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Marinette let out a huff of exhaustion as the last guy went down. She grabbed his knife, giving him one last kick to the groin for the trouble. She was already having a bad day before these jerks showed up and tried to kidnap her. She was about to tie them all up and call the police to take care of them when she heard the crunch of pavement behind her. Had she missed one hiding in the shadows?
“Hey-” a voice behind her sounded out.
Marinette didn’t wait for them to finish. She whipped around, and promptly stabbed them in the stomach with the knife she was still holding. There was a small grunt as the knife trajectory went off a bit, almost as if it had hit something solid instead. She hadn’t aimed for a bone though – that shouldn’t have happened…
Then she looked up.
In front of her was a pair of bright blue eyes and black hair. He was looking down at her incredulously.
“Oh gosh – I’m so sorry!” she panicked, removing the knife from the hole in his shirt. “I can take you to the hos…pi…tal…”
The knife was bent at the hilt. There was no blood on it.
She glanced again at the face in front of her. It was now cringing – as if the knife itself and the fact that she failed was the problem rather than the fact that she had tried to stab him.
“I can explain,” he started.
“Superboy – or is it Superman now?” she blurted out. There really was no other explanation. Plus, he had no disguise. It was a miracle the whole world didn’t know who he was.
Super-whatever started to panic as his identity was outed. Then the sound of someone laughing reached her ears.
“Shut up Damian!” the now outed hero whined. Whined. Superman was whining.
“Miss, that was the best thing I have ever seen,” the man named Damian said as he came up to them. He had apparently been tying up the men she had taken care of earlier. Was he actually praising her for stabbing his friend? “Was this your handiwork as well?” His voice indicated a level of praise to it.
“Yeah. They were saying something about me fetching a good price,” she tried to defend herself.
“Hmm, well then we had better make sure to keep you safe,” Damian reasoned with her. Superboy? (she really needed him to clarify which name he wanted to use) looked like someone had just dumped water on his head. Or stabbed him. Actually, he looked less shocked with the stabbing than the man in front of him being nice to her.
“Sure…” the super replied. “We can watch over you…” he agreed hesitantly with his friend. Wait. His friend. Superboy was known to be best friends with Robin…
Ah hell. Damian was Robin.
“Well with Superman and Robin looking after me, I’m sure I’ll be safe,” she decided to go along with it. Damian had the best smirk of a smile she had ever seen. And she was a sucker for green eyes. Superman wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes either.
Damian flinched as he realised his identity was outed as well. “Kent!”
Kent groaned. “Jon Kent, at your service.” He did a mock bow. He had somehow messed this up for both of them. He may as well own it.
“As in Lois Lane-Kent and Clark Kent?” Marinette asked. Alya was going to flip when she heard she knew the Kent reporters’ kid. He was making a name for himself these days too.
“That’s the one,” Jon cringed. He and Damian had just outed his whole family.
“Let’s just take her to the manor before any more secrets decide to come out with your big mouth,” Damian chided.
“I’m not the one who let me being a Kent slip, bird boy!”
“You guys are really terrible with the whole secret identity thing,” she teased.
That resulted in both of them blushing.
“Just come on,” Damian grabbed her hand and led her down the street to his car, Jon trailing along behind them. Had they looked back, they would have seen him, eyes wide in surprise as Damian willingly clasped her hand.
The two heroes had a quiet conversation from the front seat (clearly arguing by the looks of it) while Marinette sat quietly in the back, trying to stifle her giggles. They were two walking disasters.
They pulled up to Wayne Manor a while later. Oh. Damian Wayne. The Waynes were the Bats. Well, that made sense. “I’m not sure Batman will appreciate you taking me to his home without warning, Damian Wayne,” she teased, but it ended up with her laughing out his name.
Damian groaned and put his head on the steering wheel. It caused the horn to honk, announcing to the whole estate that they had arrived. He ignored it as the horn continued to blare out.
Boy, they really hadn’t thought this out, had they? Were all the Bats and Supers this bad at planning?
“It’s okay. I’ll keep your secrets… better than you two can at least,” she snarked at them. “I hope your families are better at keeping their identities hidden than you two.”
“They’re not. They’re really not,” Damian lamented, finally lifting his head from the horn and stopping the awful noise.
“My dad just slouches and has glasses,” Jon admitted.
“Father once told the entire courthouse he was Batman,” Damian added.
Yeah, there was no way she was telling these guys who she was. She was retired anyways.
They got out of the car, Jon offering her a hand. “Welcome to stately Wayne Manor! Home of the Bats and the Birds!”
Damian walked over and smacked Jon upside of the head. “Yeah, lets just announce it to everyone.”
Jon reassured him, “There’s no one here outside of your family.” Jon’s head hadn’t even moved with the hit. Damian was shaking out his hand in pain.
They led her inside, Damian glaring at Jon as he held Marinette’s arm.
“You guys do realise I never actually consented to coming here, right?” Marinette smirked as the two had a silent fight with just their eyes. “You kidnapped me.”
“I- We- There’s no way- O.M.G. We did,” Jon looked horrified.
“It’s for your own protection, miss,” Damian tried to reason out. She watched as his brain caught up with his actions. “Miss…”
“Marinette,” she laughed. “My name is Marinette. Not that it seemed to matter when you kidnapped me.”
Their conversation was cut off by the appearance of Alfred and Tim.
“Who do we have here, Master Damian?” Alfred asked kindly. He had a small smile on his face, making Damian wonder how much the man had overheard.
“Hi! I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she responded. Well at least Damian had a name now.
“So how did the three of you meet?” Tim questioned. The girl was looking close to bursting out laughing. Jon looked like he wanted to bury himself in a hole and die, at least when he wasn’t looking at the girl (then he looked like he wanted to sing love songs off-key. The guy really couldn’t sing). Damian was… well… if Tim didn’t know any better, he’d say Damian was giving Marinette heart eyes.
“She tried to stab Jon,” Damian’s voice was full of reverence, as if he had just described her saving a runaway baby carriage, rather than stabbing his best friend.
“And, uh, how’d that go?” Tim glanced over at Jon, who was clearly not bleeding to death.
“She stabbed him so hard the knife bent,” Damian answered. “It was beautiful.”
Tim’s eyebrow raised. Damian was waxing poetic about some girl stabbing Jon. It was… odd. It was going to be a headache for him later. He had to research the girl now. She was an exposure risk. “And was that unusual for you?” Tim cringed as he probed her for information.
“Why would that be unusual? He’s a Super. Of course it bent,” she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and completely normal to not only randomly stab someone, but for them to be a mostly impervious half-alien.
Yep. Tim was going to have a headache later.
“She knows,” Jon stated blandly. “Everything.”
“…Everything.” Bruce was going to throw a fit. Tim decided to just leave. He didn’t want to be there when all hell broke loose and deal with Bruce’s anger. Unfortunately, Bruce walked in then, drawn by the commotion in the driveway.
“Father, this is Marinette,” Damian paused. “Through some unforeseen circumstances-”
“She stabbed Jon,” Tim chimed in.
“-she knows who we all are.”
“I see.” His tone was flat. His eyes were slits as he glared at her.
She grinned back. “It is such a lucky circumstance that I got to meet all of you! Some guys were trying to kidnap me. Then your son did.”
“Damian. You didn’t,” Bruce groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in exhaustion and irritation.
“I- No. I didn’t mean to,” he attempted to defend himself.
“We totally did,” Jon laughed.
“It was for her own protection!” Damian spat back. “She is being targeted!”
“Yes. I believe they think there’s something miraculous about me,” she said looking straight at the cowl-less Batman. She watched as the gears turned and he registered what she said.
“She can stay. Show her around. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the tour of the cave,” he dragged Tim out along with him.
“Tea, Miss Marinette?” Alfred asked, as Damian and Jon stood in shock. Not only was she allowed to stay, but she could see the Batcave?
“Just Marinette, thanks.”
“Come join me in the kitchen. We have a wide variety to choose from Marinette.”
The two of them left, leaving Damian and Jon wondering what the hell had just happened. Alfred was calling her by her first name only. Bruce had given her full access to everything. She wasn’t even a bit shocked by Jon or Damian being heroes.
Dinner was just as weird for Tim. Damian pulled out her chair for her. He gave her first offerings of everything on the table, and glared when others tried to go first. He commanded her attention throughout the meal with stories of things he had done as Robin. She soaked it all in, her attention completely on him. Jon was starting to feel left out. Everyone else at the table was just sitting in shock as Damian was overtly social, and leaning into her, his body language speaking for him. He liked her. He really liked her. And by her body language, she clearly liked him too.
Jon had hoped for a brief moment that she would like him. Some ‘love at first stab’ or something, but it seemed as though Damian was the one who got hit after all.
~~~~
It only got worse over the next few days. Damian followed her around like a lost puppy. She loved animals. She cuddled up with Titus, Damian stealing loving glances at her. They both enjoyed art, and Marinette designed things. They would ‘accidentally’ touch as they both grabbed for a brush. He would ‘help’ her out of her seat or escort her somewhere because the mansion was so ‘so big she might get lost.’ Jon wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take.
At the same time, Marinette would hug Jon, act playful, and let him fly her around the room. He thought at times that she was flirting with him, but then she would back off, or move on to Damian, leaving him confused and alone.
Another two days of it (though, admittedly they had included him in almost everything as well), and Jon had snapped. The tension in the room was palpable. It was obvious they wanted to be with each other. Marinette was leaning over Damian to see the sketch he was currently working on. Damian loved his personal space. He apparently had none with her. “I know what you two have been doing. Thinking I won't notice the way you look at each other.”
“Huh? What do you mean Jon?” Marinette asked innocently. Did she really not know? She figured them all out so easily, but was somehow this oblivious?
Jon groaned. “The tension in this room is unbearable.”
“What are you talking about?” Damian looked like a deer in headlights. Hah. He was caught.
Jon rubbed his temple. There was no way they were both that oblivious. “I’m talking about you two! You guys need to either fight or kiss. You can quite literally cut the tension with a knife every damn time you are in a room together.”
Marinette glanced at Damian, before settling her eyes on Jon. “I’m sorry…”
Jon stood up. “I’m leaving. I’ll be back in an hour. I don’t care what you guys do, but figure this out. You’re suffocating me.”
“Or I could just let Marinette stab you again,” Damian teased. Jon looked scandalized. “You did say we could cut the tension. The only tense one here is you.”
“I’ll use a magical one this time,” Marinette added.
Jon cringed. If it was a magical knife, he would actually be hurt. “Wait! No. Stab Damian instead!”
Damian glared at Jon.
“Oh come on Dami, I know. Tim knows. Your father knows. Everyone except her knows.” Jon shoved Damian at her and moved to run from the room, but a voice stopped him.
“Jon, if you were feeling left out, all you had to do was ask,” Marinette said quietly, an eyebrow quirked up at him.
Jon’s face immediately flushed, and he mumbled, “Maybe next time... after you two figure this out.”
“Wait – magical knife?” Damian interrupted the impromptu flirting.
“Did you mean kryptonite?” Jon asked.
“I mean, it could be a magical kryptonite knife if you really wanted, but that might be overkill,” she responded.
“Where would you get a magical kryptonite knife?” Jon asked, horrified. If one of those existed, his whole family would be in danger!
“Hmm… where indeed. Maybe luck will just give me what I need.”
Damian asked her quietly, as if pretending Jon couldn’t hear him, “If you find one, can I have it?”
Jon groaned. “Stop trying to fatally stab me and kiss her already. I’m leaving.”
“Sure Damian, you can have one,” Marinette responded as if Jon hadn’t said anything.
“Great, then I can stab Jon for his meddling.”
“I don’t know. I think I’d rather thank him. So, were you actually going to kiss me?”
Damian huffed as if offended, but still leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss. Jon really hadn’t wanted to be there for that. It was bad enough being aware it would happen… but Marinette had made it seem like there was hope for him yet.
“Come back Jon. Quit moping,” Damian said as they broke apart.
Jon jumped, floating over to the couch, a grin on his face as he joined them, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders as he wedged himself between them. Marinette quickly leaned over and gave him a kiss, much like she had just done with Damian. To his surprise, Damian gave him a peck on the cheek. Jon grinned and returned it with a kiss to the hairline above his temple. It wasn’t what he had imagined would happen when he thought of Marinette and Damian. It was better.
Love at first stab indeed.