It took Damian a while to notice. He was thirteen and had been living with his father for three years. But during that time, he was so preoccupied with trying to convince his father he was ready to be Robin and fight by his time that he allowed few things to take away his focus. However, when he did, when he let himself really be apart of his new family, did he get really angry.
Dick and Jason had each other.
Tim and Cassandra had each other.
Who did that leave Damian? Certainly not the fat girl.
It wasn’t Fair. Damian deserved a sibling best friend too. It was only right.
So when Damian had learned of a blue-eyed, Dark-haired hero, a teen girl not much older than him, who wore a black armored supersuit into battle against a magical terrorist and protected her city day and night… Damian knew he had found the one.
If his father could adopt random kids into the family, then so could Damian. Fair was fair.
A little later, he was in Paris talking with Lady Noire,
It was a few days later when the others kids came to breakfast to find Damian and a pretty, Asian girl talking adamantly about the villains they had fought, with Alfred shaking his had in the background an amused look on his face, that someone asked the obvious question.
It was from Tim. “Who… are you?”
“Marinette,” She said as she took a bite of her pancakes.
“She’s our new sister,” Damian declared. Marinette giggled. She had come to Gotham for the chance to train with an actual superhero. Her parents thought she was at camp. “She is a Parisian hero named Lady Noire. Get used to it.”
It went silent as Dick, Jason, Tim, Cassandra, and Alfred all just stared blankly at the two.
The moment was broken when Jason slammed money on the table, “Thirty says it takes Bruce a week to notice.”
Bets were placed.
Tim said two weeks. Dick said within the day. (He still believed in his dad, okay!) Cassandra said eight days, or a month if there is a league mission.
Alfred placed a hundred dollars on the table, “Within seventy-two hours.”
“Then it’s a bet,” Tim said but pointed at Marinette. “But you have to call him dad if he spots you in the hall.”
“Deal,” Marinette smirked. She always liked a bit of chaos. It was why she had been given the Cat miraculous.
Turns out Alfred was right. Alfred was always right.
One night, nearly three days later, Bruce had sat down at the dinner. All of his kids and Alfred were at the table too. They were sharing a lovely meal when Bruce suddenly did a double-take.
His froze and his eyes narrowed. He took a mental count of his kids, adopted and otherwise. He counted them off on his fingers. Dick, Jason, Cassandra, Barbara, Tim, Luke, Stephanie, Damian… What was it right?
Right? Yes, Bruce thought, he was almost certain.
He narrowed his eyes at the blue-eyed, dark-haired girl sitting next to Tim. She certainly looked like one of his though. Did he adopt another and forget. That happened with Tim… and Stephanie… And Luke. They got over it. Hopefully, this one would too.
Bruce placed his hands slowly on the table, “And… you are?” He asked the young girl.
“Marinette,” She said slowly in her best English accent, not wanting to give away the game yet. “I’m a hero too. Lady Noire. Some call me Chat Noire,” She crinkled her nose. She never liked that name. “Its how Damian found me. My mother’s Catwoman.” Marinette suddenly added, which caused Jason to spit water all over the table. Marinette smiled, sweetly, “She says I’m to live here now. With my father.”
“Oh,” Bruce gulped. Another one. “Welcome.” He stood up. “Excuse me.” He said and ran from the room before anyone could tell him they were joking.
Within minutes, Bruce had pulled up everything he could on the bat computer about Lady Noire; and sure enough a blue-eyed, dark-haired, all black wearing, superhero had been making the round. “Dammit.” And with that, he put on his suit, got into the batmobile, and was gone.
Not long after, Batman was banging on Selena’s window.
Catwoman answered with a ‘What the fuck’ look on her face.
He shoved a picture of Lady Noire, the black cat-themed superhero, in her face, “ I have questions!”
Selena took the picture. It was clearly a young girl, a hero, that looked like she could easily be one of Bruce’s kids, “Not as many as I do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about our daughter?” He blurted.
Before she could cuss him out. Or just asked what the hell. She got a text from Jason, explaining everything. A smirk slowly spread across her face.
Oh, Selena thought, this would be fun.
Selena crossed her arms indignantly, “I gave up her for adoption. Not ready for the mom thing. And you weren’t in the best place at the time. That’s it.” She shrugged. “I kept in touch. Made sure she was alright. Kid got into some trouble with local villains. I sent her to you.”
“You should’ve told me!”
“You know now.”
“Selena!”
After this it becomes a running joke on how long everyone could keep Bruce thinking Marinette was Batman’s and Catwoman’s love child.
Marinette just happy someone was finally taking the time to really train her.
