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Jon had set up the game to help her calm down. She knew that Damian’s family cared greatly for him and he kept saying that they would love her. It didn’t stop her from being nervous about meeting them all for the first time. She did love being here in this park though. Damian knew that when he picked it. They had met here, where she used to sit because it reminded her so much of Paris. The trees were so vibrant when they bloomed and somehow even though the rest of Gotham seemed dull and gray, the sun almost always seemed to shine down here. Damian had wondered about her after seeing her here multiple times because it was apparently frequented by a reformed rogue.
“That sounds like a lovely story of redemption,” she replied. “It is nice that she makes the place so lovely. It might be my favorite spot in Gotham.”
“It does seem to have something going for it right now,” he said.
She had been looking at the trees but when she looked back, he was looking directly at her. They met there multiple times over the next few weeks. Eventually, they exchanged names and numbers. Damian asked her out with his first phone call. She later found out he was being cautious because of his family being well known and rich. He wanted to make sure she was not only after him for the possible benefit. She hadn’t even realized who he was until a reporter managed to see Damian one night and started asking questions. He had managed to block her from view so it was months later before the press even knew he had a girlfriend. Now, nearly 2 years later, they were preparing to go public after she met the family.
The family would be here soon but they had just met back after doing their relationship scavenger hunt to calm her. It had been a lot of fun to find the things that felt meaningful to each other. She and Damian sat on the bench while Jon stood to the side to tell them when to show what they found. Marinette put her bags beside her and turned back to Damian. He reached for her hand as Jon told them the first item.
“Alright, first up, what is your love’s favorite drink?”
Marinette and Damian reached beside the bench to pull out their selections. Marinette started to release his hand but instead of letting her hand go, Damian held it slightly tighter. She turned and smiled at him, leaning in for a kiss. She would be able to manage while holding on. She held on and stretched down to find the tea she brought. They turned to each other and handed over the drinks at the same time. Damian smiled, as he recognized the logo from his favorite tea shop that managed a cup as close as he could get to Alfred’s tea. He offered a cup from the smoothie place they liked to go to.
“Earl Grey?” he asked with a smile.
“With cashew milk and this is a strawberry orange julius?”
“Extra creamy, just how you like.”
Jon cleared his throat as they leaned in for a kiss but they ignored him. He rolled his eyes as their lips met and kept going. Technically they did have limited time if they wanted to finish before his family arrived. But Marinette had to admit, she was feeling significantly less stressed when they were kissing.
“Next, show me your love’s favorite treat,” Jon said, forcing them to pull apart.
Marinette could already see the bakery box that she was certain had the pavlova that was the closest she could find to her Papa’s. She knew that sweets weren’t usually his preference except for Alfred’s cookies and a few of her own confections that he had tried. But he loved fresh bread so she had a manakish flatbread with za'atar that he had said reminded him of a moment he had with his mother when he was young. They had snacked on it in the middle of the night and the memory had always stayed with him. Usually she would have just told him to go back to sleep but she hadn’t that time.
His grip tightened on her fingers when he saw it. He pushed both of their packages aside and moved closer to her. Jon was wholly ignored as he tried to redirect them to the game. Marinette was happy to ignore him. Damian was usually very reserved with his affection in public but his hand slid into her hair and he held her there, deepening his kiss. She slid her arm around his neck and pressed against him, lost to everything but him for a few minutes. Jon finally regained their attention by shoving Damian’s shoulder and jostling them.
“We only have enough time for one more now," Jon said. He closed his eyes before selecting one. “What is something you two can do together?”
Marinette made a small squeak. She was excited about this one. She released Damian’s hand and stood up from the bench to get her largest package. She hadn’t packed the picnic basket with food but she brought it to show along with 2 kites. Damian nodded at her offering, giving her a smile so she would know that he was happy about it. Then he turned to find his own for her. He crouched down to reach it and then turned back to show her. He remained on one knee as he held out the small box with the glittering ring. Marinette’s hand covered her mouth.
“Marinette,” Damian said, reaching for her hand. “You have changed my life since the moment I met you. I can’t imagine my life without you and I don’t want to. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, nothing would make me happier,” she said.
Damian stood and removed the ring from the box and slid it on her finger. It was a perfect fit. She leaned over and kissed him before looking around and seeing that his family had been there to witness the moment.
—
It was early, but Marinette was already ready. She was nervous again. This felt even more stressful than meeting Damian’s family. That had been chaotic with all of them there and so excited about the news. This was rushed. They were not supposed to be announcing so soon but a reporter had called with questions after someone sent in a picture of the proposal to the news station. Bruce himself had gotten them to agree to wait to say anything until after the press conference. But they were doing an exclusive first interview with Vikki Vale just before it, that would be released immediately after the press release.
She moved to the door at the knock. Damian wasn’t expected for a while yet, but he would show up early just to make sure she was okay. She opened the door wide, thinking as she did that he would probably chide her for being so uncautious. He would have been right, if it had been him at the door. Instead, Dick Grayson stood before her. His suit was perfectly pressed and he smiled at her. He was supposed to be the affable one with a disarming smile. She didn’t relax as he stepped in before she had even managed to find her voice to invite him inside.
She released the door and it closed itself automatically, another moment where Damian would recommend caution. He loved the automatically closing door but told her to always remain until it shut fully. The latch clicked as the door finished reaching the stopping point. She kept stepping back until her back hit the breakfast bar. Dick was still smiling. She should probably say something, but he hadn’t said anything either. His smile was unnerving. He had hugged her and smiled before. She never would have guessed how imposing he could be.
“Are you picking me up for the press interview?” she asked, hoping that by breaking the silence the foreboding feeling would also disappear.
He reached across her to her fruit bowl and carefully selected an orange before he spoke.
“Damian will be here for you later. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.”
She was thrown off by his tone. He seemed to be insinuating something but she wasn’t sure what.
“I am expecting him in a bit. I was not expecting to see you. I thought maybe there had been a change while I was getting ready.”
She looked over for her phone. Damian had set it up so it would have the ability to send a message out to him if she were in trouble. She had never felt the need to use it but she suddenly found herself glad that he had made her practice activating it with either hand and without looking. It would be very useful in any situation where she could reach her phone.
She couldn’t actually reach her phone right now. But this was Damian’s brother. He was not a person who would harm her. She should be safe. When he followed her eyes and saw her looking at her phone, she didn’t feel safe. He smirked at her. She looked down and watched him carefully removing the peel. It didn’t come off in chunks. He methodically moved it around and pulled it so the peel would be removed in one piece. When he peeled off a segment her eyes followed the movement as he popped it into his mouth.
He moved as if he were carefree. But every slight movement set Marinette even more on edge. He pulled out a chair and sat down. Marinette kept her back against the wall. She felt trapped. He had not moved to touch her or keep her in place. He was actually further from her now that he was when he was standing. His body appeared relaxed. But his placement was between her and every exit from the area. She could easily move around him. There was space. But the thought of moving past him filled her with dread.
“Are you ready for your interview?” he asked. His eyes pinned her, watching for something. She didn’t know what. “The big reveal.”
“I have prepared based on what Damian and I agreed upon. The PR team provided a lot of guidance as well.”
The silence hung in the air. She felt like a small child trying to hide wrongdoing but she couldn’t for the life of her think of what she could have done. She focused back on his orange once again. Less than half remained. Somehow that felt like a timer for when the conversation would end. But what would happen at the end. He peeled away another segment and moved it towards his mouth. But then he paused, using the segment with his gesturing hand.
“I wonder what will be revealed.” He pointed with the small piece of fruit. “You are clearly hiding something.”
She froze, eyes wide. He smiled his open smile at her once again as he pushed the piece into his mouth. His eyes glinted with triumph. It definitely felt like he was winning, mostly because Marinette was at a loss for his purpose. She knew she had secrets. Damian knew her secrets. As sacred as the guardianship was, she could not keep it from Damian. She couldn’t marry him without telling him about her responsibility and how that might affect her memory and their life one day. They had made contingencies in case anything ever happened. They had made similar plans for if he had any past enemies show up or if his vigilante work ever affected them. She was happy that he had agreed with her interpretation that such secrets must be shared to share a life even if all the details were not openly shared.
“Damian and I are both private people. I have no need to hide anything. I love him. This is all standard because of who he is.”
“Your level of privacy, as you say, is not just to respect Damian. You are hiding something and this relationship benefits you in some way.” He stood back up and Marinette had to look up at him, towering over her. “I’m not crass. I don’t think it is the money. But you are hiding something just the same.”
“Is it not enough that I love him and he loves me? Don’t you love him and want him to be happy?”
“Damian is my brother. I would do anything to guarantee his happiness. I’m doing exactly that right now.” He stepped closer to her, smiling even wider now. “He is vulnerable to you. I don’t know what it is about you. But if you hurt him, there will be nowhere for you to hide. Whatever secrets you have make you vulnerable to. I will learn them all and only then will I act.”
Marinette pressed herself further against the wall. Refusing to look at the box that must remain secret. Dick stepped right up to her and kissed her on the top of her head.
"Welcome to the family," he said.
He shoved the last of the orange in his mouth before turning to leave. Marinette didn’t know how to respond if she had the time. Before she could even register the severity of the threat, he was gone. She had known that he had money for most of their time together. Damian didn’t brag about it but he didn’t hide it either. It had never been what was important to her or even to him. When they were together, nothing seemed to matter. She had allowed herself to forget that it might matter to his family. Dick was the charming, non-threatening brother. He was the first response but there were others. She didn’t want to think about what they would try.
—
She couldn’t help watching the fall out. All they had was a blurry cell phone picture of her the day they got engaged. She ached as it displayed on the screen again. She was looking up at him as he slid the ring on her finger. She touched the spot where the ring had been hours before. She expected that she would be found after a while. Hopefully she would have time to compose herself. She would never expect to jilt the son of Bruce Wayne without having to answer for it. She had never intended to be on the run from him. But without any other time to make a plan she had to settle for the contingencies already in place.
There was a false trail, more than one even. He would expect that but he would still need to check. She hadn’t left any note or signal. Just her ring and the phone. Most of her possessions were left too. She had taken only what was absolutely necessary and that she could move quickly without drawing attention to herself. She made an effort to make it clear that she was leaving on her own. As much as she knew it would hurt him, she didn’t want him worried about her being in danger. She was leaving the danger behind.
She had showered and scrubbed her face in the motel bathroom. The water did not get very hot or have much pressure behind it. Her face was still red and puffy. The towels had been surprisingly soft for the price of the room. She was grateful. Her face felt raw and her eyes were dry from the tears. She looked over at the box of miraculi. She had known from the moment that it came to her that it would end up causing pain eventually. She had always thought that it would come later. But now, she thought only of how she could rid herself of it and her pain all at once. The idea faded almost as soon as she thought of it.
Forgetting her pain right now seemed great but she wasn’t entirely sure how far the loss would go. Damian would find her. She was using their plans to hide if anything major ever went wrong. Their plan had always been to be together. She didn’t want to be without the memories, without him. As much pain as she was in now, she didn’t want to forget him and she could not forget the danger. She didn’t know how far Dick’s plan’s went. Maybe he was just trying to scare her into running. But with the knowledge that Damian would come find her and need to know why, she didn’t know what Dick or the rest of the family would do to keep them separated.
She slept poorly that night and it had nothing to do with how uncomfortable the cheap mattress was. She moved early the next morning and kept changing every day, paying cash wherever she went. The news seemed to have moved on. The immediate reaction to her not showing up for the interview or the announcement was met with panic and the reporter Vale had immediately released the story of the engagement when the deal for the interview was not honored. Now, the Wayne PR team was trying to assure everyone that everything was okay. The police decided she was not a missing person as far as any attempt against her to be used as leverage. But there still seemed to always be some police around. She wondered if they suspected foul play against her.
That is what this felt like but there would be no body to be found. She would be and she would have to come up with an explanation. She didn’t know what to say. She cringed as Dick responded to questions with a smile. He seemed so sincere but she felt that same knot in the pit of her stomach with his charming response as she had when he was in her apartment. She knew Dick was Damian’s favorite brother. The only family member he cared for as much as Dick was Alfred, not even Bruce had the same level of care. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Damian was not appearing in any of the press. That was not unusual for him because he didn’t like to be involved with the media in his personal life. He felt it should only be for business. He hadn’t even wanted to do any of the engagement announcements publicly but the PR team insisted.
She turned off the TV, unable to listen to it anymore. It was mostly just replays of the same footage. Back to the silence surrounding her. She was getting antsy staying here. She should have moved on from Gotham. It was a bad idea to stay so near, but she had not yet decided where to go and she had no good way to leave the city without being spotted. Her picture was plastered all over the news, whenever there was a break in new stories. It seemed that there was a shortage of sensational stories the last few days. She half wished a rogue would show up with a plan to destroy the city so she could escape unnoticed. But then Damian would be in danger. She didn’t know if she could just leave without knowing he was okay.
She went back to her bags and checked them over. She couldn’t decide if this foreboding feeling was her gut telling her to get out of if she was just second guessing herself. She decided to follow her gut and hope it was right. She collected her bags and went to the desk to check out. She was slightly delayed waiting for the person at the desk to check the room so she could get her deposit back. It was a huge drawback to using cash but it managed to hide her trail. The car the clerk had called for her had shown up and she just needed to finish the paperwork. Her anxiety was increasing with every slow movement of the old man. She wanted him to hurry but she didn’t want to be pushy and rush him. Finally, he handed her a receipt and she muttered a thanks as she rushed out the door.
The car was still there but leaning against the door was Cass. Marinette stopped short when she saw her. Their conversation had been brief. Damian assured her that was typical of Cass and not a reflection on her. Marinette had accepted everything he had said of his family at the time. But right now, the silence from Cass was too loud. She did not even ask Marinette to follow her but the expectation was clear. The other woman pushed off the car and handed money to the driver. She didn’t look back to Marinette but Marinette followed her to the car. They both lifted a bag into the trunk and walked to separate sides of the car and got in.
It was slightly better for her that rather than taking her to the Manor, she took her back to her abandoned apartment. No one else was there except Damian. Cass had only been on her phone one time so she now assumed that the message was to him. Marinette felt worse now, entering her apartment and seeing Damian, than she had when Dick had walked out of her apartment days before. His face showed the stress and lack of sleep from the last few days but when their eyes met she saw the hurt. She had done that to him.
“You appear well,” he said.
His voice was barely above a whisper. She bit her lip and looked down. She couldn’t cry and let him know how much she was hurting too. It needed to be a clean break, even if that would break her. It would be better for him if he believed her callous about the whole thing. He lifted her hand gently and ran his fingers over hers. She followed him when he pulled her against him. She couldn’t stop herself from relaxing against him. She held him too. Never wanting to give up the feeling of holding him one last time. He moved his hand up to her face and she finally met his pain filled eyes. She might have seen understanding in his before he leaned down to kiss her.
The door opened behind her and she stiffened at Dick’s greeting. She was suddenly reminded of all the reasons she couldn’t let this happen. Her eyes followed a glint of light as he pulled the ring from wherever it had been. She hadn’t been looking until the light caught her eyes. She followed the movement rather than meeting his eyes. He placed it back on the counter with the gentle click against the surface being the only noise. He watched her for a response or a reaction. He was hoping for an explanation, anything for this all to make sense but Marinette just looked down at her feet so he couldn’t see the same pain in her eyes.
“I guess it didn’t fit after all,” he finally said when he set the ring down.
He pulled away from Marinette quickly, resigned to her previous decision to leave. She made the mistake of looking back at Dick at that moment. She tried to school her features. Damian would need Dick once she was gone. He would need support to recover. He was slow to open up to new people. That part of Dick’s argument held true. He was vulnerable to Marinette, as she was to him. It was a risk in any relationship. A necessary risk with love was vulnerability. She didn’t know why Dick would have an argument against Damian opening up in general so it was just her.
—
Marinette didn’t care about which way she was walking. She didn’t know where to go. There was nowhere she could go. She made a noise as she stepped in a puddle and splashed the water all over. It didn't really matter. She was already soaked. It was running all over her hair and into her eyes. Hopefully that would hide the fact that she was crying from anyone else out braving the deluge. She lifted her bag to her other shoulder. The weight of the box was getting heavy. The box was the only thing with her. If she passed it on she could just disappear. She would become no one and no one would ever know what happened. She had succeeded in getting Damian to accept it but she didn’t want to be around for the fall out. She turned down into a dead end alleyway and leaned heavily against the wall.
She closed her eyes and listened to the rain hitting the pavement and echoing into the space. It was almost peaceful. She just needed to catch her breath and stem the flow of the tears. Maybe she should find somewhere warm and dry first but right now she was in her misery and the circumstances being miserable were almost a balm to her aching heart. The rain stopped hitting her and the sound changed. Her eyes flew open to see Damian standing before her. He was wet as well, but not nearly as soaked through as her. He reached over and pushed the wet hair back from her face. She let out a broken sob at the gentle touch but she could not pull herself away.
“Cass is exceptional at reading body language,” he said. “She may not verbally speak much, but she can read most situations.”
Marinette didn’t know where he was going with this. Maybe she was distracted by his fingers that moved through her hair and brushed against her cheek. He lifted her chin until their eyes met. She opened her mouth but she didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t tell him her plan. That would leave her open to whatever his family would do to separate them without having any way to expect what would come. For now, she just kept her eyes on Damian’s. His eyes softened and he moved forward to kiss her. He only moved back slightly before he spoke again.
“I brought up Cass because she said that you were sad until Dick showed up. That when you heard him and saw him you were scared.” He pushed his hand back into her hair. “He won’t say anything else about us. I have guaranteed his silence for at least a few weeks.”
Marinette looked back up at his eyes. They flashed with anger when he spoke and then she looked down at his hand on the umbrella. It was red and the knuckles were bruising.
“You hit him?” she asked.
“He will be okay once he is able to get off the floor. He was still conscious; his jaw might not even be broken.”
“You can’t fight with your brother. I know you spar and train but I can’t be the cause of this animosity between you.”
The fingers in her hair tightened and he pressed against her firmly. His kiss cut off anything else she might have said about the matter.
“You were not the cause. He was. He was wrong to say anything to you or make assumptions about what you had told me.”
“I cannot risk the miraculi, even for my own happiness. Even for yours. Dick isn’t wrong. There is a risk and the rest of your family might have something to say.”
“I would punch him in the face every day if that meant you would be here. I can no longer say I can’t imagine my life without you.” He dropped the umbrella down and used his other hand to cup her cheek while he spoke. “I can imagine it. It is not a happy thought. I want to be with you forever and wake up beside you every day.”
Her back pressed into the wall as he kissed her desperately. The rain ran down their faces. When he pulled away, he wiped the water away from her eyes. Then, right there on the wet pavement he dropped to one knee. He held out the ring and reached out for her hand.
“I ruined everything. The press and the PR team are already scrambling.”
“Marry me Marinette,” he said. “I don’t care about anything else.”
She reached for his open hand and he took it, sliding the ring back where it belonged. She leaned down to where he was and kissed him. She was still worried about what would happen next but at least now they had each other.