Work Text:
Tim stared at the post and realized exactly what he had done. He had broken his number one rule. Don’t engage in discourse. It was just asking for trouble, and now he was swimming in trouble. It was a simple enough post to start off. Someone talking about how the Paris heroes always cleaned up their messes, and how the city didn’t have to rebuild Paris every other day. The post had a decent number of notes, but it wasn’t huge, just some people complaining about how their city’s heroes or vigilantes didn’t clean up the city.
Tim could have just ignored it, it’s not like it was hurting him!
But the last two comments on the post grated on his soul and he couldn’t help himself.
Og-souffle-girl: we all know that the paris heroes are superior. i mean the magic clean up is one thing but they also spend their free time working with at-risk centers and community mental health organizations to help people take control of their emotions and try to prevent stronger emotions creating stronger akumas.
What-did-the-fox-type: You wouldn’t see anything like that in Gotham. I interned there last summer and the building I was working in got destroyed in a Joker attack and I was out of work for three weeks because of it. No word from the bats, just a cursory sorry. I did see Signal check on the crew a couple times, but that was it. Red Robin and Batman were the ones to cause the damage, but they never even showed up to make sure everyone was okay. My coworker who was hurt did have her hospital bills covered by the Wayne charity foundation, but I’ve never seen a single bat mentioned as a guest at a Wayne event. Can’t even bother to show up to show that they are thankful for the money that the Waynes are throwing at the city.
Og-souffle-girl: if the paris heroes tried to pull that the city would be pissed and never accept them. think about what the mayor would say. I know that ladybug checks in on past akuma’s whenever she is on patrol and chat noir has an entire thing for checking on kids who have had a hard time with akuma trauma. bet the bats don’t do that.
That’s what Tim had to respond to.
Coffee-is-life: The Wayne’s work with the bats behind the scenes. The bats are doing the best they can for the city. Joker doesn’t announce when he’s going to be destroying things, and unlike other heroes they can’t always get there before he starts hurting people. How many times has Ladybug let her own partner die for the greater good? The bats don’t have magic to fix their problems so they actually treat every life like it means something.
Tim didn’t realize exactly how badly that would go over. When he refreshed his app he had 20 asks and a whole lot more responses and messages. The only one he actually paid attention to was the response from souffle girl.
Og-souffle-girl: Way to be a bitch! Ladybug has never let Chat Noir die, he has died protecting her, yes, but she is just as broken up about it each and every time. I’ve personally heard her yell at him about dying for her and how she wants him to stop sacrificing himself. Just because they have magic doesn’t mean they think that lives aren’t intrinsically valuable. At least they don’t use children as the distract to their startle technique. Robin is a literal child and if Batman was a responsible adult he wouldn’t let a child out in battle.
That did it! How dare she, and he had double checked her profile to see her pronouns are she/her, how dare she come after the Robins!
Coffee-is-life: At least there is an adult helping! Who let two children be on their own against a terrorist, huh? Ladybug and Chat Noir were clearly children when they started. So don’t come @ Robin. The phrase Glass Houses rings a bell.
----
“Girl, it’s not worth it.” Alya was standing behind Marinette while she was typing quickly. “You’re already getting hate mail from Robin stans. It’s really not-”
“He tried to say. I. Don’t. Care. About. Adrien.”
“You’re not even sure that you’re talking to a guy. Maybe it’s just some kid-”
Marinette cut her off again. “His bio says his pronouns are he/him and that he’s 22, if he’s lying that’s on him. But though I’m a year younger than him, I’m still gonna kick his ass.”
“Mari, you don’t even know that you will see him when you’re in Gotham.” Adrien chimed in from where he was laying by her open suitcase. “So why don’t you finish packing and then you can respond to his latest post.”
“He made a post three weeks ago complaining about how the press was on his campus, and that he was being dragged to some fancy wedding the same week that Jagged is singing at his friend’s wedding. That is too much of a coincidence for me.”
Nino grabbed her computer to look at the receipts she had up. “Well shit Nette, that is pretty convincing evidence. How will you even know it’s him?”
“I’ll figure that out when we’re actually in Gotham. Uncle Jagged wants Adrien and me to be there early to make sure that we are set up before the final fittings start.”
“I still can’t believe that you got a contract with the Waynes,” Adrien said.
Marinette laughed and shrugged. “Apparently the third son is a big fan of MDC. Jagged said that when I put in my bid to do the suits for the fiancés he freaked and demanded that they hire me to do the whole wedding party’s outfits.”
“Uh, Mari, have you seen this?” Nino held her laptop out to her.
Gotham-knight-stan-2100: The people of Paris need to take a fucking step back. Robin is clearly trained to do his job. Ladybug and Chat Noir took literal years to take down one villain. Robin takes out his own villains on a daily basis. The bats are way more impressive. AND no one on the bats team is a brat who tried so hard to be a hero that they put other people in danger.
hello-steampunk-dreams: Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat Akuma’s daily! Sometimes ones that will destroy the world, what has Robin done? And I’ll have you know, the Court is way better at teamwork. But you’re right, none of the bats pulled a Chloe, but none of the Court are literal gang lords! And what’s with Red Robin? Is he like a brand endorsement? I thought the Waynes were like funding the bats because Bruce is Batman’s sugar daddy or something.
Metro-lives: I think they have a point. The Paris hero team is made up of like kids, but at least they aren’t killing people. Also! The Paris heroes don’t have prejudices against metas. Superman could help Gotham, but Batman keeps him out of everything.
Queen-Bitch: shut up metropolis we don’t need your help! @coffee-is-life Paris heroes started as kids, but they have been more mature than the Gotham kids the whole time. “Holy Batarang Batman”? Like honestly! Ladybug was way more responsible from the first minute she came onto the field. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Just say you hate France and go!
Coffee-is-life: hey guys, this is getting out of hand. I never said I hate France, I just said that there is an adult helping with the child vigilantes in Gotham. I also pointed out that the bats are known to work with the Waynes. I also want to say to my followers, please stop sending hate messages to anyone else on this thread. I have gotten a few messages saying that you’re doing that and it’s not okay.
“Oh my Kawmi, Chloé!” Marinette grabbed her phone and started dialing. “I can’t believe her.”
“Nette, she’s not wrong.” Nino was reading the notes on the post where a lot more people were actively defending the bats and complaining about the court and how they have magic so they really should be doing even more.
Marinette was typing up her own post now to ask her followers to stop sending hate mail as well. She had checked her inbox and had gotten some messages that her followers were doing the same.
Og-souffle-girl: Hey guys! I appreciate that you are defending me and my home city, but if you are sending hate mail to anyone in the thread please stop. Those are human beings on the other side of the screen.
Marinette didn’t give Chloé a chance to talk when she picked up. “Chloé! How dare you! I know you have way too many followers, I swear to all if they are sending him hate mail I will be pissed. He’s still a person.”
“I thought we all agreed. A billionaire is not a people,” Chloé responded.
“What?” Marinette put her phone on speaker as she watched the notes on her latest post go up. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh my Kawmi, you don’t know.” Chloé laughed. “Oh, I can’t tell you. You’ll figure it out! Bye!”
“Well, that was cryptic as hell.”
Marinette just rolled her eyes and went in to delete more things from her inbox. “This is really going to get out of hand. How was I to know that he was as popular a blog as I am?”
Adrien sighed and then answered, “You could have just left it alone. You didn’t need to respond to him in the first place.”
“Kitty, you know me better than that.”
“I really do, bugaboo.”
“Well! Let’s get headed out. I wanna grab a coffee on the way to the airport.”
---
“Hey Tim, have you seen this?”
Dick held out his phone showing the newest post that was circulating his Tumblr circle and Tim’s eye twitched a couple of times.
“Yeah! I saw they’re shipping her and me together now!” He turned back to the stack of paperwork he was going through. He wanted to get as much done before fittings today. “I just hope that MDC doesn’t have a Tumblr. I don’t think I can handle a Bats v Court today.”
“I don’t understand how people know who you are on Tumblr. No one has ever figured out who I am. It’s like the perfect site.”
Tim sighed and scrolled to his pinned post. “Well after it happened and people started asking me about it I put it into my pinned post, but not everyone reads that so I’m still pretty anonymous. Besides, it’s not like it’s my Twitter where Vikky Vale is using every letter to spin some amount of drama.”
Dick laughed and took his phone back. “Alfred sent me to fetch you. MDC is pulling into the driveway.”
Tim followed him out of the office to the main hall. “Let’s go. And don’t mention the Tumblr thing. Please.”
“Oh my kwami, are you guys on team bats?” A blonde guy with a french accent asked from next to them.
Tim’s eye twitch came back and he tried to not let his panic show. “Why would you say that?”
“Oh hi, I’m Adrien. MDC’s CFO and best friend. Mr. Pennyworth had pointed me towards this toilet.” The man held out a hand in greeting and smiled.
Tim shook his hand. “I’m Tim, this is my brother, Dick. We are very happy to have you here.”
Dick shook his hand and winked. “So you’ve seen the Tumblr discourse too huh?”
Adrien laughed and started walking towards the room that Tim assumed was where Alfred had MDC set up. “Oh have I ever. It’s a bit of a hair-trigger for Mari right now. Don’t bring it up unless you wanna hear her rant.”
“And Mari is?” Dick asked.
“Oh right.” Adrien opened the door and Tim saw the most beautiful girl. She was a little shorter than him, and with her dyed hair and bright eyes, she could pass for a small goddess instead of a mere human. Adrien walked them over to where she was already talking to Bruce. “Tim, Dick, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. MDC, this is Tim and Dick. I found them on my way back.”
Tim shook her hand and then waited for her to finish with Bruce. She was explaining how she had designed his and Edward’s suits to be compliments while keeping in the personal touches they both wanted in their own suits. Eddie was sitting next to Bruce and trying to subtly look into the dress bags that were hanging on a travel rack.
“Now, I want to do one half of the wedding party at a time. Don’t want the grooms seeing each other before the big day after all.” She smiled and clasped her hands together. “Who would like to go first?”
Edward jumped up from the couch and got in front of Bruce. “He can go first, I want to get something done in the next room over.”
Marinette smiled and Tim felt like he was going to fall for her right then and there. That was the smile of someone who caught onto things quickly and had a plan.
“Well actually, M. Nygma, while I go through M. Wayne’s fitting I would like for you to join Adrien for a few last minute touches when it concerns the photography.”
“Tt- Father I thought that we had a photographer already.” Damian piped in. His sneer at the designer made Tim want to hit him so badly.
She just took it in stride though. “Oh I am sure you do for the wedding, but all MDC originals get photographed by my own people, and something this high profile will be published in Style Queen . Your father and I had already talked about this beforehand.” She gave him a small smile. “And since I like to get my designs properly credited for, I plan to publish at the same time as the wedding is published for the public. So my pictures will need to be taken early.”
Damian actually seemed to take that in stride, or at least wasn’t complaining anymore. Tim had to give her credit for that.
She clapped her hands together. “Well, with that settled. M. Wayne, if you would keep whoever is in your half of the wedding party. Mme. Vance, if you wouldn’t mind collecting whoever is in Mr. Nygma’s half and joining Adrien in the joining room.”
Tim turned and grabbed Dick by the sleeve. “If you tell her I’m ‘coffee is life,’ I will lock you out of every electronic device you come into contact with for the next month.”
Dick grinned at him. “Babs wouldn’t let you.”
“Try me.” He growled out.
“We’ll see!”
Tim took a deep breath and followed Query out into the hall. Eddie had called him to be one of his groomsmen because ‘he’s the best Robin, and Bruce already has too many kids, I get some of them on my side.’ He also called Jason, but he and Cass couldn’t make this fitting time so he had a separate time with Cass to meet with the designer.
Tim had pulled out his phone and was pacing while waiting for their group to be called back in. Eddie was talking with Adrien and scheduling dates for them to go in to get photographs taken. Then figuring out the timing for the day of, and coordinating their own photographer with MDC’s photographer to make sure that they had time to meet before pictures that day.
Tim opened Tumblr and saw he had a message from someone.
Queen-Bitch: Bet you won’t bring up the Paris debate with a local Parisian.
Coffee-is-life: Chloe, you know that I won’t take the bait. I told you I was meeting with MDC. I also told you that I’m not bringing this up. What if she knows about it?
Queen-Bitch: It’s not that hard to use é. You literally just take one second to spell my name right.
Queen-Bitch: just tell them. It’ll be funny. I promise.
Coffee-is-life: You’re not getting me to do this. I think you’re the only one who will think it’s funny.
Queen-Bitch: My best friend will also find it funny.
Coffee-is-life: not really a convincing argument.
Coffee-is-life: gotta go, MDC is calling us in for our fittings.
He was locking his phone when he saw Adrien notice it.
Adrien gave an easy smile and pointed to his phone. “Oh, so you have your own Tumblr? What’s your URL? I’ll follow you.” He was already pulling out his phone. “I mostly post cat pics and talk about fandom stuff. It’s nice to not have to be all prim and proper, reporters will take everything out of context on Twitter, but Tumblr is so anonymous that it’s easy to just interact with people.”
Adrien was handing Tim his phone and Tim was trying to come up with a convincing way to not give out his Tumblr but couldn’t come up with anything. “Haha, yeah, that’s why Dick and I both have a Tumblr. Though some people figured out who I am and now I’m a bit of a cryptic there.” He finished putting in his URL and handed his phone back. “You don’t have to follow me. I mostly post aesthetic posts and like mood boards. They are calming to make and—”
“Oh my god!” Adrien started laughing really hard and then his face lit up. “Oh, this is too good!”
They had just gotten back to the other room and Adrien was practically skipping over to Marinette. “Bugaboo, I have something special for you.” Tim was able to read his lips and started backing away. Something was about to happen and he was not ready for whatever it was. He couldn’t see Marinette’s face from where he was standing, but the pure glee in Adrien’s eyes was enough to scare him. Then she turned around and with a look of righteous fury, she took three steps towards Tim.
“You think that Ladybug lets her partner die?” She hissed out still advancing on him. “I should have known that it was a fucking rich boy who thinks that vigilantes aren’t responsible for rebuilding what they have broken. What? Using philanthropy to shape the image of Wayne Enterprises? Think that your image is more important than the bats being held responsible?”
“Oh shit.” Adrien was there grabbing Marinette around the waist. “Sorry! I didn’t realize that she was this upset!”
Marinette’s eye was twitching and that’s how Tim noticed her eyes flash red for a moment. If it had been one of his siblings Tim would assume Lazarus Pit, but she was a civilian so it had to just be a light trick, right?
There was a flicker in the corner of the room that caught Tim’s eye and then Marinette suddenly stopped still and took a deep breath. She turned around and looked at the room at large where everyone from Eddie’s wedding party was still standing around the table. Bruce was hovering in the doorway and she just took everything in stride.
“Sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me. Let’s just move on with the fitting.” She gave a glare over her shoulder to Tim again and then addressed Bruce. “I’m afraid that I am going to have to keep Adrien for this fitting. If you would all be so kind as to not try to snoop while we are doing the fitting.”
Tim stayed far away from Marinette the whole fitting. He was still a little pissed about the whole philanthropy comment. Not like he could defend himself though. It’s not like she knew that most of the bats were in the manor and that they were taking care of the city with their clean-up efforts. Besides, it was like she was way more upset about his ladybug comment and was just trying to come at him over something personal, which didn’t make any sense at all.
“Sorry about that.” Adrien came over with the tailor’s pen and tape measure. Tim had already changed his suit and was waiting to be marked up before he could change back and get away from the crazy woman.
“I don’t really understand what happened.”
“She’s og soufflé girl. She grew up in a bakery so it’s alluding to that, and her love of Dr. Who.” Adrien explained as he worked on marking up Tim’s suit. “I just didn’t realize that she took the Chat comment so hard. I wouldn’t have said anything if I had known.”
“Why did she?” Tim asked, trying to understand what the big deal was.
Adrien was silent for so long Tim was pretty sure he wasn’t going to answer. When he finally spoke it startled him a little. “Mari used to help the heroes when they were hurt. Or when they needed to recharge their kwami. It’s not a secret really, but it’s not well known either.” He shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. “She’s someone that they all can go to and she doesn’t ask questions or turn her back if they need to detransform. Her childhood room is still open to the heroes when they need to make a pit stop and her parents keep a stock of the food that the kwami need just in case someone needs to hide in her old room to recharge. The guardian even put a protection seal around it so Akumas can’t get near the room.” he shrugged again and finished marking up Tim’s jacket. “She’s gonna have to check my work, I would just not say anything. She’s gonna be in a mood for a while.”
“Kitten, I can hear you.” Marinette walked over and started making notes in her book while circling Tim. “Should have known that I was right.” She mumbled under her breath while checking a couple of the marks Adrien had made. “Jacket off.”
Tim scrambled to comply and kept his mouth shut. He did not want her to turn her ire back on him. She finished marking his shirt and then looked back at him. “I’m putting a hidden pocket on the inside of your brother’s jackets, do you want one as well?”
Tim was surprised and took a moment to answer. “Oh, uh, yes?” Her eyes were still full of fury when she looked at him, but she seemed to be controlling it.
Adrien leaned over and whispered to her. “Keep this up and I won’t be able to take you back to Paris.” She just glared at him and went back to writing notes.
Tim went to change back into his own clothes and then brought the dress bag back to her.
“Uh, Marinette.” She turned her glare back on Tim. “I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean any offense. I just… well I didn’t… it’s just that… the whole no permanent death for the Paris heroes makes it seem like they have things the easy way. I know that it’s not, and I am sure that there is a lot to it that we could never understand… but if… if Ladybug knows what I said will you apologize to her as well for me?”
Marinette’s glare lessened and she looked away again. “Yeah, I’ll tell her. Just… remember that people are human, and even if someone doesn’t remember their own death, those that love them do. And it’s way harder than you might think to watch your best friend die in your arms.”
With that, she walked away and started gathering the rest of her things. She went to talk to Bruce and Eddie again and Dick came over to talk to him. “Sooo, that was interesting.”
“She’s og soufflé girl.”
Dick whistled and looked at him. “Well, you sure fucked up this time Timmy.”
Tim leaned against the wall and saw her talking animatedly with the couple. “How did your fitting go?”
“Harley loves her dress and demands that Bruce adopt her on the spot.”
Tim whipped his head around to look at him. “He didn’t!”
Dick put his hands up placatingly. “She has living parents.” He smirked at Tim though. “But it’s interesting seeing your reaction. Got a thing for the designer?”
Tim fought down the blush and glared at Dick. “Just don’t want another sibling that starts off wanting to kill me.”
Dick laughed at him. “I’ll make sure that you two are away from each other at the wedding then.”
Tim whipped his head around to look at her again. “She’s going to be there?”
“As Jagged Stone’s guest, yeah.”
“She knows… wait, what?”
“She’s his niece,” Dick said matter-of-factly.
“Jared doesn’t have any siblings.”
“I think it’s an honorary thing,” Dick answered.
---
The wedding went off without a hitch, the spread in Style Queen did an amazing job getting the MDC brand out in the bigger world of fashion, and Marinette was excited to be busy with her own work again and able to focus on designing. Being Ladybug was still a full-time job, but with her team supporting her it was easy to be able to run a company. Adrien and Chloé were really the masterminds behind MDC being so successful. Even the very public rivalry with Gabriel was good for business, especially when Adrien agreed to do a little modeling for Marinette. It was a field day for the paparazzi, and that was actually good news for her.
The next big thing to happen in their lives was the Court being invited to meet the Justice League. They had discussed it at length and finally decided that only Marinette and Adrien would go. It would be better if they wanted an identity reveal to not have too many clues for the League to know who the rest of the Court is.
Marinette held Adrien’s hand as they waited to be transported up to the Watchtower. “I think we should be open to revealing ourselves. But they will have to do a reveal first.”
“You’re the leader LB. I trust your judgment.”
“Let’s do this.”
---
Tim was already bored. Ladybug and Chat Noir were talking to Bruce and discussing the fact that they still wanted heroes to stay out of the city. He didn’t understand what Bruce hoped to gain from this. The Parisian heroes had been clear, and it’s not like one of the YJ members wouldn’t be just as deadly to the city as an akumatized Batman. Why Tim had to actually show up to this meeting with the other YJ members he still didn’t understand.
“It’s just that, if any of you were to become an enemy it would be bad. I don’t know if you have seen us have to fight against our own team, but it’s things like that, that worry us when it comes to letting you all help. We are willing to take up your offer of training from the YJ.”
“Your what?” Tim interjected. It would be nice if Bruce would consult him before offering his team-up.
“Oh, Batman was offering for your team to help train us. Is that not okay, uh?”
“Red Robin. And no it’s fine. I just expected to know we were training someone before he offered our services.”
She gave a sheepish smile and then held out a hand. “Well, we appreciate the offer. We would love to meet your team and have your training.”
---
Marinette was laying on Adrien’s lap and staring at the manual Red Robin had given her. “I just don’t get it. Why does he hate me?”
“I mean, you did start your first conversation off with, and I quote, ‘sorry we were late. We don’t have a jet that can just get us anywhere.’”
“I was clearly making a joke!” she huffed.
“Bugaboo, you know I know that, but he seemed really annoyed. Especially since we did kinda come in on a private jet…”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that!”
Chloé walked in and rolled her eyes at them. “Are we not meeting them for training today?”
Marinette looked over to see her suited up as Honeybee and Alya as Raposa standing next to her. “Oh, shit is it time already?”
“Yeah, that’s what we’re saying.”
“Tikki!”
“I’m here Marinette.”
“Spots on!” She turned to look at Adrien suiting up and merging with Kaalki. “Let’s go.”
---
There are moments in time that affect everything else. Alix and Luka would always try to impress upon them that time was important and that some things needed to happen in a specific way to make things work.
This would be the moment that changed everything.
This moment would change everything about Marinette’s life. All it took was three people with ADHD not remembering what time it was and a rushed moment to get through a portal.
---
“Oh shit!” Tim turned to see the portal opening and knew he was about to have to sit through another lecture. Bruce had agreed with Ladybug that revealing identities was a little too soon in the partnership. Usually, he had an alarm set on his phone to remind him with plenty of time to get suited up before Team Miraculous would portal into the common room. But Bart had his phone and he and Kon had been playing Mario Kart so he didn’t think about it.
“Red! Your alarm!” Bart ran into the room but it was too late. Ladybug was standing there looking right at him and from the look on her face, there was going to be bloodshed.
“M’Lady, what’s- oh…” Chat looked at him, then looked back to Ladybug and grabbed her. “Honeybee! Venom!”
But it was too late, Ladybug had already broken free of his grasp and was advancing on Tim. He scrambled back as quickly as he could.
“W-what is—!”
Then she grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. “You fucking know better! You know what it’s like! Your teammates have died in your arms! You! Know! Better!”
Ladybug was yelling at him and her earrings were beeping and his team was crowding in around him and her team was trying to call to her and all he could think was damn, Ladybug is hot when she’s angry .
“What do you have to say for yourself?” She shoved him into the wall again and he was a little worried that she might give him a concussion if she used any more force.
“I-i’m sorry?”
She dropped him and let out a scream. Sinking to her knees on the floor. “Sorry? You’re sorry?” She looked at Chat and her earrings let out a final beep. “He said that he thought it didn’t matter that you died so much because magic brought you back and he’s sorry?”
With a final beep, a pink light came from her body, and then Marinette Dupain-Cheng was sitting on the floor of the tower and looking up at him. “He’s sorry?” She quietly sobbed out.
Tim looked at her and couldn’t look away. “Oh shit.”
---
“Alright, that’s it!” Chat Noir picked her up. “Tikki, let’s go. They have to talk and she’s gonna need you when she’s ready to leave.”
“Adrien no! I am not going to talk to him!” She tried to struggle out of his arms but with no luck.
Alya stood by her and handed Adrien her purse. She chimed in, “it’s been three weeks since you slammed him into a wall and then disappeared from the tower. Kaalki had to come back by herself because you wouldn’t go back. You have to talk to him.”
“It’s not that easy!”
“Why? Because you think he’s hot?” Chloé asked from where she was sitting across the room.
Nino and Alya laughed at her face. “Come on Girl, we all knew you had a crush on Red Robin.”
“Yeah! But he’s also Tim Drake!” she responded indignantly.
“So what?”
---
“I can’t believe I was mean to her!” Tim was laying on the volleyball court on the roof of the tower and staring at the sky.
Cassie laughed at him and served the ball to Kon. “She was kinda mean to you.”
“Not to Red Robin she wasn’t!”
Bart zipped by with something and Kon sent the ball back at her while answering her. “She really hates Tim though doesn’t she?”
Tim threw his hands over his face. “At least I know why now.”
Bart zipped by again and then came to sit next to Tim. “I thought you said she had a crush on Tim.” Bart looked at Kon and then Tim looked at him as well.
“She had a what?” Tim asked.
“Well, it’s just the way her heart would pick up around you. For a moment when she saw who you are, I thought she was gonna kiss you.”
Tim sat up and gaped at him. “You thought she was going to…”
An alarm went off on Bart’s watch and he looked at the others. “It’s time!”
“Time? For what?” Tim looked around and then saw the portal opening. “What did you guys do!”
Kon answered as he picked Tim up and started flying towards the portal. “She had a crush on Red Robin, you had a crush on Marinette, we’re making the two of you talk.”
Kon shoved him through the portal and Tim landed on someone. “Sorry! I didn’t- oh.”
She glared at him again. “I’m going to kill my teammates, how about you?”
He scrambled to give her space. “Listen, Marinette-”
“It’s fine Tim, you hate me. I don’t need an explanation.” She stood up and took a couple of steps away.
“I don’t hate you.” He was sitting on his knees looking at her.
She turned around and looked right at him. Her bluebell eyes were wide and scared. “But you-”
“I don’t hate you,” he repeated, standing up to get closer to her. “I never hated you. I thought you hated me.”
She sniffled a little and he saw that she had been crying. “We agreed that a billionaire isn’t a people.”
She laughed at her own joke and it brought a smile to his face.
“I’m okay with not being a people.” He held out a hand. “Can we start over?” She took his hand and shook it. “My name is Tim Drake, I’m bad at first impressions, I think that magic is a little scary because I don’t really understand it, and I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. Oh, and I’ve been told that I am not a people.”
She giggled at him. “My name is Marinette, I can be a little weird and I steal things when I get overwhelmed. I’m bad at science because I’ve been using magic since I was thirteen years old. I fall in love with people hard and fast, and I think you’re one of the most amazing not-people I’ve ever met.”
They both laughed and Tim took another step towards her. “I really did fall in love with you. Every time you handled Damian’s outbursts. The way you danced with Cass, the way you could talk to Jason in stride even when he almost gave you a heart attack when he showed up with blood on his suit jacket. The way you flipped me the first time we trained together. Even when I didn’t like Ladybug I was still very impressed and more than a little turned on.”
She laughed again and he felt his heartbeat fast. “I fell for you when you handed Honeybee’s ass to her. Seeing you swipe her legs out from under her and lose her balance so hard she couldn’t even fly. Watching you whip my team into shape and not caring if you were going up against people who could slam you into a wall with so little effort.”
“Thanks for that by the way.”
“I didn’t- I mean- That’s not!”
Tim covered her lips. “Marinette, can I kiss you?”
She nodded. “Please.”
Their lips touched and everything else faded to the background. Who cared how they met, or the first impressions they left on one another. What mattered is that they both liked each other and that was enough.