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“We should totally do a double date with Kagami and Damian.” Adrien said cheerfully.
Marinette raised her eyebrows at her boyfriend. “Are you sure?” Her lips quirked up. Adrien had the most disruptively well intentioned ideas at times, but it was cute that he tried so hard.
Adrien tilted his head at her. “Why wouldn't I be?”
“Your funeral.” Marinette told him. “I’ll let Damian know. Do you have anything in particular you wanted to do?”
“Well…”
***
“Why are we here?” Damian questioned angrily as they walked up to the ticket booth.
“To have fun.” Adrien replied with excitement. “I thought the carnival would be a great double date.”
“Adrien, I love you, but stop.” Kagami deadpanned.
Marinette started giggling. Adrien was trying so hard to motivate the stoic couple into enjoying the carnival. “I tried to warn you Kitty. Not exactly the ideal date for my brother.” Damian growled at a passing clown. “Our family has a tendency towards the more dramatic.”
Adrien looked thoughtful. “What if we go scam some of the carnival games?”
Marinette could feel her own interest grow as she watched the faces of her brother and his girlfriend grow mischievous. Maybe Adrien had a point after all.
Twenty minutes later they had determined the perfect approach to encountering the carnival scams. Marinette and Adrien would primarily take the games which revolved around luck. Adrien would use his bad luck to cover for Marinette’s use of good luck.
Damian would take the ladder climb first, followed by Kagami, Marinette and Adrien. Damian and Marinette were both trained for superior balance and core control and made their way up the climb strategically. Adrien climbed the ladder quickly with his cat like reflexes. And Kagami attempted the climb and almost made it to the top before she lost her balance and fell. Considering the girl had possessed her miraculous for less time than Adrien and lacked that specific set of training the girl was a good sport about it. In a few months she would probably be able to navigate it as easily as Adrien had done. After all dragons are just big reptilian cats.
For their next assault Adrien and Kagami gleefully held onto their gathered prizes as they watched the twins annihilate the shooting games. When Marinette and Damian destroyed their bb gun star in sync the game runners jaw dropped. Kagami and Adrien cheered.
Kagami took on the strength test and shocked those who observed the tiny girl almost break the bell with her strike. Her and Damian also annihilated the balloon dart game while Marinette and Adrien were scamming the luck based games.
Overall they accumulated a large collection of prizes, some of which were distributed to kids around the carnival as they meandered around the stalls.
Some of the games were less for prizes and more for bragging rights. Adrien was quite pleased that he reigned supreme on the mechanical bull. Practice hanging onto akumas during attacks created an advantage for him and Marinette, though Adrien was more likely to use that particular tactic in any given battle.
In the end Kagami won Damian several goldfish and a betta fish from one of the various stalls. Tikki blessed the fish with resilience and luck considering that stressful situations could be detrimental to their health. If some of the other fish were also taken to good homes that day then she knew absolutely nothing about it. Marinette had already texted Alfred to get two tanks set up for the new members of her brother's menagerie.
Adrien got a large Panther stuffy for Marinette from the basketball toss game. Having one's own net in his room was definitely a good way to practice, especially if the height was adjustable. He had also won the milk bottle toss, but cats are abnormally skilled at knocking things over.
Marinette won a majority of the luck based games throughout the carnival and though she gave a large number of the prizes to children they came across she did keep an adorable ladybug plushy and had an idea for a matching black kitten to go with it.
Damian won a ginormous green Dragon that he gifted to Kagami, though he continued to carry it as the stuffed animal was larger than his girlfriend.
Marinette was sure that most of the games would not be welcoming their group back anytime soon, but it was certainly amusing to see their reactions to the small quartet of teens clearing out every game in the carnival with ease.
After several hours of showing off their skills Marinette prompted them into taking a leisurely ride on the ferris wheel before they left for the manor. With Tikki keeping an eye on her brother's pets she was confident in their ability to make it home and not concerned about the subtle altitude change when they climbed into the small metal basket.
Marinette settled into Adriens side and watched her brother and Kagami do the same on the bench across from them.
“So my idea wasn’t that awful?” Adrien commented. Though Marinette could pick up on the self consciousness in her kitty's tone she had to trust the others on this.
Damian sighed. “No Agreste, the day was actually quite enjoyable. I never thought I would find playing games for overpriced prizes to be so entertaining, but today was actually fun.”
Kagami had a minor smile on her face. “Thank you Adrien, for organizing this experience. I have never attended a carnival before.”
Adrien was now smiling brightly. “Me neither.”
Marinette patted her boyfriend's leg. Her and Damian had been taken to a circus by Dick when they first came to Gotham. That had been more about their brother sharing a piece of his past than games. Their focus at the time had been the performances and animals present, but they had also been dragged along to other fairs and carnivals in the guise of family bonding. All four teens in the group had experienced unconventional upbringings, it was part of what helped them bond.
“I am glad we all got to experience this together Kitty.” Marinette told him as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “It was fun, though I don’t expect we would be allowed back in if it weren't for the fact that hardly anyone in Gotham would ban the Wayne’s.
Adrien laughed at her comment. “Well Bugaboo for a double date I think we can call this a success.”
The rest of the group smiled in varying degrees at Adriens enthusiasm. Marinette even started giggling. “Their faces.” She got out between giggles. “Kwami but that was amusing.”
Damian started chuckling followed by Kagami's quiet laughter. Marientte marveled at the way her boyfriends seemingly ill planned idea for a date had turned into such a success. She was sure the idea hit Adrien out of one of the anime he loved to watch, but it was effective nonetheless. Such an odd group of teens sitting at the top of a ferris wheel in Gotham.
The heir to a fencing heritage and large shipping company. The son of one of the world's premier fashion designers. And the son and daughter of the wealthiest businessman in the world, the children of Batman, and twin heirs to the Demons head. Each of them had been groomed from birth to fill a role in their parents world, but each of them broke free. Together they foraged a new destiny and found love that was not conditional upon their successes and failures. Their friendships were stronger than the wills of those who raised them. Even the great, and exhausted, Batman could not contain them into the boxes the world wished to put them into.
In the city of love Marinette had learned that love extended past the conditional offerings of her Mother and Grandfather, beyond the love her father and brothers had to grow for herself and her twin. She learned that love could come from others then her twin and the family she had learned to love in Gotham. Love could be found in friendships, mentorships, partnerships and more recently romance.
Gotham might not be a place most considered to be filled with love, but in that moment in the little metal bucket on top of the ferris wheel four teens were able to rest in more love than most of them had ever experienced. It was an odd team, a dragon, bird, ladybug, and cat usually were, but who could judge them for building something good out of their isolation.
When they returned to the manor Marinette laughed at the expected onslaught of questions from the rest of the family about their date. It was a different type of love, but all four enjoyed the aggressive display of affection and concern. Their family might be odd, but it was welcoming to many who couldn't fit elsewhere.