Marinette wished that her phone hadn't been on silent while she was in the shower. Maybe then she might have heard all the texts she was getting from her friends about how Lila had convinced the teacher to leave for Wayne Tower 30 minutes early.
Sighing heavily, she pulled up a map of Gotham on her phone and studied it for a moment before hopefully going in the right direction. 'Maybe,' she thought, 'If I move quickly then I won't be too terribly late and I can catch up with them on the tour'.
People around her watched in confusion as this petite girl ran through the street like her life depended on it. Many Gothamites had to dive out of her way to avoid collision. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her one such person was walking in the same direction as her and she was moving too fast to stop.
She crashed right into a tall and muscular man in a leather jacket and jeans. If she wasn't so embarrassed she would have admired his striking blue eyes and dark hair with a strange white streak in it. Okay, maybe she was admiring him but she could multitask. Pulling herself off the sidewalk, she offered her hand out to him to help him up.
"I am so sorry Mister." She begins with a heavy French accent. "I was in such a hurry to catch up with my class that I didn't see you until the last second. I didn't hurt you did I? I can be such a klutz sometimes." Pausing for a moment, she looks up at him and smiles. "And now I'm rambling. Are you alright?"
The man looks down at the tiny girl for a moment in confusion. How did this little girl knock him over? She couldn't be more than 5 feet tall and 105 pounds soaking wet. He shakes his head for a moment before taking in the full force of her smile. A smile that can only be described a pure sunshine.
"Hey it's no problem, Sunshine. It'll take a lot more than that to really hurt me." He chuckles before his face turns serious. "You said your class left you behind? In Gotham of all places?! Do they realize how dangerous this city is?"
"Believe me, I told them all multiple times." She looks down at her hands to avoid eye contact. "I guess my teacher must have assumed I was with them. She wouldn't have left early if she didn't think that all her students were with her."
The way she stated this made him think that she told him this more to convince herself than to convince him. It made him angry. He only knew that smile for a short time but he already wanted it back.
Changing the subject, he holds out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Jason by the way. What's your name, Sunshine?"
Not used to this America greeting, she timidly takes his hand and shakes it. "I'm Marinette. Again, I'm sorry for barreling you over. I would say that this is not usually how I meet people but that might be a bit of a lie."
And finally she smiles again. It almost seems like Gotham brightens right along with her. 'That's it.' He thinks. 'She's my new little sister. No one can tell me otherwise.'
"So, where are you supposed to meet this class of yours anyways?"
"Wayne Tower." Looking down at her phone, her eyes widen in panic. "Oh no! The tour should be starting soon."
Jason gives her a reassuring smile. "Well you are in luck Marinette. I just so happen to be heading that way. I can take you there if you want?"
"Really? That's great. Are you sure I wouldn't be a bother? I don't want to impose."
"Nah. It's all good, Sunshine." He holds out his arm for her to take. "It's kind of a boring walk all by myself anyways."
Giggling, she happily takes his arm. "Thank you, Jason. It's nice to know that there are good people in Gotham too."
Along the way they get to know each other. She learns that Jason has quite a large family, although most of them (including himself) are adopted and he learns that she is an only child with a love of baking and fashion design.
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Dick couldn't believe his ears. This teacher was seriously arguing that they should start the tour even though he specifically said that all students needed to be present. The teacher didn't even seem to care that one of her students was missing.
Above all that, some students talking in French (that he must assume think that he can't understand) are bullying said missing student behind her back.
"Maribitch is such an attention whore." One student with redish-brown hair and glasses says.
"And it's such a shame too" Another student with hair that honest to god looked like sausages says. "If she just wasn't so jealous of me then maybe she wouldn't be so awful. But maybe I'm being too optimistic."
"Yeah, Lila." The one in glasses speaks again. "You're too nice for your own good sometimes. She's not worth it."
The majority of the class nods in agreement except for a few off to the side that look just about as mad at the whole ordeal that Dick does.
"Look! Marinette is here." A boy off to the side with the group of kids that actually seem to have brain cells says.
Everyone turns their attention to a small girl who just walked in arm in arm with Jason. 'Jason?' Dick thinks. 'What is he doing with the class president of the class I was supposed to give a tour to?' Before he has time to go up and ask he catches a glimpse of the girls face, who moments before seemed to have the brightest smile on he'd ever seen. Now, she seemed to shrink behind Jason to avoid eye contact with some of her fellow classmates.
"Marinette," The teacher spoke in a stern voice. "You know better than to cause such a scene. You are our class president and you are to set an example. I am very disappointed in you, young lady."
"I'm sorry Madame Bustier." She says in such heartbreaking sadness. "I didn't mean to. I promise not to do it again."
Dick can see rage burning in Jason's eyes and to prevent an even bigger scene he grabs his arm and pulls him away to where no one else can hear them.
"Hey Jay, you need to calm down." Jason finally pries his anger filled eyes away from the teacher to look at his brother. "I know how you feel. I've had to deal with this idiotic teacher for the past 15 minutes now but losing our heads won't help anything." Dick pauses for a second and looks over to the class president to see the good students seemingly try to cheer her up. "Why were you with that girl anyways?"
"I ran into Sunshine on my way here. Well more like she ran into me." He chuckled to himself. "She was in a real big hurry and said that her class forgot about her. I don't know how though. She's such a sweet girl. So, I did the right thing and walked her here."
"I'm glad you did Jason. The teacher didn't even seem to notice she was missing anyone. I really do think that this teacher is incompetent and needs to be looked into. This class hasn't even been in Gotham 24 hours and they are all starting to show their true colors. We need to do some digging into this class."
"Agreed. I don't like the way they are treating Sunshine. You'll keep an eye on them while on the tour, right? I have to go talk to Tim. I'll see you later Dick." And with that, Jason marched his way up to the CEO's office.
A little confused as to why Jason felt so strongly about this small girl, he shrugged it off and clapped once to get the classes attention. "Okay, now that everyone is here and accounted for, we can get this show on the road. There is a lot to see before our lunch break at noon so please stay together and keep your voices down." He smiles before leading them down the hall.