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The Justice League, simply put, was having a take your kid to work day. Less simply, they were holding an event for all the teenage superheroes. So not exactly a take your kid to work day but there weren’t exactly a large number who weren’t proteges of the Justice League.
Naturally, Ladybug had been invited.
Marinette Dupain- Cheng Wayne has not stopped freaking out about it since.
And not freaking out about it in the Chat Noir way, who’s been so excited that it’s all he talks about on patrol. Freaking out as in lying face down on her floor and cursing her family. Well, mostly her dad.
“Tikki, do you think if I fake cough in front of Chat Noir a few times and tell him I’m too sick to make it he’ll believe me.”
The kwami hums from where she’s settled in Marinette’s hair. “He’ll probably believe you if you’re convincing enough but is that really necessary? What’s the worst that could happen?”
Marinette scoffs. Really, Tikki should know better than to ask such a question. “I’ll walk into the watch tower and someone will immediately figure me out.”
In her one year of being Ladybug, Marinette has learnt that even her sweet kwami does not have infinite patience and Tikki’s exasperation is obvious in her tone when she says, “Marinette. Your identity is protected with magic.”
“The JL has magic users. And I’ve known most of these people most of my life. What if one of the idiots say something so dumb and I insult them and they figure it out and then Chat Noir knows my identity causing the end of the world.”
“Don’t insult them then.”
She scoffs again, “I can’t not insult them. When have you ever not insulted Plagg?”
The ensuing silence speaks for itself but Tikki doesn’t let it go. “You should go. It’ll be good to talk to heroes other than Chat Noir and temporary holders.”
She groans. Maybe if she lies here long enough the carpet will swallow her up and then Tikki can stop trying to convince her to go. “I have most of their numbers, I can talk to them whenever I want. I do talk to them whenever I want.”
The weight on her head vanishes and she feels a poke on her forehead. Lifting her head up, she glares at the tiny goddess of luck, who glares right back. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. None of them know you’re Ladybug.”
She drops her back down to the floor and sighs. “Fine. I’ll go.”
.oOo.
Wonder Woman waves them over when she sees them enter. As the two of them make their way through the crowd, Ladybug keeps her eyes on the floor while Chat Noir’s head swivels around trying to take it all in. What an odd pair they must make.
“Robin looks like an angry kitten,” her partner comments, breaking her out her reverie.
She coughs to hide her laughter. He’s right, of course. But regardless she turns to look at Damian, who’s sulking in the corner while Jon pesters him.
She grins, “I’d kill to watch you tell him that.”
He glances at her and snorts, “Not a chance. Not with that expression on your face.”
She blinks at him, “What expression?”
“The same one you had before you threw me off the Eiffel Tower for going on about the Justice League heroes.”
She smiles at the memory, “You totally deserved it.”
He holds a hand up to his chest, as dramatic as always, “Meowch!”
She giggles. Diana is only few steps away from them now and is looking at them with an amused expression. Smiling comes slightly easier now, a chunk of her anxiety taken away by her partner’s antics. She whispers a thanks to him before greeting Wonder Woman.
.oOo.
If Diana suspects anything, she doesn’t mention it, nor do any of the others they talk to. But they haven’t had the chance to talk to any of the bats yet. At least Dick and Jay aren’t here, they’d be the most unbearable.
“We should talk to Batgirl,” Chat Noir suggests.
Marinette freezes, magic or not Cass would be the most likely to see through her but she can’t think of a valid excuse and he’d already picked up on her earlier nervousness. If she continues being paranoid, he might start to suspect something.
“Sure,” she mutters.
He waves enthusiastically to Batgirl who offers a small smile. Her gaze lingers on Ladybug and Marinette desperately hopes Cass brushes off anything odd as general nervousness. Thankfully, Chat Noir carries much of their interaction.
He’s gesturing wildly when he accidentally hits her sister’s arm. The arm that Marinette knows was in a cast until last week. Cass doesn’t wince, of course she doesn’t but the concern bursts out of Marinette anyway. “Is your arm ok??”
Chat Noir looks confused but Batgirl is assessing her. It’s a moment before she says, “I’m fine.”
Marinette nods, simultaneously relieved and panicked. She should’ve stayed home. It’s not too late to fake sickness, after all she has been acting particularly odd. When Spoiler calls Batgirl away, Ladybug visibly relaxes. Chat Noir gives her an odd look but he doesn’t say anything. Yet. She’s sure by the time they finish talking to her entire family, he’s going to think she’s lost her mind.
.oOo.
She’s mostly calmed down after her slip up with Cass when they somehow end up talking to Jon and Damian. Well, it’s not exactly talking as much as Robin and Chat Noir antagonising each other. Jon looks torn between interrupting and watching it play out. Marinette on the other hand wishes she had a bucket of popcorn and a valid reason to record their exchange.
When Damian calls the Parisian superhero, “a mangy alley cat,” Marinette snorts out loud and says, “I thought you liked cats?”
Damian stares at her, she can see his hand inching towards his katana as he asks, “How would you know that?”
Play it cool, Marinette.
She shrugs, “You just seem like a cat person. Also, I vaguely remember reading something of the kind on twitter once.”
Both of them know most things about the Bats on social media are deleted almost as soon as Oracle can get to it but people still do see them. He relaxes slightly but Marinette knows he’s wary of her.
Really, why did she let Tikki talk her into this?
.oOo.
Sometime later, Bart finds her in a corner. She’d left Chat Noir saying she needed a break and she could see him as he was talking excitedly with Steph.
“Heydoyoumindansweringaquestionforustosettleanargument?” he asks pointing at the rest of what was once Young Justice (or rather the still active members). Holding back a smile, she considers it for a moment. How wrong could it go? Actually, knowing them any thing and everything that could go wrong would go wrong but her curiosity takes over. Tim’s friends have the most amusing arguments after all.
Bart is bouncing back and forth, waiting for her answer. When, she agrees, he cheers and drags her over to their little group. He doesn’t question how she caught what he was saying instantly or how she’s totally fine even after being carted off with super speed regardless of the distance.
Thankfully, Tim is too busy arguing with Kon to notice.
“I have a solution,” Bart announces, “We ask Ladybug to be the tie breaker.”
And because when they’re together they tend to act on a single functioning braincell, all four of them turn to her at once and Cassie asks, “Do you think having several backup fake identities is necessary?”
Ah, not a new argument then. Honestly, she does. She’s suddenly even more grateful that Chat Noir isn’t with her. “I mean you do need something to fall back on if your go to identity is accused of art theft.”
Tim doesn’t have time to register the jab at him before Kon and Cassie start to rejoice loudly and Marinette slips away before they can drag her into their next argument.
.oOo.
Back in her room, after the event, Marinette sighs. “Well, that was interesting.” Her conversations with the others had gone perfectly well. It was extremely likely that Chat Noir wouldn’t dwell on her mistakes with Batgirl and Robin, and he hadn’t been there when she spoke to Tim. Regardless, she’s never doing that again. Chat Noir can go alone.
Her phone rings and she answers the video call to see a bunch of worried faces.
“Is something wrong?”
“You need to look into Ladybug,” her father states.
She frowns, “Why?”
“It’s possible Ladybug knows our identities and is a threat.”
Her jaw drops, “What?”
Marinette remains in semi shock throughout Tim’s explanation. He ends with, “If you need help any of us would be glad to come.”
“Dibs on helping Nettie!” Steph calls finally snapping Marinette out of her shock. Damn, Tikki had been right about the magic. World’s greatest detectives and this was the conclusion they came to?
She glances at Tikki once, making sure she has the kwami’s support in this decision. When Tikki nods Marinette let’s herself laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
It also ends the argument ongoing on the other end of the call. All of them stare at her in confusion until she finishes laughing. Once she’s finally calmed down she asks, “ A room full of detectives and that’s the best you come up with?”
Her father frowns, “Marinette, what-”
“Did it not occur to any of you that I’m Ladybug?”
She bursts into laughter at their startled expressions. Hurrying to take a screenshot and making sure to send it to Babs.
She is so going to lord this over them for at least the next few years.