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LB debut party:
Bruce Wayne guest: Edward Nygma
Clark Kent guests: Lois Lane, Connor and Jonathan Kent
Diana Prince
Barry Allen guests: Iris West and Bart Allen
Hal Jordan
Arthur Curry
Oliver Queen guests: Felicity Smoak and Roy Harper
Marinette checked her list again, crossing off Hal Jordan’s name. Adrien and her were having the best time driving everyone here crazy. They were at a party of elite socialites. Elite socialites who all wanted a chance to get an MDC contract. Elite socialites who knew that MDC designed for Batman, and the Paris heroes. There was only one issue. Everyone here was a hero (or vigilante as the case may be) and as far as they were all aware MDC was not.
Marinette was loving it!
Adrien’s identity had been outed during a mission with the Titans, so he wasn’t an unknown, but Ladybug had insisted that she couldn’t reveal her identity. MDC also had a strict mask policy. She kept her identity secret by wearing a mask to any and all public events.
“Shall we dance?” Jason smirked at her.
The party was his idea, well his and Tim’s. They both knew that she would say yes and had started planning far in advance. She had met the entire Batfam while in Gotham doing work with the Titans as well as MDC’s new contract to Wayne Enterprises. Cass had figured it out and then her flirting with Jason somehow made him make the connection. After that, it was just a game to see how fast the rest of the family figured it out. Dick was the last to figure it out and that was only because Adrien’s cover was blown during the mission. It was easy to connect her when they were never apart as civilians either
“I think I’m supposed to be connecting with new clients.” She smiled and tilted her head. “I’m not sure how you monopolizing my time accomplishes that.”
“Fine, fine. Would you like me to introduce you to people?” He grumbled out.
“Oh yes, starting with your dad’s best friend if you don’t mind?” She answered.
Jason gracefully walked her across the room to the first victim of her night, Clark Kent. “Clark, I’d like to introduce you to MDC. MDC, this is Clark Kent and his wife Lois Lane.”
Marinette shook both their hands, squeezing harder than necessary when shaking Clark’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. When Mr. Wayne said that you were interested in doing business with me, I drew up a few examples of what I thought might work best.”
“Oh, that sounds perfect. We would love to see.” Lois answered the implied question and Marinette pulled out her tablet.
“I like to take inspiration from where people live, so I looked into Metropolis and your hero Superman. I thought a color scheme after him was a fun idea, though it’s a bit bold. So I muted the colors down on the dress I thought of for you Lois. A spring line for you would be a lot of pastels I think. To go with. I have also been working with my fabric manufacturer and have come up with a way to weave lead-coated thread into the outer layer of fabric while still keeping the lining safe to be against skin. It took some time, but I think it’s worth it. Paris never had a hero with x-ray vision, but after living under Hawkmoth’s reign, I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t have any privacy.”
Clark had started sweating by the time she finished. Then she turned to look at him straight on. “Of course I think the bold colors would look good on you. They would really bring out your eyes. Have you ever thought of wearing contacts?”
“Oh I, well you know, it’s just that-”
“Oh I know, the hassle must be difficult.” She seemed to think about it for a moment. “You know, now that I think about it I might be able to make glasses work with the outfit I have in mind. Of course, I would want to add in a little extra red. Get the whole effect I’m going for.” She clicked a button on her tablet that drew up a picture of Superman next to the outfit she was designing. “You know, I wasn’t too sure on the cape, but then Arashi and Honey Bee explained about how the wind dynamics would be easier to account for with a cape. Arashi flys using the wind itself so she doesn’t have to worry about that, and Honey Bee has wings that do the same thing really.” She flipped to another outfit, this one had a small capelet with a hood. “I made a mock-up of these for your children. Capelets are coming back into fashion, and hoodies are still very in so I wanted something fashion-forward, but still comfortable. Jason and Damian had both asked for something similar with a hood, so I thought up these at the same time. “
“O-oh, I’m sure the boys would be interested in those.” She inwardly congratulated herself knowing how off-kilter he was with the fact that she had chosen both boy’s colors.
“Ah, there you are.” Tim came to his rescue. “Diana was looking for you.”
“Oh excuse me.” Clark started but Tim cut him off.
“Oh no I meant MDC. When Diana learned that she was from Paris she insisted that she need her.”
Marinette gave them a business card and shook their hands again. Still putting a little miraculous strength when shaking Clark’s hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you both. Let me know if you still wish to do business!”
Tim whisked her away, tapping out a message in morse code on her arm as they walked. You’re evil
Marinette smiled her sweetest smile and winked at him. Waving at Jason as they passed and hiding a laugh at what Cass was signing. Jason was on sibling duty, making sure none of them outted her identity before she was ready for the reveal.
Diana was standing with Adrien talking in Japanese. Adrien knew she was fluent, but most people weren’t and it was easy to trick people into talking if one of them acted as though they didn’t understand the language. It wasn’t a common language to pick up in Paris, but Marinette had insisted that the whole team knew every member's 1st language.
“It’s just surprising that Bruce of all people would allow a civilian into an event like this.” Diana was talking quietly still.
Adrien responded with all the grace his parents instilled into him. “Well you know she isn’t just any civilian. She’s the one who made the new suits for the Robins.”
“Does she know their identities?” She was searching his face for a hint of a lie.
So he didn’t lie. “She’s never told me.” Just gave a technical truth. She hadn’t, the team opened up to them after Cass told them she knew their identities. Each member of the bat fam told them their own identity when they figured it out, and when Chat’s identity was revealed the whole Titan’s team had opened up to them.
“Diana, it’s a pleasure you see you again,” Tim spoke up as they reached the others. “If I may, let me introduce MDC.”
“It’s a pleasure, Miss. I heard about your work at the museum, I have a close friend who works with the authenticators from time to time.” Marinette smiled and was afraid that Adrien was going to blow their cover with the way he was now choking on his wine.
“Is that right?” Diana was still a little nervous about her, but with a clear want to be civil.
“Oh yes, lately they have been telling me about your work with the Women of History exhibit. I took inspiration from that for the designs I thought up for you.”
“I would love to see what you’ve designed. I must say, Cassandra was showing me how you designed her dress and I am very impressed.”
“Yes! Her dress is inspired by the Deserts where she grew up, something lightweight, but still with pants so she can easily dance. She loved the pockets on the skirt as well, deep enough to actually hold items.”
“I really loved the way the back of the dress could easily fold up to be a hood.”
“Well, it’s something she specified she wanted. Something to hide her face when she is getting overwhelmed. I made the hood with a mask attached so that she could easily cover her mouth as well.” Marinette pulled her tablet out again. “But let me show you what I designed for you.”
“Oh yes please.” Diana was leaning over to look at the design and stopped breathing.
Marinette didn’t look up from the tablet, instead, she went on as though nothing was wrong. “I had noticed that you had an interest in the Greek mythos section, so I took inspiration from that as well as from Paris’s heroes. Did you know that it is rumored that Hippolyta was actually a former Ladybug holder? Of course, that was during the times of legends, so it’s quite possible that it was someone who was just believed to be a demigoddess. I mean I understand that belief, it’s what Paris all thought the miraculous wielders were before Ladybug explained about the miraculous and the kawmi.” She said all of this while flipping through different outfits she had thought up. Each more like Wonder Woman than the one before it. When she got to an outfit that was almost a recreation of the Amazonian warrior outfits, if they had been made of silk, she looked up. “I know this one is a little showier, but I thought it might make for a good masquerade outfit.”
“Well, it is… daring… It reminds me of Wonder Woman’s suit.” Diana was searching Marinette’s face looking for something.
Marinette nodded. “Well, it is inspired by it! I love the way her suit is equipped for not only battle but also to accent her features. She’s not saying ‘I’m a woman who can fight’ her outfit is saying ‘I’m a warrior first, but I’m still a woman and I’ll fight as fiercely as I need to.’ If that makes sense at all.” She was genuine, if not still having fun.
Diana was still searching her face and looked more and more nervous as Marinette just smiled back. The mask was helping a lot. The lace over her eyes made them hidden and mysterious, it also made sure that the heroes here wouldn’t be able to read her face very well.
“MDC, I have someone I want to introduce you to.” Jason to the rescue this time.
“Oh! Sorry about that.” She handed over a business card to Diana. “Duty calls. Let me know if you want me to make any of the outfits. The first consultation is always free, but we would need to really explore what you want to do with your wardrobe.”
He whisked her away and started walking towards Oliver. He was making signs one-handed between them so no one could see. I couldn’t let you stay. Clark is starting to get suspicious. He’s headed to talk to Diana now. If you want to get Queen then you better act fast.
Marinette watched as Adrien intercepted Clark, trying to keep him away from Diana. Then she turned around to greet Oliver. “Mr. Queen, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
He smiled back at her and shook her hand looking at Jason over her head. “Hopefully not all bad.”
Marinette laughed and shook her head. “Not at all! Adrien tells me that you’ve helped him with his father’s company.” She brought up the cover story for why Adrien had been in the city with Oliver for so long. “He told me that it was invaluable.”
“O-oh, yeah. I was able to help him with figuring out some of the weird business lingo. I know how difficult it can be to come into a company when you haven’t really done anything with the business side of things.” Oliver was an okay liar at least.
“It was really interesting hearing about Paris from someone who lived through it all.” Felicity cut in making him stop talking.
“Oh yes. It was an… interesting time to grow up.” She responded. “Living under the influence of a maniac hellbent on saving his wife to the detriment of everyone else. Well, at least the Paris Court got him in the end.”
Roy looked at her in question. “Jason’s girlfriend calls them the court too, is that just a Parisian thing?”
“Oh, well it’s what they call themselves. I must have picked up on it while working with them.”
“You’ve worked with them before?” Oliver was staring at her intently. “Like as a hero?”
“I was a temporary hero once. It was a long time ago, and no one knew besides Ladybug and Chat Noir, but I meant from my time working on formal wear for them. The Miraculous may be magical, but even they have their limits, and a nice ballgown with pockets and matching leggings isn’t something they trusted the Kawmi with.”
The words clicked something in Roy’s head and Marinette was kicking herself. She had told Roy the story of her being Multimouse just last week.
“Sooo, what does MDC stand for?” Roy asked looking right at Jason.
Marinette looked around the room and saw where Clark and Diana were about to reach Bruce, she saw Adrien trying to pry Barry away from coming towards her with a determined look on his face., and Cass was distracting Hal again. Their fun was about to come to an end, might as well tell them the truth.
“You have to keep it a secret if I tell you.” She reached for her mask and smiled. “You have to promise.”
Oliver smiled and nodded. “We promise. We won’t tell a soul.”
Marinette took off her mask and smiled at them. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. MDC is my initials.”
Roy put the rest of the dots together fast and started laughing. “Oh my god, and when he said that Red should be your favorite color.”
“He was alluding to this and it was rude because I wanted everyone to be in the dark.”
Roy kept laughing and Felicity and Oliver looked at him like he had gone mad.
Marinette locked eyes with Bruce and knew that the jig was up. “You will have to excuse me. I think Bruce is about to make an announcement and I would rather not be close by for it.”
Marinette tried to dash out of the room but Dick grabbed her and held her tight. “Don’t even think about it. Wally figured it out and warned Barry right in front of us.”
Bruce was standing in the middle of the room now. He was smiling right at her. “Ladies, gentlemen, and those who are neither let me please introduce the guest of honor tonight, Ladybug.” He reached out a hand to her and dick walked her over. “MDC is here tonight for a few reasons, some of them untold to me until about five minutes ago, but she is here to take on new clients. Marinette Dupain-Cheng has been redesigning the suits for the boys, as well as helping with the current Titan’s crises as Ladybug.”
Marinette saw where Jason was trying to hide from his father. Tim had been caught by Babs and Marinette was now within Bruce’s reach. So she turned and waved to the room. “Hello everyone. It’s nice to properly meet you. Also, in my defense, you are the ones who all told me your identities.”