GOTHAM: BEYOND EVIL || Damienette

46 - Secrets I Have Held In My Heart

"What do you mean, Marinette?"

Dick laughed nervously at my question. The room had already dropped silent, and so had Tim's fork. "Marinette!" Alya hissed, grabbing my arm in protest and squeezing it hard, making me hiss in pain. Damian saw this and glared at her.

"They were bound to find out." I spoke, not whispering to Alya, but announcing it to the whole room. "Bruce was getting suspicious. Weren't you, Brucie?" I ask, turning to the said man.

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"That's why he had my DNA; to check my background. And I'm betting he has everyone's too." I speak, making some people gasp. "Is that true, Bruce?" Oliver asked, confused. Alya and the others nodded.

It finally made sense.

The fact that Bruce was the first one to know who I was, even though Dad, or me had no idea made sense only if he was suspicious of me in the first place. I understood why- I would be suspicious too, if a stranger burst into your life claiming to be your son's old friend.

I'm guessing they had one too many situations of people pretending to be family to rip them off. Given, it didn't justify that they had obtained our DNA without consent, I understood their intentions.

"So you knew?" Chloe asked in confusion, standing up to look at Bruce. "I suspected." Bruce said, turning away. "All this started happening right after this class from Paris arrived." he said.

I sighed; we could've done a better job hiding.

"I mean-" Tim started, pulling all attention. "We had already received reports of masked people from the GCPD, and some of you got caught on camera once. Facial Recognition wouldn't work for some reason."

"The timing of you arriving here coincided a bit too much. And looking around your excuse of a class, no one was brave or selfless enough to go jumping around buildings in a masked suit."

"...what?"

Jason's shocked voice broke the silence. "You suspected my friend- someone I considered a sister to be a villain? How dare you." he seethed, while Dick held him back.

"We suspected them of using magic, Jason. No one said they were villains." Dick soothed with a calm voice, but Jason continued.

"But Bruce would have. I know he would. Everyone is a villain to him if he doesn't have some kind of blackmail- some kind of hold on them." Jason said. "And you left me out of this? Me and Damian?" he continued.

"You had too much of an emotional connection to her. And so did Damian. You couldn't have thought rationally." Tim tried to justify. "HOW DOES THAT-"

"STOP!" I screamed.

"Just stop, okay?" I said, looking Jason in the eye. "I didn't decide to spill my secret and break apart the trust in the family. The only reason I did reveal it, was because I was sick of sneaking around and lying. Tell me you weren't too."

The room fell silent as everyone averted their eyes. I knew it- they were sick of it too. Who would love lying to their friends and family- even if it was for their safety or whatever? The guilt was killing me.

Bruce Wayne opened his mouth in protest.

And then he shut it.

Then and there, I knew I had won the conversation. The oldest Wayne looked up, his lips curving up into a slight smile. "You convince people so easily. Is there any way you would come work with Wayne Enterprises, Marinette?" he said.

Damian choked on his spit.

He looked at me in wonder- as if to say 'Is that all it took to convince my father?' Oliver looked shocked too, but snapped out of it quite soon. "No way. If she is working for anyone, Mari would work for me." he said.