It was now afternoon. Mari and Damian were eating without saying a word to each other. They would take the occasional glance at each other. But that was all the interaction they would have.

Someone coughs. They looked towards the direction of their… prisoner? The assassin gave them a glare. To which the two of them ignored his attempts at trying to intimidate them. It was a very attempt in Damian's book. This goes on for the rest of lunch.

Having enough of their captive's attempt to intimidate them. Marinette sets down her utensils. And walked over to the man, knocking the dude out. Satisfied, she returned to her seat to continue eating.

In all honesty, Damian was going to kill the guy if he continued glaring at them. It annoyed him. This assassin might not be the only one here. So he was on high alert. More alert than usual.

But compared to Marinette. She was calm. Acting like nothing happened this morning. She ate like nothing was bothering her. But that is the outside version of her.

In reality, she was panicking. The thought of having other people in her rented apartment. Made her freak out. She wanted to ask Damian, who is the man that she knocked out earlier. Maybe she should end her journey around the globe and return to Paris. She could call up her uncle Jagged and ask him to take Damian in while she travels. But with what happened this morning. She didn't want the potential danger of the assassins going after her honorary uncle.

She was planning on taking Damian with her around the world. And have him start online school. But he needs the interaction of other people. And judging by how Damian acts. He will most likely kill the first person to annoy him.

Regardless of that. What are they going to do with the person that is currently drooling on the floor? She could always bring him to the police. Surely that could work. But this man will probably end up escaping. Killing him? Nope. That is out of the question. Even if she is a hero. She has morals. And she tends to hold up to them. The next best option was to interrogate the man. But Marinette had knocked the man out not too long ago. Who knows when his friends will come after him. Knowing that he has been missing for a certain amount of time.

Going through her internal debate, she has decided that she will return to Paris with Damian. And have him start school. Then she can see what she can do to keep these assassin's off of their tails. She can always go through security footage and blur out Damian's face. No. That will make people suspicious. She can have Damian wear a hat 24/7. But he might not like the idea of hats. He could wear contacts. No, that will only change his eye color. Not his face shape.

Idea after idea went through Marinette's head. But after every idea, she thought of. She shot them down thinking of the cons of the action. And not the pros. She then settled on changing his last name to Dupain-Cheng.

Now the issues of creating a civilian Identity. She was thinking of making Damian a new identity anyway. But if people start to find out that he came out of the blue. Without any prior information. With some simple hacking skills. Anyone can figure it out. She put her worries aside and decided to worry about it when she crosses that bridge.

After getting her thoughts organized. She grabbed her phone to proceed to call up her private plane.

Damian was watching her the whole time. And he's frustrated because he couldn't read her. His whole life, he paid attention to how a person was acting based on their actions. But Marinette? She wasn't doing anything that signaled she was going to do something. The only thing he did understand is that she was calling someone in french. And she mentioned something about Paris and a plane. He wanted to know what was going on without questioning Marinette.

Marinette was arranging a flight to go in two hours. She wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. With the addition of someone after Damian. She also had secrets she couldn't reveal to people. She didn't want people asking about the miraculouses. She didn't want them to fall into the wrong hands. And she most certainly didn't want another Hawkmoth situation. Plus she didn't want Nooro to fall into the hands of evil. And have the poor kwami go through the same abuse he received when he was with Gabriel Agreste. She couldn't afford to do a wild goose chase around the world. There's a reason why a potential holder has to prove themselves worthy.

Once she ended the call. Marinette told Damian to get his stuff together because they are heading to Paris.

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When they arrive at the airport. They proceeded to go through security. Which took a while due to the number of tourists coming from all over the globe. And it turned out he is now adopted. By none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And whenever someone asks where he came from. She would reply that she rescued him from an abusive environment. And then the conversation was dropped. It wasn't a lie and at the same time not the truth. Damian can live with this. He had wondered what else Mari had put on his public records. But he had also wondered when she had the time to make his new identity in the span of four days of meeting him.

Putting that aside. He followed Marinette towards a plane with Lily next to her acting as a guard dog. And the cat is in a pet carrier that Damian was holding. The plane looked different from the others. The one thing that made it different was the huge MDC logo painted onto the plane. And add the fact that nobody else was getting onto this plane. This then led Damian to believe that Marinette is some rich person. And he also became a bit annoyed at the fact that he wasn't told that they were going to Paris on a private plane.

They walked into said plane. And got themselves seated and situated. After a few moments of silence, the pilot announced that they are now going to start the flight. The plane started to move. They were soon in the air. After a few minutes of flying. Damian swore he saw a man in blue and red spandex waving hi before flying off into the distance. He raised his right eyebrow but shrugged it off thinking that it was some weirdo in a monkey suit. Then again the mystery person was flying.

Other than the weirdo. It was a smooth sailing flight.

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When they landed. The two woke up exhausted. They then went to gather their things. Before they got off the plane. Marinette went to thank the pilots for the flight. She then proceeded to wake up Lily to head off the plane,

Once off the plane, they made their way out of the airport to be greeted by a blonde. The blonde literally ran into Marinette. Which made Marinette drop the leash to Lily's collar. They fell onto the pavement. Which was probably not nice to fall on. After a few minutes of hugging on the floor. The blonde got off of Mari and offered a hand. She accepted and got off of the pavement along with grabbing onto Lily's leash. The blonde proceeded to greet Lily with a few pets. The blonde noticed Damian watching the scene.

"Who's this?" Questioned the blonde as she observed the boy. Damian was annoyed and fought the urge to flip the women over. But whether he wanted to or not. He was carrying a backpack filled with things. And a pet carrier in his right hand.

"Chloé, this is Damian. My adopted son. And Damian this is Chloé," replied Marinette as she introduced the two. Damian made a mental note of the blonde's name. Chloé continued to observe the cowling Damian.

"How come you never told me that you had a son? Better yet, when did you get a son?" Questioned Chloé as she turned to face Marinette with her arms crossed. Mari didn't know how to answer those questions. The air around them grew tenser as time passed. There were a few times where Marinette opened her mouth. But she closed it with no answer coming out of her mouth.

Chloé sighed in defeat and told Marinette that she doesn't need to tell her. Mari was relieved. But, still a bit tense.

"How about we drive home and get *yawn* some sleep," suggested a tired Marinette. Chloé nodded and led them to a car. Damian and Marinette put away their things. Getting in the car and driving off.

────── 〔✿〕──────

To say Marinette was homesick. She really was. She had missed her home. The place where she grew up. The Eiffel Tower came into view. It was nostalgic to Marinette. She missed the times she met Chat for meetings on the tower. She had missed the times when she met up with her former friends. But now she had friends who supported her. Even a new son. She hopes that she will help him go down the right path. With the support of her and his friends. If he makes friends that is.

That reminds her, she needs to look for an appropriate enseignement élémentaire for Damian. She will need to do background checks of schools in her area. To make sure that they are responsible for their students. And to make sure that they can handle unruly children. She doesn't want him to go through what she went through in collège. If they don't meet those requirements. She is going back to an online school. Putting those thoughts aside she focused on the building that came into view. One she recognized as her home.

They arrived at a boutique. Marinette got out. And went to the trunk to get her and Damian's things.

When Damian got out of the car with the pet carrier. He stared at the building in front of him. It was a boutique. He stared at the building in front of him. He wondered why they were in front of a boutique and not an apartment. He let out a -tt- sound.

Marinette had gotten the bags out of the trunk. Saying one last goodbye to Chloé. Before standing next to Damian.

"Not what you were expecting, huh?" Questioned Marinette as she stared at her home with Damian. He gave her a look that said everything. She returned it with a smile. Giving him his bag. And then proceeded towards the building and unlocked the door. That proved to be a bit difficult with Lily trying to sniff the nearby plants. When Mari managed to open the door. She walked inside with Damian right behind her.

When they were inside Marinette turned on the lights. To which they saw many rows of beautifully crafted clothing. Marinette smiled at finally arriving at her real home. To be greeted with her creations. She was then pulled deeper into the store with Lily dragging her. The curious little dog wanted to explore the place.

Damian stared at the room. Taking in the view of clothing. He never understood the meaning behind fashion. He never was taught the meaning behind it. Even if he did ask at the temple. He was pretty sure that his mother would say. 'It is a distraction and thus not of importance.' Yeah… that seemed about right.

He walked towards the direction that Marinette waved her hand from. When he got to Marinette. He saw stairs to which he assumed led to the second floor. Going up the stairs to then be greeted with the sight of a living room, kitchen, and many doors. That will most likely lead to more rooms. He continued to follow Marinette to one of the doors. She guestered him to open it. He looked at her. Waiting for a sign of approval. She smiled at him and nodded. Taking it as an okay, he opened the door. It led to a bedroom. It wasn't very furnished. Which he very much expected.

"This room used to be the guest room. So this room isn't very furnished," stated Marinette. Damian was now facing her.

"Tomorrow, we can go buy some things that you like and decorate the place. The room next to this one is vacant so you can decide what you can do with it. The two rooms across from these two are my bedroom and design room. So if you need me I will be across from you. The bathroom is down there," explained a very tired Marinette. Damian nodded.

"Now if you will excuse me I am going to go catch some sleep," said Marinette as she closed the door to Damian's room. She then unhooked the leash from Lily's collar. Placing the leash on a coffee table. She headed towards her room to where she met face first with her bed immediately falling asleep.

A/n:

enseignement élémentaire - french for elementary school

collège - french for middle school