Chapter Text
Everyone had a soulmate.
You didn’t exactly know who they were by name, but you knew who they were deep down. No matter what, you would know what kind of person your soulmate was.
When people were born, they were born with two sentences. On their right arm, one sentence layed written which would tell them the first thing their soulmate ever said to them once you met in person. You couldn’t cover this up, and the whole world was open to see what your Soulmates first words would be to you.
On your left arm, hidden from the eyes of everyone but yourself, you would see the first thing your soulmate thought about you once you met in person.
So while the world would see what your soulmate would act like upon meeting, only you could see what they were truly like outside of that.
When Marinette was born, her parents had been worried.
“I swear to the heavens that if you don’t leave I’m going to kill you right here and now!”
They were written in english, so it was easy to not be understood by everyone in Paris. But Marinette's grandmother had been there during her birth, and she was fluent in the language. The words terrified them.
They tried to cover her arm while she was younger, not letting many others outside of family and close friends know what it said. They would let Marinette decide what she wanted to do about it when she was older, but for now, they simply wished to protect her from any prying eyes and scrutiny.
They dreaded how she would feel growing up, knowing that that was what her soulmate would say to her.
When she turned five years old, she learned to understand what her right sentence said and what it meant. When she did, she had cried quietly, fearing the day she would meet her soulmate. Her mother asked if her left sentence was any nicer, but Marinette could only shrug.
“I don’t know. It’s in some funny language that I don’t know…”
She lived in her own misery about it for a year, wearing long sleeves and not letting anyone see her sentence. It hurt her parents to see her in so much pain, and they always made sure to try their best to cheer her up.
It usually worked, but never for too long. They could never stop her from seeing those cruel words on her arm.
Then, after a year, Marinette had her sixth birthday. Her parents held it at the park across the street and all of Marinette’s friends and classmates came. She still wore long sleeves, so as to forget about the words on her arm that constantly tried to sour her life.
It was a few hours into the party and half an hour after bouncing non-stop in a bouncy castle when Marinette noticed an older lady seated at a bench not too far away. Marinette was just running past, having gone home quickly to use the restroom, when she noticed the ladies book.
She had the funny squiggly words on the bind of the cover. The same weird squiggles as the words on Marinette's left arm.
She hesitated, not sure if she did or didn’t want to know what the words were. She worried they would be far worse than what would actually be said .
But she needed to know. It was like her soulmate-bond was urging her to learn the truth.
SO, Marinette cautiously approached the lady. “Umm, e-excuse me, Ma’am?”
The lady looked up in surprise and smiled kindly. “Hello there, little one. Is that your birthday party going on over there?” She must have taken notice of the fake tara she wore as well as her princess dress. Marinette insisted that birthday girls must dress as princesses and must be treated as such.
Nodding gently, Marinette pointed towards the words on the cover of the lady’s book. “I was wondering what that language was? My left sentence is written in it, and I don’t know what it says…”
The lady smiled wider and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. “Here; why don’t you write it down, and I can try to translate it?”
She did. It took her a while, what with being extra careful as she looked back and forth, but it was done within a minute or so. When she handed it to the lady, she watched her eyes widen slowly in surprise.
Marinette feared the worst, but then… then the lady smiled. She smiled softly and giggled behind her hand, writing something beneath the sentence.
“My goodness! Your soulmate must certainly have a way with words, hmm? You are very lucky, you know? It is not often people will have a soulmate feel so strongly for them at first sight, and yet also so genuinely~” She finished writing the translation and tore out the page, handing it to Marinette.
When she read it for herself, it was like clouds being parted and flowers blooming together in the blink of an eye.
No longer did her right sentence bother her so- she now knew how her soulmate truly felt, and Marinette couldn’t help but laugh giddily as she returned to her party.
The next day, her parents were in shock. They watched their daughter return to the joyful state she had been before her fifth birthday, unable to keep herself from smiling all the while.
She never wore long sleeves unless the weather forced her to. She showed her sentence proudly, uncaring from the looks of shock or pity she received. They couldn’t fathom what had changed, up until she was eight years old and they found her gently rubbing her left arm, where her sentence sat for only her to see.
Tom and Sabine were beyond relieved and ecstatic. Perhaps her left sentence wasn’t like the one on her other arm. Perhaps her soulmate's first words to her would be a large misunderstanding and his thoughts proved the idea? Either way, they were simply glad to see that her left sentence had ridden her of her pain and now brought her such joy.
While they didn’t know what it said, they had an idea of what it meant when Marinette once told Nino, when they were thirteen, about how she would try her best to love her soulmate as much as he would her.
Damian had grown up in a place where soulmates were one of two things; they were either tools, or obstacles.
His grandfather had set a rule, stating you must either convert or kill your soulmate. Damian hadn’t understood much of it, with the rule having been the main one he silently questioned.
He was told that soulmates could be used against you, and that they could be the reason you died if you didn’t kill them first. He had almost believed the backwards teaching, but even as a child, Damian had more common sense then most of the assassins there in his grandfather's private little army.
“I forgive you.” Was the sentence on his right arm, laid bare for anyone to see. Well- for his mother and grandfather to see. He only ever wore long sleeves usually.
His grandfather felt a mix of resentment and pride at the words, saying it was a sign that Damian would do his duty of killing his soulmate. Talia had remained silent, never one to speak back at her father. But when Damian went to his bedroom that night, his mother told him to pay the idea no mind.
“It could be for anything, love. Besides, you might choose to convert her to our ways instead. Father simply doesn’t care for such things, but you should give it a chance…”
Damian had heard the story before; his grandfather had forced Talia to kill her soulmate when she was eight. Her sentences had been nothing but kindness, and yet she had to kill the person who said and thought them.
Talia wasn’t the best mom, but she knew where to draw the line when it came to being cruel in teaching her son.
The thing was, as said before; Damian had common sense. And he knew from reading both of his sentences that his soulmate could never be a tool or an obstacle. They could never be either of those things.
They were pure, and innocent. Damian didn’t know what they would be forgiving him for, but it certainly contradicted the idea of something bad happening when his left sentence said something so amazing.
The moment he learned to read the french words when he was seven, he had promised himself that he would protect his soulmate from the League.
It was funny really, when he moved into his fathers mansion. Everyone seemed tense and awkward when it came to mentioning soulmates around him. Jason had told them the way the League viewed such things, so they had thought to leave it be for now.
Well- somewhat. It honestly took only a year before the conversation came up.
Richard had awkwardly brought it up one night, wanting to hear what Damian thought on it. “We know the League had a bit of… an opinion , on soulmates? B-but if there’s anything you need to know, it’s that soulmates are a gift! One of the greatest things ever, and you don’t have to be anxious or worried of them, or wary, or-”
Damian casually rolled up his sleeve and showed them his right sentence. They all looked at him in surprise as well as caution when they saw the words.
Jason looked nervous, and Damian knew why. He relieved all of them when he replied, “I haven’t met them yet, and I don’t know what they are forgiving me for. However, I understood rather young that my soulmate wasn’t going to join the League and knew that I didn’t want to kill them. I never liked grandfather's rules for soulmates, and mother told me to do as I wished with it.”
They had all been relieved and openly expressed their sentences from then on, all happy to get it off their chests. Not all of them had the best sentences, but it was fine. While meeting your soulmate might not be perfect, your relationship was made to be.
“What about your left sentence?”
Damian looked up with a raised brow, “Hmm?”
His father smiled kindly, not at all trying to push the subject. “You seem to like your soulmate. I assume your left sentence is alright?” They waited for his reply, most likely expecting a refusal to answer what it said.
However, Damian shocked them all when he told them the truth.
The words had been his safe-haven ever since he learned what they said. Now, more than he had before in the League, Damian wished to meet his soulmate so that he could say the words she would think. He wanted to have those be the words that were written on her skin, so she would know all her life how he felt for her.
However, things don’t always work out the way we want them to…
Marinette had been in Gotham for about a month when Penny Rolling brought her to Wayne Enterprises.
Timothy Drake had been a large MDC fan for years and had commissioned her several times. Today, she would be meeting the man and be introduced to the rest of his family, who she would be crafting the outfits for for a coming gala.
Penny was bringing her there and dropping her off, telling her she’d return in a few hours. She had tried to reason with Marinette to let Fang tag along as a guard-crocodile, but Marinette had reassured her that she would be fine, and that even though it was Gotham, she was sure she’d be safe with the Waynes.
Tim and her hugged when they finally met. “It’s so nice to meet you in person!” Marinette told him.
Tim pulled back and pat her head. “Same here, shortstack~ Wow! You weren’t kidding, you really are tiny.” He laughed at her indignant pout. “Come on. The others are just in my youngest brother's office. We had a semi-family meeting of sorts, and Bruce said he would keep them all there until I brought you up. The others don’t know yet that I hired you, so it’s a bit of a surprise~”
Marinette smiled, a light flush of pink in her cheeks. Tim had said how most of his siblings were large fans of hers as well, and told her to prepare to be asked for an autograph.
When they arrived at the right floor, Tim finally mentioned, “Oh right, and my youngest brother may or may not be really mad at me since I had everyone gather up in his office instead of my own, so be prepared for one of them to be a grumpy ball of anger.”
Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered her. But when she knocked on his office door, her world froze over and she gasped softly.
“I swear to the heavens that if you don’t leave I’m going to kill you right here and now!”
Tim scoffed beside her, rolling his eyes at his brother's words. They could hear him stomping over from inside, and Marinette only had enough time to think of one thing as the door swung open and she came face to face with her soulmate. Her very handsome soulmate who looked at her with what was quickly becoming a mix of shock and understanding.
‘I love you.’
Damian looked down at the small petite woman, now regretting literally everything he had ever done in life. The main regret he had right now was having not killed Tim when he was first presented the chance.
“Nice going Demon Spawn, way to be a charmer. This is Marinette by the way; I hired her to work on all of our outfits for the gala next month.”
Never mind; his biggest regret was having not called Tim his favorite brother from the very start.
Damian couldn’t tear his gaze away from the young woman, unable to stop looking at her. He always thought he would know when he met his soulmate, even before she said her words- and he did. ‘Well this beautiful angel must be my soulmate, because I certainly just fell in love.”
However, it was then that he realized what Tim had said. And then he realized what he had said. And judging by her position being closer, he could understand that Marinette was the one who knocked.
So… did that mean…?
Oh no.
Damian paled in his horror, realizing how horrible of a soulmate he was to have given her such a terrible sentence to live with. “I- I am so sorry ! I- I didn’t realize you weren’t my brother knocking and I swear I’m not an asshole-”
“Liar.” Jason piped up, eliciting a few snickers from his rather unhelpful family.
However, while Tim looked to him rather bewildered at his rambling, Marinette only continued to smile. Stepping forward, she lifted up onto her toes and kissed his cheek gently, whispering into his ear.
“I forgive you.”