Chapter Text
Happened between chapter 33 and 34 in the main storyline..
Marinette came to the Wayne Manor as usual.
They would celebrate Christmas and Christmas Eve in the Wayne's house and yes, Marinette stay over at the Manor in a guest room or you could call it her own room by now.
She often stayed at the 'guest room' and by this point, the room had only been used by her. The Waynes had decided to be used only by her, the room had been decorated to her liking because Damian and the Wayne brothers insisted.
They just haven't officially announced it as her room but by technical terms, it's already hers and everyone knew. She and Alfred would be the only ones who can enter without permission.
The Wayne brothers had to ask permission and yes, they had tried and failed to enter because Alfred locked the room. Even if Damian had the key too, he barely used it only when necessary.
And yes, the room is close to Damian's.
After she settled in her room, she walked downstairs towards the living room to be met with most of the Waynes already there and relaxing.
The only missing was Jason Todd and Bruce Wayne. Jason is nowhere to be found as usual while Bruce would be working in his office by this hour.
Tim somehow is out, its a miracle he is seen out of his room courtesy by Dick who dragged him out because he had to greet Marinette.
Dick is also there obviously, he enjoyed being there and had to drag out and protect Tim from going in his room again.
Damian well..He decided to be in the living room...hoping..he meant knowing that the she would be out there.
Which he was right. Marinette did came to the living room to check out the Waynes.
She was surprised a few were there, especially Tim and Damian.
"Uhh, Damian why are you here?" Marinette questioned, knowing that the blackhead prefers to be alone most of the time. Either he's in his room or somewhere alone.
"Also Tim, it's nice seeing you here but you looked..sleepy?" Marinette also knew that Tim was the type to be by himself and locked at his room doing work.
Seeing them in the living room...is like a change of scenery..
Dick on the other hand, it's normal to see him in the living room maybe with Todd. Dick being the sunshine he is who is very social its normal he came here to chat probably with Todd.
Jason, who isn't currently here, she can see why he would be in the living room. Probably talking to Dick or he would be causing mischief to the brothers.
In fact, it is weird not to see Jason here.
"Also, by the way, where is Jason?" Marinette then questioned.
"I'm here because I happened to pass by" Damian answered her question, lying through his teeth that the truth he wanted to see her and waiting for her.
"I got dragged out of my room..." Tim trailed off as he pointed towards Dick who was standing in between him and Damian.
Marinette nodded in response, not doubting the credibility because she can see Dick doing it.
"Anyways, what are you all doing right now?" Marinette questioned while the three brothers shared a look.
"Uhh, we were talking.." Dick answered while Tim looked at him warily.
It was a lie.
They were fighting right before Marinette came.
But you don't need to know the details why.
To put it simply, Damian was annoyed that two of his brothers were there with him, especially Dick who was annoying him.
"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Damian questioned Marinette while she shrugged.
"I just wanted to check the living room out before I go to the kitchen" Marinette asnwered while the other two pair of brother's ears perk up.
"Kitchen!? What will you be doing there?" Dick questioned.
Marinette beamed and clasped her hand, "I was going to bake something for the festive celebration"
Dick and Tim's face brightened up, "YES" They both cheered while Marinette laughed.
Damian sighed at his two elder brothers.
Marinette perked up as she got a brilliant idea, "How about a gingerbread house competition?"
"Oh? That is interesting.." Tim nodded in agreement.
"That is a great idea!" Dick exclaimed, loving the idea Marinette has pitched in.
"Yes, I think it would be fun" Damian answered in thoughts while the pair of brothers and even Marinette were confused at Damian's agreement.
"Fun!?!?" Dick questioned.
Damian glared at his eldest brother neverthless answered by nodding his head.
It was in fact weird that Damian agreed so easily and that he used the word 'fun' in a gingerbread house competition. He would normally use the word 'fun' when he gets to fight with people-
Damian do understand where his brothers were coming from. He got perks with this competition which is spending more time with Marinette and showing her his skills are superior than his brothers.
He thought, how hard could be building a gingerbread house or cookie houses?
He was proven wrong by underestimating the challenging task...
After seeing the three brothers and also Alfred's approval who somehow heard the proposal from her and thought it was a good activity. She immediately started baking some gingerbread cookies and also preparing for the icing for all the wayne family members. Even Bruce was included, Alfred declined her offer and said that he would bake it by himself.
On why she bake it for all the Wayne members...It's obvious why...They all are banned from the kitchen, so naturally, she should help. Even if Alfred offered her to be the one baking it for the Wayne members but she felt as the one who proposed the idea, she should be responsible of it.
Marinette was busy baking the cookies while Dick decided to spread the news of the gingerbread house competition towards Bruce and search for Jason.
Damian stayed behind and accompanied Marinette baking while Tim already fell asleep in the kitchen counter as he spent his last remaining energy when talking about the gingerbread house competition.
Marinette decided to bake extra amount of gingerbread house cookies and a lot of icings, just in case that some accidents happen. She also baked some separate festive cookies in christmas theme for the prize and to share some of them towards the Waynes. She also prepared the extra decorations needed for decorating the house.
Damian watched her baked and sometimes talked to her.
Marinette hums a song while slightly dancing when baking. Her beaming happy face as she rolled the dough and mixing is cute and everything about her is adorable in Damian's opinion. He admit he could watch her all day. Damian focused on Marinette as if she was the only person in the world. He unconsciously had a smile on his face.
As he was watching, Marinette enjoyed baking her cookied to the fullest and didn't realize the eyes that follows her around as she baked.
After a while, she finished baking the gingerbread house cookies, also making a whole bunch of icings and the extra festive cookies. She had just finished icing and putting the festive cookies in their respective jars and putting them away from anyones sights when Jason came barging in.
"Whoa, what is this delicious scent!" Jason sniffed the air and followed it. He went straight towards the kitchen counter and Marinette who was still taking care of the ginger bread house.
Jason's eyes sparkled at the sight, "COOKIESS! MARINETTE'S COOKIES!"
Effectively waking up Tim from his slumber, "Wait, what..?"
As he sniffed the air, he instantly woke up, "Whoa, that is a delicious scent"
As he turn towards the sight towards Marinette's way, there was gingerbread house cookies in the cooling rack.
"Oh..The gingerbread house cookies Marinette baked!" Tim exclaimed in realization.
Jason looked at him confused while Damin glared at Jason for barging in like that.
"Yes, we are holding a gingerbread house cookie competition" Damian answered while crossing his arms.
"Oh! That's going to be fun-tastic!" Jason agreed
"Oh, I almost forgot, let's invite Jon and his brother to this gingerbread competition!" Marinette added while Dick agreed whole-heartedly.
"I'll tell them right now!"
A while later...
"Let the Gingerbread House Competition start!" Alfred announced and rang a bell, signaling the competition had started.
Everyone had already stationed in their respective tables in the kitchen.
Somehow, it proved to be harder than everyone's expectations except Marinette, who is a natural baker. Though Marinette would not join the competition, she would still join on making the gingerbread house and maybe lend a helping hand towards people who need it.
In fact...A lot of the people needed her help...
"How the hell do assemble this!?!" Jason exclaimed, exasperated from his station. As his gingerbread house fell down for the umpteenth time.
"Right!??! Mine is a bit tilted" Dick agreed as his cookie house was in fact a bit tilted to the side even if he somehow managed to build it upwards.
"Tt, imbeciles." Damian uttered yet he was also struggling to assemble the cookies and making it stay.
"Uhhuh, it's definitely not easy.." Tim who was focused at the task was the most better off, he succeeded building some parts of the house, though he was the slowest out of all the Wayne members. It's because he took extra caution and did everything by the book which he had read and is currently in his table spread opened.
"Uhhuh" Bruce grunted in agreement with Tim's statement. Bruce's wasn't the worse yet neither the best either. His cookies were built but still unstable.
"Yeah, definitely challenging uhuh..." Jon piped out sheepishly. His was situation was similar to Bruce, but more unstable than his. He still amanged to build it accordingly but still messy.
Conner decided to not join and just watch from the sidelines. He was definitely amused at the situation.
Marinette's cookie house was the one who looked impeccably perfect. She had already finished building her cookie house as she wanted and is stable.
Marinette decided to lend a helping hand to them.
She started by helping Jason to strengthen his house by making his icing harder.
Jason was very grateful for the help.
She then helped straightened Dick's house structure by gently reassemble some of the walls.
Next, she helped Tim, by giving him some tips since he was already doing good.
Then Bruce, she strengthen the structure by hardening the icing. He was thankful for Marinette's help.
Jon, who was in a similar predicament as Bruce. She also helped strengthen his structure by hardening the icing and adding extra icing and cleaning some icings off from the cookies.
Last but not the least is Damian, she just smiled at his failed attempt to building the house upwards.
The cookies kept falling down and she could see his veins in his head.
She helped him by hardening the icing and assembling the cookies together with him.
Marinette was in front of him and he was behind her, caging her in him as they tried to assemble together.
The Wayne brother and Kent brothers watched the pair being lovey dovey and had multiple reaction.
Dick was swooning over the cute couple. Also taking plenty of pictures of the couple.
Jason and Conner were disgusted but still had a mischievous smile because they knew it was tease worthy material.
Tim was amused and curious on how long they would last.
Jon was swooning and cheering them on as a shipper of both of his friends.
Alfred watched happily to see Damian founding his partner of life.
The pair spent a long amount of time in the position as they both built the house together. It was as if they were the only person that existed in the world, they were both focuse don each other.
Even as decorating it. They were teasing each other. Marinette sprinkled some powdered sugar on Damian's face and Damian did it back to Marinette. They were covered in sugar.
As they finally finished decorating his cookie house.
She then put some lefover icing on Damian's nose and Damian was surprised and his head tilted downward and met with Marinette's lips.
They accidentally kissed.
Damian continued the kiss while Marinette panicked and froze.
A minute passed by and he let her go. She scrambled away from Damian, face flushed beet red like a tomato while Damian wasn't that much better. His face was flushed.
The couple was embarrassed then a click of the camera was sounded. The couple turned at the sound and was mortified to see that Dick took a picture of them kissing.
Marinette ran away towards her station to continue decorating her house while Damian stayed at his table. Their boths face flushed red.
The Waynes (other than Damin) and Kents also Alfred were laughing amused at the couple's antics.
Marinette pretended not to hear the brothers teasing towards Damian and her as she continued decorating her house focused in silence and embarrassment.
Damian stood at his table staring at her ignoring his brothers and Kents taunts. He was focused on her and only her. He also did shoot a batarang close enough to Conner and Todd to scare them off. Which worked a bit.
Bruce and Alfred just smiled in silence, happy for Damian and Marinette.
In the end, when the time was up. Which was at 9 pm at night, they finally judged the gingerbread houses.
The houses were all various in sizes and designs. They were all unique.
Dick had a classic gingerbread house and decorate it with as much color as possible. He used a lot of various colors, icings and candies, basically anything consumables. It was a burst of colors. He had mini gingerbread and snowmen and pine trees. He tried his best yet the end result was kind of messy and burst of colors.
Jason had a summer themed on, his house was like beach house and a sandy beach, completed with palm trees with people which was pretzel sticks dressed in hawaian outfits, or in sour patches. He was also messy and the icings weren't the neatest and the decorations shapes were..unique.
Jon had a barn-like house in winter, he was inspired by his home. The Kent farm. His house was made of red and had some chicken made out of yellow m&ms with cows made out of white bubble gums and various other animals. Jon tried yet also not that neat, had various shapes and icings weren't neat.
Tim had a classic gingerbread house but with a twist, the house was actually a greek like house or similar to a museum but in winter. He had a huge house with pillars and staricase he even spray colored (with edible color) it into white. The other land has some pine trees and snowman. He was the neatest among them all. He had imaculate shapes and decorations. Yes, its not perfect but it wasn't that notcieable and was shown how he tried his best effort.
Bruce had a classic gingerbread house and decorated as classic as possible. He had the usual and similar decorations as normal gingerbread house you see everywhere. He added a few bats decorations here and there. There was a snowman and a few trees. He did tried though, the various shapes and quite messy in the icings.
Alfred's gingerbread house was similar to Bruce and Damian. He made it similar to a classic gingerbread but the structure was similar to Wayne Manor. With the pillars and stairway. He decorared as a normal classic style. With a bit of the Wayne Garden decorations, some trees snowmen, seven gingerbread to represent the Waynes, Alfred and Marinette. His results was perfect and immaculate just like how Alfred normally is.
Marinette's gingerbread house was decorated as what her home was (aka the Heaven realm) in winter. The structure was kind of similar to Tim's house and similar in size though Tim's bigger than her's. It was greek and roman-ish structure with columns and stairway. Though she had more intricate designs as swirls she made on the walls and textured on the columns and walls. She also had a some garden. Filled with trees and bushed with a few tiny animals she made out of fondan. Cats, dogs and birds to mention some. She made snowmen and some gingerbread to represent her and her fellow angels. She topped it off with powder sugar as snow on the buildings and plants. As for the ground covered in snow she used shredded coconut. To wrap it up she had made golden colored cocolate for the fence which had swirls as decorations. It eas perfect and immaculate. Spectacular design.
Damian tried to make the wayne manor but in winter, he tried his best to make it as close as possible with the real one exterior. Adding columns and stairs. He had a huge garden as a decoration beside the house. He tried his best making the garden. He added green cotton candy for the bushes. He also had small animals like Titus, his dog, Alfred the cat, his cat and even Batcow he tried to make via bubblegum.
Despite Marinette helping Damian, she didn't help everything, she mostly helped on the structure while Decorations Marinette helped a bit.
He tried his best to be neat yet still noticeable mess of icings and the various shapes of like the animals and plants were..unique..
The Waynes and Kents all praised the design of Marinette and Alfred's as you can see, the pair were amazing at the gingerbread house design and decorations was perfect and imaculate. They were amazed on how detailed it is.
Though they all agreed even Alfred that Marinette's house was the best out of everything. The details she had put was intricate and immaculate. Marinette's were definitely realistically spectacular and out of this world. She did say it was inspired by greek too just like Tim's.
Marinette did infact got some treats from Alfred for her efforts on making a spectacular and immaculate work. Marinette was very thankful for him for the prize.
Marinette was definitely impressed on their progress and decorations on the gingerbread hosues. She loved all the gingerbread houses designs. It was unique and amazing, she thought.
She genuinely loved them all and she praised them well for their efforts.
It was also clear who would win based on the gingerbread house result.
The judges Marinette and Alfred with the assitant of Conner knew and decided the winner together.
Tim was the winner.
His gingerbread house was immaculate as he tried building a museum like structure and is actually huge size in comparison to the others. His decorations and structure was quite nice too even if it wasn't perfect. There are flaws but not to noticeable or he purposely hidden it well.
Tim got his price which was a huge ammount of Marinette's cookies which he was extremely happy with.
He bragged it out towards the brothers.
Dick and Jason was annoyed and dissatisfied that he got that much cookies for himself. That Tim got a lot of stack of cookies that he could eat anytime. Those delicious Marinette's cookies he could have at any time. Sighed they could only lament.
Damian was jealous he got more Marinette's baking than he did and got her attention more than he did. That he thought he was better than him. Even though Tim's was, he never admit it out loud.
Conner and Jon were dissapointed that they couldn't taste Marinette's cookies.
Even if the Wayne brothers acted as if they weren't satisfied with the result though they truly inside admitted that Tim's was the best and accepted it.
Though Marinette did pull out some of the extra batch she had baked they all get.
She already did the icing and everyone was definitely satisfied and enjoyed at the taste of Marinette's delicious cookied.
They even got into the fight for her cookies as usual.