#timinette

She glared intently at the phone as if the power of her stare could force the letters to appear before her eyes.  However, after several minutes of giving the phone her best intimidating stare, the answer had the audacity of not appearing to her.  But she was not going to let this inanimate object defeat her.

She heaved a frustrated sigh and turned toward the man next to her.  “Excuse me,” she started curtly, too frustrated to ask in a more flirty manner.  This was about answers, not dates.

The man looked up immediately, eye wide with surprise.  His eyes flashed brightly and his lips lifted in a hint of a smile for a few seconds before he shook his head and furrowed his brows in confusion remembering her previous tone.  “Um, yes?”

 “I swear I’m not dumb,” she promised.  She softened her tone, or at least tried, it ended up coming out only slightly softer because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t restrain her frustration and shove it down.

“Okay…” he answered, brows furrowing even deeper at her statement.  “I didn’t mean to imply you were?”

“No, not you, this!” She groaned and shoved her phone in his face.  “I’m absolutely stuck, and I swear I’m not as stupid as this is making me feel.”

He blinked at the phone taking in the game, five guesses in, a good amount of letters eliminated, two letters confirmed, and one letter in place.  He whistled lowly.  “High stakes.”

“Right!” she exclaimed throwing her hands out in exasperation, nearly dropping the phone.  “Almost all of the consonants have been eliminated and the ones left don’t make any sense.”  She glowered at her phone, trying again to intimidate it into revealing its secrets, missing the amused smile that spread on his lips.  “This is so frustrating.  It’s making me feel stupid.  I’m not stupid!  I can think of at least 10 words off the top of my head that would work in French.”

“Maybe they have a French version?” he offered.

“They do!  And I kill it in that one.”  She pouted at the phone.  “I look like I don’t even know English.  I’m fluent, damnit!”

He chuckled and shook his head.  “Don’t worry.  My brother can’t do it to save his life, and English is his native language.  He won’t even try anymore.”

She looked over at him, her eyes wide and pleading.  “Do you have any ideas? … please,” she tacked on quickly. 

He was so lost in her eyes, it took him a few seconds to register what she said and compose himself.  “Isn't that cheating?” he teased.

Marinette gasped in exaggerated horror.  “NO!  It's...” she took in a breath and let it out, staring at nothing as she worked to come up with a response.  “It’s utilizing my environmental resources,” she finally settled on with a decisive nod.

He burst out laughing and adjusted in his seat so he could lean closer to her.  “That sounds like military speak for cheating.”

“Well, I'm not military,” she scoffed with a smile, “so it's just an accurate description the situation.”

“Right,” he nodded, his lips split in a massive smile.  “Obviously.”

“Obviously,” she agreed.  She met his gaze for a few breaths then redirected her eyes to her phone.  “But what isn’t obvious, is the answer to this.”

He watched her for another moment then looked at her phone.  “Right.  Okay.  There’s an e and a u…the n is in the middle.  No t, no s, no l, no r…”

She suddenly perked up.  “How about ‘hinge’?”  Her eyes searched the letters at the bottom to confirm it would work.

He searched the letters as well, nodding more rapidly the longer he looked.  “That could work,” he agreed.

“Okay,” she nodded with determination.  “Let’s do this.  Wish us luck.”  He nodded back and edged closer to her so he could watch her phone over her shoulder.  She entered it and grasped her phone so tightly, her knuckles turned white before tapping Enter.  The letters shook for a second but did not turn green.  Instead, the word ‘ENNUI’ flashed at the top of the screen.

“What.  The.  Hell?” she growled, enunciating each word harshly.  “That’s not English!  That’s French!  That’s a French word!”  She had been staring at the letters for a few seconds before she was brought out of it by chuckling over her shoulder.

"Don't laugh!" she exclaimed before twisting just enough to smack his chest.  "It isn't funny," she groused dramatically.  

“It's a little funny,” he countered.

She huffed and glared back at her screen.  “I cannot believe… THAT WAS ONE OF THE WORDS I WAS THINKING ABOUT!” she whisper screeched.  “That was one of the French words I thought would work.  You can’t… English can’t just steal other languages’ words.”

He took a drink of his coffee with a grimace.  “That’s… that’s kind of what English is.  It’s really just a bunch of words stolen from just about every other language in existence, all standing on each other under an anorak masquerading as a real language.”  He nudged her with a sympathetic smile.  “I’m sorry you didn’t get it.”

The genuineness in his voice instantly brought her out of her funk.  She shrugged and gave him a small smile.  “It’s just a game.  I really appreciate your help, though.  Even if it didn’t work out so well.”

They continued to stare into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before he finally looked away with a quiet clearing of his throat.  He glanced back, eyes settling on her phone.  “They have other games you know.  Have you played some of their other games?  They can be fun too… unless you have other plans.”

“Oh no,” she assured him quickly.  “I’m just meeting my friend here, but she’s running late, so I have time.  Which games do you recommend?”  She held her phone out for him to see.

“I’m Tim, by the way,” he held his hand out for her.

She beamed in response, leaning closer as she shook his hand.  “Hi, Tim.  It’s really nice to meet you.  I’m…”

“Marinette!” Stephanie called from the doorway as she rushed into the café.  “Oh my God!  I’m so sorry!  I got caught up in… Okay, I overslept and then I couldn’t just leave with my hair looking like that.  But I am sor…” she froze and blinked at Marinette and Tim.  “Oh!  You met already!  Awesome.  Job done.  I can go back to bed.  Enjoy the date!” she called over her shoulder, already pulling the ponytail holder out of her hair.  “I expect details later!”

“You said you wanted to meet up!” Marinette exclaimed after her.

Stephanie turned in the doorway with a cocky smirk.  “I said I wanted to hook you up,” she corrected.  Her eyes darted over to Tim.  “Didn’t even have to be here to do it either.”  She turned to Tim.  “See I told you I did my best work asleep.  And you doubted me,” she tutted and with a wink, she disappeared through the door.

Marinette huffed a laugh and turned toward Tim.  She looked at him for a few seconds before she perked up in her seat, eyes brightening.  “Oh!  You’re Tim!  That Tim!  She has been talking you up for weeks.”

He quirked his head to the side and studied her for a second then sighed with a smile.  “You must be the woman she wanted to set me up with.  She didn’t tell me anything about you.  Just told me I’d thank her.  I was honestly rather terrified to meet you.”  He watched her as she barked out a laugh, his eyes softening as she shook her head, eyes shining with mirth.

“That sounds like Steph,” she agreed.

She turned her smile on him and he felt his own smile widening.   “I think she’s right,” he finally stated, without any uncertainty.  “I should thank her.”

Marinette nodded in agreement.  “Oui, me too.”  She looked down then up shyly through her lashes.  “Did you want to move to a table?”

“I absolutely would,” he agreed then his eyes caught on the clock.  “Or, we can go somewhere else and get lunch… continue your games… or no games just talking.”

Marinette grinned at his offer.  “I love that idea.  Maybe we can talk now and play games later, but as a team.”

“I would love that,” he grinned back.  “But we absolutely have to plan how to get back at Steph for this.  We can’t let her win.”

“Oh absolutely,” she agreed with an adorable giggle as she passed through the door.  “I play to win.”

“It doesn’t matter, she’s just spending time with us for work,” he muttered back, trying not to frown at the thought. He wanted to have a closer relationship with Marinette but she was extremely good at remaining professional, at least when it came to him. Jason seemed to be friendly with her, and Damian had practically given his seal of approval to her after she connected him with one of his civilian heroes. “Besides, you already met her when you needed help with that case the other day, so there’s no need to do it again.” 

“But I was distracted! And that was before Robin-” Dick began to argue hotly, only stopping when the door behind them opened again and they heard Bruce give a long-suffering sigh. “Hey B! And LB! All done with the paperwork?” 

“Yep!” she replied, smiling softly as she entered the room fully. Tim thought she was impressive, and kind of cute, but he’d already decided that he wanted to win Marinette over. It was another reason he didn’t want Dick to meet her and give her yet another reason not to bother with him. Besides, he didn’t know Ladybug, not the way he’d gotten to know Marinette over the course of months through email. “But I need to head home, I’ve got a lot to do over the next few days. But at least now you can call on me if you need me.” 

Waving as she stepped over to the Zeta Tube, Ladybug was gone in seconds, and Dick decided that he needed to continue badgering Tim about meeting Marinette. Apparently, a passing nod as he dragged Tim off to do research on Mad Hatter didn’t count as a proper introduction. And there was practically no way to stop Dick from meeting her and causing Tim no end of grief, so maybe it would be better if he facilitated it. 

“You know, she's supposed to be coming to the house tomorrow,” he said begrudgingly, already regretting the decision when Dick practically squealed with excitement. “But you have to be chill about it. She's coming over to use the gym because she doesn't trust any of the ones in Gotham - because she's smart - and then we're going to work on some other stuff. If you cannot be calm, you can't come, okay?” 

“Sure!” Dick chirped, but the delighted grin on his face spoke only of trouble. 

_ _ _

“Thanks again for letting me use the gym,” Marinette said, shucking off her coat and allowing Alfred to take it away. Tim tried not to swallow his tongue as he gave her an involuntary once over: he’d thought he’d known that she was attractive before, but seeing her in athletic wear was a whole new experience and he hadn’t been prepared. “Did you want to join me or…?” 

“Oh, uh, no, I worked out earlier,” he replied automatically, trying not to flush when she smiled at him. “But I’ll take you there now, and I can show you how to use anything you don’t recognise. If you want me to.” 

They walked along the hallway, Tim trying to stay slightly ahead of her in case his eyes wandered below her head. The way her chatter bubbled between them, excitement obvious in her voice as he led her into the home gym, made him want to do something stupid, like tell her he was in love with her. Not that he thought he was, not really. Not yet. But she was very easy to like, and he definitely had a strong attraction for her that he couldn’t easily ignore. 

“Oh, hey Tim! And this must be Marinette,” Dick called out from the trapeze equipment in the corner of the room. Dread settled into Tim’s bones as the eldest Robin dropped down and came over to say hello. “It’s so nice to meet you at last! Tim speaks very highly of you, and Damian told me you ‘weren’t too heinous’, which is Damian-speak for awesome. I’m their older brother, Dick.” 

“Enchanté,” she said amusedly, her eyes brightening as she took in his attire. “Are you here to exercise as well? Perhaps you would like to warm up together?” 

Tim could only watch jealously as Dick accepted her offer and went to the mats to start with some simple stretches. If he hadn’t been on autopilot when she’d asked, he could have been helping her to warm up. Instead, he had to pretend to be busy on the laptop he’d set up on a nearby bench and glare at Dick whenever Marinette wasn’t looking. Which was often, as she settled into her stretches and started to look around to plan her workout. 

He managed to distract himself while Dick and Marinette made their way around the room, occasionally getting caught up in watching her lean form lifting weights heavier than he would have expected for a woman her size. So he missed when the pair had exhausted the weights and made their way over to the trapeze. Really, he hadn’t expected much of anything that Marinette was doing, but that was because he thought she would lift some light weights and maybe workout on the treadmill. 

The first point at which he noticed what the pair were up to was Dick’s loud laugh as Marinette did a flip towards him and caught hold of his hands. His heart was in his throat as the pair did a simple routine that Tim knew was being made up on the fly but looked choreographed. Hell, Marinette looked as at ease up on the bars as Dick did, which was an impressive feat considering he was raised in a circus. 

The friendly collaboration turned to more competitive banter that resulted in the pair trying to one up each other with flips and tricks. Tim abandoned all pretense that he was working to watch the way they moved, both flexible enough to pull off the trickiest moves and land safely. It was fortunate that Bruce wasn’t here, if only because Tim wasn’t sure he wouldn’t try to recruit Marinette to the cause since she was living in Gotham. 

Finally, Dick missed a move and landed in the safety net, making Marinette cheer loudly enough that Tim had an excuse to wander over to see what was going on. Seconds after he approached the outer edge of the equipment, she dropped into the net Dick was in the process of vacating, making him fall back, laughing. 

“Tim, I have no idea where you found her but I’m keeping her,” Dick cackled as he clambered back out of the net, successfully this time, and grabbed his gym towel. “We have to do this again, soon! Catch me before you leave and I’ll give you my number so we can discuss when works best for both of us, okay?” 

“He’s fun,” Marinette said, slightly breathlessly as Dick sauntered out of the gym to go and shower. Tim hummed noncommittally, already thinking of ways to get his own back on the first Robin. His brain immediately stopped working when Marinette casually slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and began pulling him towards the work he’d abandoned. “So, what have you been working on in between staring at us?” 

“What- you- I wasn’t staring,” he blustered, flushing when she gave a giggle. “I wasn’t! I just- Dick doesn’t often find someone that can keep up with him on the trapeze, that’s all. You, uh, you were really impressive up there.” 

“Thanks! Maybe next time you can join in with some of the workout, show me some of your moves,” she suggested evenly, no hint of anything other than polite interest. But the fact that she wasn’t even looking in the direction of the laptop made his palms sweat slightly and his heart race. “Or maybe we could just go and get dinner or something. You know, not surrounded by your family members. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice, but I’d like to spend more time with you.” 

“Yeah?” he asked, voice cracking. God, he was not playing this as cool as he wanted to. Was she asking him on a date? It sounded like a date, but maybe she just meant to talk about work. “That- I’d like that. Um, when did you want to…” 

“I’m free most evenings,” she said in a low voice, looking up through her eyelashes and giving him a small, secretive smile. Maybe this was a dream, or a hallucination, because he didn’t think he was lucky enough to have the pretty woman that could out-gymnast Dick flirting with him. But when he didn’t respond, she looked nervous and put a little space between them. “Unless I’m reading you wrong, in which case I’m so sorry for-”