Black Alley

New Environment

Marinette opened her eyes slowly. She looked around the room, realizing that she had never once been in this room before. It was nice.

The room was big and wide. Two columns were in the corners of the room where the windows were. There was a desk right under the window. She could barely see paper lying there and a small cup filled with pencils and pens. There were gold accents all over the room. They were subtle enough that you didn't know it was there. There was a small dress under a t.v and a door to what she would assume was a closet.

She sat up, the blanket that was covering her falling into her lap. There was a small knock on the door. The door slowly opened to reveal Bruce, his outfit was slightly different. His business suit was traded in for a black turtleneck with gray suit pants.

"Mr. Wayne?" Marinette asked.

"Marinette," Bruce replied.

"Where am I?"

"May I?" Bruce asked, as he got to the side of the bed. Marinette moved her legs so he could sit down. "You're in Wayne Manor."

"Why?"

"Your... boyfriend said that it wouldn't be good to return to your hotel, because of the reporters milling about. I offered to let you and your class come here until you can go back."

"Right." Marinette looked around the room. She'd never seen a place that looked so nice but was also devoid of anything tangible. "So... nice place you got here."

"Yes," Mr. Wayne said. "My butler designed this room."

"Ah. Well." She shifted, looking at the red drapes above her. Marinette has always liked the color red. It was the color of her suit. It was a very interesting color and a great thing to study right now. Oh, God. She couldn't take it anymore. "How nice of him."

"Yes. He has good taste." Mr. Wayne was probably as lost as she was here.

"So," Marinette bit the inside of her cheek. "You're my dad."

Mr. Wayne tensed considerably. His jaw set as he stared back at her. "Yes."

"Cool. That's cool," she said. "I-I mean, not that it wouldn't be cool if you weren't my dad, Mr. Wayne, because you're Bruce Wayne and you're like a superhero, but─uh, that doesn't mean I think you're a superhero because you're Bruce Wayne... but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be totally cool if you were a superhero, either, because superheroes are cool and you're... cool. Sir." Marinette blushed crimson. "I'll just, uh, shut up now."

Mr. Wayne started chuckling.? Marinette nearly had a heart attack while telling him that he was cool and he was laughing at her misfortune? Maybe he wasn't so cool after all. "Marinette," Mr. Wayne said, standing from the bed. He approached her and his foot falls sounded like glass shattering. He put a hand on her shoulder, smiling kindly. His smiles were always kind. Marinette couldn't help but stare at the offending limb on her shoulder. You couldn't tell from pictures, but Mr. Wayne had a lot of scars on his hand. Marinette had scars on her hands, too. A lot of them were from when she'd first started sewing. A lot of accidents back then. And Marinette never used her cure for things that didn't involve akumas, so she ended up getting injured and scared a lot more when she'd try stopping a random robber in an alley. And Marinette was also clumsy, so... yeah. Lots of scars. She wondered where Mr. Wayne got his scars from. "Call me Bruce."

"O-oh." She swallowed. "Okay, Bruce."

Bruce looked like he was about to say something else, but then he let go of her shoulder and turned around. "Come with me. Your classmates are worried about you." He opened the door quickly and stepped outside. Marinette scrambled off of the bed, hurrying to follow the billionaire. His pace was slower than that day they'd been at the new Wayne Enterprise Laboratory.