I have a huge thanks to my betareader, BabyClara.
She's the Best!
Chapter: Daddy's girl (Dick)
Sometimes Dick would really like Marinette to be less... "Marinette".
He had been watching Marinette rehearse her role in a school play for several weeks. She had gotten the lead role of the princess.
It was a classic story, where the princess was kidnapped by an evil dragon and then rescued by an handsome prince.
Alfred was kind enough to sew a costume for Marinette.
Everything was going well.
Then came the day of the performance.
Bruce couldn't make it, but Alfred was there to film everything. Jason was there too.
The only problem was that the little boy who was supposed to play the prince had stage fright. He was stuck in front of the "dragon" and didn't seem to be ready to say his line. The poor boy was on the verge of tears.
It was at that moment that everything changed.
Marinette entered the scene.
"You know what? I don't need a prince; I'm going to save myself! I'M NOT GOING TO BE INTIMIDATED BY A LIZARD!"
She snatched the sword from the hands of the "prince" and stood in front of the dragon.
"It's okay Marc, get back, I'll take care of him!"
The little boy was visibly surprised but backed off as Marinette asked him.
Marinette began to hit the "dragon" on the head with the wooden sword.
"HEY! OUCH!"
Scared, the little boy playing the dragon started to run away and Marinette, in her little princess dress, was on his tail.
"COME BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!"
"HELP!"
It was total chaos.
Dick had his mouth open like a fish. At his side, Jason held his ribs as he laughed so hard. All the parents in the room started to laugh, and even the children on the stage playing trees and little flowers started to chuckle.
The little boy, playing the prince, had also started to giggle.
The poor little dragon ended up on the floor, with Marinette, who had one foot on his back. She raised her sword in the air, proud to have "defeated" the "dragon".
In the end, instead of "living happily ever after" with the prince, Marinette found herself crowned Queen of the kingdom, and the prince decided to give up the throne to become a flower merchant.
Dick prepared mentally for the headache he would get the next day at work. Several of his colleagues were also parents and had their children playing in the act.
Why did Marinette have to be so chaotic?
Amy was going to bother him with this story till his deathbed!
While Jason went to congratulate Marinette for her performance, Alfred took the opportunity to take him aside. He explained that there was a problem between Bruce and Jason, and that he was afraid the teenager would do something stupid.
Dick sighed again.
He was going to have to go and fix some of Bruce's crap again...
-XxxX-
Jason was feeling much better. He was terribly angry with Bruce though. Earlier in the week, a young woman had committed suicide after learning that the man who had assaulted her was going to get away with it because of his social status. Jason had wanted to confront the assaulter, who, no doubt frightened by Jason in his Robin uniform, fell from his balcony.
Bruce had had the nerve to say that Jason pushed him!
He hadn't spoken to Bruce since.
In the meantime, Jason had discovered that Catherine Todd was not his biological mother. His biological mother's name was Sheila. He was planning to go looking for his birth mother.
The only reason he hadn't left yet was because he had promised little Cupcake that he would be there for her first performance. He loved the little girl like a little sister and did not want to disappoint her. Unlike Bruce, who put Batman before everything else, even his family, who, while he, Alfred and Dick were present for the performance of Marinette, was God knows where, as Batman, chasing criminals.
Sometimes Jason would really like Bruce to be a little more like Dick... At least he put his daughter before everything else!
Jason had great respect for Dick. The guy was a policeman by day, and at night he fought criminals as Nightwing, yet he still found time to take care of a little girl. What was his secret?
Jason admired Dick. But he also disliked him a lot. Jason was tired of being constantly compared to him, always referred as "a poor substitute". He had even dyed his hair black, under Bruce's advice...
Then there was Marinette.
Jason loved her very much. But... He was also jealous of the kid. She had everything he wanted. A father who loved her, friends, she had that little something that made everyone love her... She even had Bruce's attention.
He loved Marinette just as much as he hated her.
"Jay-Jay, are you okay?"
"Uh? what?"
"You look sad."
"I'm... I'm fine."
He didn't realize that he' d been staring into the void for several minutes. Jason was with Marinette in Dick's apartment. Dick had gone out on patrol as Nightwing, and Jason had stayed with Marinette.
Marinette looked at him for a moment. She got up quickly and rushed into the kitchen. She came back with a jar of ice cream and two spoons. She put the jar in front of him.
"It's Grandpa, isn't it? He was mean to you."
Jason frowned.
"I heard Alfred when he was talking to Dad. Grandpa was mean... Daddy wasn't happy."
So that's why Dick insisted that he spend the night at home, rather than let him come back to the Manor. He thought he only wanted to have a baby-sitter for Marinette...
"Daddy said that Grandpa also lost his mommy and daddy when he was little, and that Grandpa never forgot... That's why he became a vampire!"
"Hmm."
Marinette took some ice cream with the help of her spoon and put it in her mouth.
"Grandpa and Daddy aren't talking with each other anymore."
"Hmm."
The teenager dipped his spoon in the ice cream and started eating too.
Jason already knew about the arguments.
He had already heard them arguing several times. Bruce criticized Dick for not taking his role as Nightwing seriously. And Dick had replied that he took his role seriously, but that he did not have the same priorities. The first Robin had made it clear to Bruce that for him, his daughter came first. This was in direct opposition to Bruce's "mission first" philosophy.
"Daddy said that if Grandpa didn't stop this nonsense, he was going to adopt you as well Jay-Jay."
Jason spit out his ice cream.
All right. He didn't see that one coming.
"What?!"
"You don't want it?"
Jason honestly didn't know what to say. Would Dick… be willing to fight Bruce for him?
Would he?!
If it had been someone else who gave him this information, he would have doubted. But it was Marinette who was talking to him. And if there was one thing he knew about Marinette, it was that the girl always told the truth, even when the truth in question was not to her advantage.
But…
Jason really loved Bruce… He loved being Robin… Bruce was a kind of savior to him and Alfred was like a grandfather… Bruce took him off the street, gave him a home, a purpose in life.
On the other hand… Bruce was not the warmest person he knew.
"Jay-Jay?"
Jason looked up at Marinette. She was smiling at him.
"Jay-Jay really loves Grandpa, doesn't he?"
"..."
"Grandpa is Jay-Jay's daddy, just like Dick is my daddy."
"Hmm..."
Bruce... his dad?
Yes... Probably... Bruce was like a father...
Jason started yawning, he was really sleepy.
"Grandpa loves Jay-Jay too! He's mean because he's afraid of losing Jay-Jay."
"..."
"Grandpa's... He's like a big baby. He's afraid to have his pacifier removed."
"... Huh? What?! ..."
He wasn't sure he wanted to have the image of Bruce with a pacifier engraved in his mind.
"Come on Jay-Jay, we have to go to sleep now!"
Jason got up, mechanically, and followed Marinette to her room.
He quickly fell asleep with the little one in his arms.
The next day, Bruce came back with news that he had found his biological mother. Alfred then confided to Jason that if Bruce had wandered away, it was simply because he was looking for Jason's mother. Bruce even had the decency to apologize to Jason.
Jason accepted the apology, and chose to return to the Manor with Bruce. He would talk to his birth mother later.
Maybe he was just clinging to a false hope... However, he would rather take the risk of staying with Bruce than leaving with Dick.
He wasn't sure he wanted a sticky dad like Dick... Besides, he didn't want to compete with Marinette for his father's affection.
He and Bruce were so absorbed in their exchange that neither of them realized the knowing smile that Dick and Marinette exchanged.
-XxxX-
Dick really needed to talk to Bruce, but he was afraid to leave Jason unsupervised. Barbara had notified him that Jason was indeed about to make a huge mistake. He had secretly bought a plane ticket to try to find his birth mother.
He then had the idea to entrust the surveillance of Jason to Marinette.
And she had played her part brilliantly. She even managed to give him a sleeping pill on the sly! Dick was certain that Jason hadn't noticed that Marinette had tricked the ice cream jar.
No one ever mistrusted Marinette because she was small and always smiling. The fact that she always told the truth made people think she was "stupid ".
Those people were wrong.
Because being "cute" was Marinette's weapon.
Because she was cute, people let their guard down. (Including Bruce...)
Dick remembered a conversation he had had with his daughter a few days before her performance at the school.
"Dad, how do you always get useful information at your work? Auntie Amy said you're the best at it!"
"Really? Auntie Amy said that?"
"Yes! And also she said that Daddy was a slutty dater! But I don't know what that means..."
"I guess I didn't need to know that last part... Anyway, to answer you, I just tell people what they want to hear, and they'll give you the information you need, with the least amount of effort possible."
"Oh... But that means daddy has to lie..."
"Not necessarily Sunshine. If I don't tell everything, I don't lie. If I beat around the bush, I don't lie either. If I let people make up their own minds, that's not a lie too.
"Hmmmmmm... Okay."
Dick smiles as he recalls the scene.
Marinette was still very young... If she had tricked Jason, it was only because she was very obedient. Dick had told her to neutralize Jason, and she did. However, the mere fact that she managed to give Jason the sleeping pill without him realizing it was a feat.
Marinette had potential...
And Dick was very proud of his baby.
- Petite Marinette may not be as innocent as we think xD!
- Normally, Jason should have died in this chapter... But at the last moment, I decided to change my mind.
"Death in the Family" doesn't need to happen right away... Or even take place at all, anyway...
Next story: Special episode Marinette vs Lila! (After this "Daddy's girl" part of course ^^)