Chapter Text
Marinette hadn’t been happy in a while.
Tim hadn’t been better than content since so long, he couldn’t even remember.
She could confidently date her last happy
moment back to about two months after Lila arrived, but if she thought about it harder, she’d realize it might even go back to since she moved away from Gotham.
The last time he’d felt truly happy, happier even than when he solved a case and got Bruce’s praise for it, was probably with his friend Marinette, years ago. He’d been happy then. But she’d had to leave.
She didn’t think she’d ever truly forgive her parents for moving across the world and ripping her away from her home.
As the story went, Tim was a neglected child. Born and raised in Gotham by ambitious parents who, he often felt, were together only out of convenience. As soon as he was able to, he started sneaking out of home during the long periods of time where his parents weren’t around to find out about it.
He attended school. He had good grades. He was good. He didn’t provoke. And his parents were none the wiser to his nightly escapades.
As the story went, Marinette's father was on a trip through America, when he met her mother in Gotham. Sabine had been running away from her problems, and had thought Gotham was the perfect place to hide. Tom had fallen in love hard and fast, and Sabine, unused to such emotions, but not unliking it, had let him. Eventually she also let herself fall in love, and then, they got married.
Out of love for his scared wife, Tom accepted to stay in Gotham, even though it was the crime capital of the world. He also accepted founding a family there. He wasn’t fond of the place though, and longed to move back to Paris, where he’d grown up, and where he wanted to open a bakery.
His love for Sabine, and her insistence towards staying in the gloomy place that was Gotham kept him stuck there.
Why Tim’s parents decided to have their permanent residence in Gotham, when they weren’t there for more than half of the time, was beyond Tim. Why they decided to leave him virtually alone in the crime capital of the world, was also beyond him.
Now Marinette understood the circumstances to the beginning of her life, she understood why her parents weren’t the best and she knew they tried, in their own way, to be there for her, even though they had their own problems. Marinette knew she was what you could call, the result of an unplanned pregnancy.
Tim figured out early in life that he was nothing but a trophy child to his parents.
He also realized pretty quickly that he was expandable too.
She tried not to resent her parents. It was sometimes hard.
Tim had stoped trying to not resent his parents when he met Marinette. She’d made him understand, in the three first minutes of their meeting, that he deserved more than what his parents were giving him. She’d been so passionate about absent parents and subtle abuse, he hadn’t been able to do anything else than believe her.
Then he’d kept coming back to her, to learn more about life outside of his protected parent-built-bubble.
Despite Marinette’s parents’ absence, or rather, thanks to, she made herself a life in Gotham. She had fun. She learnt survival. She became friends with kids on the streets. She even went to school sometimes. She met Tim.
For a while, Tim’s whole life was spent on the streets with his best friend, learning the harsh reality of the world, climbing buildings, taking pictures, and laughing.
Not a common mix for a high society child, but that’s the way he liked it.
She loved Tim. They’d been best friends. They’d understood each other. With Tim, she had felt that she could feel and that someone would care about it.
Nobody else ever did, so what was the point in showing emotions? Anger, joy, sadness, she knew the words, but rarely let herself feel them.
For the first time, Marinette had been happy. Truly happy. And she’d felt that the same could be said for Tim.
Life had been surreal for many months, maybe even a few years, Marinette and Tim had stopped seeing the time pass.
People say the life goes by fast when you’re having fun, and today, both know only too well the truth of that statement, as it drags on inexorably slow.
Unfortunately, as all good things do, their time eventually came to an end.
Money had started getting tight. Tighter than usual. The threat of relocation loomed over Marinette’s head.
He’d proposed her a room at his place. But apparently there were certain legal aspects that made that impossible, and the proposal was a flop.
He’d also tried giving her money, and it’d worked for a few weeks, but then his parents had found out, he’d gotten grounded, and when he’d finally been able to sneak out after a week, Marinette and her family had disappeared.
Parents (and the law) were the worst.
After hiding for so long, Sabine had finally made a choice, and rare were the things that could stop her once she’d made her mind up.
Almost fifteen years had passed since she’d arrived in Gotham, hiding from her past, just under fourteen since she’d met the man she now calls her husband, and thirteen since she’d given birth to her daughter. She felt that if something was coming for her, it would’ve come by now. With that logic in mind, she’d felt it was safe to stop worrying and running, and truly start anew somewhere else entirely.
Thus, Tom, Sabine and thirteen year old Marinette set off to Paris, where finally, Tom could accomplished his dream, with the help of his newly carefree wife.
Tim had been devastated.
Nobody had consulted Marinette when the choice to move was made and trying to stop it by throwing money at the issue had been fruitless. While she can understand that people usually put their wants before those of their thirteen year old daughter, especially when it was something as big as this, she just wished she could’ve seen Tim a last time and told him where they were going.
She also wished she’d had a moment to mope about relocating her whole life, but when push came to shove, she was half way across the ocean with parents who expected her to be happy about it.
Sometimes, Tim blamed himself, and he’d try to kill those thoughts quickly whenever they made themselves known, knowing Marinette would probably literally kill <em>him</em> for having them.
Maybe it’s because Marinette is a spiteful creature, or maybe it’s because you can take the kid out of the streets, but can’t take the street out of the kid, but she’d never felt the same joy of living she used to have, after leaving Gotham, and Tim, behind.
…
Yes, Marinette was definitely spiteful enough to limit her own happiness, hoping it might make her parents feel guilty.
Tim threw himself obsessively into what he called research and photography. They were his escape. He stopped caring about school. About his image. About life. Not that anyone was there to call him out on it.
She wasn’t miserable per say. She might be spiteful, but she’s also very good at adapting, living half on the streets in Gotham with semi absent parents has a tendency of doing that. And so, Marinette adapted.
She went back to being reserved and stoped letting herself feel emotions other than what was expected of her.
She made friends, she played nice. She was a model child.
Oh how the roles had reversed.
Marinette’s voice in Tim's head was sometimes the only thing that kept him going.
Now that her father was happier, Marinette tried spending more time with him. She tried making the best of what she had, because she’d promised Tim she would. She learnt to bake, she learnt to play video games. Those activities, were the only times during which her father seemed to enjoy her presence.
Tim took his first picture of Batman.
To him, it was as if a new chapter of his life was starting.
Marinette tried spending time with her mother as well. She learnt the subtle art of deceiving and manipulating, she learnt to look innocent. Sabine taught her what she knew, but when Marinette would question her on the provenance of this knowledge, Sabine would clam up.
One day, Tim went to the circus with his parents, in one of the rare moments they were in town. He left slightly traumatized, but that show ended up being the key to unlocking the mystery that was Batman’s identity.
Just under a year later, Tim caught Robin doing the same flip Richard Grayson had done in the circus show minutes before he’d lost both his parents.
Richard Grayson, who had been adopted by, and been living with, Bruce Wayne ever since a mere two weeks after the accident.
Bonding moments with her parents were nice but too overdue for them to really mean something and they sometimes left a bitter feeling in Marinette’s mouth. Nevertheless, in two years, her family situation increased exponentially.
Age fourteen, Tim became the third Robin.
Why he’d decided he wanted to help Batman deal with the loss of his second Robin was frankly beyond him, but he was doing that now.
Life continued.
Age sixteen, Marinette finally saw herself starting to be happy, but then a magical terrorist decided it was the moment to start wreaking havoc in Paris. Suddenly, having a life long experience of killing any strong emotions was a super power Marinette never knew she’d need.
She would have been fine with her calm life getting thrown in shambles, if she hadn't been forced to get involved. Now that, Marinette took personally.
Across the ocean, around this time, Tim’s family situation also increased exponentially, but not quite in the same way. his parents died and he finally got adopted by Bruce and finally had some adult figures around to help him out with life.
Somewhat.
It is to be debated that a life of vigilantism may not be the best for a thirteen year old boy… at least Alfred was everything Tim had ever needed. He just wished Marinette could be there with him. Then maybe he’d be happy, instead of content.
Tikki was a nice plus, but even with that, Marinette knew the Hawkmoth situation would change her life, towards the best of the worst, was to be decided, though it was currently leaning towards the second option.
Solving cold cases he’d never have gotten access to, had it not been for his currently holding the mantle as third Robin, was a nice plus to battling criminals nightly. And coffee was something he decided he liked a lot too.
Marinette threw herself into designing and drawing to distract herself from her thoughts. Likewise, but unknowingly, Marinette also decided she quite liked coffee.
Age fifteen, Tim was trying to not be murdered by, who is now, maybe his favorite brother. (He just couldn’t chose between Jason and Dick). No hard feelings (about the attempted murder).
Around the same time, age seventeen, Marinette had finally managed to wrangle her life somewhat into order, after Hawkmoth had tried ruining it, but then Lila arrived. Clearly the universe was getting back at her for her happy years with Tim and easy adapting to Paris. Balance and all that.
Age sixteen, Tim was now CEO and had to deal with two new brothers, who’d recently “officially” entered the family. All of that on top of being Red Robin of course. Coffee was his best friend. (Don’t tell Marinette).
Age eighteen, Marinette was really done with life. She’d been fighting Hawkmoth for three years now, as her alter ego, and dealing with a compulsive liar who was basically making fun of the art of deceiving, as Marinette, for one.
Dealing with cranky bureaucrates was almost as hard as fighting criminals, and life was wearing down on Tim more than ever. He hoped the universe was done with torturing him soon.
At nineteen, the opportunity to go back to Gotham was presented to Marinette, and she knew she’d fight tooth and nail to get there. Even if it meant letting Lila get away with all the credit, even if it meant dragging her whole class with her, even if it meant having to teleport back to Paris to save the city, all that was nothing compared to the idea of seeing Tim again.
To the outsider, it would seem as if Marinette found the joy of life again, overnight. She felt immune to Lila, immune to Hawkmoth, to her classmates, she was almost floating.
Until she realised she had nowehere to start looking. Tim and her hadn't, for all their years of friendship, shared their last names with each other. The gloom returned tenfold.
Her smiles disappeared again, but the small flame that was her hope didn’t die. She’d find him. Just watch. She would move sea and earth to find her best friend and hug him again.
And maybe bringing the goddess of luck with her would improve her chances slightly. She could only hope. And drink lots of coffee, in prevision of all the extra work awaiting her.
Seventeen year old Tim was terribly sleep deprived and high on a caffeine overdose when Bruce announced the winner of the Martha and Thomas Wayne competition. The name of the winner tickled something in his mind. He’d felt happy hearing it, and had promised himself to investigate it, but then Alfred had forced him to sleep for two days straight, and when he’d woken up, it had completely slipped his mind.
He’d gone back to his daily life, with a tingling feeling that things were about to turn for the better.
So now, six years after last seeing each other, Tim and Marinette are about to reunite, and our story can finally start.