After Tim and Barbara's presentation ended, they had all come to the conclusion that they should speak with Marinette before deciding on the next step. Everyone agreed that it was for the best for now.
After the meeting, they all got up, but Damian noticed that Grayson and Todd were left behind.
Damien suspected that they were going to talk about Marinette and found himself in a moral dilemma, on the one hand, he could stay and listen to the results of the investigation about Marinette, but submit to the ridicule of his brothers, or he could remain ignorant and keep his dignity intact.
Deciding better to investigate on his own, if he was lucky maybe he could find Marinette in the city, he left the Batcave without listening to his brother's conversation.
"Timmy! What have you got from the girl?" asked Dick excitedly
"Did you see the face of the midget when you implied that she could be involved with that bastard? If he could kill with a look, you would already be six feet underground!" Jason scoffed.
"I wasn't accusing her of anything!"
"The way you said it sounded a bit accusatory," Barbara pointed out with a smile.
"I swear it was not my intention! I don't think there is any way that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is involved with Hawkmoth!"
"You seem very confident," Jason pointed out.
"I am," Tim said sighing when he saw the look of his brothers "I investigated her, remember?"
"What did you find?" Asked Dick.
"First of all, Marinette is the only student in her class who has never been akumatized, there was a boy named Adrien Agreste who had not been akumatized either, but recently he was akumatized. She has been president of her class for 4 years, she is an aspiring designer who has already received praise from Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeois herself, which is a great thing."
"The woman who humiliated Bruce's ex? I don't blame her, that bitch was insufferable, but she was quite ruthless in criticizing her dress." Jason said with a smile.
"That same one, it seems that Marinette caught her attention at age 14, she's something like a fashion prodigy," Tim explained, being interrupted by Barbara.
"From what we saw it is not "something like a fashion prodigy", the girl is a fashion prodigy, she was in that designer show, the one we saw together, "Fashions Discovery", she worked as Erika Kurumi's assistant."
"I remember! They were sabotaged by one of the models and had to remake the last two dresses!" said excited Dick.
"I think I fell asleep," Jason said, seeing Dick and Barbara's eyes, he added sulkily, "I don't speak French! Don't judge me!"
"Well, I can assure you it was amazing," Barbara said, then thought about it for a few seconds and added, "Maybe this ring a bell to you!"
Images of a certain rocker appeared on the computer.
"Jagged Stone! Do you mean that girl has worked with Jagged Stone ?!"
"Yup," said Barbara with a smile, "I think it's pretty obvious that she's MDC, the one responsible for her Eiffel Tower glasses, as well as some album and poster covers and more recently some of her outfits."
*WOW!" The three boys said in unison.
"Yep, this girl is something."
"Not that this is not interesting, but why did you discard her as a possible suspect?" Jason asked "I'm not complaining! It's just curiosity!"
"Besides the fact that there have already been Akumas who went after her, there is the fact that together with their friends Kagami and Chloe, they presented the plan for "La Maison des miracles" to the mayor's office, and they were the first volunteers. "Tim explained. Then he added "La Maison des miracles" is kind of a community center created to help victims of akumatization, offers consultations with professional psychologists completely free, courses in different sports and art, also gives talks about how to avoid situations that lead to to an akumatization."
"Sounds great, for a city besieged by a terrorist taking advantage of negative emotions, that kind of place would be an oasis," Dick mentioned impressed.
"Yes, besides, Marinette and her friends also occasionally volunteer at the Neker Enfants Malades Hospital and at the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. Basically, she doesn't have the time to be cahoots with Hawkmoth, in any case, the hypothesis of her being a civilian assistant is much more likely"
Jason let out a whistle.
*I don't think demon spawn has a chance with her."
"I think he can get a chance with her"
*Dick, you can dream about it"
"Damian is a good boy."
"Only you believe that, "good boy" is not among the first 5 adjectives with which I would use to describe Damian" Barbara pointed out.
"You want to bet?" challenge Dick.
"If you want to lose your money, who am I to stop you?" Jason scoffed "I bet $ 50 that demon spawn scares her away."
"I'm with Jason," said Barbara "I'm sorry Dick, this girl doesn't look like someone who is easily impressed."
"I bet $ 100 that they at least become friends" everyone fell silent when they heard Tim "What? I wanna have faith in the kid"
"That's the spirit, Tim!" said Dick smiling and hugging the young detective "We brothers, have to support each other."
Tim decided not to mention that when he saw Damien's look, the way he was so upset when he implied that Marinette was involved, he decided to hack into Damian's communicator and listen to the recording of his conversation with the aforementioned girl the night before, they had chemistry, he didn't bet that they would become a couple because he didn't know if Damian would screw up, but they had chemistry, they really had it.
In the meantime...
Damian knew the meaning of friendship, he really did, and he knew that friends really tolerate each other, that they shouldn't think of ways to murder said friend, but by gods sake, if Jon didn't stop talking that moment, he would go all the way to his house and break his other arm.
"I can not believe it! Damien found a girl attractive!"
Damian was a bit lost after Drake and Gordon's disclosure ended. He wanted to get closer to Marinette, but he didn't know if he could do it like Damian Wayne, so he decided to ask his "friends" for help, so he had made a zoom meeting to talk to them. Bad decision.
"I never said attractive, Kent, I said interesting and tolerable."
"Accept it Damián, in your dictionary, that's almost a compliment."
"Stay out of it, Collin. I'm scolding Kent."
"What is her name? Is she cute? Did you tell her she's cute? Did you kiss? Was a French kiss?"
"NO! What the hell is wrong with you Mizoguchi?"
"Guys, don't push him. Damian has the right to find someone interesting without the need for sexual attraction between them." Lucy pointed out, taking pity on Damian.
"Thank you, Quinzel."
"You're welcome" the young blonde smiled at him "but just out of curiosity. Do you have any idea how to approach her? I mean like Damian, not like Robin."
"Not yet," Damian grumbled.
"Hey, I know why don't you go to her hotel and when you see her you pretend that you run into her and, and, and then you look for her elsewhere and you run into her again and again and then you say, " We must find another way to meet "and then you take her to a cafe, and then they go to the beach at sunset and ....?"
"Enough, Mizoguchi, I already told you to stop watching those romantic comedies, they will deteriorate your brain."
"Not true" Mia complained, "they are very beautiful stories that don't hurt anyone."
"They hurt your brain, that's why you're so delusional," Damian replied.
"Lucy! Damian is bugging me!" Mia complained, "Tell him that romantic comedies are fun!"
"Several romantic comedies are funny" Lucy answered, "But I honestly don't think they should be used as references."
"Traitor!" Mia complained.
"Don't get me wrong, I love "Legally Blonde" and "50 first dates", but I don't think they are a good example of how to start a relationship. Romantic comedies put expectations for first encounters very high."
"I guess you're right," Mia said sulkily.
"And you Damian, wipe that smile off your face," Lucy said when she saw Damian's smug face "you can learn a thing or two from the movies."
Everyone present except Damian laughed at Damien's scolded face.
"Traitors," thought the boy.
"Anyway, if you have nothing useful to contribute, I will withdraw this conversation"
"Don't be offended Damian," Colin told him.
"Yes, whatever," he said as he began to close the meeting.
The other teenagers complained, but Damien sighed when his room was quiet again.
It amazed him how much he had changed in these years. The 10-year-old Damian, the one who had come to the Wayne mansion years ago, would never have consulted with his friends how to approach a girl, indeed, the Damian of the past would not try to approach a girl and would not have friends either.
"I've changed a lot," Damien thought, but honestly it didn't bother him. Yes, his "friends" could be irritating, but he valued them.
At that moment, he received a text from Lucy.
"Didn't you say that she had picked up a stray cat? You should try to go to the animal shelter, good luck" next to the message, he had sent her a GIF of a scene from "Friends", which said, "You got this".
Damien smiled.
Yep, it was good to have friends
****************************************
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
At the reception of one of the Wayne Foundation building, there were three teenagers thinking about how they could get away from Tomoe Tsurugi.
"OK, so Maribug pretends to be sick and then ..."
"Then mother will take her to the nearest hospital, where they will tell her that Mari-hime has excessive fatigue, which we already know, and will force Mari-hime to stay in the room for the rest of the trip."
"Girls."
"OK, so, we told him that Maribug and I forgot to send an assignment and they just informed us ..."
"She will not believe it, it was Mendeleiv who received your reports, she would not have signed the leaves of absence if your reports were not done it right the first time."
"Girls."
" OK, so, I pretend that I was stung by a bee and that I want to go back to the hotel."
"She's going to ask you where it bit you."
"Girls!"
"Then I really get stung."
"Chloe, that's silly."
" Girls!"
"Then give me an idea, you have rejected all my ideas."
"Because they are absurd ideas and my mother is blind, not stupid."
"GIRLS!"
"WHAT'S UP MARIBUG / MARI-HIME !?"
"I think I may have an idea so I can send Chloe to Paris and not arouse Tomoe's suspicions."
"Why didn't you say it before Maribug?"
"Right, we would have saved Chloe's stupid brainstorming."
"Hey!"
Marinette sighed at her friends' nonsense.
Before she could explain her plan, Tomoe walked over to where the three girls were.
"Well let's go back to the hotel and I'll tell you what we'll do," Marinette muttered as Kagami and Chloe nodded.
When they got to their hotel room, Tomoe gathered them in the living room.
"Apparently, certain information about the tournament was not released until the participants physically registered here in Gotham City," Tomoe mentioned.
"What information?" Chloe asked confused.
"It is not allowed to bring friends to the exhibitions?" Marinette asked worried "Do we have to go back to Paris?"
" No, it's not that" Tomoe assured "I confirmed with the tournament managers your attendance, so no problem. What I mean is that they left out certain details about after the tournament."
"Could you please explain, mother?"
"Well, first of all, after the tournament has ended, a Gala party will be held to which all participants and their companions are invited, in addition, the winner of the tournament and their companions will be invited to a private dinner with the Wayne family."
The three girls were silent for a few minutes, until:
"We need new dresses! - Chloe exclaimed excitedly.
"A gala, Mother?" Kagami questioned incredulously.
"I need fabric!" Marinette said worriedly when she saw the gazes of the others fixed on her she added "If you want, of course, I would like to make the dresses for the four of us."
"That's very nice of you, Marinette," Tomoe told her, "but don't you think it will be too much work for you?"
"Not at all, in fact, I feel better designing. If the gala is at the end of the tournament that means I have a month and a half to design and create the 4 dresses, honestly I have had it worse and I really want to do it."
Tomoe smiled upon hearing Marinette's tirade. The girl sounded so excited that Tomoe decided to let her do whatever she wanted, she would have to call Sabine and inform her, maybe get the girl's account number to pay for the dresses.
"The other point I wanted to touch on, is that, for the next three days, Kagami, you will have to attend mandatory practices at the Wayne Foundation facilities, those practices can only be attended by you and me." Tomoe let the girls process it, she could hear a sigh of disappointment from the trio of teenagers, so she continue "Today's practice is optional, but I would like you to participate, however, if you do not want to, I will understand, we can start orning."
Kagami gasped, her mother was giving her the option of not practicing that day, for a moment she thought that maybe she was still asleep until she saw Chloe taking a photo of her with a mocking smile.
"Put that away," she said irritably.
"Are you kidding me?" She answered and then added in a dramatic tone "The great Kagami Tsurugi without words! This moment must be saved for posterity!"
"Stop being a bother, Chloe!*
The two girls locked eyes with each other for a few minutes before laughing.
"If it's okay with you, mother, I'll think about it. Can I give you an answer after lunch?"
"Perfect" Tomoe contract with a smile, then added, "you should call your grandfather, Kiseki misses you."
Kagami smiled at the mention of her pet and together with her friends they retired to their room. Upon entering, the kitten that Marinette had rescued the night before approached them and snuggled into Kagami's lap, who was the first to take a seat when they had all sat down on the bed and were sure that Kagami's mother was not. I heard them began to speak.
"All right, I better tell you my plan." Marinette told them and then added, "But I need to know if you want to practice today, Kagami."
"I don't know" she answered, "honestly, I'm glad that my mother asked my opinion about it, on the other hand, I would like to see what the place is where the tournament will take place, analyzing the battlefield is a good way to ensure victory."
"You do know that it is a friendly tournament and not war, right?" Chloe asked with a smile "You don't have to take it so seriously."
"Chloe, I love fencing, I always take it seriously" Kagami replied with a smile as she added, " just like you take seriously every photoshoot you have no matter how small it is."
Chloe and Marinette smiled at Kagami's words, they all had a passion that they loved, sometimes it could be tiring or extremely difficult, but when you do what you love and achieve a self-imposed goal, it is worth it. Chloe and Marinette knew that Kagami wanted to win this tournament, it was no wonder she was so passionate.
Marinette loved designing.
Chloe had discovered a passion for modeling.
And Kagami had grown up loving fencing.
"So you want to go today?" Marinette asked again with an understanding tone.
"Yes I do, but I don't want to leave you both alone," Kagami replied as Chloe hugged her.
"I knew you loved me!"
The three teenagers laughed at Chloe's antics.
"If you want to go, that's fine." Chloe assured her "you are always understanding when I have to go to modeling classes."
"Or when I am behind schedule in one of my commissions, you always support me."
The three girls shared a hug.
"With that cleared up, what do we do to send Chloe to Paris?"
"You ruined the moment, Kagami!" Chloe complained, then added, "but I also want to know what your plan is Marinette."
"Well, if you go to the practice we can go to the animal shelter, while I talk to the shelter workers, you use Kaalkie to go back to Paris, you make sure Marc is okay and we wait for Tomoe and Kagami to pick us up to back to the hotel, unfortunately, I have to hand over this little one" As she said it, she pointed to the kitten that was still in Kagami's lap, who raised its head and meowed at them "because we can't keep it, right?"
"It would be a bit irresponsible" Kagami mentioned as she stroked the kitten, although she sounded a bit doubtful "we shouldn't, right?"
Chloe stared at the kitten, who meowed and put its paw on Chloe's nose.
"To hell with responsibility! I want it!" exclaimed the blonde "This little one is adorable, utterly adorable!"
"Chloe! You can't make a decision like that out of nowhere!" Marinette said "Pets mean a great responsibility. Are you sure?"
"I have wanted to adopt a pet since Kagami adopted Kiseki" explained the blonde as she cuddles the kitten" but none of the animals that I have seen in the foundation have connected with me like this little one."
"We don't know if it belongs to someone and it's just lost," Kagami pointed out, to which Chloe was discouraged, she wouldn't steal a pet from anyone. But she really wanted a pet, and since they had returned from Paris, the kitty had stayed close to Chloe, as if it knew she was feeling bad.
"I've been reading about the Gotham City animal shelter, it seems they have a missing pet reporting system in the city and neighboring cities to be sure " Marinette mentioned, who was moved to see the expression on Chloe's face when she saw to the kitten "What do you think if we talk to them, we explain the situation to them, and if nobody claims it for when we have to return to Paris, then you can adopt it?"
"Sounds like a good idea" Kagami mentioned, "that will give you time to convince your parents to let you adopt it."
"That's not going to be a problem," Chloe said confidently "Mommy and Daddy already know that I've wanted to adopt a pet for a long time."
"Even so, you should ask their permission" recommend Marinette.
"If you say so," she said as she took out her smartphone suddenly, the other two girls saw a mischievous smile on the blonde's lips "I have a better idea."
She pulled out her phone and took a selfie with the kitten, who cooperated with Chloe looking at the camera, almost posing.
Showy cat.
Kagami and Marinette smiled when they saw the photo of Chloe and the kitten on the blonde's Instagram with a single question. 'Can I keep it?'.
At the moment the girl already had almost 100 likes and her mother had already answered.
"That cat is more model material than a certain someone, at least seeing it doesn't hurt my eyes"
The three girls read Audrey's comment and smiled.
"Is she talking about ...?"
"Yup, the one who must not be named"
"Voldemort?"
"No girl, Lila Rossi." Chloe commented smiling "we are lucky that this kitten has more model material than the one who must not be named."
"Why 'the one who must not be named'?"
"Because just saying her name gives me a stomachache."
Kagami and Marinette laughed at Chloe's antics.
"Yeah, I think so," Marinette said giggling "Is that a yes or a no?"
"I think it's a yes, look," she said showing them André's comment asking her if she was sure, and Audrey's saying that a classy cat deserves a classy family.
"You should call them" Kagami advised, "I have to call my grandfather and you could call your parents Marinette."
Chloe and Marinette decided to follow their friend's advice and call their families, when they finished they heard Kagami say goodbye to her grandfather and her dog.
"Yes grandfather, I will be careful and I will tell mother to also be careful" then they heard the young Japanese woman laugh "take care of my grandfather, Kiseki." to which the barking of a dog was heard in response. "That's my Boy!"
They waited a few seconds and when the young Japanese girl had hung up they went to Tomoe's room. They knocked on the door and when she gestured for them to come in, Kagami stepped forward and said.
"Mother, I do want to practice today, would you take me?"
Tomoe smiled at the determined words of her daughter, although there was a time when she believed that having friends who did not follow the same lifestyle would only bring her suffering, today she realized that no matter how different they were from each other, her friends gave Kagami strength and courage to achieve her goals.
"Okay, we can go after lunch."
"We wanted to see if you could take us to the Gotham City animal shelter," Marinette requested respectfully.
"I thought you wanted to adopt the cat, Chloe." Tomoe said surprised.
"Well, I do, but we have to see if someone lost it ..." Chloe began, then stopped and asked, "How do you know I want to keep the kitten?"
" Audrey called me" the woman answered with a smile "she wants to know if you have enough money to the vaccinations for the cat or if you will do it when you get to Paris."
" I have daddy's card, no problem."
"Ah! She also wanted to know if it's female or male."
"Uhh, good question," she said looking the cat in the eyes "Are you a girl or a boy?"
"The cat won't answer you, you have to lift its tail and see," Kagami said, rolling her eyes.
"That sounds like sexual harassment."
"Chloe, it's a cat," Kagami said with a deadpan expression.
"So what? Cats have rights too!"
"Quit the drama, Chloe."
"Never!"
"She's a female," Marinette said, ignoring the craziness of her friends, as she stroked the kitten.
They both turned to see the girl, who was smiling at them.
"Thanks for checking, Maribug."
"You're not going to accuse her of cat harassment?" Kagami asked sarcastically.
"Number 1, Marinette volunteers at the animal shelter in Paris, so she's authorized" Chloe answered with an air of dignity "Secondly, who taught you to be sarcastic?"
"Nathaniel," Kagami answered with a smile.
"Damn redhead! I'll make him pay for this!"
Tomoe smiled upon hearing the conversation/discussion between her daughter and her friends. It was nice knowing that her daughter had friends to smile and cry with.
"In any case," Tomoe said, getting the teenagers attention "it would be better if we had something to eat, later on, we can leave you on the animal shelter"
*******************************************
Damian was having lunch with his family as he went over his plan to approach Marinette Dupain-Cheng as a civilian.
If he hadn't been so focused, he might have noticed the furtive glances his brothers gave him.
"Father, after lunch, I will go to the animal shelter, I have not delivered my donation yet. " Said the teenager trying to sound casual.
If the others had been paying attention, they would have noticed how the young Wayne tried to maintain a casual tone that, to be honest, did not suit him.
But luck was on his side, his brothers had their minds elsewhere and did not notice Damian's hidden nervousness. Well, except Cassandra, but nothing escapes her so it doesn't count.
"Sounds good to me," Bruce replied with a smile. He had always found very interesting how Damian had such an affinity for animals.
"Can I go with you, Damian?" Asked the tender voice of Helena Wayne, who looked at her older brother with puppy eyes "I want to see the kittens, please?"
Damian thought about it for a few minutes, taking Helena would be counterproductive in his attempts to get closer to Marinette, but rejecting her would be even worse. His brothers would know that he was hiding something and they never left him alone.
"I don't see why not, unless father thinks otherwise," Damian said, noticing how Bruce seemed thoughtful.
Perhaps, if luck was on his side, his father would think it was a bad idea to let his three-year-old daughter go to an animal shelter. That hope died when he saw how Bruce melted before Helena's baby doll eyes. "Father, you disappoint me," Damien thought.
"You have to promise to be good with your brother."
"I promise!" The princess Wayne said excitedly.
After lunch, both Damien and Helena headed for the animal shelter.
On the way, Damien thought "I had no luck in preventing Helena from coming with me, with my luck, the chances of seeing her again are almost zero"
However, luck, young Wayne, is fickle.
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Well here is the next chapter.
I know that I took like forever to update, but I have the biggest block ever, I was just sitting there, in front of my laptop, trying to write something but nothing came to me, I'm sorry for that.
Regarding to the chapter...
The bets are open and little by little the whole family will be involved.
In the next chapter Damian and Marinette will have their first interaction as civilians, wait for it.
Any suggestions for the kitten's name? I really suck at naming animals, usually, my brother decides the name of our pets, the only one I've named is my white cat, I named him Shiro.
Based on the suggestions I have received I will use the two cliches I mentioned earlier, Alfred's and Jagged's.
I think that would be it, thanks for reading.