Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marinette had been blessed as the Guardian of the Miraculous. More than any of the others, it was the Ladybug Kwami of Creation and Fortune, Tikki, who had blessed her the most.

So yeah, Marinette was blessed with good luck, right?

Well- clearly NOT!

She swore to every other Kwami, she would make Tikki pay for having messed with her like this. This- this… Yeah, no, this was both cruel and unjust on so many levels right now in Marinette's life.

To be fair, she’s sure that anyone else in her position would have been glowing with pride and letting joy wash over them in a peaceful calm.

But not Marinette.

Never Marinette.

I mean, come on- have you met this girl?

“Peaceful” and “Calm” were not words she had registered into her mental dictionary.

Look; it’s a little hard to explain, but her problems all started-

…Huh.

Actually, Marinette’s rather certain that this entire situation was to only be blamed on her Uncle Jagged. He had been the one who set all of this into motion, and he’s been the person to constantly make her situation worse, so now that she thinks about it he’s really the sole person to blame.

Hey, that’s Kwami magic and blessings aside as well- Jagged Stone was such a chaotic person that Marinette would believe that he could just unknowingly throw all of her luck magic straight out the window and down into a dumpster fire.

Huh… Welp, sorry Tikki, guess you weren’t to blame here.

Though she had often caught the little Kwami tittering at her chosen’s circumstances, so Marinette wouldn’t fully stop being annoyed with her.

It all started just shy of four months ago…

Kinda…

Marinette had been relatively popular in Paris for her website, MDC, with plenty of people hiring her for designs. However, in the recent years since her adventures as Ladybug, she had started to get a rather large list of famous customers.

Not only had Marinette been publicly praised and offered an apprenticeship from both Style Queen and Gabriel(both having been turned down), but she had also had her designs showcased a few times by both companies.

Then she had become closer with Chloe over the years, leading to an unexpected but welcome friendship, and the blonde girl soon was wearing MDC every other day(which was honestly free advertising with paparazzi around for who her parents were).

Not to mention Clara Nightingale commissioning her time and time again and mentioning her in a few interviews, and Kitty Section literally singing her praises for her designs- she had even once been commissioned to make a suit for Prince Ali!

But no- oh no.

None were worse than Jagged Stone.

The man had commissioned her about twice a month for a good few years. Once she turned 18 though and could legally be hired, the man had played a performance for her party before practically begging her to become his full time designer.

Unlike her hesitance to work for two of the largest fashion houses in the world, Marinette had smiled and agreed in a heartbeat. The man was like her uncle now, and one of the adults she trusted most.

However, she hadn’t yet finished her fight against Hawkmoth yet when he had first asked when she was 16, and she was still in school at the time, so she had told her uncle to wait until she had graduated(hoping to take out Hawkmoth before then).

He agreed, and come the day she turned 18 years old and had landed one Gabriel Agreste in jail, Penny had already gotten the paperwork ready. Marinette had officially become Jagged Stone’s head(and sole) designer.

Which led to their first problem: Marinette REFUSED to work with Bob Roth.

Somehow, Penny and Jagged had been unaware of the man's actions with Kitty Section, and when Marinette informed them, they were presumably infuriated. Next thing you know, Bob was fired(and sued) and they were scouting out different music industries and producers.

Yeah… that was the other problem.

While literally every other music industry wanted to make a contract with Jagged Stone, Marinette and Penny hadn’t been easy to win over.

Penny would look at the legal situation and make sure they were not only profiting and receiving a fair deal, but weren’t going to be tied down by anything they weren’t 100% okay with. More often than not, companies continued to try and haggle a contract that would tie Jagged to them for years longer then what could even make feasible sense, or would try to profit an inexcusable amount of money and ownership over his music.

Marinette was the one to handle character judgment; not just with her own skills of discernment, but her Guardian abilities to see the nature behind a person's soul.

At every meeting with different producers or record companies, Marinette watched for tells, signs, and words that gave away how people were trying to screw them over or get one up on them by using them without the promise of equal compensation.

It happened a lot. You’d think people would just be happy to have such a famous musician in their company, but they never were. They were either bastards planning to rip them off, or they were just a bunch of jerks.

Seriously, a music company called STAR Recordings had tried to bait and switch them while they were being shown paperwork. However, Marinette had caught on to the act rather quickly with how overly friendly all the employees were as they would try to distract the adults a lot with different topics. They hadn’t realized that the teenager in the room was going to be the one making the final decision on the contract signing.

Which led them here, to Gotham City.

They had met a music company on their first day in the city, only for that to go right down the drain. Honestly, the more meetings they had, the more stupid people seemed to act in Marinette's eyes. Did they not even know how to properly scam people, or had they suspected that the three of them were idiots?

A week later they would have another scheduled meeting with Wayne Enterprises. Penny was hopeful for this meeting more than she had been for any of the others, saying how WE was led by a charming and trustworthy family.

Marinette hadn’t entirely bought it, but she would give it a chance.

The company had in recent years expanded with a Design and Art department, with the CEO’s youngest son being the head of it. They had a fairly large group of actors, dancers, and musicians as a part of the performing arts section, and Marinette had recognized a few names of those who had made contracts with them for visual arts(she’d have to tell Nathaniel and Marc about this when she got the chance).

If all didn’t go well, Marinette would only be slightly disappointed in the workings of such a renowned company, but she would have accepted it easily with how other large corporations had been acting recently.

She wouldn’t be there for the interview for once, but she knew Penny and Jagged had caught on to her technique of weeding out any bad personalities. For this day, she would finally be able to sit back and relax, having recently finished a good handful of commissions that Penny had shaken her head at before forcing Marinette to be lazy for the next few days.

Thankfully(and shockingly), all seemed to have gone rather well.

Too well, actually.

Penny came into the hotel, eager and just as excited as Jagged beside her. “Ooh, Marinette! Wayne Enterprises is perfect!”

Marinette looked up from her sandwich just in time to be tackled with a hug and squeal in the ear. “Uhm, hello to you too? And please tell me you didn’t sign anything important yet…” She trusted them, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t like to have her own assessment of the owner before joining.

“ Maybe~ ” Jagged said with a teasingly false innocent tone in his voice.

Damn it.

“Uncle Jagged, I swear to Kwami’s,” she growls slowly, glad that Fang was by her legs to further make her look intimidating. “If you seriously just sold both yourself, and me, to some random CEO without hesitation-”

“Oh come on, lil’ rocker! Brucie’s an okay chap, honest!” Unfortunately, having a crocodile as a pet for so many years made people lose their fear and reasoning. “The man’s ready to work with us right away, and he even said he wanted you to look over the contracts first before we sign. Give this one a chance for us; please?”

Ugh… “Fine.” The two adults cheered(like the secret children they were) and squeezed her into a hug between them. “But if I don’t like him or feel uncomfortable for even a second-”

“Then let us know and I’ll sue them for even breathing wrong around you~” Penny said, with her voice sounding way too chipper for what she was saying.

Well… Guess she was moving to Gotham then.

Chapter Text

Gotham wasn’t like Paris in many ways, and one of the most important ways(at the moment), was in the fact that Marinette couldn’t really pay for a long-term/permanent residence in a hotel suite. And even if she could, she isn’t so sure she wanted to.

Even in a five-star hotel suite; American hotels sucked.

Their hotel floor was very nice, and the staff were extremely sufficient, but it was expensive as hell. Not to mention, Marinette felt awkward about having too many things or even doing work there, as it felt like the hotel it was and less like a comfortable living space.

Le Grande Paris let some of its guests stay for long periods of time, and even allowed permanent residence(if it was clear it could be paid easily and the person brought some prestige to the establishment).

So, Marinette had known that she would need to be finding somewhere to stay on the permanent day-to-day basis. She and Penny had looked at townhouses and apartments for a while online before heading to open-house viewings.

Marinette had said she was fine(and perfectly happy) with just getting a studio apartment, but her pseudo-aunt pointed out a personal flaw. “Unlike most people, you will take living in a small enclosed space as an excuse to never leave home and stop working. You act like a cat that found a box that’s just slightly too small to fit inside, and yet decides to sit inside of it anyways.”

Damn; she caught her.

So, they were looking at actual apartments. After the second open-house tour at a townhouse, Marinette had convinced Penny against anything larger than an apartment.

While the idea of a larger home meant more space for the Kwamis and her to share, it also had a higher risk of being robbed. In a place like Gotham, Marinette found her chances better if she lived in a decent apartment on a higher floor(nothing lower than the fourth, in her personal opinion).

They found her new home in a relatively nice building, just a few blocks away from Wayne Enterprises.

There was nothing too extravagant about the place; it was a decent building, on a decent street. It had the plus of having a moderate-sized convenience store across the street(with a crime-rate that was surprisingly low in comparison to its competitors). There was basic security, but nothing too expensive like a doorman or a guard.

It was lowkey, and it provided her only the essentials required for it to be considered a good apartment complex… It was perfect!

At least, that’s what she told her aunt. In reality; Marinette had a very different reason for selecting the building as her new home.

Upon entering the building and greeting the landlord, Marinette’s senses were immediately hit by the biting, sting-like smell of death.

No one was dead, of course, but Marinette could smell death magic.

Death magic was one of the most powerful forms of magic known to the mortal realm, and that had everything to do with the fact that it was considered cursed and repulsive in the eyes of the Miraculous.

Long ago, a few millions years in the past, a mortal had tried to gain the power of immortality, and it had been a mistake that brought many devistations. They hadn’t been from Earth, but they had followed the path of magic to this planet and obtained the Miraculous through great tribulations. Using the Miraculous, the mortal made a wish- they wished for a way to gain immortality.

However, the price of a wish must always be equally as great as the wish itself, to balance the difference. Without balance, Magic would turn from order to chaos.

From this mortal, different forms of immortality appeared into the world, granting both him and every other living thing a chance to live forever…

But there was a price, of course. For as much as you became immortal, you would lose the very thing that made you mortal to begin with- your freedom of mind.

Every mode of immortality had different side effects to it- some would strip you of your emotions, while others would make you lose control of those emotions. Some would render you into a mindless zombie, while others left you so self-aware that you would wish for death once more.

Death magic had been one of the greatest and most despised uses of the Miraculous, and the Kwamis rarely wanted anything to do with it unless it was to destroy it.

So you can imagine both theirs and Marinette’s annoyance when she sensed such a potent amount in the building.

Yeah… She was gonna have to take care of that.

The sting of the death magic was powerful, and it raised her anxiety and paranoia tenfold- it especially became obvious what kind it was when she could see a green mist in some corners of the building.

Thankfully, death magic was only a curse to those that used it directly, so it wasn’t able to spread to others. Meaning, Marinette didn’t have to worry about cleaning up any miasma spills around the city. She only needed to cleanse the person that was actually involved.

As it turned out; whoever it was would end up living directly below her.

About three weeks after her initial decision, Marinette had packed up any belongings she planned to take with her to Gotham and sent them ahead of her. Her mother had sniffled through her stern lecture about staying safe, and not even kissing any boyfriends she might have before telling her parents all about him. Her father had sobbed loudly, rarely letting her go on her departure day until they made the final call for her to board her plane.

“I promise to call twice a week, and I won’t purposefully put myself in danger when I see it… unless I need to.” Her parents knew that was the best they could ask of her- even if they weren’t aware of her heroism, they knew she would always help others no matter what, even if her life was on the line.

A rather reckless and dangerous attitude to have in Gotham, but whatever.

Her flight back to Gotham was plain and boring, even if she was in first-class. The drive to her hotel for the night was just as uneventful, and Marinette was happy to see her life had reached the point in which she could have a full 24-hours without needing to save the world again.

The best part of all was that she was moving to a city with a full team of competent and intelligent vigilantes, who usually took care of any villain situations before there were casualties. Marinette would try her best to stay out of the way, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself if something too big happened.

She’d let Tikki and Plagg be the ones to decide if she’d get involved; despite their natures and food addictions, they made smarter and wiser decisions than the other Kwamis(yes, Plagg got put into that category, as ironic as it was).

Jason wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at here.

He understood what he was seeing, but he’s half certain he might just be as sleep-deprived as his younger brother and was merely seeing things for what they weren’t.

Some little kid, looking maybe about twelve years old, had stepped out of a cab while dressed like a pink pixie. She looked entirely out of place as she signed off on documents handed to her by moving-men about twice her size, and Jason was waiting for the moment her parents wandered over and admonished their kid for playing grown-up.

But no- she was on her own.

This little girl, with striking blue hair, stood on her tip-toes as she waved a cheerful goodbye to the movers as they drove off, after helping her move her things into the building. Jason could hear them, as they were only right above his ceiling.

He knew the previous tenants of that apartment- he should probably warn her about her next-door neighbors' ritualistic tendency to blast loud music every friday for several hours straight…

But you know what? Some adorable and small woman moving upstairs wasn’t even the confusing part- it was the fact that this chick owned a friggin’ GSXR, and had ridden it straight out of the moving truck and into the private garage of the complex.

He couldn’t figure out if this lady was some adorable little kid, or some short woman who managed to be awesome while cute.

Either way; he liked her already, and he was so going to see if she could race on that baby!

As it turns out, he would end up meeting her earlier than expected. A few hours after she had moved her stuff into the apartment, he had been sitting on his fire escape, in the middle of a book, when she had stepped out with some kind of pink bean bag chair.

“Afternoon,” he greeted. And yeah- wow. The moment she peered down at him, he finally got a good look at her.

While she clearly wasn’t twelve, she also wasn’t even five feet tall- Jason’s pretty sure the only people that small that he’s met are children, or Cobblepot.

The girl smiled brightly in return. “Good afternoon! Are you my new downstairs neighbor?”

“Jason Todd,” he introduced, standing up and offering his hand to her as she came down some of the steps. She shook his hand, and the pure size of her was made to only seem smaller as her hand came out to be half the size of his own. Dear lord, did anyone even feed this chick?!

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she replied, taking a seat on one of the steps. “I’m moving here from Paris.”

That confused him even more than before. Who the heck chooses to move to the city of crime from the city of love???

“You move out of Paris, France, and the city you choose to move to is Gotham? No offense, but were you diagnosed as insane prior to moving here?”

Marinette laughed and waved her hand. “No no; I’m moving here for work. I’m starting as a personal designer later this month, and it wouldn’t work very well if I was out of the city.” Oh, yeah, a job like that made sense. Especially on the off chance that she was working for someone rich; it would only seem right for her to live nearby enough then.

…Why did he feel like he was forgetting something that sounded familiar to this situation?

Over the first two weeks of her having moved to Gotham, Marinette had not only built up a good start-up routine, but she had also nearly fixed the problem with her downstairs neighbor.

The moment she looked Jason in the eyes, Marinette could see green clouding the edges of her vision.

This man hadn’t just died- he had died died.

He was probably out for a few years before they decided to revive him, and he no doubt suffered severe trauma from both his death as well as his rebirth. She wouldn’t blame the guy if he had any borderline-anger issues. However, Jason was rather calm and kind- much different from the time she had happened upon a certain assassin lady who had tried to kill her for merely looking at her for too long.

Guess some people let the death magic control them while the others just let it fester in a corner.

Either way though- it was still a curse, and Marinette had needed to fix it.

So, in the course of two weeks, Marinette had made sure to cure Jason Todd as purely and unnoticeably as possible.

There were tons of methods to cure someone of a curse, but for death magic, there were only a good handful- and most were just as dangerous as the curse themselves. If the cure for the curse wasn’t pure enough, then there was always the chance of the healing method being reversed- Jason could die once more either in a moment, or in a belated spur of the moment.

When cured correctly, in the purest form which the Kwamis had intended for it to be done, then there would be no worries of any adverse effects later on down the road.

The purest form of healing was(unsurprisingly for the Kwamis) achieved through the making of food.

Yeah- it was that easy.

Marinette had never been so glad to have been raised in a bakery.

“Food; seriously?” She asked rather skeptically. “Isn’t that rather… puerile?”

“Not for us~” Trixx replied. “To us Kwamis; food was the greatest thing you mortals have ever accomplished.”

So, Marinette told Jason how she had been raised in a bakery and normally expressed her affection through baking(not a total lie). And after providing proof via the show of baking and smell of the desserts she made, Jason had practically inhaled a basket-full of baked goods, unknowing that they were all filled to the brim with pure healing magic.

Healing magic wouldn’t counteract the death magic, but it would heal the ramifications left behind. The death magic would be active, but it would basically be life magic due to having no more repercussions.

But Marinette couldn’t use life magic to heal him- oh no.

No matter how much Gimmi showed her favor and smiled upon her; Mortals were not allowed to touch life magic. Gimmi might show her some mercy in the event of Marinette ever being forced to use it, but it was a slim chance, and it would have to mean the universe was at stake with no other options.

Life magic was off the table.

Jason usually vacuumed up all that she baked and gave to him, but Marinette had other concerns.

Jay told her he was from a large family, with most of them being adopted. They were all close, and he had been with them for a long time. Which meant, more than likely, he had been with them before and after he had been killed and resurrected.

This meant his family might have also come into contact with death magic.

Fun…

Marinette eventually managed to casually and slyly convince Jason to share her baked goods with his family, as she often baked too much due to her common habit of baking enough for an entire bakery(again, not a total lie).

Hopefully, his family would come to find use for her healing magic.

Chapter Text

Marinette turned this way and that, making up her mind for the seventh time- this would be her outfit for the day!

Look; Marinette may be a fashion designer, but she wasn’t very good with making decisions, okay? So while she could always make a good outfit, she couldn’t always decide if the outfit she had assembled was what she wanted.

This was one of the reasons she oftentime made too many outfits and clothes for those who managed to get a commission from her. She could never decide on the final look she wanted, and would often either leave it up to her customer, or just give them three times as much as they originally wanted.

Picking out her own clothes, though? That was always just a migraine waiting to happen.

Blame a girl for being a bit indecisive.

…Actually, you know what? She didn’t really like the way the skirt made her bottom more defined. She should probably choose something else-

Eventually, she convinced Tikki to choose for her. And by that, she means she accidently annoyed her main Kwami enough that the small ladybug just grabbed an outfit and threw it at her face, sternly reminding her she would be late if she continued on any longer.

Rude…

Her outfit had a cute look to it that showed her to have a sweet and friendly side to her, and yet still made her look classy and more than professional enough for working in an office.

With her hair in low pigtails, brushed over her shoulders in white ribbons, she wore her main two Miraculous as black studs and a simple rose gold ring.

Her outfit was a two piece, light pink pantsuit, with a black and white spotted ribbon and cuffs. The sleeves were folded just below her elbows, and she had a simple pair of white heels to go with it. Her purse matched perfectly with the outfit, and was just big enough for Tikki and Plagg to make themselves comfortable without being knocked around.

Glancing herself over one last time, Marinette finally nodded at her own reflection and prepared to set out on her first day at her first actual job.

“...Actually, maybe I should wear something less eye-catching-”

“Marinette!”

While the motorcycle her Nonna had gifted her matched her outfit for her signature pastel pink and white, she’s sure it still didn’t match very well with the professional image she had tried to portray.

Oh well…

When she arrived at WE, she parked in the reserved space she had been notified of earlier that week. She was glad to hear that the new job assured her a safe and locked parking area. Though, one could easily climb over the wall surrounding the parking lot(if capable), they would have a hard time getting her bike past the security out front.

Showing her ID, the guards at the lot looked at her rather bewildered, but she didn’t pay it any mind. She didn’t get it at the time, but it would make sense soon enough.

Marinette barely even greeted her new boss before his eldest son had collected her into a tight bearhug.

Bruce Wayne had been waiting in front of the front entrance of Wayne Enterprises main building, standing between two of his sons. The three all wore identical business suits, only varying in the slightly different shades of black they adorned.

Of all the things she could have first thought upon looking at the trio, she supposed it wasn’t normal that her mind immediately started to dress them in different clothes right away.

Honestly though- it was horrendous.

One of the richest and most influential families in the world; and yet they couldn’t even dress themselves properly.

No wonder they hired her to be their family's personal designer…

Pity aside, Marinette managed to keep herself from cringing as she stepped up to the elder men, instead adorning her normal smile- a smile she had been assured by multiple sources was a knockout for winning people over. “Bonjour! You must be the Wayne’s, oui? My name’s Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Thank you so much for this work opportunity~”

The men stared at her similarly to how the guards had at the parking lot. Bruce Wayne looked a little in shock, though she could see some kind of confliction flitting about in his gaze. The younger of the two sons looked rather awe struck, though still rather bewildered in a way. Meanwhile, the elder brother-

“Oh my gosh, you are adorable!”

The tall man collected her into a tight embrace, not even hesitating. “It’s so nice to meet you, Miss Dupain-Cheng! My name’s Richard- call me Dick- and we are so happy to have you working for us~ By the way, you are so cute, I cannot even believe it! How small are you? Can I call you Marinette? Oh my gosh, are those cookies?!”

The man- Dick, apparently- clearly had zero self restraint and expressed himself best through verbal and physical affection…

Now this was someone she could get used to!

Marinette cheerfully exchanged the hug, happy to have another friend in the somewhat gloomy city that she now called home. Jason had already proven a good ally and companion to keep close, but now she could tell she would find even more people she could come to enjoy spending time with.

Maybe things wouldn’t be as tough as she had originally feared?

Marinette fell in love that day… with her office.

The moment she had stepped out of the elevator, she was greeted by about ten other workers, all eager and welcoming. She had worried about getting along with those in her shared work environment, as she knew many wouldn’t be all that happy to see such a young and inexperienced designer suddenly working such a magnificent position.

However, her fears and worries had fallen flat on their faces the moment several of her new coworkers came and gushed about how much they admired her work.

She didn’t know it yet, but her anxiety at that moment would even further diminish in the coming month.

The floor itself was beautiful, and every designer had their own station to work with. Most of the workers seemed to be working with graphic design and photography, and as she walked through the large room, she could spot two stations which seemed to have sewing supplies and mannequins with well designed articles already decorating them.

Her office was at the end of the large floor, with standard white walls but a beautifully large pair of glass double-doors, with her name and title on a rose gold colored plaque on it.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Private Fashion Designer.

She had really made it.

The moment she stepped through those doors, Marinette tried her hardest not to embarrass herself by crying. Of course, like usual, she failed to keep her emotions a secret and Dick happily offered her another hug as he knew she was just too happy to pass one up.

“Seriously; you and my daughter should be confined for how adorable you both are. Please, I beg of you- never aim to take over the world.”

Her personal office had a set-up she would probably think of every time she got home, feeling as if she was cheating on her home office for a once unrealistic childhood dream- well, it wasn’t so unrealistic now.

One of the walls was a glass wall and sliding door that led to another empty office, but she would probably end up covering the windows with pictures and hastily written notes. The other wall was made up of different kinds of work station tables, all fit for different types of visual arts that she was familiar with. One of the tables had five varying sewing machines on them.

Five.

Marinette shakily pointed towards the one made in hot pink. “Is that… a DDL-5550N by Juki?”

“I…” Bruce Wayne hesitated beside her, glancing towards his two sons for confirmation. They both shrugged in response. “Uhm… maybe? I’ll be honest, I told my son to just buy whatever he thought would suit the tastes of a fashion designer. He didn’t even give me a receipt or price range.”

“That’s what you get for handing Demon Spawn your credit card and telling him to go wild,” TIm replied with a small chuckle. “All in all, this entire room itself probably costs about thirty grand. The brat went all out just to get a rise out of me for us leaving him in charge of it.”

Yep- here came more tears.

When she had moved to Gotham, she had of course not been able to bring everything she owned with her across the sea, so she had needed to be more practical. Other than mostly basic furniture and her most valued supplies and objects, Marinette had actually needed to leave a lot of her supplies back at her bedroom above the bakery.

Upon moving, Marinette had brought her most prized sewing machine. A pastel pink and black CS7000X, which had aided her well throughout the years.

She had thought she had lived well with having three different sewing machines, but now she was seeing just what the words “spoiled” meant, and she no longer blamed Chloe for how bratty she had been growing up. Marinette would have probably acted just as spoiled if she had these babies in her bedroom.

And it wasn’t just the sewing machines either- everything in this room, from the pink and gold sputnik chandelier, to the pink fluffy shag rug that covered the white marble flooring beneath her heels… it was everything she could have ever dreamed for.

Walking around to the white and gold, modern executive desk, Marinette sat down in her chair and looked over all that had finally become hers. All those years of dreaming… and she had truly made it here.

“You said one of your sons designed my office?”

“That’s right; Damian. He’s my youngest son and is about your age. He’s not usually the most friendly, but he’s an artist as well. Actually, he’s the head of the Art Director for the design and art team. He’s currently working on another floor with some of the other artists in the building, but he will probably make visits down here every once in a while to check in.”

So he was her direct boss then, of sorts. Marinette wouldn’t be working directly for WE, but she was using his department for her place of work.

He had given her the most perfect office she had ever seen… and she was probably going to need to hold herself back from kissing him when they met.

Chapter Text

Marinette spent her first day getting a full tour of the building and getting a good work schedule for her first month.

She already had most of her Uncle Jagged’s orders ready to go, minus the finishing touches and details on a bodysuit, as well as designs already prepared for her to start, so she could get started on the Wayne Family with a clear conscience.

After her tour, Marinette told Bruce that she would need to meet up with every member of the Wayne household and family, so she could have them all measured and get down a list of the preferences, dislikes, and favored styles and such. “If you could arrange for them all to consult with me within the next few days, then I could get the ball rolling early and get some outfits prepared by the end of the month for you all.”

Bruce sat in one of the two white barrel chairs that was in front of her new(and absolutely gorgeous) desk.

It was just the two of them now, as Dick and Tim had left to go take care of other work. Despite being the CEO and owner, Bruce seemed to either be less busy than his sons, or he had decided to move his schedule around enough to focus on helping her get situated.

It made enough sense to be the latter; she supposed she was somewhat of a high-profile celebrity(especially with her connection to Uncle Jagged), so it would only fit that Monsieur Wayne was trying to take extra care that she was comfortable in her new work space.

Nodding his head and giving a small humm in agreement, Bruce crossed his legs and looked at the timetable on the tablet he held on his lap. “That can be arranged easily enough; I know for certain that most of my children should be free for a consultation this week, unless they have more personal and recently scheduled events. I’ll make sure to double check with them all and have each of them meet with you at some point in the next three days.”

That would work fine; so long as she could get down some good feedback and get all of their measurements by the end of the week, she would call it a win.

Marinette was a hard worker, and she would be damned if she didn't do her best to show it.

Placing her bag on the desk, Marinette pulled out three separate sketchbooks, of varying sizes and designs.

The larger of the sketchbooks had a simple black cover, but she had long since decorated it with a printed copy of the first album cover she had designed for her uncle, with paint splatters and stickers surrounding his image. This sketchbook was one she dedicated solely to the work she made for Jagged.

Another sketchbook was identical in design to the pink ones she used for years, used for more personal designs and doodles for when she had inspiration or was bored and needed to find an outlook. The third sketchbook was the medium sized book between all of them, and it didn’t have any special decorations to it yet(though she’s sure that would change after getting to know the family a bit more). She would use this third notebook for her work at WE.

Bruce and her set up a schedule for the coming week, with him checking in on each family member(honorary included) to get a scheduled appointment date.

However, one family member would be rather difficult.

“He really won’t accept it?”

Bruce sighed. “I highly doubt it; Alfred always turned the offer down when we tried to get him any tailored or fitted clothes. He always insists he’s fine, and won't even let anyone get his measurements without throwing us off, so we’ve had difficulty in the past with getting him any personal clothing for him. It’s not such a big deal, so I’d understand if you would rather focus on other-”

Yeah, no. “Do you have a photo of him standing beside you and other members of your family? If so, I could manage to get a rough estimation on his sizes,” she explained her ideas. “Or if you could manage to get me in the same room as him, I’m sure I could manage quite well from there.”

She worked with Jagged Stone; her overzealous honorary-uncle who couldn’t stay still for a single minute without showing her his choreography or testing out how well he could headbang while she tried not to pincushion him.

Alfred Pennyworth didn’t stand a chance.

In the next few days, Marinette met with about two or three members of the Wayne family every day.

Richard and Tim came on the first day, easily making room in their schedule to make a quick run to her new office.

Richard was comfortable going through the consultation; he didn’t have many worries or concerns, simply asking for comfortable clothes that could make him stand out- but not too much. He was pretty much her standard rich-client, not really having specific requests, but more so just giving a ballpark for her to work in.

As she would soon figure out; this was how a lot of the Wayne family felt.

While they all were mostly ecstatic to realize a famous designer would be working with their family for the foreseeable future, they didn’t have many noted ideas for what exactly to commission her to make.

Tim on the other hand had surpassed all of her clients in one go- “Anything- make me literally anything!” He had told her excitedly, clearly high on too much caffeine. “If it’s an MDC original, then I’m willing to wear sackcloth even, because I know you’ll still make it look and feel awesome!”

She was ecstatic and grateful for the praise- but the man didn’t understand something here… When it came to artists who took on commissions, they usually felt more comfortable when they were given less legroom.

The more he left it all up to her, the more chances she could make something he didn’t actually love. The more details and information he gave her, the more she could actually plan out.

So yeah; while it was very kind of him, it also made him the most difficult to work with.

She’d have to figure out his preferences from the rest of his family.

Marinette met every other family member in the coming days, quickly becoming familiar with them and their sense of styles. She had ended most of her consultations with at least two designs per person, and  had found herself enjoying the diversity in all of their personalities and interests.

Most of them hadn’t given her any direct guidelines, but getting to talk to them in a more personal and friendly manner had given her enough insight to them to know which areas she could comfortably set their styles in.

The greatest challenge she would set for herself was to make a full ensemble for the whole family where they would all match with each other, and yet still keep true to each of their individual styles.

By far, her easiest client had been Mar’i.

Marinette had gotten a lot down on her fourth day on the job. Even though she had told her boss that a picture or more would suffice, the man had done her one better and managed to get Alfred to come to her office in person.

With her parents away, Mar’i Grayson had come to Marinette's office with her great-grandfather in tow, both of them just as kind in their own ways.

After one minute in Mar’is presence, Marinette suddenly understood why Dick had so quickly been charmed by herself.

Mar’i had a very vivid imagination, and had even presented her own design ideas to Marinette, with nearly twenty pages, front and back, and all in crayon. This was the most helpful outline of them all, and Marinette only needed to really edit a few parts of the designs.

Alfred Pennyworth took his seat, merely supervising Mar’i as she got her measurements taken, and the two girls spoke on how gorgeous full tulle skirts looked.

With a little bit of prompting, she had even gotten Mar’i to help her in getting Alfred to speak on himself a little bit, giving Marinette a good amount of insight on what he would feel comfortable in wearing, and what kind of uniforms he used to wear in the past.

By the time the two of them left, she had already gotten two new uniform designs for Alfred, and an entire wardrobe alright ready to be made for Mar’i.

Talk about a successful consultation~

By the end, she only had two more family members to speak with- and one of them definitely took her for a loop.

“Jay?”

“Pixie?”

Bruce merely blinked in surprise, looking completely lost as he glanced back and forth between them both. It made sense though, right?

While Jason wore a black leather jacket over a sleeveless graphic tee, and ripped jeans(not from style but from not caring to throw them out since they still fit), Marinette had gotten used to being able to freely wear whatever she so chose- this morning had driven her into a more lolita style, with frills and lace.

To put it bluntly- in anyone’s eyes, the two of them should not have ever met one another before this moment.

But then Jason gasped and pointed at her excitedly. “Oh my god- it was you who made those macarons! I knew those tasted too familiarly spectacular!”

This ended up only making more sense to Marinette(and it certainly explained a lot about the family).

And then… she met the last family member.

When Marinette started her day, she didn’t have too many high expectations for something interesting to happen.

She would meet with another Wayne family member, put in a work order for all the fabrics she would try out for her completed design layouts, and then she would try to complete the jumpsuit she had prepared for Jagged’s next concert.

The detail on the full-body suit alone was exhausting, and not just because she was hand-sewing into faux-leather. She still needed to make the hair pins to match it as well…

As she got ready though, it hit her out of nowhere. She realized that she wasn’t just going to meet any other Wayne- she was meeting the one who had designed her office.

“Holy Kwami…”

Her hero!

Marinette prepared extra carefully, eager to present herself as perfectly as possible.

Damian Wayne was going to come to her office- the office he designed with her personally in mind- just about an hour before lunch. She needed to give him her best impression yet.

She wore a light pink, ruffled, off shoulder blouse with bishop sleeves, and black, wide-leg pants. She wore a pair of white stilettos, and a white beret.

She let her Kwamis do her hair for her as she made her breakfast and prepared something for her consultation. No doubt Mr. Wayne would stop by like he usually did, so she decided to go with chocolate dipped croissants; she’s not sure if his addiction for them came from her or Mister Pennyworth, but it was there nonetheless.

Leaving the building, she shot Jason a text of her basic plans for the day. She didn’t see his responding text until she was parked in the garage at work though, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“You poor thing :(“

Marinette wasn’t entirely sure what he was referring to; either meeting his brother, finishing the jumpsuit, or maybe a full combination of her busy schedule. However, she wasn’t going to let his joke throw her for a loop- so long as she kept a good attitude, nothing could possibly go wrong.

Right?

.

.

.

.

Oh dear Kwami she just jinxed it-

DING!

Snapping back into focus, Marinette wondered when she had even gotten into the elevator, more or less reached her floor.

Stepping out, she waved and exchanged kind smiles and pleasant greetings to the other workers. She could see some of them working on the magazines and advertisements for Wayne Industries, as well as working doing video and photo editing.

Most of the artists on her floor stuck with graphic design and photo editing, other then maybe two or three others working on fashion, but none of those seemed to be in for today.

Ignoring the slight anxiety that had tried to well up inside of her, Marinette allowed herself to relax and breathe as she entered her still-gorgeous-as-ever office(she will never let it go how much she loved it).

That’s right- Damian Wayne was the one who designed her office personally.

How could someone who had gone to such lengths to make her personal work space so comfortable, fitting it perfectly to her preferences and ideals, ever be someone she should be wary of meeting for the first time? If anything, Marinette should be worried about not falling to her knees and worshiping the man the moment she met him.

Why should Marinette be worried at all?

Letting herself relax, Marinette was glad for the logic and reason that had finally crossed her mind- no doubt due to the wonderful presence of her amazing office(yeah deal with it, she’ll continue to adore it for many months and chapters to come). There was no reason for her to stress out so much.

Besides, the inevitable was nothing she could change. If she for some weird logic didn’t get along with Damian Wayne, then it would more than likely be out of her control; she knew she would try to get along as well with the man as she could, so if it didn’t work out, it would most likely be due to something outside of her capabilities.

Why bother letting something like this freak her out and send her spiraling?

After all… the true reason for her future worries and anxiety towards the man would soon prove to be for the opposite sort of outcome.

For when the man would enter her office just a few hours later, Marinette found herself thinking quite differently.

True enough to her original idea from earlier that week, she did need to keep herself in check by not embracing the man, but not for the reasoning she had previously provided herself.

Because the moment Damian Wayne entered her office, with a small little upturn of the lips and a certain glow of pleasure in his forest green eyes, Marinette was hooked.

The feelings that welled up within her were much different then her previous experience with Adrien, or Luka, or even Kagami and Zoe, no no… This was something entirely different.

Because the moment she looked at the man and saw the look of his soul through his eyes, Marinette knew she had never truly been in love until that moment.

Chapter Text

Holy Kwamis in her miracle box- where did she even begin?

It had been a joke before, alright? Like something you said without seriousness, just to get your main point across.

Marinette had not actually thought she would fall head over heels in love with the man who had made her dream office, and yet now she was wondering if he had accidentally cursed herself to follow through with her initial joke.

Jeez- did Gimmi just not understand sarcasm or what?

The main problem though? Marinette hadn’t even looked at Damian Wayne yet, and she already fell in love.

She had been facing the totally other way!

Honestly, there had been plenty of times Marinette had gotten annoyed with and cur=sed out her abilities as the Guardian, but now would be a time she would constantly look back on and never agree with herself on whether or her powers had been useful in this moment.

She had been cleaning up the subtle clutter on her desk when he had knocked on her door, announcing his presence and stating his name.

“Come right in~” She had sailed back cheerfully, having long since gotten over her anxiety from earlier in the morning.

The moment the glass door of her office had opened up and the man walked in, it was like Marinette's powers had gotten high and decided to throw an emotional freight train onto her mental stability, shattering it into more pieces then there were Kwamis in the universe.

She had thought she had prepared herself to meet Damian Wayne, and she had- but she had not been prepared for the man's soul.

Look- as a Guardian, Marinette had many responsibilities. One of those responsibilities was to exact judgement on those who tampered with the natural order of the universe. These people went from your standard genocidal racist warmonger, to your magic wielding galactic terrorist who decides to turn powerful artifacts into a gauntlet to erase half the population.

You know; the basic job of a judge.

Just as well, she also had the responsibility of selecting new Miraculous wielders in times of need. These sort of responsibilities were some of the reasons why she had been given the ability to look at and appraise the souls of other living creatures.

She could see their true natures, their moral values, whether or not they were speaking the truth, their topical emotions, and if she used enough energy she could even be able to read their minds(though she rarely did due to her principles and it actually made her quite nauseous afterwards).

When Damian Wayne entered her office, his soul had a presence so strong that Marinette nearly choked. It was like a heavy, weighted blanket, making its presence known and putting a sort of pressure onto those who could recognize it.

Strangely enough though, despite how heavy and suffocating his soul was on her, it was also… warm.

Why was he so warm?

She knew she had never met the man before, and even though she would be going into this meeting with high hopes and good ideas behind the man for how much work he had put into her office, Marinette couldn’t fathom why his soul would be so warm towards her.

His warmth was comforting, like he was trying to express himself positively towards her before they had even properly interacted. She had felt a slight warmth from almost all of his family members upon meeting them, but other then Mar’i, it had taken them at least a few minutes up to about half an hour to give her the comforting feeling of having gained their trust or approval(Mar’i had been instant much like all other children Marinette had interacted with). Never was an adult so warm right off the bat, as if they already cared for her so deeply.

And even then- for it to be at this level was just ridiculous!

His soul was extremely warm- not to the point of being hot and overbearing, but rather in the sense that you became so comfortable that you were able to fall peacefully asleep in a matter of seconds unless you fought against it.

It was the kind of warmth that you could never grow tired of, and the sort that made you feel safe and taken care of…

The kind that was so beautiful and perfect, that it only made sense that Marinette felt herself falling into it head first in love.

And when she turned around- “Oh non, il est chaud…” She muttered under her breath, not even thinking of the consequences if he either heard her or understood french.

Damian Wayne stood at probably over 183 cm high, which stood quite high over her 150. His skin was a deep olive, and his eyes were an even deeper pool of forest green, swirling and sparkling like a whirlpool that had drawn her in and planned to suck her deeper into them.

Dear Kwamis was this man made from her very fantasies- tall, dark, and handsome, with a pure black suit that made him look like Gimmi had handcrafted him for the sole purpose of tempting the Grand Guardian she had come to favor.

Clearing her throat, Marinette tried to calm her nerves, hoping it would lessen the burning in her cheeks that no doubt stained her face a red as bright as her first suit.

However, when she stepped forward to greet the man, her body decided now was the perfect time to trip over the completely empty space between them, and have to catch herself last second before she face-planted into the ground, right in front of the most mouthwatering man she had ever met.

Sorry Adrien, but model or not, you couldn’t beat a jawline that’s sharp enough to cut a Miraculous~

“Sa-sorry! Uhm- it’s neat to mi- I mean! It’s nice to meet you! My, my name is Mari! Well, I mean, that’s my nickname, not my actual name. My uhh, my real n-name is Marinette, but you probably knew, erm, that a-already-” Oh Kwamis, someone shut her up already.

To his credit, Damian didn’t seem at all weirded out by her fumbling. He didn't smirk as if he had found it amusing either, and any other person would have been put off more by how he held such a stiff poker face.

Marinette, on the other hand, was not like any other person, and could physically see and feel that Damian Wayne was only being this stiff on the surface. Underneath that, the warmth his soul exuded came from a sort of orangish-pink mixture of emotions.

It wasn’t something she felt before. It was something akin to the emotions she received from her family, but still something entirely different on its own. It reminded her a bit like Alya, but then a bit like Adrien, and somehow stronger all the same, almost just as much as how strongly her Parents warmth enveloped her.

She had never experienced someone expressing this strange mixture of colorful feelings towards her, and it made it difficult to determine just what it was that she was looking at. However, she at least could figure out that it wasn’t something she needed to be wary of.

Stepping forward to meet her, he reached out and took her hand into a firm yet gentle hold. “Damian Wayne; it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He didn’t smile, but he also didn’t look at her rudely in any way. One might take it as rude with how stoic he seemed, but the colors in his mind betrayed his true feelings to her. “My family says you’re the best in your craft?”

Did they really? How sweet!

Smiling a bit more naturally now, Marinette stood up a bit more straightly. “Well uhh, I-I do put my whole heart in- into the work I do! And uhm…” Okay, she might as well try to break the ice now and see how he reacted, otherwise she would just be making it more awkward by holding off. “I- I just wanted to tell you… Thank you.”

Damian’s neutral expression seemed to crack briefly, as he seemed a little surprised. “‘Thank you’? For what?”

Marinette smiled wider and gestured around with wide arms, spinning around to look around her still gorgeous-as-ever office. “For all this! When I first saw my office, I literally burst into tears; this is… this is amazing.”

“You… you really like it, huh?”

She turned back around, feeling a fluctuation in Damian’s soul. There was a quick spike of heat to it, and Marinette once again became aware of how strongly she could feel his soul. 

Looking at his face confirmed it- he was bashful. His face had loosened up a bit and he glanced around with his eyes, as if double-checking the work he had done for her. His soul quivered the tiniest bit, showing a spike of nervousness.

Feeling her smile only grow and her cheeks heathen up even more, Marinette could only find herself sinking further and further into the pool of emotions she had found herself falling into. “Yeah, I really do~”

After another minute or so of casual greetings, Marinette had Damian follow her over to one of the workbenches she had been using for her notes and ideas on his family's designs. “I- I’ll just uh, start with yer- your measurements. And uhm, i-if you have any, like, ideas or erm, s-some desired items you would like me t-to make, then you c-can just tell me now, o-or whenever…”

Marinette was an expert at keeping things professional; even after learning her ex-partners identity, she had managed to school her emotions and expressions, never allowing herself to give away her knowledge.

(Of course, Adrien couldn’t say the same as he started heavily flirting with her outside of the mask for a good month or so.)

Taking Damian’s measurements was a… task.

It wasn’t the man's fault though- the problem lay entirely on Marinette's incapability of functioning properly around the people she had a crush on.

Then again, Damian was also at fault for being so attractive; both inside and out. Did he have to have such a powerful soul?!

Midway through wrapping the measuring tape around Damian’s waist(and simultaneously holding her breath while internally recalling the first hundred digits of Pi), Bruce Wayne arrived in her office.

She had half the mind to question if the man actually did any work at WE, or if he just put it off to try and spend as much time with her as possible.

Her uncle had mentioned rather offhandedly that Bruce might try to adopt her, but she had taken it as a joke, because… well, why wouldn’t she? She’s heard small jokes like that for years, as simple signs of affection to compliment her.

Had her job not entailed her getting to personally know and engage with all of his children, Marinette would not have realized the fact that Jagged had been rather straightforward with his warning.

“Dark hair and blue eyes; that combination alone raises your odds by about fifty percent,” Stephanie had said, laughing despite having been the one to bring Marinette to the shocking revelation that Bruce Wayne might actually try to adopt her out from under her parents.

Which, you know- wasn’t something she was really up for.

She had good parents, people!

However, unlike his usual cheerfulness, Bruce seemed a bit more… forceful, with how talkative and involved he acted.

Whenever she had to ask Damian something(and nearly humiliate herself even more by almost tripping right into his dad), Bruce would try to redirect the conversation as soon as his son gave enough of an answer, as if worried about the two of them conversing.

Not to say Marinette didn’t appreciate it though. While she wasn’t sure what Mr. Wayne's intentions were, she was grateful for the man to serve as a distraction for her.

After the hour was up, Damian was the one to remind them all of the time. “Father, I believe your meeting with Mr. Fiore was at noon, correct? I suggest you get to that now before you’re any more late.”

Being essentially pushed out by his son, Bruce shot Marinette an almost apologetic look as he exited her office.

Waving goodbye to her boss, Marinette cleared her throat and put away the notebook she used for notes on the Waynes. “W-well, i guess that wraps us all up- I mean, it all up. I can start working on your suit right away after my break, as well as mending Mlle Mar’is dress.”

“It’s your lunch break, then?”

With her back turned to him, it made it a whole lot easier to keep her head on straight. Only, the man didn’t let her actually soak in the moment, as he came over beside her, leaning onto her desk with his hand. He practically towered over her, and the closeness between them made her breath hitch in her throat. “Let me take you out.”

“...”

“...”

“...W-wha-?”

Chapter Text

Marinette stared out the window of the shiny black sports car wondering how on earth she even got in it to begin with.

One moment she was spaced out in her office, her mind still debugging as it tried and failed to process what Damian had told her, and the next moment she found herself being gently guided into the passenger seat of said man’s car.

Seriously- she didn’t even remember walking. It was like she blacked out.

It was honestly something she should be concerned about later…

Startled out of her thoughts by the roar of the engine, Marinette whipped her head around to Damian, finding him buckling in as the car came to life. She should probably do the same an-?

Seriously?! He even buckled her seatbelt for her, and she hadn’t even noticed?!

Gimmi help her, she’s making an absolute fool of herself…

“U-uhm, s-sorry uhh, where,” she cleared her throat as she scanned her surroundings, trying to recall just what were the events that had led her to this moment. “Where are we going, exactly?”

Damian started backing the car out of its parking spot. As they pulled out she noticed that there was a sign on the wall saying that it, along with others around it, were reserved for the Wayne Family. There were a lot, and Marinette feels like Bruce might have had wishful thinking when she counted more spots than family members she had met thus far.

“To a restaurant. Father said you’re vegetarian, correct? I commonly go to this establishment because of their wide range of choices; I especially enjoy their Arab Cuisine, what with my childhood in Saudi Arabia.”

…Huh. “You mentioned earlier how you were raised by your mother for a few years. When did you decide to become a vegetarian?”

“That wasn’t until I was about eleven, I believe. I rescued a cow from an illegal slaughter house, and realized I inherited my father’s attachment issues. Luckily, I only got attached to animals,” he snarked. The idea that such a quirk was genetic made Marinette giggle in response.

During their consultation, Marinette’s nerves had found solace when she could merely listen to the man speak, hoping he would go on long enough before she needed to reply. He had told her about his deep affection for animals, and she found herself a little envious of his vast array of pets.

But then again- she had her own menagerie as well…

“What about you?”

“Hmm?”

Damian’s head turned only for a brief moment as he caught her eyes once more. Then he was back to focusing on the road. It was lunch hour, and thus plenty of quick and anxious drivers surrounding them on all sides. “When and why did you decide to become a vegetarian?”

Admittedly? Marinette hated to say it, but she often felt herself missing her old diet of ‘normal eating’.

She had loved animals growing up, but it had never been something that had connected with her on such a deep and personal level that she would give up eating meat or animal products.

But then… she became the Guardian.

Yeah; turns out being spiritually connected to animals of all areas tended to have a bit of an impact on your heart, soul, and body. This apparently included her taste buds.

Marinette hadn’t even directly chosen to become a vegetarian- she didn’t even have a choice on the matter! A day or two after receiving the Miracle Box, she had been eating some beef bourguignon at dinner with her parents, only to end up vomiting all over the floor and laying in bed sick for the rest of the weekend.

Not to make this a horror show- but it honest to Gimmi felt like she had been eating a person.

It had tasted fine on the first bite, but no matter how much broth, herbs, vegetables, and seasoning her mother had used, Marinette just couldn’t get it to stay in.

The taste was like that of rotten meat, and the smell was closer to old blood than of a hearty meal. Upon her first bite, Marinette had barely managed to notice that she was the only one of her family to receive this onslaught of nauseating flavor before she had barfed up more than she had even taken in.

With her connection to the Miracle Box, Marinette had a deep spiritual connection with all the Kwamis, and thus shared many of their own aspects. Despite some of them being based on more carnivorous animals, many of them took on the form of creatures that were herbivores, and even prey themselves. Her connection with Orikko, Ziggy, Stompp, and Daizzi, in particular, were the main reasons she had decided it best to just give up on eating meat.

Other animal food products seemed to have been alright with her stomach thus far, but Marinette chalked that up to most of the Kwami’s preferring foods that often included these ingredients. Milk especially seemed to be easy for her stomach(no doubt due to Plagg’s addiction), but eggs did often leave a rather unsavory aftertaste on her tongue, and she usually only used them for baking these days.

So yeah; simply put, Marinette had become a vegetarian.

Were there other meat options in the world she could consume, without throwing up from her body mistaking it as cannibalism? Probably- but Marinette wasn’t going to bother with searching. She’d rather just accept her fate as a herbivore…

“I guess I just got sick of it when I was in middle school, and it just stuck,” she replied, ignoring the churning in her stomach. “Nothing really special to tell of it.” She hated lying, but when it came to aspects connected to her secret identities, she was left with no choice.

Her position as Grand Guardian of the Miraculous came before her morals, no matter how much it made her feel sick to her stomach.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Marinette found herself slumping in her seat as she sighed with relief. Despite the way he unintentionally made it seem like some uppity high-class restaurant, the place was actually rather small and homey looking. It appeared to be one of those hole-in-the-wall places that Marinette personally found more charming and exciting than the expensive establishments her other rich friends used to drag her to, back in Paris.

Similarly to before, Damian had moved about without her even noticing. One moment he was parking the car in front of the restaurant, the next he was already outside, opening her door and pulling her out by the hand- wait, when did she give him her hand?!

Dear Kwamis, she really needed to get a hold of herself around this man…

The inside of the restaurant looked as adorable as the outside, retaining a sort of casual-bistro look to it. Earthy tones of color with a splash of green from the plants lined up by the windows and outside the entrance door.

The place was relatively empty, despite it being the lunch hour; Marinette would chalk it up to the fact that it was surrounded by both fast food establishments, as well as being across the road from more high-end restaurants. A wallflower, no matter how nice it smelled, wouldn’t be noticed while surrounded by a variety of high grade roses and hydrangeas.

Simply put- Marinette adored it thus far, and if the food was as good as advertised, then she could definitely see herself coming here often.

But that was beside the point- why was she here to begin with?!

Damian Wayne was taking her out for lunch… the son that she had been warned would most likely be cold and harsh towards her, and she had quickly found herself with a growing crush towards… had taken her out to lunch. After knowing her for only a bit over an hour.

…WHY???

Why was this her life? Why was he doing this? Why was Tikki snickering in her purse while Plagg was- OH KWAMIS what on earth was Plagg doing?!

After having been seated, the moment Marinette glanced up at her, erm, client, she was met with the sight of Plagg tasting on top of the man’s head.

What was he doing?!

Glancing between the Kwami and Damian’s face, Marinette silently glared at Plagg and gestured with her eyes(and the harsh locking of her jaw) for him to return to his partner in her purse.

However, despite her looks, Plagg merely grinned back at her and readjusted on top of the man’s hair. Marinette mostly just hoped that Plagg had made his body intangible at that moment, otherwise Damian must have been trying to ignore whatever the gluttonous mass on his head could be.

Slowly reaching into her purse at her hip, Marinette silently snapped her finger twice at Tikki, making it quite clear that unlike the little ladybug, she was not entertained by the cat’s antics, and would appreciate some help.

“Have you decided on anything?” Damian asked, not looking up from his menu. Seeing as he was a regular here, she was sure he must only be continuing to look as to not just stare or be rude.

Glancing quickly at her menu, Marinette spotted something that drew her attention and taste buds in almost instantly. “The vegan Panang curry and sticky rice looks absolutely delicious. I haven’t had Thai food for a while.”

Damian nodded before raising his hand to attract the waiter. Giving their orders, and both getting a small glass Pinot Noir to go with it, Marinette no longer had the excuse of the menus blocking their view as to avoid looking Damian in the eyes.

With Plagg now safely secured and trapped inside her purse, Marinette could at least relax a bit from the idea of her Kwami deciding to make her situation more awkward and weird.

Not that it really needed his help with that…

“So…”

…

Shoot her.

No seriously, please do. Marinette didn’t have a follow up there.

Clearing her throat, Marinette awkwardly patted her hands against her knees. “Do you, uhh, have any big plans after this? Uh, I mean, work plans, that is!”

Despite the clearly tense and awkward air around them, Damian didn’t seem even slightly perturbed by the vibe that seemed to thicken the air and cling to them both like an oblivious third wheel.

Instead, he took her question in stride. “Nothing particularly out of the ordinary. I finished most of my work before our consultation, so as to save more time to get to know you more. What with you working as a part of my department, and as such an important magnate at that, I found it crucial that we get to know one another personally. We’ll most likely work closely together in the future.”

They would?!

When was someone going to tell her about this?!

Oh- well… She supposed that, what with Damian being the head of the department, and her direct boss, he was the “someone” who was meant to tell her this.

“What might be some of the things we will work on, t-together?”

At that moment, it was like something shifted in his eyes. They almost seemed to gleam for a moment as the corners of his mouth turned up in a little smirk. It was almost like he was amused, like he had just won some sort of prize or something, but what?

“I have some ideas.”

Chapter Text

Her first two weeks at Wayne Enterprises went by like a blur after that.

After her strange lunch(date???) with Damian Wayne, Marinette was somewhat grateful to not have met with him often.

No doubt about it, the man was eye candy that could fill her up full for a good month straight- but like most other candy, he was bad for her heart.

Marinette could barely function around Damian during their first meeting, and she knew that any more time spent with him would be even less productive. Which is why she was actually relieved to not have any opportunities to meet him.

Well… not for the next few days, that is.

About a week after her encounter with the man, Marinette had gotten back into constructing her new groove, and to put it simply: she was rocking it.

She became better acquainted with her coworkers as well, and she was pleased to say that she had nothing but good points to tell about their productivity and diligence in the office. Being around other hardworking and creative artists was a huge motivation for Marinette when she worked, and she was happy to bond with them all.

In particular, the two other designers became easy friends for her to basically velcro herself to whenever she came to work.

Ekina Vargos was nearly ten years older than Marinette, but somehow looked just as young as her- and Marinette absolutely loved her. She was spunky and assertive, and didn’t give a crap about what people had to say about her personality or tactlessness. She was an outspoken person and oftentimes had to literally grab and drag away Marinette from her work and remind her to take a break.

She wasn’t responsible in that regard per se, but she acted like the older sister on their department floor.

She also stole Marinette’s coffee machine whenever she could smell that Marinette had already made herself three cups and was going for more.

The other person was named Marshall Peterson, and if she had to describe him in one word, it would literally only be gay.

Not to be that person, but it was true. And you know what made it funny? Even though he acted like the commonly misconstrued stereotype for a man who was gay… he was completely asexual.

Which… honestly made more sense in a way.

Marshall didn’t give a damn for other people's opinions, and liked the things that normally weren’t considered masculine. It wasn’t even his preferences that got people confused though, but rather the slightly higher pitched tone he used and the how confidently he strutted into the room.

Out of all the people Marinette had ever met, Ekina and Marshall were some of the most confident people about their respective personalities and interests, and Marinette could only strive to be as self-assured as them one day.

For now, she let them do it for her(it was like they were the Gotham versions of Alya and Chloe), and they were more than happy to do it.

Like at the start of her third week… when she bumped into Damian.

Yeah, so this is where her newly established work life groove came to a screeching halt, crashing and bursting into a flaming inferno of embarrassing and anxiety-inducing emotional torture.

After having arrived at work one early morning, Marinette swears she had barely even been working on starting a fresh new set of formal wear designs before Ekina kicked open her office door(she would remind her to wipe off the shoe mark from the glass later), and shouted at her for having not taken a break yet.

Which was absolutely insane, okay? How was Marinette supposed to have known that what she thought was about half an hour ended up being somewhere around five? And it’s not like she needed to take a break, alright?

Yeah, no- Ekina didn’t care.

She grabbed Marinette by the back of her chair and began rolling her out- only for them both to burst into laughter as both them and the chair tripped on the shag rug halfway towards the door, knocking them both down.

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” Marinette joked, putting her chair away. “Is it really already past lunch?”

“Dude, we just came back from lunch. Come downstairs with me now before I force-feed you the whole damn cafeteria,” Ekina responded. “I swear, you have not moved a single inch since you first sat down this morning; and yet somehow you still managed to get an extra cup of coffee.”

She wouldn’t let her in on that secret just yet- not with how she kept trying to keep her caffeine intake in-check.

Down in the cafeteria, it was mostly empty. There were a few people in suits sitting at a large table, looking like they were having an impromptu meeting of sorts, and a few engineers hanging around and finishing their meals.

Marinette didn’t feel like having much, seeing as it still felt like she had only just eaten her breakfast(even her body couldn’t believe time had passed so quickly), so she opted for a light salad and half a vegan wrap. Ekina, having already eaten, grabbed them both a water bottle and waited at a small table for her to join her at.

However, as Marinette reached to open the large fridge of sandwiches, someone else beat her to it, seeming right over her shoulder.

“Afternoon, Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

Oh sweet Kwamis-

Marinette turned around quickly, unceremoniously tripping herself and only managing to avoid falling on the floor by instead clumsily leaning back against the second door to the fridge. She smiled up at the sudden appearance of Damian Wayne, knowing she must look ridiculous with how much her smile felt to hurt her cheeks.

“D-damian! Hey, howzit goin’?” Dear Gimmi, what did she just say to him? They were not at that level of friendly for her to start speaking so casually with him- at least not at the point of a borderline joke!

How had she not even noticed him approaching her?! His soul was as easy to spot as a lighthouse at night, and his very essence of being was as overwhelming as a nuclear bomb for her!

“It’s going well, I suppose,” he responded casually, seemingly not at all perturbed by her no-doubt strange behavior. He reached into the fridge as he continued. “I was caught up in a meeting until now, with some of the other artists a part of our department. You and your team are our visual arts team, but I haven’t gotten to meet with most of you much lately, seeing as I’ve had to help oversee the vast amount of projects coming from our performing artists.”

During their lunch date, he had shared a little about his preferred mediums, and Marinette had found herself curious on why he didn’t work on their floor. As it turns out, what with Damian being a department head, as well as one of the many sons to the owner and CEO; Damian’s main office was on the executive floors higher up.

Even though he was a visual artist who participated in the same work as those beneath him, he was still of a higher status that he was required to maintain.

That was the way he said it, but Marinette could see how scripted and annoying it was for him to say it- especially with the disgruntled look on his face and the heavy sigh of exhaustion after saying it.

Stepping back a bit, Damian handed her one of the two vegan wraps he had grabbed. “I hear your work output has been quite fast- too fast, actually. Father is concerned that you’re pushing yourself too hard.”

Taking the wrap with a shaky hand, Marinette waved the other somewhat frantically. “What? Me?! Pfft- no! Absolutely not, never in a million years! He has nothing to worry about!” She could see Ekina approaching them with a rather bewildered expression, and Marinette honestly couldn’t blame her for being confused- it was a miracle that Marinette was even forming words right now with how tongue-tied she felt, so it should be expected that the words weren’t able to string themselves together in more natural flowing sentences.

But then- ohoho… Then Damian smiled at her.

Well- the small upturn of his lips could barely qualify for an actual smile, but it was enough to make her heart soar and her legs become weak. She would have fallen down had she not already pressed her weight back against the refrigerator. She even heard herself whimper- which was totally not humiliating in every way…

“I was worried as well,” he told her.

He stepped back then, turning as his heel and sauntering away as Ekina reached her. Marinette’s eyes didn’t leave Damian’s back until he was completely out of sight.

“Mars?” Ekina called her by her new nickname, concern lacing her tone. She reached out for her shoulder, only to yelp a bit as the touch sent Marinette falling to her knees. “Woah! Yo, dude- are you okay?!”

Marinette remained silent for a moment, trying to let her mind collect itself.

She… she was too far gone.

She thought the last week apart had given her time to cool down a bit, but now Marinette understood that this was too much for her to just rationalize and get used to.

Even with Adrien, she had managed to calm herself down with enough breathing and calming thoughts- but she could barely even think around Damian! His presence alone was overwhelming for her, and any further interaction past a simple greeting was enough to give her a miniature heart attack.

This was just- how was she even supposed to work here?!

He was her boss! She had been lucky up until this point, but she couldn’t exactly rely on the fantasy that they would never interact for as long as she worked at his own family's company- in his own friggin’ department!

How could she- oh… oh no.

Marinette slowly brought a hand up to her mouth, feeling herself gag a little.

Whenever her thoughts spiraled too much out of control and her stress levels got too inordinate for her body to handle, she couldn’t help but feel legitimately sick to her stomach.

“Mars?”

“I… I think I needa’ throw up-” Marinette shot up to her feet, abandoning her plate and Ekina as she bolted for the women's restroom.

She really needed to get a hold of her catastrophizing habit.

Little did she know though, that her reaction following the meeting between her and Damian, had received both the notice and slowly blossoming concern of both her coworker, and just about everyone else in the cafeteria…

Chapter Text

For the next few weeks… Marinette’s not even sure how to describe how she felt when it came to Damian Wayne.

One day she could go on pretending like the man didn’t exist in her reality, and the next thing she knew, he popped up somewhere on her radar(without her consent, mind you), and it was like her whole world revolved around him.

And she couldn’t even properly be mad about it or blame him, because he was always only doing his job!

Like two weeks ago, when he had emailed her about a few outfits his family would need tailored for a gala some of them were attending out of town. Conversations like this were manageable for her- until Damian was somehow able to draw her into a deeper conversation on where else she had visited in the United States outside of Gotham, and suddenly two hours of back and forth emailing had gone on between them.

By the time Marinette had realized what had happened, it was already time for her to clock out. She had tried to Kwami-up and draw a boundary between them then, explaining that they shouldn’t use their work emails or hours at WE for such personal conversation…

Yeah, thinking back on it, she should have realized how that could have been taken…

The next day upon arriving at work, she realized Damian had texted her good morning, asking if they could meet over the weekend to discuss something.

She forgot to wonder how on earth he got her number.

Every time she had a break for lunch, and every time she got off work, Damian texted her constantly.

He would ask how her work was going and if she needed any more assistance. He asked her if she wanted him to hire any more textile designers to help her workload, or if there were any projects she wanted him to look at for her. And just when Marinette was beginning to worry that he thought her work was perhaps lacking in quality(this was the only reasoning her brain could come up with for his inquiries), he would quickly follow his questions up with an explanation of wanting to make her job as comfortable as possible.

Was… was this harassment?

Marinette wasn’t sure if this was harassment or not.

It wasn’t that he was being mean or anything, but it still felt like he was being too overindulgent with her, to the point where she wondered if he did anything else with his time.

He didn’t come to see her in person much anymore(for that she and her team members were relieved), but he was paying her even more attention with how often he messaged her.

She was legitimately concerned if this man was able to get his own work done in time.

She was grateful that he had listened to her about not talking sociably during their work hours, but he would also email her about actual work as well, though Marinette was starting to see a pattern in how he managed to make most things sound work-related.

Thinking back on it, she’s not too certain how her favorite flower arrangements fit into their work…

(She also ignored how the very same type of bouquet appeared on her desk in a delicate pink glass cylinder vase.)

Actually, now that she thinks on it; Damian wasn’t the only man in the Wayne family that hadn’t left her alone.

Bruce Wayne was a kind and caring boss, whom Marinette was eternally grateful for. In an endless sea of corrupt rich people and business tycoons, he was one of the first whom she had met that were not absolutely incorrigible, and actually had a clean set of morals.

She had gotten her hopes crushed, ripped apart, and practically inflamed by all the other companies she had visited alongside Jagged and Penny, and yet the man had ended up being one of the best ones they could have ever signed a contract with.

He was always popping in once every few days, checking on how her and her team were doing. Marinette didn’t realize a CEO could be so hands-on and considerate for their employees, and it warmed her heart a little to see.

However, she soon learned that his strong-willed consideration was rather… new, to everyone else.

Ekina told her it wasn’t strange for him to show up often during Marinette's first week, but every time after that was rather bewildering to her. “Even when I worked on the same floor as his own kid, he rarely showed up this often. He’s clearly trying to make a good impression on you.”

Marinette frowned in confusion. Both of them watched from her office as Bruce spoke animatedly with one of the photographers, Maxine. “Well, I get it, kinda. I know I was sort of a high profile kind of person for him to hire, but why would he continue to be doing it? I already work for him, and I’ve made it clear that I don’t plan to leave.”

Ekina snorted lightly, shaking her head from where she leaned back against Marinette’s desk. “Hun, I hate to break it to you- but that is not what that’s about. The guy’s after something else, sweetcheeks.”

Something else?

Wait… she couldn’t mean-?!

Marinette paled, unable to help herself from feeling a little sickened by the idea. “But… but he’s married- h-he has kids, even! He’s as old as my own dad, so, so why… you don’t actually think…?”

For crying out loud, his youngest child was older than her- and she even had a crush on him!

Seeming to finally catch on to her train of thought, Ekina seemed to panic as well, though for a different reason behind it. She quickly grabbed Marinette by the shoulders and shook her head, looking like she was ready to either laugh or cry… or maybe both.

“Woah- no! Mars, out of all the reasons why, I can personally promise and assure you that what you’re thinking of is not a possibility! Mr. Wayne isn’t like that, I swear!”

“Well then what else were you referring to?!”

Ekina sighed. “Girl, seriously, your mind just jumps to the worst possible conclusions, doesn’t it? I meant that he’s probably trying to scope you out.”

Scope her out?

“For adoption.”

WHAT.

Marinette couldn’t help her jaw dropping in shock.

“I… I’m sorry?”

“Hup!” Ekina hopped up to sit on the corner of the desk, crossing her legs as she leaned back on her hands. “Mostly all of the Waynes were adopted in. Good ole’ Brucey has a wee bit of a problem for taking in cuties he likes. You, my darling fashionista sister, happen to fit the bill for those most likely to get picked up from the box. Dark hair, blue eyes, feisty and hella smart; I’m betting he’s already scouted out your family to see if he can snatch you away from them. Your parents don’t have any criminal background, do they?”

“My parents are bakers in Paris,” Marinette muttered in response, though she barely acknowledged what she was even answering. Her mind was reeling as she properly acknowledged her situation.

Was Bruce Wayne seriously trying to adopt her?

That… no.

Nope!

Marinette didn’t know the proper way to acknowledge all the issues that came with even the concept of such an idea, and so it was better off if she pretended to not have even heard of it.

And so she forgot… on purpose… perhaps a little too well.

(Whenever Ekina brought it up again in the coming month, Marinette had to forcefully shove her mind into a dark corner of her memories, just to ignore the issue.)

Anyways! Moving forward!

Jason checked his watch as he stepped into the bistro. He was about ten minutes early for their scheduled lunch, but he was already in the area anyway and there was no sense in just walking away, right?

He stepped up to a waitress at the bar, asking for a pair of menus before pointing to the outdoor tables. “I’m waiting on a friend right now. I think we’ll just take a seat outside.”

“Of course, sir! I’ll send a server your way shortly.”

Stepping out, Jason probably sat for no more than a minute before he managed to spot Marinette heading his way.

It wasn’t hard of course, seeing as she ran around the corner and sprinted like she was running away from the ‘Clown King’ himself.

Jason doubted she was actually in any actual danger though. He once went shopping with her at a convenience store and saw how calm and collected she was when a group of robbers burst in and held everyone at gunpoint. She hadn’t even flinched when not one- but three were pointed at her as she consoled a crying child and traded herself for the mother as the main hostage.

She had then proceeded to wipe the floor with the criminals faces, using a form of fighting that Jason was bewildered to say he had never seen before.

Maybe in cartoons- but Jason doubted he would ever find someone other than Marinette that managed to use a yo-yo as a singular weapon of takedown, and actually be successful.

“Dude, what is that thing made of?!” He had asked her incredulously after they had given the cops their statements. “And why do you carry a yo-yo around in your purse?”

“If there’s anything I learned from my fair share of fights, it’s that anything can be a weapon, so long as you know how to wield it.”

Which was honestly kind of terrifying to hear from the cute little lady, but Jason had quickly learned to stop being surprised with her.

Seeing her now, panicked and looking absolutely terrified as she ran to meet him? Honestly, Jason wasn’t in the least bit worried.

You would think he would be, since it might put into question what on earth could so badly frighten a woman who seemed to have no fear of death or life itself; but just as quickly as he had learned to not be surprised, he had also learned that Marinette’s priorities weren’t exactly in order.

She would be cool as a cucumber as she helped him redress a gunshot wound he had lied about how he got, but would freak out like it was the end of the world when she ran out of her favorite colored threads. So yeah, despite the way she looked and acted, Jason honestly doubted whatever she was worried over was actually a big deal.

“What’s up, pixie?” Jason asked, handing her a menu as she reached their table, panting as she took her seat. “Your coffee machine didn’t break on you or anything, did it?”

Finally calming down, Marinette scowled at his assumption. “Don’t even- my coworker stole the one I had in my office because she thinks I have an abusive relationship with it.”

That fit.

“No, it’s not that though. I think-… I think your brother hates me.”

…?

Chapter Text

“I think your brother hates me.”

Jason stared at her silently, eyes wide and blinking slowly. He didn’t have any actual reaction to her words, which was… kinda more unnerving than if he were to try and argue or disagree with her.

“Jay?” She called his name after nearly a full minute of silence.

The man snapped out of it finally, his head giving a miniscule shake as he seemed to try and come back to reality. “Oh, uhm… Sorry, wha- what did you say? I mean, I heard what you said, but what on earth could you mean? You do realize my family all loves you, right?”

Oh absolutely, even she couldn’t deny how much the family had taken to her, but that went for everyone else besides Damian.

It was like the man couldn’t stand her presence!

He was always trying to fluster her up and make her nervous, and would leave her be, once she reached her breaking point. It was one thing when she had acted that way towards Adrien, but there was a clear difference between how the boys acted with her.

You see; Adrien only ever flustered her by accident. The boy had been completely oblivious to his own charm, and hadn’t even realized what he was doing to her. And after seeing her get anxious and nervous, he would accidentally make things worse for her by being so caring and concerned with how she reacted to him.

When she had figured out Adrien’s identity as her superhero partner, she had already managed to lose interest in him romantically. She had realized that the interest she had for him was too superficial, and that most of his personality that she had fallen for had just been a fabricated persona his father had created for him. Getting to know the real Adrien, Marinette had found herself liking him even more, but that was because her romantic investment switched to platonic.

When she finally told Adrien her identity, she wasn’t at all surprised when he started flirting with her as Marinette. It hadn’t had an effect on her as it probably would have at the beginning of their relationship, for both of them, but she would give him a little credit for trying. It took a little over a month for Adrien to admit to both her and himself that he liked her too much as a friend to truly want anything different.

They had ended their romantic back-and-forth on good terms, and they were still close as friends, even after his fathers arrest and him giving her Plagg’s Miraculous.

But yeah; back when she had a crush on him, Adrien had made her feel nervous and flustered without needing to do anything more than breath near her- and he never even realized it until long after their reveals, and she had needed to tell him straight to his face.

That wasn’t how it was with Damian though- no no no. You see; Damian knew what he was doing, and he knew how flustered she got because of it.

Adrien was just oblivious- but Damian was a tease.

When she had gotten too anxious to properly form a sentence and converse with Adrien, he would get confused or concerned, trying to help her figure out whatever it was her vocal chords were trying to word-vomit out of her. When she did it with Damian however, the man would smile all too knowingly, and would silently watch in amusement as she failed to string together a few words.

When seeing her flustered to the point of nearly passing out and giving herself an early heart attack, Adrien would offer to rush her to the nurses office, or at least to help her sit down and get her some water, because clearly she had a fever and needed to get some rest. Damian, on the other hand, would tell her that the pink shade her face took on suited her well, and would walk away like he had completed his job well.

Damian was doing all of this on purpose, simply to rile her up and take some strange sort of satisfaction from her acting like a fish flung out of the water.

He hated her.

What else could it be?!

Who took satisfaction from making someone flounder about and become incapable of functioning properly, unless they held some sort of resentment towards them?!

And that’s not even mentioning the fact that he did it- all. The. Freaking. TIME.

She could never catch a break. Even when he wasn’t anywhere near her, he would message her for hours until she eventually spent most of her time at work just trying to catch a break from him. He had to have it out for her.

She told this to Jason after he seemed to fail to understand who in his family could possibly dislike her, and upon hearing her tale, she was relieved to see he agreed with her.

“Damn, Pix,” he said, sighing and shaking his head in condolence for her life. “I mean, I know the demon can be a little shit and scares people often, but I didn’t think he’d do it to you- more or less in such a different, strange approach.”

“What do you mean? Does he not do this to other people?”

“Not that I’ve heard of. Usually he just glares and barks profanities at others. The fact he’s going out of his way to inconvenience you and make you uncomfortable like this… As much as I don’t want to, I honestly have to agree with you on this one.”

Oh, great! So even worse off, not only did the guy she had a crush on dislike her, but he hated her so much that he had created an entirely new method on how to express it! Even his own brother agreed that he must hate her!

Letting her head bang down onto the table, Marinette muttered in upset. “Damn it, Gimmi… You can’t just have a little mercy on me?”

In the vast abyss of reality, between both life and death, creation and destruction, order and chaos…

Gimmi blinked in surprise, glancing in the direction of the sound.

“Wait…” they frowned as they contemplated. “...Did I warn Marinette about the accident yet?”

They crossed their legs and two pairs of their arms as they thought, humming as they used the other pair to scratch at both their chin and the top of their head. “Mmm… Well, I’m sure she’s got it covered~”

“Have you told anyone about this yet? I’m sure if you told B, he’d make demon spawn back off- actually, I think he’s so desperate to adopt you that he’d be willing to disown the brat even.”

Marinette shook her head at the idea. “As much as I appreciate the reminder that your dad is trying to adopt me(which I will try to forget again), I can’t. I mean, it’s not like Damian’s doing anything wrong; it’s just that I get too flustered and nervous around him. What’s your dad going to do; ban him from coming to the company?”

“Well-”

“Don’t answer that.”

Jason lifted his hands in surrender, shaking his head lightly in amusement. “Whatever, Pix. If you want, I can talk to him myself? I’ll tell the Demon to back off of ya, and give him hell while I’m at it.”

She considered it for a moment before shaking her head. As much as Damian was torturing her on purpose, it wasn’t such a sinful thing for him to simply tease her, while she was the one overreacting dramatically. It wouldn’t be fair for her to have his brother turn on him for her sake.

“It’s fine, Jay. I just need to stop reacting so strongly is all. Once he sees I’ve calmed down, maybe he won’t find it so… I don’t know; amusing? I’m just going to go to work, do my job, and try to ignore him until I can properly control myself.”

“Congrats, Nettie! From now on, you and Lil’ Wayne will be workin’ side by side!”

Marinette stared at her pseudo uncle in absolute horror.

Unaware of his betrayal, Jagged smiled as wide and excitable as usual, arm slung casually around the shoulders of the very man whom she had vowed to keep herself away from.

Seriously- she had made that vow a week ago, and had kept strong well since then!

Damian had kept up his little game of “Let’s make Marinette a friggin’ mess” for a few days; but between her ignoring his messages and ignoring his presence when he snuck up to her floor for whatever work reason he gave as an excuse to her coworkers, the man seemed to finally catch some sort of hint and left her be. 

Sure it was a little sad; she really did like him- a lot, even! But she also liked her job, and doing the work she did had been her life-long dream achieved. Her crush on Damian Wayne would just have to sit it's butt down on and watch from the sidelines as she flourished. 

She refused to let her feelings get in the way of her work! 

At least, that's what the plan had been, up until Jagged called her about some important announcement about his next concert, telling her he was visiting her office as soon as his plane landed in the city.

He had called her when it was nearly four in the morning for her, so she had been rather out of it and hadn’t actually heard most of what he told her; hell, she was barely certain the call had actually even happened until he sauntered into her office later that afternoon.

When Damian had followed her uncle into her office, she had tried not to read into it right away.

Damian was her boss, and Jagged was just as much under WE’s Design and Art Department as she was. As Jagged’s sort-of boss, but mainly his acting Producer, it should be perfectly normal to assume that the two had been discussing work together, or… something…

Okay, Marinette’s gonna be honest- she had no clue what a producer actually does. At least, not what they do other than what Penny already does for Jagged.

She’s aware that the business side of things is usually handled by the producer and their company, but Marinette wasn’t sure what else actually went on with that side of the job…

Either way, she tried to ignore the growing dread in her gut when she saw both men enter her office together, both grinning upon seeing her. Though, while her uncle seemed excited, Damian looked nothing short of smug. It was that look that told her that something was going down- something that would amuse him. And so far, in the past month, nothing seemed to amuse Damian Wayne more than to turn her into a complete and utter wreck.

It was when Jagged told her that he would be holding his next concert here in the city that she started to catch on.

It was when he told her that despite it being a rather last minute sort of decision, Damian was more than happy to help, and actually seemed damned pleased about the idea.

It was when he told her that the two would be working closely for the next month as they prepared the set up for the concert, that she realized her horrible luck.

Gimmi really was trying to curse her…

Chapter Text

Once again, in the abyss between all that was, is, and has yet to be…

“Ah- choo!” Gimmi sneezed out of nowhere, sniffling as they used a finger to rub at their nose. Their eyes blinked slowly and without sync. That was the third time in the last ten hours. “Why do I keep sneezing so often-? Wait…”

They frowned in confusion, looking up into the colorful flows of energy that surrounded them.

“...When… When was I even able to sneeze???”

A brush of the hand, and a groan proceeding.

That was the fifth time in the past ten. Minutes.

Why- just why?!

Curse you Jagged Stone, for making her life harder over and over again!

Marinette resisted the urge to bang her head on her desk. She knew that if she actually went through with the action, Damian would only use it as a means to show concern and get even closer to her.

She really didn’t need that right now.

Now, as you might recall; the other day, Jagged had informed her that she and Damian would be working together to get everything ready for his upcoming concert in one month.

Now, Marinette had finally come to terms with her predicament(with no help from staying up all night moaning to her Kwamis about her miserable fortune), so don’t expect too much complaining about it.

But no- the situation itself wasn’t the issue.

Marinette had held crushes on people before, and she managed herself well with them when it came to completing her work seriously. That was never an issue for her.

Even when she had worked with his father on multiple different occasions, Marinette had never let her crush on Adrien get in the way of her work quality. She had that all covered.

She had years of experience when it came to putting her own emotions and feelings on the backburner, whether others called her methods healthy or not(shut up, Luka), so this was honestly childs-play for her.

A few deep breathing exercises in the morning, having arrived much earlier to her office then Damian could possibly suspect, and Marinette was ready to conquer the day without letting the man fluster her up and catch her like a fish out of water. Nothing could stop her from doing her work well, not even her own heart trying to beat its way out of her chest.

Only… She had prepared to keep herself under control, but… she hadn’t accounted for one issue.

Damian was working with her closely- as in, he would be on the same floor as her for the whole month, if not just in the same closed office. He wasn’t just existing near her- he would be interacting with her, in person, constantly. For a month.

And Damian wasn’t the type to just leave her be- oh no. He had enjoyed flustering her up and turning her into an erratic butterfly, trapped in a jar where he could watch her squirm and flutter about anxiously under his watch.

If Marinette didn’t like him so much, she was sure she would find his actions and methods torturous.

And even more than that- she would have openly complained had the man not competently been working while he was doing it. For all the infuriating and charming qualities the man had previously held in her eyes, she had to admit that he was  very good at his job.

Now personally, Marinette wasn’t entirely sure what the full process was for hosting a concert. She knew parts of what she should do, but in all actuality, she seemed to have forgotten most of the fundamentals. She had been prepared for them to mainly be focusing on set designs, and working out outfits with the choreographers, and getting the right angles for lighting and sound annunciation-

How was she supposed to have known there would be more paperwork to it all?

“Permits?” Marinette asked incredulously, looking over her shoulder. She tried to brush aside the fact that Damian was hovering over her chair rather than having a seat on his own. Not that she minded, but she worried if the man knew what ‘personal space’ meant. It was one thing with her, since she could overlook it due to her feelings for him, but she doubted many others would let it fly. “What kind of permits do we need for a concert? Isn’t that mainly just for police work and stuff?”

“That’s a ‘warrant’,” Damian corrected her, smiling at her mix up. Please bear in mind, she only started to learn English around the time of her graduation last year, and half of the English words sounded similar or had similar meanings. She still couldn’t understand why they needed three different words pronounced as ‘there’, yet meaning totally opposing things. “A permit is a form from the city government that gives us permission to do certain things.”

“Oh! Une licence légale!” Okay, that made more sense. But even still, she hadn’t realized they would need that for a concert. Though, then again, she could recall something along those lines being mentioned by Officer Raincomprix nearly every time he was arguing with Madame Couffaine…

“I’ll be taking care of all that,” Damian reassured her, no doubt knowing that she couldn’t even begin to figure out how to get those or which ones to even acquire. “I have a generalized budget prepared for you to work with, though we can arrange to be flexible with it if needed. I also picked out some of the best venues for you to select from, though I think it would be better for you to go see them in person before deciding. Along with security and staffing for equipment, I can have that all handled; I will leave the recruitment for the other musicians and performers up to you, from our performing arts sector.”

As he spoke, he placed different folders and forms down on her desk, all neatly displayed and organized. And better yet, to further pull at the old heartstrings, he had typed it all out in French for her to more easily read through.

He was really trying to win her over hard with this, and it was working.

More than a handsome man, or an even more gorgeous soul; Marinette was a sucker for people who were passionate and driven, striving for the best and most perfect quality in their own work. While opposites often attract, Marinette liked the idea of being with someone who was just as hard-working as herself. It was its own special type of attractive, to be a diligent worker.

Knock-knock-knock.

The two looked up, Marinette smiling brightly at the visitor, unaware of the sudden scowl to appear on the man behind her.

“Mr. Wayne! How can I help you?”

Bruce walked into the room, a cheerful smile in place as per usual, though his gaze seemed rather cautious as he glanced back and forth between her and his son. “Just coming to check in; see how you’re holding up. I wasn’t aware of the project Jagged had you both working on until yesterday morning, so I hadn’t known you two would be working so… closely, together.”

This time, Marinette noticed the rather pointed glance Bruce shot at his son, as if asking a dozen silent questions.

She worried if he had noticed the situation.

While there was nothing in her contract about forming a close relationship with the Wayne Family, Marinette had the sense to understand that it probably wouldn’t have been very acceptable for her to start dating her boss- aka, the son of the CEO who constantly showed her such strong kindness and support.

Not that she and Damian were going to start dating, though! Marinette knew well enough that they weren’t even all that close(disregarding physical distance), so she wouldn’t dare to assume Bruce would even begin to suspect such a thing, nor would she do anything to even mistakenly imply it. But even still, bearing that in mind, it seemed like a risk for her crush on Damian to even be found out by others.

Not only was he her boss, but she was the personal designer for both him, and his entire family.

If it was discovered that she held romantic views or opinions for him, then it could sink her career at WE in a single instant. It was inappropriate for one, and for two- it was completely unprofessional of her.

How could they expect her to keep things professional and not ever act on her feelings, or not let them affect her work? She’s only been here for a friggin’ month!

She couldn’t risk that happening.

The idea that Bruce might have caught on to her little(huge) crush on his son was somehow more terrifying than the idea of Damian knowing- because while Damian messed with and teased her, Bruce might lose all favor and fire her.

However, much to her relief, Bruce continued to treat her kindly, seemingly unaware of her hidden feelings for his son. In fact, he actually decided to stick around the office again, much to her delight- though Damian seemed rather… irritated, by his fathers presence.

It took her a moment to understand why, until she noticed that… he was leaving her alone.

Unlike on the day they met, Damian was abstaining from his usual teasing and flustering actions around her. He didn’t come too close into her personal space; he didn’t refuse to lose eye contact despite her purposefully turning away from him left and right; he didn’t decide to initiate physical contact when he wanted her attention rather than just saying her name like a normal person- he left her mostly alone.

It was both the most relaxing and stressful moment of her day.

In fact- it actually made her realize a rather- ahem… embarrassing, fact about her.

Now, Marinette had complained time and time again about the constant attention and teasing gestures Damian had inflicted on her in the past month, correct? We could all recall that? If not, please refer to literally just the last few paragraphs, even.

Well… the harsh truth that she came to realize about herself just now was that; as much as she could barely survive the teasing and semi-charming torment, it felt so much worse when he paid her no attention at all.

Like- was that normal? Was she just being weird?

Marinette had heard that sometimes a child might bully another child because they secretly had a crush on them. But, like- could it be the same in reverse? Was that a thing?

Was it strange that she felt depressed and lonely when Damian wasn’t teasing her and riling her up? Because she doesn’t think that was normal, but-

Okay, no, she’s probably just being weird about it…

The main idea is the fact that he wasn’t paying her any close attention- yes! That was it! Marinette was fine without the teasing; it was the lack of attention in general that made her feel displaced.

But, she supposes it only made sense.

Damian wasn’t exactly in a position that he could be fired from- at least not easily. He was Bruce’s son, after all. But even still, it was clear as day to the whole world that Bruce looked upon Marinette kindly, and she’s certain that if he thought Damian was being rude or bullying her, he wouldn’t let it fly.

Again, she doubts he would fire Damian, but she’s sure he would be stern with him or make sure the two were never alone again so as to not allow him any more opportunities.

Which was great, really! Only…

Damian wasn’t technically doing anything wrong, right?

Had she not held the biggest crush on him, Marinette is sure she wouldn’t have minded the physical contact and more intimate conversations they sometimes held. It was her own fault for reacting the way she did, even if Damian was taking advantage of it to fluster her up even more.

Like- what if she ordered a spicy taco from a restaurant, and then got some poor worker fired by complaining to the manager about it being too spicy? That was her own reaction, caused by her own personal decision!

So, it made sense that Damian didn’t reveal his tendency to openly tease her in front of his father; just the same as she didn’t complain to Bruce about her growing panic everytime Damian did something that felt too close to flirting- which it clearly wasn’t.

Only… Marinette seemed to have forgotten that even though she didn’t complain to Bruce, there was someone else she already had complained to.

Chapter Text

Damian couldn’t keep the scowl off his face as he crumpled up the stupid list he had been idiotically paying reverence to for the past month.

Clearly, Jon had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Then again, looking back on it, Damian wasn’t sure why he honestly thought he would get good advice from his best friend- not only was he gay, but he hadn’t actually dated any of his own crushes outside of his own fantasies. The main reason he had bought into the Kryptonians advice was due to how similar he and Marinette were in their cheerfully outgoing personalities.

But even then, this was just ridiculous.

Jon advised him to be outgoing; charming, but subtle about his intentions- just as well as he told him to push the limits of physical affection, but not to the point of stepping outside of friendly bounds.

…Damian’s not even sure he had properly pieced together how to do all that, and at least hoped he had managed to do that much thus far(though if he had mistranslated his friend’s confounded text, then he most likely already ruined his chances).

Jon had told him to both make his intentions clear, and yet to also be subtle at the same time; and Damian wasn’t certain that was even physically possible.

Like- what did that even mean?!

Okay- despite his best friend’s advice, Damian wasn’t so sure if ‘subtle’ was the way to go when it came to wooing Marinette. Unfortunately, as intelligent as she was, she couldn’t pick up any of the hints he was dropping. Not that he was blaming her or anything! If anything, Damian’s willing to accept that it could be his own fault on this one. He would be the first to admit that he had no clue what he was actually doing here.

He made it very clear that he was attracted to her, but he also didn’t technically hit on her, thus possibly being upfront enough- while also… not? (Jon, what the actual hell have you started?)

Seriously though, Damian wasn’t sure what he was going to do. If this plan didn’t kill him, then he might as well do the job himself, what with how humiliating it felt to basically feel like he was being nothing short of a douche.

Really- Marinette’s facial expression whenever he was around told him that he always either made her extremely uncomfortable, or just downright traumatized by his presence. Even when they first met(before he had even acknowledged his feelings for her), the young woman reacted like he was some kind of predator that she was too scared to run away from, out of fear that he would chase her down either way.

Was he seriously that intimidating? Even without meaning to be?

Years ago, when he was a child and still new to the normal social behaviors outside of the League, Damian would have puffed out his chest in pride. However, now, as a (mostly) functioning adult, who had a semi-good grasp on domesticity and the way people functioned in a normal society… he understood that being feared for one’s presence wasn’t actually something to take pride in.

Damian didn’t want to be above everyone else anymore. He didn’t want to put himself on top and pin others down with a single glare, to show them their role in society was less than his own.

He wanted relationships- he wanted to make friends with others without needing to make it clear that he wasn’t actually upset 24-7, he just inherited a naturally intimidating look from the combined genes of his parents, and he was still having a hard time calming down his natural instinct to scowl when in reality he didn’t have anything particular on his mind.

So far, Jon was the first and only person to have picked up on this, outside of his family members.

Ugh… but even then, his own family seemed to still think of him like they did when he was a child.

His siblings continued to believe he was looking down on everyone around him, even them. Pennyworth, as understanding and kind as he may be, still still seemed to treat Damian like he was a wounded animal that hadn’t yet opened up to them all. And his father was clearly still under the belief that Damian was always just one comment away from wanting to break someone's arm.

Damian wished that they would notice that he had grown up and matured. He wished they would see that he had changed in the past ten years, and that he had completely turned anew.

He wished one of them would notice that he hadn’t mentioned being the “blood-son” ever since he was fifteen.

He wished they would acknowledge that he rarely harmed any criminals during a mission or on patrols, and that other than through simple comments(that rarely ever even sounded serious) he had become the most pacifistic of them all in recent years- even more than Richard.

And that- he wished they would notice that he was making an effort to call them by their first names more often, and that it was truly just that it was difficult for him since he had been raised with understanding that to call someone by their last name when you didn’t know them well was actually respectful.

But no one said anything.

He had slowly let go of his hope, thinking perhaps he had been too over excited on what he had believed was progress in his own self.

Maybe he really did have a problem, if the fact he was getting better was so unnoticeable and expected that no one seemed to pay it any mind?

Not to worry; Damian had come to terms with this wrong thinking.

Well- with Jon’s help, of course.

The moment Damian began to start calling Jonathan by his full first name, the Kryptonian had been ecstatic. He practically glowed like the sun that supplied his energy, and he would cheer Damian on for progressing in stepping out of his old boundaries.

He was understanding when Damian would call him by his last name, and didn’t seem in the slightest bit upset or disappointed when it took Damian nearly another year before calling him by his nickname. As much as it pained Damian to say it(because Jon would squeeze the life out of him in a tight hug when he did), Damian was grateful for such a close friend.

Had it not been for Jon’s support, Damian was rather certain that he would have given up on growing.

With no one bothering to care, what was even the point in trying to be a better version of yourself?

Jon told him that he didn’t need to change who he was- only how he looked at the world and expressed how he truly felt. After all, Damian had been initially raised to not express anything whatsoever.

He wanted to become a better person, and having someone's support made it seem so much less hopeless.

Though, even with all this in mind; this change not only needed support, but it just as well required acknowledgment. And so far, Jon was one of the very few to acknowledge the change.

Which, needless to say, made it excruciatingly difficult to make new friends and relationships when he had already made a rather concerning reputation for himself when he was younger.

He broke a few bones as a kid(some out of misplaced anger and others truly just out of anxiety-driven fumbles), and now the whole world thought he was a feral animal ready to snap at them if they breathed around him.

Apparently, Marinette must have gotten the memo before her meeting with him.

Which kinda sucked, but Damian had tried to ignore this issue and push through.

He had texted Jon the moment he realized his feelings(literally no more than ten minutes into the meeting and when Marinette had her back to him), and his friend had spent the next five minutes spamming his phone with celebrating emojis, hearts, and memes of all varieties. When this ended, he then decided to bestow upon Damian the wisdom of one who had a better social standing amongst others.

And so far… that advice had been an absolute, flaming pile of dogshit.

Thanks a lot Jon, if anything, you made Damian’s and Marinette’s relationship worse- before it even had a good enough basis to even be called existent!

He better expect to lose some of his best friend privileges for a while.

Ugh, okay…  Damian needed to find a new approach before he lost the very last of his chances. 

From the way she acted, Damian wouldn't be surprised if Marinette just about hated him at this point. When she didn't act like she was walking on glass around him, she was making a point to ignore him entirely. 

Damian had tried emailing and texting her before, as Jon had convinced him that long distance communication would bring in more intrigue, while also showing interest by trying to be more personable and friendly with her. However, this didn't seem to have the desired effect(if any effect at all).

Marinette would play along for a while, but just as it seemed like he was getting somewhere, she would cut off any connection they were making, and she would be even more nervous around him the next time he saw her in person.

So: not helpful.

If anything, Damian couldn’t think of a single piece of advice that had been helpful thus far. He was going to need to switch his tactics up.

He remembered hearing Richard blab once about “love languages” or whatever it was called, saying his own were physical touch and words of affection. Perhaps Marinette’s might be different?

Could her own have more to do with gifts and kind gestures? She had been rather overjoyed with her office, and she always seemed more at ease around him when he brought that up. It could be that he was going about it the wrong way for that?

Hmm… Maybe if he bought her another coffee machine-

BAM!

“Demon Spawn- what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Damian froze in place, horror creeping upon his body in the form of a chilling shiver that crawled up his skin.

You see- while Damian was having this entire mental monologue, he had been inside of his art studio at home. His safe space, which no one else was allowed to enter without permission unless it was an absolute emergency.

This rule had been enforced, but who were they all kidding to believe that Jason would actually follow it, right?

The reason behind Damian’s horror, you might ask?

Well, with where his mind had been for the past few hours, it should have been obvious what his hands had started to paint on the canvas as he essentially zoned out.

Glancing back at the door nervously, Damian prayed with his entire being that the suddenly silent man had failed to notice what was right there in front of him, in clear, bright acrylic.

Judging from the rather gobsmacked expression though, it seemed like Jason wasn’t as blind as he had wished him to be.

After a good minute of pure and uncomfortable silence, Jason invited himself further into the room, eyeing the painting with a confused hesitance.

Upon reaching the spot beside Damian’s stool, the man opened and closed his mouth a few times as he failed to put into words whatever remarks were floating about in his head. Damian almost wished he would just make fun of him and get out quickly, if only to avoid an actual conversation to be held over his older brother’s discovery.

“...Your, erm… Your paintings are really good…”

“...Thanks…”

“Yeah, yeah… So…” Jason hesitated again, though only for a moment. “I-I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and say… You probably don’t hate Marinette, do you?”

…?