’re never going to be more than friends. And… I think I’m finally okay with that.”

Jess exchanged a look of exasperation with her. They still weren’t together? They clearly hadn’t discovered each other’s identities then. Aeon wondered what she could do – or if she should do anything at all. Human emotions were weird like that. She couldn’t understand it though – they were partners embodying two parts of the same aspect. They had crushes on each other. Why were they still not together after years?

“Hey, I was wondering – why haven’t the heroes here, or anywhere for that matter, tried to interfere since they found out about what’s going on in Paris?”

Jess gave her a look. “No one really seems to remember Ladybug and Chat Noir exist. Only a few of us actually saw them when they weren’t under the miraculous effects. The rest of us have kept it quiet. The world has basically forgotten that they exist outside that cartoon… and the rest of New York dismissed it as normal hero stuff. I’m not sure they even noticed a couple of extra heroes around.”

Marinette let out a dry laugh. “I wonder if that's good or bad.”

Her phone let out a warning. Akuma Alert. “Jessica, can you please go grab your guitar? It would be nice to have another party on the roof like last time,” Aeon prompted.

Marinette smiled her thanks, watching Jess leave. Then she let out a giant sigh. “Chat’s been missing the past few battles. I hope he’s okay.” She transformed and went through the portal she created.

“Looks like I need to go find a cat,” Aeon mused aloud as she internally connected her systems to Marinette’s akuma alert system.

She found Adrien in his room. “There is an emergency Akuma Alert in Paris. I am aware you are unable to go help at this time. Would you like assistance?”

He grinned at her, “Yes!”

She flew him up as Uncanny Valley to a building across the street that had a stairwell with rooftop access.

Aeon sent a message to Doorman, who appeared a few moments through the door. Adrien laughed. “Excellent service!”

Doorman looked at Aeon, confused, but opened the portal as her message had said anyways. Aeon monitored the feed through the alert system, waiting for it to be over.

“What is this about?” he asked while they waited. “Why am I transporting civilians now?”

“Sorry! I can’t say. Just wait a bit longer, please?”

He sighed and took a seat on the roof’s ledge.

Fifteen minutes later, it was over. She gave Adrien a few extra minutes to get back to the doorway, before instructing Doorman to go and fetch him.

Adrien thanked them both, and Aeon flew them both back to his room, leaving behind an extremely confused Doorman.  

“Hey, any idea where we can get new phones? Ours all got destroyed in Gotham,” he asked her before she left to join everyone else. She gave him a nearby phone provider’s address. Looked like the class was going shopping tomorrow.

~~~~

Tim began to withdraw from his family again. While he was present for mandatory meals, he didn’t talk. He watched as his family went about their lives. Lives that did not include him.

He wasn’t wanted.

His patrol nights became sitting on a rooftop. That night he stared down at the civilians walking past Wayne Enterprises. How did normal people live?

It had been so long.

So long since he had been ‘normal.’ A normal boy, shoved in a boarding school so his parents could go off and forget he existed.

His heart dropped as he thought of his parents.

He wasn’t wanted by his biological parents. He had just been a burden to them.

Bruce just saw him as a child soldier, expendable and forgotten with the new model. He wasn’t wanted by his brothers. Jason and Damian had spent far too long just trying to kill him – literally. He’d been fairly close to Dick on occasion – but he was so busy now that he was splitting his attention between Gotham and Bludhaven, and with all of his other responsibilities, and practically raising Damian himself, it was no wonder Tim was lost in the mix.

Tim felt worthless. No one wanted him.

He was helpless to change others’ minds. Not for lack of effort. He could only reach out and be rejected so many times. It didn’t give him much hope for the future.

He sat and stared at the streets below him. At the stragglers who had stayed late at work rushing home to their families.

His mind wandered to another ledge, and another night, where he had told a man all he had to live for. How he remembered he wasn’t alone.

Suddenly the man’s tale of loneliness and heartbreak driving him to the ledge was a little closer to home. He had really screwed up his life, and working at it hadn’t made any difference at all. All of this was his fault for shutting them out in the first place. Dick hadn’t been around to talk to when he needed it lately. Dick had been his rock when life got to be too much. But he was busy being that for Damian now.

Tim was alone.

He took a step towards the ledge.

~~~~

Most of the rest of Marinette’s school trip was uneventful. She had a few more akuma that she escaped for with little difficulty. Chat Noir was absent again, but it wasn’t that unusual.

STAR Labs tour in Central City in the American Plains was of the most interest to her. It was the birthplace of most of the meta human issues that plagued the world now. Sure, a few metas existed prior to that, but their situations were typically unique and there weren’t as many of them.

They had just finished the tour by someone named Cisco, who refused to let them call him by his last name, when they were surprised by the Flash and Kid Flash zooming up to them.

Alya was so ecstatic that she almost fainted as they posed for pictures and gave her a quick interview, not that they answered anything personal that she had wanted to know.

~~~~

Tim was on his patrol route for the night. He was so bored. Yet another night alone in the dark with nothing to do. He was going to sit on his favourite rooftop two buildings over. He had just jumped between rooftops when he noticed something… odd.  

The building across the street had two people on it. Now, given the time of night, that would be odd in itself. But the sight in front of him was even weirder than that. Tim watched in bewilderment as a regular street thief, likely not much older than Tim himself, managed to get close and disarm Killer Moth of all people, who had been looking at a map. Likely planning some ridiculous caper. 

Killer Moth looked around in bewilderment, but the thief was already managing to climb down the fire escape. Tim doubled up in laughter as Killer Moth exclaimed, “Hey! What the-?! GET BACK HERE!”

Killer Moth glared at him before yelling at him, “Well? You’re a hero, aren’t you? Stop them!”

“I-” Tim laughed harder as he shot his line across the street, and aimed for landing on the same building.  “O-Okay.”

He landed beside Killer Moth and looked down the building at the fire escape. The thief was almost at the bottom. He would need to get down fast if he wanted to catch up with the guy.

He looked over at Killer Moth, and shot out his grappling hook again. But rather than connecting with another part of the building, it wrapped around Killer Moth.

Tim jumped off the side of the building – Killer Moth going with him. He could hear the man who ran around dressed as a giant bug scream as they both toppled over the edge. Tim laughed. This was the most fun he’d had in ages.

As he expected, the Moth man grabbed onto the side of the building before they both fell to their deaths, and Tim used him to swing down to the street. He found he really didn’t care if Killer Moth had stopped them from falling or not.

He landed in front of the thief, who immediately shot the Moth’s gun at him, sending out a grenade. Fuck. He wasn’t sure why the idiot called it a gun. It was a damn grenade launcher.

He dodged it automatically, and Tim had to wonder once again why he bothered. If he died tonight, his family likely wouldn’t have even noticed.

The grenade exploded against a car on the other side of the street. Tim frowned at the completely unnecessary destruction. He kicked the gun away before punching the man square on the jaw, sending him backwards into the fire escape. Before he could reorient himself, Tim pinned him with his knee, and zip tied the thief to the fire escape.

Looking up, he saw Killer Moth still hanging from the building, the grappling hook tight around his waist and one arm. His legs were tangled up too.

He yelled up to him, “You good up there?”

“Are you serious? We just about died!! Help!”

Sighing, he walked slowly back up the fire escape, calling the cops along the way.

~~~~

When they finally reached the West Coast, Marinette had begun to hope to run into Wonder Woman. She had been known to be there a lot in the past few years. Marinette hoped to maybe talk to her about the Paris situation, as she thought the Amazonian might be someone trustworthy given her people’s history with the miraculous. But she never did see her.

Star City was unusually calm for Marinette. Hawkmoth didn’t attack for a few days. The tours weren’t attacked. It was… well… relaxing. The most hero-related activity that she saw was Green Arrow and Arsenal run past her hotel window while on patrol.

She could get used to this.

Relaxed and well-rested for once, they moved on to Jump City, home of the Teen Titans, and the last stop on their trip.

~~~~

Red Robin had just reached the harbour when a bullet grazed past his face. He made some evasive maneuvers to get himself over to a shipping crate before he turned to see who had dared to shoot at him. Whoever had done it had lost their best chance to hit him.

The glint of their scope against the harsh harbour lights, giving them away. But rather than try to take another shot, they lowered their rifle. Then he saw.

Pru? But if she was here…

She hadn’t missed him. She had given him a warning shot. Ra’s al Ghul must have taken an interest in him coming to join the League of Assassins again. You would think that blowing up all of his major strongholds would be enough of a ‘no’ for the guy.

Looking around, he spotted the other five men that were with her. He was insulted. “Really Ra’s? Just five?” he laughed. Maybe blowing up those buildings had set him back more than he had thought. “Where’s the challenge?”

Pru stayed where she was as the other five assassins began making their way towards him, surrounding him.

He was pretty sure Pru wouldn’t try to kill him – though she may shoot at him if he tried to leave. She did have her orders after all. He couldn’t really blame her. It was follow orders or die.

Thankfully, the men Ra’s had sent were less trained than Damian. He managed to hit the first two coming in for a pincher attack by whacking them at the same time with his bow. Leaping onto the chest of the one in front of him, he used them as a springboard to jump on top of the crate nearest to them, pushing the last of the way up with his staff.

Grinning, he had the high ground now. He was able to keep them at bay while they came up to him one by one. It was a brilliant plan if he did say so himself.

Until another ten of them appeared. Oh, there’s the challenge.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he finally said aloud.

It seemed two of them had no qualms in shooting directly at him. A bullet grazed the inside of his left arm as he raised his staff to take on the first of them that had decided to take him on on top the crates, slicing through his shirt at a seam. Lucky damn shot, hitting one of the places with no bulletproofing.

He grunted in pain as he moved his arm, trying to ignore the injury and how it pulled when he spun his staff around to take on his opponent. He managed to dodge another couple of bullets, using the man up there with him as a shield once. Well… that was three down. Twelve to go.

He took a few of his R discs, and threw them out as hard as he could. They hit their targets. Two pinned one guy to another crate. The other one hit a line from a lift, causing the two containers it was holding up to go crashing down. Seven to go. He didn’t stop to see if they had survived. Hopefully they had. Tim didn’t really want to kill anyone if he could help it. Plus, Bruce would never let him hear the end of it.

Bruce. He should radio for help. He went to hit the emergency button on his belt, but was stopped by another sniper. They hit the button. It shattered. He wondered if it would send a signal anyways. It should have, but it would have died out quickly. Hopefully Oracle was paying attention when the quick blip would have appeared on the screen.

The sniper’s next shot wasn’t so nice. It hit him in the calf. It would make running away harder for him to do. Nope, now he had no choice but to fight it out.

He grabbed a smoke bomb from his belt, sending it out. That would help take care of the snipers for a couple of minutes anyways. He jumped off the crate and directly onto the shoulders of one of the men trying to clamber up the box to him. It knocked them both to the ground. The guy did not get up. Six to go, and two presently blinded snipers. Tim rolled away and sent out another smoke bomb, changing his mask’s sensors to night vision and heat sensing.

He made his way through the smoke until he was close enough to throw out some more discs, and took out the snipers guns with the lines he had attached. He heard a couple of shots, but they weren’t coming from directly in front of him.

Looked like Pru was using the fog to ‘accidentally’ shoot a few of them for him. Three to go. He could make out the snipers retreating. The last few of them had now gone to try to revive their fallen comrades. Tim took the chance to wave discreetly at Pru before escaping.

He made it back to the cave far later than he should have, and limped his way to the medical bay to tend to his injuries. Alfred met him there.

“Need some assistance young Master?”

“Thanks Alfred,” Tim said, exhausted.

“Sir, why did you not call for aid earlier?”

“I- I tried. They shot my emergency beacon.”

“Then perhaps your comm unit?” Alfred asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I didn’t have it in… No one has really wanted to spend time with me. They’ve ignored me, even on patrol. I didn’t see a reason to have it in.”

“Oh Tim,” Alfred began as he wrapped Tim’s leg. “This family has never been good with communicating their feelings. You know you are loved, even if they fail to express it?”

“Yeah… I know. I do.” Tim frowned. “But sometimes… knowing isn’t enough.”

“I understand.” Alfred gave him a warm smile and a hug. “How about some hot chocolate, and perhaps a game of chess?”

“Thanks Alfred. Sounds great.”

At least someone in Gotham cared about him.

~~~~

It was their last day in America, and Marinette was looking forward to going home. Lila had more or less left her alone, since Marinette had listened to Adrien and taken the ‘high road’ on the trip – letting her spew her lies about the local heroes and famous people all she wanted. Other than Flash and the Bats, they never even saw most of them.

She found she just couldn’t fight it anymore. Lila’s lies drew them and everyone else in. She had watched her classmates gravitate more towards Lila than ever before. It was hard to watch, but she just didn’t have the energy. It never seemed to make a difference either. Even if they believed her when they were alone, the moment Lila was around them again, it was as if their common sense went out the window. Much like Max thinking a napkin could scratch his eyes through his glasses. It wasn’t logical. The only thing Marinette was left to believe was that Lila was, well, different. She just needed to figure out how.

Marinette considered them lucky that the class had only been in one attack as she listened to Lila drone on about how it was so wonderful to have met up with Arsenal on their last night in Star City. Claiming to be friends with heroes was stupid and dangerous. Clearly, she hadn’t learned her lesson after Ladybug had scolded her.

Regardless, it had been peaceful since the attack in Gotham. Well, as peaceful as Marinette’s life got. She still had akumas to deal with. Chat had been absent a lot lately. She hoped he was okay, and not sick with something, or hurt.

She should have known her life wasn’t that simple.

They had just left the diner where they had their lunch when there was a large crash down the street.

There, in the middle of a battle, were the Teen Titans, including the Robin she had seen in Gotham. How had he gotten to the other side of the country so fast?

She didn’t have time to think about it, as suddenly a man with green skin was ushering them away. “Time to go guys! This way!” Beast Boy said in a rush.

“What are you fighting?!” Alya went into journalist mode.

“Amazo. Now get outta here!”

“What’s Amazo?” Alya persisted, and Beast Boy finally just picked her up to go along with the rest of the class.

“Robot. Copies powers. Has all of the Justice League and Young Justice moves from years back. Now go! In here!” he tossed Alya into the building.

They didn’t all make it inside before the red lasers that were associated with Superman blasted along the buildings directly at them. It was stopped suddenly in front of them by a large purple… shield. Thing. Marinette wasn’t sure. What she was sure of, was that Raven was in front of them in it’s place now.

On the other side of the road, Superboy (she was pretty sure it was the younger one they had seen in Metropolis) was flying Robin over for an aerial to get the drop on Amazo. Starfire was holding down the robot’s attention with her green starbolts.

Marinette cringed when Amazo shot a starbolt back at Starfire, causing her to drop to the ground in pain, and then proceeded to knock Robin off him before he could do anything – straight into Superboy. The two went flying out of view. That had to hurt.

They were losing. Badly.

Marinette snuck off to the bathroom in the building they were now in, and summoned a lucky charm. A magnet? Well, it would take one hell of a magnet to impact that robot. She dropped her transformation and threw the thing to Beast Boy, who was currently guarding the exit. Alya kept trying to leave to film it.

“Try this!” she said quickly. “I found it in the back room!” Before he really had a chance to say anything, Marinette dipped back behind the rest of the class, hopeful that the hero hadn’t really paid much attention to her. She really didn’t want to blow her cover.

~~~~

Beast Boy laughed, until the excessively large magnet launched him towards a car. He turned into an elephant as it dragged him across the street and into the line of fire. He was starting to wonder where the girl, whoever she was, had gotten it. This was clearly no ordinary magnet. What the hell?

“Superboy, try this!” he said as it continued to drag his elephant form down the street towards the car.

Superboy was clearly stuck between laughing and leaving Beast Boy to his fate, but took the magnet anyways. He was shocked when it started to pull him, despite his strength, towards Amazo. He grimaced as Amazo set his sights on him.

“Accessing Superman.”

Superboy flinched, and let go of the magnet, shielding himself for one of his father’s attacks… when it didn’t come.

Amazo was standing there, it’s eyes flickering between glowing and dark. A few moments later, and the whole robot collapsed in the street.

Robin went over and kicked it. “You fried it. With a magnet?”

“It was Beast Boy’s idea!” Superboy replied, proud of his friend.

“Actually, some girl gave it to me,” Beast Boy frowned somewhat dejectedly. He only wished he had come up with this plan.

“This is no ordinary magnet,” Starfire alleged as she attempted to remove it. It was stuck. Superboy tried too, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Well… looks like we have someone to go thank,” Raven stated in her regular monotone voice as she joined them.

“I... uh… I’m not sure who it was?” Beast Boy said in apology.

Superboy dragged the now truly dead Amazo bot down the street back to the shelter where they had stashed the nearby civilians. Robin was on his communication unit, clearly calling Batman to come arrange a pickup of the bot.

“Thank you, all of you, for your cooperation during this attack. And to the girl who provided the magnet for us to use,” Beast Boy said to the assembling crowd. “We really couldn’t have done it without her help.”

He searched the crowd, but didn’t see her.

~~~~

Marinette made herself scarce when she saw the heroes approaching. Hiding out in the storeroom in the back, she heard them give a speech. She smiled to herself.

“You did good Marinette!” Tikki praised her. “If we get rid of the magnet, will it come back to life?”

“I don’t think so. We do need to get rid of it though. Do I need to do my cure? No one was hurt badly… and I really don’t want to announce Ladybug in Jump City at the same time as me.”

She peeked her head out of the room when the noise level went back up. The heroes were back outside on the street, waiting for someone to come take the robot away. When all their backs were turned, Tikki recalled her magic, the object disappearing.

Batman appeared after a while, and they began to disassemble the robot into crates. None of them seemed to notice the missing magnet.

~~~~

Tim gave it a full three weeks, and nothing had changed. Maybe he was expecting things too quickly… but… he started to get more depressed. He didn’t feel as though he was wanted or needed by either the city or his family. He had made WE function so efficiently that even Bruce could manage it in a few hours per day. He had essentially delegated himself out of a job.

Through the weeks, the depression turned to anger. His own family didn’t care if he was there or not. The attack from Ra’s had been the final straw. No one had even noticed he was injured and benched himself in that time. His boredom resulted in him coming up with multiple plans. It did prevent him from doing something truly irreversible, so he supposed that was a positive.

He finally decided on slipping under the radar for a while and finding himself. He had been so wrapped up in being Robin and being what everyone else needed, that he forgot to find out about himself.

Who was he if he wasn’t Robin? Who was he if he wasn’t Wayne Enterprises Co-CEO?

He decided on slipping into Europe and seeing all the sights that he had heard the tourists talk about. He made a series of fake identities. He couldn’t use his usual one of Alvin Draper. Partly because he hated the name now and really despised the thought of being called Alvin all the time. Partly because his family was aware of the name. If his family really wanted to talk to him, they could put in the effort to find him. They would have to prove that they wanted him around by taking their time to find him, just like he had with them. He quietly took out all the money he would need to create a new life (or three), forged fake IDs, deciding on using James Timothy Johnson, which used two of the more common names in the world, as it would make him harder to track down.

He gave the family one last chance that night at that Friday’s dinner, but was ignored. Again. He did find the Damian’s tale of the Titans taking on Amazo with a magnet interesting though. Must have been some magnet. He would have taken a look at it, but it seemed to be missing. They must have removed it and placed it somewhere else. Oh well.

So, he packed up his things, grabbed his Red Robin gear and some Wayne Tech prototypes he had been fiddling with that wouldn’t be missed, and took off all the tracking tech he and Lucius Fox had placed on them. He spray painted his suit completely black and removed the RR symbol so that he would not be flagged in the news as Red Robin if he ever needed to use it. 

The next morning, Tim swung his bag over his shoulder and waved goodbye to Alfred. Once outside of the manor’s camera range (despite unplugging it earlier), he donned a wig, coloured contacts and a hoodie. He hitchhiked to the airport, and after dodging security cameras and keeping his head down as he went through security, took a standby flight over to London and began his travels.

It was about time he saved himself.

Chapter 5

The shock of what he did wore off about four hours into his flight. As those around him slept, Tim stared out the window, lost in thought. As they passed by clouds, he tried to figure out what to do first. Nothing came to mind except checking in on the safehouses he had accumulated in previous trips. Tim quickly came to the realisation that he really had no idea who he was outside of his vigilante and CEO identities if that was his first thought.

What sights did he want to see on his trip? Hell, what countries did he want to visit? He didn’t know. He just knew he wanted to see them.

The whole issue brought up a more serious question. Why couldn’t he figure out what he wanted?

What did he even enjoy? His mind came up blank. He did programming and hacking, but was that just because he needed to? Coffee? Photography? Skateboarding? Tennis? He found he had few answers, but so many questions.

Who was he now? He had been so young when he sought out Nightwing. He had developed through his teen years to become what was needed.

Fuck, that was depressing. He had no clue who he was outside of his mask.

As his flight landed, he decided to show some mercy to Babs, who was likely the one who would be stuck trying to find him. When she eventually tracked him down to England, he would give her a break to know that she was on the right trail. He took great pleasure in purposely ditching his first disguise in a very obvious manner. A clue for more of these hints to come. She always had liked a good game.

He picked up a camera, computer and phone shortly after settling into the first safehouse, as well as supplies to replenish what he had to leave behind from his suit that would have flagged airport security. He also bought a skateboard; it would be easier and faster to get around on than just walking. He set up the computer to his liking, and downloaded the few important things he needed onto the phone and laptop, before heading out in his second disguise to see the sights.

As he sat in front of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, he took a picture, wondering if Jason had ever been there. Probably not. He took more pictures than he likely would have for himself.

Four days into his London experience, he heard some tourists talking about Amsterdam. He decided to head out the next day to see what that city had to offer him.

~~~~

After a month of wandering aimlessly around Europe, catching tidbits of conversations and going and visiting those locations next (in what Tim figured was the most unusual and least logical travel plan in history), Tim found himself in Berlin. He realized as he took a picture of one of the broken-down sections of the Berlin wall that he had missed his photography and went out of his way to find places to photograph.

But he was lonely.

His family had not reached out to him or come to drag him home. He knew he hadn’t made it particularly easy to find him, but he had left clues, and they were supposed to be the best detectives in the world and had access to the watchtower and the entire Justice League. Surely between Wayne and League resources they would have found him by now. But they hadn’t.

Did they even realise he was gone?

~~~~

It was already the middle of July. It marked two months abroad. He found himself an hour and a half outside of Venice on a last second decision after hearing about a tiny town in the foothills of the Alps that was ‘worth the trip’ for anyone who loved knives – at least according to the guys he had struck up a conversation with that were visiting Venice during their leave days from the Air Force base nearby.

The town he sat in, Maniago, was known for knife manufacturing and there he found an expert swordsmith. He picked up some higher quality weapons he had to ditch for his flight to Europe that would make even Damian jealous. He thought for a bit, finding that he had found gifts for everyone at this point, should he ever return to Gotham. He sat staring at the rapier he had gotten for Damian, reflecting. The longer he was away, the less likely his return seemed.

In the two months he had been gone, he had managed to force himself into getting a good sleep every night. He woke up from nightmares regularly, but he didn’t have anyone to drag him to a bed if he collapsed randomly. He had to get some sleep to prevent that. It meant cutting back on his coffee too. He was down to two cups in the hours before lunch. He was quite proud of himself.

He celebrated his 18^th birthday alone at a café in Maniago. He sipped on a cappuccino and ate his slice of tiramisu that served as a birthday cake. It was delicious. American attempts at it didn’t come close to this.

It was peaceful. It was warm and inviting and beautiful.

It was lonely as hell.

Yet another birthday spent alone.

Turned out his adoptive family was no better than his birth family after all. He had just served a purpose for a while. A placeholder between Robins. No one fucking cared. No one fucking wanted him. Did they ever love him at all? Did anyone?

The feelings of worthlessness washed over him. He refused to cry. He would NOT spend his birthday crying. He just wanted this pain to go away.

It was his first year as an official adult, while somehow still being his last real year where he was still considered a kid. He had been an adult for far too long already. He’d had the weight of the world on his shoulders since he was 13. He’d been emancipated since the run-in with Ra’s. He was still technically the main shareholder of Wayne Enterprises. Damian had tried and failed to persuade the board to give back the shares, and Bruce had never bothered go to through the paperwork to get the shares back.

Since he had left the manor, he hadn’t quite figured out much about himself other than that he liked traveling and photography. Skateboarding was fun still, but not quite as amazing as when he was 14. Still, it was something, and it was a great way to get around as he explored. He still enjoyed programming, but not as much as he had as a kid. Hacking was fun, but he could live without it. He didn’t have a need for it anymore. He had turned to it originally to interact with the outside world while stuck in his parent’s house alone.

But he did figure out one thing.

He wanted a life. A real one. He wanted to do something he hadn’t done since joining Batman – be a kid.

So, ‘James Timothy Johnson’ made his way to France, and enrolled in his final year of high school in the class that had inspired his trip. Maybe he would even be able to make a friend or two.

He was tired of being alone.

~~~~

Bruce was in the Bat Cave when his secretary at WE called him. “Mr. Wayne, we need you to come down and sign some documents. It’s rather urgent. There are also a few board meetings next week which are essential that you attend.”

“You can have Tim fill in for me,” he stated flatly. He was in the middle of tracking down a lead for Diana. He didn’t have time for this.

“Sorry, sir, but Mr. Drake has been absent lately. We were under the impression he was sick,” Mrs. Lurdem said hesitantly.

“… Excuse me? He never informed me of this. How has the company been completing paperwork during this time? What about the board meetings?”

His secretary gushed, “Oh, Mr. Drake set up a wonderful system for all the departments before he left! It’s been working like a charm, and we hardly ever need to bother either of you, especially since Ms. Fox came back from her sabbatical! She has been taking them over to him.”

Tam had likely been forging Tim’s signature for him on minor things when they landed on her desk.

“When was the last time he was in?”

“Oh, two months or so?” her casual reply came.

“I’ll... be right in.” He hung up on her, too stunned for niceties. “Oracle. Trace Tim’s whereabouts. Now.”

“Trackers put him in his room in the manor,” Oracle reported. Was he really sick then? How come no one had mentioned it?

Off to the side, Alfred frowned, disappointed at his family. It took them this long to notice Master Tim had left, and only because they became inconvenienced at work. He had hoped Tim was only going on a short vacation, but he had not come back. It was his birthday. Alfred had made all his favourites, just in case he had come home, but it seemed like this was not going to be the case. He hoped the young Master was happy, wherever he currently was.

Bruce headed up to Tim’s room, ready to give him a lecture on maintaining his responsibilities. He had taken up the majority of Wayne Enterprises work, and was expected to maintain this. He knew Bruce was focusing more on Justice League matters recently. Bruce was counting on him. He knocked, but received no response. He gave it a few moments before bursting into the room, only to find it empty. The trackers for all of his Red Robin gear as well as his civilian emergency trackers were lying on the bed with his cell phone and computer. He tapped his comm unit. “He’s not here. Find him.”

~~~~

Tikki and the other kwami were concerned at best. Marinette withdrew more than ever.

With the end of the class trip and classes, Marinette never left the house, unless it was for an akuma attack or to babysit August on the rare occasion his regular sitter couldn’t take him (Manon was now ‘too old’ for a babysitter). Her room hid maps of butterfly attack origins, and what little information she could get from the hosts prior to Hawkmoth taking them over. With no classes, it meant Marinette didn’t meet up with Luka at all during group activities. It meant no fencing practice at the school, so she didn’t see Kagami either. Adrien and Marinette were still not talking outside of class either didn’t help. Alya and the other girls in her class were still taking Marinette’s words for them to get out of her room and that she didn’t want to be their friend very seriously. She hadn’t received any messages from them all summer. As far as Tikki could tell, that brief interaction with Alya on the trip was the most interaction she had with anyone outside of the sporadic orange juice dates with Kagami (which had also stopped for the summer). Sure, she had Chat Noir, when he was able to show up, but her relationship with him was iffy at best. Missing akuma attacks so frequently was wearing Marinette thin.

They watched as she flitted around her room working on projects for clients and obsessed over stopping Hawkmoth. She stockpiled the potions she knew from the grimoire.

Tikki frowned as Marinette obsessed over her latest additions to her butterfly chart. “Marinette, you really should get out more-”

“You’re right Tikki! I should increase patrols during summer since I have the time! Maybe I’ll catch the butterflies direction!”

She had been quite serious about being Ladybug full time as Marinette’s life was just too complicated. It was as if she had abandoned her life outside of hero work and mandatory things she had to do as Marinette to maintain her cover. The kwami knew what she was doing likely wasn’t very healthy, but they were also at a loss on what to do. Humanity really wasn’t their thing.

“That’s not what-”

“Tikki, spots on!”

“-I meaaaaaaant…”

~~~~

Marinette was dreading today.

The first day of the new school year. Lila Rossi was in her class. Again. The staff at Francois Dupont did not seem to want to break up the infamous ‘Akuma Class’ and no other teachers seemed to want to take them on. Mme. Bustier was their teacher for all but science yet again.

After four years, Marinette automatically settled into the back of the class. She knew no one would talk to her once Lila arrived, if the trip last year was anything to go by. She was early for class, something she had gotten used to, so that she wouldn’t have attention drawn to her if Lila was there.

A small thought in the back of her mind reminded her that things likely would have been okay with her classmates if she hadn't shut them out. She had pulled away long before Lila’s hold was that strong on them. She wondered if she was to blame for it being so bad.

Adrien arrived first, giving her a small smile before settling in at the front. She smiled back briefly, but went back to setting up for the first class. The summer away from everyone had given her some clarity and killed the last of her crush that had remained during the class trip in spring. Even if she wanted to be with someone romantically, it just wasn’t a good idea.

Her role as Grand Guardian meant that one day she would have to move on and disappear, and eventually lose her memories when she passed on the box. There was also a disturbing possibility that she could live to be almost 200 years old like Master Fu had. He had died last summer at 191 years old, followed soon after by his love, Marianne Lenoir.

Marianne had passed along the last few guardian items Master Fu had unknowingly kept, including his staff to track down miraculous before she died. Unfortunately, the staff wasn’t very specific, and with all the miraculous energy floating around Paris, it was unable to give any more information than she already knew: there are miraculous in Paris! It did make sense as to why Master Fu had known to come to Paris in the first place though.

All of this raised the very real concern for her that if she were to live as long as Fu had, that she would have to either live alone, be prepared for her loved ones to die around her, or to find someone worthy to carry on the miraculous secret with her for centuries.

She seriously doubted the last one.

No, she was better off alone and slowly cutting off her ties with people until she faded into a mere memory. Forgotten. It was easier that way.

Upon becoming the guardian, Marinette had become more serious about hunting down Hawkmoth. However, she had no way to track the butterflies. They could travel fast enough that they could easily make it across the metro area of Paris within her estimated flight time, making it so that all of central Paris was a possible area.

Demographics searches just made her feel defeated.

With 2 million people in central Paris, the few characteristics she knew about Hawkmoth limited it down to about 30,000 people meeting his height and general age requirements. Mayura was little better, with 20,000 possibilities. She didn’t have the technology to track the akumas as Paris did not have a central surveillance system, nor any real significant number of roof cameras. She did not have access to medical records or other records that could limit it down further, and the police refused to give her access to what she needed as Ladybug – like flight rosters in and out of Paris around the time of the Friendship Week trip when Hawkmoth had been active in New York.

She was stuck waiting for them to show themselves in public. Something they had only done three times. Otherwise, they hid in the shadows and let their minions do their work for them.

It was draining and disheartening.

Her only lead remained Gabriel Agreste, but Chat Noir was adamant that his akumatization ruled him out, and refused to talk about it when she brought it up. He didn’t appreciate arguments that Mayura (Nathalie?) had used the moth miraculous on Gabriel to throw them off. She occasionally debated searching Gabriel’s house on her own, but knew if she turned out to be right and was alone that it would be a bad idea. Adrien had never invited her over as Marinette to snoop either, so that option was out. She couldn’t bring herself to ask him to let her come over. Inviting herself to his house after everything just seemed wrong.

She twirled a piece of her hair as she thought back to her uneventful summer. Work and Ladybug business. Stressful. Granted, it was still less stressful than the school year was.

Marinette had lost the pigtails that were Ladybug’s signature hairstyle over the summer, wanting to separate herself from her hero identity, just in case someone managed to see past the glamour. It was highly unlikely, but there was no reason to push the glamour any more than she had to. She tended to avoid wearing red in public for that reason as well, despite realizing that it was certainly her most flattering colour. As her hair had grown out, she had Tikki add red tips and long flowing ribbons to her transformed hair. Her suit had, thankfully, grown with her as well, making it less like a spandex bodysuit and more like armour.

She had gained the confidence she was missing as an early teen that her Ladybug role had forced upon her, and she felt it showed in her new costume design.

She watched as the rest of the class entered. Many of them remained unchanged in their style. Adrien was forced to maintain his father’s image. Lila still seemed to think that her sausage pigtail bangs were a good idea, and that orange was the new black. Alya had moved to emulating her favourite reporter’s fashion after meeting them in the spring. Nino had followed his music preference for his style; hip hop inspired.

Some waved to her or smiled, but most ignored her, much like they had on the class trip.

She constantly had feelings of emotional whiplash with the class. When Lila was present, the class would be more likely to get angry with her or think she was lying to them, and would soak up Lila’s lies, no matter how unbelievable they were. When Lila left on one of her ‘trips’ where she stayed home and avoided that week’s test or assignment, her hold on the class would lessen, and they would be nicer to Marinette. The longer Lila was gone, the more her class reverted to normal.

Marinette only had two theories that fit this that she had decided in her summer vacation. First, she was using magic of some kind. She couldn’t see a miraculous or talisman of any kind, so it would have to be a kind of magic she wasn’t familiar with.

Second, she was a metahuman with some power of persuasion, or sway or… something along those lines. Enough for her classmates to forget facts. She knew Andre Glacier and Luka both had emotion-sensing meta powers. It made sense that Lila had something similar.

She couldn’t understand how someone as smart as Max could believe that someone would have their eye gouged out by a napkin while wearing glasses otherwise. It was horrifying.

Given their behaviour, it seemed as though most of them had spent time with Lila over the summer. Marinette watched as Lila made some excuse about going to the bathroom right before class began, extracting herself from the group. It was odd behaviour for her to abandon attention. She figured Lila must be up to something. It was going to be a long year if she was already up to her usual antics on the very first day.

Chapter 6

Tim finished a very short meeting with the school administrator and met the principal, M. Damocles. Tim found his name infinitely funny because of his similarities with his namesake courtier Damocles. M. Damocles was very accommodating and attempting to make a good first impression by almost tripping over himself to make sure Tim was happy. He certainly seemed to be living up to his name as a flatterer and a people pleaser. He wondered when shit would hit the fan for him. It was only a matter of time. The sword must surely be over his head.

He then went to get his school ID and class schedule, before he was escorted to the room where he would have most of his classes. Apparently, the class president would be giving him a tour of the school during their first period, which was to be a review session and other ‘housekeeping’ type activities.

As he stood outside the door, he couldn’t help but feel excited. He would get to finish high school after all. He would do it properly, without hero work getting in the way.

The classroom was extremely noisy as he entered, but quieted down as they saw the newcomer. The teacher, Mme. Bustier, called the class to take their seats. She had a kind face and innocent eyes, her red hair in a loose bun.

“We have a new student joining us today, class. Would you like to introduce yourself?” Mme. Bustier asked.

“Hi, my name is James Timothy Johnson, but everyone just calls me Tim. It’s nice to meet you all.” He wasn’t sure what else to include and looked to his teacher to see if he was done.

“Is there anything you want to tell us about yourself? Or would you prefer the class ask you some questions?” Mme. Bustier prompted.

Yeah, no questions. Let’s just head that off now. “Uhm, I’m from America and moved to Paris last week. I enjoy sightseeing and photography. I’m looking forward to experiencing a new culture and hopefully making some new friends,” he ended quietly.

“Thank you, Tim! Our class president and vice president should be able to help you with anything you need or questions you may have. Lila doesn’t seem to be here right now, so Alya here will give you a tour now,” she said cheerfully.

People pleaser and meek were added to Tim’s mental catalog of Mme. Bustier as he took stock of her body language and mannerisms.  

Alya and Tim left the room. As they wandered the halls, Alya spent most of her time talking about the class president, Lila, and how amazing she was.

“Lila is just the best! She helps with several charities, even though it takes up so much of her time. She’s just so thoughtful like that. Oh, and here is the entrance to the lockers. Yours should be in the same row as ours, here.” She waved to the locker room that he had passed earlier.

“Lila recently went to Achu to visit with Prince Ali and they worked on their environmental campaign. It’s so inspiring that she would take some of her summer off to do that.”

Another wave of her wrist to either side of the locker room they were now standing in. “Bathrooms are over here,” she stated, before returning to her rambling about her friend. “Lila’s so helpful! She said she knew Lois Lane-Kent when we toured Metropolis last spring. She’s trying to set me up with an internship for next year. Can you imagine?” Alya gushed. “Oh, I want to be a journalist. I have my own blog and everything, and Lila takes her time out to help with that, doing interviews.”

They wandered outside. “You should totally check it out. The Ladyblog! Here is the courtyard, it functions as a gym area as well, and there are after school fencing practices that you can try out for if you’re interested. Adrien is on the fencing team, he should be able to tell you more about it if you’re interested.”

The fencing team sounded like a good idea to keep up in sparring at least a bit. He would need to ask the guy she mentioned, Adrien.

As for Alya…. passionate… and talkative, he assessed. Confident posture, physically emotive, easy to read her face. Glasses and bushy brown hair with reddish-orange ombre tips. Odd choice.

Tim wondered what this girl Alya was rambling about was really like. She clearly was loved by her classmate, but she sounded too good to be true. As far as he knew, Lois wasn’t taking interns next year, but maybe she meant someone else at the paper and just tried to name someone he might have heard of. He couldn’t recall enough about the prince from Achu, but made a mental note to look his and Lila’s work up later. Tim was pretty sure when they met at the Wayne Gala last year that he had mentioned that he worked with children’s charities, not environmental initiatives.

~~~~

They were about to finish up the tour when Alya stopped Tim.

Her thoughts turned to Lila and how she had been talking about the internship last week. Alya couldn’t believe that Lois had taken her aside and chatted, or that Lila had used that time to talk her up to her idol! She swore the girl had a heart of gold. Imagine taking your time out to help out a friend like that! It was too bad Lila had gone to the bathroom right before class started. She missed out on giving the tour of the school for the new kid that she had been looking forward to. Alya knew how much Lila had been preparing for it. She hoped Lila was okay and not sick. It would be awful if she missed her first day back.

Now Alya’s thoughts focused on other things Tim really needed to know about the class. Chloe really hadn’t gotten much better over the years. While she didn’t actively bully much anymore, she was still hurtful with her words and conceited. She truly considered herself better than her classmates. She couldn’t understand what Sabrina saw in her, but they seemed to be happy regardless of outward appearances. Chloe’s outbursts really calmed down when Marinette stopped calling her out on it.

Marinette…

Alya missed Marinette. She never really understood what happened. They had gone over to her house, and when they tried to give her their friendship bracelet, she had yelled at them to get out. That she didn’t want to be their friend. It was so out of character for Marinette. None of them understood what happened. Marinette had never explained, even after they were akumatized over it. She apologized for how she had yelled at them, but had not taken back her words. She didn’t want to be their friend anymore. Alya knew that something must have happened, but Marinette had shut her out. It hurt. Her best friend had shoved her away. When she had pushed her about it a few days later – giving her time to cool down – she had said she had different priorities, and that their barging into her room had shown they had no respect for her privacy, and therefore, no respect for her.

Lila had been so kind to them and helped them pick up the pieces. She reminded them of some of Marinette’s behaviour – bailing last minute on plans, telling lies, picking on Lila when others weren’t around to defend her. It helped them to move on.

Marinette continued to distance herself from them all. They still invited her to major class outings, but stopped bothering to invite her to girls night. She never showed up unless it was mandatory, and even then, she regularly bailed on them partway through or was ridiculously late. Alya had seen a bright hope with the school trip, as it would force Marinette to interact with them all, but in the end, she had mostly just stuck to herself. She thought she had seen the old Marinette shining out in the botanical gardens, and taking notes for her at the Daily Planet… but then she went and acted recklessly during the attack at the astronomy centre and just about got herself and all of them killed. Alya had thought it was brave until Lila pointed out how it had endangered them all.

Alya wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Marinette hadn’t really fought with them much before summer break, and she hoped it continued this year. It had been peaceful without Marinette arguing with Lila or Chloe. In the end, Alya had just given up on trying to mend whatever had broken with their relationship. Marinette’s behaviour towards Lila was awful. Alya and the rest of their group had decided that maybe things were just better off that way.

The only one that seemed to be able to interact with her these days was Kagami, and that was just because Kagami dragged Marinette off even if she complained. She was pretty sure it was just a habit at this point, though Kagami getting time away from her mother was extremely rare. Alya wasn’t willing to drag Marinette off kicking and screaming to get her to spend time with them. If she didn’t want to be there, that was her choice, and they were likely better off for it for Lila’s sake.

She didn’t want to make Tim hate Marinette right off the bat, but he did need to be warned that she would be cold to him.

“Just a heads up, Marinette and Chloe can be bullies at times. Chloe is more stuck up than anything as her father is the mayor and she feels entitled. Marinette…” Alya hesitated, unsure of what to say.

She ended up deciding on what she felt was a balanced view of her old friend. “She’s changed. She used to be super sweet, but when Lila came, she became really bitter and has picks fights with everyone over her. Poor Lila has cried so many times because of her. Not that Marinette can’t be sweet still, but she tends to flake out on plans and is a total klutz. She just really seems to have it out for Lila, and nothing we say seems to change that. She’s taken to lying about her; she’s so jealous of Lila because she is getting attention that Marinette used to get.”

~~~~

Alya looked a bit sad as she continued, “So, if she’s mean to you, try not to take it personally. She kind of shut everyone out a couple of years ago. She threw us out of her room one time, yelling at us when we tried to give her this friendship bracelet and has been distant ever since.”

Tim changed his assessment of Alya. Talkative Rambles, no sense of propriety, do not trust with confidential or personal information.

They headed back into the classroom. Another girl was there, and Alya went to sit next to her. Mme. Bustier addressed him, “Tim, this is Lila, the class president.”

Lila waved with a huge grin. Green eyes, calculating. Her hair looked like sausage links were lying on the side of her head. Was that supposed to be fashionable? He knew Paris fashion was always a bit different than the US, but this seemed a bit much.

“Hi Tim, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m sure we will be great friends,” she said, her voice slow and sweet like honey.

His eyes snapped back to hers and he felt a tentative smile form on his lips. “Uh, me too.”

Mme. Bustier waved a hand forward. “You can have a seat at the back with Marinette.”

Great. The girl he was just warned about. Oh well, couldn’t be anything worse than he had dealt with in the past.

Marinette gave him a small smile before moving some of her things over to give him more room. Huh. Considerate. Not what he was expecting from her. Her smile was warm, and her big blue eyes trained on him as he sat down. Observant. Calculating?

She was pretty (okay, she was gorgeous), with her dark blackish-blue hair framing her face, bangs swept off to one side. Heh. Blue eyes. Dark hair. Social outcast. She would fit right in as a Wayne. All she needed was the tragic past. He wanted to laugh at his brief assessment of Bruce’s adoption habits.

But, wow, she was short. Probably a full foot shorter than him, and he wasn’t exactly tall at 5’10”. There was one other really short girl in the class with dreadlocks, now that he looked around. The rest seemed of average height. Most of the guys were around his height, except three; a lanky blonde who looked like he spent way too much time in a tanning booth, an guy in a red cutoff shirt who looked like he spent too much time at the gym, and a burly guy with a shaved head who was definitely trying way too hard to be emo to actually be emo, who were notably taller than him.

~~~~

The lunch bell rang, bringing him out of a stupor where he had to listen to material he had mastered years ago. He turned to his seatmate, about to properly introduce himself, when a hand clawed into his bicep, pulling him away. He wrenched his arm out and fought back the urge to punch whoever grabbed him, turning instead to see Lila with a grin and what he expected was an attempt at ‘doe eyes.’

The rest of the class corralled him towards the cafeteria for lunch, not even giving him a chance to complain or state if he had other plans. He listened as Lila rambled for most of the lunch, pausing for praise from her classmates.

Attention-seeking, possessive, he attached to his assessment of Lila.

Marinette and the lanky blonde others identified as Adrien left the grounds for lunch. He was right though, he doubted she pushed five feet tall, and Adrien was at least six feet. Maybe taller than Jason. The two together was jarring.

He had been tuning out the conversation, when he suddenly heard something that grabbed his attention for the first time all day.

“Hey Lila, do you think you would be able to help us with the next tree planting trip?” Mylene, the short girl with dreads, asked Lila.

“The one at the end of the month? Sorry! I won’t be able to go. I’m going to be going to the Wayne Gala.” The next gala wasn’t until Christmas. “His youngest son invited me to be his date!”

‘Yeah, no. Damian’s only fourteen. There’s no way…’ Tim’s thoughts began, but were interrupted by her next words.

“He’s already the CEO and his only biological son.”

‘Oh. Me. She means me. Hell no,’ Tim thought.

She continued, “He’s a couple years older than us, but age doesn’t matter when the heart is involved!”

 ‘Maybe she’s thinking of Jason for age? She’s officially confused three of us into one person. I mean, I get that we all have black hair and light eyes, but still, we aren’t interchangeable. And I haven’t been back in months, surely that reached the media by now,’ he grumbled internally while maintaining a straight face.

Okay, so they were a bit interchangeable. They were all Robin at some point, and the public didn’t seem to care for the most part. Maybe Lila had a point.

Tim wanted to bang his head on the table in frustration and exasperation. Why had he even thought that? He had been doing so much better lately on his own. Forging his own identity for months. Why had the girl’s words impacted him so much?

The girl was lying out her ass. Desperate for attention. Not to be trusted for accurate information. This may have skewed Alya’s assessments as well given how passionate she was about this girl.

He tagged on a mental note to the whole class: gullible.

Looked like it was back to scratch for all of them. He would need to observe them. He had wanted to act like a normal kid and meet the students in class without researching them first. Now he was starting to regret it.

Someone with blonde hair asked Tim what music he listened to. After mentioning that, “I enjoy Jagged Stone,” knowing that the rocker was huge in France and they were more likely to have heard of him than some of the other American bands he enjoyed, Lila talked about meeting Jagged Stone.

The class praised her for once saving his kitten from an active airport runway… and Tim was now convinced that Lila was just outright lying about everything.

Was any part of her real?

It seemed to be for attention or to impress him. There was no way someone other than airport personnel would be allowed on an active runway. And there was no way it gave her tinnitus. It might have made her deaf with prolonged exposure or to damage her hearing in general, but tinnitus was unlikely. And Jagged Stone had said in his interviews that he had a crocodile, and that it would eat small animals. There was no way he would have a cat.

“He actually wrote a song about me! I’m his muse!” she stated cheerfully, breaking into his thought process.

“Huh, which one? I’d love to listen to it. The only one I remember about a girl is some song about a pretend superhero named Ladybug,” he said smoothly, trying to see how deep a hole she would dig.

But, apparently, this was the wrong thing to say. Everyone was glaring at him.

“Ladybug isn’t a pretend hero! She’s the saviour of Paris! She has saved us all more times than I can remember,” Alya exclaimed angrily, jumping up from her seat and shoving her phone in front of him. “You’ll see. She’s amazing. Lila is her best friend. Here – take a look.”

She was clearly mad at him for saying Ladybug was pretend. She pulled up the blog she wrote, full of videos of Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting various monsters.

Tim was… horrified. “These aren’t computer graphics? This is REAL? What… what the hell?” He watched as the Eiffel Tower was destroyed in a clip. But he saw it yesterday, standing normally, when he had gone to get groceries.

“All real. I know it seems amazing and crazy. Hawkmoth, the terrorist, turns civilians into ‘akumas’ to do his bidding. He takes advantage of negative emotions, so try your best to keep away from anger and sadness while you’re here. Though, you will run into akuma no matter what, and you’re likely to become one yourself… especially with us. He seems to target us and other teens from the school more than anyone,” Alya explained, barely drawing a breath.

She sounded very bitter. Considering what she was saying, Tim could understand why. “The city has dubbed us the ‘Akuma Class’ as all but Marinette and Adrien have been akumatized at least once. Many of us have been akumas three times or more.”

Her voice turned a bit more cheerful as she continued, “But don’t worry, Ladybug and Chat Noir fix everything! There used to be temporary heroes as well, but they got exposed to Hawkmoth one time a few years back when Chloe was akumatized while she was Queen Bee. It was a disaster. Ladybug put out a statement after it happened that the heroes wouldn’t be called on again so that Hawkmoth wouldn’t target them and their families. A new set has appeared, but they aren’t seen that often.”

She took back her phone and brought up the website homepage, and showed it to him. “It’s all on my website! You totally need to check it out: Ladyblog.fr. I have the best videos out of any site – right in the action. I even got Ladybug’s first interview!”

Okay. That was a lot. One thing at a time. “How come the Justice League hasn’t intervened? Why isn’t this on international news?”

“France put up a media block to keep it contained. You can’t look up French websites without a French IP address, and even then, it doesn’t work if it’s miraculous-related. Paris has additional blocks for keywords related to Hawkmoth or the heroes that the government had put up so tourism wouldn’t be hurt,” Alya tried to explain. “It was a giant mess. After the first few akumas, all the tourist websites for hotels and amenities got moved to international servers and everything else was blocked. A lot of people were relieved because they were upset that their businesses would suffer. There was a huge announcement explaining all of this. You haven’t seen it? There’s a link to it on my blog.”

Tim frowned. He hadn’t seen any of this when he was searching online.

“Ladybug also hinted at one point during it that there might be some magical interference. Something about the magic protecting itself. She looked pretty mad when she announced it. Though we could still access everything with a Paris IP or phone number while we were in New York, so I’m not sure how that works. She was pretty vague. I’m pretty sure not even the Justice League could find it.”

Well, that part was right. They didn’t have a clue.

“There was announcement requesting foreign heroes stay out of Paris if they did stumble across anything online and for any metas who could move to do so. The government even gave them grants to move to the outskirts so they didn’t have to uproot their whole lives. Those that are remaining in the city center have to make sure they either have good control of their emotions or that their powers were benign. That got pushed really hard again after Chloe was akumatized as Queen Bee. It was bad. Mind controlled superheroes with bonus powers.”

Damn that girl talked a lot. At least it was informative this time. Moderately horrifying, but informative.

Had this been going on when he was in Paris years before? It must have… it must have been a fluke that he hadn’t seen one then. There was no way he could have ignored it if he had seen one then. He hadn’t spent that much time in central Paris. He mostly stuck to the outskirts… it was possible.

“Looks like I have some research to do,” Tim mumbled quietly to himself.

So much for a peaceful year as a normal kid.

He should have researched Paris before moving there. He hadn’t done research. It was a first for him. He had wanted to discover an area like other people did. He didn’t research his classmates beyond ensuring it was the class he saw at WE. He had done that while in Cannes, so he would have been inside the media block, and hadn’t looked up anything superhero-related that would have triggered the Paris blocks.

He wasn’t even allowed to be here! He was violating the law by being present. He hadn’t known. Would he get escorted out? Should he tell the heroes or just try to lay low?

It was so rare for him to be caught off-guard for something like this. He didn’t do well with curve balls like this.

He had been lazy. Wanting a normal life. He should have known that his luck wasn’t that good. Looked like he was going to have to dive at least partly back into his old life. Maybe he could still avoid looking up his classmates.

“Are all heroes banned, or just the ones with powers?” he asked with a barely concealed grimace.

“All of them! The few heroes associated with Justice League International were kicked out by the mayor after Ladybug made her announcement and instructed not to announce it to the world or the Justice League. Ladybug said she didn’t want to end up fighting someone who had additional powers or had intensive training. Imagine an evil Superman with extra powers? Flash? Green Lantern? Or even someone like Batman?”

Everyone shuddered.

Tim felt guilty. He really didn’t want to leave.

Chapter 7: Happy Anniversary!!!!

After lunch, Tim sat down beside his seatmate, Marinette. Despite the warnings, he was hopeful he would make some friends, and being friendly with his desk partner would be a good start. He was so tired of being alone.

She had a pastry box on her side of the desk and pushed it towards him. Inside it was a cupcake with a pile of pale pink frosting.

“Welcome to Paris. I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” She had a small, tentative smile on her face.

“Thanks.” He took a bite of the cupcake, throwing his usual suspicions out the window. Normal people didn’t test for poisons and paralytics. Normal people would see a cupcake and just eat it. He would be normal damnit. Chocolate. The frosting was strawberry flavoured, but not in a way that made it overpowering. “This is amazing. Where did you get it?”

Her smile widened a bit, and it didn’t look forced now. It made her whole face light up. Pretty. “Oh, it’s from my family’s bakery down the road. Stop by any time.”

“I definitely will.” Tim could cook when needed, but he could not bake to save his life. She had just handed him his new favourite place to grab snacks.

“Are you enjoying your day here so far?” she asked. It looked like genuine interest to him.

“It’s been… surprising. I never knew Paris had a supervillain or superheroes.”

He heard Marinette hum in grim acceptance. By the sound of it, Hawkmoth had been terrorising them all for years.

Mme. Bustier interrupted before he could say anything else, “Alright class, please open your books to page 45.”

He added kind, generous, thoughtful to his list of traits for his desk mate.

Marinette rushed home right after the bell rang after a quick goodbye, so he didn’t have a chance to ask any questions like he had planned. Busy? Maybe asocial? She didn’t seem to actively seek him out like the others had. Just social politeness.

He headed back to his small apartment a couple of blocks from the school. He had a lot to learn in Paris after all.

~~~~

Back in Gotham, the hunt for Tim continued. “We haven’t received a ransom or any other threats from any villains. They should have sent a demand by now,” Bruce speculated. They all seemed to be in denial that Tim could have voluntarily left.

“Father, Drake is not completely incompetent. I’m sure he is capable of taking care of himself.” High praise from Damian.

Jason frowned, reminiscing about his own past. “That may be true, but what if it’s Joker all over again? He doesn’t always play by the standard kidnapping rules.”  No one wanted to face that reality again. It did, however, drive the vigilantes to push on with the search. “I’ll keep searching and see if I can pick up anything on my end.”

Babs sighed, changing the subject to the one they were all avoiding. “If Tim doesn’t want to be found, he will have covered his tracks. He has too much of a head start. We don’t even know when he left, or if he even left town. At this point, he could be anywhere. I’ll keep searching, but it’s unlikely we will find him if he left of his own accord.” She didn’t dare state what they were all thinking in the back of their minds: that Tim really had left on his own. All the evidence pointed towards it.

Jason leaned against the wall. He didn’t hold Barbara’s qualms about upsetting them all. “Maybe the Pretender got fed up and decided to leave the vigilante game before he got killed or permanently injured like the rest of us. He always was the smart one.”

Dick was sitting with his face buried into his hands. “He didn’t even say goodbye…” he mumbled. “When was the last time anyone talked to him?”

“Not sure,” Jason replied immediately.

He and Tim didn’t exactly have the best history. Something about trying to kill him or something. They had worked past it, but it did sometimes strain things. Tim didn’t always go to Jason if something was wrong. Him getting a goodbye was highly unlikely.

Jason had really hoped that things between them were better, but if Tim had left without saying something, maybe their relationship wasn’t as good as Jason had thought. He should have put in more effort.

He remembered Tim asking him to hang out a while back, but he’d had plans with Roy that night. He couldn’t recall anything other than that in the past few months, but then, he had been extremely busy. The Outlaws had been working on a case in Burnside around then. It had only recently been completed. He had only been attending patrols for the sake of keeping up appearances while Kori and Roy checked things out.

Regardless, Tim was his brother now, and Jason would do anything for family. If Tim had left on his own, that was fine, but Jason wanted to reach out to him. If he was just taking a break, or had left permanently, Jason would leave him alone once he knew he was okay and happy. If he was hurt or kidnapped… the bastard would rue the day they took his little brother.

Dick scrolled through his phone. “Oh no…”

     Tim: Won’t be able to make it to patrol, stuck at WE tonight.

             WE again. Won’t make it tonight.

             Catching up on some work for B, can’t make it tonight.

             Missing patrol tonight again.

             Can @Jason cover my route tonight?

     Jason: Sure

     Tim: Swamped at work. Maybe patrol tomorrow.

             Sorry for missing again.

             At WE tonight.

There were dozens of messages of him missing patrol with no reply from any of them unless they were directly tagged…

     Tim: Drug related disturbance near @Damian’s school. He should check it out. I won’t be able to make it.

     Damian: Will do.

     Tim: See you for patrol tonight.

             Sorry I missed last night. Crashed and slept through my alarm.

             Looking forward to tonight with you guys.

             Missed being out there with you. Anyone up for a movie tonight?

             I have some time this weekend. Anyone free to hang out?

Babs checked the time stamps. “The last message was back in May.”

Jason slumped down in a chair beside Dick. “Did he really miss that many patrols? How did we not notice?”

The back of Jason’s mind reminded them that they were all insanely busy – both in and out of the suit. He knew it was an excuse, but he didn’t want to feel guilty about it, and an excuse felt better than him just being incredibly unobservant or self-centered. The truth glared at him as he pulled it up on his phone too. Shit. Tim had sent him a few private messages as well, asking if he could even just tag along on a mission. Jason hadn’t even read them.

Dick looked close to tears. “He asked us to spend time with him and we ignored him. I’m a horrible brother. I failed him.”

Dick’s mind raced to all the times Tim had reached out before he had apparently disappeared. He had always been too busy. Had promised to do things later, and never followed through. He had let Tim down. There was always some crisis or another that was more important, or some other family member with something more urgent to do. Tim had just wanted to spend some time together as a family, and no one had stepped up. Not even him. Dick always pushed how important being a family was, and when it had mattered most, he had ignored that family. He felt like a hypocrite.

Babs continued to scroll back on her phone, “He’s been missing patrols regularly for about a year. Most of these messages talk about needing to skip for WE business.”

“We need to find him. Keep looking Babs,” Dick looked at her imploringly.

“Tt. He clearly doesn’t want to be here anymore. Good riddance.” Damian looked irritated, but it was all a mask to hide the pain they knew he felt. He felt as guilty as the rest of them obviously did.

“Damian! We can’t just abandon him!” Dick growled, his heightened emotional state preventing him from responding a bit more kindly.

“We already did. He left for a reason. Leave him alone.” Damian frowned.

Everyone sat in silence, realizing just how true that really was. They had abandoned him and hadn’t even noticed.

~~~~

Tim showed up early the next day, hoping to catch someone to talk to about the Paris situation. The class seemed to have more information than was available online, even based on that questionable lunch conversation. Everything Alya had mentioned had checked out so far. His class had been nicknamed the “Akuma Class” online. Why was this class being targeted in particular? Why have two students avoided it so far despite so many attacks on the school?

What exactly was the miraculous that Hawkmoth demanded in the videos? What could they possibly do that warranted this level of terrorism? From as far as Tim could tell, the one the villain used was just as powerful, if not more so, because he could just grant someone whatever powers he wanted. Couldn’t he just replicate Ladybug and Chat Noir’s powers and call it a day?

Why would the heroes allow their best friend to announce herself so publicly (granted it was Lila so it was likely attention seeking, but really, why paint yourself as a target?), but retire heroes exposed once? Apparently, one had even been exposed to one of the other heroes, not even the villain or a civilian, and they were retired, even though there was no civilian name anywhere or pictures of what the hero Multimouse even looks like. But then Chloé Bourgeois exposed herself the first time she was out and continued to be a hero until the reported incident that exposed the other heroes to the villain. No footage of that existed either, so the heroes publicly were still a mystery. But why did Chloe get to continue while this Multimouse person was retired instantly? Had they done something bad that was being kept from the public? It must have been horrible, considering what Chloe was claimed to have done. If not… it was inconsistent and illogical.

And my god, who the hell trained them? The first time they were out they clearly had no clue and no training. Chat Noir seemed to have had some sword fighting experience, because he treated his poor staff like a sword, which Tim found horribly offensive.

Chat Noir had zero tactical knowledge. His moves were telegraphed, and he did not seem to plan ahead at all. He regularly sacrificed himself, turning into a minion or dying to protect Ladybug when other options were clearly available. His only good tactical decision seemed to be following Ladybug’s orders without question.

Ladybug seemed to have improved at least, as it was clear at the beginning that she had never picked up her bizarre weapon before. Her tactical knowledge and situational awareness were amazing. Her ability to use her surroundings was better than anything he had seen in the Justice League. It seemed to be innate too, improving over time. She appeared to have picked up some martial arts and weapons training at some point too, though she could definitely use more, as she has some serious gaps in even her basics. It did create a unique fighting style as she combined random elements that rapidly changed for the situation.

Tim found himself starting to get frustrated about it again. He had only watched a few videos before he had to turn it off last night. His classmates had said negative emotions attracted the moths. He refused to become a target. He couldn’t become an akuma. Ladybug would have him thrown out of the city if she found out he was there.

He had to ensure he wouldn’t be a risk. He could not be the reason the heroes failed.

He had pretty decent emotional control most of the time, but any tips he could get would help. Adrien and Marinette had been able to withstand it so far. Surely, they knew something. He vaguely thought of asking a therapist, but his family had been so avoidant of emotions that he pushed that idea aside.

Adrien came in first. “Hey - Adrien, right? Could I talk to you?”

“Sure. What can I do for you?” he smiled brightly at Tim.

“A couple things, actually. When are the fencing tryouts?”

“In two weeks, Tuesday after class. Here, I’ll write down the details for you.” He began writing out the details on a scrap from one of his notebooks. “What was the other thing?”

“The class was talking about the akumas yesterday, and they mentioned that you had never been akumatized before. How have you managed that so far?”

“Oh. Heh...” Adrien scratched the back of his head. Nervous tick. Hmm. “Well, I tend to just stay really positive about things, and try to find the silver lining in everything.” He frowned. “Honestly though, there’s a lot of times I probably should have been. I might have lucked out and he wasn’t transformed at the time, or that he was focused on someone else. I’ve been a target a few times for active akumas. I definitely don’t recommend it.” He sighed and smiled. “Ladybug is awesome. She’s protected me every time.”

“Thanks. I really don’t want to be an akuma.” So it sounded like it was safe to have negative emotions if someone else was already an akuma.

“You should really talk to Marinette. She’s our ‘Everyday Ladybug’ for a reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“Marinette is kind, creative, and generous. She goes out of her way to help others, even if she doesn’t have the time. She stands up for what’s right. Just like Ladybug does. She’s talked people down from being possessed and has avoided being possessed herself multiple times despite the akuma being in the room. It’s… impressive.”

His bright smile dimmed just a bit as he continued, “She also has horrible luck with being targeted by akuma victims or nearby when they happen, up there with Chloe herself. Though Chloe tends to bring it on herself. Marinette’s have tended to be bad circumstances turned worse by Hawkmoth. Most of the blogs are quiet about it because she is far too modest and asked Alya and Aurore to keep it quiet, but she’s helped the heroes out a few times too.”

He sighed and smiled again, brighter this time. “Marinette is amazing. Never underestimate her. And don’t lie to her.”

Huh. Signs of affection. Friend? Girlfriend? Seeing her through rose-coloured glasses? This girl can’t be both the lying bully and the amazing, can-do-no-wrong girl. How has she escaped possession?

Marinette wandered in then, and she gave them both a small smile. “Good morning, Adrien, Tim.”

Adrien smiled brightly. “Hey Mari, you’re here early! Good timing too. Tim had a couple of questions for you!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I was wondering how you’ve never been akumatized before.”

She seemed hesitant to answer. “Oh… uhm. Meditation; making sure that I can clear my mind whenever I need to. Focusing on positive emotions whenever possible. Some of the therapists around the city run coping skills groups now, and their tips can help, like deep breathing, grounding skills like five senses, relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation or creating a ‘safe space’ in your mind using mental imagery. And when that’s really not possible… one minute.”

Did her phone buzz or something? “Okay, I can wait.”

“No, not wait a minute. I allow myself one minute. For the people we have seen akumatized at school, it always happens in under five minutes of them getting angry or upset. Lots happen in two minutes. So if you can’t control it, give yourself 60 seconds to feel it and get it out of your system. That shouldn’t be enough time for the akumas to reach you. It won’t work everywhere in town obviously, but I spend most of my time in this arrondissement with school and home being here, and it’s helped so far. I’ve had a few close calls when it took longer than a minute. Then when you are calmer later and can use your coping skills you can deal with the emotions in a safer way. And feel it all while an akuma and amok are both active, unless it’s another Scarlet Moth incident.”

“Geez Mar, that’s brilliant,” Adrien gushed.

She flushed at this. “Thanks? It’s not all it’s chalked up to be though. Shutting off your emotions builds up after a while. Most of Paris can attest to that.”

“I haven’t really seen that since I’ve been here,” Tim commented.

“Yeah… our class tends to just run with their emotions.” Quietly she added, “Probably why we have such a high akumatization rate compared to the rest of Paris… among other things.”

“Mari! We should really be supporting them. You know Lila is at risk for it. We need to do what we can to minimize the risk.”

Her smile dropped completely. “Sure Adrien. Take the high road. I remember.” She turned and walked up to her seat. Adrien, however, grinned.

What just happened? He followed her to his seat, hoping to ask the rest of his questions, but Marinette seemed to be attempting to meditate. She looked tired. Like himself at peak WE stress tired. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, she pulled out a sketchbook and started drawing. This girl was an enigma. One he wanted to figure out.

“Hey Marinette, do you think I could ask you a few more questions during lunch?”

“Sorry, I’m busy. I’m sure someone else will be able to help you with all your akuma questions. Try Alya.”

Well. That didn’t go as planned.

He observed the class for the rest of the day. And what he saw was… odd. The class had clear social groups. When Lila arrived though, she latched onto Adrien’s arm, much like she did with him the other day, despite him clearly looking uncomfortable, and the whole class, save Marinette and himself gravitated towards her.

At lunch, again both Marinette and Adrien headed to their homes, and Tim was stuck being a Lila pincushion until he could detach her hands from his arm. He even told her to stop!

“Oh Timmy, I know that Marinette is just telling all these lies about me. You really shouldn’t take them at face value. She’s just jealous. You can spend time with me, I don’t think she will follow through on her threats of bullying me like she has with Adrien. We could try to get you moved to the front with me. We could probably make Chloe move. That way both of the bullies will be at the back.” Alya and a girl named Rose with blonde hair started comforting her. Crocodile tears. She was really trying to sell this.

…Wow. That’s a lot to unpack at once. “Actually, Marinette hasn’t said a word about you to me. I prefer sitting at the back of the room. And please remove your hand from me before I report you for sexual harassment.”

The girl actually had the nerve to look surprised before turning to glare at Tim so no one else could see. “Oh! I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable! I only wanted to help.”

‘Aaaand cue the crocodile tears again,’ he thought.

Tim sat at the table, exasperated. And yet… maybe she didn’t realise it was harassment? Maybe she just expected Marinette to say things about her because she had in the past?

“I think I’m going to go for a walk. See you guys later.”

As he walked away, his head started to clear. Ugh. No. What was he thinking? Why did everyone just… accept that whole situation? Was it always like this? Why was she singling out Marinette? He headed back to the classroom early. Marinette was sitting there, but it was otherwise empty.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” She nodded. “I reviewed some of the stuff on the Ladyblog like Alya recommended, but the majority of the site reads like a gossip magazine. How much of it is speculation? You’ve been around longer – how much is true? I mean, there’s a video of Lila saying she is Ladybug’s best friend. Whether it’s true or not, that’s dangerous to put out there! And there are theories about origins of Ladybug throughout history, or that she and Chat Noir are romantically involved, or other heroes like Rena Rouge and Carapace. And there was that akuma last week across town. Isn’t there some kind of warning system? We have amber and other emergency alerts in the US so that people can keep an eye out or avoid areas –“

“Wow. Slow down. Yes, we have an alert system, AkumaAlert app, you can download it.” She pulled it up on her phone and showed her the options. “Max and I actually worked on it. Markov monitors the input to ensure they are legitimate. Anyone viewing an akuma can send in an alert, or add details, but usually people just hit the button and hide. It gives the area of the attack, any information they gave, especially if it’s a repeat akuma, like Gigantitan or Mr. Pigeon. Uhm, after it is over Ladybug will typically give information on damage and healing done as a report attached to the alert. Those usually get attached to the videos you see.”

“As for the Ladyblog…” She sighed deeply as she put her phone away. “BugOut.fr is endorsed by the heroes. They used to support the Ladyblog, until it started posting speculations and stopped fact checking. Any interview that isn’t with the heroes themselves should be taken with a grain of salt.”

Her exasperation turned to a look of disappointment. “Though the Ladyblog may have closer up footage of the fights. Alya… she likes to get into the action. It has cost her on occasion, but she is certainly dedicated to her videos.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm? Oh, Alya runs the Ladyblog and is responsible for all the videos on the main site. She does allow users to post if she misses them. She posted some research articles on Ladybug in the past, and those are fine, like the origins. I helped her dig information up and found the Egypt connection in the Louvre.” A flash of pride and maybe a bit of humour – remembering a good time maybe? – was momentarily across her face before it turned sour again.

“But the rest of it is fiction. She speculates on their relationship being romantic off of some out of context photos where Ladybug, Chat Noir, or both of them were under akuma effects. That, and Chat constantly flirts with Ladybug even though she turns him down and pushes him away saying no constantly. There’s tons of pictures and videos of that, that don’t end up on her blog. The videos of Lila saying she is Ladybug’s best friend… Ladybug has denied both relationships publicly. Those videos are out there too. BugOut has both, as does TVi’s website. Alya’s videos truly are the best out there if you want to see the heroes up close. But she has died several times. She puts too much trust in Ladybug saving the day and bringing everyone back to life.” She frowned, but her eyes reflected anger.

That caught Tim’s attention. “… She’s died?”

“Oh, pretty much everyone in Paris has died at least once. I think the average is at least 3 times. If you stick around, you’re sure to see it at some point… Hawkmoth likes to pick on our class.” Her tone was flat, but the anger was still clear in her eyes.

“Wh-“

Mme. Bustier came in then and the conversation died, as Marinette turned away. The rest of the class filed in slowly afterwards. “Alright class, please open your books to page 67.”

Notes:

I began working on this fic exactly one year ago today!

(Which also, coincidentally, means that it marks one year ago that I started writing in general). I finished this fic in a month, but have only recently begun to try to edit it and fix or add in all the stuff I made notes to do later. It's currently sitting at 136k - but I have a *lot* to do still.

 

*Update for anyone curious 06/05/22 why I'm not updating right now - I managed to injure my fingers (long story), and my doctor pointed out that I apparently have no sense of the word relax or take it easy, so I've got splints for the foreseeable future that make it a pain to type... so no updates from me for a bit while I heal (unless I ignore my doctors orders, and he has already glared at me and told me to stop) - See ya when I can bend my fingers without pain!

Chapter 8

Tim managed to avoid Lila for the rest of the day, but Marinette was also evading him. Marinette rushed home right after the bell rang, so he didn’t have a chance to continue his questions.

He really didn’t feel like joining the statistics. He still couldn’t believe it. They had all died so many times. Marinette had mentioned it so casually that it was obvious they were all just used to it. It didn’t phase them anymore. The entire class just seemed to dismiss it as a daily occurrence. People just died and came back to life as a regular part of their lives. Sure, it wasn’t exactly unusual in the circles he kept, but they were few and far between. It devastated them all when one of them died – there wasn’t a guarantee they would come back. Not all of them did.

He headed back to his still fairly empty, lonely apartment a couple of blocks from the school. He had a lot to learn.

If nothing else, he found out that he did genuinely enjoy doing research, necessary or not. He had an innate need to know what was going on. To know details. He had dug up information on every site he had visited during his travels, which had made him appreciate them more.

Now, despite the information being rather dire, it made him feel better about it the more he learned. Knowledge calmed him. Gave him a sense of security.

He was still depressed. He still had nightmares and insomnia, and definitely drank more coffee than he should.

But he was starting to learn about himself.

Back at his apartment, he reviewed the rest of the first two years of akuma attacks on the Ladyblog, deciding to check out BugOut after, as it wasn’t created until after that. Akumas that influence emotions, babies turned into giants, a more recent post at the top had said Mr. Pigeon 72 that happened the day before he arrived in Paris.

Wow. He’d been akumatized 72 times. That could not be good for his mental health.

Each of the videos were flagged at the bottom with statistics. Number of buildings/arrondissements destroyed (depending on how bad it was), number injured or mind controlled, number killed, battle time, heroes present, akumatized object, akuma powers, and Lucky Charm used if known. There were so many entries, he finally had to start skimming.

It looked like there was an attack every day to every few days. Some days had more than one. Though there have been some breaks lasting a few weeks sporadically.

Ironically, he had arrived during one of the lulls, with only two attacks happening on the other side of town that he hadn’t even known were happening.

A tab dedicated to the deadliest akumas caught his eye.

Syren popped up at the top. He saw the warning at the bottom. Disturbing content. He shrugged. It couldn’t be any worse than what he normally experienced.

A video from a rooftop played. Paris was completely underwater except a few homes where a few people were clinging to each other. Bodies were visible floating in the water despite the attempts to blur them out. Ladybug was observed being flung out of the water at high speed at one point before being caught by Chat Noir and both disappeared for a while. The camera focused on the water. There were too many bodies to count.

Later, Ladybug was spotted jumping from a rooftop with a costume including flippers, long hair with purple tips, and what looked like pink seaweed hair ribbons, straight into the body strewn waters. Tim gagged. She would have had to swim past dozens of bodies just to get down the street. Chat Noir followed a few minutes later, his outfit also different.

Tim’s mind flashed, unbidden, to his own experiences being surrounded by bodies. Granted, most of them were stabbing or gunshot wounds, so blood and some gore… but the water bloated bodies were somehow just… worse.

The camera panned around the city. Even the outer areas of Paris are flooded, not just the metro area. Bodies floated nearer to the camera, bloated and discoloured from their watery deaths. The video did not blur them in time. Children. Babies.

Tim ran to the bathroom, dry heaving a few times on the way. He had been wrong. The label on the video did not do it justice. Not even the assholes in Gotham targeted young children and babies. It was somehow more gruesome than the death they saw in Gotham. Beatings and shootings. Sure, the Joker attacks were awful and gruesome in their own special way, but they were never at the mass level of this. Never children. Never the bizarre and cruel ways in Paris. These videos would likely join his nightmares.

The heroes did not reappear until the cure was cast, and everyone floating in the water returned alive on the cleared streets as if it never happened.

Stats at the bottom were horrifying. More stats graced this video than most, as it reached outside the metro area of two million people. Eleven million people were impacted. Roughly seven thousand people survived out of eleven million… The heroes must have waded through thousands of bodies just to get to the akuma.

Tim had dealt with plenty of death before… but never on this scale. The pressure Ladybug must feel to win so that she can bring them all back must crush her. Swimming past bloated bodies in varying states of horror. Were her friends or family in those waters? Did she have to see them? It was awful just seeing the video. How did she deal with seeing that in real life? How was she not akumatized from the nightmares?

He was just starting to calm down when a crash sounded outside. Grabbing his phone as the AkumaAlert sounded, he ran for the roof of his building. There was no way he was going to get trapped in the building after just watching that. Hell, maybe he could help. Somehow.

He glanced at the AkumaAlert information. Turned out it was a repeat akuma, Gigantitan, from the videos he had just watched. His first time he was just a baby. Now he was at least 5 years old, and his form resembled more of a toddler than a baby. More babies being targeted. It was disgusting. Hawkmoth deserved a special place in hell.

Chat Noir managed to distract the Akuma, but lamp posts and cars went flying through the air.

One lamp post in particular flew straight at Tim’s building, colliding with the wall of what should be his bedroom before bending in half like a boomerang and ricocheting upwards to the roof. Tim had to jump out of the way, but it still managed to clip his side. He gasped in pain and righted himself. That was definitely going to bruise.

Ladybug called for her lucky charm. A life-size Ladybug plushie. He could see the giant eye roll she gave from his roof. Chat Noir pretended to swoon as he grabbed the stuffed bug and danced around with it, distracting the akuma while Ladybug grabbed the ball of cotton in the akuma’s hand.

She cast her cure, and everything went back to how it was a few minutes ago. The pain was gone from his side. The streets were cleared, as everyone else seemed to have fled the area but him.

Ladybug grabbed the boy into a hip hold and yoyo’d in Tim’s direction. When she saw him, she paused on his roof.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. That cure you do is amazing.”

“You really should have either stayed indoors or evacuated to a shelter. Do you know which shelter is closest to you? This isn’t a game or entertainment. People can die -” she broke off at the sniffle at her side.

The boy was still a little teary. Apparently, his stuffed Ladybug toy had ripped. Hawkmoth had taken advantage of a child upset over a broken toy.

“Oh August, just ask Marinette to fix your toy. She made it for you, I’m sure she knows how to fix it,” she reassured the boy. Her voice was much more chipper as she added, “In the meantime, you get the real thing for the whole trip back to your mom.” She paused as her earrings beeped once. “Well, we must be off. Stay safe. Bug Out.”

He was just getting over the surprise of being injured by a giant toddler monster and magically healed before getting scolded by a TINY bug hero (and wow did her name fit, the top of her head barely hit his armpits), and the possibility that she knew Marinette from his class (unless it was another Marinette) when Chat Noir came up to him. Even his walk was cat-like. His eyes glowed green and his tail twitched by itself. He was taller than Tim by quite a bit. It seemed as if he was taller than Jason, but was thin and lanky where Jason definitely wasn’t.

“Hey, you doin’ okay?” he leaned on his staff with a giant grin. “You look a little purr-plexed.”

A pun? Really? Dick would love this guy. “… First akuma. Are all the lucky charms that odd?”

“Nah, that one was pretty straight-forward. Usually they’re weirder. LB’s mind is a terrifying place.”

“Huh?” What did he mean by that?

“Oh, lucky charms are always something you can figure out how to use. When I’ve been Mister Bug, they’ve always been obvious.” Tim must have looked confused (he hadn’t seen any videos of them switching jobs yet), because he continued, “She created an obstacle course with a bag of salt charm to make a stage with a van and a ladder to fling me and an akuma in the air to grab his skates one once.”

Tim blinked. He hadn’t seen that video yet. Chat Noir was laughing at Tim’s reaction. “I’ve learned to just roll with it. She usually has so many contingencies and plans that she comes up with instantly that there’s no way I can keep up. Hell, the first day I met her she threw me at a stone giant just so he wouldn’t have a free hand.” He paused. “Huh... she tends to throw me at akumas a lot, now that I think of it.”

He shrugged, clearly totally unbothered by his partner literally hurling him at his opponent with no warning or explanation. He went in blind and believed in her to make sure everything went according to a plan that he didn’t even know. That implicit trust was something that Tim recognized, but on a whole new level. His family always wanted to know the plan. To question it. To question each other.

“She mentioned Marinette. Did she mean Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“LB actually talked to you? Huh. That’s unusual.”

“More like lectured me to stay out of the area during an attack, but yes.”

“Now that sounds like her. Marinette used to babysit August, and we’ve had to return August to her on more than a few occasions. She’s the best. A hero even when she doesn’t have a miraculous. Saved my tail more than a few times. And free pastries! Yum!” He blinked a few times and shook his head briefly, like he was suddenly remembering something. “Anyways, do you need a lift home?”

“I’m good… thanks.”

“Alright. Cat-ch ya later!”

Tim stood there, trying to process. They can switch miraculous, and they adapt depending on the person using them. None of this was on the websites he was given.

Marinette was certainly an enigma. Either everyone loved her or hated her. The heroes seemed to trust her. Chat’s comment was odd. She’d helped out at attacks before? ‘Even when she doesn’t have a miraculous’ – was he implying she’d had one before? Maybe the blogs would have something on it…

His mind caught on another piece of information Chat had spewed out. Free pastries? Did that mean they actually spent time with her?

Hopefully Chat didn’t spread that information around much. It would make Marinette a target.

After the akuma, Tim didn’t feel like going back inside. Something about his bedroom being crushed by a giant baby temper tantrum made him want to stay out for a bit longer. In the end, he had wandered over to check on Marinette.

He was about to head into the bakery, when he saw her bounce happily into the shoppe and give each of her parents a kiss on the cheek before heading back upstairs.

Seemed that she was okay. He didn’t have an excuse to go in now.

Tim switched directions and headed towards the center of town. Maybe some sightseeing would help. He didn’t make it far – just the Seine – before he decided to just stop and sit for a while.

As he sat on the manmade bank, he wondered if he could find what he was looking for here in Paris. A fresh start? Friends that weren’t stuck in the Justice League with him? Something outside of being just Robin or Red Robin? Would he eventually feel the need to don his suit and help? Could he just trust the local heroes and leave it to them?

He watched the sun going down and felt a chill in the air that came along with it.

He was still horribly lonely.

~~~~

Classwork was boring. He had completed it all years ago. Instead, Tim tried to sit back and observe in class. A similar pattern emerged. Marinette arrived early and gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, sharing a croissant with him when his stomach growled. Adrien would arrive and she would give a polite smile back and he would grin at her. The rest of the class would arrive and divide up into groups to chat… until Lila came, and everyone gravitated towards her like she was the sun.

If their attention waned, she would draw them back in with a promise to introduce them to someone famous or influential. If that didn’t work, she would tell a story that usually ended with tears. When Tim tried to get up closer to hear exactly what was being said, he would feel himself start to believe the things she was saying, or question himself when his thoughts or knowledge disagreed with her. It would go away after he went back to his seat.

Marinette didn’t seem keen on making friends with him. Lila was a definite no. Maybe he should look into the rest of his class. He started to think that maybe Lila, and possibly her friends, was not to be trusted.

~~~~

Nino and the boys from class approached him after school on his third day.

Nino spoke first. “Hey dude, do you want to come to my place? We were just going to hang and play some videogames and watch a movie.”

He was being invited somewhere? “Wh-Really? Yes! I mean yes!”

He learned quickly that Nathaniel and his boyfriend Marc, and Ivan were all very quiet. Max was a bit socially awkward, at least, until you realised that he used statistics and probabilities to tease the others and goad them into doing things. Kim fell for it every time. Adrien managed to come for a few minutes before bodyguard had to pick him up. In that time, he managed to kick everyone’s butt at some game they were playing. They had let him go first, knowing he would have to bail soon. Seemed he really didn’t have permission to be out. They didn’t play games much after that, and switched on a movie.

Tim had a good time, but found it hard to break into their pre-existing social dynamics. They were all very relaxed, even when an akuma alert blared within their district. They just continued to play as if nothing was wrong in the world. Tim fought against all his instincts to go and help. It wasn’t his fight. They had heroes. It wasn’t his fight. They had heroes. He was just a civilian. He was just a civilian…

By the time he left for the evening, he had been invited to a Kitty Section rehearsal. They had explained that it was their band, and that it was a bit more alternative than he usually listened to, but he agreed to go, nonetheless. He wasn’t going to shut people out just because he wasn’t the biggest alt rock fan. Shutting people out had been his first mistake last time.

~~~~

There were occasional akuma alerts during school, but thankfully they had been across town. The class was ready to leave if needed, but they never had to. Marinette and Adrien excused themselves. Apparently, Adrien’s father was strict and liked him home during attacks and would demand he go home during them. It seemed risky to send him out on the street during an attack. It didn’t make sense, especially with how far away he seemed to live.

Marinette often would state she wanted to run home to check on her parents, or that she needed to go to the bathroom. Tim guessed she liked to hide during the attacks so that she could let her emotions out like she had suggested without an audience. He debated doing it himself.

One morning, about two weeks after Tim came, Marinette showed up late. There had been a late night akuma in the arrondissement that kept most people awake for most of the night. She ran towards her seat before the last bell could ring, and was tripped by Lila.

She fell flat on her face. Her coffee lid came off and spilled all over the floor. Marinette just seemed to be resigned to it, like it happened often. He wondered if the klutzy comment was actually true.

Tim rushed forward, helping her up and discreetly looking her over for injuries. Nothing.

Lila was making a scene. “Marinette you need to be more careful, you just about spilled your hot coffee all over me and Ivan! If you were on time more this wouldn’t have happened. It was really irresponsible of you to not get up on time again!”

The rest of the class was nodding and agreeing. Tim couldn’t believe it. Marinette had been early every day since the beginning of the year. He couldn’t decide if he was more shocked or pissed off by Lila’s comments. He settled on pissed off.

Marinette said a very quiet “thank you,” looking him in the eyes for the first time since she introduced herself. Despite the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, she smiled at him brightly.

After she had settled in, he pushed his coffee over to her. She looked at it, like she was confused why it was there.

“It might be a bit strong… but you can have it.”

She didn’t seem surprised or even angry when she had been tripped. She was, however, surprised when he had helped her up and given her coffee. As if she didn’t expect kindness…

“… Really? You don’t need to do this. I don’t want you to get in trouble,” she hesitated, glancing at the class, who were thankfully ignoring them.

Get in trouble? With who? The teacher never cared if they had drinks in class.

He just pushed it closer to her.

“I can pay you back later.”

“No need,” he said quietly.

She took one more look at it, like it was a gift from the gods, before drinking quickly – as if he might change his mind. It was the maximum amount of caffeine the café would serve to him. His initial thought that she got about as much sleep as he did while in Gotham was probably right if that much caffeine didn’t make her instantly gag.

“Perfect!” She actually grinned at him, and for the first time the smile reached her eyes. It was beautiful.

He turned back to the class, and saw  that Lila was positively glaring at him. It was nothing compared to the Bats glare though. It made her look like a snake. Marinette’s smile instantly disappeared from her face as she looked at Tim in horror.

Oh.

Oh no. How had he missed it? The lies, tripping her, excluding her from things, badmouthing her to the others, the ‘warning’ he had received about her on his first day. Marinette’s avoidance of everyone, including himself unless she absolutely had to interact with him.

Marinette was being bullied by Lila.

~~~~

Marinette couldn’t believe it. Tim had helped her up. He had given her his coffee! His selfless kindness was a gift she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Lila was furious – she didn’t need to look at her to know that. Tim had painted a huge target on his back. She wondered what Lila was going to do to retaliate this time. She only hoped Tim wouldn’t be hurt for a moment of kindness.

She hadn’t seen Tim smile much beyond a standard polite smile. She did remember seeing a bright smile when she gave him the cupcake from the bakery, and it was so nice that she could make him happy. She remembered wishing he would smile like that more often.

She didn’t want Lila to ostracize him though, so she tended to avoid him. He rarely spoke unless it was to ask questions. He seemed so serious most of the time. He was unusually hard to read.

Marinette found herself wishing, not for the first time, that her life could be different. She wouldn’t give up Tikki or the other kwami for anything, but she did wish that she could have a meaningful relationship, or at least a good friend, that she could confide in. But she knew it wasn’t possible; she would have to leave Paris as soon as the miraculous were in her possession. She would have to be a ghost in history, just like Master Fu.

She couldn’t let anyone suffer through that, and she couldn’t handle a broken heart again. But maybe, just maybe, she could have some kindness from a handsome guy with a cute smile who didn’t seem to hate her.

If Lila didn’t ruin it for her, that is.

~~~~

Tim decided not to stick around at lunch today. He desperately needed some coffee, since he gave his to Marinette. It had been worth it though. Her smile lit up the room. He wanted to see that again. He saw some chocolate covered espresso beans on his way out of the café, and decided to try to share them with her during class. Marinette needed someone (like he needed someone). He just hoped she would let him in enough that he could help.

On his way through the locker room to get to class, Tim heard the end of a conversation he was definitely not supposed to hear.

“-ette you really need to stop taking advantage of him.”

“He was just being nice. Leave Tim alone.”

“No, I took them all away, just as promised. I’ll take him too or he will learn his place, just like you did.”

He heard shuffling towards the door and ducked down a row of lockers. He watched as Lila left the bathroom. Marinette left a few minutes later.

He wanted to come out and comfort her, but wasn’t sure what to say. She was trying to protect him. It had been a long time since someone had protected him or put him first. Someone was on his side! It made him want to smile… until he remembered why she needed to do it in the first place.

He followed behind her to get to class, maintaining enough distance so that Lila wouldn’t think they entered together. If she would threaten Marinette just because he was showing basic human kindness, he worried just how far she would go.

He entered the room to Lila fake-crying about how Marinette had told her to stay away from Tim. He felt a tug that felt like he should go comfort her, but he knew she was lying once again. He was about to say something when he glanced up at Marinette. She had put her head in her hands, as if she were trying to block it out. He decided to go comfort her instead.

As he walked away, the need to comfort Lila that had flared at her lie disappeared completely. Something was definitely up with Lila.

He sat down next to Marinette and then slid the chocolate beans between them. Marinette hesitated, so he handed her some, as Lila watched with anger in her eyes.

Apparently, he had just picked a side.

He couldn’t help but think that he had chosen wisely.

Notes:

Congrats - we are now at the end of what was originally CHAPTER THREE.

Thank you @Mochegato for beta'ing, and giving me suggestions that resulted in adding an additional <<15,000 words>> to this monstrosity. (We should only be at 18570 words and are now at 33,604)

Chapter 9

After school, Tim waited for everyone to leave before heading over to Marinette’s house. Most of the class left, but Alya sent him a sad look and glanced quickly at where Marinette usually sat. She shook her head morosely before leaving as well. A reminder of what she had said during their tour.

When he entered the bakery, he was bombarded with the smell of coffee and pastries. He got in line at the counter, deciding to get some coffee and a pain au chocolat, hoping he could ask her to talk, but she wasn’t there.

Marinette’s mother was smaller than her and she smiled kindly at everyone. He was just paying for his order when some of his classmates went by outside the shop. He turned his back to them, hoping they wouldn’t notice him and waited until they were gone.

“Uhm, Mme. Dupain-Cheng? My name is Tim. I’m in Marinette’s class. I was hoping I could talk to her?”

“Oh! You must be the new kid she mentioned. I thought I knew all of Marinette’s friends. Just a moment.” She pulled out her phone and sent a message. “She should be down in a minute.”

Marinette appeared a few moments later. “Hey Maman, you said someone was here – oh, hey Tim. Maman, is it okay if we go upstairs?”

“Sure dear. Will Tim be staying for dinner?” her mother asked.

He noted the awkwardness of Marinette’s stance at the question, so rather than forcing her to deny him, he responded, “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

He wasn’t sure if Marinette even wanted him there. He had invited himself over without even asking. He was pushing himself on her. Geez he had a habit of this. He did the same with Dick and Bruce. He did not want to think about what this meant about him as a person, and shelved the thought.

“It’s no-” her mother started to argue.

“Come on Tim!” Marinette interrupted.

As they entered through a trap door to the attic, Tim’s confusion about where she was leading him turned to sensory overload.

So. Much. Pink.

Marinette sat at her desk, motioning for Tim to sit on the chaise. Now that he was there, he wasn’t sure where to start. So, they sat in awkward silence.

Finally, he coughed out, “I wanted to ask you something.”

Way to go Tim. Marinette didn’t even react except to slump her shoulders a bit. It was barely noticeable. If he hadn’t been paying attention, he would have missed it.  

“Yeah, uhm, some stuff about the akumas...” Still no reaction. She must have seen this coming. “…and class.”

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise at that. She did, however, continue to sit in silence, waiting for him to spit it out.

“Uhm, some of the sites mentioned temporary heroes. What happened to them? Do you know?” He was really hoping they hadn’t died.

She let out a deep sigh and resigned herself to discussing something she clearly had no desire to talk about. “The Miracle Queen event. There isn’t a video, but BugOut has a decent summary. Basically, almost all the temporary heroes were exposed, and Hawkmoth saw them. Ladybug retired them so that Hawkmoth wouldn’t go after them. If any are exposed either to the public or to an akuma they are retired. We really don’t talk about identities here – either for the heroes or the akumas – out of respect.”

Tim frowned. That didn’t really make sense.

She must have understood his look, because she continued on. “The akumas are just possessed victims and have no memory of it. They aren’t persecuted and we try to view them as just an extension of Hawkmoth. The heroes, out of respect for what they’ve done. There is a list on the Ladyblog though, of abilities and if their identity is known to the public…” Marinette looked mad at this.

There was a list of the heroes and victims? The more he thought about it, the worse that sounded. Hawkmoth could take advantage of his victims if he knew them better, and if any of the heroes were publicly known, that could be a disaster. They would be targeted, and not just by Hawkmoth. The media would pounce on them. He was definitely looking that up when he got home.

He hadn’t talked to Chloe yet. She seemed to avoid most of the class, aside from Sabrina, who followed her around like a lost puppy. Her attitude reminded him so much of the rich Gotham assholes and socialites that he had to deal with that he had naturally shied away from talking to her. He wasn’t sure what Ladybug had been thinking when she made Chloe a hero.

“Chat Noir said something about being able to swap miraculous, and that they adapt to the person using them… and that you were a friend of theirs… and helped them.”

“Oh he did huh? Stupid cat. I’m not sure about the powers thing, but yes, Chat Noir stops by for croissants sometimes when he’s on patrol. I’d really rather you not tell people he said that. I’m sure you can understand why. He’s going to get an earful if he ever wants another pastry again,” she grumbled.

Okay, so she knew the heroes enough to feel comfortable scolding them. Interesting. She seemed really hesitant to continue. “There’s been… a few times when I’ve had to help out Ladybug or Chat. Evillustrator was focused on me in particular and I went on a ‘date’ with him to get his pen away from him. Chat blew his cover though and got us trapped, and I had to help him get us out of it. I think there’s a summary of it on the Ladyblog. It’s one of the ones with no photos.”

She seemed to have more to say, but clearly was not going to say anything else. Pushing her could ruin his chances of learning more or of being her friend. New topic…

“Can we talk about class? I mean, everyone acts really odd around Lila, even me.”

No response. Awesome. And now she looked like a cornered mouse. Okay, new angle.

“She lies about all kinds of things, and everyone just goes with it.”

She sighed, deep and exasperated. “What did she say now?”

“Is every word out of her mouth a lie? She’s lied about the Wayne family, Jagged Stone, and Ladybug. I’m sure there are more. It’s not just name dropping either, is it?”

“Let me guess, ‘Ladybug is my best friend, I saved Jagged Stone’s cat on an airport runway and have tinnitus. I’m Jagged’s muse and he wrote a song about me.’” She said this in an imitation Lila voice.

He nodded. “Got it in one.”

“And no, it’s not just name dropping. She has a new illness every week, and she convinced the school that she has a ‘lying disease,’ so they just go along with it all. Like, she couldn’t even come up with pathological liar. They never bothered to look it up. The Wayne family is a new one. She must have needed to branch out. What exactly did she say?”

“She said she was going to the Wayne Gala in the next few weeks, but the next one isn’t until Christmas. And when she described the date who invited her, she mixed up details from three of Bruce Wayne’s kids into one person.” Uh oh. She was giving him a suspicious look. He backtracked a bit, “I’m from Gotham, so it was a bit painful to hear.”

She seemed to accept that answer and he wanted to sigh in relief.

“Do we have a test coming up then?”

“Not that I know of. She mentioned it after Mylene brought up some tree planting thing?”

“That would do it. She… tends to make up things out of town when she wants to get out of things. Usually, she just says she has to travel with her mother, but she was likely just trying to impress you. Lila likes to tell people what they want to hear.”

Tim swirled the last of his coffee around, trying to find a nice way to bring up the rest.

“Marinette, I… I overheard some of what Lila said to you in the bathroom. I wasn’t spying on you, I swear. I just heard the end. But she threatened you. Us.”

Marinette had frozen, her eyes trained on the ground.

“Marinette?”

Her voice was sad and resigned when she finally responded a few moments later. “Sorry. She’s only going after you because you were nice to me. You can avoid me from now on. It’ll be easier for you that way.”

She was shutting him out – for his sake. Protecting him.

Tim... was stunned, and not in a good way. “No. Not going to happen. We’re in this together now. And I’d way rather be your friend, than someone like her.”

He paused. Marinette looked like she had the rug pulled out from under her. Even if she didn’t want to be his friend, the vigilante in him couldn’t look the other way.

“Together?” she asked, clearly still dazed. “Friends?”

“I mean… if you want to.”

It hurt how much he wanted her to say yes, rather than shut him out like others had. He had gotten along with the boys in class well enough, but it was so superficial. He wanted a meaningful friendship. One that could last.

“It would paint a target on your back… I couldn’t do that to you.” She sounded like she was trying to get rid of him. It made his heart sink. Someone was putting his wellbeing first, and simultaneously taking away the thing he needed most.

“There will be one there anyways. May as well face it together.” He wasn’t going to change his behaviour, whether Marinette wanted to be his friend or not. He wouldn’t push again if she said no, though. He would just face it alone, like he did everything else.

“I’d… like that. Facing it together, that is.”

She finally looked up at him, and tears were glistening in her eyes, threatening to fall. But she had the biggest smile he had ever seen from her, and it was beautiful. He couldn’t help but smile in return. He needed to make her smile more often. Maybe he could again, after they talked through everything about their situation with Lila. In his excitement, he missed that she had purposely left out being friends.

His smile dropped though, at the thought of what he needed to say next.

“She…” He could not find a nice way to put it. So, he defaulted to interrogation mode. “She’s bullying you. How long has this been going on?” Definitely not appropriate for the situation. Too late now.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” she said flatly. Okay, sarcasm. It was definitely the wrong tact. “I wonder what my first clue should have been? When she threatened to take all my friends away, when she succeeded, when she framed me for pushing her down the stairs, when she tripped me, or when she got me expelled for cheating and stealing? The best though, was when she blamed me for purposely trying to harm a classmate by claiming her arthritis was acting up so she couldn’t get her own food tray. So, I threw a napkin at her, and she claimed I was trying to gouge Max’s eye out with it and she saved him from me. So not only was I apparently trying to harm a classmate, but she rescued them from the evil Marinette. Even if by some miracle a napkin COULD gouge out an eye… Max wears glasses,” she ranted.

Great. What the hell had he stumbled into? “Is that all part of her influence? She’s not an akuma, is she?”

“What? No. Why would you say that?”

“You don’t feel it? When Lila is around, there’s this… pull. I’m not sure how to describe it exactly. She… draws you in, like a moth to a flame. In the morning, the class will converge on her even if they were doing other things. Haven’t you seen that? You want to believe her, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if you have facts that prove otherwise.  It makes you doubt those facts. The farther away I am, the less I feel it.”

“I mean, I’ve seen it, but I’ve never felt a pull or anything like what you describe. Lila’s lies were always obvious to me. I have been wondering if she’s using some other form of magic, or if she’s meta. I was leaning towards meta with how everyone was behaving.”

“Meta would make sense. Her power wanes the farther away you are or the longer you are away from it. Magic would be more permanent than what I’ve felt.” Tim was lost in thought for a while. “Why doesn’t it work on you?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. The other metas I know work on me, though their powers would work differently.”

“What can they do?”

“Juleka’s brother Luka can hear your feelings. He calls it your heart song. And Andre Glacier, the ice cream guy, he can tell who your love is, or well, features about them and their personality, and expresses it in ice cream flavours.”

“So interoceptive or sensing. And Lila’s would be… persuasion? Invasive or influencing.” He paused. “It’d be easier if it were magic. There would be a counter. There isn’t much we can do if she really is meta.”

If it was pheromone based, Ivy could likely cook up some protective, but it would mean a trip home. Admitting to everyone he had given up. And the glaring issue of trying to convince the class to take some potion against meta abilities.

“I’ve just been trying to minimize the damage she causes. Making sure they don’t rely on her for the important things.”

Marinette looked thoughtful for a while, but before they could come up with anything, her mother called them for dinner. “Guess you’re staying for dinner.” She smiled at him. “Coming Maman! Tim will be staying after all!”

She grabbed Tim’s hand and led him downstairs. He stared at their hands the whole way. He really wasn’t used to physical contact outside of sparring or fights. It felt nice.

Her parents were sitting at the table and greeted them with big smiles. Her father was huge. He would give Jason a run for his money. But rather than being intimidating, he greeted Tim with a bone-crushing hug.

“Welcome, son!”

Tim had no clue how to react. Thankfully, his arms were pinned to his side, so he didn’t have to debate if he needed to hug back. This was more affection than Bruce gave him in the span of two years, and that usually required Tim to have almost died first. He typically gave them all pats on the shoulder. It took almost dying to get a hug. His parents had never been particularly affectionate either. It was… nice. Even if he was having trouble breathing.

“Papa, he can’t breathe,” Marinette whined. He was put down though.

Her parents were incredibly kind, and the meal was wonderful, especially after dealing with takeout and his own mediocre cooking after so long. They were very attentive to both Tim and Marinette, and it was obvious they were trying to make him feel welcome.

He couldn’t help but compare his last family meal to this. He knew his adoptive family loved him, but meals were often quiet unless someone was teasing, and teasing tended to end in fights. It often included flying cutlery. With his parents, if they were home at all, usually consisted of stuffy dinners or eating with their housemaid, Mrs. McIlvaine, or he was at boarding school and didn’t see them at all. He wondered how she was doing. He had helped her get back to her home after the majority of Drake Industries had failed. Thankfully Drake Medical subsidiary had survived, and with his earnings at Wayne Enterprises, he had managed to revive it enough to keep it.

This dinner, most of the teasing resulted in Marinette turning various shades of pink as she became embarrassed at random childhood stories her parents told. Most consisted of various situations in which Marinette’s clumsiness led to something they deemed cute and Marinette deemed humiliating. They seemed to respect her boundaries though, as they would stop when she asked.

Tim couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous at their attention and loving family dynamic.

Then came the inevitable personal questions.

“So Tim, what do you want to do after you finish school?” her father, Tom, asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. It was always planned that I take over my father’s company back in the states and follow in his footsteps ever since I was adopted. Now… I guess I just want to take my time and carve out a life I choose.”

“I’m sure you’ll find your way. What does your father do?”

Well, shit. Some form of the truth can’t hurt, can it? “He… runs his own company. It’s branched out over the years as good investments come along. We do a lot of charity work though.”

“You should bring him with you next time you’re over for dinner!” Sabine added cheerfully.

Fuck. “I’m actually here on my own. I’m 18, so it’s not a big deal. I just… really needed to do this for myself.”

Sabine frowned, clearly not happy with his living situation now that she knew. “You’re welcome over here any time. You kids behave, we’re off to bed.”

Marinette was frowning as well, but decided to deflect. They began talking about Jagged and his designer, LBM.

Marinette eventually offered to make him something. “I know it’s not as good as getting on LBM’s email list, but I could make you something if you’d like!”

“That would be amazing, but you really don’t need to,” he insisted. He didn’t want her to think she had to buy his friendship… The offer alone was very touching.

Later their conversation evolved into video games. “Want to play some video games before you head out?”

“Sure – I heard UMS-III is really popular here, do you have that one?” The guys had been playing it the other night, but he hadn’t played much, just a few rounds, choosing to watch until he got the hang of it.

Marinette laughed. “I sure do.”

She got a mischievous grin on her face, and Tim couldn’t help but wonder what he just signed up for. And damn, that smirk was adorable.

An hour later, Tim watched as Marinette did her victory dance yet again. He decided it made losing every match worthwhile.

“Damn.” He wasn’t sure if he was saying that in response to her playing or her dancing. “You’re good. How are you this good?” he tacked on when he realized what he said and how he said it.

“I’m actually the reigning UMS-III champion in France, and the team champion with Max.” A huge blush covered her face. “I probably should have warned you.”

Tim laughed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun. He really didn’t want the night to end, but of course, it did.

~~~~

As Marinette lay in bed that night, she wondered why she was immune to Lila if she truly was a metahuman. “Tikki? What do you think?” she asked.

“I’m not sure Marinette. Metahumans haven’t been around that long, and they definitely weren’t something I made on purpose. My best guess is that the miraculous protects you from invasive metahuman powers because they would upset your balance.”

“So would Chat be immune as well?”

“Maybe? I doubt it would be as strong as yours if he is.”

“It clearly doesn’t help the past holders, so you must need to be actively wearing one to be protected, if this really is what is protecting me,” she mused.

Tikki flew up from the plant she and Pollen were sitting on, and hugged Marinette’s cheek. “So you had a good day today!”

“Yeah. I made a friend. A real human friend. He can see through Lila even without a miraculous! He wants to be my friend even if it means Lila picks on him.” Marinette grinned, the first big grin Tikki had seen on her holder in a long time.

Tikki smiled, observing the starstruck look in Marinette’s eyes. ‘Or more…’ she thought.

She really hoped that Marinette didn’t sabotage this friendship as well with her misguided plan of fading away that Fu had planted in her head all those years before with his talks of secrecy and not trusting anyone, not even loved ones. Knowing Marinette, though, she would be Ladybug first and Marinette second. Tikki silently hoped that Tim was harder to push away than the others had been. Marinette needed someone to remind her that life outside of hero duties existed and was stubborn enough to stick around and shove their way back in her life whenever she felt the need to push them away. Given how he had just barged in and dismantled Marinette’s day with no warning, and forced her to admit the situation with Lila so easily, maybe, just maybe, Tim could do it.  

Notes:

Yes I know Drake Industries tanked. No I don’t care. I fully believe that Drake Medical would have been saved in the process because having a medical supply company tank can be catastrophic. The fact that their personal fortunes were destroyed in the process makes me think they used it to save something. I choose to believe that is Drake Medical, and that Tim runs it now under Drake Industries. They still managed to buy a penthouse (yes, its a downgrade, but still better than most could hope to afford). They can't be as bad off as the comic likes to make readers think by Tim selling his car to get a plane ticket for the maid. Maybe Tim just didn’t have an allowance.

Chapter 10

The next day, when Marinette came into the classroom, the class was mostly there already. Tim watched as she silently went up the stairs, keeping her eyes down for any stray legs to trip her. She didn’t greet him other than her standard smile, and when he went to speak to her, she shook her head slightly in warning. He frowned. She was serious when she said she thought he would become a target and wanted to avoid it.

He followed her home for lunch, buying his lunch there as an excuse in case she got mad at him, or the class asked questions. Her parents let him up into their home, and he joined Marinette at the table. She was drawing something in her sketchbook that she carried with her all the time. He expected her to say something, but she just grinned and patted the chair beside her. They were eating when the radio began playing an XY song. She got up, scoffing at the song, and changed the station until a Jagged Stone song was playing.

“Sorry, I haven’t had a good experience with XY. He stole Kitty Section’s music and the costumes I made for them,” she said in explanation.

“Kitty Section?”

“Juleka, Luka, Rose, and Ivan’s band. Adrien sometimes joins them too.” He knew that already, but he didn’t know she had made the costumes. It hadn’t come up when they had mentioned that some of the class had a band. “They have a good following in Paris, but haven’t really hit worldwide yet. They’ve been waiting until they finish school to branch out. They’ve also had some tension in the group lately, which likely isn’t helping.” She frowned.

“I’m good with you changing it. I’m more of a Jagged Stone fan myself. I love his Ladybug song.”

Marinette smiled. “You a Ladybug fan? Or just a Jagged fan?”

“I’m more familiar with the American heroes and vigilantes, but I suppose I like her over the other heroes here. They both seemed nice when I talked to them, but Chat seems like he doesn’t take it seriously enough.” She hummed in response. He tried to get the topic back on track before she shut down like she did when the heroes were mentioned. “Anyways, Jagged is awesome. His Rock Giant album is definitely his best. Do you have that one? There’s a scented sticker on the cover, which still smells like leather. The designer is brilliant. It sets the mood for the whole album.”

Marinette was blushing. Why was she blushing? “Yeah, I have it. Did you want me to put it on?” As he nodded, she ran off to her room to grab it. When she returned, she skipped to the Ladybug song and placed the case on the table.

“Oh my god, you have a signed copy. Do you know how hard those are to get?” he rambled out excitedly as he grabbed the case to stare at the cover. It was signed by Jagged and the artist, LBM. He blinked, staring at the second signature. “And holy shit, you have the artist’s signature too? How? How did you get this?” he asked incredulously.  

“Uhm, I, Un-Jagged was… in town when it came out and he signed copies for a lot of our class,” she sputtered out, clearly flustered. She had almost expressed it like a question, her tone rising as she spoke.

“That’s amazing. You’re so lucky! And his designer’s signature! How did you get it?”

“It…” Her smile fell a bit, but she continued, “It was on the case when he gave it back after signing it.”

“His designer is the best. I’ve seen all his interviews, and he is constantly raving about LBM. And how cool is that bacronym? Album. And they work a lot with musicians like Jagged and Clara Nightingale, and Jagged said he discovered them, so it totally makes sense with the music angle! It’s brilliant!” He was rambling. He should stop, but Marinette was not looking bored. If anything, she looked a bit starstruck. “My family and I were looking for LBM for ages to try to commission them, but one of Jagged’s interviews said that it’s by referral only, and none of us know any of the known clients. My brother Jason would kill for a leather jacket like Jagged Stone’s. I really wish they would come out with a mass-produced collection so I could buy something.”

He stopped when he realised what he had said. He had given out so much personal information without much thought. How many people in Gotham were there with the name of Tim who had a brother named Jason and a father who had his own business? One. If Marinette spent even a few minutes online searching for him, she would discover it all. But the talk of the rockstar and designer had, thankfully, distracted her.

“Wow. I had no idea you were such a fan of a designer. Are you into fashion, or just anything related to Jagged?”

“I do like to keep up with what’s popular. I love Jagged’s work, and I can’t say I’m a fan of fashion in general, but LBM is amazing.” If he wasn’t wearing a suit, he was usually in a hoodie or a basic t-shirt or button-up. He had been trying to collect more interesting clothes as he traveled, and it had made his interest in fashion in general grow. “I haven’t seen a single thing they’ve made that I haven’t loved. All the Jagged merchandise, the posters and album covers, his Eiffel Tower glasses, and costumes. They post the commissions they make on their social media, and it’s always personalized and unique. There’s always something special that makes it stand out. It’s cutting edge, even on what should be a boring suit. My clos- my father’s closet is full of stuffy suits. We’ve been trying to track down LBM for about two years. No one even seems to know what country they are based out of!”

~~~~

Marinette listened to Tim rant about… well… her. She discreetly pushed her sketchbook to the side as he continued to talk about Uncle Jagged and herself, hoping he didn’t see what she was working on earlier. It had been a new tear-away dress for Clara’s next tour. She’d seen some people praise her work before, but never like this. She tried desperately to keep the blush off her face, but knew she was failing miserably.

He’s a fan of Ladybug! And he loved her designs! She was apparently even known in America. She had no clue her work was so well received over there. She really needed to get that blush under control.

But, UGH she had to lie to him! Well, lie of omission, she really had signed it before Uncle Jagged put his signature on it, so it wasn’t really an outright lie…

He sounded so excited about a signature. She has several extra signed copies of all the CDs she designed for musicians she has worked with… she could just quickly sign one for him…

Huh. A collection sold in stores. That would be easy enough. She hadn’t planned on doing that for a while, but it could work. She didn’t have a manufacturer, but maybe Uncle Jagged’s producer for the shirts and other merchandise could help her… hmm… Maybe a runway show to debut it? Audrey would back it in Style Queen…

She grabbed her sketchbook, swinging it shut, saying, “I’m just going to grab something really quick.” She ran upstairs, grabbed a spare signed copy of Rock Giant and scribbled her designer signature on the cover under her ‘honourary uncle’s.’

When she got back downstairs, she handed it to Tim with a smile on her face. This would hopefully make up for having to avoid telling him the truth.

“Holy shit. You have two signed copies?”

“Not anymore. This one is yours!”

Tim’s mouth dropped open, his eyes blown wide. “No… no way. I can’t accept this!” Her smile faltered. “Marinette, do you have any idea how much this is worth?”

“It’s just a CD, Tim.”

“Just... Just a…” Tim choked out. “Just a CD!?” He actually squeaked. Cute. He reverted to squealing like a pre-pubescent teen going through his voice breaking stage when excited. This was the most emotional he’d been in front of her before. “Marinette, it’s his best-selling album. Signed by him. It’s also the first one done by his designer. And it’s signed. SIGNED! I haven’t heard of LBM signing anything. EVER.”

Marinette was so tempted to shrug. It’s not like she couldn’t make more. But then Tim added, “You could sell this CD for thousands of euros. I can’t take it from you.”

“Wait, what? There’s no way it’s worth that much.” She had figured that with Jagged’s signature it was worth maybe 150 to 200€. He wasn’t a fan of signing things, so there weren’t that many things with his signature on them. She couldn’t be that popular that it would drive up the price to thousands of euros. There’s no way.

“These are the only two known signatures for LBM. Of course they are!”

“Well no, I gave one to Adrien too…” Technically she had signed it for him, and he’d just kept it secret. She thought maybe Alya would have put it together that she was LBM since she knew about the cover, but she never did. She wasn’t the biggest Jagged fan, so it was unlikely she ever would. She probably never even looked at the cover. “If you don’t want it, that’s fine. You can toss it or sell it.”

“Hell no. This is a masterpiece. You can pry it from my cold, dead hands. Thank you so much, Marinette. You really have no idea how much this means to me.” Tim gripped onto the CD as if his life depended on it, tucking it into his chest, as if demonstrating his words.

“I usually prefer being called Marinette, but you can call me Mari if you want,” she blurted out. She felt like smacking herself on the forehead. Why had she just said that? It was so random and off-topic, and it was too forward of her. He would hate it and-

“Okay Mari,” he smiled.

~~~~

They headed back to class after that, grabbing coffee from the bakery as they went, and Tim getting an extra pain au chocolat to go. Tim was completely floored. Marinette. Mari. She didn’t care about money. She didn’t seem obsessed with celebrities. She was his friend. He got to call her by a nickname. He had made a friend here! One who could maybe handle him being a Wayne and a Drake. One that had associated with local superheroes enough to understand the danger. She might be able to handle his biggest secret. Maybe one day he could actually be honest with her.

Running away was turning out to be the best thing he had done for himself since becoming Robin and getting adopted after his parents died. Maybe better.

He had moved from one neglectful family to another. Being Robin had given him more than a few scars – physical and psychological. Although, he could use his Robin skills to protect Mari from akumas, so maybe that wasn’t so bad after all. She did seem to get targeted a lot if the Ladyblog was to be trusted for the first two years.

Shoot, he was supposed to ask her about that today and he got so distracted.

They spent class barely acknowledging one another – as if the whole morning had never happened. After class, he headed to the courtyard for the fencing team tryouts. He grabbed some of the gear and headed out to line up with the other people trying out. People from any year could join, and it was clear that some were still preteens with how short they were.

The instructor, M. d’Argencourt explained some of the basics, such as rules of engagement, proper stances and hand holds. He had two advanced students do a demonstration. They were good. Really good. However, the one in red was clearly superior, winning all three rounds.

After the match, they removed their helms and introduced themselves. Adrien. He was as good as the others had made him out to be. Apparently, he did some international competitions, so that made sense. And Tsurugi Kagami. She was on the Olympic team. Wow. He would get to try out for her practice team! Damian would be jealous.

The top five people would be able to join the team. Any who didn’t make the team were welcome to practice after the main team was done, but would not be taught by M. d’Argencourt. They were assigned ribbons with their first initial to use in an elimination tournament. Those in the top twenty would be able to go against people from the team in a second elimination tournament so that he could gage their skill level. It was surprising how many people had shown up, and not just from his school. Maybe because of Tsurugi-san.

It was clear right away that about half of the students had never tried fencing before. Those who admitted they had never tried before were given a chance to get some pointers. The person beside him was asked if they had ever tried out before and they shook their head. Apparently, they wanted to try out a few years ago, but it was interrupted by an akuma attack. Adrien was working with them, and he showed them proper stance, helping them into position, and they walked through some basic engagements in slow motion, Adrien correcting them when needed.

After that, the tournament began, and Tim was busy taking out his opponents. He made it into the top twenty for the elimination tournament, but they did not do a ranking tournament for them. Surprisingly, so did the person beside him.  Again, he was kept busy and wasn’t given a chance to look over his opponents much for the first two rounds. Now that it was down to the top ten, he would have a chance to actually watch his opponents as they took on the actual team members. His first match in the top ten was with Adrien. He was good. Tim hadn’t had too much experience with fencing as he did with his staff. Still, he held his own, winning one round, and Adrien won the third round with a lucky shot.

“You’re really good! Did you ever compete before?” Adrien asked.

“No, just had some lessons in the past, but nothing like this,” he replied as best he could. How was he supposed to explain that he was trained in every weapon you could name, but never really focused on one in particular outside of his staff?

The person beside him was up with Adrien next. They got into position… and they did not enter into a traditional fencing stance. How on earth did they get this far when they didn’t get the basics? They did not engage in the first round, only defending, allowing Adrien to go on the offensive until he landed a hit. They did seem decent at blocking at least. The second and third rounds, they won in a flurry of movements that Tim had barely been able to track. Adrien lifted his mask, shock written on his face. Tim got the impression he didn’t lose often outside of tournaments and Tsurugi-san. The winner walked over to him and whispered something that made Adrien’s jaw drop.

“M-” he started to say, before the person pushed his mask back over his face. He looked like he wanted to follow them as they went to sit down to await their next turn, but was frozen.

Tim didn’t have much time to process what happened before he got to go up against Tsurugi-san! He likely should have been less excited and more focused, because she won all three rounds, but he held his own, at least for a while. He called it a win in his head. “It was an honour to face you Tsurugi-san,” he stated with a small bow after he lifted his mask. She nodded her head curtly, in a way that reminded him of Damian. Thinking of Damian made him wonder who would win of the two of them. Likely Tsurugi-san, given that Damian usually used a katana, and the fighting style was very different.

The person, ‘M’ Tim had to guess, with a red ribbon who had been beside him, was last to go up against Tsurugi-san. Adrien sat beside him, clearly on edge, his leg bouncing with energy or anxiety. This time, M did not use a weird stance. But once again, M was defensive for the first round, and lost. Tim began to wonder if they used the round to simply observe for weaknesses in their opponent. But they said they had never fenced before, so that made no sense.

Tim, Adrien, and the rest of the team were shocked, though, when Tsurugi-san actually lost the second round. She had left herself open on her right side for a moment. After that, it was clear that she was angry and shocked.

The final round lasted so long Tim was beginning to wonder if they would call it a draw, when Tsurugi-san took advantage of a moment of her opponent’s balance being off, winning the match. Everyone was shocked.

Tsurugi-san threw down her helm. Her opponent lifted up her? HER? mask as well. Hair so dark it shone blue shoved in a ponytail. The girl ran over to the very shocked Tsurugi-san, yelling happily, “Hey Kagami!” before tackling her in a hug.

“Marinette?” Tsurugi-san said in clear disbelief as she returned the hug. “You were quite impressive. I was unaware that you knew how to fence. Had I known, we could have practiced together.”

“I didn’t! Well, I mean we had that tryout where I made that bad call, and you were, y’know… Adrien had shown me the starting stance then, but other than that, nope!”

Adrien seemed to have recovered from his anxiety or shock that he had before the match and came over to both of them. “I’m so proud of you Marinette; you picked that up so fast. You’ve got good reflexes!”

She giggled. Tim barely registered how amazing the sound of her laugh was as he was still in shock. His feet had apparently moved him over to them without his knowledge, as suddenly he was right in front of her. “You’re – That was… amazing Mari.”

“Thanks Tim!” she said with a huge grin, and gave him a hug too.

Once again, Tim found himself astounded. When was the last time he had a real hug from someone who cared? It took him a moment to actually return it. When he did, he realized how incredibly tiny she really was. Shit she was small. His mind went blank again, attempting to process. She ended the hug long before he wanted to.

“I had no idea you could do that. How did you do that? You said you never fenced before.”

“Reflexes? Body language? Honestly, I don’t know.” She turned and headed to the bench to put away her gear.

“Marinette is really good at picking things up quickly.” Adrien grinned. “You should have seen her dancing! She had never danced before, but within a couple minutes we were waltzing around.”

Tim didn’t like the feeling in the pit of his stomach when he heard of her dancing with Adrien. He was also left wondering if Mari was a meta and was hiding it. He found he didn’t care either way. How could he with the diverse backgrounds of his friends? A speedster. An Amazon. Hell, his best friend was a half-alien half-supervillain (ten percent unknown – and he really didn’t want to know how that had happened) clone.

All three of them were watching her still as Mari proceeded to trip over nothing but air on her way to return her gear. Her mask flew out of her hand and landed on the chest of one of the kids who had been eliminated earlier, knocking the wind out of him. Her foil shot forward as well, grazing the person beside them, making the boy’s hair move as it was hit, and wedging itself into one of the cracks between the bricks, despite the safety being on the end. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end, as the boy who was winded shot up, knocking the mask back onto the ground, where it rolled towards Mari, who was still struggling to get her balance. Of course, she tripped on it and went flying towards the ground. All three of them shot forward, but Adrien managed to put on a burst of speed and caught Mari right before her head hit the ground.

“Hey, nice of you to drop in,” Adrien quipped.

“Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.” She looked embarrassed.

“Some things never change,” Adrien laughed at her.

Mari giggled, “I guess not.” Then her face flushed, and she scrambled up clumsily, rushing over to the two who had been impacted and started apologizing multiple times.

“You okay Mari?” Tim asked when she had apologized to the two boys for the tenth time.

“I’m fine! Happens all the time. I’m ma-madly clumsy. I’m so clumsy,” she giggled quietly. “Thanks for catching me, Adrien.”

“No sweat clumsy girl,” he grinned, a tease in his voice.

Adrien looked at her like he was trying to remember something, before smiling. She gave Adrien an odd, analyzing look.

Tim wasn’t sure what to make of the interaction.

“Marinette, we shall celebrate your win with orange juice. Come.” Tsurugi-san grabbed Mari’s arm and looped it around her own, leading her off. “We must make a date to spar with mother.”

“Okay! Bye Tim! Bye Adrien!”

Tim wasn’t sure how to process the flurry of things that just occurred. “… What just happened?” Date? To meet her mom? What? But…

“… My ex and my cr-best friend just ditched us for an orange juice date.” He scratched the back of his head.

“You dated Mari?”

“What? No. I dated Kagami a couple of years ago. We broke it off. My heart was heading in another direction…”

They both continued to stare at the girls as they turned around the corner, arm in arm.

“So are Mari and Tsurugi-san…?”

“Not that I’m aware of. As far as I know she hasn’t dated anyone since Luka,” Adrien frowned. “Marinette is Kagami’s best friend. They do orange juice dates whenever Madame Tsurugi lets her out. Tomoe likes her, which is impressive in itself, though her going to fight Tomoe is definitely new.”

“She’s mentioned Luka before, but never that he was her ex. I haven’t seen him around. Does he go to school here?”

Adrien gave him a suspicious look. “Luka is doing a music degree at a performing arts school nearby. I think they broke up around the same time as Kagami and I did. He gave me the impression it was definitely not his idea. They’re still friends… sorta…”

He scratched the back of his head again.

Nervous tick. Leaving things out or lying, Tim’s mind supplied.

They stood in silence a while, and the awkwardness filled the air. Adrien finally broke it. “Well, see you tomorrow, I guess. Great job today.”

Notes:

Fun fact: a bacronym is an acronym that makes a word with the letters. Like CARES Act or DARE.

Also, I'm tired of the bats somehow not being able to figure out initials for MDC. So from now on, enjoy LBM/MLB (depending on the fic its in) - the two sides of Marinette.

Chapter 11

Notes:

*TW… uhhhh zombie behaviour…… I’m not really sure how to label it. “May gross you out”?????

Tim was lying in bed, wide awake, trying and failing to figure out just what happened today. He went over the interactions for the day, and had come to a painful realization. His behavioural observation and profiling skills worked well with criminals. He could tell a nervous tick or a lie easily. He could tell when someone was mad enough to attack. But he had no clue what happened today. Adrien likely harboured some feelings for Mari.

He wasn’t sure why he felt off today. Mari’s weird ability to fence? It was kind of suspicious… But it really only got awkward after the match. Surprise she was there?

Ugh. He wasn’t sure.

He was spared figuring it out when his akuma alert went off. A quick glance indicated that it was in his arrondissement (again), but there were no details, so this was something new. He was likely to see his second akuma. Most attacks had occurred in other arrondissements since he moved, but historically they had been centered around his location.

Deciding he would rather take his chances outside than have his bedroom destroyed again with him in it this time, he put the Kevlar layer of his Red Robin suit on and covered it with a jacket, stashing a few items from his belt in his pockets, including his bo staff.

He did not like being taken by surprise last time.

On his roof, he was suddenly very glad he did. Zombie-esque minions were entering homes down the street and coming out with more minions. He watched in genuine horror as a man and his child attempted to run away from a mob of zombies a block away. He was close enough to see the fear on the man’s face, but far enough that there was no way he could fight his way over in time to help.

Tim was forced to watch helplessly as the zombies surrounded the man and began eating him alive until the magic overtook him, and he became a zombie himself. He then turned to the child he had been shielding and began to devour the little girl. She was only a baby.

Tim attempted to resist the urge to puke, and failed miserably. ‘Yeah, that is going to become a recurring nightmare,’ he thought.

Chat Noir and Ladybug were nowhere to be seen, so he retreated a block by running across the rooftops. He could handle a few, but there were already dozens headed in his direction.

He attempted to distract himself from the gruesome images that were already haunting him by thinking that the people that were preparing for a zombie apocalypse weren’t so far off after all.

‘I’m never teasing Jason about being a zombie again,’ he thought bitterly.

Suddenly, he was yanked off his feet from behind.

He was about to fight back when he saw the red and black suit. Looking back, he saw that the spot where he was previously standing was covered in a smoldering, green sludge. He had almost died. Or turned into a minion. And he had not seen it coming.

It also meant he could see the akuma following them. He told Ladybug this, but just as he expected her to swing to another roof, she stopped abruptly. They were surrounded. In the distance, Chat Noir was attempting to fight his way through the zombie minions.

“Argh! I hate nightmare akuma!” Ladybug yelled. She whipped her yoyo around, knocking the first row of minions on the roof down before whipping it around to block an attack with her ‘shield.’

He extended his bo staff with a snap. She needed help now. Her partner was way too far away to help. Looked like he was stepping back into the hero world, whether he liked it or not. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can. You just do your thing.”

She frowned, but nodded and launched herself toward the akuma. As he walked forward to create a bigger space for Ladybug to work in without having to worry about him becoming collateral damage, he wondered vaguely how his life had actually gotten weirder since leaving Gotham. Between the insanity that was Gotham Rogues, the Teen Titans, and Young Justice, he figured nothing could top it for bizarre villains or powers. As he knocked the first two zombies back, he realized that Paris definitely had them all beat.

Thankfully, the zombies were very movie stereotypical, slower moving and unintelligent. Given the size of the roof they were on, he thought he may actually be able to hold the line he made for Ladybug so long as he wasn’t bitten.

After a few minutes, Chat Noir swiped down a row of zombies for him with his baton before leaping over to Ladybug, giving Tim a momentary breather. The number of zombies had increased, and Tim was starting to get very tired. This meant he was starting to get sloppy.

He couldn’t hold out much longer.

He was about to warn the heroes that his line was breaking when thousands of tiny ladybugs flew past him, returning everyone to normal and whisking them away to wherever they were before they were turned. Tim dropped to his knees in exhaustion.

“You were pawsome!” Chat Noir said excitedly from right behind him. He hadn’t realized they had come so close in the fight. He had lost more ground than he thought. “I’ll take Chris back and remind him not to watch scary movies right before bed again. Bien joué!” He held out his fist. Ladybug joined him. But rather than splitting up, they both just looked over at Tim.

“Me?” They both nodded. “Bien joué.” He couldn’t help but smile. He may not be part of their team, but they included him in their team ritual.  Chat Noir did a two-finger salute before taking off.

“You look tired. Let me give you a lift home.”

He was about to decline, when he saw just how far Ladybug had carried him. He was in for a good half an hour walk. So, he nodded, feeling a little loss of his dignity as the tiny bug hero grabbed his waist and lifted him like he weighed nothing, and zipped off faster than he ever could with his grappling hook.

As she ran along a roof, she grabbed his attention. “I- we- really couldn’t have done it without you today. Chat was right. You were amazing out there. I’m not sure I could have held all of them off. You saved us all. Thank you.” She landed on his rooftop and put him down. “Gosh, I never got your name! How rude of me.”

Oops. “Tim. Tim Johnson.” He held his arm out for a handshake, but Ladybug gave him a quick peck on his cheek.

“Goodnight, Tim. Thanks again!” She took off before he could say anything.

Tim was left wondering once again how his life has flipped so upside down since leaving Gotham. Was that an American kiss on the cheek? A bisou? Or was it a bise? What did it mean?!

~~~~

Marinette was shocked to say the least. Tim, a civilian, held off all the dream-zombies long enough for her and Chat to finish off the akuma. It was impressive. It was brave. He had radiated confidence, and made her feel safe that he had her back. As much as her Chaton did.

How had he learnt that? It was amazing.

She had picked up the odd weapon skill here and there and watched tutorials online, but classes were rare in Paris. She had taken all the self-defense classes she could, but none offered weapons training other than formal sports like fencing. It was why she had signed up in the first place. She just hoped she could use it to some degree for other swords, like the one Longg provided. She knew it wasn’t the same, but it was better than nothing. Kagami seemed to use some of her fencing training when she was Ryuuko, so maybe she could too.

Her mother had taught her some bo staff handling and martial arts, but she needed to branch out and get better, especially if she was forced to wield Plagg again. She really needed to get better with the other miraculous weapons, since she was now using them fairly regularly, combining them with Mullo.

More than anything, she really needed new temporary heroes! All her old ones had either been discovered or turned against her.

‘…Nope not the time for that meltdown again,’ she thought.

Maybe she could talk Tim into teaching her. But how would she bring it up?

~~~~

Tim was sore in the morning. Really sore. And tired! He didn’t have any injuries left from the pseudo-zombies, but apparently the miraculous cure did not impact general muscle fatigue. He hadn’t felt this tired in months. He hadn’t trained or patrolled since he left the manor, and it showed last night (to him at least; the heroes seemed to think he did okay).

Tim decided he really needed to find a gym while he discreetly got the stuff for his apartment. It would be annoying not having private training areas and having to hold back, but it would be better than the nothing he was doing now. Mari had mentioned a few classes she had done, maybe she could give a recommendation while he made his own training area in the apartment.

As he got up and grimaced at the coffeemaker, he decided that he would never let anyone call him a sleep-deprived coffee zombie again after fighting the ‘real’ thing. Not even as a joke. It was no longer funny. Watching people be eaten alive until they died of trauma or blood loss, only to turn on their families the moment they died was just… too much. He would never lose those memories. It was easier to watch it as a video, to distance himself from it just a bit, but another entirely to be at ground zero. He thought his time with the Titans would be enough to prepare him, but it really, really wasn’t. Visions of children being eaten alive by their parents swam through his head again.

How the hell had Paris been living like this for years? How did Ladybug and Chat Noir deal with this? Hell, how did Mari? She lived down the street… she would have been caught in it… Unbidden visions of her being attacked swam in his mind.

Oh fuck. He tried his hardest not to puke…

Tim walked to school, and for the first time since leaving the manor, he wondered if he went to the right place. Gotham had horrors, yes, but never on a scale like this. Never as completely gruesome and nightmare inducing as this. Maybe he should move to a new city entirely. Research crime and villains in the area first, rather than going on a whim based on overheard conversations.

Marinette entered then, and he remembered. He had a friend. He was not alone. A real friend not forced together by hero duties, dysfunctional families, or crazy adrenaline rushes in life-or-death situations.

He couldn’t abandon her. Maybe he could protect her, even just a bit. He could protect her and take her away from attacks so she wouldn’t have to see the gore. She had a beautiful smile and far too much abuse and trauma as it was. He didn’t want her to lose that smile. He didn’t want to lose HER.

Mari had two cups with her. “Green tea with ginger to settle your stomach.” She gave a small smile. She looked as terrible as he felt. She also handed him a few slices of a baguette with butter. “I find it’s easier to start with the tea and baguette. Helps with the akuma that are more…” She couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.

He worried about what she witnessed last night, but couldn’t find the heart to ask her.

She had thought of him this morning, and brought him something to help, without asking or even talking to him. She had just… known. Not for the first time he found himself thinking, ‘she is so kind and thoughtful.’

He was halfway through his second slice of baguette when he heard Alya say loudly, “Did anyone see that guy helping Ladybug? He didn’t even have a miraculous, and totally watched their backs! So cool. Wish I knew who he was – I would love to get an interview!”

“Ooou maybe it was a tryout to be a temporary hero,” Rose chimed in.

Kim added, “He was using a staff just like Chat was, maybe they were teaching him!”

Tim realized then that he was caught on film during the attack holding off dream-zombies. He quickly pulled it up from Alya’s blog. It was a video Alya had done from a rooftop a block over and was primarily focused on Ladybug, but he was definitely in it, and there was speculation on her blog about who he was, despite not having a mask on or any vigilante gear.

He had wanted to look like a normal person just trying their best to help, but when the situation got serious, all the pretending and holding back he was doing faded into doing what was necessary to survive.

The video was done on her cell phone, and was grainy when you zoomed in to his face. This was the only thing protecting his identity – a crappy cell phone camera.

Tim wondered if his family might be able to find him. It may not show his face, but they knew his fighting style. They would recognize it. The media block was likely to cause them issues if they ever thought to look in France, and the additional Paris block for anything related to Hawkmoth was likely to make it so the video wasn’t found unless they knew to look using a Paris IP address.

Ironically, moving to Paris added extra layers of protection from his family finding him that he had never anticipated. Were they even looking? Did they ever look for him? They probably did, they always liked to know everything about everyone. They likely gave up by now, so he should be safe.

…Safe?

Was he really scared they would find him? If they did, would they drag him back, or just leave him alone? Would they want him around, or just need him for extra manpower? Would they even contact him if they did find him? Was he now a security risk as far as they were concerned?

They would probably drag him back just so they could ensure he wasn’t a security risk. He knew too much after all. Maybe he would end up in a cell in the watchtower or the Batcave until he agreed to come back. That sounded like something Bruce and Damian would do.

He would lose his life here. He would lose Marinette. They would make him cut ties.

Lila piped in, “Oh I know him so well, he’s a great friend. I would totally talk to him about it, but he said he didn’t want to do an interview because he was too shy. I could always pass on a message for you.” The class clamored to pass messages on to… him.

“Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! He was in Ladybug’s way!” Chloe argued. Sabrina patted her on the back… but passed Lila a note to give to the mysterious person.

It wasn’t the first time he had heard Chloe wax poetic about Ladybug. He was pretty sure she harboured a hero’s crush on her. It happened a lot, especially in the hero community. Jason, for example, had had a very well-known crush on Wonder Woman for a while. Damian had been teased for a bit about having one on Supergirl. They usually faded as they got to know the hero better. He had harboured a bit of one himself for Superboy before he got to know Kon really well. Now they were the best of friends. Then there was his murky history with Steph…

Mari turned to him and quietly said, “Whoever he is, he really is amazing. Protecting the heroes and risking himself. He’s a true hero. And he was so good with his bo staff. Maman taught me, but there’s no way I’m as good as him. I wish there was some way I could thank him for saving us all.” She was staring straight into his eyes as she said it.

He wondered briefly if she knew it was him.

“Watching him makes me want to learn more. I wish there were more classes to take, or someone who could teach me. There aren’t any other than self-defense and the odd thing like the fencing club here. I think they eliminated them when the request for heroes to stay out came out. I wish he could teach me.”

‘Oh yeah. She knows,’ he thought. She must recognize him on the video. Maybe this was another way he could protect her. Teach her to defend herself. “I was thinking about going to the gym a few times a week. Do you want to join me? I know some self-defense. We could learn together.”

“Really?! I’d like that!” She smiled, a small blush on her cheeks.

He has finished his tea and baguette slices now. “Feeling better?” she asked.

He nodded, and she handed him a giant tumbler of coffee and a brioche that had been stuffed in her bag. So much for his almost normal human being caffeine levels. After last night, and all the research he had been doing, it had slowly been creeping back up. That almost healthy habit was now destroyed. He felt a bit disappointed in himself, but nothing like the creeping feelings of worthlessness at failing something that he usually felt.

Maybe finding himself hadn’t been so bad after all, as living in Paris seemed to stem off the worst of it, no matter how many troubles it came with.

They talked about the gyms, and eventually picked one that was nearby but has all the equipment Tim would need. He would check it out after school today, and they could start tomorrow. Lila regularly glared back at them. They hadn’t spoken out against her and weren’t trying to divide the class’s attention, so she seemed to let it slide after a while. Tim sent her a wide, fake smile.

After class, Tim headed over to the gym. It was a 20-minute walk from the school. He was used to having a full gym in his house, and frowned at this, but could not reasonably set up much in his apartment aside from the basics fast enough for them.

~~~~

Jason was fed up. Babs had found nothing online that could help. He hated doing research and tended to leave it up to the others. Tim was nowhere to be found, and none of them seemed willing to do what was necessary to get the information out of the Rogues to see if they really had him. If someone like Joker had Tim, they couldn’t guarantee that he would ask for a ransom. He may be torturing him for fun. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Harley and Ivy claimed to know nothing about Tim. The Joker had been unusually quiet. It was time to hunt the fucker down to see if he had the Pretender.

After several weeks, he had finally found him in a warehouse. Of course, it was a fucking warehouse. It seemed like he was gearing up to plan something big, so it looked like he could kill two birds with one stone. As much as he despised working with demon brat, as he tended to be far too literal or was a sarcastic twat (not that Jason wasn’t, or all of them, really), he was the least likely to have an issue with Jason’s preferred methods of interrogation for the Joker, and the least likely to have a problem if those interrogation methods ‘accidentally’ went too far. Hopefully he would be the closest on patrol.

“Requesting backup for warehouse on east-side. Looks to be a weapons run.” Close enough to the truth.

“On my way. ETA 7 minutes,” Robin replied.

Well that worked out. He observed while he waited. Five henchmen plus Joker. Another two at the front entrance. It would give the gremlin enough cleanup to do while he had his ‘chat’ with Joker. Robin landed next to him, and Red Hood motioned to switch off their comms. He knew Robin would not cooperate without getting the information first.

“We need to have a chat with Joker. See if he knows anything about Timmy. Five inside, two out front. Looks like he’s planning something, so it’ll save us time later to stop it now.”

Robin scowled. “So you want to possibly give Joker the information that Red Robin is missing.” His remark was meant to be biting, but Jason could hear the undertone of concern for Tim. It was common knowledge now that Tim was missing. It had been impossible to keep the press from knowing about it after he had been missing from work for so long.

“No. Tim. I know what I’m doing brat.”

“Tt. Fine. But if you mess up, I will inform father.”

They both turned their comms back on for the fight, just in case they needed help, and would turn them off later for the interrogation. Robin headed to take out the two guards outside as Hood entered through a window in the back. Fifteen minutes later, Robin was securing the last of the men, and Hood had Joker tied to a water pipe that ran to the ceiling.

It turned out that the baby Robin had been the right one to take along after all. His anger that Tim was missing needed an outlet, and Joker was the perfect one. If B ever found out what they did, they would both be benched for a month.

“Where is Tim Drake?”

“Brucie’s boy? Now why would I want to tell you that?” Joker mocked them with his nasally voice.

Robin’s katana went to his throat.

He swallowed hesitantly once. “Ah.”

“Where is Drake?”

Joker didn’t reply. Robin punched him hard on the cheek.

“What do you know about Tim Drake’s disappearance?”

Silence.

Red Hood shot him in the shoulder on the side away from Robin. He used rubber bullets - it wouldn’t kill him - as much as Hood wished it did.

Several bullets, a few more punches, and a ‘slipped’ katana or two later, Joker finally decided to do something other than laugh. “Joke’s on you boys. I don’t know!”

“You must know something. We’ll give you what you want for the information.”

“HA ha HA.” Hood shot him again in the stomach. “Ughn. What could I possibly want from the Bat Brats?” he gasped out.

“To live.”

He aimed his gun point blank at the Joker’s head – right at his left eye. The katana returned to Joker’s throat. At this range, the shot would kill him, rubber bullet or not. If he tried to dodge, he would slice his own throat.

“Okay boys, settle down,” he tried to placate them. “Still can’t take a joke? Tsk tsk. I don’t know where he is. No one does. It wasn’t us. Maybe he just got sick of being treated like a workhorse by Brucie. How long did it take him to notice he was missing? Two months? Ha ha. Good for the brat. What’s that old saying? You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

Hood ditched his gun. He punched Joker as hard as he could, knocking him out cold, and yelling in frustration. “Call it in, Robin.” He headed to the roof while he waited for the cops to get there.

A few weeks later found Red Hood and Robin once again pushing their morals as they tracked down every major player not currently in Arkham Asylum or Blackgate Penitentiary. Most of Gotham appreciated this proactive approach to hunting down the Rogues. Mad Hatter had nothing. Black Mask knew nothing, but Hood enjoyed having an excuse for beating the shit out of him.

Riddler caused the most frustration for both of them, as he only answered in riddles that indicated that even if he knew something, he wouldn’t say. Robin had injected fear toxin into Riddler towards the end. Hood didn’t want to know where he got it from, and decided not to ask as they listened to him scream and admit that he really, truly did not know.

Somehow, they managed to keep their search secret from Batman. They weren’t entirely sure how. For some unknown reason, none of the Rogues ratted them out.

Someone, somewhere had to know where Tim was. And they would beat it out of them if they had to.  

 

Notes:

So.... no updates for a while as I've got IRL stuff for the next month or two.
Oh and have a moodboard title I made when I didn't feel like writing. I'm going to add it to Chapter 1 too (so if you're seeing it twice, that's why)
Cheers,
<3 Izzy

Chapter 12

Rumours of the ‘mystery hero’ continued throughout the next day, but no one had figured him out, aside from Marinette. He still wasn’t sure how she had done that when no one else had. Adrien had given him a pat on the shoulder when he had come in that morning, but he had also done the same with Nino, so he wasn’t sure that meant anything. Tim decided to call it a win. He could relax.

Adrien, Tim and Marinette walked together to Mme. Mendeleiev’s class. Adrien told a story that it was very clear that Marinette wished was forgotten. She was beet red as Adrien told it fondly. “On one of the times I snuck away, my fans chased me all over Paris. All I wanted to do was watch the movie my mom was in! I ran into Marinette on the way to the theatre. She helped hide me and gave me a disguise and everything. She dropped her plans to help me.”

“Oh yeah, one of my more embarrassing memories. Caught in my pajamas running around Paris with my swim goggles and towel on my head and hiding in the fountain. Published for all of Paris to see.”

“Why were you in your pajamas?”

“Heh. I woke up late to meet a few of the other girls at the pool and ran out of the house without thinking. Had I known I was going to have my picture plastered all over Paris, I would have worn something cute.”

“But it was! I never knew they were pajamas until you said something about it.” Adrien pulled up the photo from his social media feed from five years ago. A tank top and pants. Definitely more casual than Mari wore, but not nearly as embarrassing as she made it out to be. The towel and goggles, however, were hilarious. He couldn’t help a bit of a chuckle escaping him, which earned both Adrien and himself being smacked gently on the arm in retaliation.

They reached Mme. Mendeleiev’s classroom and went to take their seats, only for Marinette to trip on a bag in the aisle and knock her head on the side of the table. The resulting chaos was something Tim thought only happened in animes. Her fall sent her metal coffee thermos flying into Adrien’s forehead and fell onto the desk nearby, before bouncing over and hitting Alix in the elbow. She had been preparing her station for class, and her beaker was knocked over, spilling all over the counter. As Alix jumped back, she knocked over her seatmate Rose, whose hand grabbed for the first thing she could reach to balance herself… the Bunsen burner control.

Thankfully, the chemical was not caustic. Unfortunately, it was highly flammable. After a few moments of the entire table blazing, the fire suppression system kicked in, spraying the entire class and ruining everyone’s chemicals they were to work with. The fire still wasn’t out, so Mme. Mendeleiev had to run forward and extinguish it. Marinette, Adrien, Alix and Rose were covered in the extinguisher foam that ricocheted off the table or sprayed out the sides. Tim went over and helped Mari up, and then checked her and Adrien for signs of a concussion. They both seemed fine, though Mari looked embarrassed.

“Dupain-Cheng, that was impressive… even for you,” Chloe quipped.

“Marinette, if you wanted attention, this was not the way to get it. Alix and Rose could have been seriously hurt because of your actions,” Lila reprimanded. “And poor Adrien! You could have damaged his face!” Most of the class was nodding in agreement.

Marinette ran from the room, tears starting to form.

“That is enough everyone. It seems we will not be doing our experiment today. Please review the material for next class and catch up on any remaining homework you have for the rest of the period,” Mme. Mendeleiev stated. “Everyone, you may go change. Your gym clothes will be acceptable if you do not have a change here. And I need a volunteer to check on Marinette.” The unsaid ‘to make sure she isn’t akumatized’ was clear. She sighed and turned off the deluge that was quickly drenching everyone and everything.

“I’ll go,” Tim spoke up right away. It would be a disaster if Lila volunteered. It was clear she was about to raise her hand too.

He ran to the girls’ bathroom and knocked. “Mari? You in there?” Thankfully, she came out. Her eyes were red from crying, but her emotions were calm, even if she clearly wasn’t happy now. One minute. It was impressive. And scary to see in person.

They sat down on a bench in the courtyard rather than return to class after she changed, and they looked over her social media posts together. Most of them were fashion related or memes lately. She seemed to avoid older posts, as they tended to include her classmates. He really needed to get to the bottom of that. Was it just Lila? Had something else happened?

“Hey Tim, can I add you on whatever social media site you use?” Mari asked with a sniffle. Well shit. He had to come up with something for his cover.

“Uhm, I don’t actually have one since I moved. I could make one though.”

Mari wanted to name his account ‘TimmyTime’ but Tim wanted something that wouldn’t be traced back to him. Together they chose ‘IAmCoffee.’ He was quickly followed by Marinette, Adrien and Kagami. With them came follows from most of the rest of the class. Neither Adrien nor Kagami posted much. Kagami posted only fencing information on tournaments and results, but did reply on her friends’ posts.

Adrien tended to post puns and cat memes, but also had an official account for Gabriel which he did not actually control. Apparently, his fans would message it and could get creepy. He had a bodyguard that dropped him off and picked him up from school, and whenever he left the house, his bodyguard was present. His fans would stalk him and chase him around town.

She leaned into his side, putting her head on his shoulder to make it easier to see the phone together. He blushed a bit at first, but was truly content in the moment, learning more about her life and interests. They had a similar sense of humour and laughed at several of the memes she posted. He felt happy that he could cheer her up.

Despite the chaos of a few minutes earlier, this moment was perfect. His perfect ‘just a teen’ moment, looking over silly stuff on the internet, huddled in close with a friend as they shared a screen.

But now he was wondering what his family was doing back in Gotham. He knew his family had so many followers from all over the world, that him following them likely would go unnoticed, but made his IP and account bounce back to a Metropolis location just in case. Wondering if he would regret it later, he followed them. He didn’t dare look at the posts now.

~~~~

Dick had placed missing persons reports throughout Gotham and had circulated them throughout the states to every police station he could contact on the Eastern Seaboard. He had made posts on every social media platform he had, begging followers for information, and had commandeered the WE PR department to do the same. His normally chipper mood was soured easily. He wanted his brother back.

Jason and Damian were out every night searching the city but never had anything to report. No one saw that team-up coming, not that they hadn’t in the past. Jason was explosive at best, Damian was ruthless, and both were highly impulsive and defiant. Dick had heard rumours of Hood and Robin bringing in Rogues more roughed up than they should have been. He decided to blatantly ignore it unless the rumours got worse.

Cass and Steph had returned to Gotham and taken over regular patrols, as Jason and Damian couldn’t be counted on to be on their route. Steph was mad that no one had noticed Tim was missing, and no one dared be in the same room as her if they wanted to spare their eardrums. Their awkward attempting to date phase aside, she saw Tim as being failed by everyone living at the manor. Cass ignored most of them if she wasn’t glaring.

Babs was frustrated. Months of searching for Tim and not a single result. She practically lived at the computer now, running every search function she knew of and facial recognition of every airport or public transit she could get access to in the US. She couldn’t figure it out. His car was still there, no rental company had picked up on facial recognition, airports had nothing, and public transit out of Gotham was negative.

Alfred kept trying to be encouraging and reassuring them that Tim would be found.

Bruce would only scowl at everyone when their progress updates were negative. He never asked outside of briefings. Bruce was in a terrible mood and had started to take it out on them all. Everyone avoided him as much as possible and he was spending more and more time at WE.

It was clear. Bruce had given up hope.

This managed to piss off both Damian and Jason more than ever, as well as Dick, as it reminded Jason of when Bruce had given up on him, and Damian couldn’t help but see the divide once again between how Bruce treated Damian, who he had never given up on and had hunted his corpse down, and how he had treated Jason and now Tim. He did not want to admit that it bothered him because he loved his idiotic siblings. It also dredged up their concerns about abandonment and disapproval, and Dick had some wonderful flashbacks about being ‘fired’ from his own hero persona. Damian may feel superior to his siblings and his place as his father’s heir pointed out regularly, but he was nothing if not loyal. Dick, Jason and Tim, annoying as they were to Damian, had his back, and he had theirs. How was he supposed to do that when he didn’t know where Tim was?

~~~~

After school, Tim and Mari made their way to the gym. She hadn’t approached him about learning anything in particular since their initial conversation, but she had made it obvious she wanted to learn more self-defense. He wasn’t sure how to bring it up that he could actually teach her anything if they gained weapon access, without it looking like he was Red Robin. He would have to stick to hand-to-hand and the bo staff she clearly knew about unless she specifically asked.

Passes for the gym were ridiculously expensive, and he wasn’t sure Mari could afford it. The school they attended had a steep enrollment fee, and her parents owned a bakery. No matter how amazing it was, there was no way it would make that much expendable income. When he had gone to the gym the other day, he had paid for both of their memberships. He hoped she wouldn’t be mad. Once they had signed the paperwork about safety and liability, Mari went to pay for hers, only to find that it was already done.

“You paid for me?” He nodded warily. “…Why?” Her tone was flat. He couldn’t figure out if she was happy or pissed. He guessed his answer would determine that.

“It was my idea to go to the gym in the first place. And they’re expensive. It didn’t feel right to make you foot that cost.” She was frowning. His voice lost its confident tone. “And... I wanted to do something nice for you... and spend time together?”

She gave him a small smile. So… insulted he paid, but maybe happy about spending time together?

He quickly realised that between Mari being so observant and the other patrons nearby, he could not work out even remotely close to his limit like he was used to. Having to hide his abilities made it hard to get what he needed out of the gym, but it was still better than nothing. If anyone noticed that he lifted more weight than you would expect, or ran longer on the treadmill, no one said anything.

Mari seemed to want to push herself by doing the same as him, but he talked her into starting with lower weights until she was used to it. She did keep up with him on the treadmill, which was impressive. She joked that running to school every morning for years and running from akuma helped.

Actually, she was really fit in general, now that he looked, or, well, stared. Thankfully, she didn’t notice as he gawked at her. Not that he was the only one. Two guys on the other side of the gym stared far too long for Tim’s comfort while she was on the treadmill. It did make him stop and focus though, as he didn’t want to be a creep like them. Mari was blissfully unaware.

Finally, he had to broach the reason why she was coming along in the first place. “Mari? What exactly do you know for self-defense?”

“I took the women’s defense course offered here, as well as the krav maga one. I took a parkour class and capoeira class during summer a year ago at a gym across town, but that got cancelled when the instructor left after a really nasty akuma attack that focused on his family. Maman taught me bo staff, but she said she never got far in it, and I would need an actual teacher for the rest. Classes here were regularly cancelled because of akumas, so I’m sure I haven’t learned as much as it sounds like, and it would be basics at best.”

Okay, so she should be able to fight and defend herself more than most. She had already proven she had a strong (okay more than strong) ability to read body language and copy moves. Given the capoeira and krav maga her fighting style was likely more like Nightwing or himself than, say, Robin or Red Hood. She likely wasn’t giving herself enough credit, unless her teachers were awful.

It turned out that she did have some awful instructors. They started with a punching bag. Mari could punch, but was not distributing her weight properly. Then they moved on to the self-defense. No one had bothered to teach her how to fall properly so she didn’t get as hurt. Alternatively, she could do some more advanced skills properly when showing off her krav maga and capoeira. They decided to just work their way up, though with how Mari picked it up, he knew those odd gaps would be fixed quickly.

Once again Tim was forced to wonder if Mari was actually a meta. It was just too easy for her to pick up. And while she could respond to verbal instructions on how to fix her stance, showing her or helping her move into it was notably faster. Tim didn’t care either way, despite Bruce’s aversion to working with magic and metas in Gotham not already on his team, and was just happy that it meant Mari would be able to protect herself sooner. And if he had to get in close and help her into position while they were both a blushing mess, well, that wasn’t so bad either.

~~~~

Two sessions later, and Marinette was making excellent progress. They had decided to watch a movie at her place after their workouts.

Tim was flourishing in his new environment. Not going out nightly to fight crime and finding himself and someone who cared about him had been everything he needed. His apartment was getting closer to being finished so that he could work out discreetly. It was a longer process than he had hoped for, given the major construction needed and getting the equipment delivered quietly.

He and Marinette were spread out on the couch, their heads bent together instead of on the pillows when the akuma alert went off in the middle of a scene where the male lead was about to reveal that he had feelings for the lead woman.

“I’m just… just going to go to… get something! Yeah. Uh. Something warmer! I’ll be back in a bit. Don’t wait up!” Marinette stumbled backwards through the room as she rushed through her excuse. She should have just said she wanted to be alone for a while. She didn’t need to pretend with him.

Tim turned on the fight, which was being broadcast on several stations as well as the Ladyblog. It was a tricky one, with no visible akumatized object. Looked like they were all in for a long night. The only saving grace was that it was across town, so unlikely that he and Marinette would be impacted.

After twenty minutes, however, Tim started to get worried. Not about Ladybug and Chat Noir, but rather about Marinette. He was trying to give her some space, but she had been gone a long time. Maybe she needed someone there for emotional support…

He ascended the stairs to the trap door and knocked.

No answer. He sat on the stairs for a bit longer, but he didn’t hear anything. Had she passed out? Was she okay?

He finally decided that he should check on her. He knocked one last time with no answer before he entered her room.

He felt a bit bad about it, but he would make it up to her, somehow.

Movement above him caught his attention. Was she on her bed?

The escape hatch to the roof opened and he moved to greet her. She must have the lights on bright, as they shone bright as the door was opened. It dimmed, and down came Marinette, looking relieved.

“Hey, uhm. I tried knocking, but you must not have heard…” Tim explained lamely. “Are you okay?”

“Yep!” she responded cheerfully, though it seemed a bit forced. She was physically tense. He probably shouldn’t have gone in her room, no matter how concerned he was. “Let’s go finish that movie!”

Things were a bit awkward for about ten minutes after they hit play again, but it wasn’t long before Marinette was huddled up beside him on the couch, and they were sharing the popcorn together again. She was fairly silent for the rest of the night, and wasn’t as talkative during her favourite parts as she had been prior to the attack.

Tim had a feeling he had missed something. Was there some trauma that she was avoiding telling him about?

~~~~

Tim typically did his homework from the previous class in the next class he was in, just so that he wouldn’t be bogged down with it by the time he went home. Too many hours of lost patrols had made him become efficient with his schoolwork.

Marinette wasn’t as efficient, but she was better at chemistry than almost anyone he had seen. It surprised him, given she hadn’t really indicated spending a lot of time on it. She just seemed to understand it intuitively. On one particular assignment, they had to do a lab experiment using everyday materials to see how they would interact with chemicals provided by Mme. Mendeleiev. He was suddenly glad she was his partner.

Her physics and biology were not nearly as strong. He ended up helping her in biology, a strong suit for him, particularly after all of the failed cloning background he had.

Tim quickly considered Marinette his best friend. Well, in Paris at least. Kon was too, but his and Marinette’s friendship hadn’t been formed out of team dynamics and necessity. He cherished it in a different way. He hadn’t realised how much he missed having regular school friends.

As she was finishing with her last page of biology homework, Tim received a group text from Kim.

Kim: Come hang out with us at the park tomorrow

Tim: The park?

Max: Kim has insisted that he is faster than a kayak. We are going to test it.

Kim: I’ll beat Nino in his boat

Adrien: 20 Euro you don’t

Nino: 5

Kim: Youre on

There was no way.

                Tim: Is everyone going?

Should he be inviting Marinette? Was it a class thing or just a guys thing? It was the class boys group chat.

                Max: Just us

“Hey Mari, were we planning to do anything tomorrow?” he asked. He didn’t want to ditch her if she had thought they had plans.

“Nope. I was going to go to Kagami’s house. Is something up?”

“The guys want me to join them for one of Kim’s bets.”

Marinette laughed. “Have fun.” Her eyes had never raised from her paper.

Tim: I’ll be there. Put me down for 5 for Kim

There was no way Kim would win, but everyone else had bet against him, and Tim didn’t want him to feel bad.

~~~~

“Go Kim!”

“Yeah, Nino!”

Tim watched the race, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it. Kim was fast, to be sure, but there was no way he would outswim the boat. As everyone cheered excitedly, regardless of how far Kim lagged behind, Tim couldn’t help but feel lonely.

He was surrounded by a group of people he could consider friends, or at least friend-ly, but he couldn’t help but feel something was missing.

He found himself wishing that he had gone with Mari to Kagami’s instead.  

~~~~

Two days later the whole class had planned to get together for swimming at the pool.

Marinette had promised that she was coming this time, and would meet him there. Tim arrived early, knowing that there was no way Marinette would ever arrive anything other than late, but not wanting to take the chance.

Only Kim and Ondine were there before him, as they had swim practice right beforehand.

Tim watched as his classmates trickled in to swim. Adrien hadn’t been allowed to come, to the surprise of absolutely no one. It ended up being a blessing that they had chosen to go swimming there, as the area near the school had an akuma that was quite destructive. It meant that at least his classmates were spared another day of trauma.

Tim had gone out and purchased a swim shirt and trunks. He had been hoping that the pool would be outside, so that he could claim he didn’t want to get sunburned, or was cold. In reality, he had far too many scars from his time as Robin that he couldn’t show others. He had to stay covered.

It didn’t take long for them all to give him odd looks about it.

“Tim, aren’t you getting hot?” Nino asked.

“Nah, I’m fine,” he responded as chipperly as he could. Really, the pool was like a sauna, and he was sweating. He took a quick swim, doing a few laps around the pool to cool down while he waited for Marinette to show up. He got out soon after, at least cooler than he was before, and less like passing out from the heat.

“Tim! You really should join the rest of us,” Lila preened at him. She took off the pool wrap she had on and threw it at his face. Thankfully, he managed to catch it before it landed on his face. He dropped it quickly, like it burned.

“I just swam, thanks. I think I’ll take a break for a bit.” He wanted nothing to do with her, or her double meaning of joining her. However, without Marinette there, it seemed that Lila was going to redouble her efforts. She came and sat beside him, rather than going into the pool, and rubbed her leg up against his as she crossed her legs. Being in close proximity to her was starting to mess with his head. He could start to feel himself lean towards her a bit.

He needed to move.

“Actually, now that you mention it, a swim sounds great,” he tried his best to make it seem like it was her idea.

He jumped up and dove straight into the pool. His cannon ball splashed water across everyone, including Lila, who screeched indignantly.

Unfortunately, she soon was joining Nino’s original sentiment about his shirt. “Are you afraid we would make fun of you for something? Why don’t you take off that ridiculous shirt?”

A few of them nodded along with her. “Nah, I’m good, thanks.” Then he dove under the water to avoid continuing the conversation. Thankfully, they seemed to drop it after that. They had all moved on to admire Lila’s suit after he had surfaced.

Tim remained until the last stragglers left.

Marinette never showed up.

Chapter 13

Notes:

So hey, this hit 1000 kudos - thanks to everyone who has taken the time to hit the <3 and leave a comment! I really appreciate it.

This chapter and the next were originally one, but it was a bit long, so have two shorter ones instead.

Mari had apologized profusely to Tim the next morning for abandoning him at the pool.

“Hey Tim! I’m so sorry for missing the pool party yesterday! I was running late, heh heh, like always, and I got caught up in the attack! And, of course, by the time it was over it was already so late! And I was feeling sick after it all...”

Tim blanched, “Yeah, I read the report after I got home from the pool. It was a bloodbath. Were you hurt?”

“Me? Oh, I’m fine now!”

Marinette never told him if she had died in it or not. He didn’t mention it for long and quickly changed the subject when he saw the dead look in her eyes when he asked.

He didn’t say anything much to her over the rest of the day. At first, Marinette thought that it was just his way of giving her space to process it. But as the day went on, she started to think that maybe he was more upset about something that he wasn’t telling her about.

Had she managed to screw up her friendship so fast?

She knew everyone else had long given up on her flaking on activities. Maybe Tim would see why they had now. Her Ladybug duties came first, even over her friendships.

She begrudgingly decided she should give him some space to decide on his own. She didn’t hear from him over the weekend.

~~~~

Tim knew he was being petty as he ignored Marinette. It was the first time Marinette had bailed without contacting him. Sure, she was regularly late, had to leave early, or would reschedule on occasion, but a lot of those times had to do with akuma attacks. He understood her wanting space to unwind during those times.

But she had never just not shown up at all and hadn’t bothered to say anything to him at all, not even afterwards. Like she had forgotten to contact him.

He couldn’t help it. He thought of all the times Dick had bailed on him for Damian, his parents not coming home for days or weeks at a time. Bruce shutting him out. Forgotten.

Some part of him knew once didn’t mean she was like them.

Tim wallowed alone in his apartment.

Maybe he was the problem after all.

Maybe people just didn’t want to be around him after they got to know him.

Maybe he just didn’t deserve friends.

~~~~

Marinette and Kagami met that Saturday for one of their orange juice dates.

She had been talking for about ten minutes when Kagami interrupted her. “And then Tim-”

“You have been talking about Tim the whole time, Marinette.”

“No-no I haven’t!” she giggled nervously. She had been. They both knew it.

Kagami raised her eyebrow at her.

She turned her eyes down and admitted, “Yeah, okay. I have. He’s just been spending a lot of time with me lately! It’s nice to make a new friend.”

Kagami took a very long sip of her juice before letting out one of the biggest sighs Marinette had ever seen from the girl.

“It sounds as if your target has changed.”

“Target? Tar-oh! No! No, it’s not like that. He’s just a friend. I just want friends Kagami, heh heh. Nothing more!” She didn’t add that her life didn’t even really have room for friends, let alone even thinking about more for longer than just a fleeting fantasy.

“Just a friend.” Kagami looked like she was choking as she repeated the words that Marinette had heard one too many times in her life. She didn’t miss the irony that it was her saying it now.

“Yeah! But it seems like he doesn’t even want that anymore. He hasn’t contacted me at all since the pool thing I missed. I guess he’s just done with me.”

She took a sip of her juice in an attempt to not cry and shoved her feelings back down as much as she could as she voiced her fear, “Maybe Lila got to him too at the pool when I wasn’t there.”

“I thought you said that they had a choice.”

“That was the theory Tim and I came up with. Tim said he had made a choice not to believe her. Adrien doesn’t either…” She also had a theory that holders would have been more immune to her. Chat had made a choice between believing her and believing Ladybug, and had chosen Ladybug in the end. The previous holders should have been able to make a choice too. That was most of her class at this point.

“It sounds like your classmates are making the choice to believe Lila. I don’t see why Tim would suddenly change his mind now.”

Kagami was right. She knew it, but her anxiety was getting hold of her again. While Lila was definitely influencing them, they had a choice. Tim was able to make a choice. They were choosing not to believe Marinette. They chose Lila and her pretty lies.

Sure, Marinette shut them out, but in the end, they made a choice to buy in.

“Enough of them,” Kagami’s scowl deepened. “What do you want to do about Tim?”

“Do?”

“You show people your affection through gifts, it is your ‘love language’ is it not?”

“I don’t love-”

“It works with friendships too, Marinette.” She showed Marinette her phone, which had an app for it.

“Then yeah. I like making people things!”

“Then make him something as an apology.”

“I’m not even sure what I did wrong. Sure, I missed the pool day, but it was a group thing. It’s not like he was alone. And I’ve tried talking to him since. It was just so awkward!”

Kagami raised an eyebrow at her again, clearly unimpressed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll think about it.” She needed to change the topic. “Did you see that cat video Adrien sent?”

She picked up her phone and began to scroll until they found it, laughing at the cute cat antics, trying to put the whole mess out of her mind.

~~~~

Tim had holed himself up in his apartment long enough. He decided to go for a run, and maybe see if Marinette was down in the bakery. Try to talk to her. Maybe she would take him back. As a friend. If she still thought of him as one.

He went around the block her house was on twice before daring to go inside the bakery.

“Hey Tim!” Tom greeted him, a tray of hot croissants fresh from the oven in one hand as he waved with the other.

“Are you looking for Marinette, dear?” Sabine asked as she finished with the customer in front of her.

“Yeah, actually,” he admitted, a bit nervously. He wasn’t sure if Marinette had mentioned anything to them.

“She went out about an hour ago. I think she mentioned going to meet up with a friend.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks,” he said glumly. Her parents shot him a sympathetic look as he exited the shop. He didn’t want to see it.

He decided to see if he could find her, without hacking into anything, that is. It didn’t take long. She only really hung out with a couple of people outside of himself so far as he knew. She had mentioned orange juice at some point. He knew she was friends with Kagami. He opened up his social media to see that Kagami had posted a picture. She and Marinette were having orange juice. Smiling at the camera.

He just didn’t realise how much it would hurt to see her acting as if nothing had ever happened between them. Maybe he really did lose her as a friend, and she had bailed on him because she just didn’t want to spend time with him anymore.

He couldn’t help himself but to go and see for himself.

He watched from across the Seine as Kagami listened intently to Marinette talking, placing a hand on her shoulder once and leaning in to see what Marinette was showing her. Laughing.

Clearly Marinette was fine.

Maybe he wasn’t needed here anymore either.

He decided to head home. He had seen enough.

Maybe he should have just stayed in Gotham.

~~~~

Marinette was going to take Kagami’s advice. Well, not all of it. Kagami seemed to think that Marinette was interested in more with Tim than she actually was.

But Marinette had seen a gorgeous piece of fabric on the way to meet her that had made her think of Tim, and she had wanted to get it but hadn’t because she was too afraid that he would reject it.

She was going to go and get it. She snapped the picture of the store to prove to Kagami that she was being proactive. Taking charge of her life. She wasn’t changing her target at all – that was and always would be the kwami – but she could at least try harder for the few relationships she maintained.

She messaged Luka to come with her. She hadn’t spent time with him in ages, and he wouldn’t let her chicken out.

Luka met her outside, and immediately moved to hug her. He always seemed to know when something was wrong.

“Your heart song is off today, Marinette.” He frowned down at her. “What happened?”

“Remember me mentioning Tim?” she had told him about Tim over the phone and texting, but she didn’t think the two had ever met. She really should have brought Tim to meet Luka already.

“Yes. Is he the cause?”

“No. I’m pretty sure that I am. I think I messed up our friendship already.”

“If you’re sure, then you can be the answer to solve it,” he reassured her. “Show him you care. You always did let your work speak for you. Just follow your song, Marinette.”

She nodded. She had been so right to phone Luka. “I thought I would make him something. I saw something earlier that made me think of him…”

She led him to the fabrics. “It’s perfect.” His voice sounded a bit off.

“Oh! Look at this one!” she squealed as she saw a shade of blue that matched Luka’s hair perfectly. “I know just what I can make you with this!”

He grinned, shaking his head genially at her antics.

~~~~

The following Tuesday brought about their first fencing practice. She hadn’t talked to Tim in a couple of days. Well, she had on Monday, but he hadn’t said much unless it was school-related. He just seemed a bit put off with her. Had her missing the group pool thing really been that big of a deal to him?

Marinette had been looking forward to the fencing practice, as she would get to see Tim again, and hopefully have a chance to mend whatever she had done wrong. She felt like she was missing something. Tim was usually very level-headed and reasonable. His reaction seemed so out of proportion for what she knew of him.

But, as usual, fucking Hawkmoth had to ruin everything. Just like he ruined the weekend with four different akuma. Thankfully, they had been easy and quick, with minimal destruction. It seemed that Hawkmoth seemed almost sorry when his akuma were brutal, and would give everyone a break with a more comical or at least gentler one for a few days before landing on something more destructive again.

This one… was not simple or easy.

She was going to attempt to talk to him during fencing, but the akuma alert went off as the building shook.

One side of the building collapsed around them, and she dodged a falling window, ducking behind the stairwell. Tim, Adrien and Kagami had followed along behind her. It had been good cover for the debris, but now, they were trapped.

The akuma was dripping lava as it walked. It blew a ball of lava towards a group of kids that were hovering behind a bin of bouncy balls from their game of dodgeball during physical education. There were several screams of agony as everything set fire. She moved to help them, but three sets of hands held her back.

“There’s nothing you can do now!” Tim insisted as he gripped her jacket as hard as he could, as she attempted to wrench herself free of his grip.

She needed to get out of there! People were dying!

Kagami and Adrien’s grip slackened a bit as she relaxed back, trying to come up with a plan.

The lava monster shot out another ball of lava towards M. D’Argencourt, and Marinette had enough. She had to leave. Now. “No!” she screamed as he and the two children he was guarding were hit with lava. The screams were agonizing.

She ripped her jacket out of Tim’s hand, deciding to make a run for it. She hadn’t gone more than three paces when a ball of lava went barrelling towards her.

She had made an error in her haste.

And all of Paris was going to pay for it.

She attempted to dodge, but it was just too big.

Suddenly, a shove from behind slammed her forwards, out of the line of the hurtling fireball.

She landed hard on her knees, and scrambled up as quickly as she could. She turned around to see what had happened.

Against the wall, Tim was pinned by a clump of lava and burning. Agony stretched across his face as the flames engulfed him, making their way up his shoulder to play against his face and catching onto his hair.

She screamed his name as tears welled in her eyes. “Tim! TIM! No!” She moved to run back towards him – to save him… somehow… when a strong grip caught both of her arms and pinned them behind her back. She jumped and kicked and attempted to wrench her arms free, but the grip was too strong.

“No! Let me go back! I have to help him!”

“It’s too late, Marinette!” Adrien said from behind her. He had prevented her from helping Tim!

Tim’s locked eyes with her once before he passed out.

“We need to go!” Kagami shouted as the akuma refocused on them.

Kagami ran for the door, Adrien dragging her away kicking and screaming. He eventually had to pick her up, hoisting her over his shoulder as he dodged another ball of lava. She couldn’t help but look back at Tim, whose body had collapsed to the ground, consumed by fire. She hammered on Adrien’s back a couple of times, begging to be put down.

She knew there was nothing she could do for Tim now. He had sacrificed himself for her, all just so that she could get away. She had to stop the akuma, for his sake. To bring him back.

She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Tim had died forever for her.

They ran as far as the bakery before Adrien put her down. He left her in the care of her parents before darting off, stating he was going to head home. Kagami escaped in her fancy car, Tatsu, moments later. Marinette ran for her room, giving her parents a quick hug as she went.

She had a job to do.

She was bitterly happy that Tim’s lesson on how to fall properly came in handy as she found herself flying through the air for the fourth time after blocking another attack with her yoyo, the force sending her careening towards the ground. Normally, she would have been much more bruised by this point from poor landings. However, they were losing. Her lucky charm indicated needing Longg and Sass, so she sighed and left Chat to distract the akuma while she combined them with Mullo and Trixx held up illusions that they were all different heroes.

She found herself again wishing she had a temporary or even another permanent holder she could rely on. Hawkmoth had ruined that for her too, when all of her holders had been outed. Maybe if she had, others wouldn’t have died. She tried desperately not to focus on the faces. Tim’s face. Agony. Pain. Her fault.

Maybe if she hadn’t withdrawn so much. If she hadn’t become obsessed with defeating Hawkmoth mostly alone. Maybe she could have found other holders.

But it meant opening her heart to possible betrayal. To trusting someone else. She just didn’t have that many people left in her life. Sure, she still had Kagami and Luka, and if she were truly desperate, she could call on them again, but it wasn’t fair to put them back in the line of fire any more than they already were. Kagami’s face had betrayed her fear as she watched Tim take the hit for Marinette. She couldn’t do that to her again. She needed someone new. Adrien likely would have done better with a different miraculous, but he had declined ever being a holder again, much to her chagrin. In the end, it wasn’t fair for her to risk anyone else’s life.

So, it remained her and Chat Noir against the world.

She thought bitterly to herself that she had done this to herself. That she had lost far too much today.

As she cast the cure, the victim prostrate at her feet, she wasn’t sure it would be able to fix everything this time.

Chapter 14

Notes:

I didn't forget to update this. You see nothing about it being excessively late. I was on time. Really, I was.

When the akuma of the day was taken care of (at least she hoped it was the only one of the day), she messaged Tim to come over and get his measurements taken so that she could make him something – she still felt bad about ditching him the other day when he had stated he would go to the pool, but at least he got along well with the other boys in their class enough that he wouldn’t have been alone.

Still, she had promised, and broken it. More than an apology, though, she just plain wanted to make her friend something. She used to make her friends things all the time, and she missed doing that.

Tim was quickly becoming her closest friend, outside of Tikki of course.

Him dying had brought her behaviour to her attention with a helpful shove from Luka and Kagami. Tim had died thinking she was mad at him or upset or just plain avoiding him. She needed to change that. Needed to show him that she cared, before she lost him as a friend permanently too.

She had decided on an espresso-coloured hoodie (since LBM didn’t make a lot of those, it would be harder to compare) with red lettering spelling “I AM COFFEE” just like his social media tag. She would stick her signature on the inside of the pocket where he would be unlikely to spot it. That way, he would have a signed LBM original work without ever knowing it. She had sketched it on Sunday between akuma attacks after she had picked out the fabric with Luka the day before. She had posted a picture of the inside of the fabric store with a message on her social media.

 

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

making something for a friend

<Image of a fabric store with a bunch of brightly coloured bolts of fabric lined up>

5 likes

 

He had liked the photo, but hadn’t commented.

She was more than a bit nervous as she sent out a text.

 

 

Mari: Hey do you want to come over? I want to make you something and need your measurements

Tim: You’re inviting me over?

Mari: You could stay for dinner and watch a movie

Mari: But I understand if you don’t want to.

Mari: It was a bit last minute

Tim: No NO! I’ll come. Be there in 10?

 

Marinette sighed. If only her life was different.

Marinette was not a normal girl with a normal life, no matter how often she told herself the opposite. She was doomed to either die in battle, or live to some unnatural age where everyone she knows is long dead. She knew the longevity came from the kwami as a side effect. She was likely to pick up other side effects from all of them, as she let them roam free.

‘Supernatural freak, party of one!’ she thought bitterly.

Fu had apparently told Wayzz that she was ‘special’ since she could wield all of the miraculous without passing out. Two was supposed to drain almost all holders. She was pretty sure Chat would pass out with three, but he managed two just fine. Anyone who did manage to hold them all at once and did survive was likely to be driven insane, even after only one use, as the kwami’s influence would become too strong. Marinette hadn’t.

Fu had never clarified what it was that made her ‘special.’ Wayzz guessed it was that she had some special resonance with the kwami. Tikki thought it was to do with her compatibility with the creation miraculous being so strong, but tended to head off the conversation quickly. She wasn’t sure what to think of it all.

Yeah, she so was not ready to deal with that. She shoved it on her mental ‘deal with it later’ list, rather than her spiralling anxiety now list.

Her mind avoided the topic, and wound up on her original issue. Tim.

Tim was smart. Insanely smart. Cute. Intensely kind and patient. Strong. A great teacher. A normal boy with a normal life. Just like she pretended to have.

She had a feeling Tim understood being ignored by family. She loved her parents dearly, but only neglect could account for her parents not figuring out she was a hero. They hardly ever checked on her during attacks. They never noticed she was missing during patrols. It took reports from the school about her missing classes occasionally for them to notice anything at all, and Marinette had been paranoid about making sure she didn’t miss class unless she absolutely had to now. No more saving cats from trees as an excuse to skip math class. They did eat dinner together when possible, but they missed dinner as often as she did to make ends meet. They refused to let her help financially.

She was lonely. Tim was lonely, that was obvious, no matter how well he thought he was hiding it. She found herself wishing they could be lonely together. But that wasn’t her destiny. She was doomed to move from Paris the moment Hawkmoth was defeated and make the miraculous disappear until they were needed again. To live to some stupid age if she was like Master Fu and to live alone, before dying with a severe case of amnesia where she wouldn’t even know who she was or why she was dying. Hopefully she would find someone to pass the box on to before then. There was no way she was taking the kwami back to the temple to be locked in the box for decades or centuries. They deserved their freedom.

But maybe, just for tonight, she could pretend that having a friend wasn’t going to cause her intense pain in the future.

Tim arrived, and she fought the blush trying to form on her cheeks. He looked so happy, a huge grin on his face.

But seeing his smiling face brought on the unbidden flash of his face, licked with flames, in pain as he slowly died a horribly painful death.

She wasn’t completely oblivious to her own feelings. She knew she had a small cr- nope, she tamped down on that thought. She just knew it didn’t matter in the long run. The more distance she maintained, the easier it would be later. Being his friend and losing him was going to be hard enough as it was. The past week had proved that.

She hadn’t even wanted to be his friend, but the look on his face when he had suggested they face things together had broken some of her resolve. It was like having a Chat Noir on this side of the mask as well. She wasn’t sure she would be able to leave if he was more than a friend. But she could give him a hug, and never tell him that it would mean more to her. She could do that… It should be easy enough for her to convince herself of that later too... right?

She clung to him as she poured out more emotion that she should have, glad that he was okay now.

~~~~

She had invited him over! She was going to make him something, and they were going to hang out and have dinner and a movie together! His mind tried not to supply that it sounded like a date, because she had definitely not asked him on one, despite the activities planned. Especially since he’d been an ass the last few days to her. He shouldn’t have taken his past out on her. He would make it up to her today.

He rushed to change (it would put his Red Robin quick change times to shame) and headed over to her house. At least he was invited this time.

She met him at the door to their living quarters, tape measure already in hand.

“Hey! C’mon in!”

He had been tackled a moment later, after tears welled up in her eyes. He rubbed her back as she sobbed into his shoulder, tape measure dropped to the floor and forgotten.

When her tears subsided a few minutes later, she looked up at him, and promptly punched his shoulder. It actually hurt. He was pretty sure it would bruise. “What were you thinking?!”

“Sorry, but I would do it again if I had to.” He wasn’t sorry. Dying like that had been awful. Worse than anything his brain had ever come up. It made him regret all of his off-hand comments to his brothers about dying or being passively suicidal.

He had no desire to repeat it, but if it meant she was safe, he would. He had always known he was meant to die saving someone else. He was willing to make that sacrifice for her… again. Her life was worth far more than his. 

“No! Never again,” she demanded stubbornly.

“Sure, sure.” He was pretty sure they both knew he was lying.

When she had finally stopped crying, she led him up to her attic room and proceeded to run through his measurements quickly, obviously trying to put the whole thing behind them. It quickly became apparent to Tim that she had no aversion to measuring others, as she crowded into him and reached around his chest. He could feel himself going a bit pink at how close she was.

“So what movie did you want to watch later?” she asked as she knelt down to grab his inseam.

He was glad she was distracted, as his face went bright red. He had always had Alfred take his measurements in the past. This was an entirely different experience. His mind started to involuntarily wander. “Uhm, anything is fine…” he sputtered out.

Just as he thought the embarrassment was over, she frowned at her numbers. “Can you take off your sweater? These numbers don’t look right and it’s a bit bulky.”

Well, that killed his thought process efficiently.

Shit. He just had a regular muscle shirt on underneath as his sweater was dressy enough and the weather had been quite cold lately. She would see all the scars on his arms. He hadn’t thought about the actual measurements, only that he grabbed his nicest sweater. He’d picked it up in Amsterdam.

He was becoming lax in his precautions. It was so unlikely for anyone to peg him as Red Robin here that he had gotten lazy. There was absolutely no way she wouldn’t notice. Would she think he was a freak? That he was trouble? Hell, he probably was trouble. Who actively searches out Batman to become a child soldier if they aren’t a troubled freak? He was going to lose his friend already. Hell, he really had been hoping to avoid this. But what kind of friendship would that be? How could he ever have more if she couldn’t even see his arm?

He must have been panicking a bit too long. She was looking at him with a concerned expression. “Are you okay? I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I keep forgetting most people aren’t used to getting measurements done.”

“It’s… it’s fine. I just have some… scars.”

He wanted to explain. He shouldn’t explain… especially after the akuma that had killed him. She was worried enough about him already.

He took off the sweater anyways, and waited for the backlash, eyes shut tight. He heard a tiny gasp and pinched his eyes as tight as he could. He would have to tell her something. He felt the measuring tape go around his waist and chest again. Heard some scribbling of numbers.

Then it went around his bicep. Right over a particularly large scar he had from a knife fight when he had only been out a few times as Robin. Her fingers lingered over it, the tape measure dropped to the floor. He braced for whatever disgusted comment she would have. Her fingers traced down his arm, finding a scarred bullet wound next - the one from that League fight with Pru. Finally, her fingers trailed down to hold his wrist. In any other situation, it would have felt amazing.

“Oh Tim…” she murmured quietly. Sadly. “What happened to you?”

Fuck. Some portion of the truth. He slowly opened his eyes. She was looking at him with only concern and sadness. No disgust. No fear. He hadn’t prepared for this.

“I grew up in Gotham.” He could tell that it didn’t ring a bell for her as to why that would be a problem. “Crime capital of America?” Still nothing except concern. “Home of Batman and… Robin,” he choked out.

“Yes… I’ve been there.” Right. The trip. “But, what caused…? Did you live on the streets? I thought you said your dad was a businessman...?”

“No. I came from a well-off family.” Vague enough. But damn, it felt like lying to her. Normally, that wasn’t an issue. Tim had a tendency to lie to everyone whenever possible. Hell, he had invented an uncle for the sake of not being put in the foster system. But Marinette… He hated lying to Marinette. He had wanted to have a new life with people he could trust and confide in, and with how many lies he kept having to tell her, even telling her half-truths was painful. He wanted to trust her with the truth. He really did. He just wasn’t there yet. Living with Bruce had made him a paranoid bastard. “It’s pretty common there to be involved in muggings or kidnappings… The bullet wound,” he pointed to it quickly, “is from a vigilante ambush I was unlucky enough to be at… The one under your measuring tape was from a mugging gone wrong. Uhm…” He turned to the other side, revealing a rather large one going down his arm. “This one was from a Rogue attack.”

Her eyes had gone from concern to anger. Her glare would have given Batman a run for his money. He wanted to shrink away, but her hand was holding his wrist still.

“How many more?” she demanded, her voice hard but dangerously quiet. It was an order. She hadn’t meant it that way, he knew that, but it was.

“A lot…”

She frowned at his response. Not an acceptable answer. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why the hell did he feel compelled to answer like he did with Batman? Had he trained them all to respond to it? Heck, he had an easier time defying Batman’s orders than he did the small girl before him.

Well, this was it. He would lose everything he had been building here. He winced. His throat went dry. His fingers trembled as he untucked his shirt. “There’s another six scars? I think? On my legs.”

Definitely anger in her eyes. He couldn’t reply about his chest. They were bad. Kevlar only helped so much. Fuck.

He could tell the moment the anger broke. Her eyes filled with tears as his shirt raised up, revealing a very obvious, very large scar where his spleen had been. He was still surprised he hadn’t died that day.

Somehow, the tears were worse than the Batman glare.

She was staring at the scar intently. Her voice remained hard despite her tears as she asked, “What happened?”

Damn it. How much could he possibly tell her without giving his identity away? She didn’t seem to know much about Gotham, maybe it’d be safe if he was vague. He couldn’t lie to her. Not with the way everyone else was with Lila, not with what Adrien had said. She would know. And he would lose her.

“I lost my spleen...”

“What?”

“…when an assassin stabbed me.”

“WHAT?!” her voice screeched in clear panic.

Ah. There. Now the yelling could start. Yelling, and then he would lose her, like everyone else, for keeping it a secret. He braced for it, closing his eyes.

Suddenly arms were around his waist, squeezing hard. He almost threw them off him before he came to his senses. He tensed up, resisting the urge, before finally returning it. He couldn’t help but lean in, soaking up the physical affection he hadn’t had in so very, very long. It wasn’t the same as him comforting a victim. It wasn’t the same as him comforting her like he had when she greeted him at the door. She was there for him. Comforting him. It was still a hug, but it was somehow completely different. She was smaller than he ever thought. But she was strong. Her embrace was holding him together.  

“Please, please, don’t ask more now. I can’t - I’m not ready to explain, and I don’t want to lie to you,” he begged.

“Okay.” She gave him another quick hug and a small smile. “Want to play a game while we wait for dinner?”

Wait, that was it? She was just… accepting that?

How was that a normal reaction? ‘Sure, an assassin stabbed you and you lost your spleen and it’s obvious you’re keeping a shit ton of secrets but let’s go play video games and pretend this shit never happened.’ What? Was this another Hawkmoth protective thing? Don’t argue or push so she doesn’t cause an akuma? Drop it and deal with it in bits and pieces? Argue over the next month about it?

She moved to turn on the computer screen. Huh. She really was just accepting it. He nodded.

She pulled out Ultimate Mecha Strike III, a mischievous grin on her face. He quickly pulled on his sweater again and went to sit next to her, pretending the last few minutes never happened.

Avoidance. He could do that. He took the proffered controller.

Ten rounds later, he admitted defeat. How was she that good? She called out every move. However, he certainly did not regret agreeing to play even knowing he would be slaughtered in advance. Her victory dance was worth Every. Single. Loss. Maybe that had been why he agreed to continue to play after the first time she had slaughtered his character…

They were called for dinner then, and Marinette once again grabbed his hand and dragged him downstairs.

Dinner with Marinette’s parents was fairly revealing. Last time he had been too focused on making a decent impression that he missed signs. Yes, her parents loved her very much. But they also seemed to have no idea what was going on with their daughter. She did not talk about school. They asked about Alya and other girls at school, and she avoided or redirected the conversation. She would talk about her designs, but was fairly avoidant even with that by giving him sidelong glances (Tim chalked it up to not wanting to share whatever it was she was making him when he was around), and her homework.

Her parents worked so hard that it seemed as if their occasional family dinner was as much time as they typically spent together. They never lingered after dinner, as they needed to get up at 4am for the bakery every day. There were no days off, no breaks. Given her propensity to be late for class in the past, it was unlikely they often saw her in the morning. It was probably a busy time in the bakery. They had lunch rushes, so she didn’t see them much at lunch if she did go home for it at all. She had been eating lunch with him lately. Adrien joined them on occasion if he didn’t go home for lunch. Dinner was likely their only time.

It rang a little too close to his own life. They had so much in common, and usually that was great, but he wished this was one way they were different. How long would it take them to notice if Mari didn’t come home? A few days maybe? Her life was full of loving hugs but neglect. It was jarring. It didn’t fit his standard picture of what neglect looked like, but there it was, all the same.

After a quick goodnight, they settled on the couch to watch some sci-fi movie Tom had suggested. It didn’t take long for Mari to nod off, her head rolling onto his arm. Her cheek was cold. He lifted his arm, letting her settle onto his chest instead, and checked her arm. It was freezing! He couldn’t reach a blanket without waking her. So, he settled in, pulling her closer, an arm over her shoulder resting on her arm and waist. Silently he hoped that she didn’t mind, or that she wouldn’t flat out kill him when she woke.

In the meantime, he would enjoy every second spent snuggled into the girl who accepted him in spite of his flaws and his secrets. He brushed the bangs off her face, relishing in this moment of peace. Leaving Gotham was the best thing he had ever done, even if this didn’t last.

She must have been more tired than she said, because she didn’t wake by the end of the movie. He didn’t want to move, but staying there would be inappropriate. He picked her up (holy shit she was light) and carried her upstairs. She went to reach for him in her sleep when he placed her on her bed and he pulled away, and his heart tugged along with it. He grabbed a pillow shaped like a cat for her to grab onto instead.

He looked around the room. Her window and skylight were both unlocked. The Gothamite in him shuddered and he locked them both. He didn’t see an alarm clock in her room. Frowning, he grabbed her phone off her desk. He hacked into her phone (which was painfully easy using the program on his phone) and turned on her alarm and set it to charge beside her, the volume cranked up. If she was like him, she would sleep through anything quieter.

He hesitated, and then kissed her forehead before he lost the nerve. “Goodnight Marinette. Thank you for accepting me,” he whispered. He double checked the house and bakery locks on his way out and made his way home in the quiet streets. It had been the best day of his life.

~~~~

Tikki watched the young man tuck Marinette into bed with tenderness in his eyes. He had shown to be more emotionally and physically damaged than he had let on earlier. He had scars across his entire body, but the way he carried himself spoke of emotional traumas far worse. He had been vulnerable. Had let himself be vulnerable for her. It was heartbreaking yet wonderful that he trusted her so much. He scanned rooms for entry points in a way that spoke of wariness and training. He clearly had been trained to fight - trained well. She watched as he secured her room and broke into her phone. He didn’t snoop through it, to his credit.

Something bad had happened to this human, but it appeared Marinette was helping him heal.

And he was certainly healing Marinette.

She flew over to give her Ladybug a kiss goodnight, seeing her phone set to max volume directly beside her head. Looked like she wouldn’t have to wake Marinette up in the morning after all. She flew off to her nest, giggling.

Chapter 15

Marinette woke to her alarm blaring in her ear. She jumped up, turning it off as quickly as she could. “TIKKI! WHY?!”

Tikki giggled. “It wasn’t me! Tim turned it on for you after he put you to bed. It was so sweet!”

Marinette froze so long that Tikki was beginning to get concerned about her. When she came to, her hands went to her head in panic, her eyes wide as saucers as she realised what had happened and her brain kicked back in. “What? How? OH MY KWAMI! I FELL ASLEEP ON HIM! HE PUT ME TO BED?! What is he going to think? He probably thinks I find him boring – or that he wasn’t interesting company – or that the movie choice sucked and he had been so excited about it – and he will never want to come back – and I’ll lose my only real friend right now – and I’ll have to spend the rest of lycée alone – This is a disaster! I just barely gotten him back after their days long fight and shutting one another out! I couldn’t have screwed up again so quickly, could I?!”

“Easy Marinette,” Tikki soothed, interrupting her spiral with a gentle touch to her face. “Tim didn’t seem upset. He seemed happy. He was very sweet. Locked all your windows and made sure you wouldn’t be late for school.”

“Wait. He went onto my phone to turn on my alarm. How did he get into my phone?”

“I’m not sure Mari. He did something with his phone, and it unlocked. He didn’t snoop though. I saw that much. Went straight to the alarm and locked it when he was done turning it on.”

Satisfied with that at least (though Tikki knew it had made Marinette think of a million more questions to ask that Tikki did not have the answers to), she brought up what Tikki knew she had been dying to ask yesterday. “What happened to him Tikki? He seemed so scared to show me those scars. I don’t understand how a civilian could get that many scars. Even as a rich kid in the City of Crime. There’s more to this than he’s telling me. He as much as said that. And ASSASSINS? AN ASSASSIN STABBED HIM. HE LOST HIS SPLEEN. There’s no way he walked away from that – right? Kwami, he probably almost died. I get that he didn’t want to tell me right now – and fine, I get it, really, I do – but what the hell? Is that why he left Gotham? Was he in danger? Is he hiding here? Is that why he doesn’t have any family with him? Are they okay? Did they DIE??” Marinette was now spiraling for a whole different reason. Tikki patted her cheek again and she drew comfort from it. She took a few long deep breaths, mimicking the kwami as she exaggeratedly breathed for her anxious holder. “I hope he feels safe here. I hope he feels safe with me. That he can tell me one day… that he feels comfortable telling me. I know we couldn’t be as close as those he’s known longer. But he looked scared! As much as I wish that whatever it was hadn’t happened, and I’m mad that it happened to him at all, why would he be scared of telling me?” Marinette ranted. She didn’t really expect Tikki to have the answers.

Tikki attempted to soothe her concerns anyways with her best guess. “He was vulnerable, Marinette. He likely hasn’t shown many people, and probably had someone react badly in the past. It’s like you admitting everything Lila and Chloe have done to you.” Marinette looked sad at this. She still hadn’t told Tim everything that had happened between them, but he knew the majority of it. She should really tell him the rest. She couldn’t tell him about the miraculous, but her holder should really open up to someone about the rest of it all – the civilian parts of her life. “You like him, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, Tikki. He’s a great friend.”

Tikki flinched as Marinette uttered the same words Adrien had done to her on multiple occasions. She didn’t miss the irony. Tikki chided her, secretly wishing to never hear the words ‘just a friend’ or any derivation of it ever again, “You know what I meant, Marinette.”

“I can’t be in a relationship, Tikki! I shouldn’t even be making friends! After Hawkmoth is defeated, the miraculous need to disappear. I need to disappear. I can’t do that when I’m in a relationship!”

Tikki wanted to smack her holder upside the head. The girl was too self-sacrificing. Too stuck on what Fu had told her, and it was ruining her life. She put everyone and everything above herself. Sure, she had gained some self-confidence, but her self-worth was still severely lacking. Her parents and classmates sure weren’t helping with that.

Marinette’s phone buzzed.

                Tim: Hey Mari, hope you got up in time for class

                Tim: I had a great time yesterday. Did you want to do something on Saturday?

                Tim: I haven’t gone sightseeing yet. Any chance you want to show me your favourite spots?

 

“Looks like Tim might be open to it,” Tikki winked.

“Tikki! What do I do?” Tikki could see the panic rising in her eyes, but there was also a glimmer of hope and excitement that Tikki hadn’t seen in her holder for quite some time.

“Say yes?”

“GAH!” Marinette flopped backwards on to her bed dramatically, flinging her phone to the side.

She giggled at the girl’s antics before becoming serious again. Her holder needed to hear this. Again. “You can’t live your life alone, Marinette. We kwami can only do so much. You need humans too. Don’t shut yourself out of the world to protect us. You can have a life and be the Grand Guardian. You don’t have to follow in Master Fu’s footsteps. He could have had a long, happy life with Marianne if he had taken her with him. He had many regrets. And they rebuilt their life despite his amnesia. You don’t need to be alone. Don’t become him.”

Wang Fu had made some terrible choices. There had been absolutely no reason Marianne couldn’t have come along with him. He could have given her a miraculous to extend her life like his own. He did not need to be alone, and he suffered greatly for it. It clouded his judgement that he thought he had to fix his mistakes on his own.

Tikki did not want to see that happen to her Marinette. Her Riri – not that she had ever called her that out loud. Marinette wasn’t terribly fond of nicknames in general, but Tikki couldn’t help creating her little endearment in her head. Maybe one day, when her destiny was fulfilled.

Marinette’s destiny may lay with the kwami, no matter what she did, but there was no way she would let her holder ruin her human life.

~~~~

Tim messaged Mari as soon as he knew her alarm would have gone off, just in case. Last night had blown any lasting chance he had to deny or avoid his feelings. Friendship with Marinette was great. He cherished it already, even if it was brand new. But as Dick once said, ‘Holy Fireworks, Batman!’

He waited, staring nervously at his phone to see if he needed to message her again to wake her up. Was she up? Had he scared her off with his messages? He hadn’t phrased it like a date… even if he wanted it to be. He knew that wasn’t something she wanted. She had been fairly clear on using the word ‘friend’ to describe him.

He tried to distract himself by getting ready. Still nothing. He had made files on over half the class last night. He had tired of the lies and Mari being hurt. He couldn’t do anything to them physically (this was definitely not a vigilante moment), but there was no reason why he couldn’t bring Lila and anyone who hurt her down in a far more legal way. Her phone likely had evidence. He would have to ask her for it if she agreed she wanted help. Most of the class was clean. Their families were clean. They had ignored her and taken Lila’s side more than they should have, but hadn’t done anything more. Lila, Alya, Adrien, Chloe, and Sabrina would take more digging. With Max, he knew he needed to be careful, as he likely had more security measures. Adrien, Chloe, and Sabrina might as well, given their parents social standing and occupations. He would do them on the weekend. He was hesitant to look into Marinette without her permission. Digging into someone’s life had never bothered him before. But with Marinette… it felt wrong.

He had to head to school when his phone finally beeped, and he was thrilled… at first.

                Mari: Id like that. Does 10 work?

                Mari: Whos ur fave Gotham hero?

Damnit. Why was she asking about that now? Had he said too much last night? Had she figured him out?

                Tim: Meet you at your place then

                Tim: Theyre actually vigilantes

                Mari: Fiiiine~ Whos ur fave Gotham vigilante?

                Tim: Red Robin

                Mari: Doesnt he wear that awful cowl like Batman does?

‘Ouch. Awful? At least my face and hair are covered!’ he thought bitterly.

  

                Tim: Yes but it hides his identity better. He has a mask version too

                Mari: Sure. But what was he thinking? Couldnt he have come up with something better?

                Mari: and whats with the cape? Its a risk. it could catch, villains could grab it. Theres no way it is worth it for the terrible aesthetic

‘Ouch Mari. Sure, just rip my whole outfit to shreds.’ The cape had a point… sort of. It was a glider when he needed it to be. It could have been done safer with a pull string or something when he needed it, like Dick had… actually she might have a point.

 

                Tim: Pretty sure fashion wasnt his priority

                Mari: Hes still 1000000000x better than the walking traffic light or helmet head or mr furry

He laughed at the names she had called his brothers and Bruce. ‘Not just me. Cool.’

                Tim: I think the Robin outfit is tradition at this point.

                Mari: I guess thats ok

                Mari: But Batman does not get a pass

                Mari: Hes too old to think that a cape is cool and get away with it or to wear those stupid ears on his cowl unless they serve a purpose

He laughed at that. Calling Bruce old or his suit stupid was normally grounds for getting the Batglare. She had done it so casually.

It was true. He could use the cape to glide, but there was no reason for it to be out and at risk for tearing most of the time. And the ears were strictly aesthetic. He had strong microphones in them for enhanced hearing, but there was absolutely no reason for them to be in miniature pointy ears. The cowls should probably be made more like Hood’s helm too; they didn’t do much even with bulletproofing and the noses of all the masks and cowls should really have stronger bridges so their noses don’t get broken so often... huh. Maybe she should just redesign their suits for them.

Mari walked into the classroom laden with two giant coffees and a bag of pastries. She glanced at Tim and her face went absolutely scarlet. He had still been laughing at her text. Had he embarrassed her? Maybe he needed to break the ice. She was just standing there awkwardly at their shared desk.

“Sounds like you need to redesign the Bat family suits.”

“I think I’ll do it whether they approve or not.” She sat down in a huff. Seemed that wasn’t what she had been blushing for. Tim had no clue what it had been then. Maybe she was just flushed from running there.

“Well, I approve. I want to see what you can do with Red Robin. You were right, his suit needs work.” It was currently spray painted black and everything ripped off it, so why not? He had to have it fixed if he ever wanted to be Red Robin again anyway. Good time for a redesign.

“Challenge accepted.”

She handed him a coffee and placed the bag between them. Her blush returned. “Sorry I fell asleep last night. Thanks for taking care of me.”

Oh. She had been embarrassed she fell asleep? Man, if that was something to get embarrassed about, he should have been constantly blushing back in Gotham. He had a habit of napping whenever he could, even if that was on some dingy rooftop. He tried to ease her mind, “Any time. You seemed so comfortable, I didn’t want to wake you.”

Adrien had come in with Lila right behind him. Lila had glared at them. Adrien looked mad? Jealous? A mix of both? He wasn’t sure. He glanced between Lila and them before resigning himself to his seat.

They had an easy day. Both of them finished their work quickly, Tim mostly so that he never had to look at it again. He wasn’t sure what he was thinking when he went back to school. He had dropped out for a reason (or several reasons). He hated schoolwork, whether he was good at it or not. It was boring. There were much better things to do with his time. Like watching paint dry. Mari took to her phone towards the end of classes, and Tim found himself regretting their morning conversation more than he ever thought he would.

He looked over her shoulder as she finished posting. Oh shit. She just called out his whole family. On social media. And tagged him. She tagged him. Yes, it was a new account, but shit. He hadn’t used it much since they made the account. Mostly to gather information on the class easily, to follow his favourite celebrities, like Jagged and LBM. It was too late to ask her take out his tag too. He should probably respond since he was tagged… Fuck, he should have just told her the truth. He couldn’t even be mad at her. It was entirely his fault.

She wasn’t wrong. Their suits didn’t protect their heads at all. There were massive gaps in their uniforms, and having bare arms and legs was just plain stupid. He glanced down at his arm, hidden by his long sleeve shirt that he hated because he was too hot. He really wished he could wear a short sleeved shirt and not get suspicious looks. A lot of those scars could have been avoided. Even his suit wasn’t very stealthy. There was no reason for the capes most days. They really could be a liability at times. More than once he had tried to reach behind his back to grab something and got a fistful of cape instead. Or had it tugged and thrown him off balance. They really needed to talk to Lucius Fox about making something like a parachute for it only when it was needed like the Nightwing suit had.

Her posts would have pinged for Babs and everyone else and saved automatically on the computer in the cave. Gotham would jump on it too. There was no way they wouldn’t see it. There wasn’t enough coffee in the world to deal with this mess. Maybe the media block would flag it? … Probably not, it had nothing to do with Paris.

He wished he was wrong.

He wasn’t.

~~~~

Dick had jumped to the cave’s computer when a ping came in for Red Robin on social media. Maybe he was spotted! He pulled it up quickly, hope rising in his chest. It was the first post that had mentioned Red Robin in a long time.

He was about to text the others, a bit impulsive in his excitement, when he saw that he had been tagged as well. They all had.

It was a post from… Paris? It wouldn’t have been the first time Tim went to Paris. Maybe he had gone back and come up against some trouble?

He skimmed it quickly. Ugh, just some shit poster bashing their suits. He slammed his fist on the console in frustration, mostly at it not being about Tim’s location, but his brain shied away from that and blamed the content instead. Why wouldn’t anyone leave his original Nightwing suit alone? It wasn’t that bad! But the replies were starting to concern him… too many people had noticed Red Robin’s absence. None of them were ever gone this long unless they were dead. He tried to push that thought out of his head. Tim wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Dick slumped in the chair despite his attempts to remain cheerful. He was failing. He decided to focus on the posts instead, to get his mind off of it.

And, okay, they were right about the suits not giving enough protection. And most of them being a bit eye catching for stealth… but it wasn’t like he could admit the real reason behind it. Bruce had wanted him to be eye catching, and his family’s costume colours had worked well for it, and it was a nod to his parents, as was the name. Robin was supposed to be a distraction while Batman worked in the shadows. It was why all the Robin’s were loud and purposefully annoying to villains. Sure, it made them all sarcastic little shits in the process, but it worked. Well.

~~~~

There were too many replies to take note of. Tim scanned for ones from people he knew, horrified. She wasn’t wrong. Not only did she tear apart everyone’s suits, as well as his family’s not so subtle attempts to defend themselves, she accurately guessed things about his family that no one knew. How on Earth did she deduce that much about his family just from what she saw online?

He groaned quietly to himself, hoping no one heard. Fuck, this was her first interaction with his family outside of their suits. He hated to think what they would say if they met her in person. Ugh, this was a nightmare!

And then he read what she wrote about Red Robin… himself... and choked.

Chapter 16: The Social Media chapter you never knew you didn’t want. (Skippable.)

Marinette was pretty sure she was being a hypocrite as she posted on Chirper, but it was so much fun, and far more interesting than what she was supposed to be learning at the time. Before she posted each comment, she thought about each of the vigilantes, bringing their images up, or at least the best that had been captured of them over time. The biggest thing she noted on most of their suits was their hair. It was an identity risk, not that she would bring it up (if villains in Gotham hadn’t thought of using it to identify their heroes, she sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to bring it to their attention). Sure, their heads were unprotected too, but really, how many people could be walking around Gotham with their physiques and their hair lengths and colours? They didn’t have a miraculous with it’s quantum masking to mess up the brain’s ability to connect the dots. The miraculous also protected all of their body, including their hair as it magically changed it, almost turning it into the same bizarre material as their suits. It was like wearing a helmet. Not that anyone who hadn’t taken a blow to the head with a miraculous on could know that. She wasn’t even sure half of her temporary heroes had known that. She had tried very hard to make sure that they hadn’t been knocked around enough to warrant finding that out. Really, the only truly vulnerable part of her body was the parts of her face that didn’t have a mask on it. The suits weren’t perfect. She was still regularly injured, and miraculous magic seemed to have a way of getting through better than other physical attacks as they were never meant to be used against each other, but it would be far worse without it.

The replies to her posts came in quickly, considering it was the middle of the night in Gotham still.

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

Why do most of the #Batfam of #Gotham wear capes? Do they serve a purpose? Heard of head protection? Thanks @IAMCOFFEE for bringing these #CrimesOfFashion to my attn.

#ItsNotAnAesthetic #CaughtByTheCape #FashionANDFunction #IllRedesignYourSuitForFree #PleaseIllPayYou #NotJoking #CallOut

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @fabricfiend Not quite what I intended, but you’re not wrong. They need more protection. I almost feel sorry for the #Batfam. Almost. #ShesSketchingRightNow #NewSuits #SorryNotSorry #ShesRight #RealLifeEdnaMode

     Dick Grayson @flyinggrayson

     @fabricfiend Okay I agree with more protection but #CapesAreCool

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @flyinggrayson They may be cool but they’re a hazard! They can get caught, grabbed, used to blind them if flung over their heads, get in the way of grabbing something, it would slow them down by causing drag. Its asking for trouble

     #CapesAreCool #ButNotForCrimeFighting #NoCapes

     Kagami Tsurugi @TsurugiKagami

     @fabricfiend You are right. Their suits are not practical at all. I cannot wait to see the redesigns.

     Luka Stone @LukaCouffaine

     @fabricfiend #Batfam should take her up on the offer. Just look at the #KittySection costumes!

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

Calling out #Nightwing for his #CrimesOfFashion. First the #OGRobin costume. Yes, COSTUME. It didn’t even have protection! You ran around in bright spandex. Were you trying to get shot? YOU HAD NO PANTS! It was SCALEY UNDERWEAR! How many times did you get road rash from falling? #WhatWereYouThinking #LookMaNoPants 1/2

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     And #DISCOWING. No explanation needed. It hurts my eyes.

     #Mullet #AtLeastYouDitchedTheCape #YourCurrentOneIsOkay #YourSuitShouldProtectYou #NightwingHasADeathwish #IllRedesignYourSuitForFree #NotJoking 2/2

     Dick Grayson @FlyingGrayson

     @fabricfiend At least Nightwing’s suits are original! Leave poor Nightwing alone. He doesn’t wear costumes! And the colors are #CLASSIC

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @flyinggrayson Yes he does, and he should be ashamed of himself. #The70sAreCalling #TheyWantTheirSuitBack

     Jason Todd @DeadWayneWalkin

     I blame #Nightwing and #Batman for the entire #Batfam’s lack of fashion sense

     Damian Wayne @BloodSon

     @fabricfiend @FlyingGrayson She is correct. The original Robin costume was an embarrassment and the color scheme is a liability. It should be fixed. The ‘Discowing’ outfit should be burned.

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @bloodson Thanks for supporting my redesigns of the suits!

     Damian Wayne @BloodSon

     @fabricfiend I doubt an amateur like you would be able to create something better that meets the protective requirements.

She scoffed. Her sketch for Robin so far had armour plating down the legs, knee and elbow pads. She had researched the fabrics needed ages ago, and knew what would work to provide protection but be flexible underneath all the plating. The rest was just about making a design that moved as fluidly as a hero did – something she was intimately familiar with. It had muted gold for the R. The bright red traded for a deep maroon. The green served as accents, in a nice forest green, rather than the original lime. Oh, she was sure she met the requirements, alright. 

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

#RedHood Could you at least wear a hood? Or change your name to #RedHelmet. The first Red Hood looked like a used tampon, and you chose to model yourself after him? Do you have peripheral vision? The blind spots must be awful. No wonder you get shot so often. The rest of your suit can stay.

#RedStormTrooperKnockoff #RedPowerRangerKnockOff #HelmetHead #AtLeastYourHeadIsProtected #UnlikeEveryoneElse #OnlyBatfamWithCommonSense

     Jason Todd @DeadWayneWalkin

     @fabricfiend He wears an actual hood sometimes! He is the #OnlyBatfamWithCommonSense

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @DeadWayneWalkin Yeah, and then he’s not protected. #FashionANDFunction is possible!

     Damian Wayne @BloodSon

     @DeadWayneWalkin @fabricfiend Red Hood is a joke.

     Jason Todd @DeadWayneWalkin

     @BloodSon You just jelly hes cooler than you junior

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

Why does #Batman have ears on his suit? Someone please tell me they have a purpose. Please tell me its not another #aesthetic.

#ItsNotAnAesthetic #TookTheBatThemeTooFar #BatmanIsAFurry

     Dick Grayson @FlyingGrayson

     @fabricfiend It’s supposed to strike fear into those who would do Gotham harm!

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @FlyingGrayson So its definitely for the aesthetic. There are much ‘scarier’ nighttime animals. Wonder why he thinks tiny flying rats are scary? Either that or he has some weird kink that I really don’t want to know about. Either way, therapy is needed. ASAP.

     #BatmanIsAfraidOfBats #YourTraumaIsCallingItWantsItsChildhoodBack #OrItsAFetish #OrBoth #DoItForTheAesthetic #BatmanIsAFurry #BatmanNeedsTherapy #JokesAside #EndTheStigma #MentalHealthMatters

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @fabricfiend 100% #BatmanNeedsTherapy #EndTheStigma #MentalHealthMatters

     Dick Grayson @FlyingGrayson

     @fabricfiend @IAMCOFFEE Batman? Afraid? Hah! He’s the Ghost of Gotham! What would he need to be afraid of?

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @FlyingGrayson Bats apparently.

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

#Signal looks like a #PowerRanger and the name would suit him. Your powers are awesome. That is all.

#YellowPowerRangerKnockOff #AtLeastHeHasPowers #UnlikeTheRestOfTheBatfam

     Duke Thomas @NotAWayne

     @fabricfiend I’m not sure if he should be offended or ecstatic

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @NotAWayne Both.

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

#Batwoman and #BlackBat awesome costumes girls. #Batgirl Your suit is too bright – tone down the purple (as amazing as it is) for stealth. Ditch the capes ladies. Get some head protection – it’ll keep your hair out of your face too! Otherwise, rock on.

#YourSuitShouldProtectYou #FashionANDFunction

     Steph Brown @WaffleLyfe

     @fabricfiend Those Batgirls are the best!

     Cass Cain @CandyCain

     @WaffleLyfe ^ 100%

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

#Robin looks like a child still! What is he? 10? Why are the Robins still a traffic light? I don’t care if its tradition, you’re a walking target. Get the kid in some black. Ever heard of stealth? You work at night, you should be trying to blend in, not stand out. How many times have you tripped on your cape? Broken your nose? Had a head injury?

#LeaveItToTheAdults #ChildSoldier #ItsNotOkay #ChildhoodTrauma #SomeoneCallCPS

     Dick Grayson @FlyingGrayson

     @fabricfiend The Robin suit is iconic!

     Damian Wayne @BloodSon

     @fabricfiend I’m sure Batman would not allow an untrained child to fight. He does not look 10. There is no way he started fighting at age 7 as Robin.

     Jason Todd @DeadWayneWalkin

     @fabricfiend @BloodSon He would totally allow a trained child to fight. And Robin does look 10

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @DeadWayneWalkin @BloodSon Didnt the first Robin also start around that age? He looked SO YOUNG. Training or not, no child should be forced into fighting villains. Batman isnt the first and wont be the last to use kids (Lookin at you #TeenTitans #YoungJustice #JusticeLeague)

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     <This comment has been blocked>

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @DeadWayneWalkin @BloodSon Okay so my last comment was blocked. Kids should never have to fight and die to protect their city or the world. Period. Unless the adults are corrupt POS.

     #AdultsAbandoned #LeaveItToTheKids #FreedomOfSpeech #P #SocialMediaBlockedMe #A #ItsMagic #R #NoReally #I #Secrets #S #DontTrustTheInternetFolks #ByeByeLittleButterfly #ICantBelieveTheyAllowedThatOne

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @fabricfiend Agreed. Children should never be taken into a fight, willing or not. #ChildSoldier #ItsNotOkay

     Adrien Agreste @AAgresteOfficial

     @fabricfiend Kids should never have to fight. But they do a great job when they do! #SpotsAndMeow #OMGThatWorked

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @IAMCOFFEE @AAgresteOfficial !!!!!!!! Thank You #SpotsAndMeow and all you #Animalz for helping to say #ByeByeLittleButterfly

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @fabricfiend @AAgresteOfficial Thank You #SpotsAndMeow and the #Animalz for letting us hear #ByeByeLittleButterfly

     Kagami Tsurugi @TsurugiKagami

     @fabricfiend Thank You #SpotsAndMeow #Animalz #ByeByeLittleButterfly

     Adrien Agreste @AAgresteOfficial

     @fabricfiend Thank You #SpotsAndMeow and you awesome #Animalz for saying #ByeByeLittleButterfly! #IHeartSpots #MeowBringDaClawz

     Jason Todd @DeadWayneWalkin

     @fabricfiend Wtf?

Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

Calling out #RedRobin for wearing that awful cowl. The nose makes you look like a rat, not a bird. Please tell me your cowl at least stops you from getting a broken nose.

#RedRobinYum #ItsAFoodChain #DoYouOwnIt? #RatCowl #TryingTooHardToBeABatmanFurry #BatmanAndRedRobinAreFlyingRats  

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @fabricfiend you made some really good points earlier. Im on board for a new Red Robin suit. #NewSuit #ShesSketchingRightNow #ShesRIght

     FurriesInGotham @BatWatch

     @fabricfiend #RedRobin has been MIA for months. #WhereIsRedRobin? #RedRobinIsMissing #RedRobinMIA #RedRobinYum #DidHeQuitToRunARestaurant?

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @BatWatch Wait really? How long has he been missing? Now I feel bad. @IAMCOFFEE did you know? #RedRobinIsMissing #RRPhoneHome

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @fabricfiend Yeah he hasnt been seen much in a while

     RedRobinStan @RedRobinYum

     @fabricfiend @Batwatch Yep. #RedRobinIsMissing. He hasn’t been seen in 9 months! He’s not the only one acting odd or missing either. Several Rogues have been beaten down so bad they were hospitalized that the others are hiding. Word is #RedHood and #Robin have been MIA too and are out for blood looking for @TimDrakeWayneOfficial who is missing too. They started rampaging after WE put out a press release. Maybe #RedRobin is with them?

     #HiredByWE? #VigilantesOutForBlood #IPityTheRogueWhoKidnappedHim #WhereIsRedRobin? #TimDrakeIsMissing

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @RedRobinYum Oh no! I hope he is found safe and unharmed. I’m sure his family is worried sick.  I hope they are both found safe soon. Spread the word @AAgresteOfficial #TimDrakeIsMissing #RedRobinIsMissing #GoFindThemBatFam #PleaseBeOkay #StaySafe

     Dick Grayson @flyinggrayson

     @fabricfiend Thank you. We are all very worried about Tim @TimDrakeWayneOfficial and just want him home with us again. Just like everyone is also worried about Red Robin. We are expanding our search internationally, and any support is appreciated. Please spread the word. If anyone has seen or heard from Tim, we urge you to contact the number on the press release <wwn.wayneenterprises.net/pressrelease/472690347/tim-drake-missing> No questions asked. #TimDrakeIsMissing #BringTimDrakeHome #FindTimDrake

     Adrien Agreste @AAgresteOfficial

     @fabricfiend Thank you Mari for letting me know! @TimDrakeWayneOfficial Tim Drake-Wayne is missing! Please spread the word. If anyone has seen or heard from Tim, we urge you to contact the number on the press release <wwn.wayneenterprises.net/pressrelease/472690347/tim-drake-missing> No questions asked.

     #TimDrakeIsMissing #BringTimDrakeHome #FindTimDrake

     LBM @LBMOfficial

     @fabricfiend @flyinggrayson @AAgresteOfficial @JaggedStoneOfficial @ClaraNightingaleOfficial @StyleQueenOfficial@TimDrakeWayneOfficial Tim Drake-Wayne of Wayne Enterprises has been missing since May. 6 Months. Please spread the word. If anyone has seen or heard from Tim Drake-Wayne, please contact the number on the press release <wwn.wayneenterprises.net/pressrelease/472690347/tim-drake-missing>

     #TimDrakeIsMissing #BringTimDrakeHome #FindTimDrake #LBMOriginalToAnyoneWhoFindsHim #LBMOriginalForTimWhenHesHome

     Dick Grayson @flyinggrayson

     @LBMOfficial Holy geez LBM just retweeted me. Can I get Tim and I on the list? Tim has been trying to get on your waitlist for years. When he is found he will be thrilled!

     #WouldntSayNoToAnLBMOriginal #NameYourPrice #ICanGiveYouMyFirstBorn @Bloodson #LBMOriginalForTim

     Jason Todd @DeadWayneWalkin

     @LBMOfficial @flyinggrayson If anything were to get Tim back, it would be this. He would rise from the grave at a chance for an LBM Original. Can you add me to the list? Id rise from the grave too but I already did that.

     #ICanGiveYouDamianToo #PleaseTakeHim #Please #LBMOriginalForTim #VigilantesOutForBlood #TimDrakeIsMissing

     Steph Brown @WaffleLyfe

     @LBMOfficial @flyinggrayson Me too! #LBMOriginalForTim #TimDrakeIsMissing

     Cass Cain @CandyCain

     @LBMOfficial @flyinggrayson +1 #LBMOriginalForTim #TimDrakeIsMissing

     Damian Wayne @BloodSon

     @DeadWayneWalkin @flyinggrayson I am not your child. @LBMOfficial I will pay you triple your commission price to deny them. #LBMOriginalForTim #TimDrakeIsMissing

     Dick Grayson @flyinggrayson

     @BloodSon Yes you are

     Jagged Stone @JaggedStoneOfficial

     @LBMOfficial @fabricfiend @flyinggrayson Tim Drake-Wayne of Wayne Enterprises is missing. Please spread the word. If anyone has seen or heard from Tim Drake-Wayne, contact the number on the press release <wwn.wayneenterprises.net/pressrelease/472690347/tim-drake-missing>  

     #TimDrakeIsMissing #BringTimDrakeHome #FindTimDrake #VIPTixToAnyoneWhoFindsHim #VIPTixForTimWhenHesHome

     Dick Grayson @flyinggrayson

     @JaggedStoneOfficial OMG Jagged. Stone. Retweeted. Us. Youre our fave musician ever. #VIPTixForTim #TimDrakeIsMissing

     LBM @LBMOfficial

     @flyinggrayson @DeadWayneWalkin @WaffleLyfe @CandyCain @BloodSon Sounds like we have a fan or two. Should we send them a signed copy of Rock Giant to brighten their days while they #FindTimDrake @JaggedStoneOfficial? Unfortunately, my commission list is full at the moment. If you can track down my client email to join the list, I would be happy to add you to it. Good luck. #LBMOriginalForTim #VIPTixForTim #TimDrakeIsMissing #NotRumplestiltskin #KeepYourKidThanks

     Mari-aculous @fabricfiend

     @flyinggrayson @DeadWayneWalkin @BloodSon #IsDamianReallyYours? #SellingYourSiblingForClothes #ChildProstitution #Joking #Kinda

     Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

     @LBMOfficial Can I get on that list too???? #LBMOriginal

Notes:

A big thank you to my readers, who seem offer their first born children in exchange for fics far more often than anyone should be comfortable with. I accept.

This chapter gives me big writers remorse. I wrote this fic almost two years ago now and I regret a lot of choices, including a social media chapter is definitely one of them. Have it anyways, because I don't have the heart to delete the cursed thing.

Chapter 17

Tim had thought that the first few posts were hilarious, though horrifying, as he envisioned her ever seeing them for real in costume… or out of it. They were not exactly subtle as they defended themselves and their outfits. Tim was going to try to ignore it as much as possible, at least until he got to the Red Robin post.

He felt a bit hypocritical about the child soldier thing, but looking back, he really shouldn’t have done it. Bruce shouldn’t have let him. Alfred shouldn’t have encouraged him and given him the outfit, no matter how bad things had gotten or how hard he pushed. An adult should have taken over. Robin never should have been created. Another adult should have made their own persona to watch over Batman and make sure he didn’t get out of control… no matter how vengeful Dick had been at the time. Bruce should have put Dick in therapy. Hell, Alfred should have put Bruce in therapy as a child. Why didn’t they?

An adult should have taken over in Paris too. Sure, Ladybug and Chat Noir looked like they were adults now, but it was very clear that they were children when they started.

He had filtered through the responses (damn they were popular posts in Gotham), only to discover that his family advertised that he was missing. This was worse than he had ever imagined. Mari trolling his family about their suits turned into posts about him missing – on both sides of the mask. Now she knew about him, even if she didn’t know it was him. Well shit. Soon his picture would be everywhere. His class would rat him out for sure. Lila, in particular, he had no doubt she would, but Alya might for the publicity, and Chloe likely would for the attention.

He clicked on the press release.

What the f- the picture they were using was a year and a half old. Was that really the last time they bothered to take his picture? The height on the PR was off by a good four inches as he had grown like crazy and was 5’11 now. He had lost the last of his baby fat since the picture too. His hair was long enough to put in a ponytail now, while the in picture it had been sheared off in a buzz cut following that stint as Mister Sarcastic. He was now tanned from spending the summer roaming Europe, and couldn’t really be classified as ‘pale.’ He wasn’t stuck in the typical stuffy suit. They had pieced together roughly when he had left, not that it was hard, but the date of the page update was months later.

There was a large gap between him missing in Gotham and starting school in Paris. There was a chance his classmates wouldn’t figure it out. People tended to ignore what was right in front of them when it was not expected. It was called situational or attentional bias. He hoped it worked in his favour this time.

Given all the shit Mari stirred up (by accident), he decided to lurk his family’s pages. It turned out that his siblings had all retweeted a Wayne Enterprises press release announcement that he was missing. He glanced at the dates. Three months after he left. How long had it taken for them to notice he was gone? How long after that did it take them to give up the search and admit defeat with the missing person report?

Damian so rarely posted that that was his only post in the last six months. Well, that was something at least. He would respond to things he was tagged in by family he followed.

Cass was about the same as Damian, but her post had been much later. Tim guessed she hadn’t been told until they absolutely had to tell her. Steph had posted a plea to send any information to her, no questions asked. Same as Cass, it was much later. If he had to guess, they were needed to cover patrols, and weren’t told about it until they needed a reason to drop their lives and return to Gotham.

 Jason’s feed noted him missing and requests for information mixed with not-so-veiled threats to anyone who had kidnapped him meeting untimely deaths two weeks before the WE press release. Bruce must have loved that.

Dick’s media posts had occasional remarks about ‘missing family that couldn’t be there’ beginning a week before Jason’s posts until the press release, then he made a few posts with official Gotham missing persons notifications. Then semi-regular reposts of the official statement and some more posts about missing him.

It was more than he had hoped for. But the amount of time it took for them to notice was… insulting.

Tim liked to think that he was getting better since moving to Paris. That he had been moving on.

Reading those posts had made him painfully aware that he definitely wasn't.  While he was happy to know that his family was searching for him, knowing that it took them so long to notice was almost as bad as if they had never noticed at all.

It hurt more than he would like to acknowledge. He felt like his heart had just been ripped in two all over again. Just as Marinette and the class’s acceptance of him was starting to help.

He had thought the posts were a bad idea to look at because he didn't want to see how badly she ripped him apart. He didn't want to see his family’s reactions, but deep down he knew he did. He wanted to very badly.

He just hadn't expected to have the information shoved in his face that they didn't care for months.

He couldn’t help the flood of thoughts. No one wanted him. No one loved him. Was he just that unlovable?

His eyes scanned over Marinette’s concern for him, even if he was a stranger to her.

He couldn’t help the automatic thoughts that flooded his brain. Maybe she was just a kind person, with that level of concern. Maybe he didn't mean anything to her. He fought hard against the invasive thoughts this time, and focused on Marinette herself, rather than how he was viewing himself in it all.

Mari was so sweet to shout out for looking for him, even if she didn’t realise it was him… Wait… She shouted out. He glanced over the posts again. Adrien retweeted and LBM put a shout out. And, he glanced over the post again in disbelief, offered him an original if he returned!? YEARS of trying to track down a way onto the waitlist, and it took being missing for months for it to happen. The irony was astounding. He had a signed Rock Giant album (that he cherished, from Marinette), so he wasn’t missing out there.  But, ugh, VIP tickets for a Jagged Stone concert courtesy of Jagged himself.

He had half a mind just to go home and claim the things, but it was quickly discarded. Maybe he could get their email through their social media? Ugh, no. They would see that as invasion of privacy (because it totally is Tim, his mind supplied). He couldn’t just reply on social media because that would out him to the family he was avoiding.

It was nice to see that he was missed at least a little bit… but not enough for them to not be distracted by the promise of something shiny (LBM and Jagged). He rated below celebrities they had never met, and that stung more than he ever wanted to admit to himself. He closed his social media in disgust.

Notes:

No, I'm not dead yet. I just have zero time.

In batfam defense - Tim is looking through a lens of depression, which can often impact how you view relationships and motives. He is seeing their reactions online as dismissive of him. You'll notice he even questions Marinette's intentions, and she is right there.
But reality? It's online, and people are distractible. Dick sees someone Tim has wanted to get hold of talking about him? Hell yeah he's going to jump on that. You likely would too. Its a side topic to the original post to begin with, and like any conversation, topics flow. Everyone's posts of him missing with the links to the WE press release would be serious and on topic only, as opposed to a fashion post that went off the rails a bit.
As for the WE post, Bruce picked the picture and was in a woe is me frame of mind at the time... and just chose the first one he saw.

Not that Tim knows any of this.

Chapter 18

The next few days Tim was on edge. He kept waiting for someone to recognize him. For a call from his family. But nothing happened on that front. If they figured it out, they kept it quiet. He had asked Mari to not post his picture online when they had first made his social media account, and she was gracious enough to say that she understood because she hated it when people posted her picture without her consent. So, there was that at least.

It was just after lunch that afternoon, when Tim overheard Lila having a very loud conversation.

“Are you excited for the gala Lila?” Alya asked.

Lila seemed confused for a moment, but recovered well. “What? Oh, yes. I leave for it soon.”

“It really is too bad you have to miss helping to plant the trees. I know how important your environmental work is to you,” Mylene said sadly.

“I so regret not being able to make it. The environment is so important to me! But poor Timmy is expecting me. If I didn’t show up, he would be so sad.”

“I thought Tim Drake was missing,” Adrien said quietly.

“Missing?” Lila paused. A brief flash of fear went through her eyes. A blink and it was gone. If Tim hadn’t been paying such close attention, he would have missed it.

Tim wanted to laugh. The girl was so bad at lying. If it wasn’t for her probable meta powers no one would believe a single thing she said.

“Oh no. He’s not. That’s just a silly rumour!”

“Really? Because his family was posting about it with links to police reports just the other day,” Adrien retorted.

Lila glared at him, and Adrien dropped it.

“Oh his family really goes all out for pranks. They might have taken it a bit far this time,” she laughed coldly.

Everyone but Tim and Adrien nodded in agreement. Adrien was frowning at Lila, but didn’t push it further. Once again, Tim was left wondering if Adrien was immune to Lila as well.

He was thankful Mari wasn’t in the room yet. She likely would have called Lila out, and he really didn’t need the class focusing on him.

The rest of the class moved on, agreeing with Lila. Huh. For once Lila’s lies worked in his favour. His classmates no longer had any reason to think he was Tim Drake.

Now if only the thought of being her date didn’t make him want to puke.

~~~~

While nothing had come of the social media posts, it wasn’t a quiet time in Paris. True to their word, akuma attacks happened so often it was ridiculous. Most of them weren’t even that concerning. Some were downright hilarious with their appearance or abilities.

One in particular was great. They wanted to have time to go to the movies with their friends. The result was everyone hit got to go to the movie theatre. The Ladybug and Chat Noir movie was playing, and Tim got to watch it instead of sitting in class. He had a funny feeling that Ladybug and Chat Noir took their time with that akuma on purpose. It didn’t disappear until after the movie ended.

Some were not so great… like the one the next day.

Nathaniel had been embarrassed, and had been hoping that everyone could just disappear and leave him alone.

He tackled Nathaniel’s akuma as the purple bubbles started to recede, which he later learned was called ‘Eraser,’ giving time for the class to escape.

Tim hadn’t been so lucky.

Eraser made a swiping move across Tim’s chest, causing that part of his body to cease to exist.

Now, if this were some kid’s cartoon or something, it would likely be comical. Flopping around like a rubber ball or something saying that now there were two of him.

But it wasn’t.

The result was half of his lungs and his stomach missing. His body collapsed to the ground, no longer connected, and he bled out, gasping for breaths that wouldn’t come. He couldn’t even make the crappy joke. Maybe a quip about Character Erasure.

There was a ringing in his ear… or maybe it was a scream. He couldn’t focus on it.

The akuma hovered over him before he could pass out from the pain, and thankfully made a swipe over his face, and Tim was no more.

It was the second time he died.

He was revived gasping for breath, phantom pains spreading across his chest.

Sometimes Tim just really wished he had stayed dead with that first akuma attack. It would have saved him a lot of pain.

Marinette raced back into the room not long after he revived.

He didn’t even have time to brace himself before she slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground in a hug.

“Ow.” He coughed a few times from being winded.

“You- Why would you do that?” she practically screamed at him as he sat them both back up. She smacked his arm lightly. “You didn’t even know what it would do!”

“I was giving you all time to escape… I didn’t realise-”

“Hey, thanks dude,” Nino came over and helped Tim up from the ground and gave him a pat on the back, stopping Marinette from lecturing him. Several of the others were nodding and quietly giving their thanks too.

Not that he needed the lecture. He had one from Bruce in his head about not waiting and assessing the situation and the dangers of an unknown opponent running through his head as it was.

~~~~

Tim also kept himself busy during class to stem off the boredom. He circulated a sign up sheet for working at the closest hospital as candy stripers as part of Prince Ali’s children’s hospital work.

“Lila! Did you set this up?” Rose asked excitedly when she saw the sheet.

“Oh, yes. I did,” she hedged.

“I thought you did environmental work with him?” Alya asked.

“I do!” Lila backpedaled. “I just thought I would help out with this project too!”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Rose gushed. “I’m signing up! We should do a shift together!”

Lila cringed and agreed to sign up with Rose for next weekend.

He hadn’t managed to convince the class of her lies, but at least he didn’t have to worry about her this weekend.

He was even talked into doing a shift after school by Adrien. It was apparently something that his father had thought would be good publicity for the brand.

Tim would have preferred to do one with Marinette, but they only had space for two each day in the program.

Tim stayed well out of the way of the photographer when they showed up for five minutes to take some token shots of Adrien ‘in action.’ The rest of the time, Tim had to listen to some of the worst puns he had ever heard – and that was saying something, considering he knew Dick.

He walked away thinking that maybe he had broken the ice with another classmate. He wouldn’t call them friends like he did with Marinette, but it was close enough.

~~~~

Tim made a list of things he wanted to see in Paris to prepare for his Saturday not-a-date that he asked her to on a Wednesday. ‘Cause you totally need that much advance notice for a not-date. Right?

He tamped down on that thought. She was a friend. He was happy to be going out with a friend.

He wondered how much his list of things he wanted to see would match her favourite spots. He knew they wouldn’t make it to Versailles today to see the hall of mirrors or the gardens, but maybe they could do that another weekend.

He got ready and admittedly dressed a bit better than he would for school: one of his favourite work shirts, a lighter sweater and jacket, with jeans. There was a bit of a chill in the air, but nothing compared to Gotham. He was likely overdoing it, but could give her the jacket if she got cold.

Mari greeted him at the door with three packages in her hands. “Hey Tim!” she exclaimed, a grin that put the sun to shame on her face. “I need to make a quick stop at the post office on the way to our first stop – is that okay?”

He nodded. The post office was on the way to the metro anyway.

None of the packages appeared to have addresses on them. He felt a bit guilty for being nosey as he looked them over, but he couldn’t help it. Old habits die hard.

He was going to wait with her when she asked him if he could grab them some coffee from the café three doors down while he was waiting. She was done by the time he returned.

She still had one package.

They made their way to the Trocadero, which was apparently her favourite place to sketch. It was peaceful, despite the large number of people around.

She pointed things out as he took pictures, and she would pause occasionally to make a note in her sketchbook or to draw something. He took far too many pictures that featured her in them than was strictly necessary. He preferred pictures of people anyway, and she was perfect.

The perfect photo subject, he corrected himself.

Ah fuck, who was he kidding?

She was perfect.

They walked down to the Eiffel Tower and rode as high up in the elevator as they could. Being up on the platform made him realise how much he missed seeing a city from above.

They stared out at the city and lost track of time. His hand itched to hold hers, and he gripped his camera tighter to stop himself.

“Hey Tim?”

He looked over at her as she broke the silence.

“I made you something. I know its not an LBM, but I hope you still like it,” she said quietly, a blush on her face, and the package held out towards him.

The last package was for him? She had actually made him something? She had been serious about that?

He had figured that she would take months to use those measurements, and maybe get something small for Christmas. Maybe.

When was the last time someone had given him something outside of birthdays and Christmas? Let alone MADE him something?

His hand trembled a bit as he took it.

At this point it didn’t matter if it was hideous, he would cherish it. His FRIEND had MADE him a GIFT JUST BECAUSE.

He ripped it open to reveal two things. The first was a hoodie. ‘COFFEE IS LIFE’ written in red lettering on an espresso-coloured hoodie. Darker coffee beans were scattered around. He lifted it out of the box and saw ‘Holy Caffeine Batman!’ written on the hood. She must have added that after she learned he was from Gotham. It had a Batman symbol on one side and a Robin R on the other.

He laughed as he remembered Dick had said that once when he was Robin. He knew some of Dick’s jokes and quips had made it onto the internet, but she must have looked it up.

There was also a pair of light weight pants that would be perfect for relaxing at home, based off his ‘favourite Gotham hero’… Red Robin. They were red with a yellow belted waist. Black stripes ran along on the side, and the RR symbol was on the hip.

They were perfect – entirely him, even if she didn’t know it. Both were insanely high quality. He would have sworn they were professional.

“Wow Mari! They’re perfect! I love them. Thank you so much.” He hugged her quickly before he could chicken out or stop himself. “… Thank you. For everything,” he whispered into her hair.

He whipped off his coat and light sweater, trying to ignore how he was flashing his scarred arms at her momentarily, and put on hers. It fit just right. Loose enough but not baggy.

He was admiring it more when he saw her name ‘Marinette’ in a fancy script stitched into the wrist in a shade slightly darker than the sweater itself. He heard her mumbling about how she signs everything she makes, but didn’t catch the last part. Something about Chloe and a hat. He had a feeling he wasn’t supposed to hear her say that, so he let it be. It wasn’t hard to guess what happened given that Chloe never did anything herself, even her own homework.

Next, they did the trek across the river to the next closest major landmark. It took a while, but it was worth it. They were in no hurry, and he was enjoying just being with her.

They walked up the Champs-Elysees, grabbing some crêpes from a cart near the Marigny Theatre. They chatted about future trips, including the trip to Versailles that he wanted to make, the Louvre and Grand Palais, as well as Disneyland Paris, and another day of touring using the busses to look around faster and hit up spots that were farther apart.   

When they reached the top of the Arc de Triomphe, the weather shifted, and a cool breeze made Marinette shiver. She had a sweater on like he did, but it was clearly not enough.

He offered her his jacket, and she shrugged it on. It was huge on her. She looked like a little girl playing dress up in her parent’s clothes. Her fingertips didn’t even reach outside the arms. It was absolutely adorable as she turned bright red while she scrambled to turn up the sleeves.

He couldn’t help but give a smile at the fact that she was wearing something of his. He took a picture as discreetly as he could manage as she looked out over the railing.

They ate dinner at a tiny restaurant that Mari claimed was amazing. It was a tiny hole in the wall with more ambiance without trying than most Gotham five-star restaurants. Candles lined the walls and tables, the walls were brick and chipped or worn down through the decades. Ivy pots had been put in sconces and grew across the walls. The candlelight may have flickered across her face, but it was her smile that lit up the room.

Sitting there, he couldn’t help but wish it had been a date after all.

Notes:

I'm not dead. Yay?

Also, go vote in the Maribat awards!

Chapter 19

Notes:

Trigger warnings: Suicide/jumpers during the parts in Gotham. The Paris sections are safe to read.

The tour of Versailles was amazing. The gardens were so expansive they would need at least another day to see them all. But Marinette posing for him in the Hall of Mirrors was spectacular. She had worn an outfit with such intricate lacework and embroidery on the shirt that she looked like she belonged in the rooms. He’d been itching to hold her hand the whole time – to pretend that they were there alone and that she was the princess she deserved to be – but settled for taking her picture instead.

As they waited for their train back to central Paris, they ate a snack from a nearby patisserie and watched the families on vacation.

There was a clown selling balloons.

“I hate clowns,” he admitted quietly as he shrunk back when the clown went by. Too many Joker flashbacks.

“Really? Adrien hates them too…” she mused. “I won’t take you to meet Harry the Clown then.” 

Tim grimaced at the comparison. He had no clue who Harry was, but he was more than happy to never meet them.

A loud bang sounded near them. Tim automatically reacted, diving for Marinette and pushing them both to the ground. He rolled off her after a few giggles were heard.

Tim looked around. Everyone was staring at him. A kid’s balloon had popped.

“Sorry,” he apologized as he held out a hand to help her up.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she reached out for his hand.

“Yeah. Just. Y’know. Gotham. Bangs are gunshots. It was automatic. I’m so sorry,” Tim rambled. Then he looked down at her. Her beautiful shirt was now covered in dirt. “Oh… fudge. I destroyed your shirt…”

She looked down. “It’s fine. Nothing a little handwashing won’t get out. Thank you for protecting me.”

“There was nothing to protect you from,” he grumbled, embarrassed.

“Sure there was. If it had been a gun, you could have just saved my life. It’s the thought that matters.”

A light blush spread across her cheeks. She raised up and gave him a peck on the cheek as if it were nothing. It probably was nothing more than a friendly thank you to her. To him, it was everything.

“Come on! Don’t want to miss it!”

She ran towards the train, which had arrived in the chaos, pulling him along by his hand. Tim’s free hand moved to his cheek to cradle the kiss.

~~~~

“Master Dick, Commissioner Gordon is on the line upstairs,” Alfred interrupted Dick and Damian as they were preparing to head out for patrol for the night. Bruce had left an hour ago to assist Jason with taking down a weapons trade in the south end of town.

Dick looked up. There was no reason for the commissioner to call their regular line. Not unless –

He jumped up and ran for the phone. Damian wasn’t far behind him.

“Yes Commissioner?” he answered the line hastily.

“Dick,” the commissioner recognized his voice. “We had a tip regarding the whereabouts of Tim.”

Yes! Dick’s hopes flared. “Where?”

The commissioner didn’t seem as chipper. “We have some footage from a subway. Are you available for me to show you?”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” That sounded reasonable for going the speed limit, right? He could be there in ten. Twelve with needing to change.

He nodded to Damian and they both threw clothes on overtop of their suits before rushing out the door. He sent Jason and Bruce a text about the tip and that they were going to and check it out. They would send any news.

Dick and Damian rolled up to the police station in ten minutes.

The commissioner greeted them at the front desk. “Right this way, gentlemen.”

They had a seat in one of the empty interview rooms. The one way glass room was empty, but they had a seat near the computers. A monitor was on with an image of the subway.

“Now, what I am about to show you is a bit unsettling.”

Unsettling? “Has something happened?”

Gordon swallowed heavily and pointed to a small figure at the top of the grainy screen. It looked like Tim. Right hair colour, right size and build. A backpack slung over his shoulder.

They had found him?!

He hit play on the video, and they all watched the tiny figure get closer. It could definitely be Tim. The figure sat in the subway along the wall, waiting for something or someone. He never looked up. He even looked asleep at one point. People passed him as if he were just a homeless man on the street. Maybe he was at this point.

Dick’s heart broke, watching Tim being ignored. Not even surrounded by people did he get attention.

Dick would change that. He would make sure Tim never felt invisible again.

When the subway was empty of lingering people, the commissioner paused the tape. “I’m not sure Damian should be here for this.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “Just play it.”

Jim looked over at Dick, who just nodded impatiently. They needed to see which direction Tim went. He sighed and hit play, a look of sadness overcoming his features.

Tim stood, leaving the backpack on the ground, and walked calmly towards the platform. There was another train due any minute now.

As the train lights flooded the screen, Tim walked off the platform, into the tracks. The conductor blew the horn in panic. They couldn’t stop in time.

Dick and Damian both closed their eyes at the impact.

“No. That’s not Timothy,” Damian insisted when he opened his eyes. “Tim would never do that.”

Dick felt tears fall down his face, but didn’t bother to wipe them. Damian had never seen Tim at his worst. Tim often made morbid jokes. He would sacrifice himself over and over, even when it wasn’t necessary. Would Tim do something like this?

Dick wasn’t so sure anymore. He wanted to say no.

He couldn’t.

Jim’s voice broke through his stupor. “Now – we are still waiting on DNA to come back. We were hoping to get a sample of Tim’s DNA for comparison. For now, we are working on the assumption that this tip could be false, like the others.”

They’d had hundreds of prank calls trying to cash in on the reward. 

DNA. They needed DNA for identification. Dick’s brain stalled on this thought. The body – Tim’s body – was so mangled that they wouldn’t be able to do a facial ID.

“Yeah. Sure. Alfred can send something over. Toothbrush or something, right?”

The commissioner nodded.

Dick’s brain was starting to kick back in with the coordination of the DNA samples. “You can use Wayne Tech’s DNA analyzers. Anything to speed it up. Just tell them we authorized it.”

Bruce would want to see the video. They needed to analyze it. “Can we take a copy of this home?” Dick asked bleakly.

They left the police headquarters in a daze. Damian clutched onto the recording as if it were precious, and not just a DVD copy.

Dick drove so slow that Damian ended up punching him in the shoulder. “Hurry up! We need to get back and prove this false!”

Dick didn’t have the heart to argue with the kid. The guy on the screen looked just like Tim. The clothes that were missing from his room were even similar to what the jumper was wearing. Dick didn’t have much hope.

They pulled into the garage, Alfred waiting for them at the door.

Dick put a hand on Alfred’s shoulder. Alfred looked into Dick’s puffy red eyes and let out a strangled sob of his own as he pulled Dick in for a hug.

“He’s just fine! I’m going to prove it!” Damian stormed by them shouting angrily.

His chest wracked with a sob, causing pain to shoot through his ribs. Damain’s denial added a whole extra layer of pain that Dick couldn’t ignore. Another gasping sob and it felt like his lungs were trying to escape his body. He leaned into Alfred's hug, his weight shifting for Alfred to bear, along with his emotional wellbeing.

When Alfred regained some composure, he led Dick inside and put some food in front of him. Dick ate it blindly once the sobbing had ended. His body needed energy, even if he wanted nothing to do with food. He was also given something to drink.

As he finished, his body moved from feeling like a raw exposed nerve to numb. Tasks settled in his mind – busy work to avoid the feelings. First, he needed to check on Damian.

~~~~

This akuma was awful.

Tim had been hit. He stumbled down into the metro, the waves of pure anguish washing over him. They were familiar feelings. Being invisible. Unwanted. Unloved. Nothing. He was nothing. He didn’t matter.

Now, they were amplified beyond anything Tim had experienced before. It was overwhelming.

He slammed his back against the cool metro wall, dropping his bag to the ground as he slid down to sit. He attempted to work past the feelings. It was impossible. Every negative thought he’d ever had just kept intruding on his attempts to think positive. Every suicidal thought he’d ever had. Every plan he’d even vaguely thought of. It now floated in front of his face, mocking him, begging the question – why had he never followed through?

He’d been making such good progress lately.

This akuma made him feel as though it was all just a joke. He should never have bothered.

He stood up, slowly walking his way to the platform. He was in no rush.

As the train pulled into the station, Tim took a step.

~~~~

Damian replayed the video for the tenth time, trying to enhance the image. It wasn’t possible. The grainy video was useless. There was no way to do facial recognition off the ancient subway camera. They would have to wait for the DNA results to be positive.

Dick slumped in his chair, begging, “Please, just stop. I can’t watch this anymore. There’s nothing to find Dami. He’s gone.”

“Tt. Give up then. I won’t.”

The clearest image was ironically right before Tim’s brains splat against the train. It was gruesome. He wasn’t sure how Damian was stomaching it.

“What the hell is that?” Jason asked as he ripped off his helmet.

“The police sent us another terrible lead on Timothy,” Damian answered, never looking away from the gore.

“That is a lead?” Jason exclaimed with disgust.

“Dami, stop. Tim is gone. They sent us his suicide video,” Dick explained, fresh tears starting up. He thought he couldn’t cry any more. He wasn’t sure where his body found the water at this point.

“What?” Jason looked at the screen again with this new information. He blanched as he watched Tim walk straight into the train as Damian replayed it yet again.

He collapsed into a chair, but it rolled away and Jason fell hard onto the floor. He didn’t even bother to get up. He curled in on himself, his fingers winding into strands of hair, pulling them harshly. Jason felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Or that he couldn’t breathe. Surely he couldn’t breathe. He was hyperventilating between sobs but that meant nothing.

It was weird to watch how they all handled this grief. Damian had gone into rage and disbelief. Jason was physically frozen in pain in a heap on the floor. Dick’s body had reacted similarly to Jason’s when they had returned to the manor and he had allowed himself the chance to grieve – before he had mentally frozen, dissociating before succumbing to numbness and tears, functional and taking everything in still with a detached sense that left him disgusted. Dick didn’t need to see Bruce to know that the slamming of the door was him locking himself away for the next week outside of patrols. He would throw himself further into the job, like he had with all the other losses. Alfred had cried when Dick told him and held onto Damian and Dick until reality kicked in and he went to take care of everything. DNA for the police. Making sure people ate. Life went on, and Alfred ensured it, despite the shadows of sorrow in his eyes.

It took four days. Four painful days of sitting in limbo. Mourning the loss of their family while still not knowing for sure if it was him.

When the call came in, Dick put it on speaker in the cave. “We got the DNA results back from our jumper in New York. We will be running it against Tim’s to see if it a match.”

Damian jumped up, not even waiting for the commissioner to end the call before he left the cave. When he came back, he had a vial of blood with a label ‘New York Jumper – John Doe’ written on the side, along with a drive.

“I’m not waiting for their system,” he stated as he plugged the blood into the analyzer and the drive into the computer system and pulled up the records for Tim that were already on file.

They breathed a collective sigh of relief as the results flashed on the screen.

NO MATCH.

Dick’s heart lurched back into place, like it had somehow been missing all this time. It thudded painfully with the shock and pain of relief. Someone had died, but it wasn’t Tim.

Tim was still out there. They still had time.

Some part of his brain registered that it should be sad for the family that had lost a son, but all he could feel was relief and lightness.

~~~~

The ladybugs washed over the subway, and Tim blinked, hurriedly pulling his foot back onto the platform. What had he been thinking?! He hadn’t felt like that in months now. He had worked so hard to put it behind him! He was better now (not one hundred percent, but progress was progress and he was proud of how far he had come thank-you-very-much). He had never felt a need to follow through with a plan. Never.

Damn akuma.

Grumbling, he picked up his school bag, seeing that he had several texts from Marinette. She was worried about him and wanted to meet up for some hot chocolate to shake off the akuma’s effects.

He quickly sent out a yes and boarded the train to go meet her.

By the time they left the little café they had gone to, it had started pouring rain.

Tim was used to the rain. It rained so frequently in Gotham that it was normal to just ignore it. Tim had lost count within the first month how many times it had rained on him during patrol. They just sucked it up and kept going, with water dripping from their hair into their faces.

France did not have this problem. In fact, it rained so infrequently that hardly anyone ever carried an umbrella. If it did rain, it was usually just a light drizzle.

So when it started to pour like the worst Gotham days, Marinette ran for the nearest alcove. Tim walked slowly, despite the rain starting to soak into his shirt.

“What are you doing? Get in here!” She ran back out and pulled him into the alcove, but he didn’t make it easy for her.

She was back in the alcove now, but he was stubbornly standing outside of it.

“Afraid of a little rain?” he teased, shaking his head, his long hair spraying water all over her like a dog.

She reached up her hands as if to block him – not that it worked. “Aaah! N-No!”

“Come on, a little water never hurt anyone,” he said playfully as he tugged on her hand.

She stood adamantly in the alcove, staying dry.

“Guess I’ll just have to dance in the rain all by myself.” He winked at her, a drop of water splashing him in the eye. He ignored it and began singing “I’m singing in the rain…” horribly off key. He spun around a lamppost and splashed in a puddle.

It was silly and ridiculous, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had just acted like a kid. It was just what he needed after an akuma like that. He could practically feel the remnants of negative emotion falling off him as he splashed again, kicking up some water in an arch.

“Okay, okay! I’ll dance with you,” she ran out to join him.

“Fair warning,” he said as he grabbed her hand, pulling her down the street with him, “I only know how to ballroom dance.”

She looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, before he put one hand on her waist, the other gripping her hand properly.

The two began to waltz along the streets. He twirled her a few times, her hair whipping him in the face with water. They laughed and made their way slowly and lazily through the empty streets towards her house, the pitter-patter of the rain their only music. Once he even dipped her right over a puddle, before stomping in it and splashing them both.

Her smile was so carefree, and her laugh was infectious. It made Tim wish it rained more often.

Chapter 20

Notes:

I opened up my discord after ages of it just sitting around collecting dust. Please come join me! Izzy’s General Maribat Discord (MLBxDC)

This chapter posted in honour of my hits catching up to my number of words posted (638k words/hits; which now, of course, no longer is true since I posted this).

Tim said a brief hello to Marinette's parents, who were currently working on icing a wedding cake for the next day, before heading to find her. Marinette was washing dishes for her parents when Tim came into the kitchen. He looked briefly at the coffee machine. Empty. But Marinette had a coffee sitting there. She wouldn’t mind if he took a sip, right? She had never minded sharing before.

He reached from behind her and snagged it.

He almost had the coffee to his lips when suddenly Marinette whipped around, frying pan in hand, and whacked him on the side of the head.

That was the last thing he could recall, before waking up some time later.

~~~~

Marinette had felt the hand slide up her side. Her immediate reaction was to whip around and punch whoever had violated her space. Unfortunately, she still had a frying pan in her hand.

More unfortunately, it was Tim, who had clearly just tried to steal her coffee. She watched in complete horror as Tim spun around once and crumpled to the ground. Her coffee spilt all over the floor and him. He was drenched and more notably, out cold.

“Tim!” she shrieked in panic.

Her parents rushed in to see what had happened. Marinette stuttered out an explanation to them, and they went to call an ambulance.

~~~~

A couple of minutes before the ambulance arrived, Tim woke up to a panicked Marinette hovering over him whispering, “Please be okay, please be okay…” over and over under her breath. Her father was cleaning up spilt coffee, while her mother waited at the door to let the emergency services in.

A little while later, Tim was cleared by the EMTs, with only a splitting headache (and a diagnosis of a moderate concussion) to show for his attempt at coffee thievery.

Marinette had quite the right hook, Rapunzel frying pan move or not. Still, he wasn’t complaining as she made him a coffee, and made him rest on her chaise upstairs and played video games with him for the rest of the day – and went easy on him for once.

She and her parents were extra attentive that evening. They had been warned to watch for signs of a more serious concussion. That would mean he needed to go to the hospital.

As Sabine and Tom fussed over him, Tim couldn’t help but think back to his own parents. He missed them. They never really fussed over him. They were not exactly the most attentive parents in the world… His mind shied away from directly calling them neglectful, but he knew it was the most accurate word. His heart ached, wondering what it would have been like to have his parents dote on him like this – or anyone in his family. Dick. Bruce. Hell, even Jason.

He wondered vaguely how Dana was doing. He probably should have talked to her more. She was the only parental-ish figure he really had left on the Drake side. He should have checked on Mrs. Mac too… the closest thing he had to a caregiver as a kid most of the time, but doing so would have flagged him with the bats for sure. Whenever he decided to go back, he would have to give them a call.

~~~~

It wasn’t often that all of the bats were needed at a bust. In this case, however, the Scarecrow had escaped Blackgate and was making up for lost time.

They had gone to seize the fear gas manufacturing supplies underneath the Ocran Chemicals main plant and were currently engaged with his lackeys overseeing production.

A man to Nightwing’s left was aiming to fire his handgun at Robin, who had his back turned to him, currently fighting some other goon. “Red Robin! Left!” Nightwing called out automatically.

… No one moved to intervene.

Robin was shot in the back, a cry of pain echoing through the space. Thankfully, his Kevlar absorbed the shot, and Robin only stumbled momentarily as the bullets impacted with his suit.

Nightwing moved to take out the man, wondering for a moment why Red Robin hadn’t stepped up. Tim could always be counted on…

Then it hit him.

Tim was gone.

Red Robin wasn’t part of their team attack.

Tim was always there. They all just assumed he was there all the time. Dick had even accounted for it when providing back up in this section of the factory.

He’d left gaps, assuming Tim would fill them.

Dick was brought out of his daze by a shot to the stomach. He rounded on the man who had shot him and Robin and took him down much harder than he needed to with a zap from his escrima.

Both he and Damian had taken hits because they had just naturally left room for Tim.

They managed to subdue all the men eventually, but it was harder than it should have been. When they cornered Scarecrow, he told them a riddle of all things before escaping out an old storm drain. The drain cover blew up before they could follow, leaving a Riddler calling card as the two villains escaped free and clear. They hadn’t even known Riddler was involved until that moment.

As they went back to the batcave, Dick couldn’t help but wonder if Tim would have known the answer immediately. The riddle had something to do with tennis, so he probably would have been able to send them in the correct direction right away. Tim probably would have known Riddler was involved and not been taken by surprise.

As it was, it would take them far too long to figure out, and by then, Riddler and Scarecrow would get away with the next part of their plan. In the meantime, he and Damian had some rather painful bruises to ice.

As he iced his stomach, Dick found himself in front of Tim’s empty room. He couldn’t believe it had taken them as long as it did to discover he was missing. Tim was essential to their daily lives.

They had taken him for granted. They had always figured he would just be there.

When they found him, Dick would make sure that never happened again.

~~~~

Tim's mind had clearly romanticized school after he had dropped out. He was bored. He began to fall asleep listening to Mme. Bustier ramble on about the reproductive cycle of a flower. Why they deemed this essential knowledge for everyday life Tim would never understand. Even Bustier was clearly bored by the material. Marinette was doing that thing where she seemed to be goofing off by doodling but was still somehow taking notes.

Tim just decided he was done. Nap time.

He knew he liked to blame needing to find Bruce as the reason he dropped out and never went back to school, despite already receiving his college acceptance. The truth was, no matter what his IQ was, Tim was just not cut out for traditional classroom environments.

He put his head on the desk and started to nod off.

At least until a sharp pain rang through his shin. He glanced down and saw nothing. But upon looking up, he realised Marinette was giving him a 'look.' She had kicked him! He rolled his eyes at her. Apparently, Mari would not be allowing him to sleep in class.

He was glad when the lunch bell rang.

After they had had something to eat, the two sat on the steps leading up to their classroom to await the bell. Marinette dug around in her purse for a moment and pulled out some candy.

Marinette had a lollipop. Now, normally, this would just be a cute thing she did... bringing candy for lunch. It wasn't the first time. It wouldn't be the last.

Unfortunately for Tim, he had become painfully aware of his attraction to her. So, as she licked the damn piece of hard candy, his mind wandered to places which were wholly inappropriate when surrounded by his peers.

It also didn't help that his thoughts came with a soundtrack. "Shawty wanna lick, lick, lick, lick, lick me like a lollipop" played on repeat in his head.

Also unfortunately for Tim, it was very clear that he was not the only one whose thoughts had gone into the gutter. Adrien was staring at her, biting his lip.

To make matters painfully worse, Marinette turned to stare at him as she ran her tongue in circles around the damn thing. She was sitting below him on the steps, so he was hovering over her as she lifted her head to him. The angle did not help his mind move on to less obscene thoughts.

Now, Marinette had decent English - joys of working in a bakery with a large tourist income. She would often try to speak English when it was just the two of them, trying to get in some practice. She was moderately fluent, but on occasion, she would choose a similar word to the one that would normally be used.

She took the lollipop away from her mouth and held it out to him. She had definitely caught him staring. "Do you want to suck my bonbon?"

Tim choked, his mind moving to imagining sucking on her instead, and turned bright red before finding the words. "We, uh, call it a lollipop. A bonbon is soft inside," he corrected her, his mind adding a 'like you' that he thankfully didn't say. Then his brain caught up. Share? Indirect French kiss! Hell yes. "I'd love to have a lick or two."

She held it out for him, and he rolled his tongue over it slowly, maintaining eye contact with Marinette. If she could unknowingly tease him, well, he could do it right back. She had a faint blush on her cheeks as she stared at his tongue.

Tim decided that he liked lollipops now.

~~~~

Marinette thought sharing the lollipop was a good idea... until she saw Tim ravishing the thing, licking around it, pushing his luscious lips slowly around it to take it into his mouth. Now all she could think about was what his tongue was capable of.

"Mmmm... so good Rin," he groaned, his voice low, gravelly, and painfully seductive, as he pulled it out of his mouth and gave it one last lick, his tongue flat as it rolled over the candy.

Marinette was pretty sure she would combust at this point.

She cleared her throat and tried to think of anything to say that didn’t involve her stuttering or mentioning where her thoughts had gone. “We better go, or else you’ll be late for tennis.”

He’d scheduled a game with Adrien, Kim, and Nino after class. Marinette had decided to stick around to cheer them all on. Tim had mentioned that he really enjoyed tennis back in Gotham, and had even been on his school team. Francois Dupont didn’t have a formal team, so Tim had asked around and gotten some of the class to join him.

Adrien and Tim sent her frequent smiles, particularly when she cheered for both sides successes.

As the boys played, Marinette snapped some photos for Tim. He always seemed to be taking the pictures and was never in them. She vowed to take more pictures of him. As she took another set of pictures, Tim looked over at her and grinned.

Her heart did a little flop at the lopsided grin and she waved. He looked like he was going to return the wave when the tennis ball impacted with him, and he collapsed to the ground.

All the boys came running, as did Marinette. He clutched his crotch and rolled over onto his side. The ball had hit him where the sun doesn’t shine. The boys all cringed. Marinette had a hard time relating, but felt bad regardless. It must hurt. Tim wasn’t exactly weak.

“Sorry, man! I didn’t realise you weren’t paying attention!” Adrien apologized, reaching out a hand to help Tim up.

Watching Tim in pain in that very sensitive area shortly after the lollipop they had shared made her cheeks flush. What had she been thinking? She couldn’t do that. It was enough to have a temporary friendship. She couldn’t wish for more.

She spent the rest of the night reminding herself of her obligations and deep dived into her book that held all her theories on who Hawkmoth was.

Tikki spoke up a few times, mentioning something about work-life balance.

~~~~

The next day, Marinette had gone back to shutting him out. Tim just didn’t understand what she was thinking. Had he made it awkward with the lollipop thing?

Was he really just a freak who could only relate to heroes? Was he doomed to never have solid friendships? All of his dating history was a disaster too – he was probably doomed to die alone.

When Marinette went home for lunch without him, Tim sat with Adrien and Nino. He had a good time, but it just wasn’t the same. He missed Marinette’s flamboyant storytelling and how he knew that when he talked that she truly listened.

He hated to admit it, but her shutting him out hurt. While he had friends in the guys in his class, it wasn’t the same. He felt alone, even with them present, much like he had back in Gotham. He never felt alone when he was with Mari. It was the one time he felt truly seen for who he was (even if it was with a fake last name and he had yet to tell her the truth about who he was or why he was there).

He found himself dragging his feet back to his desk after lunch, not looking forward to the class at all. Would Rin even show?

He put his head on his desk, allowing himself a moment to outwardly mope.

A poke on the side of his shoulder made him roll his head to the side. Marinette was sitting there, a macaron held out like an offering.

He took it for what it was – a sorry.

He didn’t know what was going on with her, but if she could reach out to him, he would always reach back.

Notes:

I opened up my discord after ages of it just sitting around collecting dust. Please come join me! Izzy’s General Maribat Discord (MLBxDC)

This chapter posted in honour of my hits catching up to my number of words posted (638k words/hits; which now, of course, no longer is true since I posted this).

Chapter 21

Something was different today. Tim couldn't put a finger on what.  He observed the class, but nothing was out of the ordinary. General pre-Lila mingling.

Then he realised. One person was missing.

Lila.

The bell was about to ring and she always got there at least ten minutes early to soak up attention and convince someone to take notes for her.

She wasn't there today. When lunch rolled around, Alya grabbed a passing Marinette by the hand and dragged her to their lunch table with Tim in tow. He watched as Marinette convinced Alya to apply to a safety school. For Nino to apply for school period, and to work on that movie he had been talking about that Lila had dismissed. For Adrien to tell his dad he didn't want to model. Mitigating the damage like she said she did.

Marinette was too kind for this world.

Tim, meanwhile, took the opportunity to make a copy of all of the homework Lila had missed and placed it in her locker… along with several extra pages for each subject. She would be doing homework for hours.

That night, he had a study group at Adrien’s place. They had made it the day before when Marinette had been shutting him out. Nino and Alya had come as well. He wasn’t very close to Alya, but she was his friend’s girlfriend, so he was nice.

When they were taking a snack break, the conversation turned to their class. Tim stayed out of it for the most part and began to tune them out. He didn’t know the others the way they did. Some of them had been together since they had entered formal education.

When it came to Marinette, Tim couldn’t help but tune back in.

“What about Mari? Do you think she would be interested?” Adrien asked. Tim had no clue what he was referring to. 

“I haven’t seen Marinette in ages, dude.”

“I miss her! She never has time to hang out anymore,” Alya lamented. “I miss my best friend!”

Best friend?

Tim struggled to see it. Alya and Marinette hardly talked.

“She and Lila don’t get along,” Adrien hedged. “I know she won’t do anything if Lila is there.”

Alya groaned. “I don’t really understand the whole issue between Marinette and Lila! Marinette never hates anyone, but she seems to really hate Lila! Even on Lila’s first day of school, Marinette was claiming she was a liar.” Alya shrugged her shoulders. “I even asked Lila about it all, and she was totally up for hanging out, and wasn’t sure why Marinette said she was a liar. She had proof of it and everything!”

That surprised Tim. “Lila had evidence?”

Alya nodded and showed him a picture of what was clearly Lila photoshopped with a kitten and Jagged Stone at an airport.

Lila’s powers were stronger than he had given them credit for, if everyone had bought that.

“You sure that’s real?” he tried prompting. Lila wasn’t there, so there was a chance… right?

“Yeah. She was really hurt when I asked that too,” Alya lamented. “I couldn’t believe I made her cry. I felt so bad.”

“I don’t know… she’s lied to me a few times. Maybe Mari just doesn’t like liars?” Tim tried to suggest, but he could see he was losing them.

Adrien drove the nail into the coffin on Tim’s attempts to convince them. “Even if Lila were lying, it would be little white lies. They aren’t harming anyone, so who cares?”

Alya gave a half-hearted shrug.

Tim decided to go back to his algebra.

Despite his failure in convincing them (and the fact that they were doing math), Tim decided he’d had a good time with his friends.

Tim was walking back from Adrien’s house when he was suddenly struck from behind.

He found himself pinned to the building beside him, his face mushed into the brick. That was the least of his worries, however, as he could very distinctly see that he was pinned in by a car… and that his leg was notably farther away from his body than was physically possible. Nothing below his waist had feeling other than pain that stopped around his stomach…

And then he passed out from the pain.

When he was revived by the ladybugs, he took in what had happened.

He had died again when a car thrown by a giant akuma smashed him into a wall. He decided bleeding out from massive blunt force trauma, or any other form of a car accident, was not how he wanted to die again either. He was glad Marinette had not been with him then, so she didn’t have to watch him die again.

This one had caught him off guard, as he must have been right beside it when the person had been possessed. There was no warning. It hit him from behind. He had never stood a chance. It had just been so random, and no manner of training or survival through deadly situations in the past had mattered. He just died. Like everyone else.

It was a shock. He’d always assumed he would die saving someone.

This time, he had just died and it served no purpose.

It rocked his world in a way that made him feel very insecure. He’d been determined since he was thirteen that he would do good in the world; that when he finally died that it would be for a good cause.

This was just random chaos.

It unsettled him. He didn’t like it. It hit hard that he may not get a choice in the end.

~~~~

It was class photo day. Marinette had been acting weird, sticking to Juleka as much as she possibly could.

When Tim gave her an odd look Marinette shrugged. “Juleka’s cursed,” she supplied as if the response was totally normal. “She never seems to be visible in her photos. I’m just making sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Juleka seemed to be somewhat grateful for it, as both Chloe and Lila seemed to be keen on getting the aspiring model to be out of the shots. Lila seemed hellbent on Marinette being left out of them as well, so Tim decided that as Rin was guarding Juleka, that he would guard her – or rather, both of them.

When it was their turn, Lila tripped Marinette, who was just a few steps behind Juleka. Tim grabbed her hand before she had the chance to fall on her face and take both her and Juleka down in one swoop.

Thankfully, Juleka took her spot beside Rose without further interference. Tim put an arm around Rin’s shoulder as Lila glared daggers at him. He smiled brightly at her and led Marinette to a spot in the middle of the group, beside Adrien and Chloe, who was clinging off of Adrien’s arm, much to Adrien’s obvious discomfort.

He posed for the picture with a wide smile and tugged Marinette a little closer to his side.

When they would later get the class photo back, he would proudly display it in his living room. He and Marinette were center stage, her cheeks covered with a beautiful blush as he tilted his head slightly towards her.

It almost looked like they were a couple.

Almost.

~~~~

Someone had upset Rose again. Now, in any other city in the world, this may have just meant that it was a bad day for Rose.

In Paris, it meant that Rose’s problem was suddenly everyone’s problem.

“I am Princess Fragrance!” she announced as she spritzed the room with her perfume gun.

“Yeah, we know!” Kim retorted cockily before being gassed. His next sentence came out in monotone, “At your service, Princess Fragrance.”

Tim saw the green smoke billowing towards him and took a deep breath before it could reach them.

Marinette was already bolting for the door, and Tim pulled out his wallet from his back pocket as he ran after her.

He unzipped the back pocket on it and pulled out his emergency N100 mask. When he saw Marinette just blindly trying to run from the smoke, he grabbed his spare and handed it to her too. Once his mask was in place, he helped her get hers secured properly.

“Why do you have a mask?” she asked, confused.

“Gotham.” He shrugged. “Between Joker and Scarecrow and the wannabes, everyone keeps masks on them. It’s normal. With all the villains, why don’t you? You always carry that purse…”

It was true. She was never without it. Even around her house, the purse was never far away.

Honestly, Tim wished he had the excuse to carry around a bigger bag, rather than just what he could reasonably fit in his pockets. It would be much easier to carry around emergency supplies. Unfortunately, fanny packs had gone out of style. As it was, he tried to keep his backpack as close as possible, but his bag was currently sitting in his locker.

He finished making sure that it was as tight on her face as he could get it, and the two took off at a run again. They rounded the corner in hopes of exiting the building, when they were both engulfed in another puff of ‘perfume.’

In the green haze, he lost his grip on Marinette’s hand. He continued on in the direction they were heading, but when he cleared the smoke, Marinette was nowhere to be found. He did the best he could to wade through it again, looking for her.

Ladybug ran past him, a fan in hand, batting the smog away, a mask covering her mouth and nose, rather than just her eyes. She also seemed to have wings – it seemed to be a modified version of her space flight form. The wings were also batting away the haze. She nodded at him and smiled, continuing on.

“Ladybug! Wait! Have you seen Marinette?” he called out to her, but she just continued on.

He searched the whole school before finally heading to her house. He couldn’t find her. Unless someone had removed her mask, she should have been safe, but he didn’t like it.

When the ladybugs cleared the scene and everyone returned to normal, he finally found Marinette running out of an alleyway on the other side of the Seine.

“Thank you for the mask!” she said instead of a greeting. “It was brilliant!”

Tim ran up and hugged her instead. When he released her, she tried to hand back the mask.

“Keep it. I have a whole box.”

He made a mental note to give her whole family a stash of masks to keep on hand, as well as creating a tiny emergency kit. He was tempted to include a tracking bug in it, but shied away from it. That was something Batman would do. Something he would have done before.

He wanted to be better than that.

~~~~

Marinette was an enigma.

She was one of the most graceful people he had ever seen. Simultaneously, she was also one of the klutziest. He’d determined a while ago that she was fine until she was distracted or flustered, at which point she went from walking normally to tripping over her own feet and often taking someone or something down with her.

Skateboarding was another example. He had been teaching for the past few days. She did pretty well on the first time he took her out – until she waved to Tim… at which point she shifted her weight, and caused the skateboard to go off-track… straight into traffic. She managed to swing her body violently around to avoid a car, but then went back to the sidewalk, hit the curb because he hadn’t had a chance to show her how to hop curbs yet, and went flying forward as the board came to a sudden stop.

The car screeched to a halt and the person behind only just barely managed to avoid rear-ending them. Meanwhile, the skateboard flipped over the edge and a kid walking by tripped over it, kicking it backwards. Marinette screamed as she flipped in the air. She managed to do a back handspring instead of faceplanting, but then she somehow – miraculously – landed back on the board. She wobbled around a bit, aiming herself away from traffic… and straight down the stairs.

She bailed, jumping off the board as it flew off the steps, grabbing onto the handrail and sliding down the very long flight of steps looking as if she had meant to do that all along. The board clattered and bounced it’s way down and people dodged out of its way.

Tim followed Marinette down the metal rail on the other side and met her and the board at the bottom.

“Sorry! Sorry!” she apologized to everyone around.

A few people asked her if she was alright, but she just laughed it off and reassured them that she was fine.

Tim picked up his board, and looked it over once he was sure Marinette really was okay.

A wheel baring had snapped and would need to be replaced. It was a cheap board, so he was fine with just getting a new one.

“Oh no! Your board!” Marinette lamented as she realised the damage she had done.

“My board?” he repeated incredulously. “Are you serious? You just about died! Twice!”

She twirled for him. “Not a scratch. See? I’m fine!”

Tim grumbled the whole way home about Marinette needing to take better care of herself and having no sense of self-preservation.

He did not miss the irony.

Notes:

Maribat Awards 2024 Nominations are up - come nominate your favourites! Link HERE

And come join me on discord! Link HERE

Chapter 22

Lila had caused an accident in class. Tim was pretty sure he was the reason for it.

She had been rambling on and on about how she was going to meet with some celebrity Tim had never heard of to talk about her environmental charity.

“Wow, that’s a lot of celebrities.” Lila preened at his words. “Didn’t you just go to Gotham to meet the Wayne family?” he prompted.

“Yeah! Last weekend, she had to miss the tree planting with us,” Mylene jumped on Tim’s thought train.

“How was it?” Rose asked. “I bet it was just magical!”

“Let’s see the pictures!” Alya piped in.

“What? Oh! Oh I couldn’t go…” Lila lamented as she sent Tim a glare that if he hadn’t been looking for it, he would have missed.

“That’s a shame. I should look up the website to see the pictures…” Tim prodded. It was playing with fire. Looking up the Wayne Enterprises events could lead them to discover him. He was betting on Lila.

“No! No… there’s uh, nothing to see. The event was cancelled at the last minute. Turns out that that Timothy really is missing…” she fumbled, leaning into the information that she had been given last time this came up. She plastered a tearful look onto her face.

“That’s too bad,” Rose looked sad as she comforted Lila.

“You should have joined us!” Mylene suggested. “Nothing like friends and environmental causes to lift those spirits!”

“Right. You’re so right Mylene. Sadly, I learned too late. I was already sitting in the airport when I heard. And uh, you guys had already started.”

He really shouldn’t have been surprised when later she told Rose that Marinette had been picking on her, saying she was lying about being invited to the Wayne Gala that didn’t exist.

Rose had turned into Princess Discontent, and began chasing after Marinette with an oversized pink hammer. Adrien and Ivan had held her off while Tim dragged Marinette out the door. It hadn’t worked for very long, because Princess Discontent had caught up no more than a minute later. Tim pushed her into an empty classroom, and distracted Princess Discontent enough to follow him down the hall.

Not thirty seconds later, Ladybug arrived. He booked it out of there and back to where he had stashed Marinette.

But when he got there, the classroom was empty.

None of the nearby rooms had anyone in them either.

He called her cell. No answer.

He just wanted to make sure she was safe, damnit!

So he did what he always told civilians not to do – he went after the akuma.

Ladybug was busy dodging the hammer as Chat was trying to sneak up from behind. When she took a few steps backwards, towards Tim, he called out. “Ladybug! Have you seen Marinette?”

“Marinette?” the akuma echoed. “Give me Marinette! She must pay for her actions!”

“I hid her away. She’s fine. Now please, leave,” Ladybug barked at him. “Go wait for her at her house or something.”

He didn’t want to distract them more. So he left, looking in every nook and cranny along the way to her house. He looked in her house. In her room. She never showed up.

He never did find her. Not until the battle was over. Not a minute after the battle, Marinette came barging into her house.

“I’m fine!” she squealed as he hugged her.

“Where were you?!” he demanded, leaning back to look into her eyes, but not letting go.

“Ladybug whisked me away right after you shoved me in that room. It’s over. I’m okay!” She squirmed a bit, and he loosened his grip. “Really.”

He let go. “Sorry. You just… scared me. You were just gone.”

It wouldn’t be the last time she scared him like that.

~~~~

Tim had trouble reading Mari sometimes, which was unusual for him. He would start to think that they were more than friends, and then have that assumption come crashing down. She would glance at him in a way that hinted at something more. Blush. Compliment him. And then he would blink… and she would distance herself, not want to touch or be near him, or look sad.

He had absolutely no idea how she felt. The result was that he didn’t push it.

Tim had realised after their first tourist day that he wanted more.

Badly.

She was kind and generous. Forgiving to a fault. She certainly wasn’t perfect, but her faults did not bother him. She was scatterbrained and easily distracted and would leave things a mess, particularly when she was busy creating something. She needed regular reminders to be on time for things. She got his crazy coffee addiction and joined him in it (even though he was back down to only one in the morning!). She seemed to be busier than he was. She definitely got his insane work hours habit that he had in Gotham.

She was smart. She may not be great at physics, but excelled everywhere else. When he asked her about a question that she had gotten wrong so horribly that he couldn’t understand it, she said it was “because magic and superheroes, like Ladybug and Chat Noir and the akumas, regularly break the laws of physics.”

She would argue points about bending laws to accommodate for their abilities and magic, but of course she didn’t have the math to back it up. He could see what she meant though. Magic often went against everything he had learned. It was a bitch like that.

She was insanely creative, and not just with her physics or sketching. He had only caught glimpses of her work on occasion. When she did show him, her explanations were full of passion and terms he had never heard of. She seemed to always be making or modifying something, or coming up with plans.

She could be as famous as LBM one day if given the chance.

He had finished his searches on his classmates ages ago. Alya and her family were clean in general, aside from her association with Lila and tendency to disappear to videotape the akuma attacks. Her blog was filled with more speculation than fact after Lila came to town. It appeared she stopped fact checking then. Probably Lila’s influence. It would ruin her journalism career if it hadn’t already. It seemed the two friends split ways six months after Lila moved.

Similar patterns were found on his other classmates’ profiles. It made him worry that he would succumb to Lila in a few months too, and reminded himself of her lies daily. He found it helped.

Adrien was clean, but had a habit of disappearing randomly from class, often citing photoshoots that he could find no evidence of. So other than skipping class he was okay. They often coincided with akumas. Perhaps he watched like Alya did, or took a leaf out or Marinette’s books and dealt with his emotions during attacks?

Adrien's father had some weird spending in his business, but nothing that he could really dig into without a bat computer. It all seemed to be tied to the Tsurugi and Graham de Vanily/Fathom financial backing, so he just had to assume that there was something that his check had missed that he couldn’t get into without his computer being flagged and getting arrested. Chloe's father had some weird dealings throughout town, but while shady, was not something that warranted bat involvement… so far as he could tell. The guy was just greasy. It was possible there was more to it, as he seemed to have amassed a large number of properties and businesses, but Tim reminded himself that taking down crappy businessmen was not why he was in Paris. He was here to get away from it. So far as he could tell, no one was getting hurt, so he would drop it unless he saw evidence otherwise.

None of their kids seemed to be involved in whatever it was, so far as he could tell.

He missed having access to the bat computer for doing research. He was positive he would have found more if he had used it.

He refused to research Mari. He wanted her trust, and he wouldn’t gain that by digging into her life without permission. Mari didn’t like liars, and he had too many secrets already. He wouldn’t dig into hers so that he would never have to lie to her about it.

Even without specifically looking into her background, he learned enough about her from digging into his classmates to get a general sense of what had happened. Lila entering the class had resulted in all of her friends cutting her out of future posts. It wasn’t hard to make the leap. What he had seen of Mari showed a girl who went out of her way for her friends and classmates. Generous. It was amazing how much the class opinion had shifted. They didn’t seem to hate her, but they also didn’t spend time with her, particularly when Lila was around. Somehow it seemed more than just Lila, but he had no idea what it could be.

Mari also had a disturbing habit of going missing during akuma attacks which made him have more than one sleepless night and near panic attack. Lila had made more than one akuma that had gone after Mari directly. She would run with him towards shelter and they always ended up getting separated, or she would need to run to grab something, or run to the washroom. He was very concerned that she was chasing after Alya, as it seemed she wasn’t always just hiding to release emotions. Maybe she and Adrien were trying to keep Alya from dying? That worried him even more. Whenever he did run into one of the heroes, Ladybug always seemed to be able to hide her after he or Chat Noir distracted the akuma long enough for Mari to run away. He would always go and try to find her after she got away, but was never successful. Wherever Ladybug hid her, it was good if even he couldn’t find her.

Tim had taken it upon himself to discreetly set up situations and pranks where Lila would be caught in her lies with direct evidence of the opposite after his first plan with the hospital had been a mild success. He tended to keep Mari out of it so she wouldn’t get blamed, but she did enjoy Lila’s attempts to cover up her lack of research and impulsive lies backfiring on her. Not that the class opinion changed any. He planted as many seeds of doubt as he could, regardless, hoping that one day they might break free of her hold. Plus, it gave him something to do while not paying attention in class. Lila would glare at him, but never made an overt threat like she did with Marinette. She did start seeding some doubt of him to their classmates, but Tim found he really didn’t care.

It did help him understand that while he had wanted social interaction and to act like a kid, that he did not miss out on as much as he thought. He could live without the rumours and backstabbing and childish antics. He could certainly live without attending class. But he found he did not want to live without Marinette. Hell, he would give up coffee first. She was quickly becoming more essential to his day.

He was still bitter with his family. Yes, he missed them. But not noticing he was gone for months was just another nail in the coffin. No matter how much they were looking for him now, he could never be sure of their intentions. Did they want him back because he was genuinely missed? Or was it simply that they needed someone to do the work? He did wonder how they discovered it. Work? Patrols? Rogue attack? Missing Friday dinner too many times? He scoffed at that one.

Chapter 23

The following week saw Chloe throwing a party. According to Marinette, it had become an annual thing she did for the class after the akuma attacks began. She had booked Kitty Section for live music, and Nino was going to DJ when they were taking breaks, and so that the members could enjoy the party as well.

“Hey Mari, are you planning on going to Chloe’s party?” he had asked earlier that day.

Marinette made a sour face as she responded, “Ugh yes. It’s rude not to go. It’s nice of her to do it and to give Nino and Kitty Section the gigs, so I’ll support them, but I’d rather be home sewing.”

He tried very hard not to be disappointed. “Oh… I guess I’ll see you there then?”

She nodded absently and went back to working on the page of math they had been assigned.

Tim wanted to ask Mari to be his date, but every time he brought the party up, Marinette would start grumbling about Chloe. He found himself not wanting to mar a date (assuming she said yes) with an interaction with her classmates that she didn’t want.

But, as he found out, he wasn’t the only one with the idea.

At the beginning of lunch, Adrien pulled her aside as well. He was just in earshot to hear. Nathaniel and Marc were also nearby paying more attention than they should have to be polite.

“Mar, I was wondering if you were going to Chloe’s party?”

This time she schooled her features and gave a more polite response than she had given Tim. “Yeah. I’ll be there to support the band and Nino.”

“Did you want to go with me?” Adrien asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Oh thanks, but I don’t think I need a ride, I’ll just walk.”

‘Wow Mari. How did she miss that?’ Tim couldn’t help but think.

“That’s not…” Adrien sighed as his real smile faltered, and plastered on one of his fake model smiles when she glanced down to her bag. “Save me a dance or two?”

“Sure Adrien!” she said with a smile and went off to grab her lunch from home.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit grateful that she didn’t get it and that Adrien didn’t push. He was admittedly a bit worried she would have said yes. Not many people could hold a candle to the Adrien Agreste in terms of looks.

Tim’s luck continued to get worse as the day went on. At the end of lunch, some guy with dark hair with dyed blue tips and blue eyes walked up to Mari and gave her a hug.

“Hey Ma-Ma-Marinette. I heard you were going to Chloe’s party. Any chance you want to come with me?”

“Do you need help setting up?” she asked, returning the hug enthusiastically.

“I guess you could help if you wanted to my Melody, but it’s not necessary.”

“I actually have a bunch of stuff to finish up beforehand, so I’ll just have to meet you there if that’s okay.”

“Oh. Sure Melody. Save me a dance on my break?”

“Definitely!”

Huh. Was she letting them down nicely on purpose, or did she just not get it?

Kagami approached her next. Tim and Adrien were stuck watching the whole exchange after fencing practice. “Marinette. I would like to attend Chloe’s party with you.”

Marinette looked surprised for a moment as she paused in packing her bag, before responding cheerfully, “I’m sure I can get you in. Chloe won’t even notice. We can always say you came with the band if she causes a fuss.”

Kagami frowned for a brief moment, her stoic façade slipping, “That is not what I meant. I was-”

“I gotta go! I’ll see you tomorrow at the party!”

The three of them watched her leave. “Did you just-” Adrien started.

“Yes.” Kagami looked bitter.

“And she just-” Tim continued.

“Yes.”

They all sighed.

The final straw for Tim came in the morning.

“Dupain-Cheng! You did not RSVP! How am I supposed to know if you’re coming or not if you don’t RSVP?!” Chloe screeched as she entered the classroom and had stomped up to Marinette’s side of the table at the back of the room.

Marinette looked up at the intrusion, ending her silent contemplation of her coffee, “Oh, sorry Chloe. I’ll be there.”

“You’re ridiculous Dupain-Cheng! Utterly ridiculous!” She pulled out her phone and typed something up quickly, pretending to be put out and huffy about the situation, but Tim didn’t miss the small smile on her face.

“I forgot too Chloe, sorry. I’ll be there,” Kim said sheepishly from the row ahead of them.

Chloe waved her hand nonchalantly, “Whatever Le Chien.” She stormed back to her seat in the front row.

Somehow, Tim hadn’t seen that one coming. It did make Chloe’s antagonistic behaviour towards Mari make sense though. She didn’t hate her. She liked her.

Tim came to one conclusion. This party was going to be worse than the stuffy galas he went to.

~~~~

Tim was not wrong. Though Marinette spent as much of her time with Tim as she could, she was not happy to be there. Forced socialization time with her two bullies? It was obvious she wanted out of there.

Watching her dance with Adrien sucked. Alya kept pushing them closer together when she and Nino glided by until there was really no space between them at all. It was very clear to absolutely everyone, except for Marinette, that it was their attempt at matchmaking. Adrien’s face was red.

Chloe kept interrupting this though, demanding to dance with Adrien. It seemed that though Chloe was unwilling to admit her feelings aloud, she was more than willing to make sure that Marinette and Adrien wouldn’t be together either. Tim didn’t want to admit that he was grateful to the obnoxious blonde.

Her dancing with Luka (aka. tall blue haired boy) was not any better. He had pulled her to him very familiarly. He never had got their story, but he stared at her the whole night as he played.

Kagami kept whisking her away to talk or to grab a drink or snack.

It was halfway through the night and Tim had barely spoken to Mari. Finally, Tim had enough. Nathaniel had started towards Mari, and Tim darted forward as quickly as he dared while remaining casual. “Dance with me?”

“Sure Tim!”

Thank fuck, it was about time. She melted into him during one slow song, and she followed his lead around the room during more upbeat ones. They moved in perfect sync. She even got his changes and spins when he added them in. It was like they had been dancing for years together. He managed three songs with her before Adrien tapped her shoulder at the beginning of the fourth song.

“I believe this is our song.” He held out a hand to her.

She looked confused for a moment, until she registered what song was playing. “Oh yeah! From the first party!”

“And New York. Mari?”

“Oh, sure. I’ll be back in a few minutes Tim,” she smiled. She took Adrien’s hand, and he whisked her away.

It was the last song of the night. He wondered if she knew that. Probably not. He wouldn’t get to dance with her again.

The only positive was that with her being kept occupied the whole night, Lila didn’t have a chance to get near her, and resorted to glaring daggers at her from where she hovered with the rest of the class that wasn’t actively dancing.

He did get to walk her home, so that was something. She seemed happy, regardless of how much she had dreaded the night.

They were about halfway to her house when she finally spoke. “Thank you for walking me home, Tim.”

“My pleasure Mari.”

“… And for the dances. I’m sorry we didn’t spend much time together.”

“That’s okay. I understand. As long as you had a good time.” It really wasn’t okay. He would never tell her that.

“I had a good time with you. Goodnight Tim.” She gave his cheek a very quick kiss. He was lucky it was so dark. He was sure his cheeks were scarlet.

He stumbled over his words. “G-Goodnight Mars- Mari-ri-bean. M-Rin! Marinette.” He had been calling her Rin in his head for ages but had never actually asked her permission. He needed something different to call her, like Mars or Rin, since Adrien kept calling her Mari and Mar.

“Heh. I think I like it. Rin.” She grinned and waved goodnight.

Maybe the night hadn’t been so bad after all.

~~~~

“Seemed like you had a busy night… Rin,” Tikki teased when they were finally alone in Marinette’s room. “Does that mean I get to give you a nickname now too?”

Marinette flopped down onto her bed, exhausted. “Sure, Tikki! Did you want to give me one?”

“Ririi!” Tikki chirped at her quickly.

Marinette laughed and snuggled in with the kwami, who was now very happy that she had chosen a name that Marinette would use for a very, very long time to come.

 

Notes:

Sorry, I've been trying to finish off my Jasonette Love Story fic and this one kind of got forgotten. The Jasonette is finished writing and editing - so just slow posting now, and I can focus more on editing this one.
Cheers!
<3 Izzy

Chapter 24

Notes:

This fic got to 77,777 hits, so I decided it was your lucky day.
If Tim's summary section sounds like something you shouldn't be reading then don't read Marinette’s pov.

Life had quickly settled into a routine for Tim. Fencing practice on Tuesdays, gym with Mari Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. At home training the other days for things that he couldn’t do in a gym without rousing suspicion. Touring the town when possible on weekends with Marinette for ‘art and photography’ reasons (not because he wanted to spend time with her and still hadn’t plucked up the courage to just ask her out). This schedule had been regularly upset by akumas, but it was about as routine as life in Paris ever got.

Mari improved in her self-defense skills. She had picked up fencing quickly and was on par with himself and Adrien. She would often call the practice relaxing. He found it tiring.

They practiced krav maga and capoeira, but he had to admit that Dick would have been a better trainer than him. He had never really taught anyone from the basics before. They had taken to watching routines online and practicing them together, just so that he didn’t miss something.

They had begun doing mock spars in slow motion. Despite her doing so well, he still didn’t want to injure her in practice. He was hesitant to spar with her for real, and had put it off, distracting her by teaching her aikido.

He would never forgive himself if he hurt her, even by accident.

This did seem to frustrate her, and they argued about it more than once.

“I’m not made of glass,” she insisted.

Tim, however, put his foot down. Bruce never let them advance in training to spars until he was sure they could handle the basics. His mind shied away from the fact that she already had. He really had no excuse.

Instead, he insisted that, “I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.”

This usually ended the argument. It also tended to end their time together – her sputtering and red in the face and making an excuse to leave. The first time it happened he was sure that she was mad. When he had seen her the next day, however, she was acting normally – or at least as normally as Marinette ever did.

She was advancing so quickly – abnormally so. He was sure at this point that she must be superhuman in some way. He had settled on meta, but never dared to ask. He found it didn’t matter either way.

Adrien often treated her the same way during fencing. When they both went too easy on her, she would get frustrated and walk away from them both, refusing to have matches with either of them and spending the rest of the training sessions with Kagami, who never held back at anything.

~~~~

Akumas averaged one every two days. Some days had more than one. It got tiring to constantly be evacuated or to have to fight powered minions or distract akumas away from civilians. More than once he had been knocked out cold. He was pretty sure he had died (or was it erased? Or warped to an alternative dimension? He wasn’t sure. He was just gone one second and back the next from whatever limbo he had been in.) by random magic beams twice and he knew at least once he had been controlled as a minion. He didn’t really remember those. Mostly just bright light and then poof he was back and everything was normal. It was usually to save Mari, but one had been to save a small boy that had been separated from his mother.

He had long since gotten over that he would die in some battle somewhere. He was okay with it. Saving someone made it matter. Made him matter. Made the death that he often had longed for worth something, rather than just bleeding out or some pills. He would never take his own life, but death served up on a platter where he could make a difference? Sure. Tim knew it was just his depression forcing his mind to go there, and he refused to do anything about it. He could take anti-depressants, sure, but they made him feel like shit. He knew the risks he was taking by not dealing with it properly. But, he had always been shit at self-care, and the depression made it worse. So, he didn’t. Being with Mari though, that helped. He wanted to see what the future held with her, and that meant he needed to be around to see it. But die, he did.

The first time he had died that he could remember was to save Mari from being hit by a giant ball of lava to the chest. She had lived, and that was what mattered. That one was slow and agonizing. He definitely remembered it. Remembered her screaming for him. Remembered being thankful for Adrien dragging her away kicking and screaming before he passed out from the pain. Burning to death was not a way he wanted to go again. He knew now what Jason and Damian had gone through. He did not have the magical backlash they did, which he was thankful for. He did not want to live with the Lazarus energy corrupting him and his anger into madness. She was so mad with him later that day and had cried into his shoulder. It lasted well past her one minute limit, which surprised him. When she had finally stopped, she punched his arm so hard it actually bruised. He was shocked. It did make him realise they should probably spar for real if her punches were that good now.

He died again when a car thrown by a giant akuma smashed him into a wall. He was glad Marinette had not been with him then, so she didn’t have to watch him die again. That one had caught him off guard, as he must have been right beside it when the person had been possessed. There was no warning. It hit him from behind. He had never stood a chance. He decided bleeding out from massive blunt force trauma, or any other form of a car accident, was not how he wanted to die again either.

Another time he had been skewered by a sword carrying akuma minion much the same way Damian had died. M. D’Argencourt had been mad at some kids fooling around during practice. Half the class was turned into knight minions almost immediately. He and Kagami had barricaded the door, as Mari and Adrien had ushered the others through. Kagami had eventually moved on to take on the akuma herself as he had attempted to go after the kids running away by another route and Tim had been overrun with minions. That death had been much more familiar given he had almost died before when he lost his spleen. This time though it had stuck as he was stabbed clear through the chest. Being flung across the courtyard by the sword had just been insulting though. Before he passed out from the pain, he recalled Kagami being overpowered. He never found out if she lived or not. He guessed not.

People did not talk about their deaths and no one would ever tell a minion or akuma what they had done. It was rude to call someone by an akuma name. He was sitting at five deaths he was aware of and remembered. Others had been magical blasts where he just suddenly ceased to exist. They weren’t painful, and decided that it was the preferred way to die in battle. He jokingly thought that he had already beat his family combined in number of deaths. It somehow marked him as a true Parisian. The average death count for a Parisian living in central Paris was three to five now. The akuma class and their arrondissement in general was notably higher than anywhere else in the city. Their average was seven. Tim had caught up quickly.

The worst, though, was when he had been hit while pushing Mari out of the way of a beam and he had been mind-controlled. Cognitively, he understood that he was not at fault, but he dreaded what he did. He had been one of the first hit, so he didn’t know what the mind-controlled were forced to do. She had been nearest to him at the time, and was likely the first one he targeted. Mari wouldn’t give him a straight answer and avoided eye contact. Her response to him was a bit off for a couple of days when he would touch her, and she would give a nearly imperceptible twitch before schooling herself to respond normally. It was one of the few with no footage, as Alya had been hit only moments after him. The description online was vague. It seemed no one wanted to acknowledge what happened. ‘Minions experienced loss of inhibitions and morals’ was the only description given. His imagination went wild with all the things he would be capable of while in that state. None of them good. Mari’s temporary reactions to him were… telling. She probably thought she wasn’t showing any emotions about it, and it was true that likely no one else saw… but Tim was a bat. He saw. She had little tells. It made him feel sick. He knew it would plague his nightmares for weeks to come as he imagined all the horrifying scenarios. She did try to comfort him afterward, saying that Chat Noir had intervened and tied him up before he could do anything ‘permanent.’

~~~~

It had been a long day, and Marinette was looking forward to going home for lunch. Tim had been poking at Lila again. While it was amusing, and Lila couldn’t prove it was him, he had ensured somehow that the homework that she copied from Max was wrong. Ms. Bustier had then lectured her about copying, taking pride in her own work, and setting an example as the class president which required her to act with superior morals and values for others to emulate. Marinette knew the speech well.

Neither of them should have been surprised when Lila was akumatized.

“I am Moral-less!”

“You really couldn’t just land on ‘immoral?’” Tim prodded with a mocking tone.

“You shall be my first example!”

She blasted Tim before anyone really had a chance to move. The akuma spread her arms wide and zapped Alya with the beam next. Alya’s eyes in the meantime had glowed and then turned a hideous pure black before she took off out of the room, cackling about doing “whatever it took.”

“Make Marinette pay,” Moral-less ordered. “Make it the things of her nightmares.”

Tim, who had been in front of her, turned to face Marinette.

His eyes were dark, and he had a wicked grin on his face. It was a look of pure evil. Marinette struggled to believe that Tim was even capable of making a face like that – minion or not.

“Marinette…” He called out in a singsong voice before he lunged at her. She dodged and took off as fast as she could out of the room.

She made it three doors down before he caught up with her and tackled her to the floor. She squealed in pain as her elbows hit first and impacted on the hard floor. She didn’t have time to complain, as he began pulling her towards him. As he did, she twisted around so she was on her back. 

She kicked him in the shoulder, and used the time that he shrunk back to get up and run into the closest room.

Her luck wasn’t with her.

The room had no windows.

She slammed the door shut and locked it.

This did not deter Tim. After a few jiggles of the handle, he slammed bodily into the door. The door cracked at the handle, and with a few more hits, the door swung open, slamming into the wall.

In that time, Marinette had tried to hide, unsuccessfully. The small room was likely an old storage room. It had a few shelves on one side, but they were bare. Not a single weapon she could use. There were a couple of old paint cans lying on the floor, but Marinette couldn’t see how she would be able to use those. She didn’t want to hurt Tim, and her only idea was slamming one of them into the side of his head.

In her moment of hesitation as the door snapped open, Tim rushed her, and the two collided into the wall. He grabbed her hands and placed them above her head, pinning them to the wall.

He was so close. If his eyes hadn’t been a bottomless pit of darkness and evil, Marinette likely would have been flustered. As it was, she went to knee him in the groin. He moved his leg, preventing her from reaching her target, as if he knew to expect it.

He likely did, with whatever training in self-defense he had.

He had taught her everything important. He knew all her moves.

And without his morals, Tim wasn’t holding back. He managed to move to grip her hands with just one of his, and pulled out a zip tie from his back pocket. When her hands were bound, he lowered her arms to go around his neck and wormed his way in between them so she had one arm above and one below his shoulders.

“Now, which hurts more… A?” He smacked her across the face. “Or B?” He produced a Swiss Army knife from his other pants pocket and flicked the blade open. He ran the flat of the blade down her cheek and her eyes went wide in horror.

“Tim, no… no…”

“Don’t worry, love, I’ll make it all better,” he reassured her as the knife slid from her face to her neck.

The knife sliced down to her collar bone. She let out a scream as her skin tore open. Was he going to kill her?

“Ah, crimson. Such a beautiful colour on you.”

She tried to fight to move her hands off of him, but he just pushed her into the wall some more.

“Gotta love a woman who knows how to fight,” he muttered into her ear. Then he gave it a little nip.

Meanwhile, his free hand had begun to work its way to the hem of her shirt. His fingers worked their way under it, splaying out over her stomach.

Another cut on her neck. And another. This time lower down.

His hand creeped up higher, his fingers brushing the bottom of her bra, which now had a few drops of blood on it.

Another cut. Another. Her neck and chest felt like they were on fire.

He licked up the blood from her chest and neck. He had cut deep.

Tim paused to admire his work, the blood now dripping down from his lips onto his shirt. An evil grin settled on his bloodstained lips. He looked like a vampire.

“Perfect. A nice reminder for you of where you stand.” His head tilted to the side. “Now, for the fun part…”

He put the knife back in his pocket and grabbed her hip with his now free hand. His fingers dug into her skin.

He leaned in to kiss her with those blood soaked lips…

Suddenly, she was being forced sideways, and her arms were being yanked off of Tim’s shoulders. Then Tim went flying across the room as something impacted with his head. He didn’t get up.

Chat Noir stood over her.

“Oh Princess…”

Chat used a zip tie that was sticking out of Tim’s pocket to tie him up to the storage shelves.

Then he tugged on her shirt, adjusting it for her, and cut the zip tie with his nail, before picking her up and carrying her across the rooftops to her house. He deposited her in her room.

“You should, uh, take care of that cut,” he stammered, pointing to the cut that was slowly making her shirt red. “Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of the akuma. Ladybug and I will make it all right.” He held her hand and gave it a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She didn’t have the energy to argue.

She nodded dumbly, and he took his leave.

Marinette went to the mirror to see what Tim had done, and why Chat was so horrified.

Tim had cut the word ‘LILA’ into her skin. Tim had torn into her shirt so that the A was sitting just above her bra – the one he was very close to taking off. She had been barely covered when Chat saw her.

Somehow, this made it better. It was a reminder that it wasn’t Tim that did that. It was the akuma. It was Lila that did it. Lila had wanted to hurt her in the worst way possible. To violate her.

It wasn’t Tim. It was an akuma curse.

She was going to free him.

She called on Tikki, and went to join Chat Noir.

She had a bitch to beat.

The next time she saw Tim after Moral-less had been defeated, she tried her best to remember that it wasn’t her friend who had harmed her. She repeated it in her head, over and over, that Tim would never do that to her. Tim was not in control. Tim could never be that cruel to anyone.

She tried not to finch when he touched her.

It only took a few days before the automatic response to shy away from him dissipated. She had done her best to treat him normally, as she didn’t want something he had no control over to impact their friendship (doing so would also have meant Lila won, and there was no way she was letting that happen). She thought she did pretty well, thank you very much.

Notes:

*this chapter was what was in the place of several of the last chapters when I originally wrote it - hence it feeling like a summary. I decided to keep it anyways.
Also, the part where Tim was mind controlled was originally non-con, but I toned it down so I wouldn't have to change my tags.
To add, all appropriate tags are already there. I even summarize it in Tim's section so it's 100% skippable for you to make that choice. Hope you made healthy choices for yourself.

Chapter 25

Finally, it was Halloween.

He thought it was great, the school district was throwing a costume party as a way to keep teens safer and out of the streets, so there would be people there other than his class. Mari had warned him that Halloween was a bad day for akuma that preyed on kids that were frightened of the decorations or costumes. It hadn’t been terribly popular of a holiday before in France, but now it was coupled with the fear of deadly akuma. Thus, the Halloween parties were thrown instead. People could choose to attend and not have little kids frightened of decorations around town. Candy collection could still happen, and kids could still dress up, but nothing scary was allowed.

He decided to dress up as a ‘ninja.’ It was really like the League of Assassins gear. His Red Robin suit was already painted black, so he donned it with a ninja costume overtop. He was able to equip all of his weapons. He even added a katana that he had ordered when he was stocking his weapons. Damian would likely be jealous. His was made by Yoshihara Yoshindo (he had gotten one for Damian too, because there was no way he was dealing with that argument) and was far better than the League ones. Damian would have mocked him for dressing the same as he did when he first came to Gotham. But it worked.

For the first time since moving, he went out as a vigilante in plain daylight, and no one was wiser.

“Timmy!” she squealed as she greeted him at her door that night.

Tim blinked at the odd greeting. She had never called him Timmy before. Then he realised why.

Marinette had dressed up as Harley Quinn, with pigtails sitting high on her head and the ends sprayed with a temporary colour dye. Her costume was almost identical. She even had a real giant mallet and a spray painted baseball bat. He would have sworn it was Harley if she were a bit taller and her roots were bleached.

The red and black really suited her. He wished she wore red more often. They were his colours too after all, though his were more crimson than Harley’s eye-catching bright red.

The outfit was much more revealing than anything he had ever seen her wear before. He had a really hard time paying attention to anything anyone else said as he stole glances at her.

Her parents thankfully let them leave after a few pictures when he picked her up. He was pretty sure he was staring at her in all of them.

She was fit. Crazy fit. He knew it from their workouts, but she was always covered up. Seeing her bare stomach, arms, and legs was something else. He knew she was going to feature in his dreams for a long time to come.

“Wait ‘til they get a load of me,” she laughed. Tim blinked. “Can’t dress the part and not act it, puddin’.”

He groaned as she suddenly blew a gigantic bubble with pink gum.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that knowing Harley in person, and fighting against her more times than he would have liked, was not the most pleasant. He had some bad memories attached to Harley and it made him feel conflicted now.

Unfortunately, he was very clearly not the only person who appreciated her outfit. Almost every guy and a very large portion of girls stared at her on the metro. It didn’t get better when they got to the conference centre for the party. Most of the guys took one good look at Tim decked out in all his gear, and despite them thinking it was fake, the combination of the moulded Kevlar and his glare being the only part of his face they could see, they tended to take off fairly quickly.

Okay. He was jealous.

Some didn’t get the hint, and Mari would start talking like Harley until they would leave. Mari was nice to everyone, and they took her general niceties as flirting when she was just being polite. He hoped. Otherwise, he was being a jerk.

‘Her body language wasn’t indicating flirtation though!’ he defended himself against… himself.

One guy dressed in a football costume did not get the hint that she was not interested. He was leaning into her personal space, despite her leaning away from him, practically pressing herself up against Tim in an attempt to get away. She had turned down his offers of dancing and drinks. He still wouldn’t leave with Tim’s glares. Tim had ditched the face covering earlier when he grabbed a snack, so it didn’t have quite the same effect, but he did scowl.

So, she put on the biggest shit-eating grin he had ever seen from anyone outside of Harley and Joker, saying in a stage whisper to be heard over the music, “‘I’m not sure if I attract crazy or if I make them that way.’ Wanna find out?” and then laughing as hard as she could as she licked her bat.

When he started backing away a bit she laughed out, punctuating the quote with cackles, “So what if I’m crazy? The best people are!”

The guy booked it out of there after that.

Maybe Harley wasn’t so bad after all.

Tim really hoped that was the last one for the night, but he doubted it. It wasn’t long before they were spotted, and another unpleasant encounter occurred.

Lila found them in the noisy crowd. She was surrounded by Rose, Juleka, Alya and Nino.

“Oh, Marinette, what happened to you?” she lamented loudly to be heard over the booming music as she looked Marinette over.

Marinette smirked. “Oh, I’m just channelling my inner Siren.”

The fake concern in Lila’s voice didn’t reach her eyes. “Your inner villain? Marinette! Should we be worried about you? I don’t want you to hurt anyone.”

Marinette waved off the concern. “The Sirens aren’t villains. They’re anti-heroes. ‘You don’t like me? Fine. Don’t waste my time then.’”

Lila grabbed her chest and dramatically gasped. “Marinette! I don’t hate you!”

“I’m just playin’ my part Lie-la. Harley quotes n’ all.”

Lila rolled her eyes. “How... dedicated.”

She put on a gigantic grin. “I know right?!” Marinette turned a serious gaze on Lila while maintaining the fake grin. “Like this one: ‘I’m going to kill you. For everything that you’ve done to me. All the times you’ve made me feel useless and small. For all the times I will never forget. For all the things I can never forgive.’ I’ve been looking for just the right situation to use it. It’s oddly specific after all.” She blew another gigantic bubble that popped in Lila’s face.

It seemed to freak Lila enough to leave. She had turned pale before plastering a smile on her face, agreeing that “Yes, it was very… specific,” and dragging Alya and Rose away behind her.

Juleka mumbled something that sounded like “nice costume” and Nino gave her a thumbs up before following after their girlfriends.

Tim was so fucking proud of that one. She had managed to threaten Lila and scare the shit out of her in a completely socially acceptable way. Tim took the calm after the Lila storm to grab them a couple of snacks from a table when he returned to find Adrien had come up to Mari.

“Marinette! Holy Halloween Batman! You look…” he looked her up and down. It was not subtle. Not at all. “…wicked.” She blushed scarlet.

Adrien had dressed in a Robin costume. HIS Robin costume.

He could understand why, cognitively. Dick’s and Jason’s had looked like the circus costumes they were modeled after. His at least had pants while maintaining the same premise. Damian was too young to want to dress up as him.

It was a good quality costume too, must have been from a higher end shop. Adrien was too lanky to fill it out properly, and seeing a tall, blonde Robin outside of Steph felt weird.

Emotionally, he found himself wanting to tear the costume to shreds. No one in Gotham dared dress up as one of the vigilantes during Halloween. They would get kidnapped or killed. Seeing it now, he was glad of it. It grated on him.

But maybe that was just because it was Adrien, and currently he had Marinette’s full attention…

Tim tuned back in to the conversation. Adrien was saying, “But is it really you Mar? You’re always so sweet and gentle. Harley Quinn is irritable and violent at best.”

Marinette rolled her eyes briefly. “You think I’m just a doll. A doll that’s pink and light. A doll you can arrange any way you like. You’re wrong. Very wrong. What you think of me is only a ghost of time.”

Tim sighed. How many Harley quotes had this girl memorized? For that matter, who in Gotham spent their time writing down all the vigilante and rogue quotes? Didn’t they have anything better to do with their time?

…On second thought, Harley probably did it herself.

Adrien was confused with Marinette’s tirade. “Huh?”

“I’m channelling my inner Harley tonight. C’mon bird boy, play along.” Adrien frowned, confused at her words. “Stupid Bats, You're Ruining Date Night!”

They could see the moment it clicked for him. His frown turned to a grin as he replied, “Holy Personality Switch Batman!”

“Yay! You got it, puddin’!” She swung her massive mallet around, almost nailing Adrien in the shin.

Tim found himself wishing she had.

He had just finished his snack when a loud banging sound cut off all conversation. The convention room doors had been secured shut. There was no way out.

“Oh HARLEY-GIRL,” a voice sang. “Come out and PLAY!”

“Oh look! It’s a Mista J wannabe!” Marinette quipped.

This drew Tim’s attention away from the blocked doors to the cause of the commotion.

Marinette was right, of course.

He didn’t think she would have been the inadvertent cause of the akuma by rejecting a pretend football player with Harley Quinn quotes.

It was the Joker, only so much worse. He looked dead. A zombie Joker waving a giant crowbar around like a scythe. Projectiles strapped to his belt.

Tim had to remind himself several times that he was not in Gotham… but he couldn’t help having flashbacks.

Jason dead.

His own kidnapping.

Torture.

Oh god it’s a superpowered JOKER.

They’re going to die.

He’s going to torture Harley into insanity again.

Why weren’t his family here? He couldn’t take a super-Joker on his own!

Why didn’t he have his emergency call button?

He’s going to be tortured again.

He’s going to die like Jason.

Just because he wants Harley.

Harley…

OH GOD.

Marinette.

Marinette was Harley.

MARINETTE was going to be tortured into insanity.

He’s going to lose her to Joker.

He was going to torture them both and make them listen to each others screams –

Chapter 26

“Hey… breathe. It’s okay. It’s not really him. Come on Tim. Deep breaths.”

Marinette.

Marinette was standing over him, blocking his view of Joker-akuma, calming him down from… a panic attack? When did he sit down? Her hand was on his shoulder, but she was facing the threat.

“Pumpkin-Pie, you belong with me – or in a grave,” the Joker wannabe growled as he knocked someone out of his path.

“Oh COME ON! ‘Why can’t a girl be nice to a guy without the mook trying to murder her?’”

“At least ninja boy has the good sense to be scared silly. Looks like I need to teach you a lesson Harley-girl.”

“That’s so cute, you think you’re scary. Well, mister, I’ve seen scary, and you don’t have his smile.” She swung her mallet around.

“Holy Jack-in-the-Box Batman. It looks like we have a clown to get rid of,” Adrien piped in, taking a protective stance by Mari’s side.

Tim looked at them, guilt ridden. He was supposed to be the hero, and here they were, two civilians protecting him while he had a panic attack. Visions of vials, chemicals… pain… insanity… faces swimming around in a haze…

“The Boy Blunder! Perfect. I have a new toy to break in. Time to PLAY! HA ha HA!!”

The Joker-akuma swung his gigantic crowbar at Harley-Mari. As she dodged, Tim caught the look in her eyes. There was no fear. Only pure determination and a fire that made her eyes glow. A familiar look. One that reminded him of hope. The hope he’d had for his future when things were at their worst. One that had come from the darkness and saved him.

“Y’know, you really put the ‘Fun’ in Funeral,” she whacked the crowbar back, making the akuma momentarily lose balance.

Adrien had a staff much like his own, and he used it to knock the akuma’s legs out from under it. “Geez Mari, how many Harley quotes did you memorize?” Adrien asked.

The akuma jumped back up laughing as she responded, “A lot.”

The Jokerkuma squeezed the flower on his lapel, spraying acid towards Adrien. Thankfully, he dodged it and it landed harmlessly on the floor beside him. Adrien returned the favour by throwing a plastic batarang at him. It bounced harmlessly off it, clattering to the ground. Jokerkuma stepped on it dramatically with a laugh before swinging his grenade launcher onto his shoulder.

Marinette smashed a projectile that was aimed at her face back to the Joker-akuma. “’I’m rubber, you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off me and makes a six-inch-diameter exit wound in you!’”

The projectile exploded on the akuma on contact, blowing him back and, indeed, making a rather sizable hole in it’s stomach.

“Ugh, I didn’t mean that literally.”

Apparently, Marinette’s default mode when being attacked was snarky and sarcastic. That would get her killed in Gotham. A streak of black and blue crossed his mind. Another person with sarcasm and wit on the battlefield. A friend. A brother. One who stood up for him and had been there for him. That had taught him not to be afraid.

Unfortunately, the explosion did not slow the akuma down, and it whacked Adrien, who had been distracted by trying to search for the object containing the butterfly.

“Looks like the birdie learned how to fly. HA ha HA!”

“Adrien!” Marinette screamed.

Adrien went flying across the room, landing near the bathroom in a pile of people who had broken his fall. The akuma hooked Marinette around the neck as she looked at her fallen friend, dragging her towards him.

Tim had recovered from his shock enough to stand. He had been out of the action too long if this was how he was behaving. He was not some scared child. He had been a ROBIN. He had been a Robin that Adrien had admired enough to dress up as, and damnit all if he would act like anything less than what he was. He would protect her – and everyone else here. He could do it.

“Let the girl go,” he growled out as he extended his own bo staff.

Marinette chimed in, “I think you should do what he says. ‘It would be a shame to get blood all over my nice new outfit.’”

Tim was starting to get worried. Marinette was being held hostage and she was STILL quoting Harley. Did she not see this as serious? Ladybug wasn’t here yet. Marinette could die. What if the cure didn’t work? What if Ladybug was defeated and there was no cure at all?

Why do Parisians have to take akumas so goddamn lightly?

He launched himself towards the akuma, whacking him in the face and swiftly following up with a blow to the arm. Marinette managed to use this to get away and launched her own assault with her bat from the other side.

They were managing to hold the akuma at bay as they traded blows and dodged attacks, but only just. Tim knew that if he were alone, he would be dead by now. Their pincher attack was the only reason they both had lasted this long.

Chat Noir popped in through a window and knocked the akuma back to the ground, giving them a reprieve.

“Holy cat-astrophe! Where’s Batman when you need him?” He turned to Marinette. “Hey there purrincess. Good job, but you can leave it to the Chat now. Any idea where the akuma is hidden?”

“I haven’t exactly had a chance to look.”

Joker-akuma had gotten up now.

“Hat.”  Tim paused as he as he blocked a blow from above. “Joker’s hat doesn’t look like that,” Tim stated.

The Joker wannabe launched several projectiles with smiley faces on them into the crowds.

Marinette managed to push Chat Noir out of the way of one of the projectiles. “All of that chit-chat is gonna get you hurt.”

Chat Noir looked at her incredulously. “Purrincess, are you insane? Get out of here!”

“Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.”

Tim was going to strangle Harley next time he saw her for all of her quotes that had made it online. He would bet money she had found it funny putting so many of them online herself. Chat looked exasperatedly at her, likely thinking the same thing.

Each one of the spectators hit by the projectiles turned into a stereotypical Halloween monster. A boy turned into a ghost, a younger girl turned into a troll, and Lila turned into a very tiny green-eyed, green-skinned gremlin.

“’Whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you stranger.’ Or in Lila’s case, more herself.”

Yep. Mari’s sardonic attitude during dangerous situations would get her killed in Gotham for sure.

The three of them launched back into attacks, this time making headway as Chat was able to counter the akuma’s strength. Unfortunately, without Ladybug there, it was a waiting game. One they were slowly losing as they tired out.

Tim’s bo staff got knocked away while protecting Mari from a nasty blow, and he pulled out the katana instead and used it to block an attack.

He countered after the blow was deflected, and sliced up the akuma’s arm. The Joker-akuma was taken aback. “That thing was real? What the hell? Who are you brats? Friends of the bat?”

“Something like that,” Tim quipped. He had no clue how close that akuma was to the truth.

The purple butterfly appeared over the akuma’s face. Clearly Hawkmoth was growing impatient. “Alright Kitten. Hand over the ring or play time is over. You wouldn’t like me when I’m serious.” Chat rolled his eyes.

Unfortunately, no one accounted for the little gremlin to knock a (finally) retreating Marinette straight into the akuma’s arms. Again. “Looks like the odds are in my favour. Ring now. Or sunshine over here loses her light.”

Chat scanned the room, clearly looking for Ladybug to help, but she never came.

Marinette, however, took her mallet out of her belt and whacked the akuma in the side where the explosion had hit before. “I will show you just how dark I can be.”

Fucking Harley quotes Marinette!

The hat was knocked off the akuma’s head. Tim was thrilled. They could take it and Chat could get it to Ladybug, and it would all be over.

But their luck did not hold out. The Joker-akuma’s crowbar-scythe abomination hit the akumatized object, the hat, and it tore open. Purple bubbles erupted over the Joker-akuma as he was returned to normal, exposing the boy dressed as a football player as he collapsed to the floor.

The butterfly was loose with no Ladybug to cleanse it. It would multiply and spread across the city. Zombie super-Jokers would be everywhere. It hadn’t happened since Stoneheart.

Marinette couldn’t get away as she had been dropped unceremoniously on the floor. She was too close to the akuma as it fluttered out. Way, way too close. It flew into her giant mallet as she scrambled to her feet to get away.

“NO!!!!!” Chat screamed.

Marinette collapsed to her knees as the purple mask glowed over her face.

Tim had heard the rumours at this point. The Akuma Class. Almost everyone had been akumatized. Hawkmoth had attempted to get Marinette a few times but failed. They thought he was targeting her because she would make the strongest akuma they had ever seen.

Chat was tired. Ladybug was missing.

They were screwed.

Chat slid over to her on his knees. “Come on, Purrincess! Fight it!”

The entire room was tense. It was clear the cat and the ninja were exhausted. Ladybug was nowhere to be seen. And now there was a new akuma about to transform.

One that even Chat seemed scared of.

She grasped the sides of her head. “No!”

Tim got down and kneeled next to Chat Noir. “Rin. You can do this. I believe in you. Just like you taught me. There is always another solution. Your future is bright. Chat and I are here for you.”

Her eyes flickered between them. “No, I won’t!” she screamed to Hawkmoth.

They didn’t dare touch her. Akumas had been created with more than one person through touch before. Bubbles started to swirl. They really should back away.

Then Marinette spit out in the most vicious tone he had ever heard (and Tim lived with Batman and Robin…), “Do it and I swear on my life I will hunt you down and make you beg for death.” The look in her eyes made even Tim curl back into a more protective stance. Chat did too. “Now get the FUCK out of my head Hawkbitch!”

No one expected what happened next.

The purple bubbles receded. The mask glowed a brilliant pink so bright it was hard to look at her until it shattered. Then the butterfly emerged from her mallet.

Chat was about to try to cataclysm it when he realised – it was white. Marinette had purified it.

“What the hell?” Chat said incredulously.

This had never happened before. Marinette chose that moment to collapse and Chat caught her, cradling her close to his chest. Tim wanted to grab her from him, but didn’t dare. Clearly, they knew each other – well.

He did hear Chat whisper to her, “You are so purrfect purrincess. What would I do without you?”

“Chat Noir – what happened?” Tim asked, hoping to distract the cat. He really did not want to sit here listening to a hero in a tight leather bodysuit whisper sweet nothings to his Rin.

“Near as I can tell? Marinette’s soul purified it. I didn’t even know that was possible. Mari sure is amazing. I’m not even sure Ladybug could do it.”

Marinette came to then, looking at both of them. Then she looked around the room. “Chat? What happened? Is Adrien okay?”

“Yep! He flagged me down from the bathroom window. I pulled him onto the roof while he explained what was happening. I’ll go grab him. Stay safe purrincess.” He took her hand gently and kissed her knuckles before kissing her cheek where a bruise was starting to form. Then he leapt out of the window with a two-finger salute.

Marinette looked confused. Tim seethed.  

He turned to give Marinette a hug, but she was already walking in the same direction.

“I’ll be right back,” she said lamely, speed walking to the women’s room.

While she was gone, the Ladybug cure flitted over the room and everything was returned to normal. Someone must have alerted Ladybug after all. Adrien and Marinette both returned to the party at the same time, bumping into each other. “Sorry!” they both exclaimed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Adrien hugged her tight and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I was so worried.”

“ADRIKINS!!!!” Chloe screeched as she grabbed him away from Marinette. “What were you thinking?!” She yanked him away by his arm, continuing to screech at him.

Part of Tim was thrilled for Chloe’s intervention. Part of him just felt bad for the guy. Adrien waved bye with a grimace on his face.

Tim went over to Marinette and gave her a tight hug as well. He did not want to let her go. “Don’t know if I wanna kill you or kiss you,” he joked, using one of Harley’s lines. He definitely wanted to kiss her. His hand rubbed her cheek where the bruise was forming - the one Chat had kissed. Tim silently cursed French customs where cheek kisses were normal and acceptable. He didn't feel that he could do it himself - he hadn't grown up with it meaning the same thing, and it would certainly mean more to him. “You had me so worried.”

“Hey, that was my line!” she mumbled, her face pressed into his chest still.

“That was not smart. You should have hidden!”

“’Every woman has a crazy side that only the right man can bring out.’ I couldn’t just leave you in the middle of an akuma attack while you were having a panic attack.”

“Never again! Promise me!”

She did not agree, but she did hug him back and gave him a peck on the cheek. They both looked away, faces bright red.

“Thank you for helping me. You were incredible.”

He knew she was distracting him. His mind had already been distracted by her in his arms and her gentle kiss.

Tim could no longer deny it, mixed signals or not.

He really did want to kiss her. He wanted to be with her. Being her friend was not enough.

He had a lot of competition. Adrien, Kagami, several of the others at the party including some that he didn’t know the names of but Mari clearly did, and now Chat Noir. Outside of her class, Marinette was popular. He was sure she was before Lila arrived too.

He wasn’t used to being around highly social people. He and his family avoided it at all cost, and any interactions they did have always felt forced and required them to put on their true masks.

Marinette just drew people in.

Whoever managed to have her heart was truly lucky indeed. He just had to hope luck was with him for once.

He also couldn’t help but marvel at how well she had done in the battle. The Joker-akuma fight had shown that his Rin had absorbed everything he had taught her.

She had been ready for real spars, not just the mock ones. He couldn’t justify denying them now. She could protect herself. He could teach her other fighting styles and help her train more.

But her main fighting styles needed to be krav maga and other forms which were easier for her smaller frame. Styles he was not as familiar with beyond the basics they had already done. He would need help.

She would need it if she was going to survive Paris. She would need it if she was going to continue to be around him.

He would eventually be found, and with it came all of Red Robin’s enemies and being held hostage for ransom as Tim Drake.

She would need it if she were to survive Gotham coming after her.

He had a call to make.

Tim knew one thing without a doubt. He could definitely mark this as his most eventful Halloween ever.

Chapter 27

Red Hood and Robin had run out of Rogues to interrogate. They had searched the city and had returned to their patrol routes. The Justice League was called to check all the cities they controlled, but had come up empty handed as well. Red Hood had contacted everyone he knew outside the League with no success.

Everyone was suited up in the bat cave. Superman came to give his report in person. He put a hand on Batman’s shoulder. “Sorry we weren’t able to help. I think it’s safe to say he isn’t in North America.”

“If he’s alive at all,” Red Hood growled as he kicked a chair across the cave.

“It doesn’t make sense for someone to kidnap him or kill him without some ransom request,” Oracle piped in. “So either he ran away or got in an accident.”

“Joker.” Red Hood grumbled in retort.

“Okay fair. But even he ended up taunting B,” Nightwing tried and failed to soothe Red Hood by placing a hand on his shoulder.

Oracle was hesitant to continue. “If it was an accident, we may never know what happened. He would just be another John Doe.”

“Start looking for all the John Does,” Batman said quietly. He had given up. It was clear to everyone. “Start local and work your way out.”

“He may have just run away,” Superman said gently.

“No, unlike the rest of us, Tim chose this life. He sought us out. He would never leave.” Batman was adamant.

“B, we were kind of ignoring him,” Dick said quietly.

“He liked being alone most of the time and hated us interrupting him or his time alone. A few months of us being busy would not change that all of a sudden.” Batman was angry, which was hiding his layer of sadness and self-loathing for his part in Tim’s disappearance. He wasn’t going to be reasoned with tonight.

“Even his favourite designer offered to make him something for free if he came home. I doubt he would miss that chance. He’s been trying to contact them for years,” Nightwing argued back.

“Oh yeah, that Mari-aculous chick that was shit posting about our suits managed to spread the word over in Europe. Girl got some clout for someone who isn’t a celebrity,” Red Hood piped in.

“A package has arrived for you young Masters,” Alfred surprised them all.

Nightwing opened it and screeched, making everyone jump into a defensive stance. “It’s a copy of Rock Giant. With Jagged Stone’s autograph.”

“Geez Dick. That’s great,” Jason balked as he removed his helmet. “I swear you burst my eardrum.”

“It’s…” Nightwing’s hand trembled. “It’s signed… by LBM.”

Jason started this time. “No way. No way. Hand it over.”

“And there’s a note. Holy sh-irt.” Nightwing opened it and read out, “Dear Wayne family, Jagged and I were very sad to hear about your missing brother, Tim. We know that this will never make up for the hole in your hearts, but we hope it brings you some joy. Good luck in your search, LBM.”

“Postage puts it as being mailed from Paris. Makes sense. Jagged is quite popular there,” Robin stated, looking at the package. He was searching something on his phone. “There is no known country listed online for LBM. Their clients must have to sign an NDA. There is also no record of them signing their work outside of the standard artist tag on their work.”

“We have the only signed copies?!”

“There aren’t any mentioned online, so either these are the only copies, or the owners are keeping quiet,” Robin stated calmly while still staring at his phone.

Nightwing opened the case. A business card fell out. LBM’s business card. On it was only an email. “We…. We have LBM’s contact information. I’m going to email them right now!” He whipped out his phone.

“There’s another copy that’s personalized for Master Tim. I will place it and the note in his room. You may wish to refrain from emailing LBM until you have calmed down Master Nightwing,” Alfred suggested. He took the package from Robin and left Nightwing and Red Hood to fanboy.

~~~~

Tim and Marinette went on the hunt for ice cream.

She swore it was worthwhile to hunt down some guy in an ice cream cart that moved around the city rather than the four that they had already walked past. He left a clue online to his whereabouts. They were both really good at solving puzzles, and found that he was near the Arc de Triomphe. They determined that Andre’s ice cream cart was at Jardin Shakespeare, which was near enough to walk.

Tim took so many pictures in the park that it was a wonder they ever made it to the cart.

It was the most peaceful he had ever been. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, with a friend who had thought enough about him to actually make him something profoundly personal. She made a few sketches and took some pictures herself.

The dawdled as they made their way to the cart. They were in no rush. It was a beautiful day, and they were enjoying their relaxing time together.

By the time they got there, Tim cared very little about the ice cream, and more about the wonderful memory they had made together.

Andre was an unusual man. He refused to let them pay. It was clear he knew Marinette and she introduced him.

He scooped out her ice cream, commenting on each flavour while looking at Tim. Tim wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“It changed?” she said, clear confusion in her voice.

Tim was looking at Andre. He only nodded with a smile at her.

“And you, young man, blueberry cream just like her penetrating gaze, blackberry for her hair, and strawberry with dark chocolate chips for her side that Guards us all.” Tim stared at the weird concoction of flavours of ice cream. “Thank you, Marinette. You as well Tim.” His words felt like they carried more meaning than him thanking them for him giving free ice cream to them…

“Your kindness always points us in the right direction. Thank you,” Marinette said with a smile.

They walked in silence for a while, staring at their ice creams. “What was all that about?”

“Remember how I said there were a few other metas in the city? Andre is one of them. He can see into your soul and find your love. He calls it sweetheart ice cream.”

Tim frowned. His ice cream was clearly indicating Ladybug by the colour scheme. But he had no desire to be with her. Yes, she was a good hero, but he couldn’t help feel that his heart was a little closer than a hero he saw only in emergencies… Andre must be wrong.

Marinette’s colours of black, blue and red could mean him… He should have paid more attention to what the man had been saying. He had just thought it was a gimmick. He felt like running back to ask.

They spent the rest of the day wandering the park, relaxing.

Marinette sketched. They both took pictures.

Currently they were sitting in front of a fountain. She was sketching a dress based on the way the water was cascading and reflecting the sunlight. He couldn’t help but think that if it was made, it would put LBM to shame.

He took a picture of her lost in thought. They had taken several selfies through the day at their favourite spots, and made two of them his lock and home screens.

Ladybug ice cream not withstanding, he had a perfect day.

~~~~

Marinette stared at her sketchbook. She had written down Andre’s explanations in her book. Tim’s ice cream she understood. Strawberry with black chocolate chips for Ladybug and the side that Guards us all. Guardian. Andre knew who she was. It didn’t bother her as much as she thought it would. She was pretty sure Luka knew too. Neither would ever say anything.

Andre was hinting that she and Tim would do well together. But her flavour had changed. She was certain it was Adrien before. Was it just a gimmick after all? Or was it not so much soulmates he saw, as those in a person’s heart?

Her ice cream, assuming it was Tim’s flavours, confused her. She underlined the hints. Tim was hiding something.

‘Espresso and dark chocolate for his hair wild as a Dragon, Red cherry just like the suit he wears so well, and Robin’s egg blueberry for his dark past to be reborn and his calculating stare.’

Dark chocolate so dark it looked almost black. Espresso. Okay those were obvious. Tim had black hair, and drank as much espresso as she did. Dragon? Red suit? Dark past reborn? Robin’s egg? It had been the same blueberry ice cream as hers that Andre had scooped up – and it was definitely blueberry flavoured. Yes, he had blue eyes too, but he hadn’t called it after the flavour. He purposely changed the name. Why had he called it that?

Tim was hiding a lot. Hell, she was Ladybug and only one of her flavours hinted at a secret. Every single one of his screamed secrets and Andre had not been subtle like he usually was. He had stared right at Tim while he served her ice cream and nodded when she had glanced at Tim.

How much of what Tim told her was a lie?

Still, Andre had thanked them both, so whatever his secret was, it couldn’t be all that bad.

…Right?

~~~~

Tim stared in horror at the page in front of him. He had, at the recommendation of Alya at the beginning of school that day as the class discussed the latest akuma (a rather benign one, all things considered), checked the rest of her blog. She claimed to have had the best history of the miraculous than anyone else – something that Marinette actually agreed with. Alya’s theories on the miraculous being ancient and used as far back in recorded history as Ancient Egypt was enlightening. She postulated several other instances of them being used in history as well.

But while he was digging around on the blog, he came across what everyone had dubbed the ‘Miracle Queen’ event.

Hero, Queen Bee, or Chloe Bourgeois (damn he really needed to talk to her, but she was just so… entitled was the best word he could come up with – it was girls like her that gave the masses the impression that the rich were all snobs), was akumatized, and had outed multiple miraculous holders. As the whole city had been under her spell, there was no direct footage from the blog. However, the event had been leaked through security cameras footage. TVi broadcast the footage across Paris after Ladybug announced that she would no longer be using those heroes for their own safety, as Hawkmoth had seen them. The names were… familiar. All of them. The chances that he knew every single person who was a holder out of the millions of people in Paris was concerning.

Alya. Nino. Max. Kim. Chloe. Luka. Kagami.

All of them were either in his class or had ties to people in them.

All of them were kids when they were exposed. Thirteen to fifteen year olds. It was impossible to ignore that Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared the same ages.

His mind replayed Marinette’s words: “We really don’t talk about identities here – either for the heroes or the akumas – out of respect.”

~~~~

Tim approached Chloe with a grimace.

“Chloe – I was wondering if I could talk to you?”

Chloe looked down her nose at him. “I don’t have time for peasants like you.”

Tim held back a scoff. Oh the irony.

He had gladly given up (most of) his money for a normal life. He did need some to live comfortably after all.

He would have to appease to the stuck up hero side.

“I heard you were Queen Bee. Could I get your autograph?” he pretended to fawn over her a bit. He was really glad that the rest of the class wasn’t around right now. It was embarrassing.

“Oh! Well, why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” She snapped her fingers at him, and he hastily produced his notebook.

She looked down at the lined notebook with distain. “This will not do.” She screeched, “Sabrina!”

Out of nowhere, Sabrina came running up to hover nearby Chloe. “Yes?”

“Autograph. Now!”

“Yes!” Sabrina rifled through her shoulder bag as quickly as she could and produced a picture of Chloe and a pen.

“What’s it like to be a hero?” he asked her as she scrawled an excessively large signature on the glossy photo.

“Ladybug depends on you to save the day. I could do it without her, obviously,” she flipped her hair arrogantly. “But she keeps taking my miraculous away. The bug doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

“So she stopped giving you a miraculous?”

Chloe looked offended.

“How did she pick you?” he changed tacks.

Her face turned bright red. “She- I found it.” Her eyes widened at the truth. “She clearly left it for me!”

She shrugged off her moment of embarrassment. “Why? Looking to become a hero?”

She ran her eyes down his body critically. Her eyes caught on his chest, which was more defined that it should be for a computer geek.

“You couldn’t handle it.”

Tim ignored the jab. “Thanks, Chloe. I appreciate it.” He clung to the autograph as if he cared. “Can I ask you another question?”

Chloe raised an eyebrow, but allowed him to continue.

“What was it like being akumatized as a hero?”

Chloe turned scarlet before slapping him across the face with an indignant “ARRGH!” before running out of the room. As she turned the corner, he could see the tears starting to pour down her face. Sabrina ran after her, shooting him a glare as she slammed the door.

Whoopsie. He probably should have been more gentle about that. 

There was only one conclusion: Ladybug had lost a miraculous at one point. Despite this, she had used Chloe a few more times after that.

Ladybug was desperate.

~~~~

“Hey, Alya, can I ask you something?” Tim asked as he and Marinette saw her at the carousel at the bottom of the Trocadero with her two younger sisters.

Marinette continued to try to use Tim’s new board. He watched her as Alya turned to face him. Alya’s eyes automatically followed his and she grinned.

Alya sipped hers drink slowly then she answered, “Sure!”

“Have you ever died from the akuma attacks?”

“Only a few hundred times,” she laughed. “I mean, really. A few. It seems like a hundred.” Her laugh turned a bit awkward.

“Is everyone so… blasé about it?”

Tim just couldn’t wrap his head around it. He had died and had regular nightmares about it. Tim had thought about dying before… well, before he had actually died. A lot. Especially during a fight. He was okay with it. He knew one day that would be how he died. The miraculous had taken that comfort away from him. It left him floundering. He could just die permanently in some random accident some day. It unsettled him in a way that he couldn’t process.

Alya grimaced. “Not sure I’d say we’re blasé. More that we just… accept that this is part of our lives right now. It’s like a war.”

Alya grinned at her sisters as they waved to her and she shook her head fondly.

“Were some of those times… as Rena Rouge?” he prompted.

Alya frowned. “Some. Most were getting footage for the Ladyblog. Still, it was worth it. Helping people is worth it.”

Tim nodded. Dying to help others made it feel worthwhile. He could relate to that.

“Do you still have your miraculous?”

“I was wondering when you were going to ask this stuff.” She let out a laugh. “Nah. Ladybug made an announcement that we weren’t going to get them back now that our identities were public – for our safety, or so she says, so that we won't be targeted.”

“So you got them after Hawkmoth appeared?”

“Yeah. Ladybug gave them out as needed. It was so cool. I wish I could be Rena Rouge again. Being a hero – having superpowers – getting to save the world – it was all so amazing!”

“How did she choose you?”

“Well, I was chosen because my sisters were akumatized and she needed my help… Same with Nino. Pretty sure the others have similar stories. They were nearby or knew someone involved at the time.”

Convenience. Not a horribly unusual way to choose someone to help. It wouldn’t be the first instance of someone being deputized into hero work. He had been hoping that it was a connection specifically to the class somehow, but this made more sense. Unfortunately, it probably also made his first assumption true: Ladybug was desperate. Were the heroes actually losing their war?

“…Do you miss it?”

He didn’t know until the words were already out of his mouth that this was what he really wanted to know – more than anything else he had originally set out to ask.

Suddenly, all those logistics and details he was determined to find out from all the previous holders didn’t really matter. They didn’t have their powers. He doubted they would give him much more information than Alya had anyways.

What mattered now was that he had found a retired hero that could relate to him, at least a little bit.

“Duh! Flying across the rooftops? Saving the day? Who wouldn’t?!”

Alya had always seemed to hero-worship Ladybug, and heroes in general. It made sense that she would want to continue. Perhaps he should have asked Kagami or Nino.

Still, her words struck a chord.

Did he miss being a Robin?

The quiet part in the back of his mind was screaming yes. Still, he had chosen to walk away from it, and he hadn’t regretted it one bit.

The thought left a hollow feeling in his heart. He could feel the tinges of sadness and loneliness whenever he thought about that part of his life. This time, however, it was a bit muted.

He had come so far in the past few months.

“Thanks,” he muttered out automatically, and started walking away from Alya absentmindedly in the direction of Marinette, who had managed to successfully steer herself away from running back into the street, but resulted in her tumbling sideways, narrowly missing a trash can.

“You’re welcome! And get that gurl to wear a helmet!” she called out after him.

He probably should get her one. It was pure luck that she hadn’t wound up with a concussion yet.

Notes:

This chapter is a bit longer than I usually do. I figured you guys wouldn't mind.

Now for something fun - you get some input. If Timari could go on a date, what would you want to see?

Chapter 28

“A purrfect day for an akuma, wouldn’t you say, Milady?” Chat sidled up to Ladybug’s hiding spot as she observed the akuma.

She had managed to escape Tim by using his skateboard and gaining more speed than was probably safe at her level of ability. She had felt a bit bad ditching him and taking his best way of escape with her, but it was necessary!

“I was kind of busy,” Ladybug hedged. It was never a good day for an akuma. She didn’t even feel like playing along like she usually did.

“Heh. Maybe not.” Chat rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “But at least I get to see your lovely face.”

She didn’t bother to respond. Chat never seemed to care if she played along or not. Unfortunately, she noticed something down below. Tim had tried to escape the akuma, only to turn into a dead end alley. “Civilian in danger.”

She didn’t wait to see if Chat followed her or not as she dove to save her friend. She knew he would. As she grabbed onto Tim’s waist, Chat blocked an attack from the akuma.

“I’ll cover you,” he said as he twirled his baton, allowing the energy blast to bounce off it and back towards the akuma.

She took Tim to a favourite recharge place of hers and placed him down. “You should be safe here. Just don’t move.” Not that he could. He was stuck between two rooftops with no way down.

Chat rejoined her a moment later. He swung his baton like a helicopter and landed beside her.

“Purrhaps we could get some ice cream after this? I just know my red and black ice cream will be better with you there.”

“Chat…” She glanced towards Tim. “We have a civilian with us!”

“Ah, the man doesn’t mind if this chat shoots his shot,” Chat winked at Tim, who was just staring at the two of them looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world.

Talk about awkward.

“Well I do! It’s not professional! And besides, I’ve told you before – there's another boy!”

She glanced at Tim again, wishing she could crawl into a hole and die.

“Seems like that boy doesn’t know what he’s got if it’s taking him this long.”

“It’s… a different boy.”

“Sure, sure. But that’s no reason to not get ice cream with me.”

“Argh! Fine. Let’s go.”

She took off without looking back. She had an akuma to stop.

Despite this, she heard Chat complain, “Seems she will have felines for litterally anyone but me.” Even though she heard the puns, it was delivered with frustration and sadness in his tone.

It took far longer for the two heroes to defeat the akuma than she would have liked, but eventually, she was able to go back to Tim and return him to the ground.

“Sorry about that,” she apologized.

“No worries. Are you okay, Ladybug?” he asked her.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be? Another akuma purified!”

“Chat?”

“Oh he does that to lighten the mood. It’s fine!”

She placed him on the ground, happy that he had looked out for her alter ego, despite not even knowing her. She took off with a short salute and swung around the block to go meet him as herself. She just couldn’t place what was bothering her now, despite seeing Tim’s smiling face.

~~~~

That night, she met Chat Noir at Andre’s ice cream stall, which was presently parked under Sacre Coeur.

Hers remained distinctly blue, black and red.

Chat frowned as Andre silently handed over her ice cream without describing them and gave her a wink. Ladybug realised with horror that Andre knew. It was confirmation, shoved in her face once again. It was impossible to ignore this time. It was impossible to shove aside as coincidence. She’d had her suspicions before, but he had never made it so blatantly obvious before.

Worse, Chat saw that the ice cream clearly wasn’t symbolizing him. The distinct lack of green and blonde was hard not to see.

His ice cream was, as he said before, Ladybug inspired, with a strawberry and chocolate chip layer, along with a layer of blueberry on the bottom.

“Or perhaps you’d prefer something a bit different but equally good?” Andre asked.

“I could have two?” Chat asked in wonder.

Andre laughed. “No, my boy, but maybe I could make them as one giant cone.”

The new layers were pink and gray. She stared at the layer in abject horror as Andre subtly gave away her secrets. Chat looked at the new layer with confusion.

“Bubble gum for her bubbly nature and sweet disposition, with Earl Grey for the side which is a bit skittish,” he had finished.

Chat looked between the two layers, clearly torn as to which he wanted more. The more he looked at them, the more his face seemed to close off to her.

Chat seemed to shake himself out of whatever was bothering him. “She certainly is that!” Chat nudged Ladybug playfully.

Ladybug frowned. She was not like that as Ladybug. Not at all. Everyone knew that. Chat laughed, but it seemed forced as he stared at the pink and grey ice cream that clearly represented Marinette as Multimouse.

“Lighten up, Bug,” he teased, breaking the tension as he always did. He grinned at her as she rolled her eyes at him.

Just like that they were back to normal.

She sighed. She was being silly. He hadn’t gained any information about her after all… she hoped. Andre had presented it as a separate ice cream suggestion for him. Did Chat have a crush on civilian her? She found it hard to believe. The two hardly ever interacted for more than a passing moment or two.

The duo took their ice creams and sat on the roof of the historic building, looking out over the city they protected. As always, she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. She was exhausted.

He rubbed her back a few times, and despite all the things he clearly had wanted to say, they remained silent and soaked in the peace.

~~~~

When Tim got home that day, he dumped the signed photo from Chloe in the trash before sitting at his computer. He reviewed the footage with Ladybug’s desperation in mind – most of the heroes had been chosen because they were either close to the akuma or were just present in the area. Had the first time they had been chosen really just because they were convenient? How could you trust a stranger with so much power like that?

He had some theories about why children were chosen. Mostly because it was impossible to know who Hawkmoth and Mayura were, so the easiest way to ensure that you weren’t giving a miraculous to the bad guy was to give it to a child. Any adult in Paris could be Hawkmoth.

The not-so-affectionately-named Akuma Class was usually front and center in attacks. They were convenient.

They were also horrible choices!

They were overly emotional and regularly akumatized. It was basically handing Hawkmoth a miraculous user’s identity.

He couldn’t decide if he could determine anything solid about Ladybug with this. Sure, it would be easy to extrapolate that she knew them. That she went to the school. Either that, or Chat Noir did. Or both. Or, it could just be that they were convenient with the attacks and his class were just terrible targets.

Either way, he couldn’t really blame Ladybug for not wanting to entrust a miraculous to an adult when all evidence pointed to them using them for selfish means.

~~~~

The Louvre was as amazing as he had thought it would be. Marinette brought her sketchbook, and the two got lost in the maze that was the Louvre’s underground. He took pictures of anything that she paused and made notes at, just in case she wanted to see them again to regain that inspiration later. More than anything, it gave him an excuse to take a picture of her, tongue out, pencil to paper, staring at some masterpiece as though it just unlocked the secrets of the universe to her.

The most interesting area turned out to be the Egyptian exhibit, which was home to hieroglyphics depicting an ancient ladybug holder. He remembered seeing it in one of Alya’s early videos.

They ended the day with crepes. He knew she was humouring him, buying them at a tourist trap stand that was out on the street, but he didn’t care.

They shared the crepes, and when Marinette finished her Nutella filled one, he noticed she had a smudge of chocolate on her face.

“You’ve got something…” he nodded to her cheek.

“Oh,” Her eyes went wide. She tried rubbing it off, but missed.

“Here…” He brushed a bit of chocolate off of her cheek slowly with his thumb, then put it in his mouth to lick off the chocolate hazelnut. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment, but Tim loved it anyways. He was pretty sure that they were solidly within the friend category enough for him to do something like that now. He was positive it meant more to him than to her.

He was okay with that, if it meant they had each other.

~~~~

Marinette was excited. Tim had finally agreed to spar for real. Enough of the slow motion. While it had been helpful, she knew she was ready for more – she had done more. She had already been using the skills during akuma battles. She really just wanted to show Tim how good she was doing!

And okay, she wanted him to be proud of her.

It was all going fine. Tim was smiling.

“Good job, Mars!” he praised her.

But she knew. He was holding back.

“Thanks! But, can we spar for real?”

“We are…” he hesitated.

She accused him, “You’re holding back.”

His face went a bit pink. “Yeah. Okay.” He took up his stance to begin the spar again and she mirrored him.

He had always allowed her to make the first move, but this time, he charged at her. In a flurry of jabs and kicks, he backed her towards the end of the sparring mat. He made a move with his arm, which she went to block, and he took the opportunity to sweep her leg out from under her.

She went down hard, hitting her head on the edge of the mat.

“Oh gosh, are you okay?” Tim’s face appeared over her, a worried expression marring his features. He muttered to himself, “I knew we shouldn’t have done this.”

But this – this was the reason she had asked him in the first place to help her. He was good. He had knocked her down like it was nothing without her suit on. He’d proven he could hold his own against dozens of minions.

“Yep!” She popped up, not wanting to admit that he had actually managed to bruise her tailbone a bit on the way down and that she definitely would have a headache later. “Let’s do it again!”

She was definitely going to learn that move.

Tim looked at her like maybe she had hit herself harder than she thought she did. He was peering at her as if checking for a concussion.

“Fine. But one more fall like that, and we’re done.”

“Okay!” She would just have to make sure that he didn’t psyche her out again.

It was harder than she thought it would be.

Two rounds later, Tim managed to knock her feet out from under her again. This time, however, he grabbed her waist before she could hit the ground. Leaning over her, one leg braced underneath them both, and the other holding still where he was when she had started to fall, he asked, “Are you okay?”

He pulled her up to his chest as she nodded.

“I’m great,” she whispered, staring straight into his eyes.

They were breathing hard against each other, her hand settling on his shoulder.

“Good.”

The two were silent for a beat too long. Tim licked his lips.

“Mars…” he all but whispered. His eyes flicked down to her lips and he bit his lower lip tentatively. Her eyes followed the movement.

Both of them glanced up at one another and stared as their surroundings slipped away.

Was he going to…

Should she…

She subconsciously leaned forward a bit.

Someone slammed down one of the weightlifting machines a bit too hard, making the crash echo throughout the gym.

Tim cleared his throat. “We’re done for today,” he blurted out as he let her go as if she had burned him. He moved quickly towards the men’s room to change.

Marinette watched him leave, wondering how badly she had messed up this time. Did she just lose her chance for training?

~~~~

Marinette’s fears turned out to be baseless (not for the first time), as Tim continued to teach her and spar with her… with admittedly more protective gear than before. She had a boxer’s head guard on, pads on most of her major joints, and padded shorts.

Thankfully, he would eventually get over it as she mastered the skills and she was able to hold her own against him. She did walk away with a few marks, but they never seemed to last long.

~~~~

“That photo is amazing, Tim.”

Marinette was peering over his shoulder as he was doing a basic edit on the photos that he had taken as they had wandered around the heart of Paris.

He hadn’t known it at the time, but the photo was iconic for Paris as it stood in time right now. Mr. Xavier Ramier was sitting on a bench in the Trocadero, feeding the pigeons. As he had snapped a picture, a bird had flown in front of the lens. His camera had auto-focused on the pigeon.

He quite liked the photo, even though the man in question and that bloody bird had become an akuma later that day.

Like he said, it fit the current situation in Paris to a tee.

“You should enter it in the photo contest.”

“Contest?”

“Mhmm…” she pulled up the school’s website on her computer. There was a link on the page to a photography contest for students of all ages throughout Paris. The winners would have their photos placed in a calendar. The calendar would help raise money for akuma victims and trauma counseling throughout the city for children.

The photo was kind of perfect.

“I’m not sure. Wouldn’t Mr. Pidgeon’s host be triggering?”

Marinette shrugged. “Not really? Mr. Pidgeon has never hurt anyone – outside of Chat Noir’s allergies.”

They both chuckled at that.

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

~~~~

Tim and Marinette had been trying to hit up Tim’s bucket list for sights to see whenever the weekends permitted. Last weekend had been the most touristy thing they had done so far – taking a day on bus tours to get around the city, listening to a tour guide give a limited explanation of the sights. Marinette had cringed for a good portion of it.

Still, they had sat beside one another, eaten overly expensive crepes and listened to someone ramble as Marinette added local information under her breath, pointing out restaurants that were worth his time and things to avoid.

“What do you want to do this weekend?” she asked him as they were packing up for the day. Lila had already left, so she had deemed it safe to talk freely.

“I was hoping we could go to Disneyland?” When she didn’t respond instantly, he added, “It’d be my treat.”

“Sure. Let me just my parents know. I’m sure they won’t mind,” she responded. “But I can pay for myself, Tim.”

“I know, but it’s my idea and all.” She was about to argue, but he cut her off. His hands went to his chest in mock prayer. “Please?”

He worried this would turn into another gym pass incident, but tickets were expensive for the majority of teens. He continued on, “You know you wouldn’t even be going if I wasn’t asking. It’s only fair.”

She shook her head in exasperation. “Fine. But next time we go somewhere, I pay. No excuses!”

“Yes! Disneyland here we come!” He pumped his fist in the air. Was he acting silly? Probably. But did he care? Not one bit. This was why he had left – to experience the last of his childhood. What was more childlike than wanting to go to Disney?

“Did I hear you say Disneyland?” Adrien asked from the other side of the room. Wistfully he stated, “I’ve always wanted to go!”

“Let’s make a day of it sunshine,” Alya piped in. “Nino, you’re coming, right?” She put an arm into the crook of Nino’s.

“I’m always up for rides.” He shrugged. “Count me in.”

Tim had just wanted to go with Marinette – make a memory… maybe ask her out in front of the castle… But going with a group of friends? It was just as awesome. Maybe he and Marinette could slip away and he could ask her anyways.

Marinette also looked hopeful at her classmates. Lila not being present truly did make a difference in their acceptance of her.

“You’ll be there… right Marinette?” Alya asked, unsure. “Not going to bail or anything?”

“I promise. I’ll do my best to be there,” she replied, just as unsure.

Marinette had a nasty habit of showing up late, leaving early, or not arriving at all, but they almost always coincided with akuma attacks. They’d had to postpone or delay their hangouts several times. It bothered Tim, just as much as it clearly bothered Alya, but he wasn’t willing to give up on her yet. He’d had his share of being late or bailing while being Robin. As long as she came through in the end, he would keep trying. He tried not to take it personally. She still seemed interested and regretful – unlike his family had been – and regularly put him first in her life. Regardless, he often would have doubts about himself creep in those times.

Alya looked like she wasn’t sure she believed her, but shrugged and let it slide. Other people would be there, and even if Marinette bailed, they would have fun together.

Notes:

And with this I am at 700K posted

Chapter 29

Tim, Marinette, Alya and Nino took the metro first thing in the morning. Adrien had texted them that night that his father approved, but that he would have to be escorted by his bodyguard. town car was waiting in the parking lot for them when they arrived.

Marinette and Tim tried really hard to ignore Alya’s disbelief that Marinette actually showed up.

“Hey! You made it!” Adrien called out to them.

They all joined the throng of people at the gates to get in, discussing and prioritizing what they wanted to do. Everyone but Tim and Adrien had been there before.

They beelined for the rides that they had agreed on first, hoping to beat most of the lines before they formed later in the day.

It was great. Tim was enjoying his time with his friends – some closer than others – and was finally getting to go to Disney. Sure, he had imagined going to the one in Florida with his parents when he had thought about it in the past, not halfway across the world with friends, but he enjoyed himself.

When lunchtime rolled around, they all decided to just grab something from a stall and keep moving. Adrien was with Tim on wanting to squeeze in as much as he could while he was allowed. They had enough down time waiting in lines. Tim got to know the others much better in that time – without homework in the way.

He was sure that by the end of the day that he could likely consider them friends – not just classmates or Marinette’s old friends. The previous times they had gotten together had either been homework related, or with such a large group that it felt like just another school outing. Without Lila there, they were all more open to spending time with Marinette and himself (whom Lila had started to include in the plots against Marinette – though it never worked well). The group outing did, however, mean zero time alone with Marinette.

“I want to go check out the Air drop!” Adrien exclaimed when they reached the Pixar section.

“I think I’ll sit this one out,” Marinette stated. “I think I need to grab something else to eat.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tim offered. They really shouldn’t split up and go alone with this many people crowding around. Plus, she did look a bit pale. He didn’t want her to pass out.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want you to miss out on anything,” she responded.

“There’s a souvenir place right over there. How about while they’re waiting for their turn we grab you a snack and when you’re ready we can look at souvenirs. We’ll meet you guys there?” Tim suggested.

“Works for us!” Alya agreed, dragging Nino and Adrien off before they could complain. “Let’s go boys!”

Chez Remy’s was right there in the square with them, but there was no way that they would just be able to pop in to get a snack. Instead, they headed to Chez Marianne, which had both souvenirs and food. She sat down to eat, and Tim watched the colour return to her cheeks.

“Sorry you’re missing out,” she apologized again.

“I’m not missing anything. We can always go again some time,” he reasoned with her. “So what’s up? You feeling okay?”

“Yeah. Just didn’t sleep much last night with the akuma attack, and I skipped breakfast because we had to be up so early…” She put her head down on her arms on the metal table, closing her eyes. “I swear, sleep deprivation is Hawkmoth’s goal half the time. Easier to make akumas when you’re too tired to regulate your emotions.”  

“Sorry, Rin,” he consoled her as he put an arm over her shoulders in a side hug. It was a position they had been in before, but not often, so he felt that he could do it without asking at this moment. “Just wait here a minute, okay?”

She nodded without looking up.

He went over to the stall with the food and bought her a coffee. He held it out to her and she looked up.

“My hero,” she gushed. He would almost call it lovingly, except he was sure she didn’t feel that way about him.

But maybe she did a little bit?

He decided to go for it. Finally ask her out.

When she had drunk a bit, he said, “Hey, Marinette, uhm, I was wondering-”

“You guys are still here?” Adrien called out, interrupting him.

“Yeah, I needed a pick-me-up,” Marinette explained.

“Cool, well lets all go check out the souvenirs together then!” Adrien grasped her hand and pulled her up after she nodded.

“Oh, what did you want to say, Tim?” she asked, looking back at him.

“Nothing. It can wait,” he responded glumly.

They all went and bought mouse ears; Alya, Adrien and Marinette had fun trying on multiple ones and shoving random ones on his and Nino’s heads.

Marinette came up with a pair of Ladybug ones – a local Disney Paris exclusive – and leaned in close. She raised herself up on her tip toes to place them gently on his head. Her mouth was tantilizingly close to his own, and he wished once more that they were dating. He licked his lips, and spoke, “Marinette, do you want to go ou-”

“Those are perfect. We match!” Alya called out.

Tim snapped out of it, and Marinette backed away quickly.

Alya was, indeed wearing the Ladybug ones with a bow and a Ladybug symbol in the middle. Adrien had Chat Noir ones. Nino had been shoved into a similar pair. Marinette was wearing the typical Minnie ears but with pink and grey instead of red with white spots.

“Let’s go hit up a few more rides,” Nino suggested.

Everyone else agreed, so Tim followed along.

After a long series of ride after ride after ride, the five friends were feeling hot and tired.

“How about we go into La Tanière du Dragon?” Marinette suggested. “Get out of the heat for a bit.”

The Dragon’s Lair below Sleeping Beauty’s castle was a dark, walkthrough attraction that people could do at their own pace. It sounded just right.

The path was designed to look like a creepy cave with minimal lighting.

But with Marinette huddled up beside him, it was anything but creepy. She looped her arm with his and dragged him towards the animatronic Maleficent. It roared and moved around. Tim was looking at it objectively, but his mind was on their linked arms.

Third time was the charm, right?

He was about to ask her when a scream pierced through the park. “AKUMA!!!!”

Marinette dropped his arm.

“Out here? That’s unusual,” he commented to her as he went to evacuate.

Except she wasn’t there. He was pushed along with the throng of people.

“Marinette?!” he called out, but he couldn’t be heard over the crowds.

When he was outside, he saw Alya and Nino huddling off to the side.

“Have you seen Adrien?” Nino asked. “He disappeared in the crowd!”

“No. Have you seen Marinette? She’s missing too!” he responded back, worriedly.

“Maybe they went out the other way,” Alya reasoned. “Let’s go.”

They moved through the now empty tunnels until they reached the other side.

A paratrooper akuma was floating people into the air. Seemed someone didn’t like the Toy Story ride and was going to take it out on everyone.

Surprisingly, Ladybug and Chat Noir were already there, along with Dracona and Slither. The bug and cat were busy engaging with the akuma, while the other two were going around saving everyone that the akuma dropped before they plummeted to their deaths.

The three started scanning the surroundings for Adrien and Marinette, with no luck. Alya took out her phone to record from behind a fence and Nino ducked down beside her.

Tim had gone to search on the other side of the attack.

His rotten luck rang true when he was suddenly blasted by the akuma and was sent flying into the air.

“Drac!” Slither called out urgently.

A moment later, the parachute which should have slowed his descent to the ground disappeared and Tim began to freefall from a height that was guaranteed to kill him.

This was going to suck. Death from falling. Something he had not cared about in Gotham – flying off buildings with little abandon came to mind, his last stunt of taking Killer Moth with him in particular – now bothered him immensely.

He didn’t really want to die.

A gust of wind collected him just before he hit the ground. It swept him far away from the battle. The wind reformed into Dracona, who set him gently down on the ground. It was the first time he had seen her up close. Her suit, a black and gold that had stripes of colours flowing out from the center emblem glowed with whichever power was activated. The black had a silver sheen to it. She had short, spikey black hair with a headband that almost looked like golden dragon wings on them. Her eyes were like a snakes. Despite the obvious animal aspect, she was objectively beautiful. The blue of the wind died down and the blue part of the emblem darkened – her power used up.

He had made her waste an essential power to save him.

“Stay safe.” She winked at him once before running off, activating her lightning to attack the akuma and quickly head back to the battle.

He could see Slither up close too now. Her hair was slicked onto her head, her snake mask looking like fangs on her face. Her entire outfit had a sweetheart neckline that was comprised of teal and silver scales. In some places, it seemed like the scales scattered to her skin, making it seem as though she were actually part snake or that the scales were truly a part of her skin.

He nodded a thank you to Slither, who smiled briefly back at him before calling out to Chat Noir to dodge.

Tim was in the way. He hated it when civilians were in the way.

He had barely cleared the area when the ladybugs washed over the park.

Marinette ran out from the Dragon’s Lair a minute later.

“There you are!” he ran to meet her. He grabbed her in a hug.

“Sorry, I sprinted ahead of the crowd and just couldn’t find you guys! Are you okay?” she asked.

“Never better.”

“You weren’t hurt, were you?” she pressed.

“I got caught in the fight,” he admitted. “I got a bit too close looking for you.”

“Tim! You shouldn’t have! It’s not worth it!” she scolded him.

He ignored her and hugged her tighter instead of arguing. He would always go to find her.

Adrien appeared from behind a stall on the other side of the battle around the same time. “Hey guys!”

They all met up again and finished off their day at the park with dinner before Adrien’s bodyguard, who had been following them discreetly all day, gave them all a ride home.

Seemed even a trip to Disneyland wasn’t safe from Hawkmoth.

~~~~

The construction on Tim’s apartment was completed. It had taken longer than he wanted – mostly because he had to discretely import things, and there was a large portion of the construction which he had to do himself. He had the construction company work to create a door with a special lock to create a safe room inside his apartment, but it also meant that he had to do the bat-level upgrades himself. It was harder than it should have been normally, as he didn’t have access to Bruce’s tools and better 3D printer.

He also had to make the final adjustments himself – making the room look invisible. It looked just like a normal wall unless you knew the code to unlock it.

He decided to throw himself a housewarming party.

He kept it small – and by that he meant just Marinette.

“I finished the renovations on my apartment, finally,” he explained during the break between classes, more nervous than he had any right to be when just asking his friend to hang out when he had been over to her house multiple times.

“That’s great. It must be nice to have all the construction crews out of there,” she responded happily.

Really, they had been done for a couple of weeks. His own modifications had just taken that long. “Yeah. I was wondering if you wanted to check it out after school?”

She hesitated for a moment.

“I could really use some help with decorating,” he added lamely. Anything to get her over there. He didn’t personally care how decorated it was. He had his few things he wanted to display out already.

“Oh! Sure. I can.”

When they arrived at his place after school, he hovered near the door for a moment before unlocking it for her. He let her go in first.

“Wow, it’s bigger than I thought it would be,” she said automatically, hedging her initial response.

Bare walls would do that. It had nothing to break up the space.

“But the space is great. A lot of potential!” She wandered around. “What colours or themes were you wanting?”

He drew a blank outside of his normal responses of Robin themed.

He looked at her, and her sparkling blue eyes drew him in. “Maybe some blue? Ocean or bright blue? Maybe some darker blues or blacks…” His eyes went to her hair.

She nodded and plopped down on his couch, pulling out her sketchbook.

In no time at all, she had his living room drawn, and began accenting it with her designs.

They did similar things in the kitchen and bathroom.

“And this is my,” he cleared his throat, “Ahem, bedroom.”

She wandered around, looking at the trinkets he had picked up in his travels.

“I have the perfect idea, if you trust me.”

“Always,” he responded automatically.

She sat on the edge of his bed and started drawing. “Do you have pictures from your trip I could see?”

“…Yeah… Yeah, I do.” He fumbled around for his computer and pulled up the folder that had his travel pictures in it.

She scrolled through until she flagged a few. “Could you email those to me?”

She was going to hang up his pictures? It was a great idea.

Then it registered.

She was sitting on his bed.

He had nowhere else to sit in his room.

Tim hovered near the doorframe, unsure what to do with himself all of a sudden. It didn’t matter that they had huddled together on her chaise in her room multiple times. Or her couch.

The bed somehow made it different.

“What do you think?” she asked finally.

“Looks great!” he responded. He couldn’t actually see it.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh just come see it.”

He awkwardly went and sat next to her on the bed and leaned in to see what she had done.

She had sketched the photos he had sent her onto the walls themselves – she had made his walls into a mural that matched up with where the memorabilia were in the room. The scenes blended together. He just knew that if it were life-sized and painted that it would be gorgeous.

“That’s amazing, Rin,” he complimented more genuinely this time.

She turned to face him, their faces incredibly close together. He could feel her breath on his cheek. Her cheeks turned an adorable pink as they stared at each other for a long moment.

He was pretty sure if he kissed her now that she would reciprocate. He thought she was willing before on Halloween.

Her eyes flicked down to his lips before returning to his eyes.

He leaned a bit closer, and her eyes fluttered shut.

His nose touched hers and her eyes shot open. “Glad you like it!” she squeaked and pulled away sharply. “I have some time tomorrow to start painting! I have to go now, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

She bolted out of the room so fast it gave Tim whiplash.

“Bye, Rin…”

Tim laid back on the bed and bounced his head into the mattress a few times.

“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Fuck. How could I be so stupid?”

She had literally run away from the thought of kissing him.

Still, for the next week, Marinette came over after school, and buried herself in painting and decorating his house. He admitted that he was more of a hindrance than help, but he handed her things and gave her snacks when she asked, or held stencils in place for her while she painted.

In the end, his apartment was a work of art from the moment you walked in. It was a perfect blend of her creativity and artistry, and his practicality and functional necessity.

His mind started thinking of it as ‘their’ space, rather than just his, despite her not actually living there.

It was a dangerous frame of mind to be in for ‘just friends.’

Chapter 30

Everything changed when the akuma Sonic appeared.

Sonic used sound waves much like Black Canary did, except far more powerful. If you were in its direct path, the sound would burst your eardrums or blood vessels, leaving you either deaf and unable to hear another attack coming, or dead. More likely dead. The sound waves knocked down buildings, burying everyone inside.

Chat Noir had been hit early on and lost his hearing. This made him more of a liability during the fight. Ladybug had disappeared for a while and returned with two temporary heroes, Dracona and Slither, that had been seen on occasion, but they were making very little headway.

Tim had lucked out that the attack started on the other side of the city, but it was quickly coming his way. Given the amount of destruction on the AkumaAlert app, at least half of Paris had already been destroyed. Likely anyone in those arrondissements had been killed.

Twenty minutes in and Ladybug had escaped again after Slither was hit by a random piece of debris from behind. Tim watched on the Ladyblog live feed as she ripped the miraculous from Slither, revealing an unconscious and bleeding out Multimouse. She merged it with her current transformation and moved on, leaving her teammate behind. It was so unlike Ladybug that it was jarring.

Dracona didn’t seem surprised, but Chat Noir had completely frozen, staring at Multimouse, rather than at Ladybug and her behaviour, or even the akuma. He was completely distracted and vulnerable.

Why was Chat so shocked? Tim thought that none of it made sense.

And then suddenly it all made sense to him in the worst way possible.

He watched as Dracona had frowned at the sight of Multimouse lying there. She slipped her wrist inside Multimouse’s necklace, wrapping it around her wrist, and ripped it away before running off after Ladybug.

Chat Noir looked livid that Dracona had just left the girl who had been Multimouse just lying there exposed. He looked ready to use his cataclysm on Dracona rather than on the akuma.

Chat Noir was screaming curses at Sonic and Dracona. Ladybug had long since left the scene, leaving the two to deal with the akuma. Currently, only Dracona was actually engaged with Sonic, however. Chat was too busy mourning the loss of his teammate, or at least that’s what he assumed he was screaming. The audio was long since gone on the stream, Alya’s microphone being blown out by the sound early on. Tim was sure he had lost his mind. What could the girl possibly have to do with Chat Noir?

And then the reason why made horrible, life shattering sense.

He picked up the girl and placed her gently out of the way of the rest of the attacks, and the idiot filming (likely Alya since it was a live stream) finally had a clear, though admittedly grainy and too far away to make out details, shot. Not that it mattered. Grainy or not, Tim knew that pixelated face.

Marinette.

Marinette was Multimouse. She was dead.

Tim dropped his phone. The screen shattered, but he didn’t see.

Why couldn’t he see?

Oh, he was crying.

He had lost teammates before. Hell, he’d lost his parents. Damian. Bruce. Steph. Kon. Bart. Dick.

Somehow this was worse.

Marinette had become his closest friend – well, normal friend – and he had been envisioning more. A lifetime. A blissfully normal lifetime with a normal girl with a normal life.

Maybe that’s why it was worse.

Everyone else was either involved with the hero life, or with villains. It was expected in their line of work, and while it hurt, it was never particularly shocking. 

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there in shock. Not long.

Suddenly Ladybug was in front of him, bringing his attention to her. “Tim Johnson. Here is the Miraculous of the Rooster, which grants the power of precognition. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you?” She held a box with a Chinese looking design on it in front of him.

“I don’t understand.”

“Tim, I need your help. I cannot win this battle alone. You’ve proven yourself worthy and helped us before… surely you will again?” Though her words were phrased as if she were sure of herself, her tone bled with doubt and concern. They sat in silence a moment until she tried a new tactic. “I understand your pain.”

His pain roiled at the idea of anyone understanding the losses he had been through – even though it was clear she did. He revolted.

“No, you don’t. Why her? WHY HER?!” he screamed at her.

“I understand you lost someone. We all have.” Her voice was calm, and he hated it. Right now, he hated her.

“WHY DID YOU CHOOSE HER?”

“Marinette?”

“YES MARINETTE!”

She shrugged, dismissing his concerns. “She’s the only one who can.” He glared at her. “Now… do you want to help me save her?”

He took the box from her a bit roughly. She seemed unsurprised. He opened the box, and out popped a chibi rooster in a blaze of light.

“Hi I’m Orikko! I’m your kwami. I grant the power of precognition. You can activate it by saying ‘Awakening.’ You can feel what will happen a few moments before it happens to be able to change your course of action. You will have ten minutes to use the ability. After that, it will end, and you will have five minutes until you de-transform. To transform you say ‘Orikko, sun rise!’ and to de-transform ‘sun down.’ Any questions?”

He was too angry and too devastated to even react to the strange being in front of him.

Not exactly what he envisioned the miraculous being. It was weird, but that seemed to be in line with his life. “Tons. But they can wait. Orikko, sun rise!”

He looked down to see that his suit was disturbingly like his Red Robin suit but orange instead of yellow highlights and missing his traditional symbols. On close inspection it did have a feather pattern to the material. He found himself glad for the glamour – it was just too close to his suit. He had a cape that was split into wings.  His hair was longer and chunky with orange-red tips that made it look like feathers were sitting in his hair.

He had a bo staff as a weapon, just like Chat Noir but his was notably less mobile. It could not extend beyond a normal staff length. He thought this odd until he pushed the button that he thought would extend it, only to see it warp into a bow when he attached a string that came out the end. He pulled on the string to test the tensile strength, only for an arrow of orange magic to appear. Infinite arrows. Cool. Bows weren’t really his strong suit – Roy or Cissie should have been doing it – but he could work with this. He could turn it on its side and use it like his old slingshot if it came down to it.

“So what do I call you?”

"Cocorico. Rico for short."

They met up with Chat Noir and Dracona, and together they ran back towards the akuma, which was coming closer to his home by the minute. Running along the rooftops was a lot easier with a magical power boost, and Tim relished in it, despite the imminent danger he was running towards.

Tim called his power before engaging to allow himself a moment to adjust to the ability. He stuck near Chat, as he still could not hear. He would call for Ladybug and Dracona to duck or dodge or attack and they would do so with no hesitation. Chat guarded him while he called out and shot arrows at the akuma.

The whole thing was so familiar to Tim, that he fit into the role automatically. He worked with the team, called out or provided backup as needed. It was like he had never left. It was almost like working with the Teen Titans or Young Justice.

Finally, five minutes in to his timer, the possessed item was found. His earplugs. He shouted it out, and Ladybug-Snake- he wasn’t sure what to call her- activated the second chance. She instructed Chat to cataclysm the road creating a hole for Sonic to get stuck in, while Dracona was to use lightning to electrocute him and stun him. She would secure him in place with her yoyo. Her lucky charm was a second yoyo which she tossed to Chat Noir to secure from the other side. Rico was to shoot the object.

He didn’t want to know how many second chances it took to make the plan work as Sonic kept struggling and sending off sound blasts, but his precognition ability had allowed him to adjust his shot accordingly and Ladybug seemed happy.

She purified the moth and sent out her miraculous cure. The four of them did the team’s traditional “Bien joué!”

She asked Rico to wait for her while she recharged and collected the miraculous from Dracona. Chat Noir had taken off the moment he could in the other direction, saying he was going to go get Marinette. Rico wished he was going too, but the Bug had asked him to stay. At least someone was going to help Marinette get home.

They settled on the newly restored Arc du Triomphe. “Tim, I will give you a choice. You may choose never to be a hero, and I will not ask you to join me again. Or you can join me as a permanent hero, and help keep Marinette and the rest of Paris safe.”

Seriously? He moved halfway across the world just to be drafted as a hero again? Fucking hell. What even was his life?

He had given it all up, finally, like he had planned to originally. Being Robin was just supposed to be a stop-gap - help Batman and then go back to his real life. It wasn’t supposed to consume him and everyone around him. He wasn’t supposed to lose his family or his friends. He wasn’t supposed to push everyone 'normal' away - he was supposed to protect them so they could live.

Did he really want to do that again - the thing he had run halfway across the world from?

But then he thought of Marinette, out there alone without him to protect her. She would die again. Who knows if the next time would be permanent or not?

How could he abandon her to that life, when he knew just how hard it was?

“Fine. I’ll do it. But Marinette is my priority. I’m doing it for her.” His tone was clearly bitter.

“You’re mad at me.”

“Yes. She should never have been in this situation to begin with. You turned her into a child soldier.”

“No, the guardian of the miraculous chose her when she was thirteen. It was not my choice. Just like being Ladybug was not my choice.”

He mentally filed away the idea that there was a guardian for the miraculous this whole time and how they hadn’t solved this problem themselves. That was a problem for later Tim. He had more important priorities. “Why her?”

“Shouldn’t you ask her that?”

He scoffed. “Sure. Hi Marinette. Sorry you died, but you’re back now and your identity was revealed to the world, but hey, tell me why you were chosen? I get that I can be a cold-hearted calculating bastard but there’s no way in hell I can do that to her.”

She let out a dry laugh. “Just Paris actually. And I think you’ll find that that particular video was unable to be saved to any site in a quality that you can tell who anyone is. Lucky, huh?” She winked. “So, while the few in Paris who were still alive during that part of the fight may know who it was, there is no physical evidence left.” She held up a lucky charm, a USB drive with the word virus on it.

“Her life is in danger. Hawkmoth knows who she is now.”

“I’m sure between the three of us we can keep an eye on her to ensure her safety. As for Hawkmoth…” she tilted her head back, looking up into the sky as she continued, the weariness clear in her body. “I’m not sure to be honest. He doesn’t watch all the time as far as we can tell. When the butterfly mask is visible on an akuma he is able to see through their eyes and even speak or their control actions, but our theory is that otherwise he cannot see and works off the emotional feedback to tell whether or not a battle is going according to plan. Otherwise, I’m sure he would intervene more often. The akuma tend to make the same mistakes, even after all this time. I’m sure Hawkmoth would have adjusted his battle strategy by now if he had that much control.”

She fiddled with the USB drive, rather than looking at him. “Aside from that, he has known all of the previous temporary holders for quite some time now. They are targeted no more than anyone else. Maybe even less so, because he knows that we pay particular attention to their safety. Her name was not given on the film. The akuma knocked out all the audio. Frankly, I’m surprised you recognized her from it. Even Alya, who was filming, didn’t know from that distance, and I asked her before I joined you.”

She shifted beside him and let out a very tired sigh. “But to answer your question, we are all chosen because we showed kindness to others at the detriment to ourselves. In Marinette’s case, she saved the guardian from an oncoming vehicle. He would have died had she not saved him.”

“Why did she have two miraculous active? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Marinette is capable of much more than two at once. I’m sure Chat will mention it at some point, because he’s brought it up several times when advocating for her joining the team…” she explained. It was clear to Tim, however, that despite Chat’s insistence on Marinette joining the team, he hadn’t been told that she was already on it. “… but Marinette has held all of the active miraculous at once - including mine and Chat’s - during an incident where we both lost our kwami. She is in no danger with two. She doesn’t even feel a drain of energy from it. And frankly, I needed both powers active, and did not have access to other temporary heroes today. My plan fell apart when Slither was hit.”

Her bugphone rang then. Chat’s voice could be heard over the speaker, “Hey LB, Marinette isn’t at her house, and she isn’t at the spot where she… she’s not at the spot of the battle.”

Ladybug sighed. “She probably reappeared where she was when I gave her the necklace. I’ll go check when I’m done here. Rico has decided to join us full time.”

“That’s great. Welcome to the team Birdie.” Tim could hear the relief in the cat’s voice at the idea of another person joining them in the fight. The heroes were desperate. “Can you let me know when you find her?”

“Sure thing kitty. Thanks.”

Tim grumbled quietly to himself. He hadn’t remembered actually agreeing to full time, but he didn’t argue. He would, if it kept Marinette safe.

“Great. More secrets. Yet another piece of my life I can’t share with anyone,” Tim spat out bitterly. “I don’t want to lie to Marinette.”

Ladybug took his hand. She meant it to be reassuring, but her eyes looked heavy with pain. “You can tell Marinette you are Rico. Mine and Chat’s are the ones that really need to stay secret. She will understand.”

That was a relief. “Thanks Bug. I think I’ll go help Chat see if I can find her.”

Notes:

Yes I know the Rooster does something different. No, I really don't care. I wrote this long before Orikko had any mention of powers, a holder, or anything else. We literally just knew his name, and even that was mostly conjecture with nothing to back it up.
I didn't feel like changing it when reviewing it because 1) Orikko's powers are so fucking OP by nature that it's insane and that just doesn't work for me and 2) I'm lazy. I didn't feel like rewriting all of the coming scenes. No thanks. And, well, Tim just isn't the artsy type.

Orikko's name is a reference to "Cocorico", a French onomatopoeia for the sound a rooster makes. Hence Tim's name. He didn't reach far for this one.
Why give Tim this one? Most of the others are spoken for and I didn't want the dynamics of him using a miraculous and having the old wearer mad at him. I've seen several of those. The others didn't have listed powers or holders at the time. I ended up just choosing the bird because, well, Tim is a bird.
"Awakening” precognition power to plan ahead of moves of enemy and call out hits so they can dodge better – mostly keeps Chat Noir from dying stupidly yet again. I would have given him Sass but that would have fucked up Marinette using it in the future to be on the team.

Chapter 31

Ladybug sighed deeply, wondering what the fuck happened to make her life so damn complicated. She raced to a random alley that could have been near enough to the battle to fool them, and began walking home as Marinette. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near a subway route, and she wanted them to find her. So, walking it was. It was going to take her two hours to get home that way if they didn’t rescue her.

At least it gave her time to mull over the fact that Tim admitted he was keeping secrets from her. But, he said he wasn’t lying to her. Secrets she could handle. Lies not so much.

Fortunately, Chat Noir found her after 20 minutes. He slammed into her, giving her a huge hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Thank kwami.” He sighed. “Never do that to me again Purrincess!” He hugged her tighter. “I don’t want to lose you ever again.”

“It’s not like I meant to,” she grumbled into his chest. “Random debris to the back of the head isn’t exactly planned for.”

“How about you stay in your attic tower from now on?”

“Hah. I’ll try. No promises kitty.” Neither of them believed her. Slither had been out multiple times at this point. She had become a staple of the team. So had Dracona.

“How about a ride home? Cat-xi at your service,” he bowed.

Her eye twitched at the awful pun, choosing to ignore it. “Thank you, kitty.”

“So how come you never told me?” Chat asked after a minute of jumping over rooftops.

“Ladybug wanted me to be a secret – just in case something went wrong. Sorry I didn’t tell you…” she hedged her response. “I had other clones. I didn’t die completely. Promise.”

Chat seemed reassured by her response, at least partially. Enough to let it go for now at least.

“Glad you’re part of the team Mousie.” Chat Noir smiled at her. “I knew you’d be a great addition.”

“I’m still just temporary!” she swore to him. “I don’t want to be out there unless I have to be.”

“I don’t want you out there either, but I’m glad you were. You’ve saved my nine lives.”

He ran her along the rooftops until they reached her house. He gently placed her down, gave her one more hug and a kiss to her forehead.

“Until next time,” Chat said with a bow and took off for home.

Marinette’s luck was definitely going haywire today.

Rico landed hard on her balcony the moment Chat Noir was out of sight.

Unfortunately, it was clear he had seen them, and he looked upset. She tried to seem surprised. She tried to act like she didn’t know who he was. It was easier than she thought, as she had to do it with most of her classmates and friends as it was.

“Hi Rin, can we talk? Inside?”

Kwami, he wasn’t even trying to hide it, using a nickname that only Tim used with her. He did seem guarded. Maybe he was nervous to tell her?

She led the way in, and he dropped his transformation the moment the door was shut without even trying to explain. If she hadn’t already known, it would have been a massive shock.

“Can I… hug-” he was cut off as Marinette grabbed him for a hug.

“Thank you for helping me. For saving me.”

“You’re welcome? I mean, I didn’t really save you. You were already…”

“Maybe so. Maybe not. But you’re the reason I’m here now. And that’s what matters.”

“Mari – I saw you and Chat.”

“Huh?”

“Are you two… together? I saw you hugging and he kissed you.”

She burst out laughing, doubling over. She waved her hands side to side in a sign that clearly meant no. “Me – haha – and Chat – hehe NO. Kwami. No. Hahaha. We are just friends. He kissed my forehead.”

He flushed a bit. “What about Adrien?”

Her laughter died down.

“Adrien?” She sighed. “Adrien and I never have and never will be more than friends. He made that abundantly clear when we met. Sure, I had a very unhealthy crush on him for a little over a year, but it died over time. He is a friend when Lila isn’t around. He seems to be more resistant to her than most, but the back and forth between allegiances gives me a bit of whiplash. If he ever breaks free completely, he is a great friend.” She paused. “Why do you ask?”

He coughed, going redder. “What about Kagami and your orange juice dates?”

“What about them?” He was jealous? Of her friends?

“Are you, I mean –“

‘What?’ she wondered. Then it clicked. Oh. Oh. “Dating? Kagami and I get orange juice together because it’s what we did when we first became friends. It was a peacemaking thing and we just kept up with it. I’m not dating anyone right now.” She looked confused for a moment, then frowned. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?”

Tim looked very uncomfortable and nervous as he stared at his feet. “I was wondering if you want to wanted to go out with me?”

It finally made sense. He felt bad for her dying. She couldn’t have him thinking that she needed a pity date.

“Is this some ‘try to make Marinette feel better’ thing? I have no other friends and no relationship, so you feel bad for me that I died? Because with all the Second Chances and Clones I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve died. It’s nothing new. I don’t need a pity date. I’m not traumatized any more than anyone else in Paris. I’m not afraid to die permanently either if the cure doesn’t happen. I’m fine.”

Tim looked like he was silently choking.

Okay, so maybe she read that wrong.

When he looked up again she wasn’t sure if he was going to cry or punch a wall. Or both. Both? …Both.

“Its. Not. That.” He said through gritted teeth. Anger it was then. He took a deep breath. “Losing you made me realise how stupid I was being by waiting. I want to be with you. I don’t want to die or lose you again without at least telling you. I lo-like you. Do you like me… at all?”

She nodded. “Yes.” She knew her cheeks would be scarlet right now from the heat she felt on them.

“As just a friend? Or more?”

Kwami, the desperation in his voice. It killed her.

She knew how he felt. She had watched him mind controlled. She had watched him die to protect her.

Nothing like watching someone die in front of you after they save your life to wake up those pesky emotions you’re trying to ignore.

She liked him way more than just the little bit he was hoping for in his question. That was never an issue. At some point, she had nodded to the ‘more,’ betraying her intentions.

His nervous smile returned. “Would you be my girlfriend?”

“Yes!” she responded immediately and impulsively, the word practically escaping on its own before she even knew she had said it.

Shit.

She was supposed to isolate and cut everyone off and her stupid mouth betrayed her head to follow her stupid heart. When they beat Hawkbitch and she stole back his miraculous she would have to leave without ever telling him who she really was.

He was grinning at her, the most genuine smile she had ever seen on his face growing more by the moment as the acceptance sunk in for him.

Kwami this was so unfair to him.

He would never know she was Ladybug. It was ironic how her Multimouse cover had worked a second time before she even knew she needed it. Now that was some miraculous Tikki luck there.

Still… she did want it. She wanted to be with him. Badly.

Maybe she could have this like Tikki suggested she could (“Do something for yourself for once Marinette! You are allowed to be happy! You don’t have to be alone to be the guardian!” her voice echoed once again in her head).

Just this one time.

Maybe it could be wonderful enough to sustain her through the decades or centuries she would be just a whisper in the wind. Tikki always said she worked best when she followed her instinct that was often guided by her Ladybug luck, and her instincts were screaming at her – had even screamed ‘yes’ for her.

The war within her was lost. Was it so wrong to do one selfish thing in her life?

When had she ever come to the conclusion doing something for herself was bad?

The back of her mind had several kwami yelling that at her like they had been for months to “Stop spiraling and just kiss the boy already!” Thanks, Trixx. Fluff had been… confusing. “No need to worry about the here and now of the future as it becomes the past. Your future moment is now, hurry or it might be the past that never was.” Yet somehow that made total sense.

She wanted this. Him.

“Really?” he prompted her, as if he couldn’t believe she would say yes. That he had been setting himself up for failure.

She nodded, biting her lip to prevent all the negative thoughts about her future from seeping in.

He grinned again and pulled her in for a hug before picking her up by her hips and twirling her around in the air. His sheer joy made her smile in a way she hadn’t felt for ages. Carefree. Happy. They both laughed happily. She grinned back as he pulled her in again and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. He leaned in the last inch between them, giving her a chance to pull back or change her mind. Her body hummed in excitement and expectation, and his breath on her lips made them tingle. She felt as one of his hands slid from her hip slowly tracing a line along the side of her back. She wanted to shiver from the rush of adrenaline her nerves caused at the motion. His fingers traced along her shoulder, trembling gently as his touch moved upwards, light as a feather. His eyes never left hers. His fingers tickled her neck as they slowly traced over her pulse point, leaving her skin tingling, until finally his fingers reached her jaw and cheek. She leaned into his hand slightly, and her eyes closed involuntarily as he went to close the last of the gap.

Marinette’s only kisses so far had been kissing Chat Noir. Those had been born of confusion or necessity. Waking up to find yourself kissing someone with no memory of why was unnerving. Kissing someone to break a spell in the middle of a battle as they tried to kill you was… painful. It had been a painful way to get her first kiss. Though she knew Chat had been thrilled, they lacked any emotion for her.

She liked to think of those as Ladybug’s and not her own.

She had worried in the past that all kisses would be like that. That someone in the movie industry had made it into this amazing thing that it really wasn’t.

His lips brushed hers tentatively and it sent tingles down her spine.

This… kissing Tim because she wanted to felt right.

His lips were soft and warm and oh so gentle. She could feel him pour emotion into it. It only lasted a few moments, but it took her by surprise at how much it made her head spin. He released her lips briefly before kissing her again, much less gently this time, their lips moving as one in a dance she had never done before. She could feel the want bleed out of her, and swore he felt the same.

She was so glad she listened to Tikki. She was so glad her heart had said yes.

She would face the ramifications later.

Notes:

Packetdancer made me a song to go with this fic! Go check it out!!! <3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpYEDbkTxg/)

 

So it was the moment you've all been waiting for - and it only took *checks page count* 221 pages to get there.

 

 

Chapter 32

The akuma alert blared on their phones. Marinette glanced at Tim. After a nod, they both took off for the bathrooms. Marinette turned into the girls, and Tim burst into the boys.

He was about to call on Orikko when Adrien burst into the bathroom.

“Oh!” Adrien exclaimed. “I didn’t realise anyone was in here! I’ll just… go somewhere else…”

“It’s okay. I was done here,” Tim hedged. “The other bathroom is on the other side of the school.”

“I was just going to… uhh… follow Marinette’s advice. Yeah. The whole let it out during the akuma advice!” Adrien glanced towards the door.

“Me too…” Tim went along with him. “I kind of want to be alone though. So I’m just going to go.”

Tim pushed past him before Adrien could suggest that they could weather through it together. He needed to get to Marinette.

By the time he made it to another safe spot to transform, Ladybug, Slither, Dracona, and Chat Noir were already on the scene.

“What took you so long?” Slither asked when he slipped in beside her in her hiding place.

“Got caught before I could transform. Had to find a new spot.”

She gave him the rundown on the akuma, and he called on his power before stepping into the fray. Slither called out a couple of times, and his powers helped him dodge a few attacks and shoot his arrow out fast enough to pin the akuma to a wall.

Overall, to him, the fight only took three minutes.

Slither looked happy, though, so he hoped that meant that the two times she called out were the only resets.

The two made their way back to Tim’s transformation area. Slither undid her snake transformation, leaving Multimouse in her wake. Several other detransformed mouse clones returned as well – four others. He hadn’t even seen three of them on the field.

“Five transformations Rin?” he asked in disbelief.

Marinette shrugged. “I always have a few hiding. Just in case.”

She was about to take off when he grabbed her hand.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date tonight?” he asked. It was a lot easier now that she’d said okay to being his girlfriend the other night.

They just hadn’t had a chance for a date yet.

Between school and akumas, they hadn’t had a chance to even plan anything.

“I’d love to!”

She leaned in and kissed him quickly before running off back to class, him not far behind her.

~~~~

Tim was freaking out. He'd asked her out on a real date... but had nothing planned.

What do you even do on dates in France?!

He and Marinette had done almost all the touristy things. Maybe they shouldn't have been so efficient. They hung out at her place often. They regularly had him over for dinner when they didn't eat out while exploring. They hung out and watched movies in the living room or in her room.

Looking back, they had already been doing all those boyfriend-girlfriend activities. He was happy with their routines and how they spent time together. They had only lacked the kissing.

Still, he wanted this to feel different – at least the first time.

Flowers? Chocolates?

His Rin wasn't really the type to need those, but she would love them anyways. She seemed to be a romantic.

He spent more time than he should have looking up chocolatiers and reading reviews. He looked up flowers and their meanings. In the end, he decided that the meanings were just too confusing – a flower meant one thing, unless it was paired with something else, then it had a different meaning, or it had a different meaning if it was a different colour. He gave up and just chose a red rose. It was cliché, but he hadn’t learned her favourite flower. Asking now would look bad and ruin any surprise.

He threw all caution to the wind and booked the most expensive place that he could that had last minute reservations available still. While the top rated was within Chloe’s hotel, he refused to take her there.

He met her at her house at five o’clock, in the best outfit he had. It was just one of his basic suits, but it was the most dressed up he had been in months. Orikko had preened and fussed with his hair until he felt it was ‘just right.’ This meant it was a bit chunkier with spikes than he normally would have done these days, but nonetheless worked with his outfit. He left it to appease the bird.

He had slipped the suit and tie on with practiced hands in record time, despite his nerves. He figured she would appreciate the make – it was Versace after all – in a dark blue that suited him well (at least, according to the man who had picked it out for him at the store).

Flower and chocolate in hand, he rang at their back door.

Sabine greeted him. “Oh Tim! Was Marinette expecting you?” she asked him.

Then she saw the flower and chocolates.

“OH!” she exclaimed. “Is this a date?”

“Yes, ma’am, madame, uhm, Sabine,” he responded awkwardly. “Is... is that okay? I don’t want you to hate-”

“Well, its about time!” She stepped aside to let him inside as she yelled, “TOM!”

Marinette’s father came in through the bakery door.

“Well, what do we have here,” he said teasingly when he saw Tim dressed up with his gifts. “Are we finally gaining a son-in-law?”

Tim flushed the colour of the rose in his hands.

“Oh Tom, stop teasing the boy,” Sabine chided playfully. “Clearly he’s nervous. He’s not ready to be planning weddings just yet!” She patted Tim’s arm. “That’s Marinette’s job. She’s had it planned out since she was six. I hope you like pink, dear.”

Tim tried desperately to sputter out that pink was fine. He could handle everything in his life being pink if it came with his Rin. Marinette embodied pink. Pink cheeks. Pink lips. He dreamed of pink. “Pi-pink is lips- I mean. Marinette. Pink. I… oh god.”

Both of her parents burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Marinette asked as she came down the stairs. She was dressed in… pink.

“So pink,” he blurted out.

“Yes, Tim. Very, very pink,” Tom teased as he shoved Tim lightly towards Marinette.

“Let’s leave these lovebirds alone. Be home at a reasonable hour you two. You have school tomorrow,” Sabine ordered.

“We will, Maman,” Marinette reassured her.

The moment they were gone, Tim glanced at her again, his cheeks still pink. Orikko clucked quietly in his pocket.

Her hair was done up with flower pins in it. She had makeup on – more than the usual line of mascara that she sometimes bothered with.

“N-Nice suit,” she complimented before he had unravelled his tongue.

“You look amazing,” he finally spat out. “Pink really suits you.”

The two walked towards the closest Metro station holding hands. The Restaurant Le Gabriel was a Haute Cuisine place with three star Michelin ratings. It was just off the Square Marigny, and the two walked through the park they had taken those pictures at before.

Marinette gasped when she realised where he was taking her.

“We can’t go here.” She tugged on his hand to go back the way they came.

“Why not?” he looked confused at her.

“It’s too expensive!”

Admittedly, it was a Michelin rated restaurant. Their seven course meal ran around 300 euro each. He was completely overdoing it.

“It’s fine. I promise. I can afford it if it isn’t all the time.”

He grasped Marinette’s other hand.

“Please? Just once.”

He threw a puppy eyes and a pout at her. He did not expect it to work.

“Gah! Fine! Once. After this, we choose reasonably priced places!”

He grinned and pulled her towards the restaurant again.

The inside was spectacular. Gold trim, fancy curtains, minimalist yet elegant.

The maitre d’ looked down upon the two teens as they entered, shucking their coats.

“Reservation for Tim Johnson?” he prompted the man.

“Ah, yes. The last minute reservation.”

Tim blushed but persisted. If he had said Drake or Wayne, they would have ushered him in, even if he hadn’t made a reservation at all. He had paid in advance with a sizeable tip just to make it happen.

The man saw them to their table after their coats were taken for them.

It was just as elegant as the rest, but it was nothing Tim hadn’t seen a thousand times from people trying to impress him, or Bruce, or his parents. Marinette looked completely overwhelmed and starstruck.

Their meals were, as expected, tiny and each one left them hungry. While amazing for the most part, and covered with a variety of sauces of questionable contents, by the time they were finishing up their final plate, neither were sated.

Their conversation flowed as normal – though this time, they held hands and stared into one another’s eyes. In between courses, Marinette brought out a sketchpad, drawing a white suit with gold lapels, a dress to match, and several hair accessories.

If nothing else came from the night, her inspiration was worth it.

When they finally left, Marinette took a deep breath.

“Finally, I can breathe!” she giggled.

“It was a bit stuffy in there, wasn’t it?” Tim added. “Sorry. I should have guessed.”

He hadn’t noticed because of the familiarity, but to someone who wasn’t used to it, the atmosphere could be quite tense. He realised as soon as he recognized her discomfort, that despite their conversation being normal, it had been notably muted, and both had been sitting up straighter than usual and their mannerisms were very stilted.

Tim’s stomach grumbled.

“What do you say to something else to eat?” she laughed at him.

Marinette led him down the street, off the path of the tourists. They ended up at a Japanese place that looked like nothing more than a hole in the wall.

In the end, they shared a ramen and bubble tea in a little booth off the side of the street. It was much more relaxed, and Tim had to admit, it was definitely more their speed. He was more relaxed, and realised far too late, that it didn’t matter where they went.

It was her that mattered.

As long as she was there, any restaurant could be a date. Even a crepe cart at the side of the street.

They leaned in towards one another, perfect posture long forgotten for the desire to be closer as they had their conversations louder, laughed deeper, and allowed themselves to be free to express their emotions. While they had been just barely dressed adequately for the restaurant before, now they were severely overdressed, and Tim pulled off his tie, tucking it into his jacket pocket before flinging it over the back of his chair.

The food was good and filling, despite them sharing.

They walked back through the gardens again.

Andre was there with his cart.

“Ah Marinette and Tim! You both look quite dashing tonight. May I dare to assume you are on a date?”

Tim nodded as Marinette blushed.

“Two ice creams, coming up!” Andre patted Tim on the shoulder.

Marinette was handed the same one as before, though Andre didn’t explain it. He handed Tim the same thing again. This time, he added a layer of “Pink strawberry cream for her sweet disposition.” The cherry and chocolate chip, and blueberry layers were still there from before.

Tim frowned again. Why would Andre give him an ice cream cone for another woman? And sweet disposition? Ladybug was anything but from what he had experienced. Kind, but sweet wasn’t something a leader really had time for.

“Andre, I don’t understand. Why the cherry?”

“Ah, the heart knows, even if the head doesn’t, my boy. You’ll see.”

Marinette was staring at his ice cream with wide eyes. Did he detect fear there in her eyes?

Damnit Andre, Tim thought. Marinette would think he loved Ladybug! They both knew and worked with her. It was reasonable for Marinette to think that he had a crush on Ladybug.

“Let’s get going, Tim, or we’re going to miss the next train.” Marinette tugged on his arm.

“It’s just ice cream, Rin,” Tim tried to reassure her when Andre and his cart were out of sight.

“I know. It’s fine.” As they stepped into the metro station, she asked, “Does it taste good at least?”

“It’s amazing.”

Marinette smiled and gave him a kiss, licking the ice cream off his lips.

“Mmm. Not bad.”

Not bad at all.

~~~~

When Tim got home, he posted one of his few social media posts – vague yet meaningful to him. He debated tagging her in it, but thought better of it. Lila might target them harder than ever if he let the class know they were dating.

Sure, the only ones who rechirped him was Marinette and her parents, and the likes were limited to them, Kagami, Adrien, and Nino, but somehow, it was better than having hundreds or thousands of unknowns. The ones who had interacted with his post actually cared.

It made him smile.

Coffee-iz-Lyfe @IAMCOFFEE

Fancy and fun #bestnight #ever

~~~~

Marinette smiled. The Wayne family certainly was interested in LBM’s work. The same night she had received confirmation that her package arrived, she had emails from all of the Wayne family requesting she make them something.

She had never received responses so quickly before. She also received an email from their butler, Alfred, with their measurements. There was an attached list of measurements for each which included adjustments for Kevlar inserts. According to the succinct email from Alfred, they often wore protection under suits for big events because of the common hostage situations that took place during them   . It was smart. Weird, but smart.

She requested the contact information of whoever took care of their protective inserts to coordinate. While emailing whoever this Lucius Fox was that Alfred had forwarded her to for the required materials for the family, she also ordered a hard bullet proof case for her purse that Tikki and the other kwami typically sat in so they wouldn’t get squished. Speaking with Lucius had been the opportunity she didn’t know she needed. While she had dabbled in the idea of making her own protective line, she hadn’t secured a good wholesaler for it yet. Lucius was more than happy to help her out, and signed an NDA. He told her he would make the shipment himself so that no one else was privy to her information.

Once all the paperwork was completed and they were warned that while her commission list was currently full she would accept them under the condition that they were aware that it may be six months before their orders were ready. She would provide regular progress updates.

The whole family sent in requests for formal wear for themselves and a variety of casual wear. They were warned of the price of her standard suits, and given the high levels of modification needed to fit the protective gear requested, that it would drive her prices up significantly. They wanted multiple pockets on everything. Dick, Jason, and Stephanie had requested several items. She forwarded the emails to Jagged and Penny to ensure that they were screened and to warn them of the incoming financial transactions that would need to be organized. She needed updated NDAs for the whole family and one that covered Tim Drake-Wayne should he be found and anyone that provided a lead which resulted in him being found, and the unique situation surrounding their orders for him.

They had all also ordered something for their brother Tim. It was a bit optimistic considering how long he had been missing (going on 6 months now). They clearly had not coordinated, as they had all requested her to make him a suit for the same event their orders were for. She suggested in a group email that they coordinate other gifts they may want to give him instead. Alfred requested a tie with a matching bowtie for himself. Marinette thought it was incredibly sweet, as he had chosen to pay for it himself. She decided charge him only the cost of the materials. Bruce maintained that he would be getting the suit. Dick requested a business coat, Damian a casual suit, Jason a leather jacket and cargo pants with a Red Robin theme, Stephanie a Jagged inspired shirt, and Barbara a casual dress shirt. Duke and Cass had replied with LBM to use her creativity to make anything she saw fit. Bruce, Dick, Damian and Jason insisted their gifts be fitted for protective linings.

The final list of items came up to 30. The amount of money they were willing to spend as if it were just plain paper was staggering. She knew the Waynes were rich, but to spend that much?

They were looking at over 85,000USD just for one party! Plus the other items! Her estimate to them had been 150,000USD with them supplying the protective bulletproof lining and they hadn’t even hesitated. They also didn’t care about flying across the world for a fitting. Their only stipulation was that they do it in two groups (which worked out better for her anyway).

It was all going smoothly. They were able to provide what they wanted for their own personal orders, with preferences, design ideas, colour choices, and interests. She was shocked at how much creative liberty they were giving her. Usually her clients were quite specific in what they wanted.

She hit a wall with them when asked what Tim’s personalization preferences would be. She finally requested that they brainstorm together to come up with a list that she could use throughout their orders. The resulting email was confusing.

Likes were listed as coffee, martial arts, computers and electronics, puzzles or solving mysteries, Red Robin, red, black and yellow. Personal traits they flagged were persistent, coffee-obsessed, workaholic, insomniac, driven, genius, introverted.

She could use it, but it did seem somewhat concerning. None of their descriptors gave any sense of closeness. Many of the descriptors could even be seen as quite negative. It made her question what was going on.

Tim Drake was missing.

But WHY?

Notes:

I made the mistake of deep diving into materials and costs. So you get to suffer with me.
And with that, there is 100k posted.

Come join me on my personal(ish) discord:
https://discord.gg/63A8Ph4GM4/

Chapter 33

The whole class was assembled in the art room for their semester project. According to Marinette, it was a sequel to the movie that they made when they were fourteen. He and Marinette had watched it, and it was… bizarre. They had only been thirteen and fourteen at the time, but it was painful to watch. The random switch of actors, the akuma being fit into the movie, the bad lines and just as bad acting… Tim began wondering why they were doing a second part instead of doing a whole new movie. They had clearly improved their skills since then if the rehearsals were anything to go by.

Adrien was to star in it again, as the main character. Mylene had withdrawn from her previous role. She had decided that it was too stressful to continue, and had relegated herself to helping with the set design and costumes. Tim had been surprised that she had tried to be the lead female previously. Even now, Mylene was incredibly shy and quiet unless it was for environmental activism. Then she came alive and found her voice. It was almost as though she saved it all for her passion.

Marinette had signed up for costumes as well. Tim had managed to get himself a position helping Max with the tech support – lighting, filming, and editing when it was all finished.

Unfortunately, Mylene’s position being empty meant that it was up for grabs. Chloe had signed up to audition, as had Lila. Given that much of it was a popularity contest, and Chloe couldn’t really act (he had seen her ‘film’ and it was horrible), Lila was practically a shoe-in. Lila’s acting, while terrible, didn’t matter when she had the class fooled with whatever her power was.

And with her being center stage for most of the production, she would draw everyone in even more than she already had.

Unsurprisingly, after a short audition, Lila had been given the role.

Adrien had been dreading filming, as Lila had convinced Nino to add in several kissing scenes – ones that hadn’t been there before when he was writing it with Mylene in mind. He had changed the character to be more outgoing, loud, and overpowered.

Adrien clearly hated it.

“I can’t do it, guys,” he complained to Marinette and Tim as they were setting up for the first kissing scene. “Please. We have to do something.”

“Have you tried asking Nino to change it back?” Marinette suggested kindly.

“He already changed it twice for Lila. I don’t think he wants to do it again. He’s looking kind of stressed out with all of her demands…”

They all looked over at Nino, who was currently biting on the drawstring of the hoodie he had on, his hat askew as he listened to Lila rant about yet another minor thing she wanted to change in the scene.

“I can’t do that to him.”

They both nodded in agreement.

“We could just… set something up for you?” Tim offered. “The power goes out. I run out of space on the drive… stuff like that. Or I forget to press record?”

“I could make a rip in her costume to delay a bit,” Marinette suggested. “It would give Tim time to set up.”

“Anything. Please,” he begged them.

Marinette took out her stitch ripper, and made her way across the set to where Nino and Lila were still talking. Or, Lila was talking and Nino looked like he wanted to cry.

“Hey Nino,” she said cheerfully. “We’re all ready to get Adrien into his costume. Any last advice on the look for makeup for him?”

“No. No, just whatever you think is best,” Nino tried to politely dismiss her.

Meanwhile, she reached down and snagged her stitch ripper on Lila’s detective vest. It made a small but noticeable tear in the vest that would definitely need to be fixed before the scene was filmed.

She went back to join them, and waited.

It wasn’t long before Nino cried out, “Lila, what happened to your vest?!”

“What?” She looked down to see the tear. “Oh, I must have caught it on something…”

“We can’t film like this! Marinette?!” Nino called out. “Can you fix her vest quickly?”

“Sure, Nino.” Marinette went over calmly to collect it. Adrien looked relieved. Tim took this as his chance, now that everyone was on an impromptu break, to fix a few things for him.

The day proceeded in utter chaos. After Marinette fixed the rip, she went on to set up the falling of the backdrop. Then they had the prepared breakaway table fall in advance. That required Kim and Alix to go and glue it back together so that it would stay up long enough to film the scene. That meant time for the glue to dry.

Tim had pulled through, as promised. He claimed the battery on the camera ran out while they were waiting. It had to charge.

He cut the power by overloading a breaker. That meant getting the maintenance man to come and reset it.

Then the fire alarm was tripped. They had to wait for the fire department to come and give them the all clear.

Adrien was thrilled at all the progress they had made in delaying it.

When Tim had forgotten to press record just before the kiss happened, Nino had reached his limit.

“I swear this scene is cursed,” Nino cried out. “Let’s just film another one while we wait.”

They filmed a minor scene that didn’t include Adrien or Lila while they took a break.

Finally, they had to work on it, however.

Adrien looked nervously over at Marinette and Tim. Begging them to come up with something quickly.

Marinette sighed as she threw out a roll of her thread, tripping Sabrina, who was bringing Lila a drink.

The move made Sabrina go flying into Lila, the two of them falling painfully to the ground.

Lila cried out in pain.

“Lila!” Most of the class screamed.

Lila had broken Sabrina’s fall. Sabrina was fine, but Lila had bent over her hand crying.

“It’s broken!!” Lila screamed.

Lila was escorted to the nurse by Kim as she wailed about how Nino was right. The film was cursed and there was no way she was continuing to be a part of it.

“Thanks guys!” Adrien came over to them as everyone started talking about what was going to happen now.

Marinette had been feeling guilty up until that point. Seeing Adrien smiling made her feel a bit better for her part in it.

Lila returned twenty minutes later, her hand with a bit of ice on it.

“It isn’t broken. The nurse said I should be fine, but that I should take it easy. I don’t think I should continue with the part any longer. Sorry, Nino,” Lila pardoned herself. As she walked away, they could hear her say, “Don’t know why I bothered with this lame thing. Not like it will get me noticed.”

“Now what am I going to do?” Nino wailed.

“Marinette could play her part,” Adrien suggested. “She already knows all the lines, and she filled in last time!”

“Perfect! Marinette?” Nino asked, but Adrien was already pushing Marinette towards the staging area.

“But I’m doing the set design and clothes and…”

Chloe huffed and left, clearly hurt that Adrien hadn’t suggested her.

Tim was seething. Marinette, afraid of disappointing the class in one of the few times that they weren’t ostracizing her because of Lila, had stumbled the rest of the way forward.

His girlfriend. His brand-new girlfriend, who he had barely gotten to kiss more than a few times, was now going to kiss her ex-crush right in front of him and there was nothing he could do about it.

He grumbled as they leaned in for the kiss that had yet to be filmed, and Tim cursed Adrien and his previous attempts to help him. He should have just let him kiss Lila! Okay, well that was mean, because he knew Adrien really didn’t want to – but still!

He was jealous.

“CUT!” he screamed out accidentally.

Everyone came to a halt and looked over at Tim.

He had no reason to have yelled for the scene to end.

“I. Uh, forgot to press record?” he mumbled lamely. The camera was still recording. He hastily deleted it as he set the camera up again. Nino glared at him, clearly not believing it. In his haste, he had forgotten he had already used that excuse. “Let’s go again?”

They made it through most of the scene again, but Nino had taken over the camera this time.

Tim paced at the side of the set near the supplies and wanted to tear his hair out.

Then he saw the paint. He pretended to trip, throwing himself on the table where the paint was sitting, causing it to go flying into the air. Adrien was taking a step towards Marinette to kiss her, which ended up covering her from being attacked by the paint can.

Adrien didn’t fair so well, however. He was drenched with green paint from head to toe. It was in his hair, on his face. His clothes were ruined.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?!” Nino cried again.

Tim felt a bit bad for Nino. This was all his fault.

“Adrien, go get cleaned up…” Nino ordered. Adrien gave him a sorry shrug and headed off for the bathrooms.

“Marinette… grab the spare costume. It’s good to go, isn’t it?” Nino demanded next.

“Yes. It’s ready.”

“Tim… you’re close enough to Adrien’s height.”

He really, really wasn’t. Adrien was notably taller than him.

No one dared to argue with Nino at this very obvious point.

“You’re going to do the scene. Nothing is stopping us at this point. I will get this scene done today!!”

Tim went to argue, but when he saw that Marinette was waiting for him with the vest, he decided to just roll with it.

“We can edit in Adrien’s blonde hair later,” Nino mumbled.

“Action!”

He started rolling the film and Tim said the lines that everyone there now knew by heart with how many times they had been interrupted.

He leaned in at the right time, and gave his girlfriend a kiss. It was weird having everyone watch them as they fumbled through their kiss. It was still all so new to them. At least it didn’t look practiced, like it would have been if they had been together longer. That would have been suspicious.

When the cameras were turned off and Nino yelled, “Cut. Print! Let’s move the hell on!”  everyone cheered.

There were a few catcall whistles from the group as well – Kim, Ivan, Alya, and Rose were all cheering for them, but they were also whistling.

“They’re so cute together!” Rose said loudly to Juleka. “I wonder if we could get them together?”

Juleka nodded.

Tim and Marinette had never told the class that they were dating.

Off to the side, Adrien, green paint just barely missing his eyes as it dripped down his face, stared at the two of them. It was very clear that he was seeing green (more than just the paint he was wearing).

The rest of the shoot was less eventful. Marinette was able to convince Nino that one kiss was enough for the film. Nino likely would have disagreed, but he had only made the changes for Lila, and now that she wasn’t in it, he could return it to what it was before. The kisses were removed, and Tim was much happier for it.

It was clear that Adrien did not feel the same.

“Are you sure you want to rewrite it again?” Adrien asked Nino. “You put so much effort into making the changes – it’s a shame to change them yet again…”

“Dude, I love you and that’s a great idea, but I can’t stand the idea of doing another cursed kiss scene. It was cursed last time too, remember? We had to swap people like three times. It’s ridiculous. I’m never filming another kissing scene in my life.”

Adrien nodded glumly as he gave up for his friend.

The rest of the film oddly went off without a hitch.

Tim may or may not have had something to do with that.

Notes:

Come join me on discord: Maribat Discord (MLBxDC)

Follow me on Tumblr: @izanae

Subscribe on AO3: Izanae

Series links:
Daminette
Timari
Jasonette
Dickinette
BioDad/BioFam AUs
Rare Pairs: Marijon; Roynette; Konette; Wallynette; Felinette; Adrinette; Polyships

<3 Izzy

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of BioFam AUs
• Part 6 of Timari/Timinette
• Part 26 of Izzy's Maribat