Chapter Text
Damian was becoming desperate.
His missions were becoming harder and harder to manage and it wasn't because of what they entailed..it was because of him or maybe he should say...her...not that she carried any blame of course..
He was growing..different, distracted...unreliable even..he felt his mind and sometimes even his body, failing him.
How many times has it happened already?
How many times has he sat in the darkness, in the middle of a dangerous and potentially lethal assignment, only for his thoughts to wander..
And they wandered into territories never previously visited..
All because of that one person.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
It has been two years since she came to Gotham, two years since she joined them and became a part of the bat family.
And yet, he remembered everything about the story she told them all that time ago..
Her time and heroism as a superhero..as the red lady, Ladybug of Paris.
Her partnership and later relationship with her partner...Chat Noir.
How they split up, when it became apparent that said partner considered his days as a hero over, while she was firm in remaining on that path.
That disparity threw a wedge in between them and in time, tore them to shreds.
Which is where she was at that time..
Recently heartbroken, sitting in their kitchen, joining the Justice League and the bat family and Damian was struggling to pick up his jaw from the floor..
He couldn't even explain why she had such a strong magnetic effect on him.
Maybe it was her kindness..but that would make little sense, as he learned of her being kind only after a year.
Her bravery?
That came from missions they shared with others..and very rarely just the two of them.
Marinette was strong, determined..she gave her all to missions, which was something he very much respected, but was also jovial and funny when there wasn't a job to be done.
To him..she felt like the best of both worlds.
On missions she was kinda like..well...him, or better yet, Batman himself..concentrated, professional...but unlike either of them, when family night came around, she could keep up and participate in whatever tomfoolery was going on.
'How could one person do both those things..', he thought to himself, only for his face to flinch at the realization..he was doing it..AGAIN.
Damian carefully looked around and surveyed his surroundings with near maniacal precision..just in case someone managed to sneak close, while he was...distracted.
Thankfully..his thoughts were disturbed by a radio communication, coming from none other but the source of his...'illness'..
"We are done here," she said briefly.
He could see a dark outline of a person exit the warehouse he was supposed to be guarding.
That was his job today, being a lookout and report if he saw someone approach.
Meaning his job..was literally to pay attention to what was going on around him...and that..dear Watson..was the direct opposite of what he was actually doing..
"Robin?"
He nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise, when he heard her voice.
It wasn't over the radio..because while he was distracted once again..with his self-centered anger of being easily distanced, she managed to sneak right next to him.
"Are you okay...?" she asked gently, putting her hand on his shoulder, while her eyes looked him up and down with light worry.
'No..no, I am not okay, in fact, I am very far from being okay,' was the answer he wanted to give her, but that was all immediately drowned by the fact that she was touching his shoulder.
She worried about him..
Wondered if he was okay..
He couldn't let her worry, especially considering he lacked information on what was actually wrong.
"Of course!" said Damian with as much conviction as he could muster.
But she didn't move.
Why didn't she move?
The seconds of her hand, laid on his shoulder were painful and sweet, confusing him endlessly.
"I am glad to hear that..." she said, with a smile he could see even in the near pitch black night.
"Let's get back then??" continued Marinette rather rhetorically, letting him go and jumping away.
...
For a second, Damien needed to resist the thought of smacking his head on the concrete roof he stood on, but he resisted..and followed after her..
After all...
What if she needed something...OR wanted to stop somewhere on the way back..one never knew..
They arrived in the bat-cave half an hour later.
And to his..certainly not disappointment, as he had no such emotions..they arrived back at the cave without any stops or sidetracks along the way.
The late hour of their arrival meant that no one, not even Alfred, was up to greet them.
Which was something Damien did not mind at all..
Not that he didn't appreciate Alfred welcoming them back after missions with tea or the variously heartfelt welcomes from the rest of the family.
But he felt like a failure right now..so the dark house felt about right today.
The mission they were just on, was more Marinette's then Batman's..
It was something of an oddity in the bat clan..
Maybe it had something to do with how awesome Marinette was, or maybe it was thanks to her past as a former superhero in her own right, but Mari had pretty much a free hand from Bruce to do what she wanted AND use their equipment while she was at it.
Not that she needed much of it..her magical powers already provided everything she needed.
Which was quite sad, as he then couldn't even help her pick the right equipment for missions and show her how to properly use it...how to wea..
*SMACK!*
"Wha?!" Mari spun around in confusion.
This time, his body acted faster than his mind did, meaning he failed to resist smacking his head against a nearby column to chase the intrusive thoughts away, which is what obviously caught her attention.
"Are you okay Damian??" asked Marinette, coming close to him and looking around, as if searching for a wild Tim or Todd, who she could blame for pushing him.
She wasn't going to find anyone of course.
As his wound was purely self inflicted.
But her looking around was good for him, as he could hide his blushing face..
'Damian..damian...damian..' as if by echo, his own name, spoken in her voice was resonating in his head.
Why the hell did he react to his own name like this??
It was almost as if he was some sort of Demon....
...
He felt there was a joke in there somewhere, but Damian refused to acknowledge it.
"Yea...I will go get some sleep," was all he managed to say while pushing past her and disappearing on the stairway to the manor above them.
Marinette sighed as she watched him hastily climb up the stairs.
She wanted to make some tea, possibly coffee, depending if he wanted to sleep tonight..although she already had an answer to that question..maybe watch something, but that plan now went out the window.
'It was too optimistic anyway...' she decided, trying to not feel too discouraged, Damian was..an enigma.
It felt strange to her, her feelings regarding him were...confused..
She could not really place how she felt about him.
With a heavy heart Mari followed after Damian to the manor's upper floors, he was kinda like a little brother to her who behaved strangely around her at seemingly random times, which was cute and all, but did not really allow her to create a relationship with him...she felt like he was the last one to really keep his distance from her.
And that was saying something right there, she felt even Bruce was slightly more open with her..
Mari and the oldest bat had their rough patches..granted..but he was currently following her advice to the T and starting a very successful fashion brand..
' Naturally it would be successful, I am the one giving him designs,' she thought with pride.
Before her thoughts strayed to Damian once more.
With a sigh Mari walked through the manor, the issue of her youngest pseudo sibling front row center of her brain.
Maybe she would have more luck tomorrow..and as luck was kinda her thing..well...she could hope.
Morning came faster than Damian wanted it to...since it arrived in the first place.
He spent the entire night pacing his room, trying to solve the puzzle of his life..
What was wrong and what to do with it..
...
But he was coming up completely empty..
Almost against his will he remembered what Dick told him that one time when he asked about his current affliction...
'Oh...but that's perfectly normal..you just have a crush on her!'
Damian laughed at the proposition then and he laughed at it now..inside...not like actually..
...
...
But...
What if..
Noooo...
...
...
Right?
He was an Al Ghoul, a trained assassin, a robin..
Him being in love..or having a crush on someone was completely preposterous.
Damian stopped with his pacing.
If he was a trained assassin and a robin..maybe he should stop ignoring all the signs littered all around him and analyze the situation with some cold logic.
Damian sat on his bed and massaged his temples.
'I..'
'I have a crush on Marinette..'
...
And it only took him two years to fully admit to himself..how admirable.
Damian stood up, suddenly full of energy..now that he knew what was the issue, he also knew what he had to do, now he needed to..
...
Ehmmmmm...??
What should he do now...???
Confess...right...?
...
But how does one do that??
Damian was marching through the hallways of the manor and he had exactly one goal on his mind..
The task ahead of him was difficult..it was probably the most difficult thing he ever tried to accomplish.
And right now, he felt totally unprepared to undertake such a task.. meaning that Damian needed some professional mentoring..
More information!
With that sole goal in mind, Damian marched forth, to get romance advice from the most trusted and competent source around...
*Knock knock*
"Enter," sounded Bruce's voice from inside, allowing him entry into his office.
Only to rapidly blink at the sight of his son in the doors.
"Damian!" exclaimed Bruce, getting up from his chair.
If his son came to him, something serious must have been going on.
Did his mother return to claim him..again?
Was the league of assassins planning another move..again?
Did he uncover a plot to assassinate the mayor..again..?
Unbeknownst to Damian..those were the thoughts going through his fathers head..
"I need your advice about something," started Damian, resolved not to stutter or falter in any way, despite how badly he was starting to blush.
His father nodded solemnly.
"Should I call the others?" he asked, straightening up and reaching for his bat-phone.
"We can talk about the issue dow.."
"NO!" shouted Damian, before he managed to stop himself.
Bruce leaned back in downright shock.
This was the first time he ever saw his son lose his cool like that...whatever was going on, must have been so much more serious than he previously thought.
"Let's talk here than," decided Bruce, sitting back down and waiting for what was to come.
There was a moment of silence, in which Bruce contemplated possible catastrophes and situations until...
"I..think I have a crush on Marinette..How should I confess to her?" asked Damian, avoiding eye contact.
...
...
"what?" asked Bruce weakly, not fully understanding what was going on here.
"uhm...Marinette..I want to confess..to her, how should I do it?" repeated Damian, a wild blush slowly but surely coloring his face red.
...
...
His father was just staring at him, completely frozen in shock.
"I know you have a lot of experience in the area..so I know I can't go wrong asking you..." continued Damian, feeling the need to explain his decision making, completely missing the state his father was currently in.
This restarted Bruce..somewhat..
"You want relationship advice...from me..?" asked Bruce, almost not believing his very words.
"Yes, what should I do?"
...
...
"YOU...from ME?" repeated Bruce...again, this felt too much like a joke, to be an accrual joke..which left him completely cornered.
He was Batman..and as such, he excelled at bad relationships..maintaining his fake persona of a playboy, while very much failing at all genuine relationships he ever had.
He was really not the person to ask about these things..
"You..you..." started Bruce trying to find some sort of decent answer to give..
"You should ask Dick!!!" he blurted out, deciding to borrow something from his work as director and delegate the problem to someone better equipped to deal with it.
Damian nodded and left the office.
He scoured the manor for Dick..but apart from Todd, who was playing ping pong with Tim, there was no 'dick' in sight..
"Demon spawn!!" exclaimed 'the incorrect Dick', when he saw him.
Damian ignored him completely, fully intending to just walk past them, but Todd was persistent.
"Lost the ability to talk?" he teased, sending the ping pong ball on a collision course with his forehead.
Damian dodged, but he realized he wouldn't get away without at least some kind of answer.
"I am looking for Dick," he said, determined to not give Todd another second of his time.
But that was sadly not something he was capable of ensuring.
"OH!!? I never knew you swung that way!....Well..good luck hunting I suppose.."
Damian just turned to look at him, trying to answer with his face..just how unamused he was at this.
He started to walk away again.
Damian felt past entertaining Todd and his shenanigans.
"Why are you looking for him?" asked Tim, in a more serious tone, same as his father earlier, he judged that Damian looking for someone was enough of a rarity, that it deserved further questions and possible worry.
"I want to ask about something." said Damian, hoping they would leave it at that..
What he failed to realize however..was just how rare him asking about anything was..yet alone admitting he actually wanted to ask about something.
Most of the time he would just shadow someone to learn what he wanted to know..or go to another source, a book, or the internet..
Admitting to someone that he needed help..in both of their minds that was a first.
"What is it..?” asked Tim carefully.
“Maybe we can help you.." he added, casually continuing the ping pong match with Todd, but fully concentrating on his younger brother.
...
Damian considered the question for a moment, should he answer that?
He did not want Todd, of all people to know..but after Dick, Tim would be the next person in line he would ask..so..it couldn't hurt to ask now..right?
"I want to confess to Marinette and I do not know how," he admitted abruptly, before he could think better of it.
*CRACK*
*WOOOM*
Only for Todd to miss his serve so badly he broke his racket on the table, while Tim's flew from his hand, only nearly missing Damian's face.
...
"...I see...." said Tim, at a complete loss for words, glancing at Todd, who was so shocked, he wasn't even making fun of Damian for the sudden and very unexpected admission.
"Well..uhh..good for you, for figuring that out.." said Tim, trying to buy time to find an actual answer.
"So how should I confess?" pressed Damian, hunting for an answer.
Tim looked at Todd, the silent question of, 'What the fuck should I DO?!!?', clear in his eyes, only for Todd to respond with his own, 'I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!!!'
When both of them noticed their savior entering the bat cave.
"Alfred!!" hollered Tim, drawing the old man's attention his way.
"Damian here wants to ask a question...and I think you are the most qualified out of all of us, to answer it," said Tim, while Todd nodded wildly.
"Master Damian?" asked Alfred, puzzled by this behavior.
Just as everyone else, he was caught slightly off guard by this and while his first reflex would be that this was a joke from either Tim or Todd, Damian standing in the background, not protesting, was suggesting they were telling the truth here.
"I want to confess to Marinette," announced Damian for the third time today.
...
"That is..very good master Damian..very...very good,"said Alfred, overcoming his surprise with the most grace out of all of them.
"What do you think I should do?"
Alfred watched the boy for a second or two before answering.
"I think honesty would serve you best master Damian," answered Alfred, only to receive hurried nods from Tim and Todd, as if they themselves were thinking the same exact thing.
"So..I should just tell her.." translated Damian.
"Yes, I believe that would be.."
"What are you all discussing down here??" asked Marinette, suddenly entering the cave and looking at all their faces.
"...for the best," finished Alfred, giving a significant nod in her direction.
Damian nodded back and started walking, going right up to her..dressed in her pajamas..standing there looking slightly confused..tilting her head to the side adorably..
"Good morning!" he screeched, three octaves higher than his normal voice, as he lost his nerve and walked right past her, heading upstairs.
Marinette looked at his back in confusion..before turning to the rest of them.
"What was that?" she asked, but no one in the room had an answer for her...
If they were honest..none of them was exactly sure either.