Work Text:
There was only so much Marinette could do in 24h.
She had commissions, university, job projects, and a boyfriend who couldn't seem to remember that he had his own house.
"Tim, I need to work!" she groaned, poking her boyfriend on the shoulder. The man only ignored her and kept holding her waist, both laying on her bed while the sun set behind the skyline of Gotham.
"No, you don't. You are ahead on your commissions; the university homework and work can wait until you're cleared to be back in the office."
Oh, right.
She had been kicked out of the office to be forced to rest after a bad day and falling from her bike on her way back home from the Wayne Tower.
"It's not fair! You're the fucking CEO," she whined, trying to wiggle her way out. It didn't work.
"I am the fucking CEO, your boyfriend, and your brother will have my head if he ever discovers that I let you go three nights straight without sleep again." there was that too. Conner had made Tim promise that he would be good to Marinette.
The Kent family had fostered Marinette while the girl spent six months of exchange in Metropolis during her last year of high school.
She had met Tim during her last week in the city. Something about a new brother wreaking havoc in the Wayne family, an almost murder, and an old hook-up of the one and only Bruce Wayne with a random Arabian woman.
Damian's arrival had certainly been an interesting event.
"Kon won't hurt you," she mumbled, giving up her resistance and trying to find a more comfortable position against Tim's chest.
"He also was supposed to never forget about Jon's birthday, but he forgets every year and always ends up making up an excuse," supplied the CEO. The girl slapped his arm lightly and yawned.
"At least he tries. You didn't even try to find an excuse for Cassie's birthday when you used to date," Tim faked a hurt expression and bit Marinette's cheek. "Ow! That hurts!" she whined.
"Well, I've never forgotten your birthday," he smiled. Marinette snorted and pinched his side, making the man yelp. "Mari!"
"You don't forget because Damian says I am his favorite person and he reminds you of my birthday, on top of giving me a gift himself," she tucked her tongue out and smiled.
Marinette loved to brag about how Damian seemed to be attached to her.
When she first met the younger Wayne, they got into a heated discussion about the existence of magic and its various forms.
That was when he let slip about the League of Shadows and Marinette quickly covered for him when Bruce appeared in the office out of nowhere asking about what they were talking about.
The kid wasn't even supposed to be in the Tower!
It was a mess when they met again.
Damian had pulled Marinette to a room when Dick, the RH supervisor at that time, invited her for dinner in the Manor as a way to make amends for Damian's problematic behavior. There was nothing to apologize for, but they weren't having it.
The night ended up with Marinette discovering the identity of the batfamily and they finding out about her role as Guardian of the Miraculous (and the one who had kicked out Batman from Paris many years ago).
She had good reasons.
"Go on and rub on my face that my little brother likes you, you little gremlin," Tim mumbled, jumping forward to kiss Marinette's cheeks and tickle her sides until her face became red.
"It- it's not- my fault- that he likes me better!" she tried to say in between laughing and squirming on top of him. Tim only stopped when he noticed that she wasn't being able to breathe properly.
"Hey, hey! Are you okay?" she took a deep breath and nodded, still giggling while calming down her heart.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled, kissing his chin. "But before we really go to bed, let me take a shower first. I went grocery shopping earlier and I'm sweaty."
"Okay. There you go, stinky," Tim teased, finally letting go of her waist and watching the girl get up from the bed.
Marinette gathered her pajamas and a towel and skipped into the bathroom, but not before throwing a kiss in Tim's direction.
While she was showering, Tim took a moment to look around the room.
Of course he knew it like the back of his hand, but there was always something new. Marinette didn't know when to stop, to stay still.
There was a new roll of red fabric on her workstation, her university books had been moved to the other side of the desk to give room to a new project. She had changed her sheets from baby pink to a light purple and her curtains had been taken off.
He just knew that she was hating it with every ounce of her being because the morning light hit this side of her apartment first.
There was a framed picture over her desk, a selfie they took together with Lois, Clark, Kon, and Jon, when she was still a kid from an exchange program. In the back of the picture, Tim had written his phone number and given her. He wanted to keep in touch.
His definition of staying in touch didn't actually account for her landing herself an internship in the Parisian branch of Wayne Enterprises, and even less for the news that she had been accepted to study at Gotham University.
He was in love with a hard-worker designer and a top-class student.
The cherry on the cake was the fact that she was MDC.
That one hit hard.
After years of searching for a way to get to the designer, she exposed herself telling him that she had been under his nose the entire time. Unbelievable.
"I want you to know that it's really hard to keep a neutral face when you were gushing about loving MDC," she had said, face red from laughing after revealing herself.
It was a bigger secret than the Ladybug one, in his opinion.
"Hey! Timothy!" he heard yelling, being taken away from his daydream. Marinette was laughing by his side, laying on the bed. "What got you so distracted?" she mused, a smile on her lips. Marinette was wearing one of Tim's shirts that had been forgotten on her place on top of sleeping shorts.
"You," he answered, simply.
Tim pulled her by her elbows, cycling her shoulders with his right arm and kissing her forehead.
"All the little, amazing things about you," her cheeks reddened and all Tim did was giggle, because, God, he was so, so gone.
Marinette had his heart in her hands and didn't have the slightest idea.
"Well, then quit thinking and sleep. You are not allowed to stay up either," she said, in mock demanding. Marinette stretched her free arm above the headboard of her bed and turned off the light of the room, covering both with darkness.
The only available light was the one that came from the streets, only enough for Tim to make up her face profile against his chest.
They laid there, in comfortable silence and basking in each other's soothing presence.
Marinette repeated the happenings of the day in her mind, making up a list of things to do on the following day.
Tim repeated the happenings of every moment he noticed that he had fallen in love with the Parisian girl over and over again.
First, it was when they met in Kon's house.
Then, Marinette had been appointed as an outstanding intern in the Parisian branch of Wayne Enterprises.
Tim couldn't believe the coincidence when her university class had a field trip through the Financial division of Wayne Tower.
And again when Damian had become so attached that he refused to talk to anyone else in the Wayne Tower that wasn't her when he wanted to talk with his Father. It had to be Marinette.
Tim didn't have how to avoid it. His heart belonged to the beautiful Parisian girl, one way or another.
Fate always made sure they would meet again.