Marinette's mouth began to water as butlers in sleek tuxedos began to bring out the food. The scents of pot-au-feu and bouillabaisse in beautifully decorated bowls were placed onto everyone's spot.
Small quiche tarts were also put next to the main entree's. For drinks, the glasses were replaced with clean ones filled with a sparkling juice of sorts. Plates with some more exotic foods like escargot were settled in nicely, just barely touching the flower vases in the middle of the tables.
Kagami, Chloe, and Alix gave Nino a smirk, all holding about fifty euros each in hand ($56.35 USD), waving it around Nino's cringing face. Juleka snorted at the sight. It was pretty obvious that they were betting Nino on how many snails he could eat before throwing up.
As immature as it was, it was also a nice way to get a hundred and fifty euros and a stomachache.
Gabriel once again stood up, "Bon appetit!" That signaled everyone to start eating. Kagami and Marinette both picked up their spoons, dipping it into the bouillabaisse, enjoying the seafood taste.
Chloe and Alix both ignored their food, watching as Nino used one of the expensive food picks to unshell the snail. He didn't seem disgusted - escargot was actually quite good. It was more grossed out at the texture. It was like a rubbery mushroom with some slime; but not a lot.
In the background, soft cello and violins played some soothing classical music. Normally Marinette would go for something, more... upbeat, or head-bop worthy, like Jagged Stone, but classical was nice too.
Juleka, being the precious music nerd she was, also seemed bored with the music, but nonetheless showed no emotion about it. She just continued to dip her piece of toasted baguette into some type of herbed marinara sauce.
(The outfits:
Juleka:
Chloe:
(Lmao, this is from I used to play in third grade)
Kagami:
Marinette:
Alix:
Nino:
Black tuxedo, green tie. royalwindflower fuck you. I'm not telling you the fucking shade.
Everyone else; you cool.
(Back to the story)
[With the Batfam]
...
Jason took a sip of his soup while Dick casually deepthroated a large piece of baguette.
"How the hell are you not choking?" he looked over at Dick.
"He has experience, Jace! Not to mention his name is Dick!" Ashe said, taking one of her lactose pills. (Ashe is lactose intolerant)
"You call him Richie," Jason pointed out. "I have my reasons. Do you think a small two year old yelling, 'DICK!' sound like a sign of good parenting?"
"To be fair-"
"Can we just enjoy this meal without bringing up my parenting?" Bruce said through his hands. "Um...no," Tim happily dipped his mozzarella stick into his saucer of marinara sauce. Cass and Steph were both discussing what type of mysterious vegetable was in Steph's beef stew.
"Green bean?" Steph cringed. "No Cass, that's gross."
"It's a SNAP PEA!" Bruce exclaimed, honestly just done with his kid's shit. Well, actually, he was pretty much done when he realized on their car ride to the gala that one of his kids had snuck a toad into the car, planning on letting it loose during the gala.
The last time that happened, Bruce had to explain to the traumatized host why their was a toad happily frolicking around in the punch.
Or why all their toilets had thumb tacks attached the seats.
Or why all the seats were, now, stuck to the ceiling.
Duke was probably the only Batkid who didn't act like an idiot. Despite being the youngest middle child, he was probably the most mature; the one that acted the oldest.
"Hey, Duke, thanks for-"
Bruce turned to see Duke and Ashe quietly singing 'Under The Sea' to the clams and pieces of crab meat in their bouillabaisse.
He heavily sighed, looking into his half-empty glass of wine.
"Monsieur Bruce? Are you enjoying tonight's delicacies?" Gabriel showed up at the side of the table. "Yes, the soup is delicious. I think with the appetizers and this entree tied together, it all combines into one extremely ripe sort of flavor. Your chefs are incredible," he complimented.
"Thank you. I had gourmet chefs from all over the world come here today to prepare all this food for everyone," he said, pushing up his glasses. Stop flexing on the billionaire, you useless millionaire.
"I see. You have good taste then," Bruce took another spoonful of his soup. He jerked his left hand. Tim and Ashe perked up at the motion. The two youngest Batfam members shared the same evil Batsmirk, slipping something under the table.
A small nano-spider programmed and built by the two (with the help from Babs) crawled underneath, silenting beeping.
It scanned the area with its miniscule sensor before falling to the floor, quietly slinking under the table cloth, onto Gabriel's dress shoe, and finally, under his pants, crawling up his legs. The gadget was equipped with motionless type 'feet', so Gabriel wouldn't feel it up his leg.
Tim gave Bruce a wink which he pulled off as a way to get 'dust' out of his eye. Bruce gave him a swift nod. "Well then. I suppose it's about time for desert," Gabriel checked his watch. "I'll see you later, Monsieur. I must go talk to the chefs."
Bruce bid him 'good-bye.' When the gelled up sewer rat was gone, a girl with extremely curly lilac hair approached him.
"Annyeong, Bruce," she greeted him, clipboard in hand. "Novus! You've arrived!" he smiled at Ashe's girlfriend. She was his 'personal assistant' for the night, a disguise used often by the vigilante. "Nova! How was the lounge?" Ashe got up. "It was nice! It was kind of awkward, 'cause everyone spoke French, but I did find someone who spoke German!"
The heterochromatic girl hugged Nova. "Did you get the data?" she whispered behind a curtain of hair. "Yup," she patted the side of her small satchel. Inside was multiple hard drives with the information the League sent to Gabriel.
"That's good. Now sit down! They're serving cheesecake!"
"Did you take your lactose pill?"
"No duh!"
Plates of cheesecake were passed out. Each one was decorated differently. Some had a raspberry or blackberry dressing over it, while some were topped with a fruity glaze, presumably made by strawberries.
Macarons were also handed out - Dick enjoyed those a lot.
As they were eating, they couldn't help but notice a girl with gorgeous blue locks sneaking quick glances at their table. It wasn't unusual for them to get stared at. But this seemed like a different kind of stare.
It was like she was trying to make eye contact with one of them, as in become their friend.
Ashe gave her a quick wave. She saw the girl gasp, turn pink, then turn back to her dessert.
"Who were you waving to?" Nova poked at the smushy berry on her slice of cake. "That girl seemed to be looking at us. I wanted to say 'hi.'"
She tilted her head back, looking at the back of the girl's head.
"Hm. I think I know her. Her parents delivered the macarons and cheesecake," Nova recalled, thinking back to when she saw Gabriel talking to a buff man with a moustache and a short Asian woman.
"Ah! You must be talking about the Dupain-Chengs!"
"Yah!" Duke's fork clattered out of his hand.
"Sorry about that. I'm Adrien Agreste, the son of Gabriel?" he held his gloved hand out. Bruce shook it. "I've heard about you. You're a model, right?" Adrien nodded. "Yes sir. Model, voice actor, activist." Bruce seemed impressed. All the Batkids scowled. What did this prissy priss boy have that they didn't, to make Bruce impressed?
He had brain cells, that's what. Like two, tops.
"I heard you've been looking for a model... for your merchandise?" Oh ho. Now he was just TRYING to piss off the Batkids.
Ever since... for fucking ever, they'd always been the ones to model the clothing his company designed. No way in hell-
"I am. Are you perhaps interested?"
Jason snorted, pinching his nose to prevent water from spraying out. Cass and Steph seemed shook. Tim looked tired. Mood.
(End of Chapter... 7? Right? On a cliffhanger, 'cause I have no inspiration. Also, here's Novus' dress:
(TA-DA! Alright, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!)