Black Alley

Cold Night's Wind

"Marinette," Adrien mumbled into Marinette's hair.

"Hmmm," Marinette made a sound of acknowledgement. "I have something to tell you," Adrien said. Marinette lazily looked up at him. "What?"

"Dick Grayson came by earlier. He was the one that was knocking on the door," he replied. Marinette instantly shot up. "What? Why didn't you tell me?" Marinette asked.

"Before you get mad at me, know I had a reason," Marinette urged him on, "You were not ready for the conversation," Marinette opened her mouth but Adrien continued. "And I know you, and you were going to talk to him because you think that you owe him but you don't and I know that because I've worked and loved you for three - almost four - years," Adrien said.

Marinette stared at him silently before taking a deep breath. "You're right," she whispered, "I would've. Thank you for sticking up for me," Marinette said, hugging him, Adrien returned the gesture.

"That does not mean that I'm not mad at you for talking for me!" Marinette said.

"I'm sorry-" Marinette smashed her lips to his, pulling at the collar of his shirt, making Adrien's eyes widen. "Naughty kitties deserved to be punished."

____________________

"What the hell? Not this shit again," Tim said, shaking his head. "How do you know her?" Dick asked. "I was patrolling the city when I saw this girl in the alley crying. We had a small conversation before she said she was having family issues," Jason said.

"What the fuck did you do, Dick?" Jason exclaimed.

"I was trying to talk to her about her birth certificate! The moment I looked at her after seeing Bruce's name she made an excuse and ran off!" Dick said.

"Okay and why are you staying so silent, Replacement?" Jason asked.

"Are you going to tell Bruce?" Tim asked. "No, not yet. I need to have some conversation with her before I tell him or have her tell-" Tim's intercom buzzed.

"Sir, you asked me to remind you of the meeting that you have in 5 minutes with Mr. Wayne," Jeanne said.

Tim moved to his intercom. "Thank you for reminding me, Jeanne."

"Just doing my job, sir," the intercom buzzed again. "You guys better go before Bruce realizes you guys are here," Tim said, exiting the room.

____________________

"What! You're Bruce Wayne's-"

"Alya, shut up! I don't need all of Gotham to hear that," Marinette said, covering her friend's mouth. Whatever Alya said next came out as gibberish. Marinette looked at Nino to see how he was reacting but all she saw was a statue.

"You okay, Nino?" Marinette asked but all he did was stare. "Please answer," Marinette begged.

"I'm just processing the fact that you are the biological daughter of one of the richest men on earth. I mean, I completely forgot Tom wasn't your real father," Nino said.

"He is my real father. He's been there for me since I could remember and loved like a real father," Marinette said defensively.

"I know that Marinette. I just meant biologically. You act like him so much it's freaky," Nino said.

"Must be the whole Nature vs. Nurture thing," Adrien said.

"OMG, Lila is dating your brother! You guys could be family one day!" Alya squealed. "Isn't that exciting!"

"Alya, Damian Wayne is 15 and Lila is 18. That's illegal. Plus from what we've seen from the last time they were in the same room, Damian did not look happy when Lila brought up that they were supposedly 'dating'," Marinette said.