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Chapter Text

It was soon after Jason had agreed to Bruce’s pansy “no killing” stipulation. He could operate as Red Hood in conjunction with Batman and company but separate as long as he complied with that one very specific rule. 

 He hated it. While he’d rediscovered most of himself since his stint with death, that didn’t necessarily curb any of his bloodlust. Parts of him were damaged irreparable and one of those was the understanding that you shouldn’t want to kill people just for the sake of killing people. 

While he complied, apparently causing someone the maximum amount of pain possible was also looked down upon. Bruce gave him quite the lecture, and afterwards Jason just needed to escape. He wandered around Gotham’s streets, hopefully to blow off some steam before going back to the manor. Maybe he could - 

His train of thought was interrupted by someone bumping into him sharply. Irked, Jason turned around to bite their head off, maybe get a decent fight in, but he was completely caught off guard by empty air. He glanced around, confused  until he looked down about a foot and a half. He was met by a shade of blue he didn’t know the name of, but he desperately wanted to. Pale skin dotted with freckles was framed by inky hair, a combination that Jason should have been used to but seemed to be an assault on his emotions. 

Rapid words spewed out of the tiny girl’s mouth, and Jason would have sworn that his brain had simply stopped working until he heard the words, “ Excusez moi. ”

Ah, so she was French. Jason straightened up, wracking his brain for what little French he remembered from high school. “Uh, je m’appelle Jason. Uh…”

“So sorry, I spoke in French without thinking,” the girl said in only lightly accented English. “But I’m sorry for bumping into you. It was an accident, forgive me.” 

Finally freed from her bewitching blue eyes, Jason took a moment to scrutinize her and her apparent companions. The girl was distinctly shorter than the others, and she looked almost like a pixie with her hair tied up in pigtails. She was accompanied by two men, one blond clearly wearing designer clothes, and the only remarkable thing about the other was his chunky headphones. Behind them a girl with glasses and ombre hair was holding her phone up like she was recording or something. 

“It’s… fine,” Jason eventually said, realizing the pixie was waiting for an answer of some sort from him. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what are you all doing here in Gotham? I mean, you’re obviously not from here.” 

She grinned, face alight with mischief. “And what gave it away? Was it the fact that we actually wore a color other than black in Gotham?” 

“Nah, it’s the hope in your eyes. It doesn’t belong, especially when you four are headed to Crime Alley as we speak.”

“Are we really? I told you we were lost, Adrien!” the girl said, nudging the blond. 

“Nino is the one who lost the map,” he said, pointing to Headphones. 

“But you were the one who claimed to remember the way and wouldn’t let us use GPS.”

The one with ombre hair said, “But is Crime Alley completely out  of the question? If I got some footage of something going on I would get a great grade for my Criminal Journalism class.” 

Headphones groaned. “Babe…”

Pixie patted the other girl’s arm. “I’m not getting mugged for your project, Alya. Besides, it’s Gotham. I’m sure you’ll find something without needlessly endangering ourselves.” 

Jason couldn’t stop staring at the Pixie girl. She was gorgeous. Even with her tiny stature, she emanated confidence and poise. Somehow her movements reminded him of Dick, a surety and grace that came from knowing your own body. She was clearly the leader of their little group, and the thought of her wandering through Crime Alley left Jason unexpectedly feeling angry and a bit… possessive, which was insane. 

He couldn’t help but eye the blond. He wasn’t dating the Pixie, was he? The other two seemed to be in a relationship, but…

“So what is this, some kind of couples trip or something?” Jason asked, shamelessly inserting himself into the conversation once more.

“No,” Pixie and the blond said in perfect unison. 

“We’re just friends,” he said quickly. “Alya and Nino are dating, but the four of us have been friends since high school, and we just wanted to take a fun, celebratory trip.” 

“It’s a miracle we found the time to do it at all,” Pixie continued. “Alya is the one that picked Gotham because apparently she misses Paris being a dystopian hellscape overrun with masked weirdos.” 

“You can’t be telling me that all of that akuma crap was real,” Jason said, leaning against a nearby wall.

Almost perfectly in unison, all four foreigners scoffed, trading looks with one another.

“Gotham isn’t the only city with issues, pretty boy,” the reporter one said. “Don’t be so quick to dismiss what you hear.” 

Damn, Jason had let his curiosity over Paris’s heroes get the best of him. Since he knew Pixie was available he was supposed to work on charming her pants off. 

“Look, I’ve got nothing to do the rest of the day,” Jason said, determined to change the subject. (He could make the Replacement investigate things later.) “I could show you back to  your hotel, or even show you around Gotham without getting robbed.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, I wouldn’t want to take all of your spare time,” Pixie said, blue eyes worried. “If you could just point us in the right direction-”

“You promise to make sure we’re not attacked or mugged?” Reporter demanded.

 “Alya,” her boyfriend cautioned. 

“You don’t want to go to Crime Alley because it’s dangerous, right? Well I’m sure we’ll be fine with six feet of muscle on our side.” 

“Alya, no.” 

“I’m not risking our necks at Crime Alley,” Jason said with finality. “But chances are that you’ll see at least something that might work for your class.” 

“Okay, it’s a deal,” she said decisively. 

“We don’t know him, Alya,” the blond hissed, surreptitiously glancing at him. 

Pixie was shamelessly scrutinizing him - she was staring him down intently enough to make Jason feel uncomfortable. He knew he looked a bit like a thug - between his sheer size and his usual scowl, it was easy to send people running. Most of the time he liked it and the fear he inspired, but he couldn’t tell whether or not he scared her, one of the first people he didn’t want to scare. What did she think of him? Why was he so nervous about a little girl who’d decided pigtails were totally age - appropriate at twenty-something years old? 

Her face cleared and she smiled widely like it was the easiest thing in the world. “Don’t worry guys, we can trust Jason.” 

He nearly startled when she said his name, but he shoved the reaction down. Even more surprising was the way the two men relaxed, totally willing to follow the girl’s lead. 

“We appreciate your help, Jason. These are my friends Alya, Adrien, and Nino. My name is Marinette.” Pixie - no, Marinette - was still smiling like he’d just given her the world. “We really appreciate your help, it’s very kind of you.” 

“Whatever,” Jason said, ignoring the slight blush on his cheeks. “Now let’s get the hell away from Crime Alley. I’m not your babysitter.”   

Chapter Text

Marinette had thought that her years of being Rena Rogue would have improved Alya’s need for documenting dangerous situations, or at the very least her impulse control. As much as she loved her best friend, she was beginning to sincerely regret being cajoled into going to Gotham, of all places. A part of her couldn’t help but speculate whether of not Alya had been hoping that they’d end up in Crime Alley.

Jason was an unexpected bonus to their trip, though. None of them were quite sure what to think of the native Gothamite, but he did make an excellent tour guide. He was attentive, and surprisingly knowledgeable about the city’s history. Although he initially came off as angry and intimidating, he was also witty and attentive, especially to Marinette.

Okay, he was also hot. Like, absurdly hot. While Adrien was attractive, Jason was… Marinette didn’t know what words she could possibly use to describe just how broad his shoulders were, or how defined those muscles seemed. At one point he hugged her into his (very firm) chest so an inattentive biker didn’t hit her while they were crossing the street. She was grateful that he took the time to cuss them out, or he would have seen her face as red as her Ladybug suit. At another point when he took off his jacket and she saw his arms, she nearly choked on her spit.

She was dangerously close to relapsing into the Marinette of her teenage years, and that was the singularly worst outcome she could picture. Something about Jason made her feel… safe, protected.

The first day of their acquaintance with Jason was blessedly uneventful. Marinette was a little sad to bid him goodbye for good, but when he dropped them off at their hotel, he asked, “So what time should I be here tomorrow?”

A blush crept up Marinette’s face. “You don’t have to do that, really. We don’t want to bore you–“

He met her eyes, his own piercing. He was evaluating her, and based on his smirk, he liked what he saw. “I’ll be here at ten.” Jason raised a massive, strong hand to brush an errant strand of hair out of her eyes. “Gotham would eat you up, and we can’t have that.”

When he stepped away, Marinette almost collapsed on the spot. She knew her face was flaming red, but she managed to stammer, “W-Well, we’re going to have breakfast at the bakery just down the block at seven, but we’ll definitely be back by ten.”

“I guess that’s safe enough,” Jason said with that same smirk. “But no more wandering around Gotham, you got it?”

“S-Sure.”

Even though he had just vacated her personal space just a second ago, he leaned in close enough that his breath tickled her ear. “Sleep well, sweetcheeks.”

He left them standing in the hotel lobby, Marinette completely frozen. Before the boys could do or say anything, Alya grabbed her hand in an iron grip and hauled her up two flights of stairs to the room the two of them were sharing.

“What was that?” Alya demanded, closing the door with a bang.

Still dazed, Marinette collapsed onto the bed. “What was that?”

“Do you suddenly have a thing for bad boys now? I just… and how did we bump into him? He’s like the buffest man on the planet.”

“He called me sweetcheeks. Is that a good thing?” Marinette mumbled.

“Marinette, focus,” Alya said, shaking her best friend. “I’m worried.”

Finally Marinette made eye contact. “But he’s safe. He protected us.”

Emerging from her purse, Tikki settled on Alya’s head. “Marinette, I don’t think that’s what Alya is talking about.”

Sitting up, infinitely more level-headed than moments earlier, Marinette smiled softly, eyes holding a depth of sadness that should have been unfair for a twenty-year-old. “I know that nothing will happen between the two of us, we fly back to Paris in five days. But I just… I just want to be a normal girl for a week. I was fine with coming to Gotham because it meant I had a week to just be Marinette, not Ladybug, not MDC. For once I just want to let myself get caught up in my emotions – and if I end up hurt, that’s fine, because it means I’m allowed to feel again.”

Tikki and Alya shared glances with each other before Tikki spoke. “I guess I can understand that. But are you sure you can handle whatever happens, Marinette?”

“I’m a big girl, Tikki.”

“Besides, did you see those biceps? That alone almost makes up for anything he might do,” Alya said, fanning herself.

********

When morning rolled around, Marinette was the only one awake. Even Tikki was worn out from staying up entirely too late giggling about Jason and embarrassing Marinette with Alya’s help. Used to helping in the bakery every morning since she’d graduated, the lack of sleep was nothing to Marinette when she rolled out of bed and tied her hair up as per usual.

She was a little nervous about walking around Gotham alone, but Jason had dubbed this a safe part of town, and it was just at the end of the block. Her phone and her wallet were safely secured to her person, so she couldn’t be pick-pocketed either. Besides, even if something did  happen, she had been Ladybug for years. Even without being transformed, Marinette had developed a number of self-defense skills on her own. It would be fine.

Getting to the bakery was no problem because, as previously stated, it was only a block away. The streets were fairly empty, and the weather was pleasant. She’d heard that Gotham was almost always storming, but she had yet to see any of that.

The bread was still warm in the bakery. Marinette was mostly curious about the differences between French and American bakeries, and she knew her parents were expecting a full report of any special items.

It didn’t seem like there was anything too different about the bakery except the various vigilante inspired pastries, and Marinette refused to bring that up – she didn’t need to see Ladybug bread everywhere she went. They actually had a far smaller selection than she was used to, but she’d heard that that was to be expected in America.

She ordered a bit of everything, and after deliberating a bit, she ordered a few extra Red Hood donuts. They were vaguely gun-shaped and filled with raspberry jelly. It seemed like the sort of thing that Jason would find amusing, and if not, there were plenty of other things for him to choose from and Adrien and Nino wouldn’t complain.

Piled high with pastries and breads, Marinette left the bakery humming to herself. Bags swung f rom her arms as she skipped a few feet until she froze, an ominous feeling creeping up her spine.

Crouching in a nearby alley, Marinette looked out at the street for a sign of what had her on edge like this. Sure enough, only seconds later a roar shook the streets, and a villain she recognized as Killer Croc barrelled his way through, jaws snapping.

Marinette’s eyes widened when she noticed he was clearly heading straight for the alley she’d ducked into. Too late she noticed the open manhole cover just a few feet behind her. The telltale sound of vigilantes pursuing the mutant were enough to spur her into action.

Unwilling to put down the food, Marinette kicked the manhole cover back in place – it would slow Croc down for a few seconds. He was still about fifty meters away, causing mass panic on the street. Desperately hoping that the wheels were unlocked – and surprisingly gratified, Marinette body checked the nearby dumpster, shoving it right on top of the manhole. Without her Ladybug suit, this was the most she could safely do. Bolting to the nearest building’s fire escape, Marinette hauled herself up the ladder as quickly as she could without smashing the bags of food.

Killer Croc wasn’t far behind her, and when he saw the covered manhole, he bellowed. Marinette started moving more haphazardly as she clambered up, desperate to reach safety. It was only a metal ladder within a foot of most windows, and it was only anchored by a handful of bolts every few feet of the ladder.

Her hand slipped when Killer Croc roared beneath her, catching sight of her handiwork. A neatly wrapped pastry fell out of one of the violently swinging bags, bopping the reptile on the head.

“This was you!” he growled. “If the Bats are going to catch me then I may as well take you with me.”

Scaled hands grasped one of the bottom rungs. Marinette did all she could to haul herself up the ladder faster, but it was a thirteen-story building – making it to the top was sounding less likely by the minute. She would have leapt into one of the nearby windows if she weren’t convinced that it would end in a paranoid Gothamite taking her out before Killer Croc could do the job.

Metal groaned as the reptilian man wrenched the bolts out of the very brick they’d been anchored in. The ladder shook, and Marinette screamed as the section she clung to was ripped from the wall, leaving her stuck between a structurally questionable ladder, and a very pissed off crocodile.

“Going so soon? Our playdate was just getting fun.”

Marinette could have sobbed when she saw Nightwing enter the alleyway, flanked by Red Robin and Red Hood. In a deep voice, Red Hood said, “You two take down Croc, I’ve got the girl.”

The other two looked surprised, but conceded easily enough. While Killer Croc was distracted by the vigilantes, Marinette moved even faster up the ladder – she only had three flights to go before she was at the roof, but the ladder was shaking like it would fall at any second, and she really didn’t want to find out what that would do to her and the pastries.

She vaguely registered that Red Hood was demanding someone’s something hook, but Marinette’s sheer panic was lessening her grasp on the English language by the second. With his loudest growl yet, Killer Croc wrenched the ladder free of the building. Marinette screamed, her stomach clenching with dread as she released the ladder, trying to curl her body in a way that she hopefully wouldn’t break anything upon impact.

Something whistled through the air, and before Marinette could hit the ground she collided with something – a man, who wrapped an arm around her. She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes, but Marinette opened them to find herself face-to-face with the abomination that was Red Hood’s mask, but for the moment she could forgive the fashion crime.

He kicked off of the brick wall, giving them some distance from the ladder before it fell with a glorious clang. Marinette’s heart finally started beating, hammering in her chest as the vigilante slowly lowered them down to the ground.

When she finally forced herself to look, the other two had Killer Croc pinned and trussed up like a pig. Nightwing waved, smiling brighter than Marinette thought was allowed from someone who lived in Gotham. “The manhole cover and the dumpster? Brilliant move, we never would have caught him if he’d been able to get into the sewers. You made some risky moves, but I can tell they were calculated. Nicely done!”

Safely on the ground, Red Hood was examining her for any injuries. Clearly irked, he growled, “Since when are we encouraging civilians to jump into the middle of this sh-“

“Hood, she would have been involved one way or another just because of where she was standing,” Nightwing interrupted. “She saw us coming, and she just did a few things to slow him down while doing her best to keep herself safe. What’s up with you? Normally you’d be high-fiving a civilian for something like that.”

“Whatever,” Red Hood mumbled. “I’m escorting her to make sure she gets to wherever she’s going safely. Make sure the lizard doesn’t get away.”

Chapter Text

He knew his brothers were wondering what on earth was up with him, but he also couldn’t bring himself to care in the least. Jason left them behind without a thought, telling Marinette to direct him to wherever she was staying. 

Jason felt restless. The image of Marinette dangling from the ladder, seconds from death, it had burrowed into his mind, sending him more and more panic. He knew she was okay - she was standing right beside him. But the what-ifs were enough to drive him mad. 

A large part of him was balking at the fact that he cared so much. What was so special about this tiny French girl?

They barely spoke on the way to the hotel, and after he’d watched her get in safely, he found himself perching on the rooftop of said hotel, safeguarding it from nonexistent threats. Up there, he had entirely too much time to think. 

The intensity of his emotions right now was concerning to say the least, but he hadn’t felt so close to losing himself to anger since the first few months after coming back to life. Seeing Marinette safe seemed to be the only solution to the condition, but it wasn’t sustainable. He wasn’t a big enough asshole to force himself and all of his emotional minefields on her but he couldn’t pull himself away just yet. 

Jason would never pretend to be any sort of saint, but he knew that Marinette deserved someone better than him. She had an entire life waiting for her in Paris, and doubtlessly a whole host of perfect, non-homicidal men just waiting for her. It wasn’t fair or kind to her to encourage anything more from their acquaintance. She was too delicate to be faced with the things that life threw at him daily, too precious.

If he were truly a good man, Jason would have made his excuses and bowed out of his agreement, or maybe simply not shown up at all. But Jason was not a good man, so he let himself have this one day, a single day to forget his life.

It ended up being a great day. He’d had misgivings at first, but Marinette’s friends were pretty fun. Alya finally got her footage, a frankly impressive video of Adrien and Marinette tag-teaming a mugger – that definitely didn’t help him break his growing attachment to the girl, although it did make him rethink the whole “too delicate” thing.

By the end of the day, Jason had been accepted into the group. He couldn’t remember laughing that much for a very, very long time. He wasn’t quite sure what to think of the motley crew, but they definitely kept him on his toes. It was pure chaos, with moments where Marinette tripped, only to somersault and land perfectly on her feet, holding her hands out like Dick did whenever he pulled one of his gymnastics stunts. At lunch, Adrien got so distracted that he ordered his food in at least four different languages before Nino finally took pity on him and ordered it in English. Meanwhile, despite Nino and Marinette constantly kidnapping her phone, Jason was pretty sure that Alya had already finished an article to accompany her footage of the mugger.

It seemed that Marinette hadn’t told any of them about the incident with Killer Croc this morning, so he forced himself to take every opportunity he could to remind them never to walk around alone.

He was also forced to make his excuses about being gone for the rest of the week for a sudden family emergency. Just the words were almost enough to make him gag.

Marinette looked a little sad, which made Jason feel so weak. But with the same smile as always, she said, “Well, I guess you’ll have to show us the best things today.”

“Is that a challenge?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She raised her own, putting her hands on her hips. “Is that white patch of hair on your head fake?”

“It’s actually natural.”

Mirth glittered in her eyes. “I don’t believe you, but get a move on! We’re wasting daylight.”

The following day, no matter how much Jason tried to forget, or pretend that it didn’t happen, was ingrained on his very soul. It was the best day of his life, and it quickly turned into the best night of his life. Never before had he… well, Jason laid awake long after Marinette had fallen asleep, wondering if this was what love felt like.

Leaving her was worse than being shot, worse than being resurrected, and worse than dying in the first place. Jason felt like he was leaving that best part of himself with her, but it was the only way he could protect her.

Moving as quietly as possible, Jason collected his things. He couldn’t have known how much he would think of and obsess over this day, this woman. He couldn’t have known that this day would change his entire life, or that it would do the same to Marinette.

We cannot know the future, and the same held true for Marinette in Jason. Almost in mourning, Jason would go on a two-month road trip around the country, trying and failing to distance himself from the memory of her. Understanding that everything about that final day meant goodbye, Marinette would never try to find or contact Jason again – although it would have been nearly impossibly had she tried. She didn’t even know his last name. No, in some ways she was completely alone the mornings she woke up nauseous, and when she finally decided to buy a pregnancy test. She had her friends and family to hold her when it came back positive, and again in the delivery room.

Marinette’s joy would be more than she could have ever imagined, but it would always come with an edge. A part of her mind would always dwindle on Jason with every first word or step.

Years later they would reunite, and together lament their lost time and experiences. Jason would be surprised at how sweet it felt to be called “dad.” But the unknowable future is always held captive by the cruel present,  and although it grieved him, all Jason knew was that in the present, it was time for him to leave.

It pained him to think of abandoning her without leaving a trace of him behind, so Jason gave her the two parting gifts he could afford to give her: a kiss on the forehead, and a single red rose.

Chapter Text

“Marinette, Alya is here!” Sabine called up the stairs.

“Thanks Maman, I’ll see you later!” Marinette called back, launching herself down. Sure enough, her best friend was waiting for her at the bakery’s front door. “Nino isn’t with you?”

“He’s helping Chris get all of the kids settled, the sucker,” Alya said, though Marinette couldn’t tell which Lahiffe boy was being called the sucker.

“Are we sure that Chris can handle all the kids at once?” Marinette asked, admittedly nervous.

“No,” Alya said matter-of-factly. “But Nora is going to drop in on then to make sure everything is okay.”

“But are you sure? I just feel bad, you know Jules has been biting. Maybe I should—”

“If you were going to finish that sentence with ‘stay with the kids,’ I will strangle you, Marinette. I love you girl, but it has been three months since I’ve gone somewhere and not taken a diaper bag with me, and I know it’s been way longer than that for you. Give me tonight.”

“Okay, okay, I get it, Alya,” Marinette said, holding up her hands. “I will leave things in Chris’s questionable hands.”

Alya softened a bit. “Look, I get it. Next time we’ll try to plan for a day when Manon is available, she’s really good with the kids.

“Deal. So have we heard if everyone is going to make it tonight?”

“Almost everyone. Adrien and Kagami might be a little late? Rose has a fundraiser she has to be at tonight, but other than that I think we’re a go.”

“Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve all been together like this,” Marinette said. “It’ll almost feel like old times.”

“It sounds like Max is finally letting us meet his wife. I think Kim has a running bet on whether or not she’s a robot.”

“Kim is still on that? He’s probably just jealous that Max beat him to getting married even though he hasn’t known Camille very long.”

“Hold up girl, you know Max’s wife’s name?” Alya demanded. “Spill.”

“It was nothing much, I only know her because I made her wedding dress,” Marinette said, pausing at the sidewalk corner. “Do we go left or right?”

“Right. But how did you not tell me this?” Alya demanded.

“Even though we’re school friends, I still have to maintain a certain level of professionality. I can’t go tell Paris’s most promising reporter about one of the world’s most promising computer programmers personal life. Besides, Max really wanted to surprise everyone,” Marinette said, smirking. “The dress was one of my finest creations yet.”

“Fine, I suppose I can’t compromise one of the world’s most promising young designers,” Alya huffed. “But she has good taste? This gets more mysterious by the moment.”

“So who picked the place this time? I know we’re trusting Chris with the kids, but you know how Kim gets when we go to his bar, and I don’t know if I trust Chris to watch them all night because we got a little tipsy or something.”

“Well, it is at Kim’s bar, but don’t worry, he’ll be too distracted by Max, so we won’t even be tempted by all of the free alcohol. Besides, you always seem like such a pro at resisting temptation.”

Getting to Kim’s bar didn’t take long, even on foot. Once there, a good portion of their high school class yelled greetings from the back of the bar.

“Alya, Marinette! Good to see you, but where’s Nino?” Kim asked, opening the door for them.

“He’s helping Chris get the kids situated, he’ll be here soon,” Alya said, hugging the muscular man. “Is Max here yet? I hear we get to meet the wife.”

“Yeah, she’s way out of his league,” Kim said, jabbing a thumb towards the corner of the bar.

As much as Marinette had complained, she couldn’t help but smile upon coming into the bar. Kim had fallen into the role of bartender easily, amusing his patrons with tales of akumas and the Miraculous team – although tales of King Monkey were definitely the most popular. It was a clean, warm space, decorated with murals and framed newspaper clippings about any akuma incidents involving their class.

“You must’ve been desperate if Chris is babysitting,” Adrien said, sidling up next to her. “Manon was busy?”

“She had a study group,” Marinette said, bumping his shoulder with hers. While she considered Alya her best friend, Adrien still was, and always would be her partner, the black cat to her ladybug. He knew her mind in ways that no one else ever could. “You caught me. So what do you think of Max’s wife? I think she’s absolutely adorable.”

“Marinette, you knew about Max’s wedding?” someone yelled, positively betrayed.

“I think it’s time for s to join the others, but for the record I completely agree with you.” Adrien offered her an arm to escort her to the rest of the group. “By the way, Kagami says hello.”

“How is pregnancy treating your lovely wife?”

“Oh, the normal. The cravings, the irrational anger, average pregnancy-type things. The last time I mentioned you she nearly skewered me with a fire poker and told me that if I spoke about any other woman that way she would kill me where I stood. After that she cried for a few minutes because she missed you.”

“It sounds like I need to pay her a visit,” Marinette said brightly.

“So we’re just ignoring the part where my life was in danger, typical. I should have known that you would side with her,” Adrien pouted.

“You can complain to me when you’ve been pregnant,” Marinette said, patting his cheek.

“I’d like to think I’m a fairly decent husband, so I would say I’m allowed to be a little offended by threats of homicide.”

“No, that’s just pregnancy,” Nino said, his version of a grand entrance. “The more violent they are means you’re taking good care of them.”

By this point they’d gotten to the larger group, and Max’s wife, Camille, a sweet, auburn-haired woman, brightened. “Marinette, it’s lovely to see you again!”

“Wait, you really did know about this too, Marinette?!” Kim demanded.

“Client confidentiality, Kim,” Marinette said with a wicked smile. “Rose can’t make it, so everyone is officially here, Camille.”

“Oh, perfect,” she said, clapping her hands. “Max and I have an announcement to make!”

“Don’t tell me you’re already having a kid!” Alix groaned. “All of you are making it even more sucky to be single right now.”

“We came to invite you to our wedding,” Max said, pushing up his glasses.

“Excuse me, what?” Chloe asked.

“What we did before was just a little ceremony in England for Camille’s parents. Did you guys really think I could get married without all of you?”

There were a few beats of silence before chaos erupted. Kim had Max in a headlock while at least three of the girls were asking Camille about wedding plans. Nearby Alix was still sulking about being single.

When everyone settled down, Mylene said, “We’re getting old, aren’t we?”

“I’m going to die alone,” Alix lamented.

“We’re still in our twenties,” Marinette reminded her. “We’ve got time.”

“But if you’re still single how do any of the rest of us stand a chance?” she demanded.

“Oh yeah. Sometimes I forget that Marinette is still single because of the whole…” he waved his hand, indicating things he couldn’t put words to, “… situation.”

“Exactly!” Alix spat. “She’s perfect, she makes a perfect mother, and she’s handling everything better alone than any of us can with a significant other! I’m doomed!”

“But Marinette is still looking, just like you, Alix,” Mylene pointed out. “She just did things a little out of order.”

“And I’m not perfect, I promise you,” Marinette said with the weariness that could only be a product of parenthood.

“Is Jules still in a biting phase?” Sabrina asked.

“Unfortunately yes,” Alya said with that same weariness.

“Since we’re on the topic, what was the baby daddy even like?” Kim asked. “We haven’t heard much about him, and from what little I’ve heard, I can’t help but picture him as one of those old cartoon villains twirling his mustache and preying on young girls.”

“Villain works. Although I would have called him a lying, scheming—” Adrien cut off, glancing at the young parents he was situated between, Marinette in particular was known for body-checking people if they used any sort of questionable language regardless of if there was a child present, “-scheming meanie pants,” he finished lamely.

“It’s okay, Adrien, this is a safe zone,” Alya said, patting his shoulder. “You can tell them that Jason is a bastard.”

Nathaniel inhaled sharply, choking on his drink. “Wow… I just… What would you say about him, Marinette?”

“I wouldn’t call him that,” Marinette said, ignoring Alya and Adrien’s protests. “Really, I had no misconceptions about the way things were. We never gave each other our numbers, or even our last names. Something bigger than both of us brought us together, and I don’t regret it. If I’m lucky, maybe it will bring us together once more.”

The class fell silent until Alix groaned once more, burying her head in her arms. “I’M GOING TO DIE ALONE!”

Chapter Text

This patrol route was one that was new to Jason – Bruce had decided to change some things up after some spikes in crime in places that shouldn’t have had an issue. It made sense, but it irked Jason that it was his patrol route that was changed. Not only did he have to listen to Dick and Babs whisper sweet nothings over the earpieces, but his body couldn’t move on autopilot like it did with his old route.

Jason was in the middle of leaping from one building to the next when Babs surprised him by murmuring something particularly dirty. Caught off guard, Jason almost didn’t make the next jump, barely grasping the ledge of the roof before he could plummet to his death. Scrambling onto the building, Jason hissed, “There are other people on this channel, save it for the bedroom you perverts.”

“Sorry Hood,” Dick said, miraculously possessing enough shame to sound embarrassed.

“Wow, I didn’t know you were such a prude, Hood,” Oracle said. “Or are you just jealous? There hasn’t really been anyone for you since that little French girl, which is just sad. What you need is a good—”

“I don’t need anything except for you idiots to focus,” Jason interrupted.

“As much as I hate to say it, Red Hood is correct,” Robin’s smug voice said over the earpiece. “Your frivolous comments are both unwelcome and completely inappropriate.”

“I will make you two a private channel as long as I never have to hear about your sex lives ever again,” Red Robin promised.

“Is Nightwing the only person in this family who knows how to have a good time?” she complained.

“Oracle, Nightwing, focus,” Batman growled.

The lovers were mercifully silent for at least a while. After the near-death experience, Jason decided that this building was as good of a surveillance point as any. As he stationed himself at the ledge to look out over the city, Jason’s stomach lurched when he realized that he was standing on the same hotel she had stayed at.

Marinette. He’d barely even allowed himself to think her name for the past three years, but here he couldn’t escape the thought of her. He could see the bakery where Killer Croc had nearly murdered her – he’d been so disgusted by Dick and Babs that he hadn’t even noticed that he’d ended up on the very street he avoided at all costs.

He couldn’t understand why she haunted his life even now, not that he would have it any other way. Over the years he’d tried just hooking up with someone or something similar, but he could never go through with it. Something tied him to Marinette, at least in his mind. It was laughable, in all reality she was probably already married with kids.

The very idea was painful to Jason. He found himself flying from rooftop to rooftop, flinging himself across the city with reckless abandon. Luckily it was a slow night, at least in his portion of the town. A part of him halfway wished there was something going on so he could get a good fight in, but it was probably for the best. Jason didn’t want to break the “no-kill” rule.

At the Batcave, Dick was the only one back yet. He had that awful apologetic look that made you feel sorry for being mad in the first place, which only served to piss Jason off more.

“I just wanted to apologize, Jay-bird. I’ll talk to Babs, I know this isn’t easy for you.”

“You don’t know crap, Grayson,” Jason spat. “You and Babs just got married, good for you. Bruce and Selina are getting married. Whoop-de-frickin-doo. I’m happy for all of you, but I don’t need you to throw what I don’t have in my face.”

The look on his brother’s face probably should have inspired some sort of penitence in Jason, but he couldn’t find it in himself to feel anything. He shoved past Dick, shedding pieces of his costume as he went.

Jason found himself stalking to the shooting range, the only place he could use real bullets anymore. It was his catharsis, feeling the explosion of gunfire beneath his hands. He shot easily, methodically, seeking only to get any and all thoughts of Marinette out of his mind.

Aim, cock, fire. Nothing existed outside of him, his gun, and the target.

“Rough night?”

Lowering his gun, Jason asked, “What, did Dick send you here because he’s afraid he hurt my feelings?”

“Oh, he’s probably worried about exactly that, but he’s so earnest that he wouldn’t feel right if he made someone else apologize for him.”

“He is disgustingly moral like that. So why are you here?”

“I’m here to tell you that plans changed,” Selina said, gracefully perching on top of the base to one of the shooting targets. “We’re never going to get a normal wedding as long as we stay in Gotham – there will always be someone or other for Bruce to fight.”

“You’re not wrong. So what? I can stay behind and be Batman for a week or two, I don’t care.”

“That’s not it – the Justice League is stepping in to help. I couldn’t get married without my monstrously large family-to-be in attendance. What I’m here to tell you is that we’re all travelling to Paris in two weeks.”

The announcement was enough to make Jason jerk in surprise, nearly shooting himself in the foot. “Paris? Why Paris?”

Selina arched an eyebrow, but dismissed his reaction otherwise. “Bruce and I have a… history in Paris. But the main motivation is that my favorite designer lives there, and she famously doesn’t leave Paris for any sort of job. They agreed to fit me in under a few conditions, but I’m willing to do just about anything to make sure my dress is perfect.”

“Okay, but are you sure it has to be in Paris?” Jason asked, the image of Marinette flashing through his mind.

Selina smiled, a sharp, deadly smile. “Listen. I knew that marrying Bruce meant all of his kids were part of the deal. I’m fine with that, I love all of you even if you’re monsters sometimes. But you will all be there, and you will all cooperate with whatever I say, because this is my wedding, and I need at least one normal memory of this family.”

“Fine, I get it. I’m going to Paris,” Jason said, holding up his hands, even as he felt sick thinking about it.

This was all just a coincidence. There was no guarantee that Marinette was even still in Paris to begin with, and even if she was, the odds of them meeting were a million to one.

Right?

Chapter Text

When Jason was a kid, his family was too poor to take any sort of trip, which at the moment he was missing. He didn’t have any concept of how normal people travelled, but it turned out that even if you were travelling to Paris in a private jet, doing so with your entire family was a downright nightmare.

“Does everyone have all of their bags?” Bruce was calling above the din. “And passports? We need to act like a normal family, so you need to exchange your money for euros when we get there, we shouldn’t just show up with them.”

“B, you’ve already said that at least fifteen times,” Stephanie complained.

“Why exactly is she coming on a family vacation?” Damian demanded. “She’s not even dating Drake anymore.”

“Face it, Damian. Your family chose me, they were stuck with you.”

“Father, you need to choose between Brown and Drake. I cannot be expected to tolerate both for an extended period of time.”

“Oh calm down, Little D. It’ll be fun!” Dick said, slinging an arm over his youngest brother’s shoulder.

Jason sidled over to Cass and whispered, “How many weapons did Bruce say we could bring?”

She looked at him with her unreadable dark eyes. “None.”

“Okay, that’s what he said, but how many are you bringing?”

Silently she held up seven fingers.

“Damn, I have eight. Do you think I can get away with that?” They looked at each other a moment. “You’re right, B definitely has more than that.”

“If you all don’t get yourselves and your belongings on the plane within the next five minutes you’re finding your own way to Paris!” Selina called over the noise.

“Move it, suckers!” Babs yelled, running at least three people’s feet over with her wheelchair in her haste. Despite the pain she caused, once she got to the plane, she was able to expertly maneuver herself onto it, letting Dick struggle aboard with both of their luggage. Jason kept himself as far away from the eldest Wayne child as possible. Every time Dick looked at Jason, he could see the apology in his brother’s eyes, which only served to piss him off all over again. Maybe he was being irrational, and maybe he was just on edge because they were heading to Paris, but Jason couldn’t really find it in himself to care.

He slept fitfully on the flight, doing his best to ignore his family, be it Dick and Babs being the disgusting newlywed couple, or just Damian being… Damian. His dreams were strange and disjointed, filled with blue eyes and whispered French.

After dealing with customs and getting checked into their hotel (which was almost exclusively inhabited by their party, because of course it was), Jason had no desire to ever go on another family trip ever again. The thought of doing all of that without skipping lines and cutting corners they were able to thanks to Bruce’s money was almost painful. But then again, people with less money also didn’t have to deal with Damian and Tim in the same space for an extended period of time.

Thanks to the nap he’d had on the plane and the fact that he was in Paris, Jason found he couldn’t sleep. He found himself wandering the hotel, taking in the opulent surroundings. He thought he would only see hotel staff if he were to see anyone, but on his way to the hotel’s twenty-four hour gym, he stumbled across a blonde dressed vaguely like a bumblebee who was arguing with someone on the phone.

“Listen, Dupain-Cheng, you are not taking advantage of these clients. No! You’ve been staying up at all hours of the night – don’t you dare argue with me, you’re up right now, aren’t you? And you have to take care of gremlins in the morning. No, she agreed to do it, it’s not exploiting them, it’s allowing them to pay you back for the giant favor you’re doing them! Fine, I will give her a discount, but this is not how you build a brand! Now go to sleep, the photoshoot is tomorrow. Don’t give me that, we both know you’ll finish things up with time to spare. Now go. To. Sleep.”

After a few moments the blonde hung up, and she seemed to be in a foul mood when she saw Jason. “And what do you want?”

“To get to the gym? You’re blocking the door.”

“And you were just eavesdropping. Your French isn’t bad for an American,” she said, flouncing away with a hair flip. “But your accent is horrible.”

“It can’t be as bad as your attitude,” he sneered under his breath before shoving into the exercise room.

Once inside, Jason ran himself to exhaustion, grateful when he collapsed into bed and fell asleep almost immediately. His dreamless sleep was fleeting, though, because it felt like only moments later that he was jolted awake by the sound of his phone ringing.

Glaring at the offending technology, he considered silencing it, but when he saw it was Selina, he thought better of that.

“Yes?”

“You have an hour to look awake and presentable. Meet up in the hotel lobby.”

She hung up as abruptly as she had called, leaving Jason blinking at his phone. He considered rolling over and going back to sleep, but he’d probably need the entire hour just to get his hair to Selina’s standards.

Cass was already in the lobby when Jason was finally ready, and thankfully Dick was nowhere to be seen. Sidling up next to his sister, Jason asked, “Do you know what we’re doing?” His level of concern grew exponentially when she shook her head. Everyone knew Bruce was weak for Cass, so if Cass didn’t know, that meant that the scheme was entirely Selina’s.

Unsurprisingly, Grayson the peacock was the last person to make it to the group. Babs was too annoyed with him to even make some sort of innuendo, she just complained about how long it took for him to do his hair.

“So what’s the plan, Selina?” Stephanie asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“You’ll find out when we get there. Follow me, we have a ways to walk,” Selina said, smiling wickedly.

The family obediently trudged after Selina, grouping up as they moved. Jason saw Dick make a beeline for him, but Babs caught his arm. “Babe, will you stick with Damian to make sure that he doesn’t maim any Parisians?”

“Sure, babe,” he said, deflating a bit.

As expected, only moments later Babs rolled up next to him. “Listen here, you giant. If you’re going to make me catch up to you, the least you can do is push my wheelchair.”

“Whatever,” Jason said, doing as she asked.

“I hope you know you’re killing my husband, by the way. He’s goingi crazy because he doesn’t know what to do to apologize to you.”

“Good.”

“I know you don’t mean that, Jason, and I know that because we both know I’m the one you’re actually mad at.”

“Am I?”

“Bringing up the French girl was a low blow. You told me about that in confidence, and I threw it in your face. I’m sorry, Jason.”

“That did piss me off, I just… Babs, why did you marry Dick?”

“Is that a trick question? Because I love him, stupid.”

“But how did you know that you loved him that much? Because ever since I met my ‘French girl,’ I can’t even think about looking at someone else. It’s insane because I knew her for like a day, but I’ve never… I’ve never felt like that with anyone before, but I didn’t feel right trying to make anything more out of what we had because of how royally screwed up our lives are. How could I subject someone who is possibly a literal angel to our lives? I’ve never questioned my decision on that before, but lately I can’t stop thinking about her, and now we’re here, in Paris where she lives.”

“Wow.” Babs said. “I didn’t know… That’s a lot, Jay.”

“Thanks.”

“Give a girl some time to process, okay? Geez. I don’t know if I believe in fate and that kind of crap, but this feels eerily like destiny. Maybe you’re meant to meet her here in Paris. If you do, then don’t run away. Stick it out for at least as long as we’re here. You wouldn’t be the first of us to have a relationship with a civilian.”

“But what if—”

“Jason, bothering yourself about all of the ‘what ifs’ is only going to drive you crazy. We don’t even know if you’re going to meet her here. Let things run their course.”

He sighed. “You’re right, thanks Babs. And I’ll tell your husband that I forgive him, the sap.”

“That’s all I ask.”

After a few blocks more, Selina abruptly stopped in front of a building. It was clearly some sort of business, but the doors only said, “MDC” across them. “This is it, kids. Come on in.”

Tim could be heard freaking out about something or other, but Jason found himself hoping that whatever was happening would be quick and painless. Inside, curiously enough, the same blonde from last night was waiting for them.

“You must be the Wayne family, here for the photoshoot,” she said in flawless English. “MDC had some personal affairs to tend to, so she will be here shortly.”

“Photoshoot?” Bruce asked, looking at Selina.

“This is the shop of the designer who is making my dress,” Selina purred with a winning smile. “Ordinarily she wouldn’t have been able to fit me, you and all the kids in with how little time we gave her, but she’s releasing her first line of clothes to the general public, and her normal models are away. It’s a fairly sizeable line, and she wanted diversity, so I volunteered our beautiful family.”

“We’re going to be modeling?” Damian asked, disgusted.

“We’re going to be modeling for MDC?!” Tim asked, nearly bouncing with excitement.

“Dude, you’re a CEO. Have some shame,” Babs said, elbowing him.

“You’re already booked and committed. Once MDC gets here she’ll decide who will be wearing what, and then we’ll get started,” the blonde said. As if on cue, there was a crash in the back room, and the blonde sighed. “That will be MDC now.”

Jason was only mildly curious what this designer might be like, but it seemed that things would be at least a bit entertaining. Even before she burst from the backroom, she was spewing frantic French to the blonde.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry I’m late, Jules kept spilling things on himself on purpose, and then the babysitter was sick, so I had to find someone else, and then I missed the train and –”

Emerging from the backroom was a beautiful pixie-like girl, a girl who had starred in almost every dream Jason had had since they’d met. Jason was completely frozen at the sight of her.

Marinette. Marinette was MDC, the only designer Selina would think of wearing on her wedding day.

She stopped at seeing the mass of people in her store, but she immediately smiled sincerely, eyes flitting from person to person. In English she said, “You must be the Wayne family, thank you so much for agreeing to model for me. It really—” she cut off mid-sentence, eyes wide. “Jason? Is that really you?”

Chapter Text

Chloe was going to murder her – of course, Marinette had to be late the day that the Wayne family was coming to model for her. It felt like the world was conspiring against her.

She’d heard of the Wayne family – everyone had. Marinette had intended to do some research to better prepare for their arrival, but in all reality, she didn’t really want to. They were from Gotham, and if she dug too deep, Marinette knew she would start looking for Jason, as if he would magically appear in the articles she looked at.

Being a single mother usually gave her plausible ignorance – people didn’t blame her for not knowing about newer events or celebrities, especially if they were foreign. She just hoped the Waynes would extend the same mercy. However, Marinette knew that Chloe would not be exercising mercy of any sort, especially now that she was late.

It was a partnership that had confused everyone at first, given their history. Chloe and Marinette had mended their relationship quite a few years ago, but no one could have expected this level of closeness. It turned out that Chloe had an excellent mind for business, especially growing up in the fashion world like she had. When Marinette had first attempted to start her brand, Chloe had stepped in, offering her expertise. She felt the need to prove herself somehow, and this came with the added bonus of infuriating her mother by working with the only designer who had ever denied Audrey Bourgeois.

Marinette made it to her store, and somehow finagled the back door open despite her hands being completely full. Making her way through the storeroom, Marinette winced at every thing that fell, eventually giving up and dropping everything in her hands except for the box from her parents’ bakery. Hopefully her favorite pastry would at least smooth things over.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry I’m late, Jules kept spilling things on himself on purpose, and then the babysitter was sick, so I had to find someone else, and then I missed the train and –”

Opening the door, Marinette immediately cut off, her stomach twisting in knots upon seeing a whole host of people in the reception area. She could only assume that this was the Wayne family, which was larger than she had originally supposed, as well as far more attractive.

She found herself examining the family, mentally attempting to match each of the men with an outfit from her collection. Seriously, did they only allow supermodels in this family? “You must be the Wayne family, thank you so much for agreeing to model for me. It really—” Marinette cut off mid-sentence, eyes wide. “Jason? Is that really you?”

Marinette was glad that she had dropped everything else in the backroom, because the box of pastries crashed to the ground, jolting everyone. He was there, that was undeniably her Jason, unless this was all some sort of hallucination induced by her sleep deprivation. And he seemed just as shocked as her.

He took a half-step forward. “M-Marinette? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m MDC, the designer,” she said, suddenly flustered, more than expected. Stepping away, she was hyper-aware of the eyes of every member of his family on them both, and her apprehension only got worse. She was dangerously close to regressing to high school Marinette who was flustered by Adrien.

Chloe was watching the interaction just as intently as everyone else. She narrowed her eyes at Marinette before recognition and a splash of horror crossed her face. “Excuse us a moment, please,” she said before latching onto Marinette’s arm with a vice grip, dragging her into the backroom.

In a whisper Chloe hissed, “Please tell me that Jason Todd isn’t who I think it is. I mean, kudos on that body, but aren’t you supposed to care more about personality and his mind and all of that ridiculousness, Dupain-Cheng?”

“Jason has a wonderful mind!”

“So it’s true?! Aren’t girls like you supposed to like the smart, boring guys? I suppose that ship sailed with the one-night stand. But everything about the gremlin makes so much more sense now that I know that half of his DNA came from Jason Todd. It’s all com—”

“Hush,” Marinette hissed, clapping a hand over Chloe’s mouth. “They probably know French. And please stop calling my son ‘the gremlin.’”

“I’ll stop calling him that when he is no longer a gremlin. You should take him to Max’s wedding.”

“Jules? I was planning on it, you know—”

“No. Dupain-Cheng, you’re killing me. This is a child-free wedding, you and everyone else can split the cost of a babysitter like you’re poor people. You need to take an adult man to the wedding with you, and since you can’t get over him for some reason, you’re taking him. Tell everyone it’s for the publicity or whatever.”

“I can’t, Chloe! He’s probably forgotten I existed until just now. I don’t want to ruin his life.”

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Marinette Dupain-Cheng, if I found someone that looked at me the way that I just saw him look at you, I would do whatever it took to keep them with me forever. Besides, he deserves to know.” She stood up, stalking away, but she paused just before the door. “I know you’re stressed out, but if the roles were reversed, wouldn’t you want to know?”

“You’re right. Give me a minute, and I’ll be out there. I… I’ll figure it out.”

Chloe left her in silence. Marinette paced around the backroom a few times, stoutly ignoring the mess of things she’d either dropped or knocked over earlier.

Tikki appeared, floating in front of her face. “Marinette, you know I had misgivings about him when you met him in Gotham.”

“Yes, I remember,” Marinette said, stilling.

“Chloe is right. There’s a reason he’s back in your life, Marinette. You can do this.”

“I’m scared, Tikki, but I know you’re right. They’re all waiting, I may as well get going.”

The kwami smiled brightly at her before zipping back into her purse. Marinette took a moment to steel herself before pushing into the reception area.

“Sorry for the delay, my manager and I had to take care of some things,” Marinette said, channeling her confident Ladybug persona. “If you would follow me into the dressing room area, I’ll get you sorted with what you’ll wear for the photo shoot.”

“Excuse me for asking, but how exactly do you know my brother?” the oldest-looking Wayne child asked.

Marinette took a moment to silence her internal screaming before she smiled at him and replied coolly, “I apologize, but I’m afraid that’s between your brother and me. I don’t traditionally share my personal life with my clients, and we are currently in a professional setting, so it would be inappropriate to answer that.”

As much as she tried to avoid it, she couldn’t help her eyes drifting over to Jason at that point. He was staring at her with an intensity that made her blush, but he mouthed, “Thank you,” with a small smile.

From then on, she kept things strictly professional. She knew what she had promised both Chloe and Tikki, but if Marinette tried to instigate anything beyond that, she was fairly certain that she was going to faint on the spot. She moved through the process of prepping the family for the photoshoot much the same way she prepped Juleka and her other models, giving a few ideas she wouldn’t mind to the photographer.

The family was chaos, but it was a chaos that Marinette could easily handle. The photoshoot went off without an incident, at least without major incident. She allowed Bruce and Selina to see a few of the shots, and Marinette witnessed first hand one of the world’s richest men gush over “the best family pictures we’ve ever gotten.”

Shamelessly chickening out, Marinette readied everyone to leave, practically shoving them out the door before Chloe stepped in.

“Selina, it’s been a delight to have you and your family here with us today. We would like to thank you for being willing to accommodate such a strange request,” Chloe said, discreetly stomping on Marinette’s foot.

“Not at all, it’s me who should be thanking you. We’ve made an impossible request for Marinette. I would do just about anything she could ask of me.”

A truly terrifying calculating gleam took over Chloe’s eyes. “If that’s the case, we have a rather unorthodox favor to ask of you.”

“The whole situation is rather unorthodox, ask ahead,” Selina said warmly.

“Marinette has recently been invited to a high-profile wedding, a wedding that she designed the dress for. This wedding would also be an excellent networking opportunity to expand the MDC brand, but we all know that it’s poor form to go to such an event alone. The invitation was rather last-minute. Would you be willing to lend us one of your boys for a night?”

Selina blinked, her movements slow and liquid. “I don’t see that being a problem as long as the boys are okay with it. Would anyone be willing to take Miss Dupain-Cheng to this wedding?”

“I can,” Jason said almost immediately before clearing his throat. “I mean, as long as my schedule is free.”

“The wedding is tonight in the ballroom of the hotel you’re staying at,” Chloe said, elbowing Marinette when she tried to protest. “Be ready by six o’clock.”

“He’ll be there,” Barbara, the girl in the wheelchair, said with a smile to match Chloe’s.

Chapter Text

Jason didn’t know how to prepare for a wedding – in the past he just wore what he was told and showed up to eat the food, but he doubted that that method would work this time. He staunchly refused to make eye contact with anyone in his family as they walked back to the hotel, putting his height to good use as he stayed at least five paces in front of everyone else.

Wasn’t Paris supposed to be a big city? How did he find Marinette after being there for less than twenty-four hours? The whole thing felt like a dream – everything was off-balance, especially Jason. Marinette had seemed nervous – it was probably just the unexpected nature of reunion, but Jason couldn’t help but worry that there was some deeper issue at play.

Once they made it to the hotel, Jason seized the handles of Babs’s wheelchair, pushing her towards an elevator. “Come on, Dick,” he called behind him. “You know you’re dying to be a part of this.”

As expected, the eldest Wayne child rushed to follow, strangely reminiscent of an overeager puppy. Finally alone in the elevator, Dick asked, “So does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“You’re both forgiven on two conditions: One, you’re only as involved in my love life as I want you to be, and two, you keep your newlywed bliss in the bedroom.”

“Deal,” both said immediately.

“Perfect, because I need your advice.”

“We can do that. But you need to let us know what we’re allowed to tell the family, unless you just want to let them eavesdrop like they’re attempting to anyway.”

“I don’t really care at this point, I just need advice,” Jason said, stepping out of the elevator and pushing Babs towards his room.

Babs had heard most of the story before, but both Graysons listened intently to the story with minor interruptions. A lot of it was events and emotions he’d never attempted to put into words before, and the words he did find felt inadequate.

“So what do I do?” Jason demanded, barely realizing he had been shaking Dick by his shirt.

“Jay-bird,” Dick said, looking close to tears. “You found your soulmate.”

“Ignore him,” Babs said. “He’s always been a die-hard romantic.”

“This isn’t a coincidence. The odds of this happening is like a billion to one. We would need Tim for more accurate statistics, but you get the picture,” Dick insisted. “She clearly made an impression on you if you only knew her for a day and you haven’t even dated anyone since then. And if she needs a date to this wedding that means she might feel the same! Because there is no way someone like that should still be single, so—”

“Babe, you’re using your conspiracy theory voice again,” Babs interrupted, patting his shoulder. “You need to tone it down a little.”

“Okay, so I might stand half a chance. That doesn’t tell me what to do. How did Dick win you over, Babs?”

“I met him when he was twelve. He spent six years annoying me until he finally convinced me to go on a date with him.”

Jason stared at the married couple before abruptly standing. “You’re useless to me.” Wrenching the door open, he called, “Bruce! I know you’re there, I need you!”

Emerging from behind the drapes in the hallway, Jason only had to take one look at his adoptive father’s face before he shook his head. “Nope. I already regret this. You’re all useless. The only person I would consider talking to is Alfred.”

“Well I have some delightful pastries,” Alfred said, walking down the hall as if he were meant to be there all along. “I would be happy to assist you in any capacity I can.”

“Just… Please help me decide what to wear at least,” Jason said sulkily.

“Anything you wish, Master Jason,” Alfred said, subtly shooing Dick and Babs out of the room.

“Ordinarily I would advise you to match the lady, but as we do not know what she is wearing, a black suit and tie is generally the safest option. Do you have any objection, or shall I press this one for you?”

“That sounds fine,” Jason mumbled.

“Did you wish to ask me anything further, Master Jason?”

“I don’t know how to handle this, Alfred. It’s been so long, what do I do?”

“Well, Master Jason, it appears to me that you’ve charmed her once before without difficulty or pretense.” He flipped through Jason’s closet before extracting the correct suit. “It stands to reason that you don’t need to do anything out of the ordinary at all.”

************

Jason paced the lobby, his heart in his chest. He was wearing the suit that Alfred had picked out and a pair of freshly shined shoes. He had made the mistake of letting Dick do his hair, so for once it wasn’t sticking up at odd angles, except for the white patch of hair on his forehead. No amount of hair gel could tame that. All in all, he felt like a little boy playing make-believe in his father’s suit.

He was nervous waiting for Marinette, so he found himself studying the hotel’s art intently. This was how she found him, his face inches away from a painting.

“One of my friends from high school painted that. It’s a mural of Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes of Paris,” a soft voice said at his side. When he turned to look, Marinette smiled. “Hi Jason, you clean up well.”

“You never needed to clean up in the first place,” Jason said truthfully. “But you look absolutely amazing.”

It was true. In the past three years, Marinette had apparently ditched the pigtails, but now her hair was coiled into an elegant bun accented with small gems throughout her hair. Jason didn’t know the name of the type of dress she wore, but it was a traditional Chinese style made with delicately patterned pink silk and a bit more makeup than usual.

“Thank you.” A cloud crossed her face briefly. “Jason, I have something to tell you. I—”

“Marinette, we’re going to be late for the wedding!” someone called from across the lobby.

“I’ll be right there!” she called back. “Jason—”

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere. You can tell me afterwards, okay?” Jason said with an approximation of a smile. To be honest, he was terrified of what she had to tell him. Did she have a secret fiancé? Did she actually hate him?

“You’re right,” Marinette said, nodding slowly. “Come on, the wedding is this way.””

When they went to sit down, it seemed like Marinette changed her mind about where they were sitting at least five times, finally settling between groups of people she didn’t seem to know at all.

It wasn’t a huge wedding, and the ceremony was short and sweet. The bride and groom didn’t seem like the high-profile type Marinette’s manager had led him to believe they would be, but he would’ve done whatever it had taken to spend this time with Marinette. He still felt like he had to walk on eggshells around her, but it was mostly the overwhelming fear of screwing things up.

“The reception is in a different room,” Marinette whispered when people began to file out. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

“You seem to know this hotel really well,” Jason commented.

“It’s actually owned by Chloe’s father. I’ve known her for most of my life, and I’ve spent a lot of time here.”

“That… that actually makes a lot of sense,” Jason said, thinking about his first encounter with Chloe.

 “The reception is just through here,” she said, pulling him along with her. “Don’t worry, the wedding isn’t nearly as high-society as Chloe made it sound. Max, the groom, also went to high school with us. He’s one of the world’s leading A.I. researchers, and he actually made the robot that was the ring bearer. His name is Markov.”

“So do you know his wife at all?”

“Oh yeah, Camille is a sweetheart. Max met her through another one of our classmates who works for the same nonprofit. Oh, that’s her. Hey Rose!” Marinette called, waving at a petite blonde.

“Marinette! It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you!” the blonde said, coming to hug her old friend. “Who’s your date?”

“Rose, this is Jason. Jason, Rose.”

“You look familiar,” Rose said, cocking her head. “Did you go to the charity ball at the Louvre last month?”

“No, I’m not really a ball person,” Jason said, uneasily shifting from foot to foot.

“There’s something I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’s so familiar.” Rose narrowed her eyes before gasping. “It’s that little tuft of white hair. It’s exactly like—”

“JASON!” someone roared from across the reception hall. Everyone went silent as the crowd parted for a fuming Adrien. “You think you can abandon Marinette in Gotham with—”

“Kagami!” Marinette pleaded. “Please tell your husband to calm down so he doesn’t ruin Max and Camille’s wedding.”

“Adrien, Marinette is right. You know Max better, so you must stay while I duel this cretin for Marinette’s honor,” a very pregnant Japanese woman said. “Go get my saber from the car.”

Jason backed up, bewildered as the entire crowd started turning on him. What had Marinette told them about him? Some of these people legitimately looked like they were out for his blood, and somehow that scared him more than any villain he’d ever had to face. There was Alya looking positively feral while Nino held her back.

“Control yourselves!” Marinette yelled. “We’re here for Max and Camille, just focus on that for today.”

“Marinette, you can’t honestly expect us to smile and shake hands with the guy who left you to deal with—”

“He doesn’t know about that,” Chloe interrupted. “I get that you want to protect Dupain-Cheng, but you’re acting ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Besides, if you get blood on the carpet you have to pay for the cleaning fee.”

“Kagami, please put down that chair,” Marinette said, rushing over the Japanese girl. “That’s not good for the baby.”

Things eased a bit after that, but it was still oddly tense. No one was quite able to relax around him, but the focus was off him as soon as the bride and groom came in. It was clear that Marinette was feeling strained, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was when she stepped away for a phone call.

It was a short phone call, but Marinette was pale by the end of it. She immediately bustled over to Alya and said, “Manon called, Mila got hurt and she can’t tell how badly. I need to go, can you apologize to Max and Camille for me?”

“You got it girl. Go,” Alya urged before narrowing her eyes at Jason. “It’s starting to get dark. You’re going with her.”

“Alya, no. I’m fine, you know I can—”

“I’ll go,” Jason interrupted. “I am your date after all.”

Marinette looked torn before finally nodding. She didn’t say a word as she sprinted out of the hotel looking like a woman on a mission. Jason was simultaneously impressed by her stamina and confused by the whole situation. They got to a residential area before Marinette faltered, seeming like her legs were giving out.

“Are you okay? I can carry you if I need to.”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered. “You can walk away right now and pretend you never met me in the first place.”

“What are you talking about, Marinette? Don’t you need to get somewhere? I can – are you crying?”

She furiously swiped at her tears. “It’s been so long and I can’t stand the thought of you hating me. Jason, before we go into that house, you need to know something.”

“Marinette, you’re scaring me,” he said, grasping her shoulders to attempt to ground her.

“I just want you to know that I didn’t know you were a Wayne. I don’t want money and I won’t tell the press. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you either, you were just… gone. But please, please don’t take them away,” Marinette sobbed, years of stress all focusing into this one moment.

“I’m not taking anything away, Marinette,” Jason promised, uncertain and confused about what he was promising. “But I need to know what’s going on.”

She was clearly still agitated, but Marinette finally met his eyes. “After our night together in Gotham, I found out I was pregnant. We have twins, a daughter named Mila and a son named Jules. Jason, you’re a father.”

Almost on cue, a child appeared in the window of the house they stood in front of, seemingly screaming at someone. Seconds later a worried teenager burst out of the house carrying a sobbing girl and followed by the little boy who’d spotted them, toddling along with uncertain steps. They both had dark hair, though the girl’s had the same blue tint to it that Marinette’s had.

“Maman,” the sobbing girl said, holding her arms out to Marinette.

“I don’t know what happened, Marinette,” the teenager worried. “I only stepped away for a second, and then she started crying too hard to tell me what hurt.”

“Lala fall,” the boy said matter-of-factly.

Jason was only observing the actual events passively – he couldn’t help but stare intently at the boy. When he was convinced that his sister was in good hands, he wandered over and plopped down on the ground in front of Jason. His chubby face contorted into a grimace – it almost looked like the child was growling at him.

“Jules, we don’t scowl at strangers,” the babysitter reprimanded. “I’m sorry, Monsieur. He’s been doing that to everyone lately.”

“It’s fine,” Jason said faintly, staring at the child. The boy, Jules, had black hair, not blue like his mother and sister, but hanging down in the center of his forehead was a shock of white hair.

It was the same patch of white hair Jason had gotten after he’d been resurrected.

Jason was a father.

Chapter Text

Mila’s crying was slowing now that Marinette was there inspecting her, looking for any sign of injury. “Did you fall, my darling girl?”

Sniffling, she nodded.

“Oh, my poor baby. Does something hurt, or were you scared?”

“S-scared.”

“Well it’s okay, Maman is here. Should we go home?”

“Home?” Jules said brightly, waddling over. “Home, Maman! Home!”

“Are you sure, Marinette?” Manon asked. “I can watch them the rest of the time now that Mila has calmed down. You could go back to the wedding.”

“No, I was probably going to leave soon anyway,” Marinette said. She handed some cash from her purse to the teenager. “When she comes to pick up the baby, will you tell Alya that Mila is fine?”

“Sure! I’ll go get you the stroller,” Manon said, disappearing inside the house.

Once she left, it seemed there was nowhere to look except the one place she was staunchly avoiding: Jason. He stood on the sidewalk uncertainly, looking conflicted.

Should she tell him it was fine to leave now? Should she change her name and run away to live in the mountains with no one but the twins and their pet hamster?

“Maman, who that?” Jules asked, jabbing a finger at Jason and contorting his face into his trademark scowl.

“Jules, I told you to stop scowling at strangers,” Marinette reprimanded before looking at Jason apologetically. “He does it as a sort of entertainment for people. My friends always laugh when he makes that face, and it just eggs him on.”

“It’s fine,” Jason said almost in a daze. “My parents used to tease me because I did the same things when I was little.”

Irritated at being ignored, Jules pulled on Marinette’s dress. “Who that, Maman?”

Blinking, Mila fixed her gaze on Jason as well and parroted, “Who that?”

Panic welled in Marinette. She couldn’t ignore the situation, but how did she handle it? Should she introduce Jason as a new friend?

Snapping out of his shock, Jason kneeled down next to the children. “It’s nice to meet you, Jules and Mila. I’m your Dad.”

Marinette nearly cried again just from hearing those words. Mila, ever curious, wandered over to him, holding her arms up to him.

“What does that mean?” Jason hissed at Marinette.

“She wants you to hold her, and probably hug her as well,” Marinette explained, swinging Jules up into her arms. When he kept pulling on her, she looked at her son. “Yes, love?”

“What Dad, Maman?” he demanded.

“Dad is another word for Papa,” Marinette said slowly. “Grandpere is my Papa, and Jason is your Dad.”

“You found him, Marinette?” Manon asked excitedly. Unbeknownst to the little family, she had been watching for quite a while.

“Manon, you and I will have this conversation later,” Marinette said. “Thanks for bringing the stroller, I’ll see you later.”

After all but shoving the teen back in the house, Marinette buckled Jules into the double stroller. After making sure that he was situated, she turned to where Jason was holding Mila.

They seemed to be staring at one another intently, some sort of unspoken communication going on between them. She lightly patted his cheek before saying, “Dada.”

Jason seemed shocked, but Mila only turned to hold her arms out to Marinette to be put in the stroller. It was easily evident how wildly uncomfortable Jason was with her, exhibiting all of the tell-tale signs of having little to know experience with children. Relieving him of the toddler, Marinette buckled Mila in next to her brother.

“Are you ready to go home?” she asked them.

“Home!” Jules insisted.

“Dada coming too?” Mila asked.

“Oh, uh—”

“Yes, Dad is coming too,” Jason said decidedly. “I told Alya I would see you home, more or less.”

“Well, we’re headed this way. When did your French get so good, by the way? Or were you holding out on me in Gotham?”

Jason blushed a little. “After I met you, I started brushing up on it just in case we ever met again.”

Something about that made Marinette feel flustered, and all she could manage to say was, “Oh.”

The rest of the walk to Marinette’s apartment was short, and largely filled with Marinette translating whatever the twins were saying to Jason. Once at the apartment, Marinette said, “Well, this is us. I’ll see you at your fitting, I guess.” She was ready to walk inside with the twins, but she found herself pausing, biting her lip. “Unless… unless you wanted to come in? I just need to change them and put them to bed.”

“Yeah, I could do that,” Jason said. “I mean, I could try to help.”

“Perfect,” Marinette said as if her entire being weren’t screaming internally. “Come on in.”

It felt strange to have another adult in the house around bedtime. She suddenly felt self-conscious. What would Jason think of the decorations? Would he think it was too messy?

“So, uh, how exactly do you put them to bed?”

“Oh, right. Think of it as a joint mission between you and me. We have to get them both in pajamas and situated in bed.”

It turned out that Jason had absolutely no experience with children. He tried to take Jules’s clothes off, but the neck hole was too small for the toddler’s head. Marinette had to demonstrate how to stretch the neck of the shirt over the (seemingly disproportionately large) toddler heads in or out of a shirt. Marinette also ended up taking over changing both diapers – Jason looked like he was going to pass out at the prospect.

Soon enough the twins were clean and embarrassingly clad in their Ladybug and Chat Noir pajamas – a gift from Adrien.

Mila stared at Jason from her bed. “Story, Dada?”

For what seemed like the millionth time, Jason turned to Marinette.

An idea sparked in her mind, and Marinette stooped down to look through their bookshelf. “Here it is! This is their favorite storybook. There are some things I need to take care of, do you mind doing the story alone?”

It was clear that Jason wasn’t going to develop any kind of confidence around the twins until he actually did something with them without Marinette there to take over. Besides, in the meantime, there were a few things that Marinette wanted to pull together.

“I don’t think that’s a great idea,” Jason said shifting from one foot to the other.

“It’s just a story, nothing is going to go wrong,” Marinette promised. “I’ll only be a room away, don’t worry. I trust you.”

“That sounds like a terrible decision.”

“Well, trusting my instincts has gotten me this far, I’m not going to stop anytime soon. And if you can, do funny voices. They love it.”

Chapter Text

Marinette was acting so trusting when it was time to put the kids to bed – her confidence in him was completely unfounded, but somehow she trusted Jason enough to let him be alone in a room with the twins. He had no idea what to do with a baby. Or were they technically toddlers? Was there a difference?

Their bedroom was set up with two beds, not cribs, but they were on opposite walls of the room. Perching on the floor between them, Jason tried to angle the book so they could both see the pictures. It was probably the worst reading ever given, but both children had a laser focus on the book. They said certain words before he could get them out, and others they parroted – it was clear that the book was a favorite of theirs.

Once the story was done the twins were still awake, but they seemed sleepy enough. Jason seriously considered calling Marinette in to handle things, but he reasoned that it would probably leave them more awake than when he started. Now he just had to tuck them in, right? But how exactly did you tuck someone in?

He started with Mila, because Jules was already glaring at him again. Jason awkwardly pulled her blankets further up her torso while she stared at him with big blue eyes – although he realized with a jolt that they weren’t Marinette’s bluebell eyes. Those were his eyes.

“Night night,” she said in her birdlike voice. She yawned and snuggled deeper into her blanket before adding, “Dada.”

A strange feeling seized Jason – his chest felt tight and his throat almost didn’t let him respond with his own, “Night night.”

When he made his way over, Jules wasn’t scowling for once. He watched every move Jason made with wide eyes, and when he moved to pull the blankets higher over the toddler, Jules sank his teeth into Jason’s forearm.

At least thirty different curse words built up in Jason’s mind, and he bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, but not a sound came from Jason’s mouth. When his son (who was apparently part piranha) finally released his arm, Jason whipped out the handkerchief that Alfred insisted on tucking into every suit coat. He’d thrown his suitcoat off upon arriving to the twin’s room, and luckily he’d rolled up his sleeves too, or Jason would have ruined the shirt that he was supposed to wear to Bruce and Selina’s wedding. Selina would have never forgiven him.

Once he knotted the handkerchief around his forearm, Jason found himself sliding the suit coat back on. A small part of him was ashamed that things went this way, as well as the fact that he knew nothing about children. He also didn’t want Marinette to feel guilty or responsible for Jules’s assault.

He found her busy in the living room cleaning seemingly spotless surfaces. Jason recognized it as a sort of nervous tic, which made him feel a bit better about the whole situation. At least outwardly she always seemed so composed, but it was nice to see that she was just as thrown off by the whole situation as he was.

Clearing his throat, he said, “I’m not sure that I did it right, and I know they’re not asleep, but they are in fact in bed.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Marinette said, sitting down and offering him a shaky smile. “Listen, I know this was completely unexpected. Having a kid wasn’t in your plans, and I want you to know that I’ll be fine with whatever you choose. If you want to be involved in their lives then we’ll figure out a way, even if it’s flying out to Gotham for every vacation. If not, I won’t ju—”

“I want to be involved,” Jason interrupted, cutting her off. “I may not have known about this, but I’m not running away. My kids are going to know me.”

Marinette didn’t know the full weight those words carried, she couldn’t know, but she looked at Jason like she understood. She smiled softly and patted the couch cushion next to her. “You probably need to get going soon, it’ll be getting dark. I called you a cab that should be here in the next ten minutes. Until then, I have something for you.”

Jason slowly sat, curious.

“There’s a lot that we need to figure out, how things are going to be from here on, but that’s a discussion for another day. For now I have something for you.”

She produced a book with a shiny black cover and placed it in his hands. “I wrote my personal cell number in there just for convenience. You can call me, text me, talk to the kids, whatever. A part of me always hoped I would find you again, so when I put these together I got an extra one made.”

Cracking it open, on the first page Jason found a glossy photo he recognized as an ultrasound. “Is this—”

“A photobook,” Marinette nodded. “Almost every picture that’s ever been taken of the twins is in there as of their second birthday.”

“Thank you, I don’t know what to say,” Jason marveled, tearing up at the sight.

From outside a car honked.

“That’ll be for you. I’m sure you’ll be busy, so just text me when you want to meet up next. We’ll figure something out.” She kissed his cheek lightly without thinking before pulling back, blushing. “Sorry, that’s not normal for Americans, is it? I… Bye, Jason.”

“S-See you soon,” Jason said faintly before wandering into the cab.

He remembered almost nothing from the drive back to the hotel, but once he got there he found Dick wandering to the lobby.

“Jay-bird! How was your date? Tell me everything!” he exclaimed before seriously backpedaling. “I mean, if you want to, of course. I mean—”

“I need to talk to you, but no eavesdroppers,” Jason interrupted.

“Oh, we should be safe. Selina dragged everyone down to the wedding venue to work some things out. It’s a busy venue, so this is the only time we’ll really have to see things and plan before—”

“Yeah, I don’t care. Come with me,” Jason said, dragging him up the stairs. Once he was inside he shed his jacket, throwing it onto the bed.

“Jason, why are you bleeding? I mean, it doesn’t look serious, but you were at a wedding! What happened?”

“I got bitten, but that’s not important. Listen, I—”

“Bitten by what, a feral dog?”

“No, a feral two-year old, Grayson. I swear—”

“What did you do to the kid?”

“I don’t know! I just met him and my son hates me!” Jason said, throwing his hands into the air.

Dick made a strangled noise. “Son?”

“You heard me.”

“Oh. We should probably disinfect that.”

“Probably.”

“Jay?”

“Yes?”

“Did you just imply you have a son?”

“No, I said it pretty plainly.”

“Oh.”

“I also have a daughter.”

“WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

Things were admittedly a little awkward with Jason after that, but it was to be expected. The whole situation was… strange. Because they were both busy, Marinette couldn’t really see him again until his fitting two days later. The only drawback to that was the fact that his entire family was also there.

She was early that day, with fresh pastries waiting for them while she finished the last few details on Selina’s dress. The men’s suits had all been cleaned and pressed, and Marinette just had to make sure that she didn’t need to adjust the sizing. They were actually matching suits that Selina had convinced Bruce to commission from Marinette for the Wayne gala last year. It was an unexpected move from the billionaire family, but apparently Selina insisted everything be made by Marinette.

The arrival of the Wayne family was as big and boisterous as she’d come to expect. She’d been working in the backroom when she heard Chloe’s little sound of irritation, closely followed by the sound of the door opening, followed by a series of American voices.

Emerging from the backroom, Marinette smiled cordially. “Welcome back, Wayne family. If you’ll follow—”

“Are you dating Jason?” Stephanie asked point-blank.

“You can’t just ask her like that,” Babs hissed. “It’s going to scare her o—”

“Yes, I’m dating Jason, but that’s all I’m saying about the matter – I’m at work,” Marientte said immediately, ignoring their dumbfounded expressions. “Now Stephanie, for your dress I need you to tell me what you think of the hemline. Do you want it shorter?”

The fitting went fairly well – the family was shocked enough by her announcement that she and Jason were dating, but thankfully no one tried to ask her anything further. All in all, everyone seemed happy with their garments, and Marinette only had minor adjustments to make.

Jason was last, and when he was out of earshot of his family, he whispered, “So we’re dating now?”

“I panicked! But I figured this was probably the best solution if you want to see the twins before you leave Paris. It’s a more palatable explanation for you coming to see me than telling them that you knocked me up three years ago.”

Wincing, Jason concede, “Fair enough. But I need more room.”

“Oh, right! Sorry for overstepping my bounds, I can explain things to your family and—”

“No, no, I meant in my shirt! The shoulders are a little tighter than they were when you made it last year. I definitely want to keep seeing you and the kids, and I definitely am not ready for my family to know anything. In fact, if you’re free I can send them back without me and we could go do something?”

“This is actually my last appointment of the day,” Marinette said, weighing her options. “I need to work on a couple of my commissions for a while, but you could keep me company and come pick up the kids with me. Or not, that’s probably a stupid idea. Scratch that, we could just—”

“That sounds perfect,” Jason interrupted. “For what it’s worth, when I saw you again I was excited to just see you. The twins were just an added surprise.”

“I just… I want you to  know that whatever happens between us, if you want to be a part of the twins’ lives, I won’t stop you.”

“And I appreciate that. I understand you may be scared, but first I’d like to see what might happen between us.”

Looking at him now, Marinette saw nothing but honesty and earnestness in his eyes. He held none of the false confidence and charm he’d used when he first met her, joking as it had been.

“For what it’s worth,” Jason continued, “There hasn’t been anyone for me since you, Marinette. It didn’t feel right.”

“It was the same for me,” she blurted out. “ I mean, being pregnant with someone else’s children does that, but I didn’t want anyone else.”

Jason blushed, looking uncertain. “I—”

“Forget I said that. So is it just the shoulders that are tight? Does the suit jacket need to be adjusted as well?”

Marinette did her best to keep the fitting a normal, professional fitting. After all her talk about keeping it professional with his family, here she was talking about nothing but her personal life. Was she allowed to make an exception for the father of her children? It seemed like a valid enough argument until you pointed out the fact that she’d interacted with him for less than a week collectively. It was all a disaster, and Marinette needed to figure things out before she accidentally embroidered a project onto her pants again.

She didn’t hear too much resistance when Jason told his family that he was staying behind, just some ribbing peppered with a few threats. Her personal favorite was Selina swearing she would use his spine as a golf club if he ruined things with her favorite designer.

He seemed sheepish when he came into the backroom to sit with Marinette. “Sorry that took so long. My family gets… overexcited.”

“I may only have my parents and the kids, but I understand,” Marinette said without looking up from the jacket she was busy stitching.

“That jacket looks familiar. Did someone want a duplicate of the one Jagged Stone has been wearing for his latest tour?”

“Not exactly,” Marinette said, holding the cloth up to the light. “Instead of letting me make a second one like any sane person would, Jagged insisted that I patch up the one that his pet crocodile Fang used as a chew toy. He needs it for his next show on Thursday, so I really have to finish this before I leave here today.”

“You work with Jagged Stone?” Jason asked almost reverently.

Marinette turned the sleeve inside-out, delicately stitching the lining back together. “I have since high school. I love the man, but his sentimentality is going to be the death of me and his wife. It doesn’t matter how dingy or tattered anything looks, he won’t stop wearing it, like those sunglasses. It makes me look bad as a designer, and it makes me feel even worse.”

“You mean you made the Eiffel Tower sunglasses? They’re an icon!” Jason said in awe. “Can you—”

“Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe interrupted, barging into the back room. “The child models we were going to use for the child portion of your fashion line have backed out. I’m going to say what I’ve been saying all along. We need to send in the gremlin and Mila.”

“Chloe, you’re going to have to call Jules by his name eventually. Besides, we’ve had this discussion before. I don’t want the twins living in the spotlight because of me.”

“I grew up in the spotlight,” Chloe argued.

“That’s not really making your point, Bee,” Marinette muttered.

“The rest of the line is being modelled by Waynes,” the blonde argued. “The twins are technically half Wayne.”

Marinette felt a blush overtake her face. “Chloe! What if I hadn’t told him yet?!”

“I gave you the perfect opportunity. It’s not my fault if you didn’t take it,” Chloe said flippantly before locking eyes with Jason. “Listen buddy. If you want some easy brownie points with the twins, you’ll help me persuade Marinette to do this. You may be the baby daddy, but they love their Aunt Bee.”

“You can’t call Jason that!” Marinette wailed, prepared for death. If only it would take her now.

“Too late. Besides, we won’t disclose that they’re your kids. The public doesn’t even know your face. Think about it, I’ve got a facial in ten. Enjoy changing diapers,” Chloe bid them both, walking out the door waving.

Chapter Text

Chloe left the room and an uncomfortable variety of emotions churning in Jason’s stomach. He’d spent all of this time processing that he was a father, but after all of the blonde’s comments, Jason was beginning to realize just how much he’d missed in the last three years.

He hadn’t gotten to look at the photo album past the ultrasound, but even the thought of that made Jason feel some phantom pain, the lost opportunities haunting him. He knew exactly why he’d left Marinette, but in the face of this family – his family, it felt trivial. Actually, it felt downright stupid.

When Marinette found out she was pregnant, Jason wasn’t there. When it turned out to be twins, Jason wasn’t there. Christmases, birthdays, first words, first steps, Jason wasn’t there. Suddenly everything in the past three years felt trivial, useless.

“Did you hear me, Jason?”

“What?” he asked, snapping to attention.

“I’ve been calling your name for a little while now, but you seemed like you were very in your head.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Marinette giggled and Jason swore his heart skipped a beat. “At least now I know where Mila gets her brooding from.”

“Wha—I do not brood! That was not brooding!” Jason protested.

“That’s a nice story, but you were definitely just brooding. Come on, we need to go get the twins,” Marinette said, pulling him to his feet.

“I was deep in thought,” Jason muttered.

“A classic symptom of brooding.”

Feeling oddly defensive, Jason retorted, “I’m sure you’re blowing this out of proportion. I don’t brood, and I’m sure Mila doesn’t either.”

“Maybe you’re right, brood might not be the perfect word for it. But since angst isn’t a verb, it’s as close as we’re going to get,” Marinette said, nudging him playfully. “At least you don’t seem to cry between brooding sessions.”

“Injustice! This whole conversation is unjust to me and Mila both!” Jason proclaimed dramatically.

“Call it what you want, it doesn’t change the truth,” Marinette taunted. It was strange, if this had been coming from Jason’s family, there would have been bloodshed already. However, Jason wanted to keep teasing, wanted to verbally spar with Marinette and keep that gleam in her eyes alive.

“It’s just through here,” Marinette said, pulling him by his shirt sleeve. “They’ll be really excited to see you, they haven’t stopped talking about ‘Dada’ since they met you, especially Mila.”

Jason didn’t have time to process the emotions that were welling up in him at that information, because the front door opened, accompanied by the sound of screaming. A harried woman came out, holding the twins’ hands. She spoke to Marinette in rapid French that Jason couldn’t quite catch over the sound of screaming.

Replying in equally rapid French, Marinette bent down to scoop up the source of the noise, the sobbing Mila. Marinette attempted to calm the girl, doing that bouncy thing that all parents seemed to do instinctively. When she started murmuring to Mila, the tiny girl placed both hands on her mother’s face and shoved it away as hard as she could, crying, “No! No!”

Speaking as best she could past the hands pushing at her face, Marinette said, “Jason, meet broody Mila.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, watching Mila toddle over to him and hold her arms up after Marinette set her down. Uneasily he pulled her into his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder, whimpering pathetically.

“At snack time she tripped and broke one of her crackers,” Marinette translating, hoisting Jules into her arms. “The babysitter offered her a new one, but Mila wanted her to fix the first one.”

Jason blinked. “Excuse me, what?”

“Welcome to being a parent. On the bright side, Jules made it the whole day without biting anyone,” Marinette said, strapping him into the stroller.

“Is it really such a big problem?” Jason asked, handing Mila off to be strapped in as well, only for new tears to erupt.

“Jules doesn’t have quite as many words as Mila does yet,” Marinette said, handing each twin a container of snacks from the diaper bag. “It’s nothing concerning, he’s doing just fine. But it’s frustrating for him, and Jules doesn’t handle anger, or frustration, or even confusion very well. I’ve tried just about everything to get him to stop biting. I’m told he’ll grow out of it, but it can’t come soon enough.”

Yet another thing that Jason didn’t know about his own child. Despair whirled through his mind as he contemplated – what stories had his parents told about him when he was this age? Had he, himself been a biter? Honestly, it was really likely. How often did Mila cry like this?

What did the future hold for them? He’d been avoiding the reality of it because he was in Paris, and it was scarily easy to pretend that his entire life in Gotham didn’t exist.

He was a vigilante. He wasn’t even one of the morally straight vigilantes, how was he supposed to raise two innocent children with an angel? His life’s choices had never bothered him more than right now – did he even deserve to be in their lives? How could he force Marinette to just put up with him? How could he be any sort of role model?

Before he realized it, they had made it to Marinette’s house. She smiled at him, but her blue eyes were tinted with concern. “Do you want to come in? I was planning on making crepes for dinner, and there would be plenty for you.”

Shaking his head, Jason said, “I just remembered that Selina needed me to do some things for her. I should probably get going.”

“Oh.” Now her smile was a little more forced. “Well, good luck with that. I’ll see you soon.”

A small whimper came from the stroller. “Dada leaving?”

“Yes, Mila, Dada has to leave,” Marinette explained.

“No, Dada stay,” she whimpered, eyes quickly filling with tears.

“When she gets like this it’s best to leave as fast as possible, it minimizes the fallout,” Marinette whispered. “I hope everything goes well with wedding preparations. See you soon?”

“Sure,” Jason said faintly.

Chapter Text

Marinette watched Jason leave, her heart shrinking. She’d been afraid that something like this would happen, but it had been so abrupt. Two-year-old twins were a lot for anyone to handle, so Marinette had to hope that it was just the process of getting used to the reality of being a father.

A hidden, hateful part of herself almost wished that she’d never found Jason again. Somehow it felt like it would’ve been easier if they’d both continued on with their separate lives, completely ignorant of the other. At least that only left Marinette with a dull ache, not this searing agony.

Jules threw down the toy he’d been playing with in the stroller and crossed his arms, still held captive by the straps of the stroller. “Where Dada go?”

“Dad has important things to do,” Marinette murmured, finally turning away from Jason’s distant figure. “But so do we! Should we go visit Grandmere and Grandpere?”

When both of the twins cheered, Marinette changed her course, walking past her house and away from Jason. There was nothing she could do about the situation now, and talking to her parents always helped something.

The bakery was as busy as ever – after she’d bought her own place, her parents had decided to hire on a few more staff members so they had more time to spend with the twins. So when Marinette pushed through the front door, it was their part-timers, Allegra and Brigette, that greeted her.

“Are my parents in?” Marinette asked once greetings were exchanged.

Brigette nodded. “They’re taking care of a special order.”

“Thanks girls,” Marinette said, maneuvering the stroller past the cash register. Sure enough, just past that was her parents. Tom was furiously frosting cupcakes while Sabine was kneading a mound of yeast dough.

Now more than ever, Marinette’s heart ached at seeing them together. They worked in perfect tandem, pausing to smile brightly at the other whenever they brushed up against the other. The scene was almost enough to bring her to tears until Jules broke the spell, yelling, “Grandpapa! Grandmama!”

Both of her parents looked up, beaming. “It’s my favorite twins! Hello!”

Mila struggled against her restraints. “Out, Maman. Out!”

“Patience,” Marinette murmured, kneeling down to unleash her children. Both immediately wiggled free, running to stand on the step stools her parents had gotten specifically so her kids could watch the baking process.

Sabine pushed the dough she’d been working with and pressed a kiss to her husband’s cheek. “Will you watch the children? Marinette and I are going to make more frosting.”

“Well, I’ve got the best help I could ask for,” Tom said with a smile and a thumbs-up.

“Mila has been a bit broody day today,” Marinette warned in a whisper before following her mother over to the massive stand-mixer.

“Is someone having another Ladybug-themed party?” Marinette asked, eyeing the copious amounts of red food coloring waiting by the mixer.

“One of the girls accidentally sold two hundred of the cupcakes for Ladybug day tomorrow. To top it off, your grandfather ordered a loaf of bread for seven o’clock tonight. You know how he insists that it has to be fresh out of the oven whenever he buys it.”

“I know well,” Marinette said, throwing the softened butter into the bowl.

“Now why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Sabine asked.

“What makes you think something is wrong?” Marinette said completely unconvincingly.

“Marinette, I gave birth to you. I know when my daughter is worried about something.”

Taking a deep breath, Marinette closed her eyes. “I found the twins’ father. He’s here, in Paris for now.”

Sabine gasped, but thankfully it was quiet enough that Tom and the kids didn’t hear it. “How did you find him? Have you told him yet?”

“He’s one of my clients, strangely enough. I told him – he’s even met the kids. Jason seemed excited at first, but he helped me walk the kids home and out of nowhere he just… pulled away. I’ve been prepared to be a single parent this whole time, but having him back and being rejected hurts more than before.’

“You might just need to give him time. After all, a single child would be intimidating if you don’t know about it, but two is terrifying.”

“I know, Maman, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying. I’ve missed him for three years, and I don’t want him to disappear again.”

“Well, I’ve never met this Jason, but I don’t think he’ll just run. After hearing you speak so passionately about him and what a wonderful person he is, I can’t wait to meet him. It may take some time, but he will be a wonderful father. Just give him the benefit of the doubt. Knowing that you believe in him will go a long way.”

Marinette slowly nodded. “I think I just needed to hear it from someone else.”

“It’s a confusing situation, and there’s not really a right way to handle it,” Sabine said, patting her hand. “But I would advise you to wait a while to tell your father.”

“Oh no,” Marinette said, paling at the thought. “Maybe it would be easier to let him go back to Gotham and forget that we exist.”

Smiling, Sabine swatted at her daughter. “Don’t be so dramatic. Besides, if his biceps are as nice as I’m led to believe, I deserve to see him, at least one.”

“Maman!”

“Fosting!” Jules yelled, stomping a foot. “Grandpapa need fosting.”

“Fosting,” Mila echoed.

“It will be just a moment, patience,” Marinette said, letting the color mix in the completely before lugging the massive mixing bowl over to the rest of her family.

“Are you ready for Ladybug day, Marinette?” Tom asked, skillfully piping frosting without even looking.

“Yeah, I’ve had everything made for a while now,” Marinette said with a nod. “I only had time to make fifty costumes, so I asked for a list of the children that had been there the longest. I have them set to be delivered to the children’s hospital tomorrow morning.”

“And the kids could ask for anything at all? I bet you got some creative requests,” Tom said warmly.

“It was actually a lot of fun. I got some of the standard requests like fairy princesses, astronauts, Ladybug and Chat Noir, but there were some really fun ones like a ballerina-vet, and a garbage truck man.”

“And you’re sure you can’t take the day off and watch the parade with the kids?” Sabine asked. “Ladybug and Chat Noir are speaking, and your father and I are catering for those who get to attend the speech in person.”

“I’m sure they’ll get to see her some other time when they’re older,” Marinette said nervously. “But I have a huge number of alterations and a very short window of time thanks to the Wayne family.”

Her parents knew about the Waynes largely because it had been all over the news when Marinette had first gotten the commission. It was almost revolutionary to have a fledgling designer like herself commissioned to clothe the entirety of  such a high-profile family. Marinette had been doing fine establishing her brand, but this being so public had done wonders for her international reputation. (Foreseeing this, Chloe wouldn’t have let her reject the commission if she’d wanted to.)

“The Wayne family? Isn’t that the one with all of the good-looking sons? Maybe you’ll hit it off with one of them and find yourself a nice husband,” Tom said with a wink.

“Let’s not tease Marinette too much, dear,” Sabine said, noticing that the color of her daughter’s face was rapidly changing to match the frosting they’d just made.

“What?” Tom asked, glancing between his wife and daughter.

It wasn’t much longer after that when Marinette left. She needed to feed the twins, and finish up her speech for tomorrow. It had kind of snuck up on her, honestly, and trying to wing this kind of thing never ended well.

Miraculously, it all seemed to be working out. Tikki was always a huge help with the publicity aspect of being Ladybug, and she even managed to finish a few of the alterations she needed to make to the bridesmaids’ dresses. It wasn’t until the next morning when disaster struck.

She was woken by a phone call from the twins’ babysitter. Blinking her eyes a few times, Marinette answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Marinette, I’m so sorry,” the babysitter said immediately, “but I can’t take the twins today. I just came down with food poisoning.”

That definitely managed to wake Marinette up. “What? Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, I just ate something bad,” she said, sounding every bit sick as she claimed. “But I’m in no shape to take care of the twins today. I’m really sorry, this couldn’t have happened on a worse day.”

“Don’t worry about it, you just focus on feeling better,” Marinette said absentmindedly before saying goodbye and hanging up. Her mind was already spinning with possibilities. Everyone she thought of was going to Ladybug’s speech in person – Alya and Nino, her parents, Manon, all of her classmates that were in Paris… It was impossible. And Ladybug couldn’t give the speech with twin two-year-olds strapped to her back!

Marinette paced around her bedroom, contemplating and catastrophizing the situation until Tikki flew in front of her. “There’s one person you haven’t considered.”

Almost immediately catching what the kwami was trying to say, Marinette shook her head. “Tikki, no. It’s going to completely push him away.”

“You don’t know that, Marinette. Besides, he’s our only option. It wouldn’t hurt to call.”

She wanted to argue and tell Tikki that she would find another way, any other way, but in her heart of hearts, Marinette knew that she was right. “I’ll try, but I won’t promise anything,” she said, picking up her phone.

Chapter Text

After leaving Marinette yesterday, Jason had intended to go get blackout drunk. It seemed like the best way to cope at the time, consequences be damned. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead he found himself roaming Paris, trying and failing not to see Marinette and the twins in everything. He wandered late into the night, not sure if he loved or hated the silence around him, until he found himself back at the hotel.

Jason collapsed in bed, falling into a fitful sleep. He was never quite sure if he was awake or dreaming until something distinctly poked his cheek.

A part of him hoped to find that he was at Marinette’s house with the twins standing around him, and his emotional breakdown was all a nightmare. Instead he opened his eyes to find his idiotic brother in his hotel room.

“Jay-bird, you never told me how yesterday went. I need to knooow,” Dick complained, continuing to poke his cheek.

“What the hell, Grayson? Cut it out,” Jason hissed, swatting the hand away.

“I’ve been patient, but I just can’t take it anymore. Do you actually have kids? When did you meet Marinette? What—”

Dick was cut off by the sound of Jason’s phone ringing. They both froze, seeing Marinette’s face flash across the screen. Turning back, Dick stared at Jason, unblinking. “Are you going to answer that?”

“Are you going to give me some privacy?”

“No.”

Sighing, Jason answered the phone. “Hello?”

“I didn’t wake you, did I? I’m so sorry, I just didn’t know who to call,” she said all in one breath.

Pushing his brother’s face away, Jason sat up a little straighter. “What’s wrong? Are the twins okay?” He may have misgivings about how decent a father he would be, but an unfamiliar panic began racing through him.

“They’re fine, we’re all fine,” Marinette assured him. “I just have a huge favor to ask. Are you and your family doing anything for Ladybug Day?”

“What’s Ladybug Day?”

“Perfect. Listen, I can figure something else out, so you can absolutely say no. I mean –”

“Marinette, what’s wrong?”

“The twins’ babysitter has food poisoning. Because of Ladybug day I can’t find anyone to watch them. Could you take them for a few hours? As soon as the event is over I can take them back. Is that… Would you be willing to do that?”

If you say no I’ll kill you Dick mouthed.

“S-sure,” Jason stammered, genuinely scared of his older brother for possibly the first time ever.

“Thank you so much. I’ll bring them to the hotel – that’s where they’re having the press conference anyway. Thanks again, Jason.”

They hung up and Jason texted her the room number before Dick pounced.

Despite being a married adult, he flung himself onto the bed on top of Jason. Bouncing up and down, he said, “Do I get to meet my niece and nephew? What are their names? How old are they? What are their favorite colors? What—”

“Grayson, I will kill you where you stand,” Jason hissed, bolting out of bed. “Get it out of your system, because this is probably the only time you’ll ever see them. We both know I’m no father.”

“Jason Todd, take that back right now,” Dick said, instantly sobering. “What the hell is this about? Is Marinette secretly crazy or something?”

“No, Marinette is perfect. But how am I supposed to be a decent father to normal kids? How can I in good conscience subject a family to how effed up I am? I kill people, Dick.”

“And so you’re going to be a wuss?” Dick demanded. “You get a pass for the years you didn’t know about them, but if you leave now, no matter your intentions, you’re abandoning them. Do you really want them to grow up wondering about you the same way you had to wonder about your mom?”

“That’s different, you asshole.”

“How? I understand that you’re scared, but I think you’d be a great father. I also think you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you missed even more of their lives. It’s easy to decide we don’t deserve families, but you’re also saying that those two don’t deserve to have a dad.”

Silence stretched between the brothers until there was a knock at the door.

“Jason? It’s Marinette.”

Sighing, Jason began towards the door before Dick tackled him to the ground.

“Seriously, Dick, what the—”

“Put some clothes on,” Dick hissed. Belatedly realizing that he was only wearing boxers, Jason scrambled to clothe himself. After a cursory glance to make sure that his hotel room was neat, Jason took a deep breath and opened the door.

Marinette was there, hair in the same pigtails he’d first met her in. The twins were in their stroller, which she immediately pushed through.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? I’m sure I can – oh, Mr. Grayson, I didn’t realize – I mean—”

“It’s okay, Marinette. He knows,” Jason said, some of the fear in his chest easing. As terrible as it was, seeing her scrambling like this made Jason feel a little better about the whole situation. It also made him feel… needed, as absurd as it sounded.

“I’m the only one that knows,” Grayson said, a stupid grin taking over his face. “Hi, I’m Uncle Dick! What are your names?”

Jules narrowed his eyes at Dick. “Not uncle.”

“He is your uncle,” Marinette confirmed before putting the diaper bag into Jason’s hands. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”

Mila had been staring curiously at the hotel room, but once she spotted him, she held out her arms to Jason, making grabby hands. “Dada!”

“We’ve got this,” Jason said, unleashing her and hoisting his daughter into his arms. “Don’t worry about it, Marinette.”

“If you’re sure. Text me if you have questions, call for an emergency. And you two, be good,” she said sternly before waving goodbye to her children.

“Bye bye,” Mila said, waving.

Pulling at his restraints, Jules started whimpering as the door closed behind Marinette. “Maman.”

“Hey little dude, don’t worry about it. Do you want to get out of there and watch a show?” Dick asked, unbuckling the child.

Both perked up the slightest bit. “Show?” they parroted perfectly in-sync.

“I’m sure the hotel TV has to get some sort of kids’ channel,” Dick said, turning it on. He channel surfed, flipping through various channels until the twins started squawking something completely unintelligible.

“Go back to that last channel, they seem to want it,” Jason said, noticing their joint excitement.

“Seriously? You think they want the news?” Dick asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Just try it.”

Sure enough, as soon as Grayson flipped back to the news channel, both twins looked ecstatic, dancing around to the news broadcast about… oh, that Ladybug hero that Jason had heard about. Ladybug Day. Now that made a lot more sense, he’d forgotten about Paris’s heroes. It seemed they were doing a special on her and her partner, the discount Selina.

“If I’m helping you babysit then I deserve answers,” Dick said, crossing his arms.

“Their names are Jules and Mila,” Jason said. “They’re like two and a half. I had no idea they existed until a couple of days ago.”

“They’re so cute,” Grayson said, clutching his chest. “Jay, I don’t know if I can handle how cute they are.”

“Be careful with Jules, he bites,” Jason warned, unconsciously running his fingers over the scabbed over bite mark.

“Eh, so did Damian, at first.”

“Fair.”

The kids were entranced by the TV, and it seemed best not to upset them in their time of entertainment, so Jason and Dick took their spots in the two armchairs that the room sported, relaxing to watch the broadcast as well. He’d thought that it was a little strange that two toddlers would want to watch the news, but the longer he watched, the more he found himself fascinated with Ladybug.

He remembered those years. The Justice League had caught on that there was something going on in Paris, but they were constantly rebuffed and denied entrance into the city. Now he was able to see the threat and the heroes in action. The video clips were usually blurry amateur stuff filmed on a phone, but the story they told was amazing. Even Dick was impressed by some of the stunts she pulled and the people she defeated.

“Do you two like Ladybug?” Dick asked in his sickening baby voice.

“Huh,” Jules said, which Jason had learned meant yes. “Maman.”

“Love Maman,” Mila whispered.

“I guess they see their mom in Ladybug? I mean, they do have the same hair color,” Dick shrugged.

“Yeah…” Jason said, distracted by the screen. Apparently Dick was distracted as well, because when the commercial break started, both brothers blinked as if they were getting out of a trance.

“Where’s Mila?” Whipping his head around, Jason’s voice was considerably more panicked when he repeated, “Where’s Mila?!”

“I didn’t even notice her get up,” Dick said, rising from where he had sat. “The door is still closed, so she has to be in here.”

“Well then where the hell is she?! Because she’s not there!” Jason said, throwing his arms up in the air.

“You check the closet, I’ll check the bathroom,” Dick said decisively. They both became so engrossed in the search for Mila that they didn’t hear the door open and close.

“Jason? Dick? Are you in there?” Tim called.

Rushing out from their respective searches, both frantically yelled, “CLOSE THE DOOR!”

“What the – fine, fine, I’m doing it,” he said, closing the door and holding up his hands. “I don’t understand – WHAT IS THAT?!”

Curious about the noise, Jules had toddled it to inspect the intruder. When Tim made eye contact with the boy, he gave his signature scowl.

“It’s a child, Timmy. Surely you’ve heard of them,” Dick said, staring at the bathtub as if willing Mila into existence in it.

“Why do you have a child in here? Did you kidnap it?” Tim asked, edging away from Jules.

“There should be another one somewhere in here, help us find her,” Jason said.

“You kidnapped two children?!” Tim hissed.

“No, I’m their father. Now help us find my daughter.”

Tim floundered at the answer, but resigned himself to the fact that he likely wouldn’t get any answers until the mystery second child was found. It was then that the door opened yet again, and Babs called, “Hey Jason, have you seen Dick? I can’t find him anywhere.”

“CLOSE THE DOOR!” the three brothers thundered.

“Okay, geez, don’t get your panties in a wad,” Babs muttered, wheeling in and closing the door. “Babe, what are you doing in Jason’s—”

“I found it!” Tim proclaimed dramatically, throwing the blankets off of Jason’s bed. She’d snuggled deep into the pile, falling asleep once more. The tiny child shifted, rubbing her eyes before holding her arms out to Tim just like she’d done to Jason.

“Why is there a child in your room?” Babs asked, wheeling back a bit. “Jason, what did you do?”

“Why is it holding its arms out like that?” Tim asked nervously.

“Stop calling my daughter an it!” Jason growled.

“Daughter?!”

“I think she wants you to pick her up,” Dick observed.

“I don’t… How do I do that? I have to support the head, right?” Tim asked, gingerly moving towards the child.

“There was something about that in the first aid classes,” Babs said. “Jason, how long have you been hiding your child from us.”

“Children, they’re twins,” Dick helpfully added. “And they’re old enough to support their own heads, you can just pick her up by her armpits.”

As Tim was having a crisis over how to pick up a child, Jules wandered in, eyes fixated on Babs, or more specifically her wheelchair. “Car-car? Go fast?”

“Okay, this one is definitely Jay’s kid. I have many questions, but they can wait for now,” Babs said, holding her arms out to Jules. “I have a kid to go fast with.”

He joyfully ran to Babs, beaming as she pulled him up onto the wheelchair with her. She made a few laps around the suite, filling the room with delighted giggles.

“Faster,” Jules urged, pulling on Babs’s shirt. “Faster!”

“To the hallway!” she proclaimed, wrenching the door open. “There we can go so – oh frick.”

Babs launched the chair backwards, slamming the door closed again and locking it with the chain.

“Bruce and Damian are coming,” she hissed. “I don’t think they saw the kid, but they definitely saw me.”

“What if Bruce tries to adopt them?” Dick asked.

“Marinette would never let that happen,” Jason said confidently.

“Marinette is the mother?” Babs and Tim hissed in sync.

A knock sounded on the door. “We saw you, Barbara. What are you doing in there?”

“Oh, just paying Jason a visit,” she called through the door.

It was at that point that Mila, who Tim was holding, but doing so as far away as possible from his body, started to whimper. Rudely awoken from her nap, and denied the cuddles she so desperately wanted, Mila began to cry.

“What is that?” Bruce demanded.

“Oh, just the TV,” Babs said, but it was at that point that Jules tried to squirm off of her lap.

“Lala okay?” he asked, desperately searching for his twin. He couldn’t see her past Babs, and it was impossible to navigate his way off her wheelchair alone, and so he did the one thing he could: Jules screamed.

“Barbara, let me in or I will break down this door,” Bruce threatened.

Sighing, Jason nodded to Babs to let them in. As the door opened, he stalked over to Tim and demanded, “Give me my daughter.”

“Dada,” she whimpered, curling into his neck. Something about the sensation felt right, like holding his daughter was what he was made to do.

“Jules, stop screaming. Mila is just fine, see?” Jason said, showing the boy his sister.

“Oh,” he said before turning back to Babs. “Go fast?”

“What is this? Jason, did you kidnap these children?” Bruce demanded.

“Why does everyone assume I would kidnap children?” Jason complained. “They’re Marinette’s children, their babysitter got food poisoning and she couldn’t find anyone to watch her kids.”

“And why would she ask you to babysit, Todd?” Damian sneered.

“Because I’m their father, Demon Spawn,” Jason snapped before stiffening. They had probably overheard something, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to just own up to being a father just yet. Would Bruce disown him? What would—

“I’m a grandfather,” the man whispered, a stupid grin spreading over his face. “Jason Todd, you will explain to me why I’ve already missed this much of my grandchildren’s lives, but first you’re going to introduce me.”

Damian poked Jules’s cheek. “Well, this one even has Todd’s skunk stripe, so I suppose he might not being taken advantage of.”

Screwing his face into a scowl, the next time Damian jabbed a finger at Jules, the child sank his teeth into it. After shaking the child off, Damian distanced himself from both children, standing several paces behind Bruce.

“Well the feral one is certainly Todd’s child,” he spat.

“I’ve never been more proud as a father,” Jason said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye with his free hand.  

Chapter Text

“Plagg, claws in.”

“Tikki, spots off.”

Collapsing into their room backstage, Adrien groaned. “Are we getting old, Marinette? I feel like Ladybug Day took a lot our of us this year. More than usual.”

“Who knew cats aged so quickly? Soon you’ll be old and gray,” Marinette teased.

“We don’t all have the infinite energy that you somehow do, even with twins,” Adrien groaned. “Excuse me while I become one with this couch.”

“Adrien found a gray hair last week,” Plagg stage-whispered to Marinette.

“That isn’t true,” Adrien lied, looking uncomfortable.

“Plagg,” Tikki said reproachfully, “we’ve been over this. You shouldn’t tell on your wielder like that. Besides, his wife is pregnant. He deserves a break!”

“Well, Marinette was the one pregnant with twins alone,” the tiny cat argued. “She didn’t get a single gray hair.”

“It’s not a competition,” Marinette reminded them. “Now hurry and finish your snacks. We’re on again in ten minutes.”

“Okay, but were you constantly angry during your pregnancy?” Adrien asked. “No matter what, I feel like I’m seconds away from getting skewered.”

“Oh, moods are completely out of your control – or at least they were for me. That’s probably why Hawkmoth never targeted pregnant women – all of Paris would have been destroyed. But to answer your question, I wasn’t angry very much. I was mostly sad.”

“I probably shouldn’t have brought it up, I’m sorry. That was as insensitive as Kagami is always saying I am.”

“Don’t worry about it, that was a long time ago. And get that look off your face, it’s not Jason’s fault that I was doing it alone. Think of things from his perspective. He just found out that he’s the father of two-year-old twins. It’s a lot to adjust to, so please, give him some leniency.”

“I know you’re right, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve gone through a lot of pain.”

“But I think I needed it, to a degree. Adrien, we’ve wielded the power of gods, literal gods, since we were thirteen years old. I needed the twins to remind me that I am human, nothing more, nothing less. And even if I never talk to him again, I needed Jason for that night. I needed to experience being a normal girl with a normal boy, removed from the world of heroes and villains.”

“How did he take the news, by the way?”

“Oh, he was shocked. I’m afraid I scared him away forever. He… he seemed hesitant yesterday, uncertain maybe. But he’s watching the twins right now because their babysitter has food poisoning.”

“Are you worried about it?”

“Of course I am. He’s a grown man who nearly fainted at the thought of changing a diaper. I genuinely believe the twins might be the first children he’s ever interacted with.”

Marinette and Adrien held eye contact for a few moments until they burst out laughing.

“That’s going to be a disaster,” Adrien said through the laughter, wiping tears from his eyes.

“I’m never going to see him again, am I?” Marinette asked with a sigh.

“He might surprise you. As much as I want to punch him in the face, I want you to be happier even more. If I need to cataclysm him, just say the word, Bug.”

Nudging him with her shoulder, Marinette beamed. “And if you ever need a babysitter for your kitten, I’m only a phone call away.”

“Okay, enough gushy stuff. You two are on in two minutes.”

The press conference felt more like a panel at a fan convention. She and Adrien did their best to assure the city that they were safe and to encourage them to continue to be kinder, more conscientious citizens. At this point, the two of them had spent enough time in front of crowds like this that neither had even attempted to prepare any sort of speech beforehand. It didn’t feel like she was there for long at all, and before she knew it she was back in her civilian clothes and rushing up the stairs to Jason’s hotel room.

She was a bit terrified to see what the state of things were in the room. Steeling herself, Marinette knocked on the door. “Jason? It’s Marinette. I’m here for the twins.”

A faint voice called, “Come in.”

Nothing could have prepared Marinette for the chaos she would find. Toys and snacks littered the carpet, and the entire Wayne family seemed to be present. Jules was hiding behind an arm chair, juice box held so tightly in his fist that it was leaking onto the carpet. He occasionally poked his head out from behind the chair to growl softly at Damian, and Mila ran around completely naked. She had at least three people on her tail carrying clothes and diapers, but the girl was leading them on a merry chase.

“Jules, we do not scowl or growl at nice people,” Marinette said with the full force of her mom voice. “Mila, you have to wear clothes.”

Mila stopped running, docilely allowing herself to be clothed by Stephanie and Selina. Jules called, “Maman!” and ran to her, smiling brightly.

Gathering him into her arms, Marinette asked, “Were you and your sister naughty for the Waynes?”

“Huh,” Jules said, his shortening of “uh-huh.”

“Welcome, Miss Marinette. It’s delightful to see you once again,” Alfred said, inclining his head. “I assure you, your children have been nothing but a joy.”

“I appreciate the lie, but I know my children. I’m sorry Jason, and well, all of you. I know that they can be a handful, but I didn’t think they would be this bad. I’ll have to make it up to—”

Marinette was cut off by the behemoth that was Jason Todd, flinging his arms around her and Jules both. Hugging her tightly, he whispered, “I love them so much. I want to be there for them. I’m sorry I ever doubted it, I want to be there for them. I want to see them learn and grow, I want all of it.”

Chapter Text

Jason was suddenly hyperaware of a few things. Marinette was so small, so fragile in his embrace, but she was also warm and vibrant. And after taking care of the twins for a few hours, he would have to rethink the whole “fragile” portion of his assessment – clearly Marinette was stronger than Jason could have ever imagined.

He was also growing increasingly aware that his family was watching their every move like the vultures they were.

Squirming out of his mother’s grasp, Jules wandered over to Grayson, who apparently specialized in taming feral children. As much as he tried to hide it, though, it was obvious that Damian was jealous of his nephew for stealing his favorite brother’s attention.

Releasing Marinette, Jason stepped back, blushing. “Um, it’s good to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Marinette said hesitantly. “Is now a good time to pick them up?”

Bruce, who had engaged in an intense game of patty-cake with Mila, looked up, crestfallen. “Do the twins have to leave already?”

“I… I guess not?” Marinette said hesitantly. “I was just going to take them to work with me now that my meeting is over.”

“We can keep them until you’re finished!” Dick offered brightly.

“Are you sure? They’ve already made such a mess, I don’t want to impose.”

“It’s no imposition,” Bruce said as seriously as one could while still playing patty-cake. “I don’t know all of the circumstances behind their birth, but they’re part Wayne. If you don’t mind, I would love the opportunity to get to know my grandchildren.”

She clearly didn’t know what to make of that. Marinette faintly nodded before saying, “If you would like to spend more time with the twins, we could go to the studio, or my house. Both are better equipped to handle the twins and this many people at once.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you for having us,” Selina said with her sly smile.

“Not a problem. I just made macarons,” Marinette said absentmindedly.

“Macaron, Maman? Please?” Jules said from Dick’s arms, pausing from playing with the man’s hair.

“You need lunch first,” Marinette said, snapping back to herself. “Clean up your toys, we’re going home.”

Mila immediately started cleaning up toys, but Jules pouted. “No leave.”

“They’re all coming with us,” Marinette assured him. “Now clean up your toys.”

Jason and his family almost couldn’t believe their eyes. Obediently the twins left whatever they had been doing and began collecting the things that were scattered around the room. Marinette had to remind them every so often to pick up something here or there, but no adult had to touch anything that belonged in the diaper bag.

It wasn’t long before the room was significantly cleaner and the twins were strapped into the stroller. Jason thought he should get to push the stroller full of his children, but it was a fight he quickly lost – no one could have won when they stood between Bruce and children.

Thankfully the family was distracted enough that they weren’t paying much attention to where Jason was walking next to Marinette. What he had said to her when she got back to the hotel room was playing thought his mind on repeat. He still had his reservations, but what he’d said was true – he cared far too much about the twins and Marinette to just leave them.

Jason startled when Marinette’s small hand slipped into his own, her fingers lacing through his. Neither could look each other in the eyes yet because of the twin blushes they sported.

“You were kind of stuck in your head,” she said quietly. “Everything okay?”

“I’m just… I don’t know how we’re going to make this work,” Jason said, gesturing broadly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to do everything I can to make this work, but you live in Paris. I live in Gotham, and I don’t know if I can leave for good.”

“So we take it one day at a time,” Marinette said, pressing a kiss to his hand she held. “The future is always uncertain, and that can be terrifying. But no matter what, know that your future has the twins and me in it.”

Jason tightened his hand around Marinette’s as a foreign emotion seized his chest. “How did I ever get so lucky?” he asked, despite himself.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Marinette said with a smile. “Jason, I don’t know how or why, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re tied together somehow. Maybe we knew each other in a past life.”

“Even if we did, this chapter of our story isn’t written yet. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see what happens next.”

“I don’t need anything too exciting,” Marinette said with a familiar weariness. “I’ve had enough excitement to last me  a lifetime, and I have everything that I could possibly want already.”

“I feel the same way,” Jason said, sharing a small smile.

“As for the semantics, I wouldn’t be opposed to spending part of every year in Gotham,” she continued, shocking Jason. “I can’t leave Paris permanently, but your family deserves to see the children just as much as mine does. Besides, Chloe has been pushing me to expand beyond Paris for a while now. It’s perfect, the fact that it’s not New York will irritate Audrey Bourgeois to no end.”

“Do you just know every famous person in Paris?” Jason asked. “I’m not huge into fashion, but it only took a quick internet search to realize what a big deal everyone you’ve talked about is.”

“I’ve gotten lucky. But I also live in the fashion capital of the world. Designers are everywhere. I knew I had made it big when the Wayne family commissioned me.”

“Oh yeah. I kinda forget how famous we are. We’re not going to get that simple, quiet life, are we?”

Marinette’s eyes sparkled, a breathtaking blue that held all the warmth in the world. “No, but I’m sure we’re both used to it by now. Besides, we’ve got the important things covered.”

Chapter Text

Marinette didn’t know that there was any group on earth that could bring more chaos into her life than her friends, but the Wayne family was coming in at a close second. Just getting to her house without losing anyone was bad enough, especially whenever they passed anywhere that sold toys or children’s clothes. At one point she had to physically drag Bruce with the stroller in tow away from one of the most expensive boutiques in all of Paris.

“They look like the perfect size,” Bruce argued. “Jules and Mila would look adorable in those matching outfits.”

“With all respect, Monsieur Wayne, step away from the shop. Jules and Mila have plenty of clothes, including those same outfits because I made them,” Marinette said, steering the billionaire away.

“I’m impressed,” Selina said, offering a sly smile. “You ability to control this family is almost comparable to Alfred.”

“That can’t be true,” Marinette said, looking at where Jason was trying to wrestle the stroller from Bruce’s grasp. “But it’s kind of you to say. My house is just through here.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve missed out on being a grandpa for two years, but I’ve missed out on being a father,” Jason was arguing. “You’ve had ample chances for that, it’s my turn.”

“But I found most of you when you were sulky teenagers. These are the first toddlers I get to spoil,” Bruce said with an iron grip on the stroller. “And you’ve obviously known about them longer than me, so I get dibs.”

“It’s only been like two days!” Jason protested.

“Unforgivable,” Bruce stated before racing ahead, making car noises as he went along, which the twins squealed in delight at.

“I’ve never seen the family like this,” Selina commented. “The Bruce Wayne is taking your children on a joy ride in the stroller, and the kids are bickering over who gets to play with Jules and Mila next, not over business decisions or family drama.”

“You family has certainly been fun for the twins and me to get to know,” Marinette said, surveying the motley group.

“I don’t think you fully understand. Bruce has always wanted to be a family man in his heart of hearts, but there’s always been some tension between him and his kids. They all have… troubled pasts, so it can be hard for them to trust completely. But they’re here, being what I assume a normal family is like. And it’s all because of you.”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t stress about it, darling. You do it simply by being you. Even if it’s for a short while, you’ve been a gift to our family, especially Jason. You’ve brought new life to him, and we can never repay you for that,” Selina said, patting Marinette’s shoulder. “I don’t know what your future holds, but I’ve never seen Jason smile like that before. I hope I get to see it again.”

The older woman slipped away while Marinette turned her attention to Jason. He had directed the others to where Marinette’s house was, and they’d freed the kids onto the sidewalk. He was beaming with a toddler swinging from each bicep while Bruce begged for a turn.

“You had your turn, old man!” Jason called, dancing just out of his father’s reach.

“Old man,” Mila echoed.

The sight was enough to bring tears to Marinette’s eyes. Blinking them away, Marinette wove through the Waynes to unlock the door. “Come on in, I’ll start making lunch.”

“You don’t have to, I can pay—” Bruce started, but Marinette cut him off.

“Nonsense, you’re guests in my home. Besides, you all helped watch the twins for me.”

“That’s simply what family does,” Alfred said gravely. “Might I at least assist in the lunch preparations?”

“It’s going to be fast to throw together, but it would be faster with two,” Marinette said graciously. The older man followed her into the kitchen where she began to pull food from the fridge.

“If I may take the liberty of saying so, you’ve done an admirable job in raising the twins alone. It can’t have been easy.”

“Children never are, but I’m sure you know that,” Marinette said. “I’ve had a lot of support from friends and family. I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”

“It must set your mind at ease that the Hawkmoth fellow has been defeated. Surely that was a harrowing experience.”

Marinette eyed the butler, getting the feeling that he knew more than he should have. “It was stressful to deal with,” she hesitantly agreed, “but we always had our heroes to help us, just like you do in Gotham.”

“Just what is Ladybug Day celebrating, Miss Marinette? We heard a bit, but I’m afraid I don’t wholly understand.”

“It’s the anniversary of the day Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated Hawkmoth,” Marinette said, glancing sideways at the man as he sliced cheese.

“And it’s been five years today, correct? Master Bruce was watching a news broadcast this morning, and I was especially curious about Hawkmoth’s accomplice, the woman called Mayura?”

Swallowing heavily, Marinette said, “Oh? What about her?”

“It’s just that she reminded me of an old friend – he went by the name Duusu.”

Alfred had been watching Marinette closely, so he didn’t miss her flinch at the use of the kwami’s name. Smiling to himself, Alfred said, “Don’t worry, Miss Marinette, your secret is safe with me. I am merely gratified to know that Duusu and his friends rest in good hands.”

“I don’t – wow, this was not what I expected from getting to know the Wayne family. I’d love to speak further about all of this some day.”

“And I’m sure we shall, Miss Marinette. But never fear, I think you’ll find that the family can empathize with you more than you can imagine.”

“Somehow I believe you,” Marinette said with a smile. “It’s an honor to meet one of Duusu’s birds.”

“The honor is all mine, Ladybug,” Alfred replied. “Now I believe we should get the food on the table, lest we have a riot on our hands.”

Chapter Text

Lunch wasn’t even over before Marinette was officially invited to Bruce’s wedding. It surprised no one except Marinette but that seemed to be very in character for her.

It was odd. Before today, the thought of his family knowing about the twins made him panic, and now that they did know, Jason was just annoyed that they were hogging the children.

“A-are you sure?” Marinette was stammering in front of Bruce and Selina. “It’s a very exclusive wedding, and I’m sure you don’t want to start rumors in the tabloids because of me and the kids.”

“You’re family,” Bruce said firmly.

“Besides, I would argue that you’ve done more word for the wedding than any of us! It can’t have been easy. Come, take your mind off of things, we insist.”

“It’s best to just give up at this point, Marinette,” Dick counselled from where he was holding Mila upside down. “Bruce didn’t expand his company by taking no for an answer.”

“If you say no, that manager of yours might kill you,” Stephanie helpfully added. “But be careful, if you take your eyes off of the twins Bruce might try to smuggle them into his suitcase for the honeymoon.”

Cass solemnly nodded, holding Jules back by his shirt collar so he couldn’t bite Damian yet again.

“I would love to go, thank you for the invitation,” Marinette finally conceded. “Honestly, this family might be more stubborn than Jagged Stone himself.”

“Don’t worry dear, I’ll make sure that Bruce doesn’t kidnap your children,” Selina purred, patting her cheek. “As adorable as they are, the honeymoon is mine and mine alone.”

“Did you just say Jagged Stone?” Dick demanded, whirling around so quickly that he almost dropped Mila. It was also at this point that Jules escaped Cass’s grip and sank his teeth into Damian’s forearm. Cursing in what sounded like Arabic, the boy pried off the toddler and disappeared into the bathroom to nurse his wound.

“Don’t you remember me telling you that MDC is Jagged Stone’s personal designer?” Tim asked excitedly.

“Marinette is the one that designed the Eiffel Tower sunglasses,” Jason bragged.

“Boys, it’s not that big—” Marinette began, but she was cut off by the doorbell. “Oh, who could that be?”

The Wayne family parted to let Marinette through, and Jason began feeling distinctly nervous when she opened the door and said, “Maman, Papa! What are you doing here?”

Jason swore he felt his blood turn to ice in that moment, and it really didn’t help that every member of his family was currently staring him down.

Joyfully calling to their grandparents, both twins squirmed away to join their mother at the door.

“Hello my darlings,” a gentle voice said. Jason couldn’t see the couple, he only knew that it was Marinette’s mother that continued, “We just finished our catering job, and we thought we might drop by with some of the leftovers – we have all of your favorites!”

“That’s so kind of you,” Marinette said, trying to hide her nervousness. “I should have let you know, I have the Wayne family over right now.”

It was at that moment that Jules uttered the last word that any child should be saying, but always seemed to latch onto. The world froze for a moment as Jason remembered with photographic accuracy the exact moment he’d said that word when they’d lost Mila that morning. Hopefully Marinette would tell the kids he had loved them after she murdered him.

“Jules! Where did you learn that word?!” Marinette demanded, aghast.

“Dada,” he said, looking completely innocent for the first time since Jason had met him.

Before Marinette could properly murder him, though, her parents pushed through the door. Somehow her mother was exactly what Jason had expected – a tiny, petite Chinese woman with a calm aura about her. Nothing could have prepared Jason for her father, though. Even among the Justice League, Jason Todd wasn’t accustomed to looking up to meet someone’s eyes very often, but he had to look farther up than he’d looked up for years. Not only was the man intimidatingly tall, he was just overall massive. Jason very much felt like this  man could crush him like a bug, and based on the look on his face and the way Marinette’s friends had reacted to him, it wasn’t an unlikely fate.

Marinette’s mother picked up Jules and firmly said, “We don’t say that word, it’s very naughty. It will get you into a lot of trouble and it might really hurt someone’s feelings.”

“Naughty word?” Mila asked.

“Yes, it’s a very naughty word,” the older woman repeated.

“We don’t mean to intrude, but please watch your language around my grandchildren in the future. They pick up on things really quickly,” the father said, swinging Mila up onto his shoulder with one hand. “It’s nice to meet you all, we’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Tom Dupain, and this is my wife Sabine.”

“I’m Selina Kyle, and this is my fiancé Bruce Wayne,” she said with her trademark smile. “It’s lovely to meet you, I understand now why Marinette is such a lovely girl. We’ll be sure to watch language around the twins – our family isn’t accustomed to have little ones around just yet.”

“Well, it certainly is a change, but it’s worth it,” Tom said proudly, the bear of a man beaming as he thought about his precious family. Jason could see how much he cared about each of these people, and he was becoming more resigned to his inevitable murder as each second passed.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll have grandkids of your own in no time,” Tom said. “Just look at all of your kids! Soon you’ll have more grandkids than you know what to do with.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Tom,” Sabine said gently. “Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I hope it’s everything you’ve dreamed of.”

“Well, so far Marinette has been instrumental in helping us get there,” Selina said sincerely. “At the very least our family will all be there, and the clothes will be just perfect.”

“How lovely. Oh, you’ll never forget your wedding day, I remember ours like it was just yesterday,” Sabine sighed.

Just when Jason was thinking that he might make it out of this altercation alive, Damian stormed out of the bathroom, the newest bitemark clear for all to see on his forearm. “Todd, if your son gave me rabies you will pay the price.”

Chapter Text

Tensions were high – even the twins were starting to pick up on it. Marinette was torn between helping Jason deal with the fallout and murdering him herself – of all the words he had to drop in front of the twins, of course it was that one.

But her anger was completely extinguished in the face of her father. He pressed inside, towering over even Jason, his face contorted into a scowl that could rival Jules’s. He immediately picked Jason out of the rest of the family – the white streak was the most distinctive thing setting him apart from the rest of the Wayne brothers, and the damning evidence was growing out of his son’s head.

“You,” he growled, stalking towards Jason. “Are you the excuse of a man who left my daughter alone with two children all this time?”

Marinette wasn’t expecting the sheer panic on his face, or the way Jason backed up, looking for places to run or hide. For the millionth time, Marinette was incredibly grateful that Hawkmoth had been defeated, or her father would have been akumatized without question. The twins’ father was a taboo subject around Tom, because it never failed to send him into an overprotective rage.

Throwing herself in front of Jason, Marinette faced her father. “Papa, it’s not his fault! He couldn’t have known about the twins!”

“He should have known this might have happened. He should have taken responsibility,” Tom growled, trying to weave around his daughter.

“Tom Dupain,” Sabine said in her full mother voice. “You are causing a scene in front of Marinette’s guests. She is an adult who can take care of herself.”

“You can’t be ready to just forgive him!” Tom protested, aghast.

 “No, that’s something he’s going to have to earn,” Sabine said, her eyes sharp when they fell on Jason. However, they were absolutely piercing when they fell on Marinette. “And I expect a long talk with you in the near future.”

Everyone in the room held completely still as the tiny Chinese woman dragged her husband out of the house. Marinette felt her lungs seize up, barely allowing herself to breathe while those eyes were on her. They held the promise of suffering if Marinette didn’t tell her absolutely everything.

When the door closed behind them, the Waynes collectively exhaled.

“Your parents are legitimately terrifying,” Tim said, staring at the door.

“I wonder what your mother’s first husband was like,” Damian said, trying his best to act like he hadn’t been intimidated.

“Papa is Mom’s first husband,” Marinette said, furrowing her brow.

“Oh, then you’re adopted then,” he said, nodding to himself.

“No, that’s my father – they’re my biological parents,” she explained, irritation coloring her voice.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Forgive Damian,” Dick stepped in, looking a little sheepish. “He may be Bruce’s only biological child, but he’s even more disconnected with how traditional families function.”

“On the bright side, if either of the twins get the tall genes in this gene pool, they’ll be great at basketball,” Stephanie said cheerfully.

“Or volleyball,” Babs said. “Hopefully your kids will put their freakish height to good use, unlike some people.”

“Hey, I do plenty of good with my height!” Jason protested.

“I don’t care how tall any of you are,” Marinette said, turning to face the family as a whole. “If I find out that any of you have been using foul language in front of my children, I will break your kneecaps.”

It shouldn’t have satisfied Marinette to see the Waynes so cowed, but she couldn’t help it. After slowing down on her Ladybug activities for so long, Marinette was gratified to see that she could still properly cow people despite her stature.

“Yes ma’am,” Dick squeaked, snapping into a salute.

“Oh, now I see the resemblance,” Damian said, finally nodding. “Todd, don’t mess this up with your crude language, she’s not half-bad.”

“Thanks,” Marinette said drily. “I try. Out of curiosity, Jason, why did you even say such a word in front of children?”

“Because he thought we lost Mila,” Dick said, cheerfully making Marinette’s blood pressure skyrocket.

“What were you doing that you thought you could have lost one of the twins in a hotel room?!” she demanded. “They can’t open doors, and there were two of you watching them! One child per person is more than doable.”

“Well, they wanted to watch the news,” Jason said nervously. “They were doing the special on Ladybug and Chat Noir this morning, and the twins insisted.”

“And both of you got distracted by the news?” Marinette asked, already feeling exhausted. “I clearly overestimated your knowledge of children. I think I may have to run you through some child-rearing classes before I leave either of you alone with the twins. Scratch that, it’s a requirement for the entire family.”

Bruce spoke up. “But supervised visits are fine, right? I also raised most of the people in this room, so—”

Before he could effectively barter, another knock sounded at the door. Standing nearby, Marinette sighed briefly. Who could it be now? Opening the door, she was surprised to find the Couffaine siblings.

“Juleka! Luka! What are you two doing here?” she asked, gesturing for them to come in.

“We passed your parents on the street and your father felt guilty that he forgot to leave these here,” Luka said, offering a box of pastries. “But I’m hurt, M-M-Marinette, you had a party and didn’t invite us?”

“You weren’t supposed to be back in Paris until next week, but here you are, doing the same job you did in highschool. Did the guitarist thing not work out?” Marinette teased, hugging her friends over the box of pastries. “And Juleka! How was the photoshoot in New York? The twins have been asking about both of you all the time!”

“Uncle Pirate!” Jules bellowed, tearing through the house to cling to the man’s pantleg.

“He’s a pirate?” Cass asked, perplexed. “Or his name is Pirate?”

“Neither,” Marinette said with a laugh. “Everyone, this is Luka and Juleka Couffaine, some dear friends of mine. Luka, Juleka, this is the Wayne family. Jules calls Luka Uncle Pirate because the twins found out that the Couffaines live on a houseboat. I’ve tried telling them otherwise, but they’re convinced that Luka is a pirate and Juleka is a mermaid.”

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Tim and Dick to figure out that this Luka guy was actually Jagged Stone’s guitarist and promptly start freaking out about it. Normally he would have joined in – after all, he’d been the one to introduce them to Jagged Stone – but he was currently consumed with anger.

Jason was confused. It wasn’t the normal raging, bloodthirsty kind of anger. Instead he felt an almost shameful undeserved hatred towards the man. He hated how the twins looked so excited to see him and his sister, and how Marinette hugged him. He hated the familiarity they shared, and the – oh, he was jealous.

He was so jealous.

Obviously Marinette would have guy friends. Jason just assumed they would all be in committed relationships, like Adrien and Nino. The only other acceptable option was for her guy friends to be completely and utterly unattractive. Was that too much to ask?

As the jealousy coursed through Jason, he found himself hating it more and more. Not only was the boy Jagged Stone’s guitarist, he’d just gotten back from touring the world. He was going to record an album of his own next month, and in his free time he modelled for Marinette alongside his sister. Bruce looked like he was seconds away from whipping out adoption papers, and his entire family seemed to be hanging off of every word the Couffaines said.

The worst part of it all was that it seemed like Luka was the same age as Jason. The dude was already a renowned musician, while Jason was a professional vigilante and mooch. It took an embarrassingly large time to recall the last time he’d had an income, and it was because he’d taken it upon himself to police some drug cartels (a.k.a. extort them while he decided whether or not he should disband them). And now his competition was the blue-haired Mr. Perfect.

When Jason had been living on the streets, he’d learned that confidence kept you alive. That was a tenant he’d lived his life by, but when it came to love, he was left floundering. He’d known Marinette for a stupidly short time, but he was dangerously close to falling in love with her. Love was not something he had ever pictured in his future, his main goal was simply to stay alive long enough to really establish himself in life.

Mila and Jules were hanging off Mr. Perfect’s sister while she made up some story of trouble going on in the mermaid kingdom. It was adorable, and Jason could tell that his family was not taking well to the monopoly on the twins’ attention. It wouldn’t have surprised Jason in the least if Bruce was already planning on bribing Aquaman into arranging a visit to Atlantis for the twins. Jason was so distracted by his jealousy – okay yes, he was jealous – that he didn’t notice Mr. Perfect sidle over next to him.

“Marinette and I are nothing more than friends,” he said, scaring the crap out of Jason. When they met eyes, Jason couldn’t help but feel that he was staring into something otherworldly. Those eyes definitely saw more than most people could even comprehend.

“Oh?” Jason asked, desperately trying not to come off as desperate.

“She’s an amazing woman,” he said, a smile starting to quirk up the corners of his mouth, “but you bring something out in her that I’ve never seen before. Her heart is singing to you, for you. I think you two would have the most beautiful harmony if you both finally get over your fear that the other might leave.”

Blinking, Jason stared at the other man. “What does that even mean?”

“Who knows? I’m just Uncle Pirate, after all,” he said breezily. “Hey Juleka, Mom wants us home soon. We wouldn’t want to be late for dinner.”

Nodding, his sister promised the twins to return soon to finish her story. The siblings said their goodbyes before slipping out the door, but not before Mr. Perfect winked at Jason. The Wayne family traded looks, a bit unsettled by the siblings who had disappeared just as abruptly as they had appeared.

“They seem… interesting,” Dick said carefully.

“The Couffaine siblings definitely march to their own beat, but they’re some of the best friends you could ask for,” Marinette said warmly. “Who wants a pastry?”

The family swarmed the boxes of pastries, Jason included. It was unbelievably delicious, but Jason couldn’t bring himself to finish it at the moment. His family and the twins were occupied with each other, which meant that now was a rare opportunity.

Catching Marinette’s eye, Jason gestured towards the kitchen. Nodding, she led the way, leaning her elbows down on the kitchen island. “What’s up?”

Annoyingly enough, Luka’s comment about the harmonizing was echoing through Jason’s mind.  “I… I’m going back to Gotham soon, but I really want to figure this out, Marinette. I know I’ve been trying to pretend that it’s not real, but we leave as soon as the wedding is over, and then we all have to get back to our lives. I want to be involved in the twins’ lives, and yours, if you’ll let me. I just don’t know how to make that happen.”

“I’ve been thinking about that for a while too,” Marinette said with a sad smile. “It’s been nice pretending that everything will magically work out, but for now I think we just need to take it one day at a time. We’ll find some time to come visit Gotham next, and in the meantime we can call, and text? It won’t be the same, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

“Absolutely,” Jason said immediately. “I’ll take whatever I can get.”

“I don’t want to be the final say on anything,” Marinette said with a note of warning in her voice. “Our situation isn’t ideal, but you are still as much of a parent as you want to be. You should get a say in how things are going to happen. I don’t want to be a tyrant.”

“Listen, Marinette, I appreciate the sentiment, but you are clearly the more informed party here,” Jason said frankly. “I’ll give my opinion, but I need a few parenting classes before I have anything worthwhile to contribute. So for now can I just tell you that I’m really going to miss all of you?”

He couldn’t miss her blush, or the way she didn’t meet his eyes. “That’s a start. And for what it’s worth, we’re going to miss you too.”

Chapter Text

Saying goodbye to the Waynes was hard – they were only there for a week and a half, but they had integrated themselves into Marinette’s household. To be completely candid, they had begun to feel like part of Marinette’s family. Somehow her house felt emptier without them, even though they’d only set foot in it a few times – maybe it was her life that was emptier.

Obviously Jason was the hardest to see leave. Both of the twins cried as they waved goodbye at the airport, and Mila was so mad that she refused to look at him when he Facetimed them later that night. She’d had the same reaction every time anyone she saw frequently went on a trip longer than a day, so it wasn’t all that surprising to Marinette. It was a little sad to see how much it hurt Jason’s feelings, though.

She and Jason seemed to talk constantly now, despite the time difference. Marinette found more and more questions about his life popping up, because he always seemed to be awake no matter when she called him, despite the time difference. They talked about what they would do when she came to visit Gotham, and with every day that turned into a week, which turned into a month, Marinette found herself falling a little bit more in love with him. She could picture his life blending with hers in a way she would have thought would be impossible with anyone.

Always the planner, Marinette spent more than one all-nighter trying to completely plan the logistics of opening a studio in Gotham. She had to make the presentation perfect if she was going to get Chloe on board.

The presentation was one of the most stressful things Marinette had ever done – there was simply too much at stake for it to be denied. She’d even looked up where she and the twins could live, as well as safety statistics along the routes they would take to the studio and the twins’ daycare. Marinette had never known of a city that had safety statistics for every block, but as a mother she was grateful.

Her voice was steady as she presented, just barely managing to keep her voice under control. In her opinion it went flawlessly, and as soon as she finished Marinette held her breath to see how Chloe would react.

“No,” she said immediately.

“What? Why?!”

“Dupain-Cheng, the windows in that store face south. That’s fine if you own a greenhouse, but you’re a high-end fashion designer, not a gardener. You’re not going to be changing your window display every week, and it might be a few months between changing it out. Do you want the clothes to be unsellable because they’re sunbleached? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.”

“We can tint the windows,” Marinette argued.

“I repeat, you are in high fashion. You can have bulletproof glass because that city is atrocious, but you know how the specific shade might make or break the deal with the clientele. Gotham isn’t Paris or New York, but they still have enough socialites that know the signs of a good designer,” Chloe said, crossing her arms.

“Well then what do you suggest?” Marinette demanded.

“You start your extension over here,” Chloe said, pointing to a different part of the map, a part of town that Marinette had coveted for a while when she’d been researching. “This place faces north, and there’s an apartment above the shop in addition to your workroom. I already started the process of buying the place, you just need to sign the paperwork,” Chloe said, flipping her hair. “I would also recommend that you tell them about Ladybug. I don’t care about your guardian rules of whatever, if I need you here, you’re using the horse to get here.”

“Chloe, you know I can’t do th—”

“Dupain-Cheng, this is fashion. You’ve made it out still sweet and ethical because I’m the one fighting for you. The public doesn’t know your face, so we should be able to pull it off fairly easily.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “You should also tell your in-laws just because.”

“They’re not my in-laws!”

“We both know it’s only a matter of time. Just promise that you and the kids visit frequently. Our classmates would be upset if they missed out on anything major,” Chloe said stiffly.

“Aw, Chloe, are you going to miss me and the twins?” Marinette asked, things finally clicking into place. “I’ll miss you too.”

“I wouldn’t miss you,” she said shrilly. “Least of all the gremlin. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.”

“Jules will miss you too,” Marinette promised. “And you know how Mila gets when anyone leaves. I’ll make sure we visit you.”

From there it was only a matter of figuring out the last few logistics of how the move would work. They agreed that at least for the time being, Marinette would switch cities every three months. From there, all she had to do was announce it to her family and friends.

Her friends were fairly easy to inform. After a lot of time spent interrupting Marinette’s phone calls with him, they’d warmed up to Jason – especially once they saw his efforts to help Marinette with the twins and be involved. It was especially easy now that Kagami had given birth to her beautiful son – she now longer threatened to murder him on sight, she only cried that no one would be good enough for Marinette, a marked improvement.

Marinette’s parents were much the same. Over time they began to see Jason as Marinette’s boyfriend, a man who was trying his best, rather than the nameless villain who’d left their daughter alone with twins. No one seemed terribly surprised at the announcement, it was mostly met with a bittersweet resignation.

Before long, the time to move came. Marinette had ultimately decided to keep it a surprise for Jason and the Waynes. She was sure that they would insist on paying for movers, or that she move into Wayne Manor, and that just felt like too much.

Gotham had changed since she’d been there three years ago – or more likely, Marinette had changed. She felt vaguely nostalgic as she pushed the twins in the stroller down the same streets Jason had shown her – though they gave Crime Alley a wide berth. She was on alert, of course, because it was Gotham, so she was poised to sprint away the second she heard a scream echo down the street.

Looking around to assess the situation, Marinette’s fingers tightened on the stroller handle like a vice. There was a taser and pepper spray in the diaper bag, and she could always transform if she needed to. The easiest way to defend herself and the twins would probably be to—

A gunshot rang out, and as the criminal dropped, clutching their shoulder, there was a heavy thud as none other than Red Hood dropped from a nearby rooftop. “Is everyone okay? The cops will take it from – Marinette?”

She knew that voice, and so did the twins. Jules smiled briefly and said, “Dada,” before scowling, and Mila intentionally looked away from him, despite the costume he wore. He would likely be staunchly ignored by her for at least the next few days.

As it was Gotham, no one seemed to be paying attention to anything that was going on between them. Handing him the sticky note she’d written her address on just in case, she said, “Meet me here in fifteen minutes.”

The twins jabbered at everyone around them, but thankfully it was probably only comprehensible to her – they didn’t need any rumors that Red Hood had children running around.

Luckily this move was going to be one of her easiest ones. It didn’t make sense to move much of anything back and forth every few months, so she’d simply bought all new furniture. They’d mailed the essentials ahead, so Marinette had been able to pack the last few things on the stroller. When she made it to her new home, a small amount of trepidation filled her, but she simply pushed ahead – and almost instinctively round-house kicked her boyfriend when he spoke.

“Marinette—”

Tense, she forced herself to calm down from the unexpected figure in her new place. “I thought I told you to come in fifteen minutes! How did you get in?”

“I was anxious so now I owe you a new window. Why the frick frack patty-whack are you in Gotham?”

“You owe me – you realize we have to sleep here tonight, right? And please, take off that monstrosity of a costume. It’s making my eyes burn.”

“Oh, right,” he said, pulling off the helmet. “Sorry about that. To be honest, I expected more of a reaction when you found out I was Red Hood.”

“There are a lot of things that should probably surprise me that don’t anymore. I’m assuming that means the rest of your family is the bat family?” At his surprised nod, she just sighed. “Well tonight the twins and I are going to impose on you since my little surprise for you guys didn’t go as planned. In the meantime, I have some things to tell your family about myself.”

Chapter Text

Somehow, finding out that Marinette was Ladybug was the final piece in the puzzle for Jason. When she’d explained the whole situation to the house full of Waynes, they just stared at her, stricken. After it sank in, parts of the documentary started playing through his mind, and it just clicked. It almost made too much sense to Jason, and he couldn’t help but laugh long and hard.

“Has he finally retired the last of his sanity?” Damian hissed to someone else.

“Why do you talk like you’re a thousand years old?” Stephanie complained. “Jason is crazy. We already knew this.”

“Jason? Are you alright?” Marinette asked, moving towards him.

“I’m fine, screw you Demon Spawn,” Jason said through his laughter. “When we were watching that documentary about Ladybug, the twins kept talking about Maman. I should have seen this coming, not just anyone could handle our family.”

“Well not just anyone can handle me and the twins,” Marinette said with a fire in her eyes that made Jason feel weak in the knees. She held Jason’s gaze for a few moments, a clear challenge in every line of her face, and he had never wanted to kiss her more than that moment. He had moved forward to do exactly that when they were interrupted.

“So does this mean she’s going to go on patrol now? Because if so, will you cover mine on Thursday? I have a… study group,” Stephanie said after a long pause.

“I already told you that you can’t go to that party, it’s just asking for the Joker to show up,” Bruce growled.

“You’re not my dad, and I’m legally an adult,” Stephanie retorted, sticking out her tongue.

It was then that Jules toddled in, rubbing his eyes from his nap. “Dada,” he said before climbing into Jason’s lap, immediately pressing his face into his father’s neck.

Frozen at the rare affection from his son, Jason barely dared to move. “What do I do, Marinette? He’s never done this to me before.”

“Jules is only ever cuddly right when he gets up,” she said, smiling at their son. “Enjoy it, he likes feeling safe when he’s still waking up.”

As if on cue, the child burrowed into Jason a little deeper, smacking his lips. Bruce looked absurdly jealous, and Babs whispered to Stephanie, “I think that’s a no on Marinette patrolling at least for a few years.”

While his family bickered like usual, Jason carefully rested his hands on the fragile body of his son, reveling in the trust placed in him. In that moment he felt a surety that he had never experienced before. Even at his lowest moments in his life, Jason Todd wouldn’t be able to deny that he wanted Marinette, Jules, and Mila in his life for however long he could have them. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve them, but Jason was going to hold onto them with both hands.

Adjusting to having them in Gotham took some time. They spent longer in Wayne Manor than expected, because it turned out that Jason wasn’t very good at his new day job. Together they decided that extorting various criminal organizations wasn’t the best way to support a family, so Marinette hired Jason as her manual labor person. He set up all of the furniture that she ordered, he tried to replace the window he broke and only broke it worse, and he moved all of the heavy things she needed to set up her store. He basically became her errand boy / babysitter. As he learned and got better with the kids, Marinette gave him more and more time with them, especially when work picked up in Gotham. (It didn’t take long for the city to realize that this was the same designer that the Waynes had travelled the world to go see.)

Surprisingly, once Jason got over his fear, he took to being a stay-at-home dad like a duck to water. His family hated all of his replacement swears, but Gotham as a whole found it hilarious when Red Hood started yelling things like, “Banana shenanigans!” and “You’re on my shirt list now!” to villains. Now he just had to make all of these changes a permanent thing.

“Are you sure that the kids will be okay with Babs and Dick?” Marinette asked, chewing her bottom lip.

“Calm down, Nettie, Grayson has been taking parenting classes non-stop, and I would argue that he was the best with kids when we met the twins,” Jason said, pulling onto the street that his older brother lived on. “Besides, if you tell him he can’t watch them, I think he will legitimately cry.”

“Oh no, please. Dick is so pitiful when he cries,” she moaned. “Okay, fine. I’ll allow it. It has been a while since we’ve been alone, after all.”

The kids seemed pretty excited to hang out with the Graysons – as they should be, Jason had been hyping them up for it all day. He made Marinette leave before the group inevitably started doing wheelies in Babs’s wheelchair and chanting about ice cream.

“So where are we going?” Marinette asked as they sped through Gotham in the family friendly sedan Jason had bought, much to his brothers’ entertainment.

“It’s a surprise,” Jason said with a wicked smile.

“Well slow down, you’re not getting a ticket on our date.”

Despite Marinette’s fears, they made it to their destination in one piece. She stepped out of the car, cocking her head to one side. “This is feeling very much like a horror movie set. We’re visiting an abandoned warehouse?”

“Where’s your sense of romance? We’re visiting an abandoned warehouse near the shore.”

Her misgivings were understandable. The warehouse had been abandoned as long as Jason could remember, and years upon years of graffiti were scattered across the building, which was in bad enough shape that only the most desperate homeless people even attempted to make themselves comfortable there.

“The real focus is the roof. Do you trust me?” Jason asked, gesturing towards the fire escape.

Eyeing the rusted ladder, she said, “I’ll trust you a lot more if you go up that thing first.”

“Deal.”

Even with the deterioration of the rest of the area, both the fire escape and the roof were completely sound – Jason had checked several times that week. So hauling himself up the ladder didn’t seem like a particularly big deal to him at the time, even laden with a sizeable picnic basket (courtesy of Alfred). Although she hesitated, Marinette wasn’t far behind him.

“Okay, so why here?” she asked, surveying the area.

“Just wait a few minutes, then you’ll see,” Jason promised.

“How did you even find this place?” she asked, looking around.

“I’ve known about it for most of my life. When I was on the streets, I would come here a lot and just stare at the sky – it was the only time I really felt at peace back then. It’s away from the city, and no one wants to do anything with this part of town in case the Atlanteans cause another tsunami or something, so it’s got the least light pollution of anywhere nearby,” Jason said, nostalgia coloring his voice.

“Oh, so this place is pretty important to you, huh?”

“You could say that. I would come here to read a lot, too.”

“What did you read?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Anything I could get my hands on – I didn’t have a library card, and I felt guilty about stealing books since I didn’t need them to survive. I took whatever free books I could get my hands on, it didn’t matter what they were about. I read a lot of classics, college textbooks, and many, many romances. Those were my least favorites, but I read them all the same,” Jason said, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes like he was afraid she might break.

“Oh?” she said faintly.

“I didn’t like them because I was so young, but I also just didn’t understand them,” he said in a whisper. Speaking too loudly seemed irreverent somehow, disrespectful. “When I would read anything with romance, it felt so foreign and ridiculous until the day I met you.”

He could have gotten lost in the blue of her eyes as she stared at him with all of the trust in the world. A strange mixture of anxiety and anticipation coursed through his veins as he continued, “There were so many things that I didn’t understand until I met you. I think I came here so often to have some beauty in my life – I needed a reminder that life didn’t have to be terrible all of the time. But I knew so little back then about how amazing life could really be, Marinette.”

Even though his legs felt like jelly at the moment, Jason dropped to one knee, drawing the ring he’d kept in his pocket for two months out. He heard the sound of her breath catching in her chest, and he couldn’t have looked away from her face if he’d tried.

“I’m a screw up in a lot of ways, and I know I’m not the easiest person to be around. But I love you and the twins more than I ever knew I was capable of. I want this, Marinette. I want to wake up next to you because Mila escaped her crib and climbed into our bed in the middle of the night and have scowling contests with Jules. I want to follow you the next time you go back to Paris, because I don’t think I can go back to life without you, Marinette. I want – why are you crying? What did I say?”

Wiping her tears with one hand, Marinette smacked his chest with her other one. “Are you going to actually ask me to marry you?”

“Oh yeah – Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she said, collapsing into him – even on his knees, he was still slightly taller than her. “Yes, Jason, I want nothing more.”

“Oh thank everything good in this world,” he breathed, pulling her close. Cradling her face in his hands, he tenderly pressed his lips to hers, and they were content to stay that way until they heard a camera.

Pulling apart, they both directed their eyes to the nearest building, where a handful of people stood on the rooftop of a deserted parking garage. It was close enough that Marinette could make out their conversation with no problem.

“Why would you bring a camera with a shutter?!” Stephanie demanded. “Now they know we were spying!”

“Tt, how has your identity not gotten exposed yet? Keep your voice down on espionage missions,” Damian said.

“They already saw us, genius. I don’t need your sass, I need to know why Tim decided to bring the loudest camera in history.”

“Dick wanted pictures, and if I just used my phone then they would turn out as terrible as yours did,” Tim explained. “By the way, all decent cameras have a shutter.”

“Do you really want to argue with me right now over the fact that you brought a camera with an audible shutter and exposed us? Are we doing this right now? I will shove my—”

“HEY!” Marinette shouted, startling even Jason. “My you can congratulate me and my fiancé later. If you want to live to come to our wedding LEAVE!”

It was almost comical to watch them scramble to obey. They got off the roof in record time, escaping faster than they usually did as villains. Once they were truly gone, Marinette made herself comfortable on the blanket Jason had spread for their picnic.

“Just to make sure, you didn’t put them up to that, right?” Marinette asked.

“Definitely not. But those pictures will be nice to have one day. Tim’s actually a great photographer.”

“And look at the sky! It’s going to make for a great background, I can see now why you wanted to come here. How are there so many colors in the sunset here?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s the pollution.”

“Oh, look at it reflected on the ocean! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful!”

With his eyes trained on his fiancée, Jason couldn’t help but agree.

Chapter Text

Planning a wedding turned out to be a lot like juggling. Marinette felt like she was constantly balancing at least three things while trying to keep at least twelve other people happy at any given point. On top of that, she had to keep her emotions under control as well, because they simply hadn’t scheduled in time for an emotional breakdown.

Even though she’d made a killing as MDC, she didn’t really become a large spender. She knew mentally that Bruce was funding the majority of the wedding, and all of this had to be significantly cheaper than his own wedding had been, but Marinette still balked at the price of it all – it was absurd! And she had to find some way to please everyone – her family and friends, who were some of the most opinionated people in Paris, as well as the Wayne family, not to mention a majority of the Justice League. No big deal. Even with weeding the guest list down to the people they felt they absolutely had to invite, it was quickly turning into a larger social event than either of them had ever bargained for. A part of her half wished that she and her team hadn’t defeated Hawkmoth all those years ago so she had an excuse to escape wedding planning, even if it was only briefly.

There was no relief. Her family or the Waynes were constantly kidnapping Marinette’s children under the guise of helping. That left her and Jason alone to make decisions about the impending wedding. Whoever had been elected as the wedding planner that day would spend the entire time badgering them about flower arrangements, or tablecloths, or silverware. Whenever Marinette would ask Jason his opinion he would just stare at her adoringly and insist that he only cared that she was there, which was sweet but largely unhelpful.

Meanwhile, all of this got in the way of making the clothes for the wedding. It would be shameful if word got out that MDC had her wedding party wearing anything other than her own clothes at her wedding. Besides, the wedding clothes were the only thing she was allowed to even think about making, Chloe had seen to that.

It took a while, but Marinette finally began delegating. After several headaches from trying to deal with it all, Marinette assigned Sabine and Selina to find some seating arrangement where the guests probably wouldn’t murder each other. Babs was in charge of making sure that every Justice League member that they invited would keep their identities under wraps, and Adrien was in charge of the same for the Miraculous team. Tikki and Plagg mat have been the only kwami still active, but some of her friends got a little talkative whenever they were near alcohol. Tim and Bruce were put I charge of anything that Marinette was to afraid to know the price of, with strict instructions not to speak a word of how much they spent to anyone.

And so it went. Several hundred headaches and heart attacks later, Marinette’s wedding day dawned. She found herself waking with a jolt, feeling like she was dancing somewhere between a dream and a nightmare. Nothing about this was how she’d imagined her wedding, but at the same time it was everything she’d never known she needed.

Her hotel room was already buzzing with activity. Her parents were running around frantically trying to prepare everything and getting nothing accomplished at the same time. The twins were doing an excellent job at getting underfoot and just making a giant mess in general. It didn’t stop there, though, that would be too easy. More and more people began passing through to add to the chaos, and Jason had to be wrestled away from the door on more than one occasion.

“At least let me say good morning to the kids,” he whined from the other side of the closed door.

“You’ll see them at the wedding, you have things to do,” Sabine said.

Meanwhile Chloe was lecturing everyone else like a drill sergeant. “There will be at least one thing that goes wrong at this wedding. Your job is to find out that Marinette doesn’t find out about it until everything is over. You are not allowed to tell the bride anything other than how beautiful she looks or how happy you are for her. Got it?”

Sighing, Marinette moved into the bathroom and started to get ready – at least as ready as she was allowed to be alone. There was a professional makeup artist coming in fifteen minutes, and a professional hairstylist coming in twenty. Her mother had made sure she had eaten, which left her to wash her face and brush her teeth. She could only hope that her role as the star of the world’s worst circus would be finished soon.

It turned out to be a good thing that Sabine had forced Marinette to eat breakfast earlier in the day, because there were no such opportunities for a long time following that. Once the makeup and hair people were there it was nothing but a frenzy of activity until they were actually at the wedding venue, and Jules was hopping around with one shoe. She had no idea what had happened to the other one, but everyone else seemed to be trying to hide it from her, so Marinette pretended not to see it, deciding that this fell under the list of things the bride shouldn’t know about.

Marinette had never pictured herself having a beach wedding, but she’d also never pictured dealing with two, almost three-year-old twins at her wedding either. Luckily there was plenty to keep them quiet and entertained, which was a large part of the motivation to have the wedding there. There were enough concerned people to keep them from doing anything dangerous, so Marinette finally allowed herself to relax.

It hadn’t fully sank in that today was her wedding day until she saw the twins in their wedding clothes, Mila carrying her flower girl basket, and Jules carrying the pillow with the rings – although they’d attached both rings with some Velcro. They weren’t taking any chances. Marinette felt tears prick her eyes as it really hit her – the twins had a dad. She was going to have a husband in just a few minutes.

She didn’t remember what song was playing as everyone walked down the aisle before her. She didn’t remember what flowers were in her bouquet, or how many people were at the ceremony. Ultimately, she didn’t feel like those things mattered all that much. What she did remember was the feeling of her hand on her father’s arm, and the way he had to wipe his tears as he led her down the aisle. She remembered the warmth in her chest as all of the most important people in her life smiled at her encouragingly, and she remembered the look in Jason’s eyes as he stared at her, unable to look at anything else. But most of all, she remembered how sweet it was to say “I do.”

Chapter Text

Marinette’s honeymoon was one of the most exciting times of her life, but she was definitely ready to come home when they did. She missed Jules and Mila, and she knew that Jason did too. Even more than that, though, Marinette was ready to start her new life hand in hand with Jason.

Speaking of starting their new life together, it was time for Marinette to leave Gotham for the time being. As much as the Waynes protested, she was needed back in Paris, and her friends made sure to inform her frequently. Chloe even left a voicemail claiming that the Waynes were only going to spoil the twins and “make the gremlin even more insufferable.”

Leaving Gotham was even more of an event than the ordinary travels with twin toddlers. The entire family had plenty of theatrics and tears to go around, and Jules even made sure to bite Damian one last time before they left. It had become like some strange ritual between the two of them, but naturally the youngest Wayne had to pretend that he was completely unaffected by their departure.

Given the chaos of leaving Gotham, Marinette didn’t tell her friends exactly when she would be back – even after her time with the bat family, she could safely say that her friends were still the ultimate harbingers of chaos in her life. Most of them no longer had any access to their Miraculous, but that didn’t stop them from being some of the most influential people of their generation in Paris.

Thankfully it seemed that Max hadn’t hacked into any sort of illegal database to find out when she would be back – she guessed he’d been enjoying married life too much to let their friends cajole him into it again. No one was waiting for her at her house, which was kind of nice, especially since she didn’t need the extra hands to get the door open or anything – that was what Jason was for. But in all seriousness, having another adult present that was also directly responsible for the twins made her life unimaginably easier, and the twins were happier in general.

Jules had finally warmed up to Jason completely. He still scowled at his father, but usually it was because Jason was scowling at him first, or trying to make him eat vegetables. Mila had loved Jason from the beginning, but she was thrilled beyond words to find out that she got to spend all day with him, and Jason was pretty thrilled to be a stay-at-home dad instead of toppling crime organizations.

Their familial bliss only lasted two days of being back in Paris, though. Marinette had purposely neglected to tell any of her friends that they were back, and she was hoping to get at least four days to get the twins and Jason settled in here before her friends descended on them and left her house a disaster, but it was not meant to be.

Still unused to being able to go grocery shopping without dealing with the stroller and grabby hands, Marinette was reveling in her time at the store alone. The twins’ birthday was coming up, so she was going to go toy shopping after she got everything she needed for the birthday meal, but that was before she spotted Nino in the store.

He hadn’t noticed her, thankfully, but she froze at the sight of him, knowing that if Alya caught wind of her return to Paris, it was all over. She considered just bailing out and coming back to the store later, but that seemed like it was a bit too far – she would just hide in the bathroom until—

“Marinette?!” Alya gasped from behind her.

Wincing, Marinette turned and smiled at her best friend. “Hey, Alya! It’s good to see you! I’m back?”

“Ah nah, girl, you are not playing innocent here. Exactly when did you get back?” she demanded.

“I got back yesterday, I swear,” she said, involuntarily stepping back from Alya, who was furiously bouncing her baby in her arms.

“And you didn’t call? Did you forget your phone back in Gotham?”

“The twins needed time to adjust to being back. You know how it is, it’s hard enough to stick to a schedule as it is,” Marinette said, disgustingly aware of how unconvincing she sounded.

“Sure, sure it is,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“Babe, just remember hers can walk already,” Nino said, inserting himself to shield Marinette as best he could – a valiant effort, really. “And they’ve got, like, a new dad and everything, so they all need some time to get used to it again.”

“I have an invitation to their birthday party for you,” Marinette said, digging through her purse. “Mila got some chocolate on them, but here’s yours!”

Alya softened ever so slightly when Marinette shoved the envelope at her. “Okay, I’ll let you off the hook, girl. But you have to tell me the day you’re coming back to Paris next time. You can tell me that you’re not ready for visitors, but I need to know you got back safe and everything.”

“I promise,” Marinette said, one hand over her heart.

“You better!”

In theory it should have been smooth sailing from there, but that was before Chloe spotted Marinette in the toy shop. It resulted in a furious chase all around the mall, while the blonde pelted Marinette with various stuffed animals that were obviously purchased with Jules in mind.

“WE’RE BUSINESS PARTNERS!” Chloe screeched, expertly dodging the security guards coming to restrain her. “THAT MEANS YOU KEEP ME INFORMED ON WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE, DUPAIN-CHENG!”

“Chloe, you’re causing a scene! Why don’t we just go back to my—”

“I’LL SHOW YOU A SCENE!”

It wasn’t long before they were both kicked out of the mall, but Chloe miraculously talked the owner out of banning them for life. The birthday party invitation assuaged some of Chloe’s anger, but it was clear Marinette was going to have to work for her forgiveness. She’d learned her lesson after that, though, so she texted the rest of her friends the second she got back home.

Chapter Text

“Seriously babe, we have twin toddlers,” Jason said, trying and failing not to sound whiny. “No one can argue with us when we say we can’t make it. That’s one of the only perks of being a parent.”

“Jay, you promised your dad,” Marinette said, pressing a kiss on his cheek. “Besides, it’s late enough that I got a babysitter for the entire night. It’s been a while since we really got to be alone.”

“I hate that you know exactly what buttons to push,” Jason pouted, wrapping his wife in his arms. “Fine, I’ll go to the stupid gala. But next year I’m responding to the invitation.”

“It will be fun, just wait and see,” Marinette promised, poking him in the chest. “Besides, I made us new outfits for this, you’re going to go talk up MDC’s brand.”

“You say that like you’re not practically the official fashion designer of Gotham,” he grumbled. “You’ve been commissioned by half of the people that are going to be there.”

“Well maybe next year it will be even more people,” she said brightly.

“Stupid Bruce, has to host the gala while we’re in Gotham,” Jason grumbled, moving to the bathroom.

“Are you saying that you don’t enjoy these at all?” Marinette asked. “Not even a little bit?”

“That is exactly what I’m saying, yes.”

“Well, what didn’t you like about them?”

“No one actually cares which of Bruce’s kids I am, and if they do know the difference, I’m ‘the troubled one.’”

“Hold up, they think you’re more messed up than Damian?”

“Thank you! Anyway, that’s just the middle-aged adults. The people our age, especially the girls are vultures. They don’t leave me alone, they act like they’re so impressed by everything about my life, which is hilarious since I’m basically a freeloader in my civilian life.”

“You’re also a husband and a father,” Marinette reminded him gently.

“Who watches the kids for room and board. I’m not feeling bad for myself, I just – oh. Oh! You’re right!” he said, smiling brightly. “I’m your arm candy now, not just one of Bruce’s kids.”

“Hey, I’m kind of your arm candy too,” she pouted.

“You’re more than arm candy, Pixie Pop,” Jason said, swooping in to kiss her. “You’re my sugar mama.”

“Jason!”

***********

He wasn’t sure exactly how Marinette had convinced him that he would enjoy the Wayne Gala this time, but next year he would be wary of her sorcery. Things were going just fine until the babysitter had an emergency and she had to go check on the kids.

“It’s your time off,” she’d told him. “Just hang out with your family and enjoy.”

“Yeah right,” Jason muttered to himself. He’d originally latched himself to Dick because his wedding had made national news, so the girls didn’t see any point in flirting with him. His own wedding, however, had been a private affair with no leaked photos, and Marinette still hadn’t revealed herself as MDC to the public, which meant that unless they were looking at his ring, he was still marked as free real estate.

But then Dick had to go get distracted by people from Bludhaven that wanted to donate to any number of charitable causes that Dick was known to support. Babs had left Jason too, claiming something about her ankles hurting or something. She couldn’t even feel her ankles! If Babs could use her wheelchair to get out of this, why couldn’t Jason use the twins?

Instead, he was stuck with the same flock of vapid girls that chased him year after year. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jason announced, “Ladies, I’m sorry, but I can’t dance with any of you. I’m waiting for my date.”

“She can’t be much of a date if she’s not here yet,” one of the girls drawled, running her hands over his biceps. “Who could be rude enough to stand you up?”

“It’s obvious she doesn’t deserve you,” another purred. “We would be a lot more fun.”

Doing his best to shake them off gently, Jason repeated, “I am waiting for my date. I’m sorry, but—”

“Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Startled, Jason turned to find a woman who was very much not Marinette. The first thing Jason noticed was the stupid hairstyle she wore, but he’d seen worse so he’d give it a pass if she was going to save him like this. She had auburn hair, and striking green eyes that were only enhanced by the orange dress she wore. Marinette would never have designed it, but it still somehow worked.

“I swear, I left you for one second and you just vanished into thin air,” she said, linking an arm through his. “I’m going to have to keep an eye on you.”

“Hey… you,” Jason said, smiling as much as he could at the woman who was not his wife. “Sorry, I got lost.”

“Thank you all so much for taking care of him,” she said with an almost believable amount of sincerity. The feeling of her arm in his was making his skin crawl, but he couldn’t complain too much since she was saving him. He followed when she led him away from the crowd of girls, steering him over to a much more secluded spot.

“Thanks for the save,” he said, retrieving his arm from her grip. “I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure,” she said with a stunning smile. “I’ve been wanting to get to know you all night, you seem like an interesting man. I’m Lila, Lila Rossi.”

“Jason Todd, but you probably already knew that,” he said.

“Of course I did! I wouldn’t come to such a prestigious event without taking the time to learn who my host was! Your family has been such an inspiration to me in starting up my own non-profit charity,” she gushed, shaking his hand.

“Oh, I have almost nothing to do with any of that. The charity thing is mostly Bruce’s domain,” Jason said, holding his hands up mostly so she let go of them. “Tim knows quite a bit about it too, I could introduce you—”

“No! At least, not yet,” she said a bit frantically. “I’d like to get to know you a bit better first.”

“I mean, there’s not much to tell,” he said, scratching his head. “I’m probably the most boring of the Waynes.”

“You can’t mean that, I’m sure you have plenty of great stories. But if you’re feeling shy, you could tell me about this date of yours?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

A sappy smile spread over his face at the mention of his date. “She’s great, and way more accomplished than I am. She’s actually the spokesperson for MDC tonight, she just had a small personal emergency.”

“Oh, MDC?” Lila asked, her smile falling a bit.

“What’s wrong with MDC? Did they not have time to fit in your commission for a dress?” Jason asked. “I know the designer got pretty slammed because of the gala.”

“No, that’s not it at all. I, ah, I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” she said, dropping her voice to a whisper. “I’m sure your friend is perfectly lovely, but I’ve got some insider information on MDC, and she’s not exactly morally straight.”

Ah, so that’s why she was here. Lila was one of those. Doing his best to sound invested, he said, “Oh?”

She nodded. “It’s tragic. It seems that MDC simply isn’t cut out to be a designer, and she resorts to stealing designs from her friends and her staff!”

“No, I think you’re thinking of Chloe, back in high school.”

Lila whipped around to see Marinette march in, a twin in each hand.

Doing his best to play the oblivious husband, Jason said, “Lila, meet my wife and my children! That’s Marinette, and then the twins’ names are Jules and Mila!”

“Oh, Marinette,” the auburn-haired fox said, visibly paling. “Imagine seeing you here.”

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Shouldn’t you still be in jail for embezzlement?” Marinette asked, cocking her head to the side.

Furrowing her brows, Mila asked, “Dada, what embezment?”

“It’s a very sneaky way to steal money,” Jason said, lifting his daughter into his arms. “I’m going to have to talk to Grandpa Bruce about vetting the guest lists more carefully next year.”

“Lila, as always it wasn’t a pleasure at all. Please get out of my father-in-law’s house,” Marinette said cordially.

Completely ignoring the fuss the other woman was about to raise, Jason leaned in to kiss his wife. “Why are the twins here?”

“I thought about it, and you’re right. We need to get out of these things while we’ve got a valid excuse. The twins missed you, by the way,” Marinette said with a smile. “Shall we get out of here and go get some ice cream?”

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?” Jason asked, twining his hand with Marinette’s. “Because I love you a lot.”

She pecked him on the lips. “I kinda like you too.”