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The Justice League gather around their absurdly large meeting table, the core three at the head on the table with a powerpoint presentation cued up on the tv above their heads. Batman sighs.
“As you can see, the Avengers,” disdain heavily coats his words, “have once again run an entire city to the ground and, as the Justice League, we have to rebuild it.” Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman all have unreadable faces, but everyone knows what they’re thinking.
At least when we run a city to the ground, we rebuild it ourselves.
“Despite that, it is our duty to help the citizens of the world, so even if the destruction isn’t our fault, we still need to help. Batman will set up another meeting with Iron Man to discuss taking accountability over things that he causes, but even if they don’t help, we’ll still do the work, understood?” Superman explains. All the members of the Justice League nod, internally badmouthing the Avengers.
“I will hand out everyone’s assignments. Those with superstrength will help move all the debris and aid those who are helping with construction. Those with super speed will hand out recovery bags to the people who lost things during the battle, each recovery bag comes with a first aid kit, several water bottles, and a few high protein non-perishables. For those who need it, you’ll also hand out baby supplies like formula and diapers. Those who are injured or are unable to help physically for any reason will work the disaster relief stations, giving things like clothes and food to those who have yet to get their recovery bags or have already run out. We are calling in all of our magic-bearing members and those with medical knowledge to help those who were injured. If you fall under two or more of those categories, you will help in whichever station needs it.” Diana passes out a packet to every member present, only a few pages long but packed with information.
As the sound of papers rustling fills the room, everybody’s eyes scan the page with barely-conceled urgency, most leaving as soon as they understand their assignment. Red Robin walks up to Batman.
“I can bring Agent B for medical relief.” Red Robin offers in his totally-unconcerned-but-actually-concerned tone. Batman gives him a stiff nod, signalling Red Robin to leave. He runs up to Superboy (the older one), giving the super a short nod (very much like Batman’s; Superboy can see the familial resemblance) and the two Zeta to Gotham.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are the only three that remain after a few minutes. The three make eye contact with each other, nodding as if they understand what the others were saying (despite not a word being said) and they all zeta to different locations.
~~~
Tony sits at the head of the table, the Avengers all sitting around him as he brings out a holographic powerpoint presentation and places it on the middle of the table, the technology allowing everyone to see it perfectly.
"As you can see, the Justice League,” his tone harbors much disdain, “have once again taken over our disaster relief efforts. Batman reached out yesterday, once again trying to set up a meeting, but we all know that he’s just going to tell us that we ‘aren’t doing enough’ again,” Tony withholds an eyeroll.
“This time, though,” he continues, “we’re going to join them on their efforts, as opposed to letting them handle it as we’ve done before. It seems they’re providing three main services; medical relief, food and other disaster supplies, and rebuilding efforts. Whichever category you believe you can do the most help for, you will help them. Is that good?” Tony explains, looking around at the group’s nods and, within minutes, they’re all cleared out.
~~~
When Batman sees the familiar red suit, an abomination in his completely unbiased opinion (his Batsuit is far superior), he takes a deep breath to calm himself down.
“Iron Man.” Batman greets when the red suit drops down in front of him.
“Batman.” The other returns Batman’s greeting. “As you can see, I brought my team here to help, so there’s no need to have a meeting where you tell me that we don’t do enough.” Iron Man snarks.
“Well, if you’d helped long before today, I wouldn’t have to have scheduled the meeting.” Batman retorts. Iron Man stays silent, but Batman can see his fists clenching through the suit. Iron Man takes a deep breath before walking away, and within a few feet, he goes airborne. Batman scoffs. He’s a much better hero and he doesn’t even have to fly.
~~~
The Justice League, once again, gather in the Watchtower for a meeting, although this time, they’re much more disheveled, hair a mess, and suits covered in dirt, grime and other things they’d rather not talk about.
“Thank you for coming here for a debrief, even though I know you are all antsy to get back home to your loved ones–” Superman is interrupted.
“--And take a shower!” Barry calls out. Superman smiles, although it’s obviously strained.
“Yes, and take a shower. Regardless, I appreciate your presence today. Even if the day ended in… a bit of a disaster, we still accomplished a lot today. The city can begin their long term disaster relief plan and we will no longer have to aid, although we will still have semi-permanent stands out there to accommodate those who still don’t have shelter.”
“While we are grateful for your help today, we also want to talk to you about something. While the Avengers are annoying at times, and do things a little worse than how we do it,” the room erupts in agreement with Wonder Woman’s statement, but she holds up her hand to quiet them down. “It still does not excuse the actions that led to today’s… event. It is unacceptable to help others just to beat another person, as there is no way to ‘help others better’, especially when it results in not one, not two, not even three, but almost 15 fights breaking out between members of the Justice League and members of the Avengers. It is unacceptable, and while it is fine to dislike someone, it is not fine to harm others because of your dislike for them.” Nearly everyone in the room shrinks into their chairs, embarrassment flaring on their cheeks. Batman grunts in disapproval, eying his various associates and children, who shrink even further into their seats (if even possible). Superman sighs.
“Regardlesss, we are all proud of the work you have done today and we want you to think on what was talked about today. You may all go home.” Superman excuses the group, and they all drag their feet to the zeta and happily head home.
~~~
Once again, the Justice League all gather around their large meeting table with the core three at the head of the table, although without a powerpoint presentation to accompany them.
“We have reports that there is an alien invasion currently happening in Paris, France. This time, it’s on a much larger scale than last time,” Wonder Woman pulls out a stack of packets, “Flash, will you–” The original Flash passes them out within seconds before settling back down into his assigned chair.
“Yes, this is much worse than any invasion we have experienced so far. Reports are claiming that there are giant, alien bunnies with glowing green and orange eyes who are,” Superman checks his clipboard, “turning people into life size carrots and eating them.” Some of the members try to stifle their laughs. “Yes, yes. I know, it sounds silly, but people are dying. Everyone needs to gear up and head there immediately.” Superman finishes, and the members all gather their things to leave, but before anyone does, Batman speaks up.
“Before everyone goes, I would like to warn you that the Avengers will be joining us today.” Batman zeta’s out of there before he can hear the uproar that happens in his wake.
~~~
When Red Hood zetas to Paris, he looks around in awe at the destruction caused by these ‘giant bunnies’. And of course they chose Easter of all days to wreak havoc.
“Do you want some help?” Sofia appears next to Red Hood, a cursed smile adoring her lips as Red Hood groans.
“Aboslutely not, you need to go home,” Red Hood responds as Sofia rolls her eyes.
“No, I can find a way to summon all the princesses, I’m sure Mulan will do some damage to these monsters in no time. I just need the amulet.” Sofia blinks innocently. Red Hood shakes his head.
“Absoluely not, last time I gave it to you, you disappeared for a week. “ Red Hood begins to walk away, but Sofia grabs his arm
“Please,” Sofia begs, but Red Hood stays resolute in his decision. Sofia pouts, not letting go of Red Hood’s arm.
“Sofia, please, I need to help.” Red Hood tries to shake her off, but she stubbornly stays attached to his arm, even going as far as climbing up his side and hanging on to his neck. Red Hood sighs, shifting her into a more comfortable position. Sofia deepens her pout.
“Come on,” she whines, kicking her feet and acting far more childish than she normally does. Red Hood chuckles.
“Sofia, you can’t find the amulet, I promise. Especially from your position. You cannot pickpocket it.” His voice moderator makes his words come out gruff and rude, but he knows that Sofia has been around him enough to know he’s not mad. Sofia huffs, resting her head on Red Hood’s shoulder as she sulks.
~~~
Red Hood rides into battle, Sofia hot on his tail, despite him telling her repeatedly to stay out of harm’s way, but as of now, Red Hood is too busy to scold a ten year old girl who’s hellbent on helping out. The giant alien bunnies begin to head towards him, flocking around him like a bunch of birds. One shoots an orange beam at him, likely a beam of magic that is what’s turning people into human sized carrots, but Red Hood dodges out of the way, sliding around the bunny’s leg and kicking it, causing the bunny to fall on the ground. As he’s about to attack another giant alien bunny, he hears a young, feminine voice from behind him, although it’s not the familiar voice of his pseudo kid, plus he can see Sofia in front of him, so no, this is an entirely different teenage girl.
When he turns around, he sees a girl with bright blue hair and a red bodysuit, one that definitely doesn’t look like it protects her from anything, with little black spots on it and a yoyo-like item in her hand. Beside her stands a man, likely about the same age as the girl, but he has blond, messy hair, cat ears (why?) and a full black bodysuit, a silver pole in his hand and a belt acting as his tail. The man has a smirk dancing on his lips and the girl looks to be rolling her eyes, although when Red Hood turns around, she schools her face.
“We’re here to help,” the girl says, determination heavy in her voice. Red Hood raises an eyebrow, although nobody can see it due to his helmet.
“Absolutely not, you’re like, what, 15?” He kicks another alien bunny, awaiting the girl’s response.
“You literally have a ten year old fighting next to you.” She points to Sofia.
“A, she’s my daughter, and B, she knows how to fight and when to get out of the way.” Red hood explains.
“We’ve been protecting Paris for over a year! We can fight, too.” Red hood sighs, though it filters through his voice modifier as a growl. The girl flinches. The guy steps between them.
“Woah, there, let’s calm down. We’re all on the same side, so how about we do our thing and you do your thing, yeah?” He holds his hands out placatingly, glancing between the girl and Red Hood. Said man clenches his jaw, taking a deep breath before nodding.
“If you die, it’s your fault.” He responds before disappearing into the crowd of angry alien bunnies, Sofia following close behind him.
“That was mean.” She states in a factual manner. Red Hood shrugs in a nonchalant way, although deep down he agrees with her. She sighs, going quiet as he starts attacking the bunnies again, the only sound coming from the aliens.
“Are you my dad?” Sofia asks after several minutes of relative silence. Red Hood freezes, barely noticeable, but he knows Batman would get on him for it if he was there.
“I mean, technically, yeah. I’m the one taking care of you, that’s what a father does. A good father, at least.” He resumes his combat. Sofia comes a bit closer, wrapping her arms around his back with a grin.
“Well, then. Thanks for the amulet, dad!” Sofia giggles, running off with her necklace and leaving Red Hood in a flustered daze.
No, he didn’t like being called dad, he definitely felt completely neutral about that sentence. Of course.
~~~
Red Robin walks through the battlefield, his eyes bouncing from hero to hero as he makes sure that nobody needs help. With the sheer amount of heroes that are here, it seems they all have this in the bag, but as time goes on, it seems like the more bunnies they immobilize, two more pop up in their place. They’re like that one Greek monster, he thinks. Lernaean Hydra, or something like that.
The fight is getting closer to the middle of the city, and while most people have the sense to evacuate (especially after an evacuation alarm goes off) but every once in a while, although it’s far more common than Red Robin would like, he sees a civilian or two on a balcony of a hotel or apartment, filming the fight. If he has to save those idiots, it won’t be his fault if they die (even if he’ll still do everything he can to keep them safe, even through their wounds are caused by their own idiocy).
As Red Robin starts gearing up to fight his own alien bunny, dodging the orange beams of carrot-magic before he can even get close enough to fight the bunny, he hears a puberty-ridden voice call from above him.
“Aye, you should stream Alien by Han,” The teenager calls out. Red Robin doesn’t pay any attention to the teenager, at least, not that the kid can see, but internally, he’s wondering what on earth is wrong with kids these days (he himself is only 16 but shh).
~~~
Impulse runs around the battlefield, bringing civilians to safety while ensuring all the heroes and other assorted vigilantes are doing well. He sees a crowd of civilians gathering on the perimeter of the battlefield where some of the less helpful heroes and vigilantes (mainly ones that are injured or unable to fight) are keeping a firm guard, preventing civilians from crossing. It seems one of the guards is arguing with the crowd, and Impulse, curious, appears at the guards side, preparing to explain to the crowd that, no, they cannot film the fight for views on tiktok or youtube or whatever app they’re on.
“Please, this pokemon is so hard to get! You have to let us pass!” The person who seems to be spearheading the crowd practically begs. Impulse raises an eyebrow at that.
“What pokemon?” He asks. The guard turns to tell Impulse that it doesn’t matter, but the psudo-leader’s eyes brighten.
“Xerneas!” The leader exclaims. Impulse gasps, taking his phone out excitedly.
“I’ve been trying to get that one for for, like, ever,” He whines, running to where the raid is happening, collecting the pokemon within seconds, and running back to the crowd.
“So you’ll let us through?” The leader asks, excited. Impulse shakes his head.
"Sorry, it’s too dangerous.” He responds, running away before he gets trampled by the angry crowd
~~~
Batman walks to where the emergency medical jet is landed, nodding in greeting at the team that exits.
“Thank you for meeting us here. We have accumulated several injured that will be needing immediate attention, and I’m sure we will have many more soon.” Batman informs the team.
“I’m Dr. Robinavich, although you can call me Dr. Robby. Dr Langdon and Dr. Dana will help spearhead operations here and the jet is fully stocked. We have our full team here and we will hopefully be able to attend to any emergency injuries.” Dr. Robinavich holds his hand out, expecting a handshake. Batman nods, ignoring the outstretched hand.
“I appreciate your help. Another doctor, Dr. Kukui, will be attending the injured with you. I’ll have one of the Flash’s bring all the injured here.” Batman gestures to the man standing beside him, wearing only a white coat and grey shorts– he said something about ‘not believing in shirts’– and Dr. Kukui joins the emergency medical team once Batman leaves, making his way back to the battle to aid his various children in their fights, even if they insist that they can do it themselves.
~~~
Iron Man stands at the other end of the gangway, scoffing at Batman's standoffish attitude. He will be far more charismatic towards the doctors that he called in, who are not even arguably better than his little ER team, they are better, no arguments needed. Iron Man rolls his eyes, annoyed at the mere thought of Batman. He’s so much better than Batman, anyways. People actually like him. He gets pulled out of his thoughts by the team of esteemed doctors exiting the gangway.
“Hello. Thank you for coming on such short notice.” Iron man greets, something that Batman didn’t do. Iron Man takes a deep breath.
“It isn’t like we had a choice.” Dr. House said with an annoyed expression. Iron Man smiles strainedly, despite his mask covering it anyway.
“Regardless, your help is invaluable here. I will show you to your station.” Iron Man leads the team to a tent a little ways away, ignoring Dr. House’s snarky remarks about the ‘lacking decor’ as the team looks around the fully stocked medical bay. There are about a dozen cots lying under the tent with various medical supplies and portable machines to help the doctors as much as they can in temporary medical centers.
“Will we be sharing with the other team?” The girl with sharp eyes and brown hair asks, running her hand along the bedding. Iron Man shakes his head.
“No, they’ll be working on the jet; they brought all of their medical supplies with them.” Iron Man explains, disdain in his tone. House raises an eyebrow.
“So they get a fully enclosed area with air conditioning while we get to perform life-saving surgeries outside, where there could be dirt and bugs that get into the patients' fully-exposed organs?” He sarcastically retorts. Iron Man takes a deep breath before responding.
“Yes. Unfortunately, the emergency team gets priority.” Iron Man explains, throat tight with irritation. House nods, turning to his team to explain the plan and very obviously ignoring the superhero, much to said man’s annoyance, but he takes the hint and returns to the battle.
~~~
Spoiler and Black Bat fight side by side, taking on several bunnies at once due to the team’s ‘sheer awesomeness’, as Spoiler adequately put it. Spoiler takes the cute little bunny legs, and Black Bat takes the head, putting a medical-grade eyemask in the bunnies to render them defenseless without truly hurting them.
“Y’know, if they weren’t killer alien bunnies, I totally would take one home with me.” Spoiler remarks as she dusts off her hands– or rather, gloves– after successfully taking down yet another alien bunny. Black Bat nods, jumping from one bunny to the back of the next one, somehow doing something that is ungraceful, gracefully. Spoiler often finds herself jealous of the grace that her girlfriend holds. Black Bat locks eyes with something behind Spoiler, but before she can turn and see what’s there, she hears a gentle laugh.
“It’s sad that something so cute can do so much damage, huh.” Spoiler nearly jumps in the air, only her years of bat-training preventing her from showing any hint that she was caught off guard. The words come from a girl with shiny, dark blue hair put in pigtails, and a ladybug-themed bodysuit. Her only accessory is a yoyo that the girl wrapped around her criminally-tiny waist after unwinding it from the lamppost she was hanging off of when Spoiler turned around. As Spoiler looks closer, it doesn’t seem like the yo-yo is made of any durable material, despite the girl using it like a grappling hook, and it also isn’t attached to anything. How on earth is it staying on her waist? Spoiler stands there, dumbfounded as the girl and Black Bat take down the last bunny in their area with ease that Spoiler knows is unpracticed, they’ve never even seen the girl before, but it looks so natural that Spoiler begins to doubt everything she knows about her girlfriend. Maybe they knew each other before Black Bat joined the bat-family? But the handshake that Black Bat gives the girl disproves Spoiler’s theory. If Black Bat knew the girl, she would greet her with a hug, not a handshake. Spoiler shakes her head to rid the confusing thoughts.
“Thanks for the help,” Spoiler smiles, standing beside Black Bat. The girl nods.
“Of course, it’s my job, after all.” She giggles sweetly, covering her mouth is a way that makes Spoiler want to coo.
“Superhero?” Black Bat asks. The girl schools her face and shrugs.
“Pretty much, yeah. I’m Ladybug, by the way. And my male counterpart is Chat Noir. You’ll know it’s him ‘cause he has a habit of making a lot of feline-themed puns.” The girl, Ladybug, shakes her head fondly.
“I’m Spoiler, and my counterpart is Black Bat.” She pauses, “Are you and Chat Noir…dating?” Spoiler asks, definitely not for any personal reasons, no, just because she’s curious. Yes.
“No, I don’t really like him like that…” She trails off, shaking her head sheepishly. Spoiler huff out an amused laugh.
“I get that, seriously. I dated a guy, Red Robin, you’ll probably see him at some point. Dating him made me realize that I preferred dating women, so, y’know, I started dating his sister.” Spoiler nods her head towards Black Bat with a smile. Ladybug raises her eyebrows, eyes going wide as she looks between the two Gotham vigilantes.
“You two make a cute couple. I can see it in the way you fight together.” Ladybug’s voice goes soft, her smile turning shy. Spoiler raises her eyebrow.
“You were watching us, huh?” She smirks, pulling out a pen and paper from her belt as Ladybug tries to explain herself through flustered words.
“It’s not like that- I didn’t mean- ugh. No, I just saw you two while I was heading over. That’s all.” Her face is bright red, obviously embarrassed at Spoiler’s words. Spoiler hands Ladybug a piece of paper with a string of numbers on it.
“Of course; call me anytime,” Spoiler winks at the cute girl, grabbing Black Bat’s hand. “Come on, BB, let’s go help the others.” Ladybug looks at Black Bat, who gives her an approving nod before running with Spoiler to the next section, leaving Ladybug with a bright red face and a million questions running through her head.
~~~
Sofia runs up to Red Hood excitedly, pulling Mulan with her, ignoring Mulan’s stumbles as she tries to keep up with Sofia’s fast paced skips. Red Hood turns around when he hears Sofia’s familiar giggles, a loud sigh escaping him as Sofia approaches with an excited smile.
“Look! Mulan’s here to help!” Sofia exclaims, pointing to her as if Red Hood hadn’t seen her already.
“I told you not to summon any princesses.” Red Hood gives her a deadpan look that he knows she can feel through his helmet. She shrugs.
“And I decided not to listen. She’ll help, I promise.” Sofia smiles innocently, but Red Hood can see the hint of mischief hiding in her eyes. Mulan turns around, hitting the bunny in the leg with a sheathed sword, waiting for the bunny to come crashing down before using the hilt of the sword on the bunny’s head to knock it out. Red Hood stares at her as she straightens once more before turning and beginning yet another fight with the bunnies. Red Hood turns to Sofia.
“We will be having this talk again later.” He states. Sofia blinks innocently.
“Of course, dad.” She giggles and runs off to god knows where, and Red Hood only hopes that she’s going somewhere safe.
~~~
Impulse runs around the field, bringing the injured to the Medbay, now that it’s been set up, and collecting the unconscious bunnies, making sure that they have the eye masks on, and bringing them to the containment centers that were probably part of some bat-contingency plan. Impulse didn’t know how they were already set up before the invasion even started, but Batman is prepared for everything, so Impulse isn’t surprised. After all, it doesn’t matter what contingency it was part of if, in the end, it helps when help is needed.
He clears up the area that had emptied a few hours prior, moving to the next, still active, battle ground. He sees several not-as-familiar faces around, as well as some more familiar faces. While he isn’t exactly friends with the Avengers, he’s still well versed on who they are and what they do. It’s a requirement, in a way, in order to be a superhero. You have to learn at least the names of all the big-league superheroes. He remembers when Red Robin, back when he was just Robin, created a whole slideshow about all the Avengers in order to educate Young Justice. No matter how useful Robin’s slideshows were, Impulse almost always fell asleep during them. They were just so boring. Regardless, he greets the heroes (that aren’t fighting) by name, and they know his in return. There have been a few local heroes around though, and Impulse doesn’t know their names. Perhaps he’ll look into that when this whole scuffle is over. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.
Impulse walks into the battle field, glancing around for a specific familiar face, and he knows that the person he’s looking for is here, but, as he looks around further, he can’t seem to spot the normally-smiling face. Just as he starts to spiral into a panicked frenzy, he hears a voice.
“Impulse?” Asks Spider-man, and Impulse throws himself into Spider-man’s arms.
“You’re okay,” Impulse breathes out a sigh of relief, his words coming out muffled from where his face is nuzzled in Spider-man’s neck. Impulse nearly melts when he feels the rumble of Spiderman’s chuckle, tears escaping his eyes.
“Woah, hey, Imp, I’m fine, I’m okay, we’re all okay.” Spider-man clumsily tries to comfort the crying speedster, rubbing his hands up and down said speedster’s back in a comforting gesture.
“I missed you.” Impulse states, pulling away from Spider-man with a sniffle.
“I missed you, too, but we still have work to do. We can talk after, yeah?” Spider-man proposes. Impulse nods sadly, a pout present on his lip.
“With pizza?” Impulse asks. Spider-man nods.
“With all the pizza you want.” Impulse smiles at that, practically vibrating with excitement.
“I love you!” Impulse proclaims, running away to finish his job after leaving a small kiss on Spider-man’s lips.
He really does love his boyfriend, and there was no doubt about it.
~~~
Red Robin stands in the midst of the wreckage, heroes and villains alike standing at his side. He doesn’t know how many people there are, although he could for sure say that it’s in the hundreds. Batman stands on the tallest pile of wreckage, his need to always be the boss evident as he begins to speak up.
“I would like to thank you all for your help. We could not have taken down this alien race without all of those who participated in the fight.” Superman says something to Batman, and Batman whispers something back, his posture tense with annoyance. Red Robin looks away, scanning the crowd of warriors who fought today. He sees some of his own, of course, Justice League personnel take up a large portion of those who fought today, but he also sees a lot of Avengers personnel as well. He glances to the side and he sees a group of teenagers all dressed in animal-themed outfits with their various magical items. Red Robin isn’t sure how exactly they work, they said something about a miraculous? He wants to ask, but he knows that might be offensive, so he keeps it to himself, even if he’s dying of curiosity.
He looks to the other side, and he sees all of the medical personnel. He remembers Batman saying something about an ER team, but the crowd of doctors seem to be mixed, he can tell that not all of them know each other through the tenseness of their bodies. That could also be the adrenaline, though. Red Robin shakes his head slightly to clear his thoughts. He thinks of Bernard, the Bernard that’s probably watching the TV right now at him and Tim’s shared apartment, worried sick about whether or not Tim got injured, and he’ll probably have to deal with Bernard’s check up when he gets home, even if Alfred already completes a full one. Red Robin smiles slightly, eager to get home to his lovely boyfriend after the exhausting day he’s had.
He’s brought back to the present by Batman clearing his throat again.
“As you know, a member of the Justice League will be sent into space within the next few days to hopefully sign a peace treaty with these aliens’ planet, ultimately allowing us to send them back to their home without risking more damage. As per the Avengers’ request, a member of their team will be joining our member on this mission. We understand that you are all exhausted, as am I, but I will request that you all fill out a mission report before heading home for record-keeping purposes.” Batman tries to continue, but Superman cuts him off.
“If you could even just take one of the forms with you and fill it out within the next few days, you can send it to the official Justice League address. We would greatly appreciate your help with that. We have medical professionals that will be providing both physical and mental care over the next week, and we highly recommend even just talking with the psychiatrist about this, since I know a lot of you got seriously injured, even risking permanent damage. That can be a lot to take in, so we ask that you please consider it. You may all get home to your loved ones. Thank you.” Superman finishes with a tired smile, clapping his hands and pointing at the stack of forms located on a table to the side of the large crowd. Batman looks displeased at this turn of events, turning to Superman to complain, but Superman covers Batman’s mouth (Red Robin is surprised that Batman didn’t take out his emergency kryptonite because of that; Batman must be really tired if he just let Superman do that) and shakes his head.
Red Robin sighs, starting the trek back to the Zeta tubes to hopefully get him home and in bed (preferably beside his boyfriend) within the next hour.
Oh, how he hopes.
~~~
Marinette stares at the paper in her hands, exhaustion weighing on her every movement after the day she had. The invasion is over, everything has been cleaned up, and rebuilding efforts have been put in place to help those whose houses and workplaces got destroyed in the invasion. Marinette has yet to transform back, going straight to the roof she’s on to contemplate what to do about the two pretty girls she met that day after returning all of the miraculous’ to Master Fu.
She hears the familiar sound of quiet footsteps behind her.
“I’m surprised you didn’t go straight home. I’m sure you’re exhausted.” Marinette says aloud, not even bothering to turn around. She knows who it is, already, anyways.
“I could say the same about you, m’lady.” Chat Noir sits down quietly beside her, his movements graceful as he stares out at the Parisian skyline.
“If we started dating, would you tell me who you are?” Marinette says rather abruptly, turning to him with curious eyes. Chat Noir’s eyes widen with surprise, likely being caught off guard. He shrugs.
“I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time. Us dating would be even more reason to do so.” He answers honestly. Marinette stares at him with an unreadable expression.
“Even if it meant we’d have to hand in our miraculous?” Marinette asks quietly. Chat noir turns his full attention to her.
“Ladybug, I would do anything if it meant I got to be with you.” Honestly is undeniably heavy in his voice, so sincere that Marinette has to look away. She focuses her gaze back on the paper that Spoiler gave to her. “Why?” He asks sadly, his gaze also locked on the paper.
“What if… What if I meet someone who’s also a hero, if I start dating them, would I have to keep my secret forever? Would I never get to date them normally, but only through my hero persona? Would they even really know me if all they’ve ever seen is Ladybug, and not me? Not the real me? The clumsy artist who spends her weekends baking with her parents? I’m no Ladybug, but what if they never get to learn that?” Marinette’s eyes fill with tears, desperation lacing her tired voice. Chat Noir purses his lips.
“You can do whatever you want, Ladybug, and you can tell whomever you desire. Even if Master Fu doesn’t agree with it, he can’t stop you. You deserve to be happy; your entire life shouldn’t revolve around being a superhero.” Chat Noir tells her. Marinette hesitates before speaking again.
“What if they don’t like the real me?” Her voice is almost silent, her heart tightening at the thought of letting someone down. Chat Noir takes her hand gingerly in his, turning her face to meet his own as their eyes lock.
“If they don’t like the real you, then they don’t deserve you. You should go for it, and if they do break your heart, I’ll be here to lend you a shoulder to cry on,” he says in a joking tone to try and break the tension, but his words are still serious. Marinette smiles, a shy one, but it’s still there.
“Thank you.” She whispers. Chat Noir nods.
“Of course.” He pauses. “I’m gonna assume you aren’t talking about me.” He glances at the foreign string of numbers that adorn the paper that Marinette is holding. Marinette shakes her head, a guilty smile taking over her shy one.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t like you that way.” She admits, pulling her hand away from Chat Noir’s. He shrugs.
“I know, but I’ll still be here for you.” He peeks over her shoulder at the note. “Who is it, anyway?” He asks, curious. Her smile goes sheepish.
“Do you remember the hero we were fighting with, the one dressed in purple who was fighting with the girl who was dressed in all black?” She sort-of answers. Chat noir turns to her, confused.
“Yeah? What about it?” He turns his head to the side like a dog.
“Spoiler and Black Bat. It’s…” She opens her mouth to try and explain, but her voice goes out. Chat Noir doesn’t say anything, he waits for her to speak up. Marinette is eternally grateful.
“...it’s both of them.” She bites out, looking away shamefully.
“That just means you’ll get double the love, if they like you back. And it means double the people I’ll beat up if they don’t like you back.” He says after a moment. Marinette turns to him, a baffled look on her face even if she huffs out a laugh.
“You don’t think I’m, like, weird or anything?” She asks. He shakes his head.
“There’s nothing wrong with liking more than one person.” He stands up, offering her a hand. She takes his hand, standing up straight and dusting off her suit. “You should text them tonight; you deserve something nice.” She nods and smiles.
“I think I will.” She turns to walk away. “Thank you, for everything.” She tells him before yo-yoing away in the direction of her house. Perhaps she isn’t being very slick, but she’s tired of hiding everything about herself from him. If he deduces her identity, is it really her fault? She thinks not.
~~~