Walking home had been eventful, to say the least. Mari had simply been strolling along, humming to herself as she usually does, when a large man walked out of the alley and pointed a gun at her.
Mari frowned, raising an eyebrow at him. "Can I help you?" she asked, not even flinching at the sight of a gun. Did she have a death wish? No. She'd simply seen far scarier than the barrel of a gun being shoved in her face.
"Gimme your purse and no one gets hurt," the man said, glaring after a few seconds of confusion.
"No, thank you," she said, moving to the side to step around him.
He blocked her path again, moving in closer now. "I don't think you understand, bitch," he said, sneering at her. "Give me your fucking money or I will shoot you dead."
Mari sighed, turning to look at him. "Do you need the money for any particular reason? Or do you just enjoy crime?"
The man stopped short at that, eyebrows nearly in his hairline. "What?"
"I know you understood the question. Your answer will affect the outcome, so out with it," she said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.
It really was the picture of insanity, this little five foot girl staring a man dead in the eye while he waved a gun around and not seemingly caring if he shot her. Eventually the man realized she wasn't scared and lowered the gun, not putting it away but not aiming at her skull anymore.
"My daughter has diabetes. The insurance won't cover it since I got sent to Arkham a few years ago," he said slowly, not sure why he was telling this girl. She just had a calming aura about her.
Mari bristled at that, sympathy taking over the annoyance. "I'm very sorry to hear that," she said, reaching into her purse and pulling out some money. "Here, take this. And maybe consider placing her legal guardianship with a friend who can take her on their insurance. That way it can be covered and you'll only have to pay the insurance each month."
The man was shocked, taking the money and stuffing it in his pocket. "You're really gonna give me money? I just threatened to shoot you!"
Mari smiled, nodding. "A lot of good people have to do bad things for the people they love. You just want to help your little girl, so I see no reason to hold it against you. But I will be upset if you try it again. Find a better way," she said, waving and walking down the road again.
Plagg was quiet on their walk home, worried about what just happened. He knew Marinette was hurting after everything that happened in Paris, but he didn't think she'd look death so openly in the face and not have the common sense to try to run from it. Did she have a lot of luck from holding onto Tikki for so long? Yes, but that didn't mean she was invincible.
He wasn't sure which was worse - her thinking she's invincible or her not caring either way. He'd have to talk to sugar cube at some point tonight about it.
After that, it was quiet going home. She got to her apartment building and told Chloe at the front desk that she was expecting a visitor at some point, and to just send them up when they got there.
She heaved a sigh when she got in, spotting the boxes with her sewing equipment stacked next to the sewing table she'd yet to put together. Everything else was set up, she'd just been putting it off because she knew that the table would be a pain in the butt to put together.
"Marinette!" Tikki squealed at her Chosen, zooming over and snuggling into the side of her face.
Mari smiled, holding the kwami to her with one hand gently. "Hey Tikki, how was your day?" she asked the little God, giggling as she nuzzled further into her cheek.
"It was good! There was a new episode of Housewives of New Jersey on!" Tikki said, flying away a bit and explaining what had happened in this weeks episodes.
Marinette didn't quite understand the thousand year old gods obsession with reality TV, but she wasn't going to stop her from watching it either. "That's pretty cool, Tiks. Oh, I will be having a visitor at some point tonight, so I'll need you guys to hang out in the bedroom."
Tikki nodded, smiling at her Chosen. "Of course! I can show Plagg the episode then!" she said, diving into her purse and dragging the grumbling cat into Marinette's room.
Mari smiled and shook her head, going into the kitchen and pulling out some of the bread and soup she'd made the night before. She'd figured that cooking in bulk was for the best, considering it gave her more time to relax after work without worrying about cooking. Also, it was pretty hard to cook for one without wasting any food.
She ate her dinner quickly before changing into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, wanting to tackle the building project she'd been ignoring for too long. It was only when she had it half way done that there was a knock on her door, startling her into realizing how much time had passed.
Opening the door, she greeted Damian and let him in. "Sorry for the mess, I'm almost done moving in and unpacking, but there's a few things left," she said, walking back towards her sewing table.
Damian found himself more curious than he usually was, looking around her space. She seemed to be a cluttered person, little trinkets all over the apartment. There were also pictures in every room it seemed, of who he assumed were her parents. There was also a photo of her standing next to Jagged Stone that drew his attention. It didn't look like the general celebrity with an excited fan photo. She was covered in flour, presumably in her parents bakery, and he had a bit of frosting smearing his face.
"Are you and Jagged Stone covered in baking ingredients often?" Damian asked, turning to look at her curiously.
Mari was already sitting amongst the table pieces, looking up from the directions in her hand that she couldn't really understand. While she was mostly fluent in English, building directions were not really something she'd brushed up on. " Oui ," she said, smiling. "Uncle Jagged loves to bake when he visits. He even found a recipe for treats for his pet crocodile, Fang."
"Pet crocodile?" Damian asked, immediately interested in how difficult it was to acquire a crocodile. "He's your Uncle?"
Mari giggled, shaking her head and turning back to the instructions in her hand. "Not technically, although I'm sure he'd adopt me if he thought my parents would allow it. I've been designing for him since I was thirteen, so he's taken up an Uncle role in my life outside of our professional relationship," she said, smiling at the thought of her crazy uncle. "And yes, a pet crocodile. I really have no idea how he convinced Aunt Penny to let that one happen, but Fang is an absolute puppy if you're not threatening Jagged."
"Interesting," Damian said, already considering how dead he might end up if he found a baby crocodile in need of a home.
Mari caught the look in his eyes and knew better than to get involved. Serial adopter, she thought to herself. Must get it from his father.
They were quiet again as Damian looked around a bit, finding that the apartment would be fine for the kittens. There wasn't much for them to get into, and realistically her sewing stuff would be kept away unless she was working on it. But that would be on her to deal with. He was really concerned with making sure she wasn't a messy person, and based on what he was seeing she wasn't.
"I would be able to bring the kittens over this weekend. Would that give you enough time to get the things they will be needing?" he asked, turning back to her after perusing her dvd collection. She had moderately okay taste in films.
"That would be fine, if you could text me the address of a pet supply store. I don't happen to know that much about the area yet," Mari said, still squinting at the paper and trying to figure out what they wanted her to do. Eventually she just huffed and turned to Damian. "You read English."
Damian merely raised an eyebrow, walking over and taking the instructions out of her hands. "You're having issues with this?"
Mari sighed, nodding. "It's been a long day of reading in a language that isn't my first, at a certain point my brain stops translating," she explained, watching as he started to do what the instructions said. She felt like a bad host for letting him do it, but she was just fried at this point.
"Did you text Richard you got home safely?" he eventually asked, looking up at her for a moment before going back to the task at hand.
"Shit, I knew I forgot something," she muttered, digging her phone out of her pockets and shooting a text to him. "There, now I did."
"And you did make it home safely, correct? You didn't have trouble finding your way?" he inquired, hoping that she had.
"Yeah, I figured it out just fine," she said, and the tilt in her voice made it seem to him that she was holding something back from him.
Which was fine, it wasn't as though they were friends. She barely knew him, and he was her boss. She obviously wasn't going to tell him her problems at the moment. He felt the need to change that fact though, as though it was something he should've already had in the works. But he did, didn't he? He was getting to know her, even if some of it was through Richard's questions while he'd hung around earlier in the day.
"If you would like," he started, standing up and dusting off the invisible dust on his sleeves. "I could take you to the pet store on Saturday and show you some of the other stores in the area."
Mari blinked, looking at her now finished sewing table. I'll have to make some macarons for him to repay him for this, she thought to herself before turning back to him. "That would be most welcome," she said, smiling brightly at him.
Mari certainly didn't realize it, but in that moment she had no mask on and her true happiness was shining through. Damian, however, could also see the hurt she'd experienced. She might not even be thinking about it right now, but there was clearly a painful memory in her mind that she thought about often. Damian instantly made a plan to look into her using the batcomputer later on.
"Alright, well, I won't linger. I shall see you tomorrow, most likely," he said, headed towards the door.
"You will?" Mari asked, following him to the door to lock up behind him.
He nodded. "I work in the same office as Todd most days, and he's been particularly cranky lately. I may just hide in your office so that he cannot bother me, if I wouldn't be in the way."
Mari considered it. "I don't see any reason for you to be in the way. I will be spending the morning picking up supplies, so you're more than welcome to hide there while I'm gone."
He nodded, giving her a small smile and leaving. "Good night, Miss Dupain-Cheng."
After the door shut, Mari rolled her eyes and grumbled to herself. "It's Marinette ," she grumbled, knowing he couldn't hear her but feeling the need to say it anyways.
Grumpy Gothamites Unknowingly Collected: 3 (including damian)