Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Damian groaned.

He was not having a good day.

First, Father decided to pair him with Todd, TODD of all people, for patrol.

Second, they had been assigned to do a stake-out at the warehouse near the dock that was suspected to be used as a part of Penguin's latest plot. His patience had been tested with Red Hood's annoying remarks when they had been ambushed by League Assassins.

Despite trying their best to fend them off, they were simply out numbered. Red Hood went down first after being shot by four tranquilizer darts which Damian knew could take down an elephant. Damian was shot while he switched his attention to Todd's condition.

His mother's face was the last thing he had remembered seeing as Damian tried to fight off the darkness.

"Don't worry, little one. You are just fulfilling your duties as heir to the Demon's Head. Then, all will be perfect." She had said, just before he fully lost consciousness.

Third, when he woke up, he was chained up and a major headache on top of it.

Taking a bearing of his surroundings through the pain, the room he was imprisoned in had two exits, an iron door and a window that had the view of his childhood home at Nanda Parbat. He shifted to get a more comfortable position when he noticed that he was no longer in the Robin suit. Instead, he was dressed in what looked to be the ceremonial clothes, for a Royal wedding.

Mother wouldn't.

Even if she was upset with Damian's decision to follow his father, she wouldn't do something like this to him.

Red Hood was chained up next to him as well but unlike him, still had his suit and helmet on.

Glancing to the other side, he saw a raven-haired girl, chained up and dressed in the black and gold robes of the bride. Confirming all of Damian's worst fear.

The girl had also retained consciousness and was staring at him.

Bluebell eyes met his piercing green.

His betrothal had a petite form. She also had freckles dotting her button nose and rosy cheeks. (She looked like an angel)

His mouth went dry at the thought of what to say to her.

Sorry that my psychotic mother kidnapped you to marry me?

"Savez-vous où nous sommes? (Do you know where we are?)"

Her voice was rough but it tugged something in Damian. Her eyes, blue like the Gotham Sky on a clear day, were wide and seemed filled with innocence yet carrying great sadness. She looked every bit an ordinary girl, not fit for this harsh and unforgiving world she was forcefully going to get married to.

She opened her mouth to ask another question and stopped, turning her head away as if listening to something.

Quickly, she went limp, appearing to be unconscious. Damian furrowed his brows in confusion. Why did she-

A moment later, he heard footsteps approaching and the iron door opened to reveal his mother.

Perhaps he shouldn't underestimate her skills.

Jason woke up to the sight of the Bitch Talia and Demon Spawn, face to face, glaring at each other. 

Talia broke the tense silence.

"Damian, I hope you know what you should do."

"To be forcefully married to that girl. Why am I getting married to her?" He demanded childishly.

Married? The Demon Spawn is getting married?!

Jason saw through his helmeted vision, a girl about Damian's age, chained up like them but not yet awake. He raised his hand and saw the shackles around his wrists. The chains were connected to the wall. He experimentally yanked the chains, drawing Talia’s attention.

“Jason, looks like you are still alive. At least Damian can have one of his brothers to be the best man for the wedding.”

“No. I don’t know what game you are playing but you better release us. B is gonna find us and you will pay. And let the girl go. She's innocent in all of this.” Jason said vehemently.

"Ladybug may not seem like it but she possesses great power that my father converted for centuries. Speaking of, she should be awake by now."

Talia stood up and grabbed Ladybug’s(?) hair and yanked so that her eyes met the girl's. The girl, who unfortunately was going to be the Demon Spawn's bride, lets out a cry and starts to tear up. Jason felt anger at how she was being treated.

"Tch, See, she is more pathetic than I thought. She is not powerful." Demon Spawn growled out. The girl starts babbling in French. From the little French Jason knows, she was begging for mercy.

“Like I thought, weak. She is not deserving of the title of my wife.” Damian spat out.

"Appearance can be deceiving. Despite her pitiful appearance, she is the current wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous and the Current Guardian. The old Guardian, the old fool had promised her in exchange for his protection." Talia countered, letting go of the girl.

Miraculous? Guardian? What the hell?

"That doesn't mean I want to marry her. She is not worthy of an Al Ghul or a Wayne. Look at her, crying at the slightest pain."

The mother and son begin to bicker. Damian, refusing to marry and Talia, trying to change his mind.

“Yes, both have to be willing to be married but the spell we placed on both of you will ensure that you will agree.”

The dark haired girl had stopped whimpering and started whispering in a strange language when the fight started, fiddling with the silver ring she wore. Jason saw a terrifying smile crossed the face of the girl across him that chilled him to the bones. A black blur came out of her robes and went through the door. He wondered if he imagined that before he saw a determined glint in her eyes.

He blinked.

Talia was choking on the chains that were previously chained to the wall and were now around her neck.

Fortunately for them, Talia had closed the door after her entrance and the guards most likely to be stationed outside didn’t storm into the cell. The girl whispered something in Talia's ear, making the woman's eyes widen with what could be fear.

The experienced assassin struggled to get free and tried to gain an upper hand on the girl but was unsuccessful, passing out from the lack of oxygen and strangely strong grip of the small girl.

What happened next was surprising. She breathed hard on her shackles which instantly disintegrated into flakes of rust. 

Holy Shit! She has magic.

Jason knows his mouth was hanging open under his helmet at that realisation. Damian seems to be in the same state.

Talia didn't have the keys to the locks. Being crafty like that.

"Call me Lady." she said in lightly accented English as she summoned black orbs at the tip of her hands. “Stay still.”

She then proceeds to place her hands on Jason’s shackles, turning them into nothing more than specks.

"I am Red Hood." said Jason, rubbing his wrists so glad that the girl appeared to be on their side for now.

"The little shit here," as he kicked Damian's leg, " is-"

"Damian Al Ghul", she spat out the last name with venom.

She moved on to Damian's bonds.

"Grandson of Ra's, demon heir, blah blah blah. Hold still, mon mignon. I am sure you don't want to lose a hand." She said sweetly.

Damian stopped moving at that, due to the pet name or fear Jason couldn’t tell but by the red at the tips of his ear, it could be the former.

Lady somehow managed to use what remained of the chains to hog tie Talia up.

“How do we get out?” Damian asked, inspecting the blade that he flinched from his mother.

“Hey, kit.” A nasally voice called out. “I checked out the place we are in. Like you asked. The way to the Throne room is heavily guarded and they seem to think old Ra’s the target. The Pits are guarded too but they are nothing you can’t handle.”

“What is that?” Jason asked. (He didn't shrieked. It was something Dick did. Not him. He didn't shrieked no matter what Damian said.)

“Thanks, Plagg, you will get that camembert danish when we get back. This is a kwami, a god of sorts and his thing is destruction so I wouldn’t insult him if I were you. He likes to go by Plagg”, answered Lady, which doesn’t clear up Jason’s confusion much.

“So, Pigtails, what’s the plan?” The floating, black cat-shaped god(?) asked.

“I was thinking of destroying the Pits to give Al Ghul a middle finger and call Maman to use the Horse to get home.”

“We need Tikki to get rid of it.”

“I will just tell Maman to bring the earrings.”

Damian snorted, “That sounds like a foolish plan. You are insane and not strong enough to take on the League alone, despite having a ‘god’ of destruction at your side. This Tikki or magic earrings will destroy the Pits, many have tried. And sorry to disappoint but no horse can make it up the mountainside of Nanda Parbat.”

“Have to agree with Demon Spawn here and I rarely do that. Your plan sounds insane, Pixie. You are just one girl. Let us help, we know the League better than you. We can come up with a better one.” Jason was worried for the girl, she was crazy if she thought her plan would work.

Lady smirked.

“It's a perfectly sound plan. After this is all over, we will split our ways and hopefully, never see each other again.”

“We can’t separate. My mother said there is a curse that will ‘make us fall in love.’” Damian said, using air quotes. “You need to come with us so we can get someone to break it.”

“Fine. But I need to do something before I am coming with you. Plagg, Claws out.”

Bright green light flashed around her and she was now dressed in a black bodysuit with green linings. It was armoured at the chest, knees and elbows. Her gloves were claws-like, reminding them of Selina and there was a belt carrying some vials, pouches and throwing stars. Her hair was now longer and braided and seemed to move on its own. Cat ears were attached to her head.  Her eyes were changed so the sclera were the same shade of blue as her iries and the pupils were slited like a cat. A black domino mask framed her face. Two ten-inch daggers appeared out of thin air in her hands.

The transformed Lady did the inhuman feat of kicking the door open. The assassins stationed outside were immediately knocked out by Lady.

“Well, are you coming or not?” She called out, before running down the corridor. Jason patted his shocked brother’s shoulder, “You doing okay there, demon spawn?”

“Tch, Let’s go, Todd.” Damian replied, trying to get rid of that funny feeling in his chest.

Chapter Text

Marinette also wasn't having a good day or a good week.

Lila Rossi had been up to her usual tricks. You know, spewing lies from her mouth. How she met these a wesome celebrities during this trip and they worship the ground she walks on for h er amazing and humbling help. There were stories of these charities,trips and galas that she had been to or was invited to. She has problems with her wrists and can't do simple stuff like carry her own bag or do her homework. She has tinnitus in her ears so she needs to sit in the front where the only seat available would be next to Adrien.

And for the finale.

The desert after feeding the class a banquet of lies.

"Mari...nette..has been bullying me, she...told..me not to tell anyone..*sobs*..that she would kill me if I did.."

Lila dramatically gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth. Turning on the waterworks for a more dramatic effect. They all ate it up, jumping on the ‘let’s hate Marinette, a bad person’ train.

"She is going to kill me now and I am so scared." That snake managed to snuck an evil smirk past her glaring, oblivious classmates.

Marinette, at this point of her life, had frankly given up caring for them due to the class's lack of brain cells and Agreste's spineless 'High Road' Approach.

For Kwami's sake, she went through a brutal torture that was passed for training in some jungle temple in Asia before Sabine Cheng, former mercenary/assassin, 'kidnapped' her (Actually, Marinette ran away and followed her around until Sabine begrudgingly accepted that she was now the 6- year-old girl's mother because screw it, Tom said that he had wanted children.) to raise/train as her own while she settled down with a baker whose mother may or may not have ties with the Mafia and other illegal activities.

(Mother-daughter bonding days became much more fun once she had Guardianship of the Miraculous. At first, Sabine was furious at Master Fu for dumping everything on the girl and losing his memories before swearing to help protect the jewels. Adopted or not, Marinette was her daughter and no one should let a child, even one with training, fight a war. A good thing to come out of her reveal was that her mother was a great tiger to have as back-up. But now, her training regime had become harder and more challenging.)

The point was that Lila Rossi would be dead and body missing since that first time she threatened Marinette in the bathroom. The Italian was in perfect health despite what she claims otherwise, because Marinette didn’t want to be the person she was raised to be and also she didn’t want to disappoint Tikki, she was fond of the little red kwami. But sometimes, she just wanted to give into the urge to kill.

She had met and dealt with unsavoury characters of all types and she can safely say that Lila Rossi was a manipulator that thrives on attention and like a parasite, latches herself onto the fame of others. None of the unsavoury people she had met got under her skin like Rossi had.

Marinette had enough self-preservation to drop the nice girl act and sometimes let the dragon underneath to surface. She stopped doing last-minute favours and giving away free stuff which Lila uses to her full advantage to further destroy her relationships with her ‘friends’. It was better than sticking her neck out for classmates that were no longer worth her time. Attempts to expose Lila had backfired due to the denial they are in, believing the liar to be a sweet, nice girl living the high life.

Adrien with his rose-tinted glasses firmly stuck to his eyes was not happy at all with her decision. That may also have to do with where she suggested he shove his advice after he tried to reason her to take the high road for defending herself for the umpteenth time. She felt like the biggest idiot to ever have a crush on him. Every time Rossi blames Marinette for a problem, he would shoot disappointed looks in her direction.

Alya being Lila's biggest guard dog tore into Marinette for her newfound 'bad' behaviour. The rest of Lila's supporters backed her up with "How could you do that to Lila","I can't believe you changed." Nearly all her so-called friends had turned their backs and lost all common sense to the Italian's manipulations.

Alya was supposed to be her best friend, aren’t you supposed to listen to your ‘bestie’ over a complete stranger

The designer took it all with a bored expression on her face, used to the lecturing which was a waste of time because her behaviour isn't going to change, no matter what, Lie-la will keep up the act of being the bully's (*cough*Marinette*cough*) victim.

Her heart that cracks the tiniest bit at the accusations. A small part of her, she admits, is hurt that they think so low of her. Was she really that worthless to them? All those times and efforts helping them out on last-minute favours and giving them free treats. Were they not enough to earn their friendship? Their trust or at the very least, a benefit of doubt?

The only ones who didn’t join the berating to 'correct' the raven-haired girl’s attitude were Chloe, Alix and Nathaniel. 

Chloe had proven herself to have changed after the miracle queen incident as Lila stole the spotlight and Sabrina. There were a lot of apologises and gifts. Lots of gifts. Alix came to her senses when the supposed bullying started. And Nathaniel...well, Lila blatantly claimed to be the artist for the Ladybug comic to his face and was being a generally annoying seatmate before she moved to sit next to Adrien.

“Girl, Marinette, are you even listening to me?”Alya demanded, snapping Marinette back to the reality which sucked.

“Maybe. Did you say anything that doesn’t have to do with Lila or how I did her wrong or how I am no longer the person you knew?”

Marinette knew that being sarcastic would backfire but nothing she does or says will change what they think of her. One word and some tears from Lila and they will turn back on her again. As much as she hates to admit it, Lila’s threat has fallen through and she was alone. Mostly.

She still had Chloe, Nathaniel, Alix, Luka and Kagami as friends. The trust-worthy and loyal kind.

“Girl,” Alya says in a disappointed tone, shaking her head, “when I look at you, I don’t see that girl who stood up to Chloe the bully-”, Chloe snorted, she had changed but they were too blind and prejudiced against her to notice her efforts, “-Picking on Lila, threatening and harassing her. This isn’t you and you know it. Just get over your jealousy on Lila being close to Adrien and apologise to her.”

If Alya had talked to her in the past 12 months other than demanding things that took away her time or anything relating to Lila, she would know that her infatuation had turned into annoyance.

Marinette sighed, too tired of this routine, tired of trying to knock heads so the brain cells can work again. Apologising would mean that Lila had won. She was petty and stubborn enough to not allow that to happen. Lila said she will take the class and Adrien. Fine, she can have them but Marinette Dupain-Cheng will not admit defeat. Bigger men had fallen to the ravenette for lesser offences. A year has passed since the expulsion and the class still hasn't regained common sense, so they can deal with the consequences after the inevitable downfall of Lila. And Marinette will be there to see them lay in the grave they dug for themselves.

Steeling herself for the pain that will come with the execution of her plan,

“What if I don’t. I won’t apologise to her because I have not done anything to her or even interacted with her. If I apologise, it would be insincere and a lie. And I hate liars.” The former assassin said evenly.

“Lila is not a liar. I don’t know why you are like this.” Alya said, frustrated.

Marinette knew there would be a small chance of an akuma with Gabriel Agreste having an important meeting to attend on this day that would last for the next hour. This was the small window of opportunity to start the plan and also further confirm the identity of Hawkmoth. Killing two birds with one stone.

 “Alya, this has always been me, you just never took the time to get to really know the real me.”, she replied, the last part with an icy tone.

“Well-... I- ..You-, fine, then if you can’t say those simple three words, we can’t be friends. I clearly don’t know what a selfish bitch you are. God, I can’t believe I wanted to be best friends with you. You are now replaced by Lila because unlike you, she is genuinely nice and selfless.” Alya declared. The rest of Lila’s supporters murmured in agreement.

 Phase 1, complete. Lure the Lie-la into a false sense of security by making her think she won. 

Marinette tried not to show how hurt she was, to be replaced by the scheming bitch. But at the same time she felt relieved, she no longer had to walk on eggshells in fear of losing the friendships of people she used to care about. It felt final as she maintained her stoic expression, hoping they didn't notice the glassy sheen her eyes had.

“Then, it is official. We are no longer friends.”

They haven’t been friends for a long time.

Mme. Bustier finally walked into the classroom to start the afternoon classes, signalling the end of the conversation. After class, Marinette resolves to inform them that she was resigning as class president which she was sure the class will be glad for. She was right.

Ladybug was pissed at Hawkmoth which was nothing new. He had sent out another akuma just as Marinette was back home and trying to relax after the stressful day. The akuma was not any of her ex-friends which she wasn’t sure to be thankful for or not.

Louise Martin was a boy about Luka’s age and mad at his friends who had blamed their fifth loss-in-a-row on him despite the fact that it was his skills that were getting them any progress. They were playing one of those recently released 5V5 skills and strategy battle games.

He was akumatized into Hayakuma as proof of Hawkmoth’s lack of creativity. Hayakuma was a bleached out version of Louise’s chosen hero avatar, Hayabusa whose outfit was basically what the media portrays ninjas to look like with some samurai aspects.

Unfortunately, he also had the hero’s ultimate special powers which were making four shadow copies of himself and being able to switch positions with them. Thanks to Rattlesnake’s Second Chance, they know that he can only make a switch once every two minute. Hayakuma also wields a sword, showing off his skills.

Just lovely.

Hydra and Ladybug were the only ones able to counter his attacks with Hydra’s sword and  Ladybug’s summoned one. Yeah, she can do that because she's Guardian. (plus plot convience, shh...)

The others managed to dodge and shield themselves from Hayakuma’s really sharp sword.

The shadows themselves were annoying as they would distract or hinder the miraculous users by grabbing them by their shadows and making them unable to move. Until Bunnix had the brilliant idea of shadow boxing which gave the heroes gain more even ground.

With how strong and a handful the akuma was, it was code ‘all hands on deck’. Ladybug, Stinger, Rattlesnake, Hydra, Bunnix, Trickster. Well, nearly every hand. Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ was busy with the bakery. Chat Noir was nowhere to be seen or very late which had been the norm for the last year ever since Ladybug wanted to form a new miraculous team consisting of permanent heroes.

(He didn’t show up for the first few months because the first permanent member was Ladybug’s mother who did not like his attitude towards her daughter. He ran away with his tail between his legs once he found out how she was related to Ladybug. His face when he realised it, was something Marinette will cherish forever)

At least when Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ was around, he would not dare act out of line. When she was gone however, he was back to his old ways.

After saving one of Louise’s teammates from Hayakuma’s sword, they gathered the rest of the team and hid them someplace safe. Using Trickster’s illusions to trick all the shadows and the original to one place, the heroes were going to surround and ambush them and get the akumatized item. The plan would have been a success if it weren’t for Chat Noir hugging Ladybug from behind, making her miss her cue.

“Hey~ Bugaboo~ Did you miss me~? Your Chaton~?”

Thwack! Smack!

Chat Noir was on the rooftop, groaning pitifully in pain. Especially his crotch area. Ladybug glared at him and looked to the ambush point to see the illusions had disappeared and everyone else was gone from their hiding place.

She sighed and turned on the comms, (Thank you, kwamis)

“Sting, did you venomed the akuma?”

“No, he escaped before I could. What happened, LB?”

“A certain cat got me delayed. What’s the status update?”

“Hydra is holding him off and Bunnix found out that an umbrella is a good substitute for a sword. The rest of us are keeping track of the shadows. They split up but none of them are getting near where we hid the targets.”

“Where are you? I will meet you later with back-up.”

“Near Notre Dame and tell Mama Tigress I said hi.”

“Tell her yourself.”

She looked down at Chat Noir- No, he is not worthy of being a hero anymore with the amount of times he had derailed and hijacked the plans to defeat the akumas just so he can ‘earn’ Ladybug’s heart.

She looked down at Adrien Agreste, who was sitting and sulking like a child that was unfairly punished. (Once she got over her crush and started looking at the right things that she managed to piece together her ‘partner’s’ identity by accident. Tikki’s confirmation sealed the deal.)

“Chat Noir, this partnership of ours,” she said, gesturing to the two of them, “ is going to change tonight. Meet me at our spot at 11 sharp. Now, go home.” She hoped she sounded suggestive enough.

He left with a small glimmer of hope in his eyes at her words. She felt a little bad about the manipulation but with the way things were now, it can’t go on. He was hindering more than helping and the people of Paris, at least the ones that weren’t shipping ‘Ladynoir’, were beginning to see that.

As she jumped towards Notre Dame, she called the bakery with her yoyo.

“Mama, are you free now? I need a little help with the akuma and can you bring the horse miraculous.”

Chat Noir waited excitedly at what they both dubbed at their ‘spot’, in the good old days when it was just the two of them. Maybe Ladybug was finally open to the idea of dating. Or maybe she must have seen what a great hero he is and was going to get rid of the team. Or realised that having her mother on her team was a bad idea. Parents are the worst and they both can be two rebellious teenagers in love. Like Romeo and Juliet. So romantic~.

He was so deep in his daydream that he didn’t hear his lady land.

“Chat Noir.” Startled, he nearly fell off the roof. No, don’t make a fool of yourself in front of Ladybug.

“Yes, Bugaboo.” Hoping she didn’t know that he was very distracted. His attention will always be hers 100%.

“Don’t call me Bugaboo. Tikki wants to talk to Plagg about Kwami stuff. So you go over and hide behind that chimney. Then, we can talk about why I told you to be here.” Adrien frowned and then smiled. His lady must be very embarrassed about her mistake. That must be why she is taking her time. He tried listening to what they were saying but the kwamis were talking in their special Guardian Language. Was it him or did Tikki’s voice sound more like his lady’s voice?

Suddenly, Adrien was tied up with Ladybug’s yoyo. “M’Lady? Bugaboo!? LADYBUG! WHAT IS GOING ON?!! PLAGG-”

Ladybug cuts in, “Adrien Agreste, you have been slack in your hero duty and choosing your own feelings over supporting your partner, me, the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous and current Grand Guardian, in the efforts to defeat the enemy of Paris, Hawkmoth. Due to those reasons, you are no longer worthy to be the Holder of the Black Cat Miraculous” in one swift motion, she took the ring off his finger, “As such you are hereby revoked of Plagg’s Ring.”

“NO, YOU CAN’T. YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I LOVE YOU AND I KNOW YOU LOVE ME BACK. WE ARE SOULMATES, WE ARE MEANT TO BE-”

Adrien went slack at Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ’s pinch on his pressure point.

“I don't know what you ever saw in the boy.”

“I don’t know either. I think I dodged a bullet here. Can you carry him back to his home? I think I have dealt with enough of him for tonight.” Ladybug muttered, as she erased Adrien’s memories of being Chat Noir.

Chapter Text

The next day was weird to say the least for everyone but for Marinette, it was another can of worms that she wished she didn’t open. For one thing, Chat Noir’s feelings obsession for Ladybug switched from one black-haired girl to another which unfortunately was Ladybug’s civilian form. Which meant Marinette had to deal with Adrien’s Chat-Noir-level flirting and bad pick-up lines.

Perfect, just perfect.

Everyone thought that a declaration speech of ‘being soulmates and the only one for him’ in front of the whole class from the ‘love of your life’ would warrant a ‘blushing to death and stammering’ or ‘outright fainting’. Not a facepalm, a groan, “Why me?” and a “I am sorry but NO. I don’t feel the same way about you”. Marinette vaguely wondered if there was some kind of rule for interesting events and confrontations to happen during lunch break while the class waits for Mme Bustier to start the lessons.

Marinette went to sit in her seat next to Chloe in the back row where she and her friends had been exiled to. The class was in stunned silence and questioning whether or not they had fallen into an alternate universe or were dreaming. Nathenial and Alix had the decency to try and hide their snickers. Chloe just started outright laughing, turning very red in the face.

Marinette felt a nudge from Plagg in her bag. Looking down, she saw them holding up her phone to show Lila’s gaping face of horror with a wicked smug grin on his face. She looked through the photos to see everyone’s faces of confusion and shock at her rejection. Eyes wide and jaws dropped on the ground. Different shots of her classmates in the same state. She smirked and showed them to Chloe who calmed down enough, letting out the occasional giggles and took the phone with glee.

“Thank you, Plagg. Here you go.” she whispered, giving him a camembert macaron. Tom had started experimenting with camembert in his recipes. Plagg is his first taste tester for all of them, making Tom one of Plagg’s favourite people. In short, the kwami was settling nicely in the new guardian's home.

Sadly, Adrien didn’t take the rejection very well.

“But we are meant to be. You are a designer and I am a model. Our partnership is the one to be envied by many for the ages.”

“And by that logic,” The designer turned to her main model for her MDC website, “Chloe, my love, will you be my one and only? For our love shines so bright, paralleled only by a thousand suns.” Using the same voice Plagg does when they go on one of his love odes about camembert before losing her straight face and start giggling.

Setting Chloe’s laughter off again and gasping for breath. “Mariiiii,...stop….I can’t-...I can’t…breathe....”

Nathaniel and Alix finally lost control and joined Chloe in death by laughter. Adrien was flustered, turning red in the face either from anger, embarrassment or both.

“But Chloe isn’t a model.”

Marinette decided to put a stop to this, just on the off chance that Gabriel finally decides to akumatized his own son. She recomposed herself.

“She is the main model for my website and we have a partnership. You, however, work for your father. So does Miss Rossi. Does that sound like the partnership to be envied by many for the ages? Hmmm, Agreste? Anyways, like I said before, I have no interest in dating you.”

“Why not? We are friends and sometimes, friends like each other enough to date each other.” Adrien angrily asked.

“Because- ” Marinette started to reply.

“Because, Adrikins,” Chloe cuts in, “friends having to date because one of them is interested in something more makes no sense and is fucked-up. Marinette doesn’t owe you anything. Besides, she already has a long distance boyfriend who lives in America.” 

“WHAT!?” Adrien shouted.

“What?!” The class had snapped out of their stupor. 'Since when had Marinette gotten over Adrien and had a boyfriend?' was on everyone's mind.

“What?” Marinette looked at Chloe with wide-eyes. Last she checked she was still single so what the hell was Chloe playing at. For Kwami’s sake, she hadn’t been on a date since the one with Luka which went awkwardly before they agreed that they think of each other more as siblings and it will be best to stay that way.

Chloe gave her a look that said ‘I will explain later.’

“Oh yes, they met online a few months ago and now they are all lovey-dovey together. It’s just so ridiculous, so utterly ridiculous how disgustingly in love they are. They have video call dates at least once a week and somehow make it work despite the time differences. He once came all the way to Paris just to see her. He brought her some special flowers that apparently meant-”

Marinette slapped her hand over Chloe’s mouth. “Well, Chloe, Queenie, as much as I love you as my friend, you can stop gushing about my love life now. Because class is about to start.” She said through gritted teeth as Mme Bustier finished taking her sweet time and walked in.

Sadly, Alya wasn’t done with the conversation ,“Wait a minute, since when did Chloe and you become close enough that she is modelling for you? And a boyfriend? Why didn’t you tell me, Girl? I thought we were friends. What about Adrien, he just confessed to you and you had been crushing on him for so long.” Many girls gasped, angry that Alya broke the unspoken girl code. 

“You have a crush on me?” Adrien looked hopeful. Like a lost kitten that had been stuck in the rain and was about to be allowed into someone’s warm and cozy home.

“I had a crush on you,” Marinette corrected him, emphasising on the past tense, “and Alya had no business of sharing that information to the entire world despite us not being friends anymore.” She glared at the journalist who looked at least ashamed at her outburst.

“You wanted to date Kagami so I moved on.”

One of the reasons anyway. I found out that you were my partner who had no concept of boundaries. That you were also a coward who only wants to maintain the class peace at the price of my mental health, she thought.

“Instead of continuing to pursue you.” She hoped the ever dense and oblivious model would get the hint she gave him. “And Mme Bustier, it is time to start the lessons, don’t you think? Instead of focusing on the class drama to gossip about later on.” Marinette glared at the teacher, reminding her to do her job.

“Oh. Right.” Mme Bustier tried to regain her ‘perfect teacher’ image after getting embarrassed at being caught, “Right. Class, turn to page-”

As soon as the bell rang for the end of school, Marinette dragged Chloe all the way to her room. Alix and Nathaniel followed them because as far as they know, Marinette had no boyfriends and they were as curious to find out what scheme Chloe had cooked up this time. They were as complicated and crazy as Ladybug’s. No offence, Marinette. 

“Okay, Queenie, you have to explain why I now have a devoted American boyfriend who I am so in love with.” Marinette crossed her arms with a frown aimed at Chloe. The kwamis got out of their respective hiding places and went to the tray of food set out for them.

The trapdoor to her room opened, revealing the rest of their friend group before Chloe said anything.

“Did we miss anything?” Kagami asked as Longg and Sass joined the other kwamis.

“Juleka said something about you having an American boyfriend and how he sounded so romantic. Does that have to do anything with the text Alix sent us to come here?” Luka added.

“To recap, Adrien made a love confession to Marinette,” Alix started, biting into some of the delicious pastries the Dupain-Chengs gave them, "in front of the entire class after an entire day of bad flirting and pick-up lines. It was also funny if he wasn't so obsessed with having her attention only on him all the time.”

Kagami sent Marinette a look of pity. The fencer had broken up with Adrien a few days after finding out that he was Chat Noir after he recklessly de-transformed in front of her and told Plagg that she was just a placeholder after ranting about getting his lady. She was nearly akumatised if it weren't for Longg calming her down and advising her to tell Marinette about Adrien. Having grown up with an assassin for mother, it wasn't hard to deduce who Ladybug is based on her fighting style and the few assassins living in Paris like her family.

“Wow, even after having his memories erased of being Chat Noir, he is still after Ladybug.” Luka chuckled, with the others joining in.

Marinette whined, “It was easier when he was Chat Noir. But now as Adrien Agreste, teen heartthrob, it is going to be much more difficult to get into his thick head that I don’t see him that way and now that Alya outed my old crush to him, it is going to get harder.”

“Oof. Sucks to be you.”

“So, our Mari-bug rejected him. He threw a tantrum and sulked, like he did as Chat Noir, how did we not notice?,” Alix continued, “Anyways, after demanding reasons why they can’t date, Chloe made up a fake American boyfriend for Marinette who she was in a long-distance relationship with. Speaking of, why did you do that?”
“I have known Adrik- Adrien since we were in diapers and I know how that mangy cat works. He grew up on Disney and had all those fairytales stuffed into his head. If you had told him that you were just not interested in dating at the moment, it won’t work because he will try his hardest to ‘woo’ you, because he still has a chance. He won’t push his luck as much if you were off the market.” Chloe explained.

“I am sure that, judging by the fact that Chat Noir still tries to date Ladybug despite her saying she is in love with someone, Adrien might try to get more proof of this boyfriend to make sure Marinette is just not pretending to have one.” Kagami pointed out.

“Ahh, but luckily I have a back-up plan. I have a friend, Tim. We met at a few galas when we were younger and kept in touch. He also owes me a favour.”

“I hope this Tim Drake is at least cute.”

“Oh, honey, he is and he’s older than you by two years and,” Chloe typed something on her phone, “A fellow caffeine addict so you can bond over that. Here’s a picture of him and his brother.”

On her phone were two extremely attractive and fit young men dressed in expensive suits at what looked like a gala, the older one had a charming polite smile with bright blue eyes, looking somewhat interested at what someone off-screen was saying despite looking like he would fall asleep any moment. His brother, however, looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was. He was tanned and had green eyes that promised murder for daring to even breathe in his direction. Marinette noticed that he looked a little familiar but she can’t place why.

“Tim is the one that looks like he hasn’t slept in days and that’s his brother Damian next to him.”

“Wait a minute. That’s Tim Drake and Damian Wayne. Sons of Bruce Wayne, the billionaire co-CEO of Wayne Industries, which Tim Drake is also co-CEO of.” Nathaniel said with wide eyes and looked at Chloe, “You are using your favour from him to give our Mari here a fake boyfriend.”

“Of course, only the best for our Mari-bug.”

“Chloe, no, he is probably busy as he is with running the company. No need to get him involved in petty teenage drama.” No matter how much she doesn’t want to date Adrien, bothering a busy guy to be her fake boyfriend is not worth it in Marinette’s opinion. Which, of course, gets overruled by the overprotectiveness of her friends.

“I, for one, think this is one of Chloe’s better plans.” Kagami commented, the others agreeing with her. Traitors .

“Hey!” Chloe exclaimed, an offended look on her face, “Anyways, I will call him later.”

“Children, you better go home now before your parents worry.” Sabine’s voice came from below, “Remember we are also going through some drills tonight so try not to be late.” Having a former assassin for a mother is handy when you want to train a team of teenage superheroes.

“Bye, guys. See you later.”

“Just because you have been trained since birth does not excuse you from the drills. You also need to get used to using other miraculouses.” Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ reprimanded her daughter with her arms crossed. When Ladybug started her new team, she was the first permanent member but as the team got bigger, she had stepped back to be the back-up and mentor role for the team.  

“Yes, Maman, I know but I am nearly finished with this commission. I will catch up with you later. Promise.” Marinette stretched, looking up from her latest project. Plagg was napping in the little basket she had made for all the kwamis to sleep in which fit all of them and had some extra space for Nooroo and Dusuu after they had been retrieved.

The reason she had Plagg instead of Tikki who was with Alix was because of the new tactic the Miraculous Team came up with. To keep the balance the Ladybug and Black Cat must be active at the same time but with Adrien gone, someone must wield the ring until a new permanent holder is found and it was not a good idea for both of them to be on the same person at the same time for obvious reasons. The team decided to rotate using the earrings and ring between them with Marinette using other miraculouses when the others have them. It also had the added bonus of making it harder for Hawkmoth to find out who has them at any given time.

“See you later, 灵儿 (líng er, means intelligence). I will give you 15 minutes but that’s it. Don’t be late.” Sabine sighed and got out the skylight and went towards the warehouse where the Miraculous team met for training. It was one of Sabine’s emergency safehouse to use in times of emergency and it had the required space to train 6 teenagers.

However, Marinette never made it to the warehouse.

Because a few minutes after her mother left, the skylight opened to let in five figures, dressed in dark colours to easily blend into the shadows like they were trained to be. Too bad they weren’t as quiet. Marinette immediately grabbed a bo-staff to defend herself.

One of them lunged at her and she retaliated by hitting the end of her staff to their middle, coupled with a couple more blows and landed one that knocked them out. The others threw throwing stars which she dodged by jumping back. Which landed her to be trapped by the two assassins whom she didn’t notice had moved. She cursed in every language she knew as she struggled against them. It led to no avail as she was badly out-numbered. There was a prick on her arm and her world went black.

Plagg awoke to a loud commotion. Irritated, he poked his head out to see his new temporary kit knocked out, tied up and being hauled away. Recognizing the kidnappers as assassins of the League of Shadows, he scowled.

Ra’s Al Ghul was going to pay.

Plagg may not act like it much but the black kwami was patient and smart. Smart enough to leave a note with an explanation somewhere visible in the aftermath of a fight before trailing the assassins. Oh, Roarr’s tiger was going to be pissed once she found out what happened. Wherever they were taking Marinette, it would be best to have a kwami of destruction to help her escape. The night made Plagg almost invisible and allowed to move unseen. He caught up easily to the assassins and blended in with his holder’s midnight hair. Now, his patience came into play. It was a matter of waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Chapter Text

Marinette came to a dungeon cell with two other prisoners. One of them was awake and he looked vaguely familiar. The other had an ugly red helmet that didn’t help with the headache she had.

“Do you know where we are?” She asked the handsome stranger with beautiful green eyes, her throat a little dry.

Wait. Handsome. No bad Marinette. Don’t fall for fellow prisoners, no matter how cute he looks. Oh Kwamis, she was already screwed, wasn't she?

He still hadn’t replied. Maybe he didn’t understand French. She tried to ask again in another language before her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of footsteps. She faked unconsciousness. The boy looked at her strangely. Later, she heard the iron door open. She looked through the tiniest slits of her eyes she could muster as Talia Al Ghul, daughter of Ra’s, head of the League of Shadows, walked in and the cute boy, she was holding a glaring match with, had some resemblance to her, so he must be her son.

Dennis? Daniel? Damond?

"Damian, I hope you know what you should do."

Ohh..Damian. Where else had she heard that name before?

"To be forcefully married to that little girl. She is no one special. Why am I getting married to her?"

Ouch, that hurts. Well, Damian, just because I forgot your name, does not mean you can call me a little girl. I can also kill you very easily and painfully.

“Well, Jason, you are awake. You can be the best man for the wedding.”

“No. I don’t know what game you are playing but you better release us. B is gonna find us and you will pay. Let the girl go. She is innocent in all of this.” Red Helmet or Jason is officially not going on her shit list for his atrocious fashion choices. But that red monstrosity still needs to go.

"Ladybug may not seem like it but she possesses great power that my father converted for centuries. Speaking of, she should be awake by now."

Marinette felt her hair being yanked. A little pain was expected but the really sharp claws digging into her scalp was not. Making her cry and tear up.

”I am so sorry, kit.” Plagg whispered in the kwami language.

"Tch, See, she is more pathetic than I thought. She is not powerful." Damian growled out.

Geez, thanks for the compliment, it’s not like you ever had a tiny cat dig its claws into your scalp out of surprise. ( Damian once had a kitten thrown at his head and if he knew about Plagg, he would have been a little more sympathetic. ) Marinette started begging for mercy, hoping they would buy the helpless girl out of the suit who is ill-suited for the job she had been chosen for and had no idea on how to escape.

“Like I thought, weak.   She is not deserving of the title of my wife.”

Oh kwamis, what did she ever do to end up with such a picky groom? The more he insults her, the less she wants to be married to him. Maybe that's his own plan.

"Appearance can be deceiving. Despite her behaviour, she is the current wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous and the Current Guardian. The old Guardian, the old fool had promised her in exchange for his protection."

Great, another reason to stop Maman from killing a senile old man.

"That doesn't mean I want to marry her. She is not worthy of an Al Ghul or a Wayne. Look at her, crying at the slightest feeling of pain."

So that’s where she heard it from. The boy was the son of the daughter of a guy who leads a secret order of assassins and a man that owns a multi-million business. How did a billionaire meet an assassin, end up in bed with her and live? Something to think about for later. She quieted down her sobs, ( beat that acting, Rossi ) kept her voice low to hatch out a plan with Plagg in the kwami language while the mother-son duo bickered.

“Hey, Plagg before you go, you think I can do that thing, the one which one of your past holders from Japan can do.”

“You have a lot of potential for destruction but you have not used the ring for a long time yet so I am not sure.”

“I will give it a go anyways. Nothing to lose after all. See you later, Plagg.”

Marinette smiled in anticipation, one that drove fear into the hearts of even the bravest of people. Plagg returned it before zipping out of the cell to do some scouting. Using the enhanced strength the French superheroine got from prolonged use of the Miraculous, she yanked the chains out of the walls and jumped onto Talia to wrap them around her neck, cutting off her air supply.

The League of Assassins thought that they could kidnap her and get away with it. But they were no match for the daughter of Sabine Cheng, the deadly Blue Reaper. A high ranking member from the group of assassins and mercenaries called the Guild of Night, who had semi-retired. Kidnapping her was a bad move to make as it meant they had declared war on the Guild, despite the reason behind her abduction having a completely different intention.

She whispered as such to the older woman in her tight grip, making sure the League would know how much they had fucked up. After dropping the limp body, she took a deep breath and tried channeling some of the energy from the ring for what she was about to do.

Well, here goes nothing.

She breathed out on the shackles, turning it to rust.

Success!

She introduced herself as Lady and concentrated the energy from before into her hand, forming inky black orbs of destruction in order to free her fellow captives. She felt a little drained from doing magic out of the suit and tried not to show it. Plagg returned, informing her of where the Ra’s and the Pits were. She grinned at the thought of showing old Ra’s who the boss is and made sure he regretted ever messing with her. She explained about Plagg as vaguely as she can to the other two prisoners. No need to let anyone know about the miraculous than necessary. Sure her plan sounds insane but the boys don’t know who they were with.

She would worry about that curse after she got out of Nanda Parbat. Although she could probably find something in the grimoire to reverse it, she was still an amateur at magic so it was best to have a professional to take care of it. Marinette didn’t want to be with such an asshole, no matter how striking he looked in those regal robes.

Picking off the League assassins one by one was easy, especially in her transformed state. She hadn’t appraised her suit properly but from what she had seen, it wasn’t like Chat Noir’s leather get-up. She was armoured in vital areas and her colour scheme was mainly black with green accents. There were vials that were probably poisons and pouches which she decided to look at later. She still had a long braid as a tail from her brief stint as Lady Noire but she wondered why her suit was different.  While hiding in a niche she found to take a break from taking out assassins, she called the bakery via the comms inside the baton which Chat Noir wasn't aware about.

“Hello?”

“Papa, it’s me, Marinette. Do you know where Maman is?”

“She went out of Paris, talking about how this League must pay. I think she is meeting up with several of her old friends. Are you alright, my little blossom? I know you can take care of yourself but I worry.” The relief in Tom’s voice was palpable.

However, she was right and the Guild was going to war against the League. Marinette was adored by nearly everyone in the Guild due to her strangely bubbly and cheery personality despite the brutal lifestyle she had grown up in.

“I am fine, Papa. Did Maman use the Horse to leave? And how are my friends?” She knew they might be in a panic after her disappearance.
“I think she did. I didn’t see Kalki when I went to feed the kwamis. Your friends panicked when they found out you were kidnapped. But they are fine now, mostly worried about you. Took care of some akumas and senti monsters by themselves. I think your fencer friend, Kagami, knows more about the League than she lets on.”

Of course, she does. Her mother was a member of the Guild before being blinded due to a mission. Kagami and her actually first met years ago during an annual gala thrown by the members, and not the match that led to her becoming Riposte. (Although it was wrong of her to call in Adrien's favour, but Kagami had stolen one of her favourite daggers the last time they met.)

“Thank you, Papa. Love you.”
“Love you too.”

She hung up and dialed the personal phone number her mother uses that only Marinette and her family knows about. She waited for the call to connect, trying to think of ways to stop her mother from storming into the League’s base of operation.

“Maman, it’s me. I know you want to attack the League right this minute. But I have a better plan. Can you get Tikki’s earrings from Alix? We can use them and the ring to destroy the Lazarus Pits.” She peeked out of the niche she was hiding in. She had been there for a while and needed to move if she don't want to be caught.

“Hold on, Marinette. Where are you? And are you okay?” Panic and worry filled her usually composed mother’s voice.

“I am somewhere in Nanda Parbat and I am fine. I was nearly married off to Talia’s son but I am not now. I think.” Marinette replied. Better to rip that band-aid off before she showed up with her would-have-been-husband.

“ Kalki, Full Gallop. Okay, we will talk about the ‘nearly married’ part later. What was this plan to destroy the Lazarus Pits?” Sabine thought she was already used to Marinette’s brand of craziness that was her normal but apparently, not.

“I am currently on my way there. Plagg said we need Tikki to get rid of them. So go get the earrings. Only those. No need to bring Alix. Since the League pissed me off and by extension the rest of the Guild, I thought our first move against them should be destroying the Pits which we can plus a trail of bodies. By the way, can you get some cheese for Plagg?” Marinette ran through the halls and knocking out some poor assassins with a whack on the head as they try to stop her.

“Voyage. Alix, where are you? We need Tikki for one of Marinette’s insane plans. And Marinette, stay safe, sweetie, I’ll be there in 15 minutes. ” 

"And the cheese."

"And the cheese."

“Bye, Maman. See you there.” Marinette tap the comms to end the call.

She turned another corner, the last one before the path that leads to the entrance where the Lazarus Pits were. She only managed to find it with the help of Plagg who helpfully (for once) showed it on the screen of the baton and maybe some leftoveer Tikki’s luck. Unfortunately, that luck ran out because the entrance had a lot of guards who were warned and already spotted her.

Crap.

She hoped her mother would get here soon. Thankfully, being transformed gave her a boost and would help her to hold her ground for a while.

Damian and Red Hood followed the trail of unconscious bodies and sounds of fights and taking out any assassins crossing their path while trying to find Lady. Damian was impressed at the level of her skills to defeat many of the League’s assassins although he could probably do better. They relied on his memory to find the Lazarus Pits, which was their best bet to find her as she claimed to be able to destroy them. If Lady possessed such powers, they must find out whether she is a threat to the world or not. And also break the infernal curse they have.

Red Hood was silent mostly. He made a few jabs about how kick ass his ‘bride’ was and how the current Robin should not let her get away. Damian tried really hard not to just maim his adopted brother and also ignore that little fluttering in his chest that happened every time they saw an unconscious assassin left behind by Lady. The sounds of fighting got louder as they got nearer to the entrance. They turned the final corner to see Lady fighting against the guards who outnumbered her. But she seemed to be doing fine against them. Mostly.

One had slipped through her defences and nearly stabbed her in the back if it weren’t for Damian grabbing one of Red Hood’s guns and shooting a rubber bullet to the neck. He jumped into the fight, grabbing the fallen assassin’s sword and taking out the knife he had taken from his mother. Jason joined in too, not going to let the two teens have all the fun. 

“Thanks for the save, Al Ghul but I don’t know why you bothered when me being dead would solve your little curse problem.” Lady said as the guards laid around them and they tried to catch their breath.

“It’s Wayne. I go by Wayne these days. Being an Al Ghul is not something I learned to be proud of. And as much as I don’t want this curse, your death is not worth that price.” he replied (Okay, maybe Richard and time away from the League had mellowed him out a bit), “Although, I have to wonder why you would choose to die rather than live.”

She chuckled, “Okay, Wayne, to answer your question. Petty teenage drama makes death much more preferable. On top of that, I have responsibilities that I was practically forced into for doing one little act of kindness.” Her tone was joking but there was a touch of bitterness in it. It made Damian want to find out what caused it. Red Hood looked at her, probably with a look of concern under the helmet. Lady went down the stairs, ignoring their reactions to her words. They followed her, not wanting to lose sight of her again.

The Lazarus Pits emitted a green glow that lit up the cave and cast strange shadows on the walls. At the edge of the glowing toxic green waters was a woman in dark blue clothing and strangely enough wearing sunglasses. Strapped to her sides were two Dao, ancient Chinese swords. She wore a vindictive expression on her face as she stood staring at the green lake, likely to kill anyone who gets in her way. Damian didn’t recognize the woman as part of the League but he was taking any chances. He got into a fighting stance and Hood did the same.

However, Lady calmly approached the woman. He reached out to grab her to stop her suicidal nature when she shocked him by speaking to the blue-clad assassin in French,

“Hey, Maman, sorry I am late. I had a little trouble with the guards upstairs. You have Tikki?”

Lady’s mother rushed to hug her, “ 灵儿 ( líng er), I am just glad you are alright. I know you could handle yourself but a mother worries.”
How the hell did Lady’s mother get to the Lazarus Pits faster than them and snuck past several vigilant guards? Before Damian could question further, a red blur appeared and went to Lady’s face, hugging her cheek. It appeared to be the same size as Plagg but was red, looked like a bug and had a black dot on its forehead.

“Oh, Marinette, you are alright. I was so worried when your mother showed up, saying you were kidnapped and needed my earrings to escape.” Unlike Plagg’s nasally voice, her voice was sweet and shrill. 

So, my bride’s name is Marinette. Such a unique name for an intriguing girl.

Wait what?

Wayne, stop thinking such ridiculous notions. That is probably the curse working. Resist against it.

He will not be ensnared in the traps of such magic. He hoped that the curse will be reversed before he turns and act like those fools in Grayson’s idiotic shows or Todd’s ‘secret’ romance novels. (Meanwhile, Jason had an itch on his left ear which he wished he could take off his helmet to scratch.)

“I am fine now. See,” reassured Lady, “We actually need you and Plagg to reverse the Lazarus Pits to what it was before someone made the wish that resulted in them in the first place. Oh, I almost forgot. Plagg, claws in.”

Green light flashed, leaving Lady in her wedding robes ( which actually flatter her body. Shit. Think of something else. Father in his hideous neon green suit he wore at a gala a year ago after losing a bet to Brown. Drake with a smug superior smile that needs to be wiped off his face. Grayson and his plans for ‘family bonding’ ) and Plagg to reappear.

“Cheese.” whined the cat-like kwami(?) to which the older woman held out a brown bag that smelled terrible but made Plagg perk up in delight. (He made the same face Alfred the Cat makes when it is feeding time.) He proceeded to open the bag, taking out a slice of stinky cheese, muttering about the greatness of camembert.

Todd cleared his throat and asked in English, “Umm...Pixie as much as your reunion is touching. Who’s the new lady?”

“Oh Right, sorry. Well, Red Hood, this is my mother, the Blue Reaper of the Guild of Night. Maman, this is Red Hood and the one next to him is my husband-to-be and Talia’s Spawn, Damian Wayne.”

Lady introduced them, also in English. Damian stilled in fear, recognizing the name. The Blue Reaper nearly became his mother-in-law. She was famous for her efficiency and ruthlessness. And gained her nickname from the blue clothing she often wore as she killed her targets. His eyes also widened at how his grandfather had gone a little too far now by kidnapping the Reaper’s daughter. There were other organisations that could possibly take down the League if it weren’t for the somewhat truce between Ra’s and the other leaders. The Guild was one of them and having the Lazarus Pits to revive their soldiers made the League a little more powerful. But if what the mother-daughter duo were planning succeeded, then the League was going to have one of its most deadly wars in its history and would probably never recover from it.

“Tikki, Plagg, you guys ready?”, asked Lady.

“Yes, Guardian.” They both replied and emitted a blinding red and green light which Damian shielded his eyes from. When it died down, the Lazarus Pits no longer glowed a toxic green and looked… like normal hot spring water.

“Oh. I wished I could see Ra’s face when he finds out.” Lady laughed. Plagg and Todd joined in.

“Pixie, I am beginning to like you.”

“Voyage. That being said, it’s time to go home, Marinette. Your father must be worried sick about us by now. I hope you boys can find your own way back.” A portal opened up, showing a cosy living room. Damian grabbed Lady’s wrist as she moved towards it.

“Wait, let us come with you. We need to contact someone to get rid of the curse on both of us. And we can also call our father to send us tickets for a ride home from wherever you live.”

“Curse? Marinette, you never mentioned a curse in your call.” Blue Reaper said, raising her eyebrow.

“I will explain later. They can come with us and I am pretty sure Ra’s knows that we have escaped by now.” Lady grabbed the two brothers and dragged them through the portal.

She then threw herself onto the couch after releasing her hold on them and the two pocket gods went to comfort her after her ordeal. The Blue Reaper stood where the other portal was and fed a floating tiny grey horse, that must be the same species as Tikki or Plagg, some sugarcubes.

“You boys must be tired but the showers are upstairs and we might have some clothes your size. Dinner will be ready in an hour. You can stay the night if you want. Welcome to Paris.”

Chapter Text

(Fun history lesson I made up...)

Long ago in the past,

The Guild of Night was known as the Guild of Shadows and there were rumours of a new organisation called the League of Shadows being formed. The then-Leader of the Guild whose name is long forgotten to history and only remembered as the ‘Bastard’ by Ra’s seeked to have a tentative allyship between the two organisations.

Most of the negotiation went well until Ra’s stumbled upon a clause in the treaty that wanted the League of Shadows to replace the ‘Shadows’ in the name with something else. There was a duel over it because Ra’s was a petty bitch at the 'Bastard' for trying to copyright the word ‘Shadows’ before copyright existed.

The 'Bastard' loses so the Guild agrees to change their name reluctantly in bitter defeat. The alliance between the two was broken within the first month. Thus, starts a long feud between the League of Shadows and the Guild of Night.

Two guards stood outside the throne room as thunderous roars of anger can be heard from the inside. It was partially decorated for the wedding that will never be, seeing as both the bride and groom had disappeared. ( Never mind that they were both there against their will and the only one who would have been happy during the usually joyous occasion would be Ra’s. )

The unlucky lackey of the League who had delivered the message about what Marinette did to the Lazarus Pits, had fled as soon as he had given the news. The room was a mess with destroyed decorations, shattered vases and crushed flowers everywhere.

Talia then chose that moment to interrupt her father’s rage.

“Talia! You have failed me. How could you let them escape?!”

She faced her father’s rage as he yelled at her for her failures with an emotionless face.

Once he had calmed down, she coughed, “Well, it appears that there was some vital information we missed about Ladybug in our rush to gain the Miraculous through the union.”

“What information?” Ra’s hissed.

“That she’s the daughter of the Blue Reaper.”

“The Blue Reaper….of the Guild of Night?”

“The very one it seems. The guards reported seeing a woman in blue with the Guardian before they escaped through a portal.” Talia tried not to sound very worried with the news.

It had been centuries since Ra’s had felt fear as the implication of the situation he had now found himself in.

The ability to raise the dead via the Lazarus Pits was what kept the League in a steady stalemate against The Guild. The other organisation was older and had resources and connections that he didn’t have. The Blue Reaper was one of the notable known few who holds a seat at the High Table which oversees everything in the Guild. The assassin has a reputation as being ruthless and relentless in pursuing her targets who were often found dead within a few hours of receiving a blue rose which was her calling card.

And he had just kidnapped her daughter.

In other words, he was fucked.

Damian laid in bed, thinking about the recent turn of events. Lady, who told them that they can call her Marinette since they might as well get acquainted while the Waynes were in Paris.

She had found out Jason’s identity after a few google searches while they both were taking a shower. It had taken a few arguments and one sentimonster attack that cut one of the arguments short to trust the Dupain-Chengs with their secret identities. His bride was apparently a superhero too. Has been for a few years. In a different world, he might have actually dated her out of his own free will and fought crime with her together.

Damian shook his head at that thought.

That was the curse talking. Get a hold of yourself, Wayne. Resist. Don’t think about Marinette and her blue eyes.

Back to the akumas, Paris had been under the control of a magical terrorist for years. Lady Noire, formerly known as Ladybug, formed a team to battle against him. He also found out about the Guardian who chose Marinette and someone else, who wasn’t spoken about much except that his name was Chat Noir and she now wields his ring temporarily, to fight against Hawkmoth as partners. The same Guardian that promised her hand-in-marriage in exchange for protection from the League of Assassins. Sabine, the Blue Reaper, had to be restrained from killing the old amnesiatic man by her husband who was reluctant to do so and also wanted to help her.

Hawkmoth also had a partner who went by the name, Mayura, with a power similar to his and could create animated-monster out of negative emotions. Their top suspect was Gabriel Agreste, with much evidence pointing his way but they had difficulty trying to confirm it nor had the time to gather evidence to do it. The local authorities were helpful but getting a search warrant for a famous, rich designer who was a known recluse with circumstantial evidence is not possible.

After informing their father of their kidnapping and the situation in Paris ( and racking up the Dupain-Cheng's phone bill ), they were told to stay there and help as much as they can. Tim, who had been coming to Paris for a vacation ( suspicious behaviour for Drake, investigate that later ), got his plans hijacked and was now going to help uncover Hawkmoth’s identity.

When the Justice League had reached out a few years ago, they were rebuffed by the Mayor. Nightrunner got into contact with one of the heroes, Ladybug, who asked for a meeting outside of Paris with Wonder Woman and Batman came along, to assess her. They didn’t expect the Paris’s heroine to be a young girl around Robin’s age.

3 years ago…

“Bonjour, Princess Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolayta, it is an honour to meet you. And you too, Batman.” The spotted heroine greeted both of them with Nightrunner beside her.

“The pleasure is all mine, Ladybug. But I am confused as to why you have refused the Justice League’s help.”

Wonder Woman was worried that both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses were active again and for many good reasons. They were only used during some of the world’s worst events or if a Miraculous is being misused for evil causes.

“I would be glad for some help but Paris is run by an incompetent Mayor who turned your offer down. He wants no one outside of Paris to think that the city is unsafe due to Hawkmoth and keep the tourism numbers high. The other reason is that my Miraculous Cure can restore any physical damages done during a fight and involving you might result in more damages than I could cure. As much as I hate to say it, his refusal was a good thing because I think it would be better if there weren’t any superpowered people in Paris, akumas amplifies one’s power and I don’t want to fight you after you had a bad day.” Ladybug explained.

Nightrunner murmured in agreement, remebering the fight with the meta who had been unfairly fired from their job. It had prompt many movements to get metas out of Paris or out of the country entirely. He felt sorry for the kid who had to deal with the many powerful akumas that came from the outcome. She had come to him a couple of time for help. It was a while before things settle down and they could finally find time to contact Batman to get help from the JL.

“Do you know how Hawkmoth operates?” asked Batman. He had read reports of the situation but wondered the true extent of it.

“Hawkmoth has the butterfly miraculous, and it has the power of transmission. In the right hands, they would be used to grant ordinary people powers as the user’s champions." Wonder Woman explained. Her mother had told her about them as a child.

"But in the hands of Hawkmoth, he targets people with high negative emotions, a girl after a bad break-up or a student with a failed grade. He grants them powers to use for revenge or some obscure and twisted version of justice. In return, he asks for mine and Chat Noir’s miraculous. With our two miraculous, he can make a reality-altering wish so it is best if we keep it out of his reach.” Ladybug continued.

“Do you have any progress in capturing him yet?”

Nightrunner shook his head, “No luck on that front. Hawkmoth is a coward who rarely comes out. The only reason we know about him is because he announced himself with an image made out of numerous butterflies on the day of the first attack. Plus magic is involved so facial recognition is a bust."

"Even I have never met him face-to-face. He uses people to get what he wants. Not very honourable of him. The Mayor has refused to help my attempts to stop him or prevent more akumas because his bratty daughter wasn’t given a Miraculous to be a hero. I don’t have the time or resources because I am still in school and have other obligations outside the suit. I can’t tell my family and ask for help because the Guardian, the one who gave me the Miraculous in the first place, has a secret identities rule in place and some magic thing that makes me unable to tell them.”

The adults were all horrified at what the girl was going through. Nightrunner had tried to give Ladybug support hero-wise the best he could. But he had his own plate full since lots of criminals are using akumas to take advantage of the situation.

“We could help in other ways. Not fight the akumas but provide you the resources to track down and capture him. Do you have any training? From the footage we have seen, you know martial arts and how to use some weapons.”

“That's an understatement. I was raised in some temple somewhere in Asia, run by someone called Cain, I think. Got harsh brutal training day in and day out before I manage to run away. Luckily, I met someone on my way out who was kind enough to took me in and adopted me. Superheroing is not something I ever thought I would use my skills for but I am glad they can be of use.”

“Batman, she just said she was adopted. She may have the features but the answer is no.” Wonder Woman said with a knowing look in her eyes.

“I wasn’t thinking about it. She has a duty to Paris right now and I am not going to take away from her life here. I don’t adopt every black-haired and blue-eyed child I see.” Batman denied.

“I am confused.” Ladybug said, tilting her head.

“Batman here has a bad habit of adopting kids with a tragic past, especially kids with black hair and blue eyes.” Nightrunner explained to his fellow Parisian hero.

“Well, M. Batman, you will have to fight my parents for custody. While I have training, Chat Noir doesn’t and he hinders the battles with his ‘help’. I would give him some but he sees them as dates even though I have told him it’s not.”

“His incompetence is a liability. Why is he your partner?”

“The Guardian chose him too like he chose me through some stupid trial I somehow passed the requirements for. I am just hoping that there is a really good reason for choosing Chat Noir. I have some questions on how you are-”

“Ladybug, what are you doing?” A sharp voice cut in. An old man who appeared to be dressed as a tortoise landed in front of them.

“Master Fu, this is Princess Diana of Themyscira and the world’s greatest detective, Batman. I am asking for their help in finding Hawkmoth.” Ladybug explained, confused why Master Fu looked upset.

“Ladybug, that was extremely foolish of you. This is a matter of the Order. You shouldn’t have involved other heroes in it. We can resolve this on our own. I apologise on behalf of her for wasting your time.” 

“But, Master-”
“We will talk about this later, Ladybug. You are young and don’t understand things yet.”

“Guardian, with all due respect, my mother was a Ladybug wielder herself and the Amazons will lend a hand to any miraculous holders in need.”

“It is appreciated but Ladybug, Chat Noir and I can do it on our own. Come along, Ladybug.”

“Let me at least apologise for my mistake, Guardian.”

“Very well. Meet me later.”

“I am sorry but it looks like I have to fight Hawkmoth without your help. That being said please don’t try to look further into Hawkmoth’s identity and leave any notes of your leads in the mouth of the gargoyle on the northside of Notre Dame where I usually rest after I finish patrol. Salut, Princess Diana, Batman, Nightrunner.” She left using her yo-yo to swing away after giving them a wink.

Batman smirked. He had to give it to Ladybug, she was clever and resourceful and Diana was right, he wanted to adopt her.

(Starting from here, words in bold means English is being spoken)

Present time…

Now that the previous Guardian was out of the picture, the Miraculous team would gladly accept any help they can get.

Damian and Jason had picked up Tim from the airport and they had already set things up in one of the Wayne penthouses in Paris. Less chance of nosy maids than in a hotel.

Bilal had already handed over all the evidence he could find. He was also one of the Miraculous team’s trainers when Sabine couldn’t make it. Jason and Damian were going to help in training and be back-up heroes when needed. (Bilal wore a miraculous once to help out. And that one time was weird enough to last him a lifetime and he was never doing it again.)

Sadly, all the magic users who were allies or part of the JL were busy with other missions or MIA so they couldn’t break Damian’s curse yet. Bruce didn’t see the problem with the curse so it stays unless it causes major problems or someone is free to break it. They couldn’t go back to Gotham until they got the necessary legal things in order so it looks like they were going to be in Paris for a while.

The next morning, Tim was nowhere to be found. Because they were paranoid Batboys, they tracked his phone to see him at the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery with Marinette and a group of other people, having breakfast.

“There you are, Replacement.” Jason shouted as he entered the bakery, “So, this is where you were? I see you have already figured out who Ladybug is and met her.”

Marinette looked at Damian and Jason, then at Tim and back at them again.

Oh.

Oh.

She face-palmed as she connected the dots and realised what the nagging feeling she had around Tim was about.

“Oh my Kwamis, you are Tim Drake, adopted by Bruce Wayne aka Batman. Jason and Damian are your brothers. And judging by your build, you are Red Robin. I feel so stupid right now.”

Thankfully, there were no customers around yet to hear some of the world’s most important secrets being spilled like tea.

“I am- We are not- Bruce isn’t- How?! How the hell did you find out? And you are Ladybug?!” Tim was floundering at Marinette’s words and the caffeine from his first coffee of the day hadn’t kicked in yet. He looked at her friends, who were looking at the Wayne boys with shocked expressions….and looked similar to the rest of the Miraculous Team.

The caffeine finally kicked in.

“Oh my God. I was talking to the entire Miraculous Team and I didn’t know it. That means Chloe Bourgeois is a hero. Her, a spoiled rotten brat, is a hero.”

“Speak for yourself, Timothy. You,a sleep deprived idiot, are a hero. I can’t believe we are all heroes.” Chloe said in total disbelief.

Introductions and alter egos were exchanged. Nearly everything went swimmingly if it weren’t for Chloe jokingly elbowing Marinette and said, “You get to date a hero too. No need to worry about flaking out on dates.”

“What do you mean dates? Dupain-Cheng and I aren’t dating.” Damian said, a little too quickly, “My mother wanted us to marry each other, not date.”

“Mari, looks like you need some explaining to do.”

Marinette glared at Damian but gave the short story on how she met Damian and Jason.

“So you guys are absolutely not dating? Cool. Tim, are you still open to being Mari-bug's fake boyfriend?” Chloe asked. Tim looked at her incredulously.

“You called me all the way here to fake-date your friend. Why? Not that I am complaining about her or anything.” Tim said, confused.
“There is this boy in our class, Adrien Agreste and he has a little obsession with Marinette.” Chloe explained.
“Believes that they are Romantic Soulmates.” Nathaniel chimed in, doing air-quotes.

“So I volunteered on your behalf to be my best friend’s long-distance boyfriend in America who has video-call dates with her once a week. You are going to have little romantic dates coincidently where our classmates are going to be, especially Adrien. It might put him off from pursuing Marinette for a while. After you leave, we are just to mention you every now and then to prevent him from getting any ideas.”

Damian felt a hot, burning sensation in his chest and clenched his fists at the thought of Marin- Dupain-Cheng holding hands, cuddling and doing all those romantic actions with Drake of all people. (No, he wasn’t jealous. Not at all. Don’t be stupid. )

“Tch, Drake is going to be busy trying to find Hawkmoth. He can’t go around Paris, being Dupain-Cheng’s boyfriend. Besides, he can’t be a proper boyfriend even in his most lucid moments. I will be her boyfriend instead.”

Chapter Text

“Tch, Drake is going to be busy trying to find Hawkmoth. He can’t go around Paris, being Dupain-Cheng’s boyfriend.  Besides, he can’t be a proper boyfriend even in his most lucid moments. I will be her boyfriend instead.”

Tim was glad he didn’t take a sip of his coffee when Damian volunteered to be Marinette’s boyfriend. But he still choked on air. Jason, with his limited knowledge of French, blinked in confusion and tried to get Tim's attention. Damian didn’t say what he thought, right? He should have paid more attention on French than German.

“No, you can’t. Chloe already told them about Tim. If I come in with a different boyfriend, they would get suspicious. We can work on Hawkmoth while we go on those dates. Besides, I thought you don’t like me. That’s not going to sell the image of a loving couple.” Marinette pointed out. ( She also doesn’t want to do this fake-date thing. Not because she likes Damian and she had always been a goner for green eyes and totally would be date him if it weren’t for some stupid curse dictating her feelings for him and fake-dating him might get her catch feelings for him and she would get her heart broken when this is all over and she would stay single forever and be a lonely old lady with hamsters and cats for company.)

“Actually, Mari-bug, I only told the class how romantic your boyfriend is. I never told them what he looked like. Just in case, Timothy couldn’t make it. I have back-up favours to cash in.” Chloe explained.

Marinette didn’t even know why she was surprised at that, this was Chloe after all.

“You have many American boys around our age in your debt to be my boyfriend? Sounds like you alright. So that also means that Damian doesn’t have to do it if he doesn’t want to.”

“My offer still stands. I will be your ‘boyfriend’ before I have to go back. I will be more understanding than those other boys when you have to rush out for an attack. That is to assume that they can come here or even agree. In our initial meeting, I didn’t like that weak girl act you put up. Recent events have made me realise that you are a much stronger person. ( Careful Damian, that sounds like a compliment. ) You are a decent partner to date. (Shit. Shit. Shit. That wasn’t a compliment, right?) ”

Damian couldn’t see why Dupain-Cheng would refuse such a good deal. He supposed her feelings might be still hurt from his first impression of her. He would give her an apology when they are alone and away from his brothers who would make a big deal of it.

“Fine. At least, the curse will at least make this fake couple thing more believable.” grumbled Marinette. ( The light pink blush on her face is not because he said she was someone he would date.)

Oh right, the curse. He swore internally, it had possessed him to be Dupain-Cheng’s boyfriend. He now would have to endure the hand-holding, kissing and staring into each other’s eyes. Trying to resist the damn curse will be much harder now. Somehow, he didn’t regret it a little bit. It sounds more bearable for him to do those things with her than watching her with Drake. This was just an arrangement to ward off her pushy suitor and prove to her classmates that she was off the market.

Chloe clapped her hands, “If we have everything sorted out, you can start being a good boyfriend by walking Marinette to school today. We want to be on time now.”

The others started packing up their stuff or finished what they were eating. Marinette was dragged out of the bakery by an impatient Damian. Chloe and Alix picked up what Marinette left behind and followed out. The rest soon left right after, leaving the two boys in the bakery.

“Hey, Replacement, tell me if I am wrong but did Demon Spawn willingly ask a girl out? ” Jason asked, stealing a croissant from Tim.

“ Try making himself the perfect candidate to be her fake boyfriend out of many choices, including me, and get her to agree to it. Now he has to go on a few romantic dates with Marinette in order to ward off this really pushy guy in her class. Demon Spawn also probably has a crush on her and he’s in denial of it. We are not hallucinating either. I’ve checked. ” Tim replied, sipping his coffee and then grabbed the other croissant before Jason could.

“Damian. Let go. Hey, Wayne, are you listening to me? Let me go. This is not how you treat your significant other. And you are not even going in the right direction.” Marinette barked at him.

He released his grip on her and turned around to face her. “My apologies for manhandling you but I wanted to tell you this away from everybody else.”

“What?” She glared at him.

“I- Well-...This is a little difficult to say for me,” Damian started. ( Why were his palms sweaty? It’s just an apology. He had done it before although it was mostly because Grayson told him what he did wrong and made him do it.) “But I am sorry for calling you weak, pathetic and every other bad thing I have said about you when you have shown that you are anything but those.”

Her glare softened.

“That was very..humble of you. Apologies accepted. I will also apologise for thinking you were some spoiled rich brat.”

Damian’s head snapped back, “You what?”

“It’s all in the past now. Follow me, the school is this way.” She smiled and turned towards the correct way to school.

Damian grumbled but walked with her, his hands in his pockets.

A moment later, Marinette paused and looked at where his hands were, “If we are going to do this fake dating thing, I suggest we hold hands.”

Huffing, Damian grabbed her hand and continued walking in silence. I hope that’s the end of that. Her hands were so small and fitted perfectly in his. Oh God, it’s the curse again. Turning him into a sap. Do not think about her hands. And the way she took down a man twice her size with them was an amazing sight to watch.

“Why are you so stiff? Loosen up a little. You are with the love of your life. Smile a little.”

Damian plastered on a fake smile, “Happy?”

“It looks fake. Being a model he will be able to tell.” Marinette remarked, “Are you sure you want to do this? We can still go get Tim to be my boyfriend.” 

“I can do this. Drake wouldn’t be a better choice. It doesn’t help that you are relentlessly nit-picking me. Or are you that bad of a girlfriend?” Damian couldn’t help but sniped back. “Maybe that’s why Chat Noir left you.”

He found himself back against the wall and her knife at his neck. ( He would forever deny that he liked it. )

“Look here, Wayne. You know nothing about me and you shouldn’t assume that you do. Chat Noir was revoked of his status as a hero for his behaviour. If you don’t act the part properly, I am going to have my former partner, who has absolutely no sense of boundaries, harassing me in my civilian life and I have already dealt with enough of his advances to last a lifetime. I have given you so many chances to get out of this which you refused and yet, you are half-assing it. So are you in this 100 percent or not? Because I am at the end of my patience right now.”

“The boy who is obsessed with you is the former Chat Noir?”

She made a face, “Yes, I will explain about that later but what’s your answer?”

“I will do it to the best of my abilities but I have never done anything like this before.”

“Were you not taught in the League?”

“There were seduction tactics shown to members when they were old enough and I left them when I was 10 but I am not sure if those skills can be applied here.”( Slamming your opponent against the wall wasn’t one of them but she was doing a great job of it so far. No. No. No. He is not his father. This is different from whatever he has with Kyle. )

She released her hold on him and hid her knife in her boots while he got up and dusted himself off.

She put her hands on her hips and said, “Well then, here are the basics. Everytime you look at me, just think of your favourite things to make your smile a little more genuine. Maybe call me by a pet name if you want. Keep your touch on me like you can’t keep your hands off of me and act really reluctant when you have to let go. You will only keep them on my shoulders, arms, hands and waist or I will break your hand. I will do the same. If you are going to have to kiss me, give me a warning.”

He looked into her mesmerising blue eyes and nodded. Sounds easy for someone like him.

“Alright.”

“Oh. I almost forgot. In case they try to question our relationship. My favourite colour is red. My favourite song is ‘Fearless’ by Jagged Stone. [an:I love TS. Sue me] And we met online a few months ago. You came all the way to Paris to see me a month ago and asked me out. We will talk more later. Oh, I also love designing and have dreams of being a famous fashion designer.-”

Marinette rambled on (which Damian should not have found endearing). He added a few comments here or there about himself ( because it was only fair. ) and ways to improve their cover story about their relationship.

“ We are nearly at school. Let’s start the act, Romeo. ” Marinette whispered at him and looked at him with a bright smile that brought a tiny smile to his face. Okay, maybe he liked Marinette a little bit but that doesn’t mean he’s in love with her. She was as much tolerable as Jon.  

He moved her hand holding his to the crook of his elbow.

“ Is this acceptable, my lady? ”

She wrinkled her nose, ( Adorable. No. Don’t go there) “ This is fine. But can you not call me that? And ‘princess’ too? I may have erased his memories as Chat Noir but magic is unpredictable and it could be a trigger to bring them back. ”

“ So what about Malak? ”

She blushed.

Marinette had learned Arabic a while back and was very fluent in the language.

“ It’s okay. ” She said in a soft voice. She put her other hand on his bicep and leaned on his shoulder.

“ You don’t look like a touchy-feely person so is this fine? ” she asked.

“ Yes. ” He should have said no but his mouth moved before he could process the question properly.

“ Cool, let me tell you more about the atrocious lies that had passed her mouth. ”

Marinette continued to tell him about her plans for the annoying girl in her class. His classmates were idiots but they might as well be geniuses compared to hers.

They walked into the school courtyard, arm-in-arm, for the entire school, especially Marinette’s class, to see. The perfect picture of a loving couple. Marinette’s blush from earlier was evident on her face, leaving no room for doubt about her new relationship status. ( Many people were upset over Marinette being taken off the market officially. ) As they both walked up the stairs, whispering and laughing about who knows what ( gulliable and idiotic classmates they have to suffer learning with ), two pairs of green eyes followed them.

In this case, the saying ‘green-eyed monsters’ was true. One was envious of the boy who held the girl he wanted in his arms and the other was envious of the attention the couple was receiving.

Damian escorted Marinette to her class. He gave her a kiss on her cheek and said, loud enough for the class to hear, “ Bye, Malak. I will pick you up later for our date. ”

“ B-bye, Damian. See you at lunch. ”

He took her hand, gave a kiss to the back of it and departed, leaving a very red-faced Marinette behind. The rest of the class parted the way like the Red Sea as Damian walked past who didn’t spare them a glance.

She rushed into her seat where Chloe sat beside it, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

“Sooooo, Mari-bug, how was your morning? You two rushed out of there so quickly and left your stuff behind. So eager to spend time with your boyfriend, eh? You enjoyed it very much by the looks of it.”

“Sorry about that, Chloe. Did you bring my bag and the cheese danishes?” Marinette tried to change the topic. And she also wanted to make sure a god of destruction doesn’t go hungry and angsty during school.
“Yep, here you go,” Chloe said, handing Marinette her bag and a box of cheese-flavoured snacks for Plagg, “Your mom packed some for you. Now, give me the deets.”

“Marinette. Where have you been the last two days?” A high-pitched voice interrupted their conversation, “I was very worried about you and you came back with some boy.” Lila played the concerned classmate wonderfully.

“Yeah, Marinette. This is a new low, even for you.” Alya sneered.

Marinette readied herself to tell the cover story Damian and her worked out on the way here.

“Lila, I appreciate your little ‘concern’. But you didn’t have to worry about what you had no business in. You see, Damian disappeared and didn’t return home after school on Friday. So when he didn’t pick up for our weekly video call, I panicked and called his family and they told me what happened. They sent me a plane to get out of Paris so I can’t get akumatized.”

“Was that why you were gone on Saturday?” Chloe asked, playing along.

“Yeah. Sorry for not telling you guys. It was sorta last minute. Thankfully, he wasn’t kidnapped actually. His biological mother picked him up but never told his father that she was taking him. I just came back last night. Damian followed me home to make sure I was okay.”

“What a bunch of bullcrap.” Alya said, “I don’t believe you.”

Oh. The irony...
“Alya, I don’t care if you do. My life is my own business. I told you the truth but what you think about it is up to you.” Marinette internally was tired of this silly routine and wanted this to end already.

Alya wanted to pick a fight with her over the smallest things she did for the past months. She wondered why her former best friend hated her this much.

“Lila told me that you were skipping school and you paid an actor to be your pretend boyfriend.”

“Okay, Alya.” Marinette then turned towards Chloe, “Hey, you never told me about how you met Tim. I can’t believe that you two are friends.”

“We met at one of those charity galas-”

“Hey, we were talking to you.” Alya cut her off. To which Chloe glared at the ombre-haired girl.

“I thought our conversation was done. What else was I supposed to say?” Marinette coolly asked.

Internally, Marinette was frustrated and hid her feelings under her carefully crafted emotionless mask. Showing any reaction would give the game away. If she had reacted, it would further fuel the fire of Alya’s self-righteousness, making her believe that Marinette was somehow guilty of what Lila told her about. Lila managed to turn nearly the entire class against her by appealing to their ‘hero’ side and outbursts from Marinette and the others made them more sure of themselves of being in the right. It was so deep-rooted that nothing would sway them to logical reasoning.

Maybe except Phase 2.

Phase 1 was made a little easier when Talia kidnapped her and made her miss a few days of school.

Phase 2 was to not acknowledge the lies or just appear uninterested.

It would illustrate the point that people don’t have to listen to them if they don’t want to. If possible, sow little seeds of doubt to the ones Lila had a looser grip on. The more people they can slowly get on their side, the better. Besides, Lila lived for attention, good or bad. Marinette has learned that Lila loved it if any of her lies got under her skin. She got some sort of sick thrill out of it. This was bound to make her furious.

Alya was confused.

Usually Marinette would throw a ‘ temper tantrum ’ about how she didn’t do that and that Lila lied

“I-, you- You should apologise to Lila.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow, “For what this time?”

“For saying that she was lying.”

“So were you lying when you claimed that Chloe was Ladybug or that Chloe was lying when she said that she’s not Ladybug?” It was a bit of a low blow to mention her first akumatization but since Alya told everyone about her crush on Adrien she considered it even.

“That’s- That’s different. I just had a theory that just didn’t turn out to be true.” Alya spluttered.

“Pray tell, how different is that situation from this?”

“It’s different,” she insisted.

“Look, Lila just had a wild theory based on what she saw. Between her little theory and the first-hand account from the source. You are accusing the primary source of lying. Is that how a journalist is supposed to act?” Marinette challenged.

“I am not. And we had good reason to think that.  How come we never heard of ‘Damian’ before Chloe told us about him?”

“Maybe I wanted my relationship to be private. Damian is a very private person after all. His own family didn’t know about us for months.”

“How convenient.”

“Look, I don’t like the fact that Lila thought that I would pay someone to be my boyfriend but I am not going to fight with anyone over it. This is exhausting, trying to defend myself from what other people, mainly you, think of me. Maybe I did do that, Maybe I didn’t. Maybe there is a good reason I did that. The thing is Lila should mind her own business and I will do the same for her. And so should you. I know you are a reporter at heart, Alya but you should at the very least respect my privacy. You are the one who decided we won’t be besties any more. You can’t nitpick every decision and part of my life when you basically told me to stay out of yours.”

Alya stayed silent, knowing that Marinette was right. Everyone was looking at them now. They knew Marinette had a point. No matter how much of a bully she had been recently, she didn’t owe them to tell them everything.

“I thought so. Now, please go away. I have nothing else to say to you and let Chloe finish her story of how she met Tim which you oh so rudely interrupted.”

“Who’s Tim?” Lila finally piped up, wanting to know more about Marinette’s boyfriend to work on an angle to get him away from the ravenette and internally, was saddened to not see a fight break out between the former BFFs.

“Marinette’s boyfriend’s older brother. Now, shoo peasants, we are talking. Anyways, Mommy took me to a gala when I was younger so I could mingle with all the other rich kids and get connections. Timothy was there and back then, he was still with the Drakes...”

Lila and Alya returned to their seats, both were visibly upset. One for another reason than not having the last word.

When Marinette was not at school for the last two days, Lila thought that it was the last she had seen of her. Today, she showed up with a handsome boy on her arm and by the looks of his clothes, rich too. If she manages to get ‘Damian’ to break up with that pest and date her instead, then she would have a rich, handsome boyfriend devoted to her and that brat would be so heart-broken that an akuma so powerful would be made that even Ladybug won’t be able to defeat.

A two for one deal.

Lila started planning ( scheming ) to take her enemy's boyfriend away. ( Of course, she didn’t consider that Marinette’s first target would be her if she ever became an akuma. )

Chapter Text

Adrien was mad. Downright pissed.

Marinette disappeared for a few days after his confession on Friday. She wasn’t at the bakery when he went there to ask her out on a romantic date the next day. But her father told him that she was away because of a family emergency.

He assumed she went away for a while to deal with the fact that her past crush made a dramatic confession to her and once she returned, she will tell him that she love him and they can start dating.  

But apparently not.

It hurt a lot when she showed up in the arms of some boy. Why did she choose that guy over him? Adrien was a model, for goodness’s sake. Sure he looked rich but Adrien was too. She was blushing and giggling at everything he said. If he ever has to thank his father for one good thing and that was getting him to learn English.

All her ‘boyfriend’ did was to make fun of their classmates and she just laughed along with him. Instead of defending like she used to.

It all makes sense now. Adrien thought.

He must be the reason behind why Marinette had been hostile towards the class the past few months. He was obviously a very bad influence on her and made her not act like their ‘Everyday Ladybug’. He must have made her stop being friends with them. This ‘Damian’ corrupted poor sweet, kind Marinette into this bitch he doesn’t recognize.

Lila had told the class that Marinette had skipped school and paid an actor to be her boyfriend. Adrien scoffed at the Italian.

Marinette wasn’t like that. Sweet Marinette must have been convinced to do it by that bastard. He might have made her hand over her hard-earned money to buy himself those clothes.

Well, Adrien was going to be the one to save her. Like a knight in white shining armour and rescue his princess from her evil so-called ‘boyfriend’.

He growled as the tan-skin boy kissed the back of her hand, making his princess blushed scarlet. It should be him romancing her and what kind of nickname was Ma-lak?

As he listened in on the girls’ conversations, he wondered why Marinette was even still dating him. The guy didn’t have the decency to tell her where he was going and made her all worried for nothing.

And he was with his mother? As if. He probably snuck out of school and lied about it.

Then, he followed her to make sure she was okay. Geez, Can’t he be more obvious? He was making sure that no one ( *cough* Adrien *cough* ) swept her off her feet when he wasn’t around.

Adrien looked down at his pocket as if looking for an answer as he ranted. He found himself doing that a lot and talking to himself when he was alone. He felt like he was missing something. He didn’t remember ordering that much camembert. He hated their awful stench. There were also gaps in his memories which he found weird. ( He had a shrine dedicated to Ladybug. Which was also weird because he felt a tiny bit of hate and bitterness everytime he thought of the heroine and he had always liked Marinette. )

“Dude, you okay?” Nino’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“I am a little worried for Marinette.” Adrien replied, turning towards the back row and watching her listen to Chloe. It didn’t feel right. His Princess was supposed to be sitting behind him, talking and gossiping with Alya. Not Lila.

Why couldn’t she keep quiet like he told her to? She would still be in her seat and be friends with the rest of her class but nooooo, she had to go against Lila. Cursed her rather endearing sense of justice. Now, she is an outcast and the class is not a fun place to be in anymore.

“Look, I get that you like Marinette as more than ‘just a friend’ now but she has a boyfriend. I know it hurts that she is dating someone else but life just happens.”

“No, I mean he is bad for her. He is corrupting her. She is no longer friends with Alya and the rest of the class, even you. Aren’t you guys, like childhood bestfriends? Don’t you think it is a little suspicious that she met him a few months ago and around the same time, she stopped doing things for the class? If I can get her to be my girlfriend, she will be my sweet, nice Princess again and she will stop antagonising Lila and the whole class will be happy again. I just need to show her that I am a better match for her.”

“Adrien, buddy, you are staring to sound a little….crazy. And also you have never met Marinette when she was a kid so you don’t know what she was like back then. Dude, when we all first met her, she was distant and didn’t talk to any of us. She always looked at us like we would do something horrible to her at any moment. M. and Mdm. Dupain-Cheng told the school that she was having trouble adapting to her new life and her old one wasn’t the very best. It was an entire year before she spoke to any of us outside of schoolwork or school activities. It took a few years before she became the Marinette Dupain-Cheng you first met and we weren’t exactly friends with her before because of that and Chloe.”

“But she is better now, right? She brings free treats to the class, makes nice clothes and helps you guys out when you need it. She got friends because of that. Damian is making her worse again.”

Nino sighed, “Adrien Agreste, I say this as your best friend. You are very dense and oblivious at times and this is one of them. You are jealous and making it cloud your judgement of a person. I am not that close with Marinette but I admit I haven’t been a good friend before we - I mean, I ended our friendship. Ever since last year, ever since Marinette’s expulsion that nearly got all of us akumatized, we haven’t been exactly…. fair on her. It was a surprise at first to see her do those stuff to Lila and we didn’t give her a chance to tell her side of her story. I am not surprised that she is slipping back into who she was back then. But the damage is already done now and I don’t think she would forgive any of us.”

“But she’s Marinette, our ‘Everyday Ladybug’.”

“People change. She wasn’t always like that. She was known as the ‘Terror’, back in l'école primaire . Beat up guys bigger than her for picking on her and known for holding the biggest grudges against people. I am worry about you, dude, and that’s why I am saying this. Don’t mess with Marinette, Adrien, especially with what she has with Damian right now.”

Nino sighed, “Just don’t do anything stupid. And for what it's worth, I am sorry. Heartbreak sucks.”

Mme. Bustier started the class. But Adrien was unable to pay attention, his mind on a dark-haired girl and plans to be his Princess’s knight in shining armour.

Behind him, Lila plotted ways to get a dark-haired boy under her thumb. She noticed that Adrien seemed rather intent on getting that menace as his girlfriend. Perhaps that would be useful.

The bell rang for lunch.

Marinette rushed out as fast as possible, playing the part of a teenage girl excited for a lunch date with her loving boyfriend. And to also avoid Adrien whose gaze wanders back to her every chance he can. It unnerved her a bit about how obsessive he was with her.

Marinette shook her head. She has to make sure everything goes to plan. Damian and her had exchanged numbers and hashed out a plan during class. Thank kwami for Mme. Bustier’s inability to say no to Chloe. It made it easier to get away with texting in class.

The plan was for Chloe and the others to try to rile up their classmates and make them try to prove that Marinette and Damian are actually not a couple.

Naturally, Alya would take the bait and follow them on their date to get ‘proof’. She and Damian are going act like the lovely dovey couple that Chloe claims them to be.

Little seeds of doubt are needed to bring about the Italian’s downfall. 

Marinette bounded down the stairs and scanned the courtyard for a sign of the dark-haired boy.

Damian leaned against the stairwells, hidden in the shadows as he was raised and trained to do since his birth. It was an adorable sight, the black-haired girl on her tip-toes searching the crowds for any sight of him.

Crap. He should stop this before he falls under the curse’s influence again. ( He wasn’t smiling. Dammit. ) He took out his phone and sent a message.

‘Behind you. By the stairs.’

Her phone dinged. She looked at his text and spun around to face him with a beaming smile so bright that rivalled Kent’s and Grayson’s sunshine smiles.

Oh no .

This was worse. ( Deep down, he likes that it was him she was smiling at. )

“Damian,” She called, “ There you are, I miss you so much. ”

She motioned to hug him to which he nodded.

“ It’s only been a few hours, Marinette. ”

She kissed his cheek ( She smirked internally as the tips of his ears went a little red. )

“ I know but still, a few hours is too long. You said you have something planned? ” ( She cringed inwardly at sounding so cheesy. This is what couples do right? )

He brought out a basket from behind his back, “ Did a little recon. Got some pastries from your parents too. They didn’t let me pay and were rather insistent on it. ”

“ That sounds like them. ”

“ I also got some of your favourite snacks too. I thought we should make most of your lunch break at that park you showed me this morning. Maybe go look for the Andre you mentioned in your texts. ”

“ Perfect. ”

“ I also brought coffee, just the way you like it. ”

“ Pulling out all the stops, aren’t you, Wayne? This is making me reconsider your mother’s proposal to marry us. ”

“Hey, Marinette. You want to join us for lunch. It will be just like old times. You, me, Alya and Nino. Come on. Let’s go.”

The spell was broken.

Damian didn’t know whether to be annoyed at the blonde boy for ruining what they were doing or grateful for his interruption before the curse took hold further.

Adrien grabbed her arm, dragging her back into the school.

THAT ANNOYANCE MUST PAY! , Damian thought as he went after them, handing the picnic basket off to the red-head who was one of Marinette’s friends. His scowl making students disperse in front of him, out of fear.

“Anger at being harassed by a persistant boy. And frustration that her words are being ignored. Go my little akuma, evilise her.”

Hawkmoth grinned as his butterfly approached the girl.

“What’s this?! Stop. Don’t go near her.” he commanded the butterfly as he felt Adrien near by.

“Adrien, stop. I am going to have lunch with Damian. And will you let me go?” Marinette tried to get out of his hold, hoping to not resort to other means if he didn’t. 

His grip on her arm tightened. “No, Sorry, princess. But I gotta talk to you about something and we can also have some fun later instead of you and that guy. I will buy your lunch.”

“His name is Damian and he’s my boyfriend. We have a date. The one you are not letting me go to.”

He opened the door of one of the empty classrooms in the hallway and led her inside.

He turned around and faced her, not letting go of her arm yet.

“That's what I was going to talk to you about. He’s a bad influence, Princess. You haven’t been yourself lately because of him.”

Marinette glared, “What are you talking about? Let go of me already.”

“But don’t worry, Princess, I am going to help you and fix everything. I promise.”

He moved closer, leaning his face towards her.

Slap!

His cheek stung in pain from the force of her slap. Marinette finally managed to pull away from his grip due to his shock.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She angrily spat out. Her eyes flared with hate and anger.

“He’s got you under a spell. That’s why you are dating him and a true love kiss can break anything.” Adrien begged for her to see the desperation in his eyes as he needs his Princess to see the ‘truth’.

However, her anger only increased. 

“That’s just fairytale nonsense and this is a wake-up call from reality, Agreste. I am not in love with you. How many times do I have to tell you to get it into your thick head? And if you try the ‘true love kiss’ nonsense again, I will break your jaw.”

Damian rushed into the room at that moment. Looking over Marinette for injuries, his eyes narrowed at the hand-shaped bruise on her arm.

 “ Malak, are you okay? I saw what happened. Do you need me to take him out? ”

Damian ignored Adrien’s wide eyes. He was a very violent person. His princess is in more trouble than he thought.

“ I am fine. Thank you for the offer but no need to beat him up. He didn’t hurt me that much. ”

“ You have a bruise on your arm. That is not fine. ”

Marinette rolled her eyes. Geez. Playing the overprotective boyfriend much.  

“ Damian, I am alright. See. I will file a restraining order on him. And he’s not worth it.”

She pulled him towards the door, “We should get going if we are going to get enough time to eat lunch. ”

Damian huffed but glared at the blond before letting Marinette take lead.

They left, leaving Adrien confused and frustrated that his plan had failed. Marinette once had a crush on him. She loved him. He thought if he showed that their ‘true’ love was better than whatever she had with Damian, then she would come running back to his arms. It should have worked. Maybe he should have planned a bit better and did that when ‘Damain’ wasn’t around. But hearing Marinette talking about marrying Damian made rage churned in his heart.

Marinette was his. She chose him first.

Gabriel sighed and dropped his transformation.

He had considered putting charges against Mlle Dupain-Cheng for assault which would make her prime akuma material. But after seeing who her new beau was, it seemed that Marinette Dupain-Cheng would continue to stay away from his grasp.

Damian Wayne.

How someone like Mlle Dupain-Cheng managed to catch the attention of one of Bruce Wayne’s son is beyond him. His father is the head of one of the biggest conglomerate in the world with hands in every business. Even if Gabriel put his best lawyers on the task, Wayne had the best of the best on his side. There would no chance of him winning. The most hopeful solution would be for the Wayne boy to be merciful and be willing to sweep all of this under the rug.

He better tell Nathalie about the incoming lawsuit.

Adrien, what have you done?

Lila grinned as she walked out from her hiding spot near the empty classroom after Marinette and Damian left on their date. Ugh.

No matter. Marinette better enjoy it while she can before Damian would be the one taking her out of lunch dates.

“Adrien-boo. I saw what happened. Are you okay?” She poked her head into the room with a look of concern.

Adrien let out an annoyed sigh.

“Lila, what do you want?” He sounded eerily similar to his father at the moment. Lila didn’t let that deter her from her goal.

“Adrien. I just saw how you much you love Marinette and I want to help.”

“Oh really. Why would I need your help?”

“Because it will be beneficial to both of us. I held up the end of our previous deal so your precious Marinette can come back. This time, I promise that Marinette will be yours as she cries in your arms while I get a new handsome boyfriend. If you help me.”

A deal to get rid of that imposter and get his Princess. Adrien turned and faced her, his green eyes glinting.

“I am listening.”

“Tell me again why we are here spying on them instead of eating our lunch with Adrien. He rarely gets to eat with us, you know.” Nino asked his girlfriend.

“We are here to prove Chloe wrong.” Alya replied, looking through her binoculars at the couple eating the ice-cream from Andre, “There is no way Marinette had gotten over her crush on Adrien and actually dating this ‘Damian’ even if that is his name.”

“Babe, we can prove her wrong another time. Can we stop stalking them now because I am starving.”

“There’s sandwiches in my bag. Eat those instead. And I am not stalking, I am investigating. It’s what journalists do. We need to get closer. I can’t hear what they are saying.”

Nino didn’t get a bite of the sandwich he dug out of Alya’s bag before he was dragged by his girlfriend again.

They were closer now, managing to hear what the dark-haired couple were saying which was a nearly lost cause because they were talking in Arabic.

“What are they talking about? Nino?” Alya turned towards her boyfriend.

“No. This is a private conversation.”

Alya pouted, “But they are speaking in Arabic and you, my wonderful boyfriend, knows it.”

“Why do you know what they are talking about? Can’t we just leave them be?”

“Because Nino, they are hiding something. Why else would they speak so cryptically in another language most French people wouldn’t know?”

“Maybe because Damian is much more comfortable speaking Arabic than in French?”

Alya looked at the couple again, “If so, don’t you find it a little suspicious that they are talking in a language that we don’t know.”

Nino raised his eyebrow.

“A language most of us don’t know,” Alya amended, “Besides for all we know, they could be planning about how to make Lila’s life miserable and we don’t want that.”

"Yeah, we don’t. Because if she is miserable, she will cry and we will all be miserable because we have to deal with it," Nino thought

“Fine. But if you are wrong, you owe me.”

“Okay. Now, tell me what they are talking about.”

“They are talking about... their worst kidnapping?” Nino titled his head, making sure if he heard them right.

“What?”

“I know it sounds crazy but it’s what they are talking about. I mean, Marinette has been in her fair share of kidnappings by Akumas and the guy looks rich so he must have gotten kidnapped a few times for money. This is a seriously weird thing to be talking about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I know my Arabic pretty well and they are now talking about ways to get out of handcuffs. I hope that they at least have protection when testing those techniques out.”

“Nino!”

“Kidding.”

Marinette leaned into Damian, speaking in a low voice to not be heard by the badly hidden ‘spies’ and switching to the dialect used by the League for good measure, “ I think this ‘date’ is working pretty well. Don’t you think so? ” (Unless Nino used to be part of the League of Assassins, which also is unlikely, they were good to go.)

“ Yes, but isn’t talking about our various experiences being kidnapped a weird choice to converse for a date? ”

Marinette took a piece from her slice of chocolate cake her mother packed with her fork and lifted it towards Damian.

“ Well, our common interests are a little lacking and being a hero, vigilante or assassin as a part time job and weapons are something we can’t talk about in public. And Nino knows Arabic so this is a little safer. Talking about things to get to know each other would get suspicious since we have been dating for months now. ”

Damian stared at the small chocolate treat balanced on the fork which Marinette was pointing towards him.

“Why aren’t you eating it?” he asked, confused.

“Open your mouth, silly. I am trying to feed it to you. Don’t worry I ask Maman if it was vegan and she told me it was.”

“Isn’t that unhygienic? Besides I am capable of feeding myself. I am not some child that needs to- omph”

Marinette had shoved the piece of cake into his mouth.

“Sorry, mon amor. So how was it?”

“Excellent. As expected of your parents. But what is the point of feeding another as if they were a small child?”

“People on dates,” Marinette glanced at the bushes, “Well, on dates that happen physically, they would sometimes do that as a show of affection. And you look cute when you are eating.”

Marinette blushed at what she said.

“Cute!? I am the-” Damian cried indignantly before his eyes landed on the bushes where Marinette’s classmates were hiding terribly, “I am not cute.”

Marinette giggled, “Of course not, my Damian is very handsome.”

Damian refused to look at her as he tried to ignore the warm feeling in his chest. The curse was probably acting up again.

“Damian is also very hot. The hottest boy I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Look at those green emerald eyes, that dark hair as black as night, that jawline that could probably cut glass -ompf”

Damian pulled the fork out of Marinette’s mouth, “I am beginning to see the appeal of feeding each other food.”

Marinette pouted.

“ And Marinette, regardless of everything, I think you are breath-taking. ”

His words made Marinette blushed a bright red and hide her face in her hands.

“Damian~” she whined.

“If we are going to feed other, we should use the other’s fork.”

“Okay.”

After cleaning up and putting away stuff from their picnic, “You want to go see the puppies, Damian? We still have time.”

“Absolutely, Malak.”

“Race you there.” Marinette ran off, giggling.

“Not fair. I don’t know where it is.” Damian followed her, carrying the picnic basket. Annoyed yet a little amused. ( He was not grinning. And participating in her childish games. She used underhanded methods and must pay for that. )

Two heads popped up from their hiding place.

“Als, I know you think that they are fake-dating or whatever. But they seem pretty real to me.”

“But the timing…. There’s just no way that Marinette is over Adrien.”

Nino pursed his lips. “Babe, are you okay? I mean if Marinette is over Adrien, then isn’t that a good thing? This whole Lila vs Marinette thing started over him but now that Marinette has moved on….”

“I know and I just…Something doesn’t add up.”

Chapter Text

Marinette sighed happily as she walked to school, holding hands with Damian. She hadn’t felt this relaxed in a while. She doesn’t know if it was the curse’s doing but hanging out with Damian was fun and made her happy. It wasn’t like the all-consuming and rather embarrassing ‘puppy’ love she had for Adrien. She couldn’t even speak properly to him and yet went to extreme lengths to do things she’s not proud of to get his attention.

Sure, Damian was an insensitive asshole at first, judging her and making terrible assumptions of her. 

But, he apologised for his behaviour, ignoring the poor execution of it, he did apologise. Sure, they had some initial misgivings about each other at first but some people still made it work. Look at her and Chloe. They are practically bestfriends now.

After sorting it all out, he was actually…. nice was a little bit of a stretch but a good guy is more fitting. The guy loves animals and honestly those adorable pictures he sent of his pets back in Gotham nearly landed her in trouble because they were so adorable that she couldn’t help but squeal during Mdm. Mendeleiev’s class.

Plus, he has a dragon-bat.

A DRAGON-BAT!

Those were found only in Bialya. She had always wanted to see one. ( Sabine had to ground her for sneaking out to go there when she was younger and when they finally made a trip there, they couldn’t find any which left a 10-year-old Marinette pouting for days. )

Damian was making it hard for her not to fall in love like they agreed not to.  He might be all broody but he has a good heart. Behind that mask of indifference, a brother who cares very much for his family and pets ( also his best friend Jon but don’t tell him that it would make him insufferable) . And would go to the ends of the Earth for his team.

( She knows it’s probably the curse making her feel that way but she really likes Damian so damn much. She’s not falling, not yet but if they keep up the facade she just might end up with a crush at the end of this. She was so screwed, wasn’t she? Green eyes and heart of gold. He was exactly her type despite being morally ambiguous than her previous love interests but so was she. )

The week passed by with the class ‘sneakily spying’ on their dates. (*Cough* Alya and Nino *Cough*) Sometimes, the dates just ‘happened’ to be near where the class was. Damian hired out a boat and sailed it down the river Seine, making sure it passed by where the Liberty was docked, while Juleka had some of the girls over for a sleepover. The boys saw the couple at the arcade, having a dance-off and saw Damian buy Marinette an adorable plushie with his hard-earned tickets. Marinette was seen sketching a lot of male clothing lately and when asked, the answer was usually “It’s for Damian.” It was undeniable that the couple adored each other.

( Meanwhile, the couple hid smirks as they walked down the streets, her curious class trying to follow them discreetly while they discussed ways to take down different akumas and Gotham Rogues in Cantonese as casually as they were talking about the latest news. )

There is a list of top romantic things Marinette’s boyfriend had done for her put together by everyone who have seen them together. Chloe had added a few fake stories to the list and they were a little…..steamy. One of the top three was the time there was an akuma attack and Damian carried a blushing Marinette away from the scene in a bridal carry, which was caught on video and started a trend in school to carry your loved ones in case of an akuma.

( If anyone was paying attention, they would see Ladybug with a face as red as her suit upon entering the fight. It was also a surprise to nearly everyone when Rose lifted Juleka with ease. )

Meanwhile, Lila was seething at the amount of attention the couple was getting. The class only talked about how romantic Marinette’s boyfriend was. Even Alya was giving the couple more attention. Alya was dead set on proving that Lila was right that that ‘boyfirend’ of Marinette’s was just an hired actor. Chloe had declared that Marinette and that rich boy’s love was real.

So Alya had been ignoring Lila in favor of proving the other girl wrong, following Marinette on her date every lunch break.

From the looks of it, she wasn’t having much luck but was adamant not to give up because her reporter instincts were tingling and she was oh so close to finding evidence that it’s a sham.

Lila turned to look at Marinette who smiled a disgustingly sweet smile as she received a text from her sweetheart.

Well, better enjoy it while you can, Mari-brat because soon he will be mine.

Lila came out of the school early for her photoshoot with Adrien, who was still inside because he needed to use the bathroom.

No more boring classes and plus more time with Adrien, despite his new obsession with ugh, Marinette that was getting on her nerves. Looks like it won’t be possible to hang onto Adrien if he is going to be like that. However, Marinette’s new boyfriend on the other hand would the perfect next target.

She wanted to scream from the injustice. Why is that stupid nobody still winning when she was supposed to be on her knees for mercy from Lila, the queen of the school!

Sure, the students from other classes aren’t as easily swayed to her stories as her class yet but she will get there and she will be Queen. Mari-brat’s new relationship status is the hottest topic in the school right now and it is hard to find anyone willing to listen to her lies-, I mean, tales of adventures.

As she enjoyed the freedom of being excused from class, Lila saw a glimpse of dark hair out of the corner of her eye. A boy was leaning against the stairwell on the bottom of the stairs, earphones in and looking through his phone.

He was gorgeous, she had seen her fair share of handsome guys from modelling at Gabriel but he was an Adonis and very rich too, judging by how he held the latest model phone and wore expensive designer clothes.

Lila tried not to be obvious as she moved down the stairs for a closer look. Then, she realised that he was Marinette’s boyfriend, Danny.

No, wait.

David?

No, that can’t be it. It sounded a little like ‘demon’.

‘ I got it. It’s Damian .’ Lila thought triumphantly. The universe has heard her prayers and given her this perfect chance. Now just how should she approach-

“Stop staring at me. I know you are there and you should know that I am happily taken.” Damian said, not looking up from his phone.

Lila put on her best smile despite his rudeness. Looks like it won’t be easy swaying him to her side but no matter, this was perfect opportunity.

Marinette is not around to stop her and nobody can resist her charms. When she is done getting him to bend to her every whim, that baker’s girl will bow before her like the peasant she is.

She checked over her appearance and clothes before walking down the stairs towards him with the model walk she spent hours to perfect and would make many teenage boys swoon over her.

Unfortunately, Damian didn’t lift his gaze from his phone.

( Internally, Damian was debating whether or not to kill her and if it was worth it to not be pestered while waiting for Dupain-Cheng’s lunch break. His family would be disappointed in him and Dupain-Cheng might kill him for ruining her fun. The plans she has in store for that little liar. He almost pitied her. Almost. Instead, he simply texted her to mute when he called before he did so. )

“Bonjour, I am Lila Rossi. It’s very nice to meet you and you are?” Lila said in a low sultry tone. All teenage boys want one thing and she was going to give it to him. She bet that Marinette is too much of a naive prude to do ‘that’ with him. Lila can’t wait to see the brat cry when she sees her in the arms of her ‘Dami’.

“Cut the crap. You very well know who I am. Given that you have been glaring at my girlfriend for the past week.” His voice sounded bored and annoyed. It was probably the heat that was making him that way.

Time to change tactics then.

“I was just worried for you. Marinette is not who you think she is. She is bad news. She’s a lying, thieving gold digger who only wants you for your good looks and money. Trust me on this.”

Lila moved to put her hand on Damian’s arm. He simply grabbed her wrist before she could.

“So I have to trust a girl I just met who is talking shit about Du- my significant other who has never taken advantage of my status and money. I am sure such thoughts doesn’t even pass through her head, considering she would often insist on paying for our dates even though I could easily do so ten times over. Yes, you sound like a person I can totally trust with my credit card. Thank you for concern but it is unnecessary.” He deadpanned as he threw her hand away from him.

Her smile faltered. Damian was not as naive and sheltered as Adrien and very much on Marinette’s side. But considering the dates at five-star restaurants he had taken Marinette to which he said that he can pay 10 times over, he was very rich and therefore, someone she shouldn’t just give up.

“Hey, I am just warning you about what you are in for. She puts on a goody two-shoe act in front of people and when no one is around, she would beat me up. I still have bruises from last time.” She hunched her back to make herself seem a little pitiful and her eyes watery. No one can resist damsels in distress. He is going to fall into her trap and then,-

To her surprise, Damian laughed. A laugh that sent shivers down her spine.

Who laughs at the fact that his girlfriend is apparently beating people up?! What the hell? She expected some denial, maybe some hesitation or doubt of her words. But laughing? Is he some sort of sick demented bastard!?

According to Alya, Marinette apparently fell for Adrien because he was nice and the other one she had a crush on, Juleka’s brother, was it? He was equally as much of a ‘good guy’. But this person in front of her was the complete total opposite of either of them.

“Why are you laughing? Your girlfriend wants to kill me because she is jealous of me.” Lila stepped closer towards him.

“I don’t believe you, Miss Rossi. Simply because if she did actually want you dead, you won’t even be here standing in front of me breathing. At the very least, you would be wrapped in bandages from head to toes in some hospital to get treated. I have seen what she is capable of. And it sounds to me like you are the jealous one with how hard you are trying.”

Lila opened her mouth to say a rebuttal but it died in her throat as the implications of Damian’s words sunk in. He was just messing with her. Marinette may be a persistent thorn in her side but she was harmless and she had never retaliated against Lila except for trying to call her out on her ‘stories’. No matter how much Marinette was humiliated, shoved or mistreated. She simply took in a deep breath before walking away like she hold the higher moral ground by being the bigger person. It made it so easier to torment her more and more. There were times when it looked like the girl would break that calm facade she has but she always walked away. Lila wouldn’t even know Marinette got akumatised if it wasn’t for Alya and from what she heard, it was somehow more lame than Monsieur Pigeon.

Marinette was not a threat. Right?

“What- what do you mean I won’t be here if she actually wants me dead? And that she is capable of it?” Lila hated that she had stuttered.

Damian smirked as her eyes widened from fear. He leaned in closer with a sharp grin.

“Marinette and I. Our childhoods are vastly different from you people. We were trained from birth for a...well...‘very special skill’ set. It’s how we met actually. You should be glad that she has great self-control or you would have died a long time ago. You are just an annoying fly, Miss Rossi and you better stay that way, for your own safety.”

“Marinette’s only special skill set is being clumsy and also a failure. I am not afraid of her. Besides, I have already taken her friends away and the class is under my thumb. She’s not very capable if you ask me.” Lila wasn’t going to be afraid of a lowly peasant, and it’s not like Miss Goody-two shoes have the guts. Damian was probably one of those boys who think their girlfriend hung up the moons and stars and oh so perfect.

“That was your last warning from me and it was rather foolish of you to ignore it. You better go now, Rossi. I think your boss would be displeased if you were late.” His head turned towards the school entrance where Adrien was standing with his phone out. Realising he was caught, he quickly hid his phone and proceeded to walk towards his car, pretending he didn’t see the two of them and failed . Lila glared at Damian, unhappy at the failed attempt to get him and followed the blond model.

However, his words stuck with her the entire photoshoot. Vincent the poor photographer had to re-do the shoot and making it take longer than it should have.

Marinette skipped down the stairs as the school ended. If anyone paid attention, they would be surprised that she didn’t trip over a single step.

Ever since it looked like the class was going to turn on her, she finally let go of the happy-go-lucky clumsy school girl act which she did to appear less threatening and in hopes of getting some friends.( Part of it was also because she was going through puberty and it was better to pretend that it was part of the act she put up. Thank kwami, that awkward phase already ended. )

It was about time she did it too. She was tired of keeping it up. It was more fun to be herself. 

She looked around for spiked dark hair before she remembered that Damian was preparing things for his trip back to Gotham tomorrow. Everything had been sorted out and they were all going the cover story about Damian visiting his mother which was technically true. Unfortunately, the curse thing was still on hold as most of the magic users were still busy. She had started looking through the books she has for ways to break the curse the League supposedly put on her. She did a quick magical check the day she got back but nothing out of the ordinary except her protection wards had been used up. The kwamis double-checked and confirmed the same thing.

Marinette had destroyed everything she wore on that day except for the Ring which she examined multiple times much to Plagg’s annoyance. ( The kwami was appeased by the camembert pastry line her father had challenged himself to make. She also took a picture of the design of the wedding dress before she burned it because the League has at least a good sense of style. ) She also detoxed herself and told Damin to do the same. He also begrudgingly allowed Marinette and the kwamis to give him a magical examination and they only found small traces of Lazarus Magic on him which they purified. Damian told her that he felt no change long after a week which was when whatever potion might have used already left their system.

 Either it was a complicated and complex curse that isn’t easy to detect or the curse have long wore off which means that…

No.

The entire week with being in a relationship with Damian had been an amazing one. Sure, it was all fake but she can’t help wishing that it was real. She thought that was just the curse talking. But if there is no curse and it was just attraction, then well nothing is going to change. After getting to know Damian this past week, he was more likely to believe in a vague curse than to accept that he has feelings. ( Seriously, why did she have to fall for the ones who are hard to get? )

Marinette sighed, fiddling with the fox necklace wore today. Then, she checked on Trixx who was asleep.

She sighed again. Marinette wanted some kwami wisdom because she had gotten used to Damian being there after she finished school which was his effort to be a doting boyfriend. It felt strange to not have him by her side. In return, she had been showing him a few of the martial arts techniques used in the Guild. ( Only when her mother was busy with the bakery, she would not appreciate Marinette showing outsiders Guild secrets. )

At least, she wasn’t reverting to her crushing-hard-on-Adrien-Agreste-and-unable-to-talk-to-him-in-full-sentences 13-year old self around him, the most embarrassing chapter of her life that should be locked away forever.

“Marinette, wait for me. I need to talk to you.”

Speak of the devil ‘sunshine’ incarnate.

Marinette kept walking, maybe his bodyguard would stop him from following her. If she made it to the bakery, her parents would make him leave.

And didn’t he have fencing today? Kagami had fencing practice right now. They were both in the same classes so either Kagami forgot to tell her which wasn’t likely as the other girl would have asked Marinette for a hang out to spend her suddenly free slot in her schedule or Adrien must have snuck out.

Usually, she would have Damian or her friends around so Adrien wouldn’t ‘talk’ to her alone. But Kagami is still probably at said practice. Luka was at his wood workshop lessons. Alix said something about going free running today. Marc and Nathaniael were still back in school at the art room. Chloe had a hair appointment scheduled. Damian and his brothers were in a meeting with Batman to give updates on Paris. The bakery was her only hope of getting out of talking to Adrien.

“Princess, stop. I just need to tell you something. It’s important. It’s about Damian.”

Marinette walked faster, essentially power-walking, not wanting to deal with Adrien’s grand delusions about true love and that she should dump Damian. In hindsight, she probably should have instead ran the moment she heard his voice like he did to catch up to her. He caught her wrist to keep her from running away from him.

(If she wasn’t out in public, she would have broken his hand. But the lawsuits from Gabriel would be a headache to deal with. He was going to give one because of the red handmark on Adrien when she slapped him but thankfully, the security footage and Damian as eye witness to the event showed that it was in self-defence. Surprisingly, Gabriel shut up when they threatened to sue for sexual harassment and didn’t put up much of a fight like they expected him to. Unfortunately, the restraining order still hadn’t gone through yet.)

“Princess, you are not getting away that easily from me.”

Marinette gave him her best glare, “Let me go, Agreste. We already let it slide once. That was the last time.”

“But you need to see this.” Adrien insisted.

He showed her a picture of Damian and Lila together. Very close.

Damian looked like he was kissing Lila’s cheek and the angle of the camera showed Lila in a suggestive pose.

“See, Princess. I told you that Damian isn’t the right guy for you. I am and I promise that I won’t cheat on you like him.”

Marinette snorted and started laughing. She got her hand out of a shocked Adrien’s slacked grip in the process. 

“What’s so funny? He is cheating on you with Lila. The girl you hate. Why aren’t you angry?”

Adrien couldn’t understand why she is laughing like the situation was just a funny joke she had heard. Maybe she was in shock. He moved to comfort her.

Marinette moved away from his touch and gasped for breath. After she finally managed tocalm down, “Did you really think that I am insecure enough that I will believe that my boyfriend would cheat on me with a girl who is just an annoying fly? Maybe come running into your arms with tears in my eyes?”

“Erm..” Adrien struggled to find words to rebuke that claim since that was exactly what he wanted.

“Listen up, Agreste, here is why I don’t believe you. Because one, Damian doesn’t like physical contact that much, especially with strangers and even his own family gets a limited amount of hugs,” She raised her index finger, “Two, I know about him meeting Lila because I was on a call with Damian when Lila came to talk to him. Three, the back row seat by the window has a good view of the tree they were standing under. And four, make sure that you have more concrete evidence to accuse someone of cheating because this was a shit attempt,” She listed off all the reasons using her fingers, “But hey, an A for effort in trying to destroy a relationship. Trying your hand at being a homewrecker, are you?”

“But- But he’s not- he isn’t- I am not trying to destroy a relationship. You are mine. I am just showing you that. He doesn’t actually love you like I do.” Adrien said as he tried to defend himself.

“So showing me a picture that looks like my boyfriend is cheating on me with a sausage-haired harlot in hopes of me breaking up with him. I might have gotten akumatized again but who cares, you will be my shoulder to cry on after the Miraculous Court takes me down and in my vulnerable state, you would ask me to be your girlfriend. Emotionally manipulating me to say yes. You finally get the girl of your dreams as your prize. What you want, Agreste is not a relationship but a possession of me. And just because you want me, doesn’t mean I have to reciprocate your feelings. That isn’t a healthy relationship and it’s not love. You need to stop this fantasy of yours and accept that I don’t like you romantically anymore and date you. You need to let this idea of us together go.”

Marinette turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Adrien in the dust to think about what he had been doing wrong. Her words stung but he loved her. She was the one, his perfect match.

But her words echoed through his mind. Was what he felt towards her really love? Did he even love her or was she just a prize?

He shook his head. No, he shouldn’t be thinking like that. She loves him. Love makes people blind and his Princess doesn’t see him right in front of her. He was never going to give on Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He was never letting her go.

Never.

Chapter Text

Chloe watched the scene unfolding in front of the entire school. Marinette and her ‘fake’ boyfriend were saying goodbye.

Honestly, at this point, she was hoping for them to have their tongues down each other's throats. But both of them are too stubborn to admit that they actually like each other. They would be a very cute couple if they actually dated. Fuck that curse that makes them ‘fall in love with each other’.

Luka even said that their melodies harmonise with each other. That is a sign that they would make the ultimate couple. But no…. Both of them were too stubborn.

If only those two stop dancing around each other.

At least, Tim was still going to be in Paris to help the Miraculous Team’s search for Hawkmoth. The past week had been spent catching up on each other’s life, complaining about hero/ vigilante work and narrowing down the suspect list for Hawkmoth. So far everything has been pointing towards Gabriel Agreste. It would be hilarious if Hawkmoth had had the Black Cat Miraculous under his nose for over a year.

Damian and Marinette had finally finished up their lovey-dovey act and- 

Holy Shit! This must be a dream.

They were kissing.

Full-on lip-locking in front of the entire school.

And where the hell is her phone?!

Chloe frantically looked through her bag. This was a certain possibility that Chloe was hoping would happen when Damian volunteered to be tribute. She needed proof that her ship had sailed and rubbed it in Tim’s face that she had won the bet. He claimed to know his brother and said that his younger brother would never kiss Marinette for the sake of an act. When her yellow phone emerged from the bottomless pit that was her bag, Damian was already gone on his way to Gotham, leaving behind an adorably flushed Marinette.

Oh Universe, why must you be so cruel?

Chloe desperately hoped that at least someone got a picture of the Kiss. 

Marinette bit her lip as Damian walked her to school one last time before he has to get on his flight to Gotham. She had been deliberating about how to break it to Damian that there might not be a curse between them and maybe confess about the teeny tiny crush she had on her  ‘fake’ boyfriend.

Well, maybe not so tiny crush. 

Damian was a very attractive person with incredible physique from years of training. Damian may talk harshly towards people but he was kind in his actions. He made sure Tim sleeps a reasonable amount and that Jason gets checked out after a rough sparring match against her mother. The way he checks over her after every akuma fight although knowing the Cure fixes everything and how his eyes show relief to see her unharmed. He carried her around after she had accidentally twisted her ankle trying to save a kitten stuck in a tree. She got healed in a few hours thanks to the fast healing factor granted by the Miraculous. He wasn’t just a pretty face and was willing to fight for what he believes is right.

The love she had for Adrien was like the sun. It was hot and scorching. It burned so brightly that she wasn’t able to see anything else. It was also her desperate attempt to believe in her own lies of being a normal girl with a normal life. She finally thought that she could fit in with the civilian life. An ordinary teenage girl with a hopeless crush. No knives in her closet, no poison in her drawers and no red on her ledger. Adrien was just a symbol of the normalcy she craved.

When Kagami tracked down Ladybug to inform her about Adrien being Chat Noir, it shattered that fantasy. When Chat Noir started to be more aggressive in his pursuits, she had labelled him as part of the problem that wouldn’t allow her to have a normal life with Adrien. It caused enough emotional turmoil to attract an akuma. Marinette was lucky to have enough time to pass on the earrings to Kagami before she got akumatized. She had used her mental training to made sure Hawkmoth wouldn’t find out about anything.

Marinette was glad that made her open her eyes to the fact that something needed to change so Hawkmoth won’t win.

Being with Damian was easy. She doesn’t have to filter out her life as an assassin and he understands the struggle of being raised as one. She didn’t have to hide an entire part of her life like she did with Adrien. She was just Marinette. Normal was just overrated anyways.

Besides, she technically dated him and that was more progress than she ever had with Adrien. Although it was not for love like she hoped, she was going to cherish the time she had with him.

Marinette then realised that they had stopped walking because they had arrived at her school.

She reluctantly let go of his hand and brightly smiled as she said, “ Well, I guess this is it. ” Marinette turned away but Damian stopped her.

“ Before I go, Dupain-Cheng, you are more tolerable to be around than I thought and I wouldn't have mind having you as my bride. ” Damian admitted.

“ Well- ,” Marinette cleared her throat as her voice came out in a higher pitch than intended because of the unexpected confession.

“ Well, you were an amazing fake boyfriend, even if it was for a week and thank you for doing this. Shame that I never got to kiss the Damian Al Ghul Wayne. ” She teased.

Damian’s ears tip turned red to which Marinette was proud of until the blood son of Bruce Wayne smirked, looking towards the courtyard where many students were gathered to see the couple’s goodbye.

“ We have to fix that, won't we? ” he said in a low voice which Marinette thought sounded illegal before Damian proceeded to kiss her.

Marinette froze in shock at the contact before her brain kicked in and she began moving her lips against his.

“ You bastard. ” Marinette hissed after that wonderful kiss ended. Her cheeks were flaming hotter than a bakery oven.

“ True. Goodbye, Dupain-Cheng. ” Damian smirked before he got into the car taking him to the airport. He did not scrambled away. Shut up, Grayson’s voice His cheeks felt flushed for an entirely different reason.

Marinette admittedly was still very dazed and in a blissful state of mind. Absent-mindedly waving goodbye to the spot where the car was.

Damian Wayne was one hell of a kisser. And that bastard had to do it in front of the entire school. How was she supposed to not fall in love after that mind-blowing kiss?!

She wasn’t sure if she would be able to concentrate in class today. Not that it mattered. She already knows all of the material. She could even teach better than some of the teachers if she wanted to.

She was broken out of her state by Chloe and Alix swinging their arms around each of her shoulders.

“Soooo,” Alix began with a teasing smirk  “How was it?”

“How was what?” Marinette blankly replied, not comprehending anything. She was trying to think of ways to get back at Damian if she ever saw him again. Would it be an abuse of power to use Kalki to show up in Gotham and kiss the guy?

“Mari-bug, how much did you enjoy your goodbye present? I swear that the entire courtyard got hotter.” Chloe said with too much glee and a glint in her eye which Marinette didn’t like. The question brought her back to reality. The sad reality where Damian Wayne wasn’t actually her boyfriend and it was just an act to ward off Adrien.

“You guys see me kiss Damian all the time. So what if our last kiss before we see each other in person again got a little out of hand?” Marinette tried to shrug it off nonchalantly.

Hopefully, the class wouldn’t question the fact that they hadn’t seen her kiss Damian at all until today.

Chloe’s insane plan to get Adrien off her back seem to have worked. He hasn’t approached her at all since he had tried to prove that Damian was trying to cheat on her with Lila of all people. She was going to be smug for days over the fact that her plan worked.

“Anyways, we are still on for tonight, right?” Marinette asked.

“Yes, Marinette, stop worrying. We will be there. And Tim is getting close to finding well... you-know-who.”

“Who? Who are you trying to find?” The unwanted voice cuts in.

The trio rolled their eyes and proceeded to ignore the orange-clad Liar, switching the topics to Chloe’s mother up-coming fashion show. (Alix just nodded along and hemmed and hawed where appropriate. Pretending to understand the difference between different fabrics and styles.

“Hey! I was asking you. Who is this you-know-who that you were trying to find?” She blocked their path. They were plotting something for sure. She just has to find out what.

“None of your business, Rossi.” Chloe snapped.

Lila started tearing up, “But I just- I just wanted to ask a question. I- I am sorry if I disturbed you.”

“Lila asked you a question. No need to be so rude about it.” Alya joined in, sneering.

“Well, she was very rudely interrupting our conversation, Alya.” Marinette pointed out.

“Lila is just very sensitive and you made her cry.” Alya said as she comforted the Italian. “You guys are the biggest bully ever to make her cry like this. She asked a question. No need to get so defensive over it. Just answer it.”

The trio resisted to roll their eyes again.

Just another day of dealing with Lila’s bullshit and the class’s herd mentality.

Someone knocked on the door of Tim’s room in the Wayne Penthouse.

Room was too generous a word. It was more of a no man’s land after a tornado had gone through it with computer screens set up everywhere like a command centre.

“ Jason, for the last time, I don’t know where your guns are. Don’t you have like trackers on them- oh. Hey, Chloe. Marinette. ”

The two Parisian girls came in and made their way through no man’s land, trying to not to step on the mess on the floor. Along with them came the tantalising aroma of coffee.

Marinette offered Tim the cup of coffee to which he perked up. He snatched it and took a sip, instantly feeling energised.

“Woah, where did you get this?”

“It’s Marinette’s special brew. She makes it when she has lots of commissions or when the finals are coming up. Honestly, I don’t know how she ingests the stuff. It would be better if she sleeps instead.” Chloe replied as she removed some of the things on his bed and made herself comfortable.

“Sleep for the weak, Chloe and it’s normal coffee with some magic infused in it to give me a boost.” Marinette retorted as she sat beside Chloe.

“Normal for you maybe. That stuff has the maximum amount of espresso shots legally allowed.”

Tim took another sip of the nectar of the gods. Marinette mentioned that Kwamis were a little like gods, right? If some of their magic is used in this coffee, then coffee is truly the nectar of the gods. “You are my most favourite person on the planet right now. This is Heaven, Paradise and every good thing in the world in a cup. You are my new bestie.”

Marinette laughed,“You have to fight Queenie for the title and it’s nothing. I thought you might need it. This is the least I can do for all your help.”

“Well, your theory seems to check out,” Tim replied, “You said the Butterfly and Peacock brooches were lost in Tibet years ago, right? Gabriel Agreste and Emilie Graham De Vanily, his then girlfriend and now ‘late’ wife, were there on their around-the-world trip and one of their stops happened to be Tibet, specifically the area where you said the Miracle Temple would be around. I also found something you might find interesting in the blueprints of the Agreste Mansion.”

Tim tapped on his keyboard a few times, pulling up the plans for a butterfly window that opens up and an underground lair on one of the screens before showing the two girls.

“The workers were paid off to keep this a secret. Oracle, our resident tech genius back in Gotham, found something else too. A few months before Hawkmoth’s first debut, Gabriel Agreste purchased everything necessary for a butterfly garden. There are also a lot of receipts for butterflies for the past few years which I bet is how he has a constant supply of akumas.”

“So either Gabriel is secretly a butterfly enthusiast or he is Hawkmoth.” Marinette groaned at how the man didn't know the meaning of subtle with his butterfly logo, “How have we not caught him yet?”

Chloe side-hugged the ravenette, “He’s a coward that doesn’t come out of his dark hole that often because he knows you would utterly destroy him when he does appear and you are not preoccupied with saving Paris. I mean your mother is an assassin for crying out loud.”

“Yeah, I would.” Marinette absent-mindedly nodded in agreement before stiffening as she realised what Chloe said.

Marinette went out of her embrace and looked at her with a sharp look, “Wait. What did you just say, Chloe?”

Chloe scoffed, “Don’t try denying it, Dupain-Cheng. The room full of weapons your family has, how good at martial arts your mom is, how you don’t flinch at the sight of blood.” She listed off the reasons with her fingers.

“That- That doesn’t mean anything and there are perfectly reasonable explanations for them-” Marinette denied.

“And you really should be careful when you talk about things that are supposed to be secrets in public places. I know and understand Japanese too, Mari-bug. I heard you and Damian talking about having assassins for mothers on one of your ‘dates’.” Chloe smugly said.

Marinette sighed and flopped onto Tim’s comfortable bed, knowing there’s no point in keeping Chloe from snooping further into her family business.

“As long as you don’t go around telling the others about my family secret, I won’t have to cut out your tongue,” Marinette said.

“Or your fingers,” she added as an afterthought as she brought out her hidden switchblade and started playing with it. “And remember that I am good with needles and threads and know how to hold someone down while sewing their mouth shut.” She pointed her blade in Chloe’s direction as a clear threat.

Chloe nervously moved away from the bed, closer to Tim and hid her hands under her legs. Tim scooted away not wanting to be near a possible dead-woman walking, childhood promises be damned. He lived with assassins for siblings, and knows that threats like that are no joke.

“You are joking, right?” The blonde said. “I mean, I did apologise for bullying you all those years ago. We are friends now.”

“Maman takes her secrets seriously, especially this one. But I think she trusts you enough to keep something as important as this. Although you did just say it in front of Tim. Superhero or- Sorry I mean Vigilante or not, that is not something you should casually bring up in a conversation in front of anyone.”

“You can tell Mama Cheng that I am not going to do that anymore. And I will take this secret to my grave. Promise.”

“You better or you get into it earlier than you think. So Tim, I don’t know you very well but can I trust you to keep my family secret as well?”

Tim didn’t like the way she was looking at him. He tried not to show how unnerved he was with the look in her eye. He had faced many different villains and psychopaths. Something tells him that Marinette was better to have as an ally than an enemy.

“Yeah. Yes. Definitely. I would very much like to keep my tongue and my fingers.” He quickly replied. He was also not willing to lose any more of his body parts. Thank you very much.

“Great, now that’s settled.” Marinette put away her switchblade and clasped her hand in front of her with a smirk on her face that meant it would not bode well for Hawkmoth.

Somewhere across Paris in his mansion, Gabriel felt a chill run up his spine.

“Let’s get started on our game plan.”

The plane touched down on the runway of Gotham Airport. The city sky line was as dark and gloomy as he left it. The rising sun illuminated the tall buildings and skyscrapers, some of which were owned by his father. Looking at it, he saw why his family wanted to protect this city which was theirs.

Damian was glad that he was alone in first class, which was not a surprise since people rarely go to Gotham. There were no annoying people to bother him. The flight attendant, other than asking him if he wanted anything at the start of the flight, mostly left him alone, aware of his reputation as the ‘Ice Prince of Gotham’.

Leaving Paris made him feel strange. On one hand, he would not see Marinette everyday and deal with those pesky ‘romantic’ thoughts.

On another hand, there is a strange ache in his chest at the thought of not seeing her everyday.  He will admit to himself that he was hasty with his judgement. She was brilliant and a better hero despite her upbringing which was similar to his. She is definitely not fragile as he first pegged her. He still had the bruises from their spars to prove it.

Damian exited the arrivals area and immediately saw Alfred waiting for him. He walked towards where Alfred was, with the duffel bag containing the clothes and weapons that Drake had managed to get past security with him to France.

Damian greeted the butler and got into the car for a silent ride to the manor. He was tired, jet-lagged, and wanted to go to his bed with his pets by his side.

He also didn’t have the energy to deal with the pesky thoughts of a blue-eyed and black-haired girl with rosy cheeks that appear when he gets too close and cherry-red lips which she frequently bites when she is in deep thought. Nope, too tired and he was definitely not thinking about how sweet she tasted when they kissed and how she smelled like her strawberry shampoo, fresh bread and something else he can’t quite figure out. Her flushed face right after their kiss flashed through his mind. The curse does strike at the most inconvenient of times.

He was greeted and immediately mother-henned by a worried Dick Grayson the moment he stepped into the manor. Cass nodded in greeting while he was hugged by an enthusiastic Grayson. Thomas waved from where he stood, in uniform as he was about to start Signal’s day shift.

“Welcome back, Damian.” his father said as he hugged him.

It was good to be home.

Chapter Text

Robin punched the man who stumbled and fell onto his back. Robin kicked the man in the ribs to further incapacitate him. As the man tried to get up, Robin delivered another punch, this time fully knocking him out. Robin turned around to check on the shaking victim the man had tried to assault.

“Are you okay, Miss?” he asked to which the woman shook her head and profusely thanked him.

“Just doing my job. The police would be here in a few minutes. Then, you can give them your statement of what happened.”

After tying the man up with zip ties and alerting the police to do their jobs, Robin shot back up to the roofs using his grappling hook. He continued his patrol after taking a few minutes to make sure the woman was safe.

Hours later, he found himself thinking about Marinette again. It started off as a worry about the Paris situation and his brothers, not that he would admit out loud . Then, his thoughts wandered into how Marinette was doing. Once he realised what he was doing, he tried to get rid of them.

The stupid curse won't leave him alone. Kissing her was a mistake because he found himself thinking about her sweet lips often. If he didn't keep a tighter lid over his thoughts, it would stray into more than just kissing. So deep in his thoughts he was that he didn't notice when Spoiler approached him.

"Hey, Baby bat!" she called, making him jump slightly.

"What's wrong?" Spoiler asked worriedly as Robin was not one to be easily caught off-guard.

"I'm fine." Robin grumbled. "Just taking a break, Spoiler. Now if you excuse me, I have to continue patrolling."

Spoiler found that a little suspicious. Robin would not willingly take breaks unless someone told him to. He was acting so unlike himself that Stephanie wondered if she should check whether Damian got replaced by a clone.

She got in front of him to stop him from leaving and asked, "Uh huh. So what got you looking so forlorn like those love-sick leads in Jason's secret stash of trashy romance novels?"

Robin froze, embarrassed at being caught acting like a fool. He looked away and tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"Tt. None of your business."

"Wait. Is this related to the love curse N told me about? Is it that bad?" She asked curiously.

Robin considered the pros and cons of telling Spoiler. On one hand, she would make fun of his situation but on the other hand, she could provide insights the others can't give. He made his decision.

"She haunts my every thought." Robin started, "Even here in Gotham, she torments me. My heart beats faster when I hear her name-"

Robin continued to talk about how Marinette consumes his waking mind and he aches to be near her. He commented on how good she was at taking down the League of Assassins almost single handedly and her fighting skills.

Spoiler tried not to giggle at the absurdly sappy lines from romance novels which Damian unknowingly used to describe the girl he only knew for a week. Honestly, the girl sounded badass from what she heard from Tim. It must be true given how Robin even gave her endless praises and compliments easily which was quite rare for Damian to do. It was cute in a way.

"Sounds like you have a pretty big crush on the girl." She teased.

"What?! I already told you. It's a curse. A crush is when teenage hormones run wild and make people do foolish things for the sake of impressing the object of their affections. I am above such things." Robin denied. There was a strange sensation in his chest at the accusation like he had been poisoned. Was the curse getting stronger? If so it will be crucial for him to be rid of it as soon as possible.

"Whatever." Spoiler shrugged. "Just saying how I am saying it, Robin. Besides, you will be cured of your curse anyways. Just like the many other people who get over their crushes."

Robin felt the gears in his head turn.

"Can you repeat that last sentence?" he asked.

"Just like the many other people who get over their crushes....?" Stephanie repeated, baffled and curious about what Damian was thinking.

Robin joined the tips of his fingers as he asked with a polite but interrogating tone, "How does one do that?"

"Wait. You think that if you treat this curse as a crush, it would just-" she snapped her fingers "-go away?"

"Tch. Obviously. I am running out of options until those damn magic users are done with whatever they are doing."

"Well, getting over a crush is not that simple." Spoiler stated.

"I don't expect it to be." Robin said. "But I am out of options and you are likely to be the best one in the family to consult when it comes to such matters."

Spoiler ruffled his head to which he angrily swatted her hand away and demanded, "What was that for?"

"I'm just proud of you, Baby Bat. Coming to me for relationship advice." Spoiler teased but there was a hint of pride in her voice.

"Tch. Just tell me how to get rid of it."

"Well, first off, that's not how it works. Feelings are complicated even without a love curse in the mix. It usually fades with some time and distance but from the sounds of it, it is not the case for you." Stephanie observed.

"If anything, it has gotten worse."

She nodded in understanding. "Ah yes. That old saying. How did it go? Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"I would usually write that off as a nonsensical phrase but it properly describes my case right now."

"It also means that your 'crush' is more serious than we thought. So the next step is to replace that crush with someone else."

"What?!"

"It's just a suggestion, lil'D." Spoiler said as she stepped a little farther away, just out of katana reach, "One way to get over a crush is to move on from it and people usually do that by dating other people. Not the best way but it works for some people."

"I see. But I don't want to go through the tedious process of dating. I have seen Nightwing's attempts."

Spoiler snickered at his words.

However, in the back of his head, he remembered Marinette's words.

" It takes the right people for it to be fun. " She had said when he asked about the point of the dates.

He begrudgingly admitted to himself that she made dating somewhat enjoyable.

Spoiler clapped her hands, "Okay then. Then, our infamous Bat way of repressing feelings, it is."

"What?"

"You do nothing about it. You go about your day like you never met her, not acknowledging that you like this girl. Every Time you get those mushy feelings, shove it deep down where it won't bother you. I mean it worked for B." She added.

Robin hummed thoughtfully. "I see. Thank you for your advice."

"Anytime!" Spoiler cheerfully replied and waved as Robin grappled away.

Stephanie smiled as she continued on her own patrol. She knew that her own advice was bullshit. Her other suggestions would have been shut down immediately. She refrained from laughing at the thought of Damian confessing his feelings with a bouquet of roses in his hands as he offered it up to some faceless girl while on one knee.

She doesn’t know whether it’s the curse working on its influence or not, but she does know that Damian genuinely held some feelings towards Frenchie. She really hoped that everything would work out in the end. As much as the brat was annoying, she wished for him to find happiness.

Marinette frowned as she read the message the Guild had sent her mother. Looks like they have to hurry up on the plan to take down Hawkmoth.

The League had severely suffered with the loss of the Lazarus pits and many of their own from the surprise attack the Guild had launched, no matter how prepared they were at the possibility.

Ra’s and Talia had abandoned Nanda Parbat and gone into hiding with what remains of their organisation. But they were beginning to retaliate with news of an attack on one of the  Guild’s weaker and more-known members and their family. He died and his son was in critical condition in a secure hospital. The crime scene showed the handiwork of the League of Assassins if people knew where to look. The Guild’s priority now was to prepare a counter-attack before the League decides to strike again and find where the new base of operations is.

Tim was helpful in that regard, providing information on everything he and the Bats knew about the League and hacking into what was left of the League’s old database for more. He muttered something about payback for losing a spleen. So far their search has come up with a few promising leads.

Her mother was increasing security measures around the house. After all, the League now knew where they lived after kidnapping Marinette. There is also the possibility, as much as it pains them, that they would have to close the bakery and move away from Paris.

Marinette really hoped that it wouldn't come to that as she made her way to school, her head filled with contingency plans in case she has to leave Paris before Hawkmoth is defeated.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't see that it was who Lila stepped into her way as she got out of the bathroom, prattling about on and on about something. Marinette didn't care enough to listen as she absentmindedly side-stepped around the other girl and made her way to the sink to wash her hands. Her thoughts still focused on making plans before realizing that someone else was talking to her. Much to her annoyance. Upon registering who the annoying voice and waving hand belonged to, she sighed.

On top of everything I have to deal with already, Marinette thought.

“Can you repeat what you say, Lila? I am a tad distracted this morning.” she said sweetly, although her smile was anything but.

“You…” Lila glared at her angrily for a second before smoothing her face. “I said, whatever game you are playing, I will win.” She said triumphantly.

“Oh.. A game, huh? Lila. I am not interested in what you have to say. You can say you are the President for all I care. I am not going to stop you.”

“I will make you regret ever-” Lila’s eyes widened in disbelief, realising what Marinette said before narrowing them in suspicion, “What the hell are you playing at, Marinette?”

“Absolutely nothing. You can have my classmates. You can have the class representative position. You can even have Adrien Agreste. You already have his father’s approval so you are halfway there to having him as your arm candy slash money dispenser.”

“You had been against me for over a year. You can’t just give up. I know your kind of people. The persistent goody two shoes, and you all go away at one point or another. But you don’t just give up on your friends. You are supposed to keep fighting for the ‘truth’ until they all leave you for me.” Lila continued, “So I repeat my question, Marinette, what are you playing at.”

“And I already told you. Nothing. Simply nothing. I am not playing anymore. It dawned upon me that fighting you takes too much time and energy that I can no longer spare in my very busy life. I have the MDC thing going for me.” Marinette replied, waving Lila off. The Italian wasn’t happy with her answer.

“No. I am not falling for your tricks”, she declared.

“Whatever. I don’t care. I have grown bored of this petty conflict between us and moved on from it. I suggest you do the same.” Marinette walked out the girls’ bathroom, leaving Lila spluttering for a good comeback.

“You shouldn’t turn your back on your enemy, Marinette.” Lila shouted too late, after Marinette was well out of earshot.

The Italian looked into the mirror, her reflection frowning as she tried to will away the bad feeling the confrontation with Marinette gave her. Damian’s warning came into her mind again, making her shiver.

Marinette hummed as she worked on her latest designs in her sketchbook. The class slowly trickled in, keeping to themselves and paying her no mind. At least, most of them did.

“Wow, Marinette. Those designs are good. I could get Father to hire you if you want.” Adrien’s voice interrupted her peaceful morning.

It was painfully obvious to see what he was planning. Asking her out the moment her boyfriend was out of the picture. Can’t he just give up already?!

“Agreste, thank you for the compliment and the job offer but I would have to turn it down. I have my own business to run and no offence intended, I don’t think I can work with the Gabriel brand, considering the restraining order I have on you. Which you are currently breaking.” Marinette calmly replied while she devised plans to get Adrien out of her life already. So far faking her death was on the cards.

“What she’s too nice to say is, Adrikins. Is that, get lost. Right now.” Chloe, who had just arrived, grabbed the collar of Adrien’s shirt and dragged him away from Marinette.

“But I was just talking to her.” Adrien defends himself as he tries to get out of Chloe’s grip.

“And within the five feet radius range of her position set while in the classroom which breaks the restraining order. This is your first and last warning. Next time, Daddy dearest will hear about this and maybe he will decide to pull you out of this school.” She released him at what she thought was outside the range.

“You can’t do that. Chloe, I can’t stay at home. You know that.”

“Too bad, you need to back off. Marinette doesn’t like you that way and you need to see that.”

“But Marinette is my friend.”

“Not anymore.” Marinette cuts in coldy.

Adrien flinched as he realised that the glare Marinette directed at him. He took a step back unconsciously at her glare.

“Mari-”

“You came to me like some knight in shining armour on a white horse and told me to get rid of my boyfriend and date you instead. I mean, who does that? If you were really my friend, you would have supported me and been happy for me. Instead you parade around like you are some hero and my Damian is a villain. I get that he’s not good with people and a little standoffish but I love him more than I ever did you.” Marinette declared and turned away from Adrien. Clear that it was the end of their conversation.

The class watched as Adrien became silent and walked back to his seat, sulking. His fist clenched in anger at being rejected again.

“That’s what we have planned to lure Hawkmoth out.” Tim said to Bruce from the Batcomputer.

Bruce nodded. “I see.”

Then, he turned to his other son, “Jason, are you okay with this?”

“If you are talking about mind control. Ladybug told me how to break out of it.” he replied,  “Hawkmoth can only force them to consent to it but he can’t force the transformation itself. So only the most stubborn person can resist it. You know how stubborn I am, Bruce. And I don’t care if my reputation is being used like this. If it can stop that butterfly man from continuing to terrorise an entire city, I’m glad that it is useful.”

Bruce grunted in response. (It was a ‘I am proud of you and also worried how this would affect you’ kind of grunt)

“The only issue is that Hawkmoth has been really quiet these days so he might be planning something big. I am worried that it might be another Catalyst situation.” Tim continued.

“What does the Miraculous Team think?” Bruce asked.

“They are only slightly worried. Chloe believes that Agreste might be busy due to the upcoming Fashion Week. However, Adrien Agreste, on the other hand, has been more… aggressive in his pursuit of Marinette.”

Damian, who was nearby feeding the bats and eavesdropping on the Paris update, shot his head up. He angrily marched to the Batcomputer and glared at his brothers as if it was their fault for not stopping Adrien. ( There was an uncomfortable tight squeezing feeling in his chest that Damian doesn’t dare to question about. )

“I thought that the whole purpose of me going along with that dating facade was to deter him from Dupain-Cheng. What about the restraining order?” Damian demanded.

“It appears that he is under the impression that you did that against her will and attempted to break it. Multiple times, in fact. But don’t get your knickers in a twist just yet, Damian, I told Gabriel that I would happily let the media know that his son was harassing your girlfriend. It appears he is listening or at least, his assistant is. Because there has been a tighter leash on Adrien as of late.” Tim said with a slight grin.
“She’s not my girlfriend!” Damian retorted. His ears were unusually red as he said that.

“Face it, you are a simp for her.” Tim teased.

“I do not simp for Dupain-Cheng.”

“I am surprised you know what that means.”

“Of course, I do. I am a teenager with access to the internet.”

“Boys, stop fighting.” Bruce scolded them.

“Tch, Fine.” Damian said.

“Sorry,” Tim apologised and continued.

“Anyways. As I was saying, we got our lawyers on the case if Adrien tried to approach Marinette after designated hours. We can’t do anything about class time but her friends are doing a good job of keeping them apart. It’s difficult to transfer Marinette to another class or get her taken out of the school altogether because the principal insists on making her finish this school year in that particular class for some bizarre reason.”

“Mama Cheng says that she thinks the little liar has something to do with that. What kind of crazy hold does that girl have over the school administration? She’s a teenager for goodness sake. Why are people treating her like she’s some god?” Jason added.

“The fact that Adrien is Hawkmoth’s son made this situation more delicate.”

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose to relieve the pressure of his building headache.

Then, he sighed and ordered, “Okay, keep me updated on the situation and alert me if you need assistance or something changes.”

“Understood.” Tim said and hung up.

Damian took advantage of the opportunity to talk to his Father.

“Father, my school is doing an exchange program and I wish to participate.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “What brought this on?”

“One of the places is Paris. And I wish to be part of the team to help them.”

“Damian, your brothers are more than capable of taking care of this on their own. And you said it yourself. That you might be compromised if you stay near Dupain-Cheng. What is the real reason you want to go?”

Bruce was understandably worried. Damian had been acting less like himself since Talia took him away. He didn’t believe in the curse but Bruce had tried to get in contact with any magic users again and again. It’s either the same reply as last time or no reply in a few cases. Bruce was starting to see a pattern there and it was worrying.

His attention was brought back to Damian as he spoke.

“It’s just… she’s amazing despite her past. That’s not the curse talking. It’s me. I want to know her as a friend. She is someone who can relate to what I have been through.”

Bruce was alarmed by Damian’s confession.

Like father like son, they rarely ever talk about their feelings or even acknowledge them. For Damian to admit something like this is big.

Bruce thought that Damian was doing fine after his return from Paris. He would have let him stay to have another set of hands on the Paris Situation but Damian was insistent on coming home.

Now, he was telling Bruce that he wanted to go back.

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked.

“I… I don’t know. I know that I shouldn’t but it’s just… argh… I have tried everything. I even followed Brown’s stupid advice about shoving my feelings away but it’s no use. I think of Marinette all the time. Well, not all the time but my mind keeps drifting to things like what she would like and what she is doing right now. Just now I was pathetically eavesdropping on Timothy’s report because I wanted to know how she was. It was a bad idea to do that entire fake dating thing with her. Because I was… happy. Genuinely happy. She made me feel happy. And being away from her…”

Damian seemed to struggle with how to finish his sentence.

“Are you sure that is not the curse?”

“I don’t know. I genuinely like her as a person and it’s hard to differentiate if it might be the curse or my actual feelings. In fact, I have doubts if I have the curse. I know curses. I still have my full metal facilities -with the occasional daydream but it still counts- and there is no unbearable pain because I am away from her. I just... miss her companionship." 

Damian gave him a determined look that Bruce often saw when he looked in a mirror. "I need to go back to be sure.”

Bruce conceded in the face of his son’s stubbornness.

“You can go on that exchange program. Just be careful not to lose yourself. And in the meantime, I will try to find out where all our magic users have gone.”

Chapter Text

Gabriel grumbled to himself as he worked on his designs. Hawkmoth took up a lot of his time meant for designing and no new designs meant his sales were dropping. He needed to get the numbers back up again so he could pay for the machines keeping Emilie alive. At least until he gets his hands on those Miraculouses.

Those pesky heroes better enjoy the lull in akuma while it lasted because after he was done, there were going to be akumas for days. This stalemate of theirs caused by the stubborn refusal of Ladybug to give up her earrings.

Chat Noir’s sudden disappearance had him gleeful at finally achieving his goal more easily.

He had been creating as many akumas and senti monsters as possible to find an opening to seize his chance.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Since Ladybug had gotten more allies on her team and they had switched around using the Ladybug and Black Cat, it was impossible to pinpoint who had it and wear Ladybug down to the point he could easily overpower her.

Even before Chat Noir’s disappearance, Ladybug had given her earrings to other heroes to take her place. The most infuriating thing to learn when he finally managed to akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng who disappointedly turned out to be the worst akuma. Dame Justice was too rebellious, too reckless and didn't follow any of his commands. She was the only one so far to break out of his hold on her own.

Gabriel sighed as he went back into drawing. More like staring at a blank piece of paper. No inspiration came to him as he stared at the endless white of the finest sketch paper.

Unfortunately, the universe disagreed with his decision for a peaceful working day. Natalie entered his office, looking unusually less put together than usual

“Sir, I think you need to look at this.” she said as she showed him the tablet, streaming the news channel.

Nadja Chamack was reporting on the appearance of a mysterious figure wearing a red helmet and a leather jacket, who appeared out of nowhere at the Trocadéro square, started shooting with his guns and taking hostages.

He had demanded for the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses.

The Interpol had identified the helmeted person as the infamous Red Hood. A known criminal in America. A infamous crime lord from Gotham, the city of Batman, who is one of the Justice League founders.

Gabriel paled as he realised that the media blackout about the akumas wasn’t as effective as he had hoped. If a villain of Batman was here, it was not long before the hero himself comes to Paris and finds out about the akuma situation. It will give the Miraculous team the edge they need to finally defeat him.

Meanwhile, the heroes had arrived on the scene. The ‘Ladybug’ was currently a blonde girl who he suspected normally wields the Bee. The Black Cat was nowhere to be seen yet. The Dragon and Rabbit arrived with the Ladybug.

(Since they began switching up the Miraculous so often with the exception of Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ, it became harder to keep track of the hero names plus coming up with new ones. Both Paris and the heroes themselves stopped and used the name of the animal of the Miraculous they wore instead. Except for a few determined ones.)

Unfortunately for them, Red Hood despite being just a human with no powers, was holding his own against them and actually winning.

The Rabbit was out a few minutes in, tossed away like a rag doll. The Dragon, the better fighter of the two remaining, was overpowered and soon impaled by her own sword.

Ladybug faced her opponent warily, tears in her eyes for her fallen comrades as she spun her yo-yo and tried to fight against Red Hood the best she could.

Gabriel ran to his lair and transformed into Hawkmoth. He sent out an akuma and willed it to fly as fast as it could. 

Red Hood had Ladybug by her throat. The yo-yo was nowhere to be found. Ladybug clawed at his hand to let her go as she struggled to breathe. At that moment, an akuma entered the helmet.

“Hello, Crimson Hood, I am Hawkmoth. I will give you powers to achieve our common goal of getting the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat.”

“So you are the Butterfly man who has been causing a racket for the heroes here.”

“The name is Hawkmoth. I think I have a very-"

"Appreciate the offer but no."

“What?!”

“You see, I don’t want to be dressed as some knock-off version of myself or god forbid, Batman. And I would probably be the one doing all the work anyways.”

“Reconsider my offer. I can grant you the power needed to defeat them.”

“Like I said, no. I didn’t need any of your help. I am doing perfectly fine on my own. It took me only 15 minutes to take down the bug. ” Red Hood said as Ladybug finally lost consciousness and he threw her onto the ground. He used the yo-yo to begin tying the fallen heroine up. “ I just have to wait for the kitty cat to show up and I can make my wish. I have no intention to wait several years until I can use the Miraculouses again.” he continued.

“What do you mean several years?!” Hawkmoth angrily asked.

“You didn’t know? The little book that I found on the black market told me how two magic jewellery will get me what I want and once a wish has been made the creatures that live inside them will be too tired to grant another for a long time, sometimes even a century. Besides, I won’t team up with some coward that won’t show his face and expects me to do his dirty work. Au revoir.”Red Hood said as he took off his helmet and stomped on it, cracking it into pieces.

The last thing Hawkmoth saw through the connection was a gun aimed at the head of the Ladybug wielder and the connection cut out as a gunshot was heard.

Gabriel Agreste viewed himself as a logical and ruthless man with no emotions to cloud his judgement except perhaps the love he had for his dear Emilie. He had to be in order to be one of the top fashion designers and run one of the largest fashion empires. However, his interaction with the Gotham crime lord had him more desperate than ever and even afraid. Maybe with some jealousy.

The American had achieved half of his goal in an hour, when he had spent the last 3 years fighting against those nauseating heroes to only have them so close to his possession a few times before having it ripped away.

He ordered Natalie as Mayura to conjure as many senti-monsters as she can while he tried to find another person to akumatized.

Suddenly he felt a strong negative emotion nearby. It was familiar to him and he had never given into the urge to akumatise the person whose emotions they belonged to. But there wasn’t time to find someone else with strong enough negative emotions.

“Mayura.”

“Yes, Hawkmoth.?”

“Go and distract the Red Hood. If the Cat appears, don’t let the ring get into his hands by using any means necessary. I will send my akuma out in a minute. You will then aid them in getting the earrings.”

“Who’s going to be the akuma, sir?”

“My greatest one yet.”

"Chat Blanc, I am Hawkmoth. I can grant you your wish to the hero in shining armor for the girl you love."

"I accept."

Chapter Text

Two weeks before...

“So we know that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and we know what his motivations are for doing this. But you already knew all of this and just needed confirmation. Why haven’t you stopped him yet?” Tim asked, confused at why the Miraculous Team had done nothing about this despite the mounting evidence they had gathered so far.

“We had to be sure. As much as false leads we throw out to cover up our secret identities, he does the same. So it was a clusterfuck to find if he is really Hawkmoth and it had been really hard to gather evidence since he is such a recluse weirdo. And most importantly, this particular plan to defeat Hawkmoth hinges on the fact that Gabriel is Hawkmoth or it wouldn’t work.” Marinette explained.

Chloe frowned, “How come this is the first time I have heard of this plan?”

“It’s just something I thought up when I first suspected Gabriel is Hawkmoth. Also, there was never the right time or the right conditions to carry it out. Mainly because Chat and everyone else made me doubt if he could really be Hawkmoth. Nothing was concrete and it wouldn’t work if I was wrong in my suspicions. I also had other various plans for my other suspects for Hawkmoth.”

“So why does Hawkmoth need to be Gabriel Agreste for this one to work?” Tim asked.

“This plan is tailored specifically for him. Or at least, someone with his mindset and personality. I have met many men like him. Men who are in a high position of power and take it for granted. Men who don't like getting their hands dirty and instead abuse their powers and do everything they can to achieve their goals. They won’t show their faces unless they are certain that they have the complete upper hand. Look at Heroes’ Day and Miracle Queen-”, Chloe winced at the reminder, “-But unlike the others, Gabriel seems more desperate. Desperate to akumatise babies and put his own son in danger for it. Money and fame isn’t much of a problem for him to get. If he wanted world domination, he would have announced it for everyone to know. So why would he need a reality-altering wish that he isn’t willing to risk himself but desperate enough to do this?”

“More power?” Alix ventured.

“Same category as world domination but nice try, Alix. What would a heartless man like Gabriel need a wish for? And be desperate for it. I think he wants to bring someone back from the dead.”

“His late wife, Emilie Agreste.” Tim nodded in understanding but still isn’t getting what Marinette is getting at, “But what does this have to do with the plan?”

“It also means that if we create a situation where there’s a chance he might lose a shot at making his wish forever. He will finally come out of his dark little cocoon and we will have a butterfly net ready for him.”

“Marinette, that pun was terrible.” Chloe said in disgust.

“Yeah. I know. I know. I knew it the moment I heard it. Plagg has been rubbing off on me.”

“How exactly are you going to draw him out?”

“Well, how much is Jason willing to go back into the super-villain business?”

Jason just grinned in reply.

“So any questions?” Marinette asked after finishing her hour-long presentation of her plan to her team, her mother and the Bat vigilantes in the Dupain-Cheng living room. They were seated on either the couch, chairs pulled in from the kitchen or the floor with blankets and cushions. Food and drinks were provided by Tom who was currently working downstairs in the bakery.

“Pixie, no offence, but this plan is insane.” Jason said from his seat on the floor while allowing Chloe to paint his nails.

Alix snorted, “This is Marinette’s usual level of insane. You just have to get used to it.”

“I should have figured that out the moment she said that she would destroy the Lazarus Pits.”

“Are you okay with this, Jason?” Marinette questioned, not knowing if his past as a crime lord was a sore subject or not.

“Hell yeah, I’m in. Getting one over a rich asshole sounds fun.”

“And also because Hawkmoth needs to be stopped.” Tim added.

“That too. But mainly the first one.”

“If everyone is clear on the plan, are we good to go?”

A chorus of yes sounded.

A week before….

Marinette as Ladybug and Red Robin discreetly arrived at the roof of TVi news station.

“Nadja Chamack?” She called the reporter who was waiting for them.

“Ladybug. I have been expecting you since you called me. Who’s the new hero?”

“This is Red Robin. He is from the Justice League to help out. We are here because we have a plan to take down Hawkmoth and we need every major news station to report on an attack tomorrow at the Trocadéro square.”

“How do you know that is when Hawkmoth is going to strike?”

“It’s not Hawkmoth that is attacking. We are going to do a fake out that makes it look like some other villain is going for the Miraculous but they are on our side. Red Robin is going to give you some information in order to convince Hawkmoth that they are an actual serious threat. I hope you know that this plan will require your utmost discretion.”

“Oh, I will help you with anything to get back that vile man. It will finally be nice to not worry about my daughter turning into an akuma every time she doesn’t get her way. Although, she has been getting better about it.”

After hashing out a few more details and Red Robin handing over a small list of Red Hood’s past crimes, the two heroes exited via the window.

“One down, a few more to go.” Red Robin said.

They both discreetly stuck to the shadows as they went to the next news station on their list.

Jason looked at the crowd of people that were gathering in the gym that Kagami had rented using her family name.

“Damn, how did you manage to hire this many stunt actors with a tight deadline?” Jason asked, looking at Nathaniel, Kagami and Chloe, who were all transformed.

Chloe smirked in Kagami’s direction. Kagami looked away, her face turning an interesting shade of pink.

“Kagami has a… friend that has connections in the film industry and was more than willing to do anything for her. No questions asked.” Chloe replied with a teasing lilt to her voice.

“Does this friend happen to have a name?” Jason asked as nonchalantly as possible.

“Felix Graham de Vanily.” Nathaniel replied. Kagami shot him a betrayed look.

“Graham de Vanily.” The name vaguely sounded familiar to Jason. “Hey, isn’t that-?”

“Felix is Adrien’s cousin. Their moms are sisters.” Chloe replied. “And he is such an asshole.”

“He’s not that bad.” Kagami defended.

“Only to you. Don’t be fooled by his gentlemanly side, Kagami.” Chloe said.

“Why is he an asshole?” Jason asked, slightly out of curiosity.

“Felix knew for months that Gabriel was Hawkmoth and he also knows that what we are doing is for the sake of the Miraculous Team.” Nathanial explained.

“Aren’t you worried that he would rat us out to Hawkmoth?”

Kagami shook her head. “Felix hates Gabriel. He is more than happy to help in order to see his uncle’s downfall. He would probably come in person if he didn’t have other obligations.”

“Please, the boy was whipped for you. He would have demanded some stupid conditions for us to fulfil in order to get his help. One word from you and he caved like a house of cards and practically did everything for us. For free.” Chloe gestured at all the actors assembled in the gym.

“Enough.” Kagami said, her cheeks as red as her costume. “Where’s Alix?”

A glowing blue portal appeared next to them and Alix appeared.

“Sorry. Sorry. I know that I’m late.” Alix said and she glared at Jason who opened his mouth. “No wonderland jokes.”

“So how’s the timeline?” Jason asked instead.

Alix shook her head. “It’s hard to tell. There are so many different factors that could make it go wrong. I did my best to make sure that the plan goes as smoothly as possible.”

(That consists of one break-in into a school, taking down some assassins with help of Sabine and making sure that a library book was returned on time. The last one was more of a personal errand.)

“There will be a few more akumas this week.” Alix added.

Chloe groaned. “But we have that stupid project to finish.”

“Another friendship assignment by Bustier?” Kagami asked.

“No. Thankfully, it’s Mendeleive so no need to bullshit some inane talk. Truth to be told, I just been writing out the plots of My Little Pony and changing the names for those type of assignments.” Nathaniel answered.

Kagami frowned. "What's My Little Pony?"

"I will send you some clips."

“Enough chit chat. We have work to do. Sooner we finish this, the sooner we can work on our grades.” Chloe said.

Chloe turned to face the crowd and clapped for their attention.

“Hello, as you all know, I am the Bee Hero of the Miraculous Team. I have one question for you all. Who would like to be part of the team to take down Hawkmoth?”

The room was filled with raised hands.

“Great! Here's Ladybug’s insane plan.”

24 hours until. ...

“So you have these anti-akuma charms?” Jason asked, holding the ladybug-shaped thing to his eye to examine it.

“Yup.” Marinette answered by making more power-up potions. They might not need them but it would be good to be prepared.

“Why don’t you use them often? Maybe get rid of repeated villains like the pigeon guy.”

“Oh, geez. Why didn’t I think of that?” Marinette replied sarcastically.

“So these things don’t even work.”

“It did work. For a while. But that annoying son of a bitch managed to find a way around it by forcefully overloading it with his creepy vibes.”

“That gotta suck.”

“Yeah, I thought I had found a way to maybe slow down akuma attacks enough, especially tedious ones like Monsieur Pigeon, so I can get a decent night's rest for once but Noooo, They didn’t even last for two weeks.”

“Why are you even giving me this?”

“Because they do work, just not as efficiently as I hoped. To Hawkmoth, it is what the victim’s akuma object is like to us.”

“Explain, Pixie.”

“So we have to find the akuma object in order to purify it, right? Well, Hawkmoth has to find where these anti-akuma charms are hidden and evilise them. And then, he could akumatise the victim. But it buys us time for the victim to calm down and not get akumatized or give us a headstart to power up. It will also help you resist him.”

“You sounded like you had experience.”

“There were a few close calls. And I also got akumatized once so Kagami had to be Ladybug in order to throw Hawkmoth off track.”

“You were akumatized?” Jason sat up in surprise, “Isn’t that like ya know….the worst case scenario?”

“I was a pretty lame one. But at least, I wasn’t wearing an eye-sore like the others. Dame Justice. My power was to change people’s outfits into anything I want or make it into a disaster. It was at most just an inconvenience to my team. I was just upset that I lost the tickets to a pretty big fashion event. Didn’t notice the akuma until it was too late. But I managed to get the earrings off in time so Tikki could get it to Kagami. Later, I did manage to break out of his hold which made him pissed.”

Jason cleared his throat to get her attention, “So back to the anti-akuma charms?”

“Unless he finds out about it, you would be able to resist him. The others have mentioned that with the charm, it was easier for them to be able to resist him from bending them to his will by manipulating your emotions. The charms make it so you can think more clearly and logically. Tim told me that you are pretty pig-headed so plan B is for you to resist being brainwashed by being your delightful stubborn self.”

A few hours until….

Marinette fidgeted in place as she watched Tim fiddled with the equipment and checked if the cameras they had set up so he and Oracle could watch the battle from afar, were working. She felt her father’s lumbering presence behind her.

“Papa, I know that it’s you.” She said without turning around her head.

He huffed in annoyance at the failed attempt of sneaking up on his daughter, “How your mother and you do it, I still can’t figure it out.”

( This was a Dupain-Cheng household joke. Tom would try to sneak up on his wife or daughter or both without getting caught. But the mother and daughter would always know. Even Gina was able to catch him during her visits. He only succeeded once on Sabine and got a sprained wrist for his trouble. He proudly wore his wrist brace despite being unable to bake while he wore it. )

“Trade secrets, Papa.” She looked up at him with a mischievous grin.

“Mon chéri, what is troubling you?” Tom asked, picking up his daughter’s mood.

“Nothing. I know that we would win but I just- I just feel like something might go wrong.”

Tom sat down and hugged her, “Anything I can do to help?”

She leaned into the comfort of her father’s embrace. No matter how old she got, her father’s arms made her feel safe. “It’s okay. I think it’s just the nerves. Well, actually…” Marinette sat up and rushed to her bedroom. A minute later, she came back with something in her hand and Tikki followed her.

“Marinette?”

“Tom Dupain, as the Guardian of the Miracle Box, will you guard the Ladybug earrings until Hawkmoth’s defeat?”

“I- Er- what?”

“This is just a precaution. A just-in-case. On the slightest 0.0001% chance that Hawkmoth wins and gets the Black Cat, there is someone I trust protecting the earrings and Tikki. You don’t have to but it will make me feel better.”

“Okay, I will do it. If it helps you feel better, I will make sure no one else gets them.”

Marinette hugged him.

“Do I have to wear them?”

“No. Just keep Tikki company. It will be in the Miracle Box with the other ones.”

“Thank god. I don't want to get my ears pierced.”

Chapter Text

“Stop right there, Red Hood.” Mayura commanded as her dress flared in the landing. Sentimonsters resembling the Justice League appeared behind her. The most glaring difference was that their skin was the same blue shade as their mistress. They all had the same costume as the originals too but they were all dark blue and peacock feathers replaced each heroes’ signature symbols.

“You must be the insect’s sidekick. Proves that he is too much of a coward to face me himself so he sends you out to die instead. I am just waiting for the Cat to show up.” He replied as he put away the earrings in his utility belt. “Unfortunately, that means you can’t be around when they arrive.”

“Someone called for me?” A playful yet chilling voice called out. Another figure dropped in front of Mayura in a defensive position. He was dressed in white from head to toe. Pale messy blond hair framed an unhinged grin. But the similarities to the previous Chat Noir were apparent.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

He stood up and introduced himself, “I am Chat Blanc. A white knight in shining leather here to protect this city from you, Monsieur Red Helmet.” He pointed his staff towards Red Hood.

“Not much of a white knight protector if you are teaming up with the supervillain that has been terrorising the same city for years.” Red Hood snorted.

Chat Blanc dropped his charming smile and scowled.

“Awww. Did I hit a nerve, kitty cat?” Red Hood used the same tone as one would a little child, “Seriously, kid. Why would you even team up with the villain if you wanted to fulfil your superhero fantasy? That’s going in the opposite direction. ”

“SHUT UP!!! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING. CATACLYSM!”

Chat Blanc leaped at Red Hood, only for his hand to stop short a few centimetres from Red Hood.

Red Hood fell on his back from the momentum with an unceremonious “Oof”.

The black gloved hand that prevented Chat Blanc from catalysming him to ashes was revealed to be the Black Cat. Judging by her appearance, she must be the original Ladybug.

“Why did you stop me, Ladybug ? You are a hero and bad guys like him need to be destroyed.” Chat Blanc argued.

“Bad guy or not, he still has the right to live and my job is to defeat the akuma which is you,” Black Cat retorted.

He snarled, “You can’t stop me. I will do whatever it takes to show her that I am the hero I was meant to be.” He used his other hand to punch her to which she dodged nimbly.

Red Hood was going to take advantage of Chat Blanc keeping Black Cat occupied only for senti-Superman to appear in front of him and punch him a good few feet away.

Soon, the two cats were locked in a cat fight while Red Hood fended himself against the knock-off Justice League who were trying to get the earrings. 

Mayura watched them from her position above them on one of the beams of the Eiffel Tower. To her irritation, Red Hood was very good at evading the senti-monsters and had found that his bullets were able to temporarily keep them down. However, it was only a matter of time before they got the two Miraculous they needed and finally, their goal will be completed.

While riding on the high of near victory, it was only thanks to the fast reflexes granted by the Miraculous that she managed to catch the dagger aimed for her head. In her head, she cursed. It would not be good if she got too cocky while victory was at hand.

“Show yourself.” she demanded.

Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ came out of the shadows, her swords drawn for battle.

“Ladybug’s mother,” greeted Mayura. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“The Butterfly’s Bitch.” The tigress greeted back with a smirk. “I won’t say that I feel the same. Considering what you put my daughter and her team throughout the last few years. However, I would happily wringed your neck.”

The peacock holder frowned, “If you just let him take the Miraculous he needs, we would not be here facing each other. Your daughter would not need to bear the weight of being a superhero on her shoulders.”

To Mayura’s shock, Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ laughed, “Even if Hawkmoth didn’t happen, it was only a matter of time before my daughter go into vigilantism. But let’s not ignore where the blame rightfully belongs. This whole mess started because of him.”

“Yes, but once we get the wish, you won’t even remember that this had ever happened. Think about it. Your child won’t ever have to worry about akuma attacks. She will be spared from seeing her friends die over and over again.”

“You think that would just be okay if you erased everything and covered it all up. That you wouldn’t face the action for your consequences. I have met many people who had covered up everything they had done and thought themselves untouchable. But all of them were brought down by me . You are no different. And don’t think for a second that you know my daughter better than me. If given the choice between stopping Hawkmoth and living a normal life, she would do this all over again in a heartbeat because that is who she is.”

“There is no changing your mind about this then.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“Then you will find that I am not going to go down so easily.” Mayura said as she crouched into a fighting position.

Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ simply did the same, her swords pointed towards the other woman. She crooked one of her fingers as the universal sign for bring it on.

Back and forth they went on the platform, swords and fan clashing. Down below, the Rabbit had recovered and was fighting against the senti Justice League and Red Hood at the same time.

Other heroes had finally arrived on the scene. The Turtle, the Fox and the Mouse. They joined the Rabbit in fighting off the senti-monsters.

The senti-Justice League was completely focused on the new arrivals that they forgot about Red Hood.

He used the opportunity to tackle Black Cat away from Chat Blanc who hesitated on who to attack. As Red Hood pinned her down to get the ring, Hawkmoth felt a strange mix of desperation and fury. He had always thought that this war he had with the Miraculous Team was going to end in two ways, with him victorious and his perfect family once again completed or the Miraculous Team holding the Butterfly and Peacock with him standing in bitter defeat.

But some low American upstart, with no powers or Miraculous to speak of, was managing to beat both his nemesis and achieve his goal before him? With nothing but a few guns? He was willing to do everything he could to prevent that man from making a wish. Hawkmoth ordered Chat Blanc to stop him as he jumped through his butterfly window, glass shattering onto the garden below and made his way towards the battle.

If he had looked behind him, he would have seen a black figure leaped through the now opened window.

Chat Blanc obeyed Hawkmoth’s command and summoned another cataclysm. At the last minute, Black Cat managed to get out of Red Hood’s hold and pushed the man away from her. It caused Chat Blanc to miss his target and instead disintegrate the ground into a crater, causing him to fall into it along with Red Hood

Red Hood grabbed Chat Blanc and kneed him hard in the stomach. He then jumped out to attack Black Cat only for Chat Blanc to grab his ankle and pull him back. The two of them brawled in the crater while Black Cat recovered and went to help her teammates to gain ground.

Up high on the beams of the Eiffel tower, Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ and Mayura were still fighting, and both of them had lost their respective weapons. Natalie Sancoeur was a black belt martial artist in her own right. However, she had never met an opponent as skilled as Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ. Natalie knew as the fight went on longer, she was guaranteed to lose. It was only a matter of how long she can drag this fight.

The Tiger had much more experience over her.

Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ finally found an opening that Mayura wasn’t able to guard and kicked the Peacock wielder.

The kick was too strong and it sent the peacock holder to land near where Red Hood was climbing out of the crater and away from a panting Chat Blanc. The Gothamite used the opportunity to rip the peacock Miraculous off Mayura and undo her transformation.

The man took out his gun and pistol-whipped her unconscious before putting the brooch on and said, “Dusuu, spread my feathers.”

“Woah, wasn’t half-expecting that to work, to be completely honest.” said the newly transformed Blue Hood whose costume now had the same colour palette as the senti-Justice League.

He created some amoks which were duplicates of Gotham vigilantes with the exception of Batman. He sent senti-Nightwing and senti-Batgirl against Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ and the rest to the other heroes to over power them.

A butterfly outline appeared on Chat Blanc’s face and then, he leaped on the taller man’s back to try and grab the Peacock Miraculous. Blue Hood tried to shake him off but the Chat Blanc claws stubbornly cling onto the man.

Just as Chat Blanc was nearly able to touch the Peacock Miraculous, a tall man in purple landed in front of Blue Hood with a cane in one hand.

“Hand over the Ladybug Miraculous.” Hawkmoth demanded.

“Oh, you finally man enough to show your face, Hawkie?” Blue Hood asked as he lifted Chat Blanc over his head and threw him right into Hawkmoth.

Simultaneously, all of the senti-monsters stopped fighting as Blue Hood lightly tossed the akuma bracelet he had snatched from Adrien into the air and caught it again. He then threw it towards Lady Noire who used cataclysm on the charm.

The Ladybug kwami flew out and touched the akuma, turning it back into a white butterfly.

Chat Blanc de-transformed back into Adrien Agreste. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Hawkmoth demanded as he pushed his knocked out and deakumatized son off him and stood up.

“Venom.”

He tried to avoid the attack but he felt a prick at his back and then found himself unable to move.

The original Bee, very much not dead, stepped into his field of vision. Beside the Bee was a very much not stabbed Dragon. The actors covered in fake blood, the news crew and the police came out from their hiding places, cheering over the heroes’ victory.

The Black Cat smirked, seeing the outrage in Hawkmoth’s eyes who had just realised that he had been set up and lured out of hiding. She stood in front of the man who had made her life very difficult and caused several headaches for the past few years. Enjoying the satisfaction of victory over her long time enemy.

She turned towards the news crew who were rolling with the brightest smile on her face.

“Three years ago today, right here, I proclaimed that I would find Hawkmoth and make him hand over his Miraculous. Today, I present to you the man behind the numerous attacks over the years.”

In front of all of Paris on live television, she removed the Butterfly Miraculous to reveal Gabriel Agreste.

Adrien, who had woken up in time to see his father revealed, looked shocked and betrayed at the knowledge that his father was a villain this whole time. The cameras captured the moment he went into denial before letting out a heart-wrenching scream and jumped onto his father. He managed to get a punch on his father’s frozen form before being held back by Bee and Dragon. He was a sobbing mess while Bee, who still had little affection for him as her childhood friend, comforted him as his father was arrested and taken away.

Black Cat leaned into her mother’s side as Paris cheered around them.

She looked towards her team and allies and extended her fist. They all stood in a circle for one last ‘Pound it’.

Finally, it was over.

Chapter Text

Jason walked into the Trocadéro square in full Red Hood gear. The police had sealed off the square and prevented civilians and tourists from coming through under the pretence of the City Hall needing it for some official purposes, thanks to Chloe using her father’s influence. Tim and Bilal were making sure news of it wasn’t brought to Gabriel’s attention so it wouldn’t raise any suspicions on his radar.

Marinette clapped her hands, “Alright, everyone. Transform. Plagg, Claws out.”

Everyone else uttered their respective transformation phrases.

“Wait, do the bad guys also have to say something like that to transform?” Red Hood questioned through the comms.

“For Hawkmoth, it will be, ‘Nooroo, wings rise.’ and Mayura’s is ‘Duusuu, spread my  feathers.”

“Why? Why do you need to say a phrase?”

“I never really asked.” Marinette said, “Just assume that it is Power Ranger logic.”

“Okay, is everyone ready?” Marinette asked. She was anxious. While she was sure that she would succeed, the build-up of the years leading up to this had her tense for the last few hours as preparations were made.

“It feels so weird to walk in daylight like this.” Jason muttered.

“You bats and your shadows. But are you ready?”

“Yeah, yeah. I am in position.” Jason replied as other voices of affirmation sounded from the comms. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“And Action.” Marinette nodded towards Nathaniel.

“Mirage.” And a clear musical note was heard. People appeared, calmly walking around the square and stopped occasionally as if taking in the sight.

Red Hood raised a gun into the air and fired a shot. The people around them started screaming and running away.

Both Nathaniel and Jason had spent the past few days choreographing this particular illusion so it looked real enough at a some remote place outside Paris owned by the Tsurugi. The guns Jason were currently using were blanks and the illusions were well-timed so the ‘people’ fell when they were ‘shot’. The illusions fell apart when Red Hood touched them so they had hired some hired stunt actors who were willing to play as ‘hostages’. They were especially helpful in the rehearsals stage in making everything look more realistic. 

The actors were told to leave once the heroes were on the scene. Only the expert professionals in the film industry would be able to tell that the entire scene was faked.

Marinette sent a message to every reporter she and Red Robin had visited, to start rolling.

A few minutes later, Chloe, in a custom made Ladybug suit, jumped out of the Burrow with Alix and Kagami. Marinette sent another message for every camera to zoom in on the fight as the illusions disappeared to be replaced with mannequins and fake blood. 

Chloe was a great actress and played her part well. Jason was grinning under the helmet as his inner theatre kid was having fun, playing the villain.

They spotted the dark butterfly in the distance and it was time for the hard part. Jason immediately used his training for when he gets mind-controlled, by shoving everything into a locked box, most importantly the plan to take down Hawkmoth and the Bats’ secret identities.

It was creepy how it felt like the Lazarus Pits madness but there was less of an urge to kill people so that was a plus. He was unsettled by the evil guy’s voice in his head. Nevertheless, he went through the script and hoped that the butterfly dude would buy it. Hawkmoth made it easier by being an annoying prick.

“ You didn’t know? The little book that I found on the black market told me how two magic jewellery will get me what I want and once a wish has been made the creatures that live inside them will be too tired to grant another for a long time, sometimes even a century. Besides, I won’t team up with some coward that won’t show his face and expects me to do his dirty work. Au revoir. ”

Jason hopes he takes the bait. He shot Chloe with the gun with a paintball inside.

—--

The blonde girl dramatically fake dies as she went on a small monologue about who will get her prized possessions.

Tim snorted when Chloe left him just 20 euros. Jason tried to negotiate and bring it down to one.

The akuma fluttered away from Jason’s broken helmet which Bunnyx captured with a glass jar and gave a thumbs up.

Marinette told the reporters to stop rolling and they hurriedly set things up before Hawkmoth made his next move. 

A near life-like dummy of Chloe was dropped at Jason’s feet while the real one wiped the paint off her face and transformed with the bee. Kagami sat up and removed the fake sword and blood bag attached to her. She cleaned up, grabbed her actual sword from Sabine and went into a hiding spot.

Jason exchanged the guns with paintballs and blanks for his real ones filled with rubber bullets. Marinette handed him the fake Ladybug earrings to fool Mayura and the akuma.

“Red Robin to Team, Mayura is heading in your direction. No sign of an akuma yet,” came from the comms. Everyone proceeded to work fast to set the scene for the next act. 

They all had expected Mayura to show up first with a few senti-monsters as back-up. Followed by an akuma. But Adrien being akumatized into Chat Blanc threw a slight wrench to the plan and forced Marinette to show herself earlier.

( Adult Alix was a bit of an asshole for throwing her into an apocalyptic nightmare with Chat Blanc but on the other hand, she was kinda glad that in a traumatising way, it prevented her revealing her identity to Chat Noir and dodged that bullet with Adrien. )

The entire point of the battle was to put on a show, and drag it on long enough until Hawkmoth himself shows up or they find a way to force him to.

Marinette had charmed his rubber bullets so they would work against senti-monsters, allowing him to hold his own against the Blue JL. Jason found it oddly satisfying to punch senti-Batman in the face a few times.

Lady Noire and Red Hood tried hard not to make it obvious that they were working together. It was good thing that akumas were also generally not in the rational state of mind to pay attention to anything except for their goal.

Red Hood managing to get his hands on the Peacock Miraculous and transforming with it was not part of the plan but it was still a great boon. Mayura gets taken out of the battle and it forces Hawkmoth’s hand to show himself if he wants any chance of getting the wish.

Nothing in the world will ever beat the sight of Hawkmoth’s face as Chloe venomed him and he realised he was tricked.

Chapter Text

Both Gabriel and Nathalie had been arrested, along with Adrien as a potential accomplice. The Miraculous team and the Bats retreated to the training warehouse for a celebration.

Food and drinks were provided courtesy one Chloe Bourgeois.

“Thank you to the Justice League for your help in capturing Hawkmoth.” Marinette said to the vigilante in a toast.

“We only provided the resources. Most of the credit should go to you, Marinette.” Bilal said, giving her a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. “Three years, kid. That’s how long you managed to make sure this city doesn’t go up in flames despite the obstacles.”

“You also helped me a lot over the years, M. Nightrunner.”

“The name’s Bilal.”

Marinette gave him a look of surprise.

“I think you deserve it after all you did.” He explained. “Besides, I have a feeling we are going to be working together more often if you are keen on being a hero.”

“Thank you very much, M. Bilal. But I feel that it would be better if the Miraculous were kept away from the public for now.”

“So no more heroing for you?” Bilal asked.

“Just because the Miraculous is no longer needed, it doesn’t mean that the Miraculous Team should stop.”

Everyone stared at Marinette.

“Did I not mention that?” Marinette asked sheepishly.

“No, you did not.” Chloe shrieked in mock outrage.

“I mean it. Even without the Miraculous, you guys are awesome. With the end of Hawkmoth, the Miraculous Team will start working from the shadows instead. Kinda like what you guys do.” Marinette gestured at the Bats.

“What is it exactly that you guys are planning to do?” Tim asked.

“Well, Alix, you’re the one who first thought of this. How about you tell them?” Marinette gestured for her to come forward.

“You guys know that I help Marinette with finding all the info we could on the Miraculous,” Alix started, “What we found out was that before the Miraculous became active here, Paris was a hotspot for all kinds of supernatural things.”

“Supernatural things?” Chloe said skeptically.
“Like vampires, ghosts, gargoyle and witches. They mostly make up the mysterious police cases that remain unsolved." Alix explained.

"Wait, how have we never see one akumatised?" Nathaniel asked.

“From what we understand, the Miraculous became a deterrent for those supernatural activities because it is like a super powerful magic and it drove all of them away. Now that the Miraculous will no longer be in use, it is very likely that they will be back.” Marinette continued.

Alix grinned.

“That’s where we come in. We are going to make sure that Paris will continue to stay safe. Instead of akumas, we are going to be kicking monster butts from now on. I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t want to stop being a hero.”

"So this is what we are going to do from now on. We stop them and keep making sure that people of Paris remains safe. We would have to upped training a bit to make up for the lack of Miraculous from now on but we can work it out. Who's in?"

Kagami shrugged. "As long as I keep training and my skills sharp, my mother wouldn't mind."

"I am in too deep to give it all up now." Chloe declared and jumped up to stand on the couch. "And I once promised you that I will protect MY CITY from anything."

Luke raised his hand in a lazy wave. "I'm in too. I am a Couffaine-Stone and this kind of crazy is my jam."

Everyone looked at Nathaniel.

"Well, I do need more inspiration for a new comic series. Monsters sound fun." Nathaniel said with a smile.

"WHOO! Team Miraculous is now Team Supernatural...?" Alix scratched her head. "Eh. The name is a work in progress."

“I would also like to say that we at the Justice League will support you. We have a branch that deals in stuff like the supernaturals called Justice League Dark.” Tim chimed in.

“And I am kinda hoping that you guys would be open to joining the League reserves team to call on if the world is ever in danger.” He added.

Marinette exchanged glances with the rest of the Team who all nodded in agreement.

She smiled at Tim. “Looks like the majority agrees. We can discuss the fine details later but right now, let’s party.”

Everyone cheered and raised their drinks to a new era of peace.

Lila bit her nails as she watched the news, seeing both Gabriel and Adrien, handcuffed and being carted away into the police van.

This was bad. This was the worst thing that could have happened.

Damn Ladybug. Damn the Justice League.

Out of habit, she looked at the window, hoping for an akuma and then, let out a curse as she remembered the arrest.

(She would never ever admit that it was sneaky of Ladybug to set up something like that to draw Hawkmoth out. )

Lila took in deep breaths to calm down and think.

Hawkmoth naming her as a willing accomplice was not a worry since the man was too prideful to admit that he asked for the help of a teenage girl. Even if he did, she could always shed a tear of how she felt pressured by him to carry out his bidding like every other akuma victim.

The next problem was Ladybug. That shouldn’t be as big of a problem as Lila first thought. Even if the hero tried to point Lila as Hawkmoth’s ally, she would hard press to prove it due to lack of evidence and add to the fact that Lila was still a minor in the eyes of the law, there was nothing the heroes would be able to do.

Then, her only problem was Adrien. With the arrest of the model and his father, everything that Lila has worked for has crumbled down. The genuine work she did as a Gabriel model which Lila was hoping to use to make connections and eventually gain enough fame in order to make her stories become reality were all useless now. In fact, people were more likely to avoid her because of it.

It was frustrating to be facing a setback at a time like this. Especially since that goodie-two shoes Marinette had given up on instigating Lila about her little stories.

Just when Lila thought that victory was at hand, this happened. She was supposed to make a comeback dammit.

Her hatred for Ladybug had never boiled hotter and even worse, Lila could no longer turn into an akuma to take it out on the hero.

Her front door clicked open and her mother called out, “Mi bella, I’m home.”

“ Coming, Mama. ” Lila called back as she got up from her bed. Plans to destroy Ladybug scattered about.

She was Lila Rossi. Nothing is going to stop her from the destiny that she deserved.

A man wearing a trench coat was tossed into a cell. Colourful curses spilling from his mouth at the mistreatment.

“Hey! Hey! Easy on the goods.” He yelled at his guards who simply grunted and turned away.

The opening in the wall of the cell closed up until there was nothing but a small opening the size of a mail slot at the very bottom.

“Come back here, you bastards. I am not done with you yet.”

The man was going to rant about his grievances when he heard an unexpected voice calling his name.

“John?”

John Constantine crouched down to peek through the window of his cell.

“Zatanna?” He hesitantly called out.

“Oh, it’s you, John.” Zatanna said with a slight edge of worry.

“That means we are fucked.” Her voice was filled with disappointment like John asked to be caught by this mysterious organisation that was holding them captive.

“Any idea where we are, Z?” John asked.

“Is that you, Constantine?” Another familiar voice asked.

“Jason Blood?” John said. “I’m at least glad to know that you are still here with us. I was at your place a while back. It was all trashed up.”

“My house was trashed up?” Jason asked, anger on his face.

John nodded and continued his story of how he ended up being captured.

Turns out John went to see why Jason Blood wasn’t answering his call and found the man’s place a mess. Every piece of furniture was upturned. Closets and drawers with their contents spilling out. Books were carelessly scattered and left open. As he was investigating the cause of this ransacking, John was attacked by mysterious people. The same people who had just locked him up.

He had escaped the first attempt to capture him but ever since, he had been on the run for months until one unlucky encounter at Detroit.

John was knocked out and dragged to wherever this place was.

“Any idea why they are locking us up in here?” John asked once he recounted his tale to the other two.

“No. What we gathered so far is that they locked up the magic users.” Jason Blood replied.

“Then, once in a while, they would take one of us away. After a few hours, bring their bodies back here.” Zatanna continued.

“Still breathing, I hope?” John asked.

“Not from what we can tell.” Zatanna answered.

This was getting worse and worse.

“It’s a frightening situation. There is no rhyme or reason in the pattern that they take us away.” Jason said. “I have been here the longest and they have yet to take me away.”

“Who else was here?”

“Felix Faust. Circe. Enchantress. Madame Xanadu. To name a few. A lot of friends, enemies or acquaintances that I have met or people I just heard about over the years.”

“Bloody Hell. Those are some big names, mate.”

“Which makes it all the more terrifying because we don’t know who our enemy is. All we know is that they want magic users.” Jason Blood said.

There was only one word that would describe their situation.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

“Marinette.” Sabine called out.

“Yes, Mama?” There was a serious look on Marinette’s face as she braced for whatever news Sabine had.

“It’s nothing bad.” Sabine said with a reassuring smile. “The League called for a ceasefire, which is basically a surrender in our books.”

“Or a trap to lower our guard.” Marinette added.

Sabine reached out to give a reassuring squeeze to Marinette’s shoulder. “They may have caught us off guard once. But they will not be able to do so a second time.”

The bell rang, announcing another customer. The mother and daughter turn their heads to greet the customer.

He might not have his costume or mask on, but they could tell who it was.

“Sorry for disturbing your morning, but I have news for Marinette from the Big Guy.” Bilal said.

“I see. This is concerning.” Marinette said as she nodded at what Bilal told her.

The magic users were missing. Not only those affiliated with the Justice League. But also the ones who are neutral or enemies.

“I’ll try to see what I can do but I’m not sure how much help I can be. I don’t have much experience in other types of magic outside of the Miraculous.” She explained.

“It’s okay if you can’t. Just be careful.” Bilal warned.

“Why?” Marinette asked.
“If there is someone responsible for the magic users going missing, it is likely that you might be a target for them too.”

Marinette appreciated his concern but she was also confident in between her abilities as an assassin and her team. But then, again she was cocky to get caught by the League of Assassins and found herself nearly married to Damian.

“Thanks for the warning, Bilal. I hope you stay safe. Don’t hesitate to call on me when you need back up.”

“Stay out of trouble, kid. You deserve a break after all of the crazy stuff in your life.” He said before leaving the bakery.

Marinette headed up to her room and checked on Nooroo and Dusuu who were both sleeping. They were in a bad shape due to the treatment from Gabriel. Especially Nooroo.

The kwamis had been denied their favourite food. Subsisting on whatever morsel Gabriel granted them.

( Even Adrien, for all his faults, still got Plagg his favourite cheese, no matter how much it stank. )

They were pushed past their limits. It made Marinette so angry that she had to restrain herself from storming the prison where Gabriel was and kill him.

With the help of the other kwamis, Marinette had been doing her best to help Nooroo and Dusuu to adjust to having freedom again. It had been a tough process.

Right now, most of the time, Nooroo spends his time inside of the Miraculous box, sleeping away to recover.

Marinette groaned, frustrated. She knew that the kwamis needed time to warm up to her and get used to being free again but the progress was so slow.

Just then, her phone rang.

“Chloe, what’s up?”

“Guess who is coming to Paris?” Chloe said excitedly.

“Who?” Marinette asked, confused. There was no one in their circle who was currently out of town and as far as she knew, Jagged Stone was still on his tour, performing in Thailand.

“Your boyfriend, of course.” Chloe answered.

A pair of dark green eyes comes to her mind.

“Damian? Why would he come back to Paris? Hawkmoth’s gone.” Marinette said with confusion.

“So you don’t deny it. You do think of him as your boyfriend.” Chloe teased.

“What?!” Marinette flustered, nearly dropping her phone. “The fake dating thing is over. He’s not my boyfriend anymore.”

“Uh huh.” Chloe said, unconvinced. “Anyway, I figured that you might want to know. I am going to ask Timothy-dear more about this. Oh and I also text you the details about his arrival flight and where he’s staying. Au revoir.”

“Chloe!”

But the blond had already hung up.

And like she said, she had sent Damian’s flight details.

Marinette stared into her phone, wondering what she should do.

There was this fluttering feeling in her chest that she had felt once before —the same feeling when she first met Adrien.

She groaned. A crush on Damian would complicate things. Especially since he thought that there was still the issue of a curse that may or may not be on them, causing them to feel things for each other.

Urghhhh!!

Stupid League. Stupid Ra’s. Stupid Talia. This would have been way easier if she hadn’t gotten kidnapped.

Then again, she would have never met Damian.

Marinette groaned again.

Tikki was starting to get a little fed up. She had gone through this with Adrien. She was not going to do this again.

Marinette was overthinking her every interaction with Damian so far. Again.

“Marinette.”

The kwami was ignored as her holder continued to lament about her romantic plight.

“Marinette.”

Said person was now attempting to stab the page of her sketchbook with a pencil as an alternative to stabbing herself.

“ Marinette. ”

Still no answer.

A fed up Tikki easily snuck into Marinette’s purse and got her phone open.

“What are you doing, sugarcube?” A curious Plagg asked.

“Dealing with a panicking idiot holder.” Tikki muttered angrily as she opened up the contacts and scrolled through them.

“Who are ya calling?”

“The only one of us who can deal with an emotional crisis.”

Then, Tikki pressed the call button next to Luka’s name.

“Hello? Melody?”

“Hello, Luka, this is Tikki. Can you talk some sense into Marinette? She’s having emotions about seeing Damian again-” Tikki snitched.

The phone was snatched away from her tiny red flippers.

“Tikki? Who are you calling?” Marinette asked, half-embarassed.

“Hi, Marinette. A ladybug told me that you were having boy trouble.” Luka said, his voice teasing.

“Tikki!” Marinette reprimanded her kwami with a blush on her face.

The kwami shrugged with an unbothered look on her face. “Marinette, you were freaking out over a boy again.”

“I was not freaking out over a boy.” Marinette denied, her cheeks still red.

“That sounds a lot like denial, Melody.” Luka’s voice piped up from over the phone.

“Shut it. This is nothing like Adrien. This is different. For one, I actually went on an actual date with Damian.”

“As fake boyfriend and girlfriend.” Luka retorted. “And I know that you know that I know you want the relationship to be real.”

“I hate you and your stupid empathy power of hearing people’s music to know what they are feeling.” Marinette muttered.

“Chloe told me that he’s coming back-”

“She told you?! Why did she tell you?”

“She told everyone. And she probably did it knowing how you would react to the news.”

Marinette groaned. “I don’t know why am I acting like this? It’s just Damian.”

“With whom you really want to date but can’t because of complicated circumstances and you can’t tell whether or not there is really a curse that makes you want to like him.” Luka said, because he’s very observant like that.

“Yes. That.” Marinette said.

Luke gave her a moment to sort out her thoughts.

“The thing is I really do like him as a person, curse aside.” She finally admitted.

On the other end of the phone, Luka smiled, “Well, it’s not a bad thing to be just friends, is it?”

“Just friends. It’s probably best that we stayed just friends so we don’t deal with complicated emotions. Thanks Luka.”

“Wait, no! Marinette-”

Too late, Marinette hung up.

“Hunc parietem in frusta!” John yelled. The magic circle he drew with whatever pieces of chalk he managed to find in his coat pockets glowed for a minute before turning dim again.

A second passed.

Then, another.

And another.

Nothing still happened.

“Did it work like you said it would, Constantine?” Jason Blood asked sarcastically.

“Shut up.” John shot back, half-embarrassed.

“Trust me. Everyone who had been here has attempted to escape and none of them worked.”

“How about your roommate, Jason?”

There was a frustrated sigh. “Something is blocking me from calling on him or else I would not be here.”

“These people managed to figure out how to make a magic deadzone.” Zatanna said. “No magic of any kind can be used.”

“And you know this, how?” John asked. “Adding to that, why haven’t you mentioned this earlier?”

“I was trying to track down Felix Faust after he disappeared from his prison. Every tracking spell hit a dead end. It was through sheer dumb luck I managed to find out about the dead zone.” Zatanna explained. “I was too focused on getting Felix back that I didn’t realise that I went right into their trap until it was too late.”

“So you know where we are?” John asked.

“Not exactly. There’s more than one of these dead zones. We could be in any of them.”

“How many exactly?” Jason asked.

“I don’t know.” Zatanna sounded very frustrated, “All I know is that the dead zones are the same as the one around Paris .”

Both men immediately groaned.

“I don’t like those Order monks. They are so arrogant.” Jason complained. “At least, they know how to pick a champion.”

“Mate, they have been gone for decades.” John said. “And getting back to the deadzone thing, why didn’t you mention that earlier before I wasted a perfectly good spell?!”

“Well, you were set on trying to get us free and you weren’t open to listening to what I have to say.” Zatanna replied.

John opened his mouth to retort and then closed it again because she was right.

“He’s always a bit stubborn and rash in doing things his way, isn’t he?” Jason commented.

“Agree.”

“I see you two are getting along.” John said bitterly. “At my expense.”

“So Zatanna, do you have any ideas why the Miraculous holders have us imprisoned?”

“I don’t think it’s the work of the ones in Paris. Last I heard, they were busy fighting two of their own.” Zatanna said. “Whoever is holding us here… they are someone different.”

Chapter Text

Most people assumed that Bruce hates magic. This is false.

Stage magic could be easily explained by sleight of hand and a bit of psychology.

Real Magic —with the capital M— is illogical. It's something that cannot be easily explained or controlled. Which is why Bruce hates dealing with anything related to Magic.

Since it was their magic users allies disappearing, he had no one to consult on their unexplained absences.

Constantine was, as usual, out of reach. Frustrating, but typical. Bruce could only hope that he wasn't taken away yet.

Doctor Fate was the same, but he had informed that League that he was going to be gone for a while.

Zatanna, on the other hand.

She had never been gone for this long before. According to her publicist, she had no shows scheduled. In fact, she hadn't left any messages or reply to them, regarding future performances. Usually, she would give a heads-up if she was going on a mission, self-appointed or otherwise.

This worried Bruce greatly. Zatanna was one of the Leaguer most easily contacted for magic-related matters. It was so unlike her to disappear with no trace without a trace.

Even more so, since no one noticed until the whole thing with the League of Assassin put Damian under a curse and everyone was distracted by the entire Paris situation.

Something clearly didn't add up so Bruce did what he does best.

Investigate.

The last footage he managed to find of Zatanna was her being followed by three figures, with hoods and masks covering their faces.

The three opponents clearly used magic that was strong enough to overpower even someone like Zatanna. Something about the way they was… familiar.

His eyes fell on the front page of Le Monde, congratulating the heroes of Paris for defeating the villainous Hawkmoth with a clever trap. Front and center was Marinette as Ladybug.

The girl is clearly brilliant. With a strong sense of justice, despite her casual disregard for morals. A model hero. On the surface at least.

Previously, Bruce couldn't exactly dig much into the identity of Ladybug, because of the magic of the Miraculous. But once he found out, he wasted no time delving into her history. Especially given her ties to the Night Guild.

Bruce had once trained under a master who left the Guild and they were an organization that could match the League of Assassins in skills. Having the Miraculous artifacts in their hands would finally put them above the League. Especially since the Lazarus Pits were also destroyed.

Marinette was definitely suspicious. However, something told Bruce that she was not in any way involved with the one behind Zatanna's kidnapping.

Still, the Miraculous were connected somehow. And Bruce required more information.

He sighed. It was fortunate that Damian’s school trip to Paris hadn’t yet departed. He needed someone to keep an eye on her.

What an auspicious timing.

Almost Miraculous… one might say.

Damian walked through the arrival terminal of the airport, already irritated by his classmates.

He knew what he signed up for when joining the exchange program.

At first, he’d hoped to arrive in time to help capture Hawkmoth. But, thanks to an administrative mix-up, the trip was delayed.

Now, he arrived a week after Hawkmoth had been revealed as Gabriel Agreste—and subsequently arrested. Damian was glad Paris was finally free from his emotion-manipulating tyranny.

To his relief, Tim and Jason had gone back to the Young Justice and Outlaws respectively so Damian wouldn’t have to endure their ribbing for the entirety of his trip.

Out of habit, he scanned his surroundings for threats.

Then, he felt it. The sensation of being watched.

Damian tried not to make it too obvious that he was trying to find his stalker, keeping a bored expression on his face.

Then, his phone chimed.

It was a text message. From a very familiar number. (His heart began to do that weird flipping thing again.)

Look left. It read.

Ah. How had she known?

He turned in that direction to see Marinette, waving at him with a bright smile on her face.

His lips twitched upward before he quickly forced his features back to neutrality.

As his teacher went through the itinerary of the program, no one took note of Marinette joining Damian at the back of the group.

“Hey, you.” She greeted.

“Hello, Marinette.” He replied, “How did you know that I was going to be here?”

“Chloe. Her father owns the hotel you will be staying in for the first few days of the program. She saw your name on the list and told me.”

Marinette looked down with a small shrug.

“I know that we don’t have to pretend to be dating anymore since…” Marinette trailed off.

Since Adrien Agreste had been arrested as a suspect for being Hawkmoth’s accomplice. Damian filled in the blanks in his head, and nodded in understanding.

Gabriel Agreste had denied his son’s involvement in his super villain activities. He claimed that it was a coincidence that Adrien just happened to be the akuma victim for Gabriel’s last ditch attempt for the Miraculous. He had been so desperate for any powerful negative emotions near him and Adrien was the perfect target at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Adrien didn’t say anything on the matter, and just looked empty during the entire trial.

Given Adrien’s live reaction about the Hawkmoth reveal on camera, it appears the court would be in Adrien’s favor. Although the public was very obviously unhappy about this. Everything that was touch by that man was tainted in their eyes.

Damian would also admit that he still didn’t know enough about Marinette to know what her feelings were on matters regarding that boy.

“Anyways,” Marinette continued as she aimed that bright smile at him again, “I thought a familiar face would be nice to see when you arrive.”

“I very much appreciate it.” Damian said, unable to help himself but return it.

“Here. A little welcome gift from me on behalf of Paris.” Marinette said, holding out a bag of treats inside. “They are vegan and not so sweet. Just how you like them.”

“Thank your father for me.” Damian said, accepting the bag.

“Actually…” Marinette flushed into a fetching shade of pink as she confessed shyly, “I made them.”

Damian blinked. His cheeks grew warm, his chest tightening pleasantly. The curse again. But this time, it felt… nice. Calmer. His theory that proximity to Marinette dulled its effects seemed accurate.

(Cookies just for him. Marinette, who was probably busy with the aftermath of Hawkmoth’s defeat and helping out with The Guild against the League, took time to make pastries that were not her family’s usual specialties and were to his preferences. All just for him. That’s what he lo- likes about her.)

“I- I will eat them with great enjoyment.” Damian tried to ignore the funny feeling in his chest. It was like his heart was doing somersaults. He should ask Dr. Leslie if she knew any heart diseases with symptoms like this.

“Great.” Marinette said, looking a bit redder. “Anyways, I have to go now— I kinda sneaked out of school to give you these.”

“Oooh, look at that— Wayne's got a little girlfriend.”

All eyes turned toward them.

Damian cursed Zachary Thompson. The spoiled brat was used coasting through life with Daddy’s money and couldn’t stand that Damian’s father was richer than his. His inferiority complex gave him the need to mock and provoke Damian at every given opportunity.

Honestly, he was as obnoxious as Adrien Agreste.

A terrible little idea began to form in Damian’s mind.

Before he knew it, Damian opened the bag of cookies Marinette gave him. (Funny. He should be worried about eating something without double checking. But he felt confident that Marinette would not poison him. Especially when she told him that she made it herself.)

“As a matter of fact,” Damian said with a smirk, “she is my girlfriend. Your deductive skills are improving, Thompson. There may be hope for you yet.”

Gasps rippled through the group as he bit into a cookie.

Surely, Marinette wouldn’t find playing the girlfriend facade for a little while longer.

Just to be sure, he gave her a glance.

“Are you okay with this?” He whispered under his breath carefully so only she would hear.

Marinette smiled and tipped her head forward slightly to convey a nod.

Damian felt his smile grew wider, and his heart skipped a beat. (He really needed to get his heart checked out by a professional cardiologist once he got back to Gotham.)

“What was that?” Chloe demanded, pulling Marinette aside once Damian’s group left.

“What was what?” Marinette replied.

“You know damn well what I am talking about.” Chloe said. “You do know that you don’t have to do the girlfriend-boyfriend act. Especially since Agreste is no longer around.”

“I know.” Marinette said simply. "But he asked me to."

Chloe scrunched her eyebrows in confusion before the imaginary light bulb flipped on.

Chloé frowned, then gasped as realization struck. “Wait—are you two actually together?”

“What? No!” Marinette protested. “Dami just asked me to play along with his classmates. He seems to get a kick out of it.”

“So why are you going along with it?”

“One, I suppose I owe it to him from last time. Two, I know that this is going to slowly drive Lila insane.” Marinette explained, smirking.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. “And number three?”

Marinette’s cheeks flushed as she looked away. “There is no number three.”

“Oh, come on, Dupain-Cheng, tell me!” Chloe begged, shaking her friend’s arm.

“Nope. I’m never telling you.”