Chapter Text
Damian Wayne loved art. It didn't matter whether it was plain sketching or painting, although he always did prefer painting over everything else. To him, it was a way to release all of his emotions while he was in the league and even after. Because unfortunately, Talia had stunted his emotions from having him cover them up for so many years. When he first arrived at the manor, he didn't tell anybody about how much he enjoyed art. He thought that they would disapprove, as his mother did when she once found out.
But, one day, Alfred found Damian drawing in a little notebook. Curious, he looked through it once Damian had gone out to patrol as Robin. And in the notebook, he found many drawings, each with incredible detail and highly realistic. But what caught Alfred's attention wasn't about the skill, but more about the subject of the drawing. The particular picture that he had flipped to was a picture of Ra's Al-Guhl. But Ra's wasn't smiling, nor was he emotional. Instead, it was a picture of him with a katana in hand and a disapproving glare on his face. But what made the picture even worse was the bloody figure on the ground before him, and most certainly the owner of the blood on Ra's katana. The figure itself... was Damian, but he wasn't ten, no, he couldn't be more than 5, in fact. It broke Alfred's heart that he had to endure this in the League.
As he flipped through the drawings, he saw many pictures of similar circumstances. A mad Talia, Bruce's disappointed face after Damian tried to kill Ubu, Dick's face when he tried to stop Damian from hurting Ubu, Damian trying to kill both Tim and Jason. Others were happier, Dick bonding with Damian, once Bruce disappeared. Damian and Jason, fighting a mob boss together. The first time Bruce had ever praised Damian. Damian and Alred, cooking in the kitchen together. Tim, looking like he was thanking Damian after he handed him what seemed to be coffee. It was then that Alfred realized that these were Damian's memories. Damian, instead of using his environment around him, used his own life. Alfred closed the notebook and placed it back on Damian's desk. Later that day, Damian found a key to a door that Alfred gave him. And inside the door, was many different colors of paints, canvases, pencils, sketchbooks, and more. Since then, that room was appointed Damian's art room.
It was a new day in Gotham, and one 19-year-old Damian Wayne was having trouble finding inspiration for his newest painting. Yes, he had many people in his family he could draw. But, he felt that it was so repetitive. He had been drawing them for the last eight years. So, he was walking around Gotham to try and find anything or anyone that would be worthy of being drawn.
Suddenly, he bumped into somebody, causing both of them to fall to the ground in a heap. They both groaned out in both hurt and annoyance. And while Damian had grown physically as well as emotionally over the years and wasn't as prone to being angry nor snobby, sometimes he would want to release his old personality. So, just as Damian was about to yell at the person, a sweet high-pitched voice interrupted him, "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going, which is kind of obvious because I bumped into you. But, anyway, I am super sorry!"
Damian looked up to see the most angelic person he had ever seen in his entire life. The girl had long wavy black hair with navy blue highlights that seemed natural. She had a slim and strong figure with very nice curves. Once Damian realized that his stare on her figure was highly inappropriate, he lifted his gaze to her face. She had big, innocent bluebell eyes with sweepingly long eyelashes, a cute button nose, and big plumpy red lips raised in a hesitant smile. She also had freckles strewn across her face along with a light pink blush that completed the angelic look.
And then and there, Damian decided that letting go of drawing someone as pretty as she would be a huge mistake. So, before he knew what he was doing, he blurted out, "Your beauty could rival an angel's face. Would you mind letting me draw or rather paint you? I have been looking for inspiration all day, and you are the first person I have seen that I could use as inspiration."
Damian flushed once he realized what he said to the girl. The girl blushed a deep red as well before quietly speaking, "I wouldn't mind. And my name's Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." She raised her hand to shake his.
He raised his hand and shook it while saying, "I'm pleased to meet you, Marinette. My name is Damian."
Since then, Damian has always used Marinette as the subject for his artwork. She was fun to draw because her behavior and expressions were so diverse. Every Friday, they would meet up at a coffee shop to talk and then later head to either Damian's apartment or Marinette's apartment. This went on for a couple of months before Damian got the courage to ask out Marinette. Damian's family still didn't know about her, and he wanted it to stay that way. But, Damian was a little careless one afternoon and placed a painting of her IN THE MANOR. Naturally, the family saw the painting and wanted to meet her. Damian was worried that his family would change Marinette's view of him. But, no matter what his family did, Marinette stayed and continued to inspire him. She met all of his friends and still stayed. That was when Damian decided that he was going to spend the rest of his life with his inspiring little angel.
Four years after they met, Damian proposed. Two years after that, they got married. A year later, Marinette got pregnant with a baby girl. When the baby was born, they named her Martha after Damian's grandmother. And one night, as the family sat by the fire, Marinette holding Martha and Damian drawing the two, Damian felt so happy looking at his girls. As the glow of the fire reflected on Marinette's and Martha's faces illuminating their being, Damian knew that none of this would be possible without his inspiration Marinette Wayne Dupain-Cheng.
(1085 words)