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“What did you do?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You tied Tim up! With Christmas lights!”
“I accept no responsibility and I would do it again.”
“He was hung from the banister! You’re lucky Alfred got him down so he didn't die!”
“He wasn’t going to die.”
“He fell asleep!”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh! Go apologise!”
“Fine.”
Damian closed his sketchbook, and left his chair. Marinette followed behind him, making sure that he actually apologised to the older boy.
He walked to the study, where Tim was working on Wayne Enterprise business. He looked up at the two, and frowned.
“What, Damian? I'm busy,” His frown lessened. “Hey, Mari!”
“Drake.”
“Damian.”
“I apologise.”
“You- you what?” Tim asked, shocked.
“I apologise. Tying you up with Christmas lights and leaving you hanging upside down was unacceptable. Next time I will tie you to a chair.”
“Damian.” Marinette chastised.
He rolled his eyes. “I won’t tie you up again with Christmas lights. It was an unacceptable behaviour.”
“Oh- thank you. That means a lot coming from you.”
“Tt- it should not.”
Damian then grabbed Marinette and left without another word.
——
“Come on.” Marinette said, taking lead.
“To where?”
“Well, we have got to do something with those lights you bought to tie Tim up with.”
“What for?”
“Let’s decorate the foyer!”
“Why? Pennyworth has already done so suitably.”
“Yes, but the banisters only have garland on them. No lights.”
“I do not see the point of this.”
“You’ll see at the end.”
“Hm.”
“Here,” Marinette called out as she tossed a ball of lights. “Untangle these!”
So, Damian set to work. Twisting the strands, unweaving the ball they had become. He got distracted in his job, and hadn’t noticed the predicament he got himself in.
“Angel?” He asked, holding up the strands.
“Yes Dami- pfft!” Marinette started laughing.
For, Damian had gotten tangled up in the lights himself. Looking a little lost, he tried to get out of them. But it had only made it worse.
Marinette was crying with tears at this point, taking out her phone, she started taking pictures of the predicament Damian had gotten himself into.
“Angel. Stop taking pictures of me.”
“No, this is revenge for Tim.”
“Don’t send them to Drake.”
“I won’t! Promise!”
As if on cue, Tim came barrelling into the room to take more.
“Stop it.”
“No.”
Damian sighed, and accepted his fate. Unless- “Drake, Angel, Stop taking pictures and delete them or I will post blackmail all over the internet.”
That got them to freeze. Tim sighed and deleted the photos. Marinette deleted them as well.
“Delete the ones of Tim then as well.”
Damian scoffed. “Fine. Now help me out of these.”
The two freed ones nodded and started getting to work. Various comments were made.
“How the hell are there so many lights? How long are these? A mile long?”
“I swear this is getting more tangled.”
“Agh! Help! My hands are tangled together!”
“Haha! Drake! You’re stuck again!”
“At least I didn’t get stuck like a cat unlike you!”
“Take that back!”
“No- you are a cat!”
“I’ll kill you, Drake!”
“Gee thanks, just what I wanted for Christmas!”
And soon, Damian and Tim lunged at each other, getting more tangled in the lights. Soon enough, they were unable to move, right next to each other. Marinette stood on the outside, never having gotten in the fight.
“Oh my glucose!” Marinette sputted. She once again pulled out her phone to take pictures. “This is even better!”
The Wayne Family’s Christmas card was an odd one this year. Usually filled with a family portrait, it was different. Now, the card had a picture of only two Wayne boys- Timothy Drake-Wayne and Damian Wayne. The two were tied up with what appeared to be Christmas lights. Both boy’s faces were bright red, contrasting with the green bow on top of Damian’s head, and matching the red one atop of Timothy’s. Both were glaring at the camera, their blue and green eyes filled with embarrassment. This card was only sent out to the Wayne family’s closest friends and out of town family.
Dick Grasyon had laughed at the card, and had clipped it to the fridge. He loved his little brothers.
Jason Todd would laugh himself red, and made copies of it. If any copies of the card showed up around Wayne Manor- not enough to be called upon, but enough for both boys to be angered by it- well, he wouldn’t know anything about it.
Barbara Gordon would smirk at the card, and frame it. Not before uploading it to her personal blackmail server, of course.
Stephanie Brown would snort, and hide it in a book for another day.
Cassandra would smile at her family, and make it her phone’s background.
Clark Kent would shake his head at Damian and Tim’s antics, and hang it to the fridge. His boys, Conner and Jon, would find it later and find it funny.
Marinette would get it, all the way in Paris, and laugh fondly at the memories. She hadn’t sent if, but she had sent the photo to Alfred and Bruce.
Diana Prince and Selina Kyle would get one each, and would both hang it up in each of their apartments. On bad days, they would look at it and smile, for boys will be boys.
Now, connections who did not know the Wayne family and their secret would get the regular card. One that would be taken every year on the same date. Each Wayne standing stoically, in black suits with a different colored tie each. Black for Bruce, blue for Dick, red for Jason (who had been announced alive two years ago), yellow for Tim, green for Damian, and a bowtie for their loyal butler Alfred. Steph in a purple dress, and Cass in a plain black.
There would always be two images for the formal Christmas card, in which one would never be sent around.
One, where the boys goofed off. Tim and Damian would be fighting, Dick and Jason laughing, Steph egging them on. Cass and Bruce would be smiling softly, and Alfred would have a twinkle in his eye. Barbara would be sitting in her chair, a soft green jumper on.
This year, a smiling Marinette in pink would be laughing with Dick as Tim was asleep. Damian would be staring at Marinette, and Jason would be pulling faces.
Marinette was a part of the family. And always would be.