Archive of Our Own ^beta

Marinette took one last sip of her precious coffee and grabbed her skates from her bag, yawning. Why did practice have to be booked so early in the morning?

Still, early morning practice was better than early morning akuma. She would take it. But Felix was insane to expect her to be up this early, and Marinette did not have enough coffee in her system to deal with him at the moment. He was smart enough to sit on the bench on the other side of the room, outside of striking distance.

Hawkmoth had been defeated. Adrien had gone on to compete in fencing internationally with Kagami with all his newfound free time. Marinette on the other hand, was still suffering the effects of Lila in class, and had withdrawn a bit. It had resulted in her needing to pick up a new hobby. She had been walking around aimlessly one day when she came across the rink she had skated on during that disastrous double date with Luka, Kagami and Adrien.

She started taking lessons from Philippe, and he was just as good as he claimed to be. Luka joined her occasionally during practice ice times, but didn’t really want to do much more. She enjoyed skating alone, but having a partner was better. She enjoyed the lifts and throws. She was used to having a partner around.

Adrien would have been ideal, since they could read each other like a book and always seemed to know where the other was just from the years of fighting together, but he wasn’t interested. He did, however, have a recommendation of who would be appropriate.

Felix Graham de Vanily was accomplished in Karate and ballet. He had the physical strength to pull off pairs skating lifts and throws, while maintaining the grace expected of figure skaters. They did not have the greatest history, but he had redeemed himself in Marinette’s eyes after Felix had been instrumental in discovering that his uncle was Hawkmoth. He had even joined the miraculous team in the final battle.

After that, Felix had stuck around as he and his aunt helped Adrien through the trials against Lila and took over as the temporary head of the company. Amelie was eventually given custody of Adrien and by then Felix had settled into his transfer to their school, and decided to stay until both boys were done with school.

On the second day in Gotham, Felix had booked the early morning session at 6am. He reassured her that it would help them adjust to the time zone if they were up early. Marinette definitely disagreed with this. Other than the attendant that let them into the building, they were the only souls there. Marinette rushed and got her skates on and was out on the ice while Felix continued to stretch.

Marinette had always figured that Felix was a reserved asocial perfectionist, while she was creative, outgoing and, well, also a perfectionist. They were both highly competitive. They were both talented on the ice.

Marinette discovered quickly that most of her clumsy behaviour was related to when she had been nervous around Adrien or distracted. Felix kept her on task and focused, much like the focus she had as Ladybug, and the result was them advancing quickly.

After two years, the pair were practically inseparable from all the practice, and were ready for more than just local or national competitions. They were debating moving up to the senior level, but wanted to get some junior international competitions under their belt first. They had finished two events in Slovakia and Japan for the ISU Junior Grand Prix, and were headed to their third competition in Gotham City, NJ, USA.

Much to Felix’s chagrin, Marinette had entered into the Women’s competition in addition to the pairs competition, and not to be outdone, had entered himself in the Men’s as well. Thankfully, they had a few weeks between each one to relax and fine tune performances because they were both exhausted.

The precious few minutes before anyone else showed up on the ice were the best feeling in the world. Without the constant presence of the music, Marinette could hear her blades cut through the ice. Each turn creating a satisfying crunch as she traced new lines and patterns into the surface. It was her favourite sound in the world. The cool air hit her lungs, and she relaxed into her turn a bit more, the sound of her blades echoing through the rink. Nothing compared to this feeling.

She could feel her cares and worries melting away as she leaned into her edges, creating circles and loops across the ice. Her mind focused entirely on creating the best pattern and form she could.

Like with the other competitions, they had arrived two weeks early to adjust to the time and to get familiar with the rink. Everyone else tended to arrive a week early. Felix, however, never did anything by half. He rented private ice time and booked the most expensive hotels. Marinette was always extremely thankful that he did this. The extra time made worlds of difference.

He was lucky he could afford to do something like that without blinking an eye at the bill. He paid for all of their private lessons as well. Marinette struggled with paying for her own private lessons, but made enough from her commissions to cover her costs. She also made their costumes. Luka and Jagged helped out by writing and producing their music. Felix and Marinette assisted Philippe with the choreography, making sure that their routines were something they would enjoy doing every day multiple times per day.

The ice made her forget her troubles, at least momentarily.

She gained some speed after a few more turns, and dragged her leg behind her, bending down low, stretching. As she raised herself back up, she placed a hand behind her foot, catching the snow her blade created as it dragged. Smiling at the pile she had created, she balled it up, and repeated it with the other leg. Together, it made a decent sized snowball, which she placed at the side of the boards.

Felix would be pissed when he got a face full of snow when he finally joined her. She smirked at the thought. Payback for getting her up early.

She did a couple of quick scratch spins before moving onto some simple jumps. She was about to step into her third jump, a lutz, when the door to the rink slammed shut, alerting her to others, and causing her to pop the jump at the last second.

Frustrated, she lobbed the snowball she had stashed at the boards at Felix, because he really should have known better… only to find that Felix was sitting in the bleachers watching her.

The snowball connected with the face of one of three excessively loud hockey players. They had been goofing around, shoving each other and laughing, and did not see the hit coming.

The boy she hit looked shocked for a minute, before wiping the remaining snow off his face, looking furious. His friends were now doubled over in laughter.

“What the fuck?!”

Oops.

Oh well, he deserved it for interrupting her. They weren’t even supposed to be there for another 45 minutes.

Felix looked torn between laughing and glaring at them for interrupting their ice time. The decision was made for him when the rowdy group started getting on the ice. He walked as fast as he dared in his skates and whipped off his guards to join her on the ice, only a few moments after the group did.

“What the hell was that for?” the guy with the wet face and hair asked. His hair was black, except for a white strip in the middle, which was presently dripping into his very angry pale blue eyes.

Felix interrupted her from giving an explanation. “A more prudent question is why are you on our ice time? This is a private booking.”

“Uh, no way, we have practice here now. We’re late…” the redhead responded. They looked around. None of their teammates were there.

“Oh fudge,” the third said. He also had black hair and blue eyes. His teammates whirled around to look at him. “I may have written the time down wrong.”

He looked a bit panicked as he pushed on the edges of his blades a bit, discreetly making himself back away. “We’re really sorry for interrupting your ice time.”

He began dragging the guy she had hit with the snowball off the ice. The redhead sent a quick apology himself before joining his friends in the bleachers. They must have the 7am booking right after them.

“Well, shall we?” Felix interrupted her glaring at the group.

“Yeah.”

They began their warmup and practiced their harder jumps and throws before running through their routines until time ran out.

~~~~

Jason, Roy and Dick had been running late for practice. Dick had gotten him up in a panic, breaking into his current safehouse he and Roy had stayed at, and practically pushing him out the door.

Alfred had suggested he sign up for something to help manage the anger issues and channel them in a healthier way. So, of course, Dick had to invite himself along. Roy had been struggling with addiction issues again, and so Jason dragged him into it as well. The more time spent around others, the better off Roy would be.

In their haste to not be late, they rushed to put on their gear. Jason tripped over one of Roy’s laces that he hadn’t done up properly, bumping into him. Dick had caught them both but then proceeded to elbow them affectionately.

Jason had just retaliated when he was hit squarely in the head by a snowball. “What the fuck?!”

He turned to see where the snowball had come from, expecting to see one of their teammates skating away to avoid getting punched, only to find a tiny girl looking somewhere between shocked and pissed. Her outfit and skates were nothing to slouch at. She was clearly a professional figure skater. And a looker at that. She had a hell of an arm if she had hit him with the snowball that hard from halfway across the ice.

“What the hell was that for?” he asked.

A blonde guy came up behind them, clearly irritated, asking, “A more prudent question is why are you on our ice time? This is a private booking.” He had a strong British accent.

“Uh, no way, we have practice here now. We’re late…” Roy began, but it was obvious the moment that he said it that they were wrong. They had barged in on someone else’s ice time.

“Oh fudge,” Dick moaned. Jason rolled his eyes at the lack of swearing. “I may have written the time down wrong. We’re really sorry for interrupting your ice time.”

Dick dragged him off the ice before he had a chance to say anything, while Roy spouted out an apology. Dick pulled out his phone once they were in the bleachers and checked the time. “Aww man, 7, not 6. We could have slept for another hour!”  

“I think we pissed off the chick and her boyfriend,” Roy said, nodding to the two on the ice. He was holding her waist gently with one arm as they glided around the rink in perfect sync.

They watched as the two weaved around as if they were an extension of one another. He lifted her into the air, and she balanced on his one arm. The dude was a lot stronger than he looked. Sure, she was tiny as hell, but to do that and maintain their balance and speed without dropping her was likely harder than it looked. Then he popped her up in the air a bit, and she fell, twisting in the air, until he caught her at the last second, gently placing her on the ice. All three of them had held their breath, waiting to dial an ambulance.

But the death defying stunts didn’t stop there.

A little while later in the music, the blonde took the dark-haired girl and threw her as hard as he could across the ice. The throw was so hard, she just barely missed the boards. She had managed to land on one foot and make the whole thing look graceful.

They decided that figure skating was a lot more dangerous than they had originally thought. He had always thought of flouncy little skirts and dancing around looking pretty, occasionally spinning or doing a twisty-jump thing.

They cringed as the pair did a spin with their legs out, the blades just barely missing the other’s heads by the angle they were observing from. It was a wonder they hadn’t killed each other yet. It was clear that the girl trusted the guy with her life. One misstep and she was dead or in the hospital.

Their routine was going well, as far as they could tell. The girl kept getting thrown in the air, this time several feet above the guy’s head, sideways, such that if he didn’t catch her, she would fall flat on the ice. The whole experience made him question the sanity of the figure skaters at this point. Their music was winding down, and from what he could tell it was a perfect routine… until the last throw.

It had been fine until the landing, when the girl landed flat on a chunk of ice that had been kicked out from an earlier jump. She couldn’t maintain her balance and went careening into the boards at full speed. The crash of her impact echoed through the whole arena and shook the boards. It was as hard or harder than any hit they took with their full gear on. She had nothing to lessen the impact. Dick whipped out his phone, ready to call an ambulance as they stared in horror.

“You good?” her partner? boyfriend? shouted at her from across the rink.

The girl popped up as if nothing had happened.

“Yep!” she called back. “Managed to get my blade under at the last second.”

Her skates had taken the impact. It explained why she was still walking at all, but she had clearly still hit the rest of her body badly. Dick dropped his phone in shock as they started the routine as if nothing had happened. Again. And again. The chick had guts, and didn’t show any signs of injury. They both acted like the whole thing had never happened at all.

The rest of the team showed up and joined them in the bleachers for the last ten minutes, waiting for their time to go onto the ice. Jason definitely owed the girl an apology. The team got really rowdy towards the end, earning them a glare from the blonde on the ice while the girl skated around doing her own routine. Usually voices didn’t carry much from the stands onto the ice, but when there were so few people, it must be echoing.

When they finally got off the ice, the rest of the team clambered on to begin practice. They had a game in three weeks and wanted to get in some extra drill practice. Jason, Roy, and Dick lingered a bit.

“Hey, I’m really sorry about the mix-up earlier, we really didn’t mean to barge in on your time,” Dick began for them.

“Yeah, I probably deserved the snowball, even if it was meant for your boyfriend,” he added. He got a good look at her up close for the first time. Her hair had a blue tint to it, and freckles across her cheeks.

“Oh, no-” she began but Roy cut her off.

“You guys were amazing out there. But are you okay? That fall had to hurt.”

“Which fall?” she asked, clearly confused. Had she hit her head?

“When you hit the boards?”

“Oh, that. Not a big deal. Not the first time. Won't be the last,” she giggled. It was cute. “We don’t need someone to body check us into the boards like you guys do. We do it to ourselves.” And concerning. She clearly had some high pain tolerance. “You should have seen when Felix and I were still learning, he lost his balance and ended up with him bodychecking me into the boards.”

She hip-checked ‘Felix’ and he momentarily lost his balance. She looked over them briefly at their looks of confusion and winces as they all thought about being body checked into the boards. It hurt enough with padding. Without… well that couldn’t be any better than being slammed into a wall as a vigilante.

“Like you were any better, Miss I’ve-fallen-so-many-times-I-fractured-my hand,” Felix teased back. “The doctor was so amazed you had put up with it that long. Your whole side of your hand was bruised, and you still kept going.”

“Anyways!” she interjected, “It was lovely to meet you all. Have a good practice!” She pushed the blonde through the doors.

They could hear the two of them bickering down the hall, pointing out injuries to one another. The laundry list of them they could overhear was on par with vigilantes, minus the stabbings and shootings.

It was only then that he realized he never got her name.

They got on the ice to join the others, to discover that there was a good reason that the Zambonis ran between practices. There were divots everywhere.

Maybe he had apologized too soon.

~~~~

The next day, the hockey team practice really was at 6am. Marinette and Felix had showed up early, only to discover that only the one dressing room had been unlocked. They cringed as the smell of sweaty gym bags hit them. An entire enclosed room of sweaty hockey bags.

“This is vile,” Felix said in disgust.

“I think I’ll put my skates on in the bleachers…”

They grabbed their stuff and headed out to the rink. They began stretching in the stands while the hockey team went through their drills. She had to admit, the guys from the other day were good. Really good. And even mad, the guy she had hit with the snowball was easy on the eyes. His smile later was killer. She couldn’t see it now as they skated around, but she definitely wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

They began to stretch and warm up for their turn on the ice.

~~~~

Roy was looking for an opening to pass the puck to Dick when he looked up into the stands. There were Felix and the chick (he really needed to get her name), stretching. They were both insanely flexible.

He managed to dodge his opponent when Jason came up behind him. Rather than body check him, he called out, “Hey Jay! Look!” as he went past, gesturing to the stands.

Jason, of course, gave a cursory glance in the direction of Roy’s hand. It was involuntary. But what he saw distracted him completely.

The girl was currently using the handrails to stretch, her body flat against her leg. They both watched as she stuck her leg up behind her, pulling it up behind her head until she was practically vertical. The shape looked like a teardrop. It was a position they had seen her do in a spin the other day, but to see it standing still, the amount of flexibility and balance needed became more noticeable.

Roy returned to the game to see Jason completely off his focus. Dick had gotten away and was heading to the goal with no serious competition. A shout from Dick when he scored brought Jason back to his senses.

It didn’t last long.

Now that Jason knew the pair were there, his attention regularly wandered back to them. A few minutes later, Samson did a slapshot which flew off course, smacking Jason straight in the helmet. He didn’t even seem to notice that it happened.

Roy looked up into the stands to see that the girl was currently sliding slowly into a side split, her back facing towards them. Roy shook his head. He couldn’t blame Jason one bit, but he was totally going to take advantage of it.

He took one look at Dick and they began an attack the first chance they got again. Jason was the best on the other side for today, and they were going to win. Jason had been so sure his side would win that they had bet the losers would buy lunch, and Roy wanted that free lunch.

Jason snapped back to the game when his teammates shouted at him, and he returned to the game. His attention lasted until they heard the girl laughing from the stands. They all looked to see the girl with her leg being held in a standing split on her partner’s shoulder as she leaned into the stretch. Jason had the puck at the time, but his focus was clearly in the stands. Roy and Dick charged towards him and checked him into the boards. He was still too focused on the girl to even retaliate in the anger they had expected.

Jason’s practice team lost their game because he was off in la-la-land. They would need to thank the girl for winning them lunch later.

“It’s really too bad blondie is her boyfriend,” Jason mused quietly to himself, though Roy heard him as he was standing right beside him. He looked up into the stands. The girl had her leg on Felix’s shoulder to stretch out. “There’s no way they're not intimate, right?”

“Sorry man, I wouldn’t bet on it,” Roy said quietly back. He patted Jason’s shoulder amicably.

The girl was waiting at the gate to go on the ice when they finally got off. Felix was finishing tightening his skates. Jason couldn’t help but look at her as she took off her guards.

Jason was debating going up to her to finally learn her name when he heard some of the more rowdy guys on the team start talking to her. A couple of them wolf whistled at her. He could see her eye roll from his place halfway across the ice.

“Hey gorgeous, you can stretch on me any time,” Jacobsen flirted as he reached a hand towards her. She shied away from him.

“No thanks,” he heard her retort.

“You should ditch your boyfriend. Come hang out with a real man.”

She scoffed. “Felix is more of a man than you’ll ever be,” she defended him.

“Hah, that pansy?” He went to play with her hair.

“I think that’s enough,” Jason interrupted. He grabbed Jacobsen by the shirt and dragged him out of the rink towards the dressing room. “Get lost losers.”

Over his shoulder he could see Dick and Roy moving to clear out the other guys that had surrounded her and comfort her.

“What the fuck was that Jacobsen?”

“Oh, come on, man, did you see her? That little skirt wasn’t exactly covering up her assets,” the asshole said hungrily. Just because it was true, her outfit left very little to the imagination, didn’t mean you commented on it. Especially to the girl. It was a standard skating outfit. It wasn’t that Jacobsen was wrong. She was gorgeous. And her stretches were going to star in his dreams for weeks. But there was no reason to be crude. There was even less reason to be an asshole when it was obvious she was uncomfortable.

“Yeah. I saw her. You were freaking her the fuck out with your sexual harassment,” he said blatantly. “And surrounding her like that with the other guys? She couldn’t leave. This is Gotham man, what do you think she thought was about to happen?”

Jacobsen actually managed to look guilty at that. “I- I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Don’t go near her again. Any of you little shits,” he addressed the other guys, who had just entered the locker room with them. “Until you learn some fucking manners.”

When he was sure that they wouldn’t do it again, he went back to her. She was still at the edge of the boards, making semi-circles with her toe pick along the edge. Nervous habit, he guessed.

“Sorry about them. They’re assholes, but they didn’t mean any actual physical harm,” he gave her a warm smile.

“Oh… thanks,” she said quietly. She still seemed a bit guarded.

“I’m Jason, by the way,” he said gently. He didn’t want to scare her again. “You were amazing out there the other day. Really talented… and flexible.” He groaned at how that came out. While he was definitely thinking it, he didn’t want it to sound perverted to someone who had a boyfriend. He wouldn’t encroach on the dude’s girl.

“Thanks,” she replied, her face turning into a bright smile, like the ones he had seen her do on the ice before. “Oh, I’m Marinette. You were really, uhm, bad. No- no I didn’t mean bad! You were just not playing well. Not that you don’t play well. You were off your game? That’s the saying, right? Not playing as well as you usually do?”

Finally, he had a name. He could stop calling her skater girl in his head, which brought up that song every time. It had been playing on a loop in his head all day. Then he realized that she had basically said he sucked out there. Not that she was wrong. He had been very… distracted today. He laughed as she stumbled over her words.

“Yeah, I was a bit distracted today,” he confessed.

“Rough day?” she asked, genuinely concerned about him.

“Not… exactly,” he let out a dry laugh. He couldn’t exactly tell her he wanted her to use him to stretch on, or see how flexible she really was. She had a boyfriend, he reminded himself again. And… damn that would be crass, even for him, especially after what the others had said to her.

She looked at him expectantly, but didn’t push. “Other things on my mind,” he concluded. He stared straight at her as he said this. He could swear her cheeks went a bit pink at the attention and his underlying meaning.

“Is your head okay?” she asked, concerned.

“Huh?” he blurted out, confused.

“When you were hit with the puck? Are you sure you don’t have a concussion?” She reached up to his head to touch the spot where the puck had hit him earlier. He unconsciously leaned into the touch a bit.

Oh. He had been hit in the head earlier while he was staring. That would explain the dull ache. “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.”

Felix came up to them, taking off his guards and getting on the ice to warm up. “I’d… better get going. It was nice to meet you Jason,” she said as she waved bye, pushing herself away from the boards to join him.

~~~~

Dick and Roy watched Jason as he went off on their teammates, and decided to go to Felix and apologize to him for how they had treated his girlfriend. “Hey, sorry about them. I swear they're not normally that bad. Your girlfriend’s warm up was a bit distracting this morning, and they seem to have forgotten their manners while they watched,” Dick tried to placate the man.

“Girlfriend?” Felix looked genuinely confused. Then it dawned on him. “I’m not seeing anyone. Marinette is just my partner.”

“Wait – really?” Roy asked, just as confused. “But you two…”

“Are really good friends,” Felix finished for him.

“Is she seeing anyone?” Dick blurted out.

Felix looked at them, exasperatedly. “No, she’s not. Why? Are you interested?”

“Uhm, not me. My brother – he…” Dick trailed off as Jason returned from reprimanding the team to apologize to Marinette. They watched as he tried to subtly flirt with her without actually flirting, because Jason was still under the impression that she had a boyfriend, while Marinette turned red and leaned towards Jason, clearly interested.

Felix rolled his eyes. “While Marinette is observant, she doesn’t always have the self-confidence to realize that someone is hitting on her. He might need to be a bit more overt if he’s serious.”

He took a few steps past the pair, and turned his head back to them. “And if I were her boyfriend, your brother would be dead by now.”

He smirked at the cringes that Dick and Roy now wore on their faces, and went to join his partner on the ice.

Jason joined them a minute later, and they took off their skates and padding in the stands, so that Jason could watch his crush practice for a bit. They both shook their heads in resignation at his not even slightly subtle staring at her.

Twenty minutes into their practice, Roy said, “Dude, we really do need to get going. I got shit to do before patrol.” Roy had taken up patrolling them while he was in town for the season to keep in shape.

“Fine. We can go,” Jason said absently, shoving the last of his gear into the bags that Dick had gone and gotten from the changing room earlier. Not that Jason had noticed or cared it was there.

They piled into Dick’s car. A couple minutes into the ride, Dick couldn’t help himself. “Saw you flirting with Marinette there. You seem to really like her.”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me. If she didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d be all over her in a second.”

Dick looked at Roy, smirking. “So… if I said that she was free as a bird…”

“What time is practice tomorrow?” Jason asked, a little more enthusiastically.

“Bright and early, 7am.”

“I’d say I need to be a bit early for practice tomorrow.”

Roy laughed. “Sure thing bud.”

~~~~

“Damn I hate this ice. It’s too soft,” Felix complained for the sixth time as they leaned into a turn.

“Yeah, it’s great for speed of the hockey skates flatter blades,” she said as she took two quick steps to avoid another rut in the ice so that she didn’t get caught in one again. She really didn’t feel like being forced off track and falling three times in one session. The ice being softer also meant that they were more likely to leave gigantic divots in the ice – meaning they had to really watch how they hit their jumps, and to not aim for the same spot every time – making their routines off a smidge each time. It also meant they didn’t always get the height they needed. “Not for figure skating precision.”

Despite her attempts to dodge the ruts, it was inevitable. Felix hit one, just as she hit another, and they careened off in different directions, forcing them to break their handhold, and ruin the setup for the throw triple salchow they had been lining up for.

“Think anyone would mind if we slaughtered an entire hockey team?” Felix asked bitterly. She laughed. “Or maybe we should spare one of them? A certain guy who has a propensity for getting hit in the head?”

Marinette turned scarlet.

After they finished their routine, Felix pulled her over to the boards to take a quick break. “I was wondering if we should stick around for a bit after the competition, rather than heading back to Paris for a couple of weeks. The next one is in Canada.”

“It would save us the jet lag and adjusting to the time differences…” and save her a ton of money she really couldn’t afford, she added mentally.  “But the hotels?”

“On me. It was my idea.”

“Felix… It’s too much…”

“I’m going to, whether you tag along or not,” he said, taking the pressure off her. If Marinette would be happy, that would be an added bonus for him. Ladybug deserved to be happy for once. He twirled the ring around his finger. A Chat always has to look out for their Bug.

Adrien had trusted it to him when they decided to leave Paris for competitions. The two needed to be together to maintain the balance, and they would be gone for a large majority of the year.

“O-Okay…” she conceded. “I’ll stay.”

“Great,” he said as he cued up their music again.

~~~~

Jason was waiting outside with a very tired looking Roy the next morning.

“Dude if you ever wake me up like that again, I will shoot you,” Roy grumbled.

Dick gave them a look, clearly saying, ‘explain.’

“He got me up an hour ago by yanking off my bedsheets. Impacting with the floor is not how I wanted to start my day.”

Dick laughed as his friend shot his brother a death glare that would have made lesser men cowl in fear. Jason threw their stuff in the trunk quickly and jumped into the passenger’s seat, forcing Roy to sit in the back. He grumbled to himself as he climbed in the backseat. Dick shook his head at their antics.

“So we’re going to watch Marinette practice, right?” Dick teased. “You sure you don’t want to go get some breakfast first?”

Jason glared at him, but didn’t lower himself to answer. “Okay, okay. IHOP it is. It’s too bad you don’t wanna go talk to her. Felix gave us some advice and everything.”

Jason groaned. “Fine. Go to the damn rink. What did he say?”

Roy laughed as Dick smiled at him. “She needs you to be direct. Like hit you over the head obvious. Felix said something about her being observant, but won't believe you’re actually hitting on her.”

“Why?” She was beautiful and talented. Half the hockey team was hitting on her the first day. She didn’t believe them?

“Dunno. He didn’t elaborate.”

They entered the rink. By the point in the music, they could tell that they had just begun their routine (again). Dick and Roy stood casually off to the side of the double doors while Jason waited by the gate, mesmerized.  When they finished, Jason waved at her. Felix and Marinette came over, taking the excuse to take a drink to chat for a minute.

“Hey Marinette, I was wondering if you wanted to go get dinner together tonight,” he asked, as clear as he could.

She glanced briefly over to Felix, who just shrugged at her. Jason assumed it was to check if they’d had any plans together first.

“Sure! Sounds great.”

“Could I get your number, so I can text you the information?” he asked, handing her his phone. “I’ll pick you up around six?”

She didn’t have a car there, so that worked out better than them trying to make their way across town walking or using the transit. He would like his date to survive the night, thank-you-very-much. “Gotham transit is a bit dicey, especially at night. This way Felix would know you were safe too.”

Felix had taken off again, beginning his short program routine, and had missed everything after he shrugged to her. She smiled. “That’s really sweet of you. Thanks.”

“Oh, the restaurant isn’t super fancy or anything, so casual clothes are fine. I wasn’t sure what you had packed with you.”

“Oh good! We didn’t really bring anything, but I’m sure we could find something if needed if you really wanted to go somewhere else,” Marinette rambled.

“C’mon Bug, your turn!” Felix called out, breaking their conversation. She looked at Jason apologetically.

“Nah. It’s fine. See you tonight Mars,” he said quietly, tucking a strand of flyaway hair back towards her ponytail before she skated away.

Jason walked back to the others with a giant grin on his face. “She said yes.”

They clapped him on the back in congratulations, and dragged him back to the change room to get ready for their time on the ice.

~~~~

“Ah! I hate all my clothes!” Marinette screamed as she threw another top across the room.

“Relax Bug, you’ve faced greater foes than Jason. He won’t care what you wear,” Felix sighed exasperatedly as she threw a pair of jeans and they smacked him in the face.

“You just ruined my hair,” he said bitterly, removing the offending object from his head.

“Chill Kitten, skater boy doesn’t care what you’re wearing. He would much rather see you without-” Plagg was interrupted by Tikki.

“Plagg! Don’t be crude!” she screeched. “Marinette, Jason will love you in whatever you wear.”

“If you don’t stop your fretting, you’ll be late,” Felix pointed out logically.

“Aaah!” she dug back into her suitcase and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans, a tight black tank top, and an off the shoulder bulky ladybug red sweater, complete with a few large spots.

A few minutes found her fretting with her hair in front of a mirror.

“Leave it down,” he told her kindly. He wet her hairbrush, and ran it through her hair for her to get rid of the kink from her ponytail.

“Am I overthinking this?” she asked as she looked at her eyeshadow, debating which colour to do.

“Definitely,” he replied. “Marinette, he has seen you sweating with no makeup every single day. You don’t need to impress him. Just be yourself tonight and he will ask you out for sure.”

“But…”

“Fine. Keep it natural,” he retorted before she could spiral into ‘what if’s, and pointed to an eyeshadow only a touch darker than her natural shade.

Far longer than Felix wanted, they were finally ready to go, and they made their way down into the lobby.

Jason arrived five minutes later, in a much nicer car than Felix had been anticipating.

They clambered into the backseat.

“Hey Marinette!” Jason paused as Felix got in behind her. “Hey… Felix.” His voice had gone from chipper to hesitant. Felix didn’t know why. If he didn’t know better, he would think that Jason was confused. But what was confusing about a group outing?

After several extremely awkward minutes, Felix finally asked, “So are we picking up the others? Or are they meeting us there?”

Jason’s eyes went wide. He looked, panicked, at Marinette, and then back at Felix via the rear-view mirror.

Shit.

He was crashing a date that Marinette didn’t even know she was on. She had been panicking about him asking her out… and he had already done it.

Damn that girl was oblivious sometimes. Bloody brilliant, but oblivious with boys.

He wanted to groan, but Marinette would worry he wasn’t feeling good. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. There was no way in hell he was going to third wheel her date. He let out a faint groan when he saw the restaurant awning come into view, and clutched at his stomach. Marinette, who had been staring out the window, glanced over him and he could see the point where she started to worry about him.

They pulled into the parking lot, and Felix started to lay it on thick. Pretending he might throw up, he gagged. Marinette better appreciate this later.

“I think the car ride made me sick. I think I’ll just catch a taxi back to the hotel. You guys go without me,” Felix stated. His stomach rumbled from hunger, and he pretended it was a painful pang.

“Oh Felix, we should head back! I’ll take care-” Marinette fretted.

He interrupted her as quickly as he could. “No. I’ll be fine. Enjoy your night.” He pushed her towards Jason, just hard enough for her to lose her balance. She stumbled into him, and he caught her easily.

“You sure, man?” Jason asked, but it was clear he was grateful and playing along. “Marinette, why don’t you head inside, and I’ll call Felix a cab.”

“O-Okay…” she said hesitantly, giving Felix one last worried look.

“Thanks,” Jason said abruptly.

“Be more obvious. I won't be able to save your ass in there.”

“I was,” he complained. “I’m not sure what happened.”

“You asked when everyone was nearby. She naturally assumed everyone near was invited.”

“But that’s…”

“That’s Marinette. Brilliant and observant as hell, and somehow more oblivious than anyone you’ll ever meet – except my cousin Adrien.”

Jason sighed. “So it’s not that she doesn’t want to be alone with me?”

“No. A word of warning: if you hurt her, no one will find your body,” Felix said with a Cheshire grin that was definitely out of place for him. It was Adrien’s Chat Noir grin. On Felix, however, it came off as incredibly menacing. He felt Plagg stifling a laugh in his pocket.

“Noted.”

“So, where can I get a bite around here?”

“Place across the street is decent. Not up to your usual standards,” he said as he glanced at Felix’s crisp dress shirt, pants and vest, “but it’ll do.”

He looked at Jason, who looked fairly nervously back at the restaurant. “I should get in there…”

“I’d wish you good luck, but that’s really not my thing,” Felix quipped and turned to head into the diner across the street without looking back.

Marinette was in good hands.

When he got inside, he immediately spotted two familiar heads of hair staring out the window. They were not being subtle.  

“Spying?” he said with an air of superiority as he sat down with them. They jumped as he spoke to them, and looked a bit sheepish as he sat down beside them. “It’s going to be an interesting night.”

He looked over the menu, settling in. Looked like they were having a group outing after all. These two idiots could give him a ride back.

~~~~

Jason would never admit he was nervous. There was just something about this girl that drew him in. He wasn’t sure what it was, but the longer they talked over their dinners, the more Jason was sure he wanted to see where they could go. The back of his mind reminded him that he was technically still a wanted drug ringleader, hired gun (Roy still hadn’t taken down that horrendous advertisement), and vigilante. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t be so okay with those things. He was more than willing to give up the drug ring for the right person to be in his life. He had a few lieutenants that were moral enough to continue on his rules for selling only safe drugs in safe amounts, and never to minors. He would tear down the damn ads himself if he had to. He could give up killing, even if it was often the best option with the scum they often dealt with, and follow Batman’s no kill rule completely, no matter how much it grated on him.

But giving up his calling – his atonement – of doing the right thing by Gotham and whatever city he happened to be in? He didn’t think he could do that for anyone.

And then Marinette smiled at him in as she looked up from her dinner, grinning at him with the most honest and beautiful smile he had ever seen. He swore he could feel his heart clench, and his stomach churned with butterflies.

He stared openly as her eyes found his. They had been talking about her upcoming competition. She had been nervous but confident.

“The sequins took forever to sew on,” she continued.

“You made your own costumes?” he enquired when he realized what she had said.

“Oh, I make all of our clothes. Felix’s suit tonight, my outfit, all of our practice clothes…” she explained. “The lycra is a pain to work with, but its worth it in the end.”

Well, colour him impressed.

“So where do you go next?” he asked. He knew their time was short. Part of him wondered why he was torturing himself when he knew she was leaving. Would they even be able to make something long distance work when they had only spent such a short amount of time together?

“Our next competition is in Canada in a couple of weeks.”

He scrambled to try to find something to say that didn’t consist of ‘don’t go,’ but came up blank.

“We normally would go home to spend time with family between competitions, but Felix doesn’t want to risk the jet lag… so we’re planning on sticking around Gotham until the week before.”

Thank you, Felix.

“That sounds like a good idea. I could show you around Gotham properly if we have the time.”

“I’d love that, Jason.”

She had been contemplating moving for better coaching opportunities. Phillippe was great, but he was not prepared to train senior skaters. They were originally talking about finding another person in France, but Marinette was ready for a change. And they could really use a real choreographer to help with their routines. They had been making them up themselves up until this point. Metropolis did have some amazing coaches… and it was only an hour away. She could likely convince Felix to move there if it meant better coaching and choreographers. She could see Jason whenever she didn’t have practice. And she could teleport anywhere if she bribed Kaalki enough. Caramel apples usually worked. There were only two more competitions to the season anyways.

She was brought out of her musings when Jason blurted out, “I actually was hoping it could be a date. Just the two of us.”

She gasped. “I’d like that.”

“Tonight was supposed to be a date too,” he cringed awkwardly as her eyes went as wide as saucers.

She flushed beet red. “Oh, and here I dragged Felix along thinking it was a group thing! Gah! I’m so sorry! I didn’t realise – I wouldn’t have brought him along if I knew – oh my kw- gosh, I’m so sorry!” she spiraled, gushing apologies.

“Mars, its fine. Really,” he calmed her as he brought a hand across the table to grab her own. He rubbed slow circles until her attention was back on him and she was moderately calm again. Her breathing had moved to match the rate he made the circles on her hand. Huh. How many times had someone had to calm her down from a panic attack like that before? He made a mental note of it for the future – just in case. “Maybe we could consider it a dessert date.” He smiled warmly at her.

“D-Definitely,” she stuttered as she registered that his hand was still on hers.

At her agreement, he took her hand and kissed her knuckles gently. She flushed, and his lips smiled against her skin. Boy did she blush easily. This would be fun.

Jason ordered them a few desserts off the menu when Marinette couldn’t make up her mind. It wasn’t hard to tell what her favourite was after a few bites. The lava cake she was now devouring dripped chocolate onto her lips. He unconsciously leaned forward, wishing he could lick it off himself. She must have noticed his staring, because she licked her lips soon after… but she missed a spot. Impulsively, Jason leaned forward and wiped the offending bit of chocolate sauce from her lip with his thumb. They both froze when his thumb caressed her lip and his brain caught up with what he had done. Well, as they say, in for a penny in for a pound… he retracted his hand and licked the chocolate off his finger. Her eyes greedily followed his every move.

It took all his willpower when he dropped her off at the hotel that night not to ask her to come back to his place instead. To behave.

“Goodnight, Marinette,” he breathed before he went and kissed her cheek goodnight.

Felix teased her, “Did you have a good date?” when she walked into their shared hotel room smiling. She smacked him with her purse after Tikki flew out.

Tikki commented, “The boy is cute, and seemed very attentive. And oh-so polite with a kiss on the cheek!”  

That night, Marinette brought up the idea up to Felix of moving for better coaching. He smiled at her and shook his head. He knew her ulterior motive, but she was right anyways. He would talk to the coaches to see if they were willing to take on anyone else in the coming summer.  

~~~~

Marinette and Felix didn’t have practice the next morning. It was good to have a rest day so that they wouldn’t get too worn out. Instead, they had planned to check out the city.

“We don’t even know where to go,” Felix complained. She knew he was trying to push her to text Jason, especially when he added, “It would be good to get a local or three to show us around, don’t you think?”

She sighed at his extremely obvious manipulation, but couldn’t really get mad at him. He was doing it for her sake, and it was so obvious, she could have ignored him if she wanted. Instead, she pulled out her phone and sent off a text.

Half an hour later, Marinette, Felix, Jason, Roy, and Dick were at the gardens in Robinson Park. It only took Marinette a moment before she went running through the place, her arms wide, twirling around a few times randomly. Felix could practically feel the energy she and Tikki were giving off, and a knowing smile crossed his face. When they finally caught up with her, she was lying down in a bed of marigolds. Felix shook his head. He should have known that if there were any in this place that they would find them. Ladybugs were attracted to them after all. Felix bent down and picked one for her.

“You shouldn’t do that Felix! What if it makes the caretakers angry!”

“Don’t worry about it Bug. It’s just one. I’m sure the ladybugs won't mind if you take one with you.”

She grumbled slightly, but placed the bloom in her purse for Tikki. He was right. Tikki would love it, and she wasn’t able to sit around in the garden all day.

Jason watched their interaction, and he had to admit, he was a bit jealous. The two were extremely close. Abnormally so. Part of him felt like he was intruding. He watched as Marinette got back up, dust off a bit of dirt on her jeans, and take off towards a bed of roses. Felix shook his head, motioning for Jason to follow her, while Felix, Roy, and Dick hung back.

~~~

Felix, Dick, and Roy stared at their friends.

“This is going to be a long day,” Roy lamented.

“Not if we leave,” Felix retorted. “They won't miss us. I’ll bet it takes Marinette a couple of hours before she even realizes we’re gone.”

“She does seem to really like flowers,” Dick noted.

“Oh yes. Marigolds are her favourite. She's just like a little ladybug that way,” he joked. “It’s how she earned the nickname Bug.”

The two hummed appreciatively at finally getting an explanation for the name he used. Felix laughed inwardly as the two just accepted it.

Felix and Marinette had taken a taxi to meet them at the gardens, but Roy and Dick had taken his car. Jason had come over on his motorcycle, too impatient to wait for them. They took the car and headed out.

“How about the museum? It’s been a while since I’ve gone,” Dick suggested, mentally tacking on that it had been a while since he had gone when it wasn’t under attack.

“So,” Felix searched around for something to talk about. “Have you always lived in Gotham?”

“Hah. No. I actually live in Star City. Oliver just thought I needed a change of scenery for a while,” Roy said a bit bitterly.

“Oliver?”

“Oliver Queen. He’s my adoptive father technically. It’s complicated.”

“You’re a Queen.” Felix laughed.

“Dick and Jason are Waynes,” Roy said, in an attempt to defend himself – from what, he wasn’t sure. Dick whacked Roy in the shoulder.

Felix laughed harder. “Marinette’s luck strikes again.”

“Huh?” Dick looked confused.

“Marinette is a rich kid magnet. First my cousin, Adrien Agreste.” He watched as their faces went from confusion to curious. “Then the Tsurugis. She somehow managed to win over Audrey Bourgeois.” A cringe showed that they knew exactly who he was talking about.

“Then me.” They sent him a look. “Felix Graham de Vanily Fathom, at your service,” he said mockingly. “Now two Waynes and a Queen?”

They finally had to laugh at that. She really was a rich kid magnet. Marinette certainly had a way of attracting people to her. He was pretty sure it was a ladybug thing. “Don’t get me started on her pseudo-family. She’s been mostly adopted by Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. They would do anything for her. Just like the rest of us.”

They hummed in agreement. “Wait – she knows Jagged Stone?” Roy halted him for confirmation.

“Yep. She’s his designer he rants about whenever he gets the chance.”

“Jay’s going to flip when he finds out. He loves Jagged.”

“Now all she needs is to meet the local heroes and it will be like Paris all over again,” he joked. He watched them for their reactions, to see if they registered what he had said about Ladybug before. To assess the risk to her hero persona.

Instead, he saw both men get a bit fidgety comment, and Dick hurried to change the subject. Seriously? With their reactions, it wouldn’t take Marinette that long to figure it out either, unless Jason was much better at hiding it. They walked into the vigilante wax museum section.

Roy ribbed Dick, “I don’t know what Nightwing was thinking when he made that outfit. The ‘Disco-Wing,’” he said as he pointed to the deep V replica suit to Felix. It was hideous. He took a picture, eager to see Marinette have a meltdown about it later in the hotel room. Well, that answered which hero Dick was at least.

As Felix watched them move on to the next area, he had to wonder how on earth these idiots hadn’t been caught yet. Plagg snickered quietly from his pocket. When they were far enough away, Plagg popped out.

“Pigtails is going to have a field day,” Plagg cackled. “Especially when she realizes it’s them.”

Felix nodded slightly to indicate to Plagg that he heard him. “They clearly have no clue how to keep an identity safe. I bet Marinette figures it out the first time lover boy takes her here.”

“I bet it doesn’t even take that long,” Felix murmured quietly, giving her the benefit of the doubt. “She will figure it out the first time she actually sees any of the vigilantes.”

“You’re on Kit.”

There was no way Felix was losing this bet. He didn’t want to smell like camembert again.

~~~~

Meanwhile, Jason and Marinette noticed everyone had ditched them after about an hour of walking around the gardens. He had held her hand and led her to the pond.

“Looks like everyone else left,” she verbalized her worry. “We don’t have a ride now.”

“I have my bike here, if you’re okay with that,” he reassured her. He paused a moment. “Do you ride?”

“My Nonna loves motorcycles. She taught me a few years ago. I have a license in France,” she declared proudly. “Though it looks like I’ll need to get a US one.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, hopefully.

“Felix and I are looking into better coaching opportunities for us. There’s a couple of really good ones in Metropolis.”

“That would be amazing,” Jason expressed his thrill at the idea of her moving nearby. Metropolis they could make work. Paris, not so much. And while he was a bit more mobile than most of his siblings, he still was fairly bound to Gotham.

They paused over the bridge to stare at the fish. She stood up on the first rail, and leaned over to take a good look, and he snaked his arm around her back to grip the railing on the other side so he would be able to grab her if she fell – at least that’s what he was telling himself. She tensed, preparing for a fall, as his arm brushed her back.

“Sorry, I was-” he started to apologize, but she cut him off.

“It’s fine, really! I just wasn’t expecting it,” she reassured him as she twisted around to face directly in front of him instead. Despite now sitting up on the top of the railing, she had to look up at him. She was so tiny. It was no wonder Felix could throw her so high. They stood there a moment, staring, when she suddenly licked her lips. It drove his eyes down to watch the movement as her tongue traced along her bottom lip.

Damn this girl. The bar of the railing was quite thin, so he placed his hands on her hips to stabilize her. He didn’t want her to tip over, he rationalized to himself, despite her ankles tucking themselves under the lower bar and her hands gripping the rails. Her eyes returned to his lips, and she bit her lip. He leaned into her, and she spread her legs so that he didn’t get kneed in the stomach, allowing him closer than he had expected.  

He hesitated a moment longer, checking for signs of her not wanting him to continue forward. He saw nothing but encouragement in her eyes, so he leaned in, placing a gentle, tentative kiss on her lips – giving her the chance to lean away if she wanted.

Instead, he was met with soft lips, which moved slowly against his. It lasted only a few moments, before she broke away with a grin, took a shuddering breath, and leaned forward into him. Her arms went to cradle his neck as she stole his breath away. Inside him, emotions churned, so very different from the anger he was used to bubbling just below the surface. It receded to nothing but contentment. Fulfillment. Home. He could get lost in that feeling (and her lips) forever.

When Marinette walked through the hotel room door shortly before midnight, Felix took the opportunity to tease lover girl. Looked like her date panned out by the look of her smudged pink lipstick. “How’d it go with Wayne?”

She stopped taking off her coat and looked at him, confused. “Wayne? I was with Jason.”

“Jason Todd-Wayne, to be exact,” Felix smirked. “You’ve managed to make friends with Dick Grayson – also a Wayne, and Roy Harper, who is a Queen.”

“No…” she groaned as she dropped down onto her bed. “How? Why? Why does this happen to me?!”

Tikki and Plagg laughed. “It’s your luck Marinette! It sends you what you need – not necessarily what you want. Maybe you need them, the same way you needed Felix!”

Marinette turned over and groaned into her pillow. She didn’t have the patience to deal with their ribbing her tonight.

~~~~

A few days later found Felix and Marinette stretching in the stands again. The attendants had only opened one locker room again, and they abandoned it the moment they could. What they weren’t expecting, however, was for only a handful of people on the ice.

Jason skated up to the glass and waved to them to meet them at the gate. “Come join us. Most of the guys had to bail. We’re just goofing around.”

Marinette quickly agreed, and they joined them on the ice half an hour early. They did a few laps and finished their stretches on the ice while the guys took turns hitting a puck into the net. Marinette did a spread eagle, leaning in so that she just skimmed Jason as she went around him, distracting him and blocking his shot.

“How do you do that?” he asked. It was much cooler to see up close.

She giggled. “Practice,” she replied, avoiding the question.

“I’m sure I can do that. It doesn’t look very hard. Those spin things too,” Roy said confidently. Dick nodded his agreement.

“By all means,” Felix motioned as if letting someone past him, “try.”

All three took that as an invitation to try to spin. The other two men on the ice, who Marinette had not learned the names of, tried as well. Dick managed to stay upright, but wasn’t able to complete more than two rotations before he lost his balance. Everyone else fell hard.

“Ow,” Jason complained. He had landed hard on his tailbone. Roy hadn’t done much better, landing on his hip.

Felix and Marinette laughed as the attempts seemed to get worse rather than better. They both avoided telling them that they would never get much better when their blades had the wrong rocker on them and the wrong edges, choosing to enjoy the show instead.

After a few minutes and several more bruised hips and tailbones, they gave up.

“Okay, so you guys are definitely better at that than we are. But we could easily outshoot you!” Dick said, trying to defend his pride.

“I’m sure you could. Marinette is so klutzy off her skates its impressive,” Felix teased her.

Regardless, they both took the hockey sticks from them, and tried their best. Marinette discovered quickly that her grace when she concentrated and her ability to swing a yoyo to insane accuracy did not translate well to hitting a flat ball thing with a funny stick. She should probably avoid golf too. Felix was better, but not by much. It definitely wasn’t their forte.

“I think we need to redeem ourselves Fe,” Marinette lamented as her tenth shot missed, the puck flying off the boards a good three feet away from the goal. Jason laughed at the dismayed look on her face. It quickly turned to determination as he could almost see the plan form in her head. “A race!”

“You’re on,” Roy declared, his tone mocking.

“They’re going to get slaughtered. Maybe we should go easy on them,” Dick whispered as he tried to reason with him.

“I’m pretty sure they would both be insulted if we did,” Jason assumed.

“To the boards and back, twice,” Marinette declared to them. There was fire in her eyes. Oh boy, she was competitive. Jason worried about how she would take losing. Felix looked equally determined. This wasn’t going to end well.

They all lined up, the boys on the end cackling, sure of their victory. That was until they hit the boards on the first lap. Half of them came to a complete stop before they crashed. The other half turned as sharply as they could, but it was still a pretty wide turn. They watched as Felix and Marinette cut their edges deep, and used their toepicks to give them an extra kick to each of their strokes when they had lost speed from the turn. Jason quickly realized that it didn’t matter if they had more power behind them – the figure skater’s blades were designed for the precision and bursts of speed that hockey blades were not. They put their all in, and managed to finish close enough behind them to not be embarrassed by the defeat.

Samson and Tylers were a bit bitter after that and left in defeat. Marinette and Felix had put their all into that race. They were very clearly tired after the sprints, but didn’t seem surprised at the win. The three vigilantes, however, were extremely surprised that anyone had beaten them.

“How?” Dick asked.

“We used to train with one of the hockey teams on occasion,” Marinette explained as she leaned against Felix while regaining her breath.

“We won because we're faster at turns and can pick up speed faster at the corners. Your blades are meant for more continuous speed than starting and stopping continuously and don’t have as much control as ours,” Felix explained, going on about the shapes of the blades and the contours of the edges.

Jason had never really thought much about how the blades were shaped and how much it would impact their performance. It would be interesting to see how a figure skating blade did in a hockey game.

Jason looked over at Marinette. Her face was flushed. She was panting hard. She had clearly worked for it, and he couldn’t help his mind wandering to other situations where he could make her face flushed and leave her panting.

“We should get going, we’re encroaching on their ice time,” Dick interrupted his thoughts.

“You can stay!” Marinette blurted out, likely louder than she intended. Her voice echoed her yell across the ice.

Felix raised an eyebrow at her, but relented. “Just stay out of our way when we’re doing our routines and jumps.”

Up close, their throws were much more deadly looking. Marinette was much closer to the ice on some moves than Jason was comfortable with. Their spins were farther apart than they had looked from the stands, but not by much. It didn’t reassure him. All it took was one of them being off and they would be injured.

When their ice time ended, they all headed to the lockers and change room together. The guys watched as Felix and Marinette cringed when they just shoved their skates in their bags, as they went through a process of drying their skates top to bottom, and placing terrycloth covers on them to absorb more water.

Marinette ducked into one of the bathroom stalls to change. She came out to the boys taking off their padding. Jason was bent over, a towel on his head to help shake out the sweat from under his helmet. He stood up to grab his shirt from the hook above him, giving Marinette a view of what had to be the most delicious chest and arms she had ever seen. The sweat dripping off his body made it glisten in the harsh fluorescent lights. She registered that both Roy and Dick were also ripped as hell, but the look of Jason made her mind go blank of all rational thought. The only word left in her mind was ‘damn.’

Felix coughed after a minute of her extremely obvious staring. Jason preened at the attention. Well, at least he knew she liked the view.

~~~~

When her heat’s fifteen-minute warm-ups began, Marinette looked into the stands. The miraculous team had all ported over the day before, and she spotted them in the audience to wave. They’d celebrated last night and wished her luck that morning. What she wasn’t expecting was to see the entire Wayne family plus Roy in front row seats beside her friends. She thought momentarily how they got such amazing seats last minute, but then she remembered… Felix had mentioned that they’re the Waynes. She laughed and waved, thinking that she should have known that Jason and Dick would pull something like this.

Marinette zoned out as she struck her beginning pose for her long program, first position in ballet. It was just her, the ice, and the music. The audience and the judges faded away to what was important. Her outfit was inspired by Multimouse, with grey and pink, and a pink waistband which hid a rope much like her jump rope. The music ‘Ce mur qui nous sépare’ resounded through the arena, and Marinette began doing her footwork sequence primarily on her toepicks, making it look as if she was doing a ballet, as graceful as any ballerina, and even doing some ballet moves which Felix choreographed. As the music picked up, she jumped straight into a double axel with no warning, before gaining a bit of speed and heading into a Bauer, before spinning through a few mohawks and heading straight down the ice. She completed a triple flip, double toe combination before heading into a camel spin. It transitioned into a deep sit spin as the music picked up speed. She sped across the ice, doing a few split flips before going into a triple loop. Her landing was a bit wobbly as she dug into the ice more than she had anticipated, but it still counted. Another quick footwork sequence later, and she headed into her second spin, a butterfly into a reverse camel, before switching back to her dominant foot and doing a one-handed Beillmann. She liked to think of it as her doughnut spin because she started it parallel to the ice and it created a circle, before her foot and torso were pulled up into the teardrop position. As the music slowed back down a bit, she completed a triple Salchow and stopped to grin at the audience. She did a quick scratch spin, whipping out the rope sash that was tied around her waist and completed her Multimouse transformation sequence, rope and all, though the rope technically remained tied to her outfit so that it stayed within the requirements of the competition that no items are removed during programs. Jumping the rope in her skates was risky, both as a possible wardrobe violation, and the risk of tripping, but she had done the move so many times transforming that it went as smooth as ever. She spun around again, tucking the rope back around her waist and repining it in place. The music slowed again, and she completed a series of spirals, weaving across the ice. She followed this by a layback that transitioned to a two-handed Beillmann as the background music disappeared except for a piano. She returned to the ballet moves she had done before… until the music picked back up, and she ran across the ice, picking up speed and moving through a few more graceful fighting stances, inserting jumps and kicks every few steps, before stepping into a double Lutz as the music hit another crescendo. She could have attempted the triple, but with the ice so soft, she didn’t trust it for a jump she hadn’t mastered yet, opting for the double instead. She silently thanked Felix for knowing the ice so well to make that decision mid-program. The music ended as it started, and she returned to the ballet moves she had started with, ending in the same position she had begun in.

When she came to her senses again, she could see the Waynes, Roy, her friends, and her parents, who had flown in for the event with Phillippe, who had joined them two days before the competition began,  giving her a standing ovation. But they weren’t the only ones. She was shocked to see most of the stands cheering for her on their feet. She grinned and gave her bows, blowing them kisses, before heading to the scoring box.

She waited in the scoring box with Felix and Phillippe for her scores. She was thrilled. She was one of the last to skate, and she was in third place! The last two people were presently much lower in the standings than her. It was highly unlikely she would be bumped to fourth. She was placing! She had only gotten fifth at the last competition, so it was a huge thrill to know she had done so well on her own. She screamed in joy, jumping up and down several times, before she tackled Felix, who had the brains to jump out of the way of her skates before she crushed his toes with her guards, and picked her up instead, spinning her around.

~~~~

Felix’s long program was later in the afternoon. Marinette sat in Felix’s seat that he’d had during her program. The Waynes and her family and friends had adjusted their seats so that Jason was sitting next to Marinette. Felix must have said something to them!

She and Jason chatted quietly as much as they could do politely. She was pleased to see that her friends were getting along with them. Dick, Roy, Nino and Adrien got along well. Max and one of Jason’s other brothers, Tim, were discussing some technology stuff she really didn’t want to try to understand. She noticed that his youngest brother, Damian, didn’t look thrilled to be there, but she knew that he had been talking to Felix earlier. Seemed he needed someone a bit calmer and more stoic to get along with (which most of her friends certainly were not). Kagami and Luka had shifted their seats so they were next to him, and he seemed to tolerate their conversations. Mostly the kid just looked like he wanted to go home. Alya kept shoving her to talk to Jason whenever there was a lull in performances. She wasn’t sure she wanted to put up with more jabs to her stomach, and leaned in more towards his seat as a result.

She sat with them until it was Felix’s heat’s turn, when she went backstage to watch his actual program, and join Phillippe at the side of the ice. His outfit was heavily inspired by the turtle miraculous for his long program. He skated excellently, and was technically perfect. She waited with him as he got his scores. He placed fourth overall, but first for his long program. He’d had some amazing competition this time, and he was accepting of his overall score, as his actual score was slightly better than the last two competitions, but others had just scored better than him on the short program. Still, he had a grin on his face as he realized what his scores meant. Despite Felix not placing overall, they had both earned individual spots in the World Junior Championships in three months. He gladly accepted her enthusiastic hug.

Later in the day came the medal ceremony – something Marinette never expected to be a part of. She stood proudly, back in her long program costume, as she took her place on the podium that was now in the center of the ice. Her family and friend cheered for her, creating a ruckus in the middle of the ceremony. She blushed a bit at the attention. Their cheers were very loud.

When she got back off the ice, she was tackled by hugs from her family, and pats on the back and congratulations from the Waynes. When they had finished, Jason came up to her. He handed her a flower that he had bought from one of the vendors, and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Despite the innocent nature of it, her friends ‘oooou’d at them, causing her to blush all over again. Her mother raised an eyebrow at her and smiled, leading her father away before he could give Jason a shovel talk.

“Congratulations,” he said as he gave a wary glance at her father. “Do you want to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate?”

“Oh… Jason. I’m sorry. My parents and my friends from France are already taking us out. You’re welcome to join us though!” She felt bad. She’d turned him down, despite how much she wanted to go out with him. She watched as the smile he had on his face disappeared. “We won't be out long. We have our pairs long program tomorrow.”

“Maybe next time. Go have fun,” he replied, clearly upset by the rejection.

She didn’t have time to linger and reassure him, as Alya and Adrien dragged her away. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Roy put an arm over Jason’s shoulder, leading him out of the building.

“So what’s with flower boy?” Alya ribbed her.

“Does this chat need to give him a shovel talk?” Adrien teased.

“No! No shovel talks!” Marinette groaned. It would be a long night.

~~~~

The following afternoon they had to complete their long program for pairs. They wore outfits that were an homage to Ladybug and Chat Noir. The music was a remix of the Miraculous Ladybug song Jagged and Luka made for them to make it fit the music requirements. Part of their routine was their transformation sequences. She did her Ladybug one during their pairs spin while Felix did some posing for Chat Noirs. Felix’s Kuro Neko transformation was done during their side-by-side spins they did towards the end. Their footwork sequences included other miraculous users’ transformation. It included fight sequences taken from Alya’s footage. Both ones they had won, and ones they had suffered in. They hadn’t shown their friends this routine. She could tell when they were finished that their friends were touched. An homage to all of them in their hero days. They had tears in their eyes when the routine came to a close and Marinette and Felix finally looked up at them.

They waited anxiously in the box. It hadn’t been a perfect routine, but it was close. Their timing had been a bit off on their side-by-side spins, and Felix was grumbling about it under his breath. Marinette didn’t think it was so bad, but she wasn’t quite as much of a perfectionist as him (though she came close).

When the scores came in though, Felix’s grumbling was forgotten. The judges had loved them. Perfect scores on the artistic portion and overall quality, the program components score. Very high scores in technical execution. It placed them in first, with a large lead. It was unlikely that someone would beat them with those scores. But there were still two more heats to go.

An hour later, Felix and Marinette paced backstage, waiting to hear as the final team took the ice. Their program was amazing. They were the team to beat. Felix was pessimistic that they would win against them, but Marinette held out hope. They watched, hands clasped together as their opponents got their scores.

They had won! It was enough to qualify them for world juniors in all three categories when combined with their other results. Felix picked her up and swung her around, shocking Marinette. He didn’t normally do stuff like that without her initiating it.

Jason happily met her afterwards with flowers. Since he had snuck backstage this time, he was able to give her a proper kiss, with only Felix’s glare on them, rather than all of their family and friends. He leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. His hands found her hips as she leaned into him eagerly.

“Yeah, I’m out. You two lovebirds keep it PG – unless you really want to have a chat with her dad,” Felix reminded them as he left the room to find his cousin. “Oh, and dinner tonight. Your family is welcome to join us, Jason.”

Jason let out a hum of acknowledgement that ended up sounding more like a moan as Marinette tugged on his lip with her teeth.

“Gross,” Felix muttered as he left the room as quickly as he could. “I so didn’t need to see - or hear - that.”

~~~~

That night Felix and Marinette said goodbye to their friends on the hotel rooftop. They had just left via one of Marinette’s portals ten minutes before. Felix and Marinette were sitting on the roof with a pastry from her parent’s bakery and Orangina that they had thrown back through the portal at them… when they saw three figures on the rooftop next to them.

“Isn’t that Jason, Dick, and Roy? What are they doing over there?” she asked Felix. He smirked.

She stood up and waved. “Hey Jason!” she called out.

All three of them froze… before making the jump over to their roof using grappling hooks. Only for Nightwing, Red Hood, and Arsenal to land in front of them.

“Sorry Miss, you must have the wrong people,” Red Hood stated flatly.

“Jason, seriously?” she looked at him, her eyebrow raised. “It’s obviously you! You even reacted when I called your name. You wouldn’t have come over if it wasn’t you.” They all looked torn. It was clear they didn’t know what to do now that they were confronted with someone knowing who they were. “We won’t tell! I promise! We know how important it is for heroes to keep their identities secret.”

She opened her arms in a non-threatening way. She glanced once at Felix, who stared back with a small smirk. Oh, the jerk already knew!

“We’re vigilantes,” Dick – Nightwing – corrected her.

“Aren’t all heroes?” she shot back instantly. “None of them are officially working as police officers. All the arrests are technically citizens arrests. Doesn’t make it any less heroic.”

They all looked lost in thought for a moment at that. Had they all been putting themselves down as less than other heroes because they didn’t have powers?

Giving in, Jason took off his helmet. “How do we know you won't tell anyone?” She could tell he regretted the words, but she could understand why they were necessary.

“Can I go grab something really quick? I swear it’ll make everything make sense.”

They agreed, but Jason followed her and waited outside of their hotel room. He tried to pretend it didn’t bother him that they shared a hotel room, even though it was obvious from a glance that they had separate beds before the door closed. When she came out a minute later, she had two things in her hands. They went back up to the others, and she handed one of the items to Felix.

She placed Mullo’s necklace around her neck as Felix looked once at the bracelet he had been given when Nino had been hurt in the final battle and he had taken over. Marinette was willing to share that they were minor heroes. That they were Ladybug and the current Chat Noir, Felix could only assume would come later with more trust. He gave it a month.

They called on their powers. The vigilantes stared, open-mouthed.

“Well… that explains your routines,” Roy mused, his voice a bit faint.

“Does it bother you?” Jason asked, the insecurity bleeding through the attempt to seem nonchalant.

“Does what bother me?” she glanced at him, helmet in hand, looking as if his world might just shatter if she said the wrong answer.

“That I’m Red Hood. My past. Well, present, really.”

“Is any hero’s hands really clean?” she huffed, her eyes dropping in shame.

They looked confused why she would say that, but it was clear they had all taken a life or two in their time. Felix explained for her. “Hawkmoth – my uncle – and his assistant, Mayura, died in the final battle in Paris. Ladybug had already used her cure to heal one of the miraculous team members. The one I took over for, actually, before he died. It meant there was no cure for the end of the battle. Nathalie got desperate when her transformation dropped. She was injured from the use, and had a gun. She shot Carapace in the back. He took the hit for Rena. I took over from the Dog to become the Turtle. But after the cure was cast, Hawkmoth got the upper hand. I ended up wrenching the gun from Nathalie. It went off. Died instantly.” The vigilantes cringed. Accidents happened in the field. They never held it against anyone. “It wasn’t miraculous magic. Even if she had cast the cure, which she couldn’t, she would still be dead. While everyone was distracted with Lila taking the peacock, Hawkmoth captured Chat Noir. He called on the cataclysm as an empty threat.” Felix paused, looking at Marinette.

“I forced him. I pushed his hand to touch him. It was the only way,” she uttered at the unpleasant memory. Adrien had forgiven her. They all knew it was a high probability that at least one of them would die. That included his father in those calculations. He had been willing to do it, but Marinette had taken away that choice. She hadn’t wanted him to live with the decision. So she had forced his hand – literally and figuratively. She did what needed to be done, knowing that since she had used her cure, Tikki didn’t have enough energy for another one. Even then, the cure only worked for so long after the villain had been defeated. Tikki wouldn’t have had enough time to recharge. Tears shone in her eyes as she looked back up at Jason. “I get it.”

Jason pulled her into a hug. Marinette was struggling with it, even after all these years. This was something he could help her with. It started with acceptance. He accepted her, and her pain, just as she had accepted him.

~~~~

After the competition was over, Jason’s game finally took place. Marinette and Felix cheered them from the stands – or, well, Marinette cheered enthusiastically while Felix held her very sparkly banner. The game was extremely close, but they won after Roy got them a penalty shot.

Marinette met Jason outside the changing room. “Congratulations!” she said cheerfully as she launched herself into his arms. He dropped his bag to grab her instead. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he moved his hands to support her weight as she grabbed around his neck, pulling herself in. She planted several quick kisses on his lips in her excitement. He would have sworn it was her win with how happy she was for him. He couldn’t help but grin at her.

She had so quickly become the light in his life.

“As a prize for winning, I have a surprise for you!”

He laughed. “What is it?”

“We’re moving to the states!” she grinned. “The coach in Metropolis agreed to take us on!”

“That is so amazing. Best surprise ever,” he spun her around and she giggled as she let her arms loose, allowing herself to fly around. She wasn’t leaving. Sure, she still had competitions, but home was close now. When she returned between competitions, it would be near him.

Jason had been holding off on asking her to be his girlfriend. He wanted to ask her earlier, but knew she was leaving, and didn’t want to risk his heart if she was leaving forever. He had enough abandonment issues without a girlfriend on the other side of the ocean all year long. It would be bad enough with her competing for several months of the year.

But that was no longer standing in their way.

“Mars – be my girlfriend?”

He would take the passionate kiss she gave him in response as a yes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Fun facts with Izzy time! All Marinette’s injuries happened to me while I skated (yes that means I landed on a chunk of ice and smashed into the boards, and popped back up and continued on like it never happened, got bodychecked into the boards while teaching someone to skate, and almost broke my hand from repeatedly falling on it in the exact same spot for months and had to take 2 weeks off for it to heal before the tiny hairline fracture turned into a fully broken hand. I wasn’t happy about the time off at the time). And that competition against the hockey players? Yeah, that too. Don’t try to race a figure skater with laps. We’ll kick your ass. The facts about blades and ice conditions and stinky locker rooms also happen to be true. 

Mood board by DeathbyMeow <3 I Love it! Thanks Meow!