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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 2 years

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Into The Unknown, Part 41

First

Marinette smiled faintly as she watched Damian hug his stuffed Cat to his chest. It was easily one of his favorites, and therefore was suffering from being well-loved. The brilliant colors were faded from many washes, and one of the cat’s button eyes had popped off at some point.

She gently ruffled his curls and he leaned further into her side, though she wasn’t sure whether this was so he could get a better view of the book she was reading or because he genuinely just liked the affection… but, she figured, it was probably a mix of both.

She opened it more so he could see the colorful illustrations of animals better. It was well behind his actual intelligence level, they all knew that he could recite many animals and their sounds, but Damian liked animals enough that he would often ask her to read this book during their downtime just so he could look at them.

“And do you know what this one is?” She continued.

“Cow!” He said, smiling. He liked cows.

“What do cows say?”

“Mooooooooooo!”

“Very good,” she cooed.

Damian clapped his hands as she slowly closed the book, and for a moment she thought he might ask her to do it again, but Tim spoke up:

“Hey, don’t you think it’s weird that we teach kids animal sounds?”

Marinette’s eyebrows knit together. “Huh? How so?”

“Well, it’s not like it ever really… matters, y’know. It’s not something they quiz you on at school, and most people aren’t going to interact with barn animals…” He trailed off to squint at the newest page in his scrapbook, which was made up of the two pictures of Damian in his leather jacket she had provided him. He tilted his head this way and that, before holding it up so Marinette could see. “Is this straight?”

“Nothing we do is straight,” she murmured distractedly, eyes locked on the book in her hands. Forgive her for not helping, but she was having quite the existential crisis. Why do parents put so much emphasis on that?

Damian set Cat aside and then leaned over her lap until he could grab the book. He opened it back up to the first page.

“Cat goes meow,” Damian said, a little huffily, pointing at the first page.

She snapped out of it to smile at her kid. “Correct!” She said on autopilot.

And, just like that, they were back to learning about animal sounds.

How did he get a nose bleed? Well, it’s a funny story, actually…

You see, he had been teaching a child to spar. Because that was his job.

And then someone yelled at him from the sidelines: “TIM!”

Apparently, looking up while in the middle of a fight is not a good thing to do.

Hilarious. Isn’t life just fun? Don’t you just love being alive?

He glared at Steph over his blood-stained napkin. She had bought food for him as an apology, but he couldn't enjoy it yet because all he could taste was copper.

“I’m sorry, Marinette texted me to tell me about your new friends and I was just so excited…” She was explaining.

He swapped out his napkin for another one. “You talk to Mari?”

“Mhmm, and if you aren’t careful I’ll become a homewrecker,” she said cheerfully, pulling out her phone to reveal that she really did have Marinette’s number, saved under the contact name ‘Babe 💖’.

He might have rolled his eyes if he hadn’t happened to glance down and see their most recent messages.

But he did, and a gasp escaped him as he snatched her phone.

Steph. Holy shit. Tim has friends now.

Sdfjklj deadass????????

Yep. I’m so proud.

He sent her a dirty look. “I’m not that hopeless about having friends, I’m just not as extroverted as you and Mari are.”

She didn’t even have the decency to look sheepish as she tugged her phone back out of his hands. “Sure, Timmy, sure.”

He opened his mouth to retort, but she was already cutting him off:

“Anyways, when do I get to meet them?”

He sighed lightly, and then shrugged. “Well, I guess you can come with me after your session.”

She groaned, pulling her face into a mockery of a pout. “Do I have to have my session today?”

“I mean… training you is literally my job, it’s in my best interest to say yes. You realize that, right?”

She pouted harder.

He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

She slumped against the table. “I just wanna skip a week,” she complained.

He started to remind her that physical activity didn’t really work like that, that she would get out of practice, that if she skipped a week for no reason she would probably start skipping other weeks, too… but, when she had leaned to rest her cheek on the table with a pout, it had displaced the too-large, purple windbreaker she wore and his gaze caught on bright white bandages wrapping around her upper arm.

Tim sighed. “Fine, guess I don’t really want to have to spar with you with a bloody nose, anyways.”

Her eyes narrowed just slightly in suspicion, he didn’t usually give in to things quite that easily, but she let the subject drop. Possibly just because she was eager to meet his new friends.

And, well, meet his new friends she did.

Miranda gasped the moment they stepped into the garage, taking Steph’s hand in her own and giving her a wide-eyed look, as if she thought she might be imagining her existence.

“Oh, thank god, another woman, finally. You have no idea what it’s been like, with all these men.”

Steph patted the hand, nodding solemnly. “I’m so sorry you had to endure that.”

“You are my new favorite person.”

Terry looked wounded.

Tim ignored their theatrics in favor of pulling out his phone. “You said you needed some maintenance?”

Gonzales nodded. “Yes. Can you check out Terry’s bike? He said that he heard something rattling while out today.”

“Rattling? Damn. Sure thing. Any idea where it’s coming from?”

“I mean… we checked it out… but it sounded like it was coming from his gas tank?”

Tim’s eyebrows pinched and Terry snapped out of his offense in order to shrug, then he jerked his head for Tim to follow him over to his bike. They sat down next to each other, idly discussing what he had done recently on the bike because Tim hadn’t even touched Terry’s bike and it was already trying to kill him (Terry was, surprisingly, the least interested in Tim experimenting on his bike).

Steph lazily leaned all her weight on Tim’s head, but Tim barely even blinked.

Steph rolled her eyes. “Man, people that work are so boring,” she complained.

“Don’t you have a job?” Miranda asked, raising her eyebrows.

Steph stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “I’ve been trying to get an internship that will allow me enough time to keep working towards my degree but I can’t find one.”

“Why not try your mom’s hospital?” Tim asked, blinking up at her.

“Working with your family is weird, don’t you think?”

Tim didn’t believe her, she had worked with the other bats without a problem back in his reality.

She must have read the disbelief on his face, because she sighed and slumped further against his head. “Also, my mom used to take me to work with her when we couldn’t afford a babysitter so they know how I am.”

He nodded his understanding.

Gonzales tipped his head to the side. “You’re working to become a doctor?”

“Yep! They make a shit ton of money, so.”

“Know what also makes you money?” Terry said, pushing himself to his feet with a grin. His eyes sparkled with something that Tim distinctly did not trust.

“Stealing from other people?” Tim said, raising his eyebrows.

Terry winked and flashed finger guns at him. “You know it, Timmy.”

Gonzales sighed and lightly pushed Terry away from Steph. “Sorry about him. What he’s trying to get at… I think… is that we happen to have quite a bit of disposable income, flexible hours, and are definitely in need of someone that’s willing to help.”

Steph narrowed her eyes at them for a moment before turning to Tim. “They pay well?”

Tim absently held up an ‘okay’ sign before going back to carefully opening up the gas tank. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck. Gas tanks weren’t made to open and he was, maybe, a little stressed about it.

“I’ve only really picked up the basics so far, and I haven’t done much of anything myself…”

Gonzales shrugged. “That’s fine. We all have experience administering a lot of basic first aid, so we can teach you.”

Steph’s eyes narrowed once again. “Then why do you need me?”

“Need another girl,” said Miranda instantly.

Gonzales crossed his arms over his chest. “You might not be great now, but you’re going to be a doctor. Eventually, you’re going to be better than all of us. Good to grab you now.”

“Need another girl,” Miranda repeated.

“And we need another girl,” he sighed.

Miranda nodded.

After a few moments’ thought, Steph nodded back.

Gonzales clapped his hands together, smiling widely. “Great! Another new member! I’m going to get us all a round of beers to celebrate.”

��We didn’t get beer when I joined,” Tim huffed.

“‘Cause you’re a kid,” said Miranda.

“I’m literally not.”

Gonzales ruffled Tim’s hair before heading out to go get the promised beers. Tim probably wouldn’t participate himself – not because they wouldn’t let him, but because he had a kid to get back to – but he wasn’t going to stop them from having their fun.

It was silent as Tim finally managed to get the top off of the tank. He peered down into it, using his phone flashlight to see, and, somehow, he just ended up more confused. “Dude, what the hell, why are there marbles in here?”

“Probably my ex,” Terry said, wincing. “Now that I think about it, he came over the other day to get his stuff.”

Miranda scowled and opened her mouth.

“No, you still can’t murder him. I got him shot in the leg, he has every right to be annoyed.”

She closed her mouth and scowled harder.

Graham stepped inside. “Who we killing?” He asked.

“Terry’s ex,” Miranda said, only slightly louder than Terry’s, “No one.”

Graham hummed. His eyes found their way to Steph and he raised an eyebrow. “I was gone for maybe ten minutes to make myself some coffee. How do we already have someone new?”

“Timmy brought her. She’s gonna be our doc,” Terry explained, his nose scrunching as he took the set of tweezers Tim handed him and started carefully taking out the marbles because, apparently, he was ‘taking too long’.

“Oh, what’s up?” Said Graham.

(Miranda groaned a little.)

“Hiya,” Steph said, flashing a grin.

“I’m Graham, it’s nice to finally meet the wife Tim’s been talking about so much –.”

Disgust flickered across Steph’s face and that was all the warning Graham got before she was insulting everything about him from his eyes (“I bet you’re one of those bitches with hazel eyes that is super pretentious about it”) to his shoes (“you look like you’re about to step into a clown car, I hope you know”). Graham looked stunned, the hands he kept perpetually shoved in his pockets coming out to surrender. He looked to his fellow gang members, but Gonzales was out getting food, Miranda was nodding along to the insults, and Terry seemed more intent on laughing at his misfortune than helping him.

In a last ditch attempt, he looked at Tim.

Deserved, he thought.

He should have been paying more attention when Tim was showing off his family. He broke eye contact in favor of messing with a new upgrade he had been making for everyone’s bikes. This wasn’t his brightest idea, he wasn’t wearing any gloves or a mask, OSHA would not approve of him, but he figured OSHA wouldn’t approve of a lot of stuff that the gang members did anyways. But he was too busy not helping Graham to get the proper safety equipment.

Tim soon got karmic punishment, though, because his creation shocked him.

Looks like Graham did end up getting help from Tim after all. Steph was immediately distracted, compelled by the universal law that says you must laugh at your sort-of-sibling’s misfortunes.

Marinette smiled as she carded her fingers through Frank’s fur. The dog had taken to lying across her lap when she noticed her using her work computer at home (something she was 99% sure Tim had trained her to do, but couldn’t prove). The dog was big and, unfortunately, she wasn’t willing or able to move her off of her lap when Frank decided she wanted to be there.

She didn’t appreciate being made to stop, but the large, warm, soft animal lying across her lap made it hard not to give in and relax.

Now, she rested her chin atop the dog’s back and closed her eyes, allowing time to slip by her.

The door clicked open after a while and she listened to Damian’s familiar yell of “Manzil!” and Tim’s coo that, yes, they were home.

She yawned and buried her face in Frank’s fur despite the fact that the dog’s tail started wagging, making it very hard to find a still place to rest her eyes.

“And to think she used to be against getting a dog,” Tim mused, probably mostly to himself, the grin evident in his voice.

“Shut up, Tim,” she grumbled.

He only laughed a little, pressed a kiss into her hair, and then continued with his day.

Tim hummed idly as he scrubbed the dish in his hand, trying to remain calm despite the tiny spot that simply refused to be washed away.

But, eventually, a mix of hot water and soap and pure spite was able to get rid of it.

He held a hand out and smiled when Damian instantly set the next glass in his hand. Damian had always liked ‘helping’ him clean, but it never quite got old. There was a uniquely good feeling that came with developing small routines such as this, something that made otherwise mildly annoying tasks something he somewhat looked forward to.

Time slipped by and he absently worked his way through the dirty dishes.

Everything was normal.

Until Damian fumbled a plate.

Tim jumped at the sound of a plate crashing and immediately turned to look, the fork in his hand all but forgotten.

And then he sprung into action.

The fork clattered into the sink, but he barely cared about that. He grabbed Damian with soapy hands to drag him away from the shards, then stuck his leg out so Frank couldn’t inspect the glass.

His mind reeled. Marinette was still out getting groceries, which meant there was no one to keep Damian away while he cleaned. Maybe he could set him up with a movie? But it wasn’t a great idea to leave a kid this young alone, he was pretty sure –.

“THOSE BREAK?!” Damian asked, horrified.

The pure shock on Damian’s face was, apparently, exactly what Tim needed to snap out of his panic.

Giggles spilled from his lips as he nodded. “Yeah, they break, kiddo.”

Damian stared at him, eyes the size of the dinner plate he had just broken.

Then he looked back down at the shards. “Oh.”

Tim smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

Marinette baked a lot. She didn’t really need an occasion to do it, though she was happy for the excuses that came with holidays. It was something she enjoyed, why would she relegate it to a few times a year?

Besides, ever since Damian had helped her create an ‘Elmer’ cake, he had gained an interest in helping her decorate the many cakes and cupcakes that came out of the oven… and she was, maybe, just a little bit soft. How was she supposed to just say ‘no’ when her kid was tugging on her pant leg just to make her meet his eyes so he could show her the (probably fake) tears gathered there?

She smiled faintly, leaning back against the counter as she watched Damian struggle to ice cupcakes. They would definitely end up with entirely too much frosting, from the looks of it, but it wasn’t like Marinette and Tim couldn’t just scrape it off.

(God, scraping the icing off of cupcakes is how you know you’re getting old.)

Frank came up next to her and she smiled, checking her hands over for frosting – Damian was seriously inaccurate – before petting the dog.

Damian beamed when he saw his pet and held out the cupcake he had just finished.

Marinette took it before the dog could take a bite, shaking her head. “No, Dami, dogs will get sick if they eat cupcakes.”

“But…” His lower lip trembled. “Frank…”

… and that’s how she ended up making pupcakes the next day. After all, she was, maybe, just a little bit soft.

~~~~~

@unoriginalmess @hammalammadamdam @astrynyx @laurcad123 @927roses-and-stuff @toodaloo-kangaroo @queenz-z @imarivers8 @jeminiikrystal @adrestar @twsssmlmaa @literaryhiraeth @trippingovermyfeet @ev-cupcake @its-maemain

#starting next month im going to be updating this twice a month~#on the 21st and 28th #i would say this month but also i wrote like 11k in a day for canary and then 6k of the bad end the next day and my hands hurt #so #next month #anyways tags #maribat #timari #timinette #shutterbug #timmari #into the unknown #tim drake #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #red robin

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