A little note from your dear author before we start, there is going to be a hell lotta emotion in this scene (hopefully u feel it I mean my writing is not fantastic), so grab your popcorn, a box of tissues and your favourite teddy bear, get comfortable and here we go!

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"DAD DAD DAD DAD DAD LOOK AT THIS!" Jason barged into his office at around 1 in the morning, to show him the video of the fight. Bruce looked shocked, 

"She is a special girl, I suppose we can only wait and see just who she really is." he said with a smile on his face.

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The akuma class had just gotten out of the plane, and they were picking up their baggage. Lila was chatting with Alya about the fun times she had with her Damiboo, running around the Wayne Manor when they were little. and the on and off relationship they had. Although he had to pretend to not know her for her own safety, she couldn't be brought up in front of him because he would get sad. Of course none of it was true, but she soaked it up like a sponge. All she could think was, 

'watch out Gotham, Lila Rossi has arrived.'

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Nowadays, school kept Marinette occupied, and with cooking with Alfred and homework and commissions, Marinette found herself quite busy, and before she knew it it was already Friday. Although, unlike in Paris, she was wholly happy, she enjoyed spending time with the Waynes who considered her family, and she them. School was great, too. She had great friends at school, with braincells and knew how to use them too.

She had just begun to eat breakfast when her phone rang. She picked it up and said,

"Hey Uncle J," up until this point nobody found anything strange but when-

"MARINETTE, HOW'S MY FAVOURITE ROCKSTAR NIECE!!" a voice shouted out of the phone, they all stared at her in shock, they could recognise that voice anywhere.

Marinette yelped and threw the phone up in surprise. After a few clumsy catches she caught the phone, sheepishly said excuse me and ran into the hallway. She came back  5 minutes later, only to be bombarded by question, all variations of 'how do you know Jagged Stone and why did he call you his niece???'

Luckily Alfred saved him by saying, "time for school Marinette."

She practically ran to the limo saying a quick, "well time for school, bye!"

"Thanks Alfred," she said in relief.

"No problem, Marinette, although, the is a class coming to the Manor for a house tour today and I'll be busy getting things ready. Damien isn't coming to school for that reason. I hope it's ok if you drive yourself home from school today?"

"No problem Alfred"

"Thank you, I will drop the car in the school parking lot. Do you have spare keys?"

"Yes, here." she said handing them to him. 

They had reached school by now and Marinette was getting out of the car.

"The class will have most likely left by the time you get home, are you comfortable driving home?"

"Don't worry Alfred, I know the route, and I'm perfectly comfortable driving." she said as he waved him goodbye.

School was as normal as everyday, with a little more whispering because Damien wasn't in, but she has grown accustomed to it. At the end of the day, just like Alfred said her car was in the student parking lot. It had already attracted a crowd. She pushed through the crowd and got inside, trying not to mind the people staring and loudly whispering. She managed to make her way out of the school and begun the journey home.

Damien pov

The tour went as expected, they 'ooed' and 'ahhed' they all seemed to flock around a girl in the middle, and when I finally got a glimpse of her I was shocked. All I saw was far too much orange that completely clashed with her complexion and her hair looked like sausages. I'm not one to judge on fashion choices but if angel - Marinette - saw her she would probably get a heart attack.

The tour took longer then expected because of the girl - he found out that her name was Lila Rossi, which he vaguely recognised from somewhere but couldn't grasp where - making up excuses, like honestly, how the fuck do you twist your ankle if you're walking slower than a tortoise? Finally it was close to ending and Damien made up an excuse to take a walk outside, while the rest of the answered questions. Honestly if all French classes were like that I completely understand why Marinette left. 

3rd person pov

He saw Marinette's car pull up outside, and like clockwork Alfred the cat came out to greet her, it had become routine to meet her once she came back from school. She locked her car and picked up Alfred, "hello chaton," she whispered into his ears, while he purred.

"Hi Damien" she said when she saw him.

"Marinette" he nodded in her direction, and stroked Alfred's head.

"How was the class? You must have been oh so miserable having to socialise with people," she teased.

He narrowed his eyes,

"You're spending too much time with Jason -but, you're not wrong" he crossed his arms and huffed. Their conversation went on as they walked inside, Marinette stroking Alfred absent-mindedly. Then, she saw the class.

She gasped silently, dropping Alfred, who hissed and walked up, clearly upset. Fear and panic was creeping up on her face, her normally bright eyes turned cold and grey.

"Marinette?" Damien asked, but she didn't hear him.

"oh no, oh no no no" and she ran of towards her room. That's when it hit, Lila Rossi, the girl on her file, the one she had supposedly bullied, but her face, the one of pure fear, told the story very differently indeed.

The class left a moment later. Jason saw Damien asked, "where's Marinette, I heard the door open?" Damien had explained what had happened, and what he suspected about Lila, his voice calm, but the worry was visible in his eyes. They all raced to her room and gently opened the door, to find pacing back and forth and shivering, not of cold, but of panic, and mumbling fast in French. 

"Pixie?" Jason whispered and put his hand on her shoulder. Marinette quickly looked up to see all of them in her room, and something inside her snapped. She started crying into Jason's chest, all the emotion she had been bottling for 4 years came tumbling out into his brotherly touch while he stroked her hair. Every sob broke their hearts into pieces. They had never expected Marinette, the flawless and kind girl to be so broken inside. 

Damien, even if he didn't look it, was the most shocked of them all. She had never seen her look so weak, so vulnerable, so broken. It was then when he noticed there wasn't so much different between them. They had both been to hell and back at such a young age. Different but the same. (a/n yin and yang anyone?)

She quickly calmed down and sat down on the floor at the foot of her bed, the rest of them forming a semi-circle around her, and told them everything. Not bits and pieces, not vaguely, not leaving anything out, everything. Her being ladybug from 13, Lila, guardianship, suicidal thoughts, night terrors. Painful memories flashed through her mind, and she was brought back to her senses by something hot and wet on her face, she hadn't even noticed the silent tears falling on her face. By the end of it everyone looked like they were going to go on a killing spree. Alfred came in with a tray of tea, which seemed to calm everyone down, just a little bit. 

"I'm sorry Tikki," she said.

"Who's Tik- OH MY GOD A FLYING MOUSE!!???" Dick screeched as Tikki flew out.

"Ok do I really look like a mouse?" huffed Tikki. And Marinette laughed. She laughed. The rest of them were flabbergasted, how the motherfucking hell does a girl go from so broken you would think she had gone to hell to laughing like she had just had a very pleasant conversation with an old friend?

"You see, when I first met Tikki I called her a mouse too."

"So what exactly, are you" Tim asked.

"A kwami, or a miniature god if you prefer. Kwamis inhabit the miraculous and grant the holders their powers."

Tim seemed to have frozen, he had reached his limit for shock for one day.

"Right, I think that's enough for one day, you need sleep." Damien told Marinette, who gave a small smile and nodded. They all filed out of the room slowly, and Marinette changed and got into bed. But even after the exhausting day she had, she couldn't sleep. She felt strangely light headed. She got up to make herself more tea. She got to the kitchen and started the kettle, 

"Still can't sleep?" she turned around to see Damien leaning against the wall, who had come down for a walk.

"No" she said softly, "but it's nothing I'm not used to."

He hesitated but nodded.

"Damien," he turned around, "Thank you, for everything" she said with such a sweet smile it was excruciatingly hard to be indifferent towards her. He felt the corner of his lip twitch upwards. And then he did it, he didn't know why, you could have asked him 5 years later and he still wouldn't know, he kissed her.

Marinette hesitated for a moment, but she just felt so at home in his warm touch she slowly melted into it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, his arms around her waist. 

Nobody noticed poor little Tim, who had only come down to get a cup of coffee, yes I know it's far too late to have coffee, but he needed the energy to sink in all the tea ,both physically and mentally. When he came down to find that, he was, honesty there are no words to describe what he was feeling. He was over the fucking moon was one way to describe it. He stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the scene, took like 50 photos and walked of in a daze, now fueled by adrenaline, not coffee, for a change. 

When Damien and Marinette finally broke apart, they stared at each other for a moment, the swiftly turned around and continued like nothing could happen, thought neither could hide the small smile on their faces, the gleam in their eyes, or the blush on their cheeks.

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1744 words

An extra long chapter, god writing that last bit was awkward, I have no experience writing those kind of scenes, but hope you enjoyed! Thank you all sooooooooooooo much for over 1 thousand reads and as usual, pls vote, comment and share with your friends! 💖😘