Following the League's coup, Marinette al Ghul and her twin brother, Damian, are left on the doorstep of their father- Bruce Wayne, otherwise known as Batman.
Or, the story of Marinette- the granddaughter of the Demon's Head, ex-assassin, Starling...
A/N: welcome to the third arc, where I make Marinette sad while surrounding her with her very large family and finally get around to a love interest. It's not supposed to be the center of the story, but I think it might end up being more of a focus than I had originally planned for it to be.
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Marinette boards a plane to Gotham at precisely eight in the morning in Paris, and arrives at 9:17 am, Eastern Standard Time, in the infamous City of Crime and home of the Bats.
The flight itself is uneventful, other than finding out her regular ticket had been upgraded to first class after she refused to take a private jet or just take the zeta tubes because "That's illegal, Richard." "Vigilantes are illegal, and look at us." "I am not a vigilante anymore. I have been deputized by the city of Paris and can make legal arrests."
Upon exiting the airport, she is tackled into a hug by her siblings, falling backwards. Marinette's head would have not-so-gently cracked against the concrete if it weren't for Jason catching her from behind.
Marinette laughs and pats Richard, who is the only that still hasn't let go, on the back. "Hello, frate. I've missed you too."
"Alfred is waiting." Cass says, which spurs them into action. Marinette moves to grab her large suitcase, but Jason is already on it, carrying it over to the limo (why must it be a limo? To be fair, there's a lot of them, but still.) and putting it in the trunk.
"Welcome back, Miss Marinette." Alfred greets as she enters the limo. "I trust your flight went well?"
"It was as enjoyable as a flight can be." Marinette replies, enjoying the way her natural semi-British accent flows off her tongue. "It is good to see you again."
The drive from the airport to Wayne Manor is filled with banter and laughter.
.o0o.
Wayne Manor's gardens are just as neat as ever, the fountain in the front spraying graceful arcs of water into the stone bowl below.
The interior still smells the same, like Alfred's cooking and that delightful mix of lemon-scented cleaning supplies, the classic scent that nobody could really place, and a hint of gunpowder.
The only difference is that the chandelier is new. Marinette points at it and looks questioningly at Richard, who grins sheepishly. "I may or may not have fallen asleep in the old one."
"Will you be staying in your old room, Miss Marinette?" She knows Alfred doesn't mean the guest room she spent a week sleeping in, but the room she shared with Damian.
Marinette shakes her head. "I will sleep in the unoccupied bedroom across from Cass." She will have to return eventually to move her things out, but Marinette just doesn't want to go in yet.
The room she chooses as her new quarters is just as spacious as her previous one, but with a large king-sized bed in place of the bunk bed. The walls are a pale green, and a large wooden desk stands next to a larger bookshelf stocked with classical literature. Jason must have chosen it. All the furniture is made out of walnut wood, and the covers on the bed are an emerald green- the color of Damian's eyes.
She shakes the thought out of her head. Thinking about him will not bring him back.
Father is at work. He is a busy man. She tells herself it is alright. Tim is the co-CEO, but he took the day off. Her mind whispers. Tim not being there means more work for Father. The other half of her argues.
Batman and Batwoman patrol Gotham for the night. (Apparently, Father finally agreed to let Aunt Kate be a member of the jokingly-dubbed Batfam by her siblings.) The city can survive one night without Red Robin, Red Hood, and Black Bat. Nightwing is only around periodically anyway.
Instead, after dinner, Marinette and her siblings flop onto various couches and armchairs in the smallest of the Manor's three living rooms and marathon the Avengers movies. Paris is six hours ahead of Gotham and none of them have normal sleep schedules anyway, so it is perfectly valid. (Jon would argue otherwise, but Jon doesn't need to know.)
As Loki is handed the sceptre, Marinette shifts a bit closer to Tim, who she is sharing an armchair with. (They both like small spaces because they're cozy, and their smaller bodies mean they both fit in the armchair.) Tim lets out a pleased sort of huff through his nose and steals half her blanket as the scene shifts and the Avengers theme starts playing.
Alfred wakes them up at noon the next day for lunch.
.o0o.
At 2:50 pm on the dot, Marinette zetas from the Gotham tube (not the Batcave) to Metropolis.
At 3 pm, she meets up with Jonathan Samuel Kent at Bibbo's Diner, which has the best ice cream in Metropolis. (And Gotham too, but she would never admit that.)
As usual, Jon orders a cone with a scoop of blackberry and a scoop of blue raspberry, an interesting combination which he insists tastes amazing. As usual, Marinette complains that blue raspberry isn't even a flavor, before ordering a blue moon and dark chocolate sundae.
"But Mari, cones are more fun!" Jon wheedles. "You should get a cone this time!"
"Cups are much safer. There is a much smaller chance of me losing my ice cream to the pavement as you sometimes do." Marinette retorts as she pays for their desserts.
Is it December? Yes. Do they care? Nope. Jon is half-kryptonian, and Marinette may have been raised in a desert, but she went through her fair share of survival training, so she's also hardened to the cold.
After they finish their ice cream, they go to the mall to buy presents. Is she the daughter of a billionaire? Yes. But that takes out all the fun.
Marinette was always strictly atheist, but her family members are not always the same. Holiday season at the manor involves eating latkes, decorating a (fake) tree, lighting a menorah, and playing dreidel. Gifts were always exchanged on Christmas day.
In one of the stores, Jon discovers a large assembly of hero-themed mugs, mostly Super-related. Marinette immediately takes one that says "I am the Night" over a bat silhouette for Father and one with a cartoon Superboy (the first one) for Tim. She's seen the way he looks at Conner.
The lady at the register looks at them and coos about 'what an adorable couple you two make!' She asks if they would like the couples discount on their purchases.
Marinette and Jon both turn bright red and insist that they are 'best friends, nothing more', but the lady doesn't seem to believe them.
"That's what they all say, dears. You'll see."
Later, as Marinette says goodbye to Jon outside the phone booth that serves as the zeta tube, she looks at her best friend's sparkling blue eyes and unruly hair the color of the night sky, notices the way his lips curve and dimples show when he smiles, revealing perfect white teeth, and thinks that they might not be dating, but she certainly wouldn't mind if they were.
She looks at the receipt after returning to Wayne Manor and realizes that the lady at the register gave them the couples discount anyway.
