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#Jasonette July Mistakes
abyssal-ali · 8 months
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Hi, my friend is asking why there are so many maribat fics, and especially with DamiMari.
Maybe you know about the history of these crossovers in Batman Fandom?
Hi!
(Fellow Maribat fans, feel free to add your own commentary or correct any of my mistakes.)
So @/ozmav created the Damian x Marinette ship in 2018, I think? It was just a fun little crossover that blew up and became really popular. I was not around either of those fandoms at the time, so I'm not sure about all the details.
Daminette was the first Maribat ship created, so it was around the longest, and thus accumulated the most works.
Eventually, the other Bat Boys got their own ship, and now the Maribat (or now, more technically, DCxMLB) fandom has so many more ships and crossovers -not necessarily between the Bat/MLB main characters.
Some rarepair ships (any DCxMLB ship not between one of the four main Bat Boys and Marinette) include Konette (Conner Kent/Superboy and Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug) and Timdrien (Tim Drake/Red Robin and Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir), to name a couple.
The Maribat fandom also crosses over with multiple fandoms, like DPxDCxMLB or MCUxDCxMLB.
Some pure MLB and DC stans definitely dislike Maribatters, especially during the beginning of the fandom, when the tags for both fandoms were cluttered with DCxMLB content. Now that it's grown so much and has its own tags, I think the hate has calmed down somewhat. (Although, I prefer to keep out of fandom drama, so I may simply have missed the hateful discourse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)
Overall, the Maribat fandom has really grown from a crack ship to its own large, well-populated community. There are tags on Ao3 and many discord servers, which runs events such as "Jasonette July" and "Maribat? Get In! [a server] Civil War".
On a personal note:
As to my thoughts on the ships themselves, my favorites are Daminette (Damian Wayne/Robin and Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug) and Jasonette (Jason Todd/Red Hood and Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug). It's always fascinating to rotate a character or ship in your head like a rotisserie chicken, considering their Canon and Fanon traits and then exploring them in whatever medium you choose (my medium of choice is writing fanfiction).
For Daminette, the ship you specifically asked about, I am drawn to it because I find the differences between the couple adorable. I personally have a fondness for the Grumpy x Sunshine trope, a Tsundere male lead, and relationship/character growth. (Of course, sometimes it's nice just to read a cute 500 word drabble with no plot, no specific dynamics, and no development, where the couple is just cute and happy.)
I think that is one of the beauties of Maribat. With so many various ships and characters to choose from, there's something for everyone, and we can all bond over belonging to the same fandom(s). Some of us have joined from the MLB side, some from the DC side, some just got dragged in by a friend and have no knowledge of either fandom, and that's okay! With so much to explore in both fandoms, there is constantly new content* being made with love (and tears. And laughter, both evil and joyful. And hornin-).
I've made some of my best friends through this fandom, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
I hope this helps, and I apologize if my ramblings detracted from my answers!💜
*Yes, I am aware of the popular Tropes such as "Akuma Class Trip to Gotham" and "Long-Lost Wayne".
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themaribatpit · 2 years
Text
Love and War: Chapter 2
Prompt: Thigh (Jasonette July) @maribat-calendar-events
Rating: M for violence  
Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Chapter 1 - Chapter 3
Chapter 2
Jason often felt more comfortable sleeping in his private room at the Iceberg Lounge.  It was lonely, but he was left to suffer in silence and battle his own demons.  Sure, there was the simple joy of reading to Marinette while she rested her head on his thigh, and his voice would lull her to sleep after a long day at the shop or after finishing a difficult commission. He made the mistake of falling asleep at Marinette’s place once before, it wasn’t one he planned on making again.
Once, Jason had spent many sleepless nights trying to take care of some upstarts encroaching on his territory. He offered to let them join him, provided they played by his rules.  Sadly, they refused and that made them troublesome for him to deal with.  The thought of running into Batman was enough to make the more skittish goons back out for good, but the rest of them needed some persuading.  Jason was cooling his heels in Marinette’s apartment one night, while she was toiling away working on some commissions. She didn’t say anything as Jason drifted off to sleep, this was one of the few times he slept in her apartment. It was one of the few times, and after this time, it was the only time.
The nightmares that haunted him had eventually caught up to him, and Jason couldn’t seem to outrun them this time.  He felt the CRACK of the Joker’s crowbar across his face. He heard the ringing in his ears as the timer on the bomb reached zero, and the firey explosion that followed and snuffed him out. He watched himself sink deeper and deeper into the Lazarus Pits, several pairs of eyes watched and waited for him in anticipation.  They could not foresee the vengeful killer that would emerge, one who would kill them all with the ease that they had killed many others.  Jason felt the waters burning his skin, as flesh and bone knitted back together, as he felt himself being reforged into the man he was today.  His cries for help were silenced, all that came out was the desperate gargling of a drowning man. Did he cry out for help? Or was he crying out for someone to put him out of his misery? This time, through the surface, he could just about make out a figure staring down at him. She was reaching towards him, as if she was offering him a way out.  While he was underwater it sounded muffled, but it almost sounded like that person was calling his name.  Jason tried to swim to the surface, arms scrambling as he tried to reach out and take that person’s hand. Wherever they planned to lead him, it had to be better than here, right? “Jason…” he heard the voice call as he drew closer and closer, “Jason…”
“Jason!” his eyes shot open and he saw Marinette leap back in shock, “Jason?” she asked more tentatively, probably wondering if he was still the person she knew.  It took Jason a moment to realise where he was, he looked around the room, he felt the thick futon beneath him, he took a deep breath. 
“How long was I out for?” he asked, his voice sounded groggy. “I came home and saw that you were asleep, I didn’t want to wake you so I just kept working on my commission. Suddenly, you…”she trailed off, she was at his side and her eyes were wide with concern.  “Did something happen to you?” she asked softly.
Jason rubbed the bridge of his nose, her concern was touching, but telling her all that he had been through would have her running for the hills. He wouldn’t blame her if she did.  Jason looked into her sad eyes wishing he could tell her, tell someone all that he had been through. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and he held her hand close to him.  “For many years in Paris,” she began, “there was someone who was always on the hunt for people who were feeling angry, scared, and heartbroken.” Jason had seen some files on what was happening in Paris back when he was Robin, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.  The Justice League was repeatedly told to stay out of it, and no one knew why at the time.  Marinette was used to seeing people being turned into literal, rampaging monsters because someone wanted to harness the power of those emotions for their own ends.  This ongoing calamity only stopped just before he returned to Gotham, but from what he gathered, the people of Paris haven’t been the same since. “If something happened to you before, you know you can always tell me about it, okay?” she said encouragingly.  
When he did manage to get it together, he gave her a weak smile and told her, “It was just a bad dream Pixie, don’t worry about it.” Jason hoped that calling her by the nickname he had for her would get her to change the subject.  He wanted to tell her, but that would mean telling her everything, and he wasn’t sure if she was ready for that.
“Do you give nicknames to everyone you meet?” Marinette asked with a sigh, followed by a smile shortly after.
“Not to every girl I meet, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he joked. He got to his feet and looked around the tiny kitchen for something to eat, he could still see the slightly concerned look on her face.  Once she’d even asked about the white streak in his hair, and he simply shrugged and said it just grew out like that.  The fact that he could lie to her so easily turned his stomach, he convinced himself that he was doing it to protect her.  Having been raised by Batman, having grown up alongside Dick and Barbara, most of the people he knew were already vigilantes themselves.  They understood that their identities had to be kept separate in order to protect people, especially those close to them. Right now, the guilt of lying to someone who was close to him was starting to weigh on him.  
So from that night on, he made a note to never fall asleep in Marinette’s apartment, no matter how nice and warm it felt.  Sadly, it meant spending his mornings in his room in the Iceberg Lounge.  More recently, he had been spending time in his bunker, researching Ladybug and trying to figure out what the hell she was doing in Gotham. She hadn’t been seen in her home city of Paris for about 5 years, and there haven’t been any sightings of her anywhere else.  Why was she snooping around one of his warehouses? What did she hope to find in Gotham City? Nothing added up.  He hadn’t seen her since that night. If she came here to join up with some other heroes, literally anyone else would have jumped at the chance to take her under their wing.
Marinette started her morning like many others, she woke up to find Jason had already left, she wasn’t entirely sure if he got any sleep the entire night.  He told her that he worked at the Iceberg Lounge, and that was the reason why he left early in the morning.  Between working at the shop and doing her commissions, Marinette never really had the chance to see the place for herself.  It was a quiet day at the shop today, as she strummed her fingers on the counter. Very few customers came in, but a certain crime lord didn’t come knocking on her door either.  She was worried he’d show up asking if she knew anything about Ladybug and what she was doing at the warehouse that night.  As the hours ticked by, she was by herself and only had Tikki for company.  Marinette was alone with her thoughts for the most part, and found herself thinking back to one of the few times she found Jason asleep in her apartment.  
At first, when she returned to her apartment that night and found him sleeping, she let him sleep. This was because for a moment, he looked completely at peace.  Sure, there was a softness to him underneath the veneer of bravado and sarcasm, and she had a feeling that she was one of the few who knew about it.  When she saw him sleeping, he looked almost vulnerable, and Marinette had no intention of ruining this moment.  So, she tried to work quietly, so as not to wake him.  The tapping of her sewing machine seemed a lot louder than usual at that moment, and she kept glancing over to see if she had accidentally woken him.  Later in the night, he had begun to stir in his sleep. Marinette didn’t move, she pulled away from the sewing machine to see if that was interrupting his sleep.  After a long moment, it only got worse from there.  His once peaceful expression was gone, he furrowed his eyebrows and gritted his teeth.  He began violently tossing and turning on the futon, and Marinette was immediately alarmed.  Tikki emerged from her usual hiding spot, pulling at Marinette’s sleeve to get her attention.  “Marinette…” Marinette looked down at Kwami, hoping they had an explanation for what was happening. “Do you feel it? Do you sense the magic in this very room getting stronger and stronger?” Marinette knew Tikki was right, but it didn’t have anything to do with what was happening in front of her, did it?  
Jason had begun hissing in pain, and Marinette knew she couldn’t continue to watch in horror.  It made her heart sink to see someone she cared about in this much pain, but she had to be brave if she was going to help him. “Jason…” she tried to call out to him, she inched closer and closer towards him, reaching out to gently touch him.  He was still twitching slightly as she inched closer still.  “Jason…” she tried again, his head shook but he didn’t wake. “Jason!” she finally called, hoping that would make him snap out of whatever nightmare he was having.  His eyes shot open and Marinette leapt back in shock, his soft aquamarine eyes were now a bright green. She didn’t want to say anything at that moment, she was too stunned. As he woke up from his nightmare and got his barings, they started to fade back into the colour she knew and loved.  Marinette tried to ask him what happened, but to no avail, he just brushed it aside as a bad dream.  Marinette had her share of bad dreams, mostly from her time as Ladybug. In those dreams she had been unable to save people from their demise. That said, her nightmares didn’t make her eyes do that.  
She loved Jason, but there was a part of him that he seemed to keep secret even from her.  One time she saw him shirtless, and although she was a little embarrassed at first, her curiosity surpassed her embarrassment as she saw several scars along his body.  He flinched slightly when she reached out to touch them. Naturally, she wondered what happened to him in order for him to get these scars. He simply said that he got in a lot of fights as a kid and well into his teens, and all Marinette could wonder was, with who? Even the most rough and tumble kids didn’t have quite this many scars, but again, Marinette didn’t push the subject.  
“Is something wrong?” Tikki asked, and Marinette glanced down at Tikki, who was sitting in her lap and looking up at her.  The Kwami tried to stay out of sight from the customers, but today was slow enough that no one would notice them as long as they weren’t in the shop window.  Jason would tell her the truth about his scars and his nightmares when he was ready. After all, Marinette hadn’t told him that she was once the Parisian hero, Ladybug.  
“It’s nothing,” but before Marinette could say anything more, the bell above the door chimed and Jason entered the shop. Tikki dove into her pocket and Marinette leaned forward on the counter, “What can I do for you today?” she asked cheerfully. 
Jason propped himself against the door, and gave her a warm smile. “I was wondering if you planned on doing anything later?” he asked, there was something charming about this sight before her.  Marinette stood up and went over to the rack to straighten out some blazers that were perfectly fine minutes ago. He wasn’t going to let her live it down if just being around him was all it took to make her blush.
“Slow day today, why do you ask?” she turned back to him and smiled, hopefully her face didn’t look quite so red.  
“So I was thinking,” Jason leaned over the counter just as Marinette sat back down behind it, and he was just close enough that the tips of their noses almost touched “there’s a French restaurant in a nicer part of Gotham, if you’re feeling a little homesick.” Jason smiled, but Marinette cocked an eyebrow. True, she hadn’t really explored that much of Gotham, but this came out of blue. She wondered if there was any particular reason he was suggesting this.  He pulled back slightly, “Figured you could use a night-off, every night for this past week, you come straight home from running this place to work on commissions.”
Marinette knew he wasn’t entirely wrong, he didn’t know that the night before, she was on the hunt for a source of magic that seemed to hang over the city. However, explaining that would not only give away her big secret, it would also prove his point that she seemed to be working around the clock.  “I close the shop at 7pm, can you come by then?” Marinette suggested, Jason smiled and Marinette cursed that charming, mischievous smile every time it made her heart race.
“So it’s a date.” Indeed it was, as he stepped out of the shop.  Marinette sat there for a long moment to calm her racing pulse, before getting up and walking into the back room.  There were some spare clothes that she stored there for herself, in case she got splashed by a puddle on her way to work, or in case she forgot to bring a raincoat.  Hanging from a hanger was a simple black and white dress that she had recently cleaned and hung up in the back room.  It was simple, yet elegant enough to wear somewhere nice.
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miracle-sham · 3 years
Text
Long for Who You Could Have Been.
| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 4, Day 19: Mistakes} |
| [Ao3 Link] | | [Masterlist Link] | | [Spotify Playlist Link] |
———
| They might be monster hunters and that might mean their lives are fraught with chaos and danger. But there were moments in between the contracts and courts, fragile and wavering like the dying embers of a flame; where pasts, and hopes, and dreams were shared in the refuge of the campfire. |
| Word Count: 1,764. |
———
| A/N: So this is my second to last Jasonette July fic but the last to actually be posted in July since the other fic (Prompt: Loss) is taking longer than expected to write, whoops! Anyway here's a shorter Witcher au that's mostly fluff with a tinge of sadness here and there. Definitely feels weird to be using/needing so few tags for the first time in a long while! Lastly, thanks to my friend Saf whose reactions to the snippets I send her, absolutely fuel my will to write! |
| Also side note, Don’t Like? Don’t Read. Also also, please do not criticise any of my writing. This was written for fun and receiving criticism, even in a compliment/criticism sandwich, is the exact opposite of fun. |
———
The fire crackled gently, flames flickering in soft almost hypnotising patterns. The light and warmth were all that was keeping the chilling coastal mist at bay, from reaching their little makeshift camp.
Crescent moon and stars twinkled above, shining their silvery light down to mix with the ghostly mist below.
It was almost haunting, in the precious silence, punctuated only by the gentle lapping of waves against the cliff rocks not too far away. And the low hum of the local nocturnal bugs and other such creatures; the flap of bat wings, the cry of an owl, the flutter of moths and beetles, the scuttling of hedgehogs, mice, and foxes. The air was still, not even the faintest sea breeze and yet the fret rolled and crept and seeped into every nook and cranny outside of the protective glow of the campfire.
Jason sat on one side of the fire, on his bedroll and worked on cleaning his silver and steel swords with a rag, not quite humming as he quietly mouthed the words to a jaunty little tavern song, the Fishmonger's Daughter.
On the opposite side of the campfire, on her own bedroll, Marinette had a cloak splayed out across her knee with a needle and thread in hand. Tongue sticking out slightly, in concentration, carefully she darned away at the numerous little holes that had formed from walking through the thorny bush filled forest that their current contract had led them into entering.
With a huff, Jason threw the cleaning rag at the saddlebag on the ground beside him. He sheathed his swords and pulled out his favoured weapon, the crossbow with steel and silver-tipped bolts. Immediately he began checking the bolts for any potential damage and ensuring the shooting mechanism on the crossbow hadn't jammed.
“Something on your mind, Blue Jay?” Marinette asked, glancing up from her needlework for a moment.
He tipped his head back and sighed. “I've been thinking…”
“That's new.” She responded, mirth glinting obviously in her eyes and the bubble of laughter in her tone.
Jason gasped in faux offence, mindfully dropping his crossbow and scrambling for the cleaning rag just to throw it at her face.
Before it could hit her, Marinette plucked it out of the air with two fingers. She hummed mock-thoughtfully. “Your aim's off.”
“You take that back! My aim is impeccable. Alfred said so!” He argued back.
She snorted. “Alfred is biased because he's your grandfather figure. And I'll take it back next time we get through an entire contract without you missing a single shot.” To punctuate her point, she tossed the rag back at him.
He half-dived for it, grabbing it with both hands and with it safely in his grasp, placed the rag inside the saddlebag beside him. Throwing his arms up in mock-exasperation, Jason scowled playfully at her. “C'mon! That's not fair, you've never gone an entire contract without messing up or missing with your magic either!”
“Yeah,” Marinette agreed with a nod of her head and a smirk on her lips, “but I've never claimed to be perfect at magic!”
Her words caused him to falter slightly. “Right,” he swallowed a breath of air thickly, “That reminds me of what I was going to say before we got distracted.”
She frowned, furrowing her eyebrows and putting on a softer tone. “What is it? As much as we joke, I'd never actually judge you for missing shots or anything else, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I know… I just.” He huffed in frustration. Hesitantly, he held her gaze with his own but not a second later, winced and shifted his to stare down at the flickering embers of the campfire pit. Avoiding eye contact with her. He clenched his fists. “D'you ever, I don't know, feel like this was all… a mistake?”
Scrunching up her face in confusion, she squinted at Jason. “What do you mean? As-as in taking the contract?”
“No! Well, yes but no. I mean…” He waved an arm, gesturing vaguely around them, “just everything. Becoming a Witcher. Or I guess in your case, a Sorceress. Do you regret it?”
When she didn't immediately respond, Jason huffed again, hunching his shoulders up and practically bristling like a particularly grumpy and grizzling moggy. “Look, never mind. Stupid question.”
“It's not stupid!” Marinette retorted, “I just… wasn't expecting a question like that at this moment.”
He stared at her expectantly. “Well?”
Tipping her head back slightly, she fiddled with the needle still in one hand and sighed. “I suppose I do, I know I shouldn't… but I miss the easy days. Like before I knew what I was capable of. Before I knew what horrors the world could bring. Back when my only worries were getting stitches right and not messing up when dealing with expensive materials. Or maybe having to worry if the Alderman's daughter was going to harass me at some point during the day.”
Marinette tilted her head forwards again, a frown gracing her lips, and shrugged. “What brings this up?”
There's not an immediate response, as Jason casts his gaze away from the fire—towards where the sea could be heard but not seen. His fingers twitched midair, almost as though plucking the strings of an instrument. “I never wanted to be a Witcher. I was a Child Surprise, dunno who was the one that offered the Law of Surprise though.”
“Ah, I sorta get that. I'm also a Child Surprise, didn't get to choose to be a Sorcerer either.” As she spoke, she nodded in solidarity.
Jason jolted, gaze immediately snapping up to stare at her, completely taken aback. “Wait seriously? You're a Child Surprise too? How'd that happen?”
“Well, my parents' bakery was attacked and Félix, y'know my mentor, saved them. He invoked the Law of Surprise, expecting to get bread or some other baked goods.” She snorted, “he was awfully surprised to end up getting me instead. And when I accidentally cast my first ever spell trying to escape the Alderman's daughter, I ended up teleporting to Félix.”
“So, wait Félix fucking invoked the Law of Surprise to get food? And got you instead. Holy fucking shit that's hilarious!” He wheezed, doubling over in raucous laughter.
Huffing, she cast a spell, causing a vine to sprout up out of the ground beside him and slap him on the knee. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up!”
“Ouch! Hey, no fair!” Jason mock scowled, choking back any further laughter. Quickly, in retaliation, he cast a weak Aard.
The telekinetic wave knocked into Marinette, pushing her onto her back from the weakened force.
“Wha—! Oh, so the vine isn't fair but throwing me to the ground is!” She griped, crossing her arms (carefully as to not prick herself on the needle) but made no attempt to get up.
Half-shrugging and grinning smugly, he replied, “you started it!”
She made an exaggerated groaning noise in response before slowly shifting her position to push herself back up into sitting cross-legged. “Well, now you know how I became a Sorcerer. How'd being a Child Surprise tie into you ending up a Witcher, if you don't me asking?”
“I dunno,” he shrugged with both shoulders this time, “I tried to steal the infamous Bat of Gotham's horse, he asked me my name. Reluctantly and after some bribery of hot food, I told him. Didn't think to give a fake one, at the time. He made a face, invoked the Law of Surprise owed to him and dragged me back to the Bat Witcher school.”
“Huh,” Marinette responded, “so if you hadn't… what would you have done with your life?”
Jason raised an eyebrow at her. “Seriously? This is me we're talking about. I'd have gone to Bard College, obviously. I'd have written poems and shit. And books, I'd have written books.”
Scrunching up her face once more, Marinette glanced down at the needle in her hand. “We're by the coast.”
“What?” He asked incredulously, giving her a bemused and questioning look. “What does that have to do with poetry and books?”
In a rush of words, she rambled, “we could take a holiday. I could find out about the spell to disguise your eyes… and uh hair too. That way no one will know you're a Witcher. And we can go to the bard college-town that's down the coast from where we are. We can scavenge together enough gold for you to attend, and you can write your poetry and books.”
Jason stared at her in shock, tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. Softly, as though anything louder than a whisper would cause the offer to shatter like his childhood dreams once had. “Oh, oh, could you really?”
As warmly as the fire between them, Marinette smiled, “of course! I'd have to ask Félix first of course. But he fell in love with Bridgette and she was a Witcher and he came up with a spell to disguise her whenever they weren't doing contracts or courtly politics. So I don't see why he wouldn't show me how to do it!”
Shakily, he wiped his eyes and smiled back. “Fuck, I'd love that!”
“Okay then! I'll contact Félix on the xenovox tomorrow.” As she spoke, a yawn slipped past her lips. “I think I'm gonna head to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning!”
“Good night, Marinette. I'm gonna stretch my legs real quick first.” He answered, hefting himself up and stretching his arms. “Sleep well, though.”
“Be careful!” Marinette yawned again and packed away her needlework for the night. She then wriggled into her bedroll. “And I'll try, g'night!”
“Night,” he whispered once more.
Quietly, so as to not disturb her, Jason slipped away from camp. Following the direction of the fret, he made his way down the safest cliff path he could find in the dark until his boots hit the sand. Step by step, he walked across the beach until the sea spray spattered against his clothes. He's close enough that the waves gently lapped at the toes of his boots.
Clutching one hand to his chest, just over where his heart was, Jason sighed and gazed longingly at the mist-shrouded sea.
“I never thought I'd get to continue my dreams after becoming a Witcher.” He whispered to the wind. “And now I can, thanks to her.”
He sighs again, heart warmed. And silently in the quietude of the beach at night, he cries alone. For his heart is too full with the kindness of another to contain the feelings any longer.
———
| Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little fic! Comments, Likes, and Reblogs are much appreciated! |
| Also feel free to send me any comments with any questions you have regarding this fic, I’ll be more than happy to answer! |
| @jasonette-july-event |
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boldlyanxious · 3 years
Text
Kiss and Run
Jasonette July prompt 16: heist
July masterlist
All masterlist
All things considered this was probably the best night for her heist. It didn't make sense at first since the Wayne gala was the social event of the season and they definitely had more security than usual. But that was mostly concentrated on the manor and everyone trying to get in, not seldom used storage buildings beyond the garden.
It had taken her a long time to track down what was labeled as a ceremonial item but she knew that it was a missing miraculous. She had managed to get through all the paperwork but it just wasn't listed. The last person recorded to have handled it was Jack Drake. The item had never been sold. She looked through all the records of the items sold after his death and it wasn't listed. All the things his son kept had been moved to the Wayne estate when the Drake estate was sold.
Marinette snuck in as the guests were arriving. She made sure that her outfit was fitting for the occasion but would not draw unnecessary attention in case she was spotted. She didn't actually need to enter the manor. She blended in with the guests but headed to the building to locate the item quickly. She took Plagg with her to assist with remaining hidden and for the additional night vision.
It has been far easier to get in than she had expected. The building was a lot larger than she realized and it had taken longer than she liked to find what she needed. She was fairly certain she had found it. She didn’t have very precise details on what the jewelry would be so she ended up with 3 pieces that were from the same archaeological dig. That would have to be close enough. Based on how they were stored, she didn’t think they would miss them. Honestly she could probably wear them into the party and meet the whole family and they wouldn’t recognise the items. But she wouldn’t push her luck. It had taken over an hour to find them and she still needed to get out of here without being discovered.
She had just closed the door when she heard voices around the corner. She slipped around the other side and dropped her transformation. Getting caught while transformed would be suspicious. Wandering around in formalwear would just look like she wandered a bit too far when she went out for fresh air. Luckily she planned ahead and had a champagne flute and a small bottle in her purse. No one would have cause to question her too carefully if it was clear she had too much to drink.
“The alarm definitely went off again. There are some guests out this way so maybe it was an accident. I can see the door. It is locked.”
She could hear the man on the phone. She focused on getting further away from the door and towards the garden area from which she could exit the estate grounds. She could hear the man continue his conversation but she chose distance over information. She almost hit a man in the shadows when she heard him move suddenly. But the man from the phone had moved this way too. She thought he might be following her. She needed to do something fast to explain her presence without causing more questions.
She pivoted to the other man and pulled him down by his tie. He seemed stunned by the sudden action but she kissed him before he had a chance to say anything. The alcohol now on her breath would be an incentive for most men. The man on the phone saw them and gave a look before heading the other way. She was so relieved she barely noticed that the man in front of her had pushed her against the wall but he had not returned the kiss. His eyes danced with amusement as she tried to slip away and then looked up at him when she realized she was trapped.
“That was some quick change back there,” he said. “You went from a Halloween costume to formalwear almost instantly.”
“I don’t know what you mean. I just stepped out for some air. I probably had too much to drink.” she forced herself to stumble over her words and then let out a breathy giggle.
“Nice cover. What did you find so interesting in the storage? You were in there awhile but your bag isn’t very big so you had something specific in mind.”
“I think there has been some mistake."
She tried to keep her voice slow and even, hoping that Plagg would take the opportunity to recharge. She didn't think it would be an issue, he couldn't see a wheel of cheese without eating it. She slid her arms up around the man's neck and tried to pretend it had no effect on her when he moved closer. Really she was just trying to get her back away from the wall. He slid his hands down to her hips and smirked at her. She tipped her face back up towards him but without waiting to see if he took the bait she pushed off from the wall and twisted out of his arms. She dropped low and swept his legs with her foot.
Her dress was perfectly capable of a quick get away but not quite as easy to fight in as the suit. The leg sweep caused him to stumble but he was much more agile and with much quicker reflexes than she had anticipated from a random guest at a society function. She would think it was just a Gotham thing, but she had actually lived here long enough to know that wasn’t the case. Most of the residents seemed to have very little interest developing skills to fight back. Perhaps they had seen what happened to those who fought back and would prefer to wait until the incident was over and hope they didn’t become a target.
She turned back to the man to decide whether she would have to fight him or if she could run away. But as he stumbled he reached out and grabbed her bag strap. He didn’t need to do anything else. He had what she had come for and he might even think he would find identifying information in there. He wouldn’t because she knew better, but he might hope. She tugged back on the strap and with the force of both of them it snapped.
Luckily it snapped with the small pouch on her side so she gave another yank to get the rest of the strap away as she turned and ran for the gate on the far side of the garden. She weaved in and out of all the obstacles hoping to slow down his larger frame. He would likely have the advantage if it were a straight shot but she intended to make it hard on him. She was still shocked when she made it to the gate and he wasn’t right behind her. She opened it just enough to slip out before closing it quietly behind her.
She stayed in the shadow along the wall making her plan for the best path through the grounds. If she could make it to the trees she should be able to get away without risking capture. She cursed as she bumped into something sticking out of the wall. It grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall. She looked back up to see the same man. He must have chosen a different path through the garden while she was slowing herself down in an attempt to slow him down. His knee slid between hers pinning her dress to the wall and restricting her movements. He easily held her struggling wrists in one hand.
“That is some pretty coarse language coming out of that pretty mouth. Did you still want to kiss me?” He used his free hand to tilt her chin up.
“I was just doing that to create a distraction. Let me go.” She struggled against him but she couldn’t get loose.
“I think it could work. We should try it just to find out.”
“Are you the security here? Pretty sure you are supposed to take me to your leader rather than trying to seduce me.”
“You are giving me such mixed signals. I thought you wanted to seduce me.”
He had leaned down to whisper that in her ear. She froze as goosebumps covered her neck and arms. He used his free hand to trace with his fingers behind her ear, down her neck, and along her collar bone. He chuckled when she shivered. She adjusted just enough to lift her mouth up. He tilted his head down to her and their lips met. His lips slid against hers easily. She pushed herself against him as she slid her tongue against his lips. He granted her entrance and met her halfway. She was careful to give just enough attention to kissing him that he wouldn’t notice how she was moving.
She twisted each wrist gradually until she was very close to breaking his hold. But he suddenly shifted again and grasped her wrists with both hands. He didn’t break the kiss until her wrists were pinned on either side of her head, her bag still dangling from her left hand. “Nice try,” he said as his lips pulled away from hers. He brought her wrists together in one hand and pulled the bag from her. Her grasp slipped away and he suddenly released her. “You can go. Feel free to come back and try that again any time.”
She made a frustrated noise as he winked at her. She rushed at him but his arm blocked her far too easily. She had nothing to lose as he had already seen her detransform so she used her last resort. “Plagg, claws out,” she called. The sudden change and the bright light gave her the opportunity to use her staff to sweep his legs. When he went down she kicked him in the gut and used the staff to hit the purse from his grip. She didn’t wait to see his reaction; her priority was escape. She didn’t manage it though. His arm shot out and grabbed her leg before she could get out of his range. Damn his lightning reflexed.
She stumbled and turned to pull away from his grip. She extended her staff to push off but once again he defied the odds and had jumped up and tackled her. They rolled over, each of them fighting for dominance. Marinette lost the fight as she looked over to locate her purse. She had been on top but her split second attempt to determine her escape route gave him the ability to turn her over and plant his weight over her. He placed his knee painfully on her hip to limit her movement and held down her shoulders.
“Very Catwoman look. I like it. But you didn’t manage to land on your feet.”
“I didn’t have a chance to land. Some brute knocked me over and landed on top of me.”
“You were trying to kiss and run. We could get back to the kissing.”
“But you told me I could go.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Did you change your mind?”
“I don’t think I ever want to let you go. But I don’t see the need to force you to stay. Whatever you stole won’t be going with you.”
He hauled her up and reached down for the purse again. She only had the one chance to use his lack of knowledge against him. So when he moved back up and held both her wrists together to pull her along with him, she let him. But as soon as he turned his face away she extended her staff lifting them both. She relied on his quick reflexes to protect him until she could get him in her grip. She vaulted them both away for the trees she had planned to use for her escape. She made several jumps into the trees until she found a good sturdy tree that looked like it would be easy to climb down from.
She dropped him in the high branches and took the purse back from him. He tried to hold on to it but she continued extending until she was out of his reach. She pushed forward to the next tree to talk to him while she was out of his reach.
“I really wish I had a reason to come back and try that trick again.”
“Am I not reason enough? You did already seduce me.”
“I’m pretty sure you were trying to seduce me. But my need to keep this safe would complicate that. I won’t return it.” She shook the purse to show what she was talking about.
“You did kiss me. Twice.”
“Sorry to kiss and run.”
She vaulted away. She trusted that he would easily manage to get down on his own. She didn’t notice that he had slipped out his camera to get pictures of her before she made her escape.
Taglist
@jasonette-july-event | @theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo | @adrestar | @zynna
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hateswifi · 4 years
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Jasonette July: Fabric and Weapons Don’t Mix
Day seven of being committal, it was a long and lonely day ngl. On a different note, I think I might write a Hydra!Peter Parker fic. lmk if ya wanna see it.
The Master: Master List
Jasonette July: Master List
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A simple party that’s all she wanted, to be fair she had been forced to go and to go to the after-party being hosted in Jagged’s honor by some billionaire childhood friend she couldn’t remember the name of. She was introduced as MDC during the event. She sighed as she watched everyone socialize. She had tried to keep up appearances for a while and got bored so she retreated to a quiet room, she looked around more and realized it was a library.
She saw comfortable looking are chairs and plopped down in one, letting it envelop her. She lets the silence take her senses over. She's about to drift off to sleep when someone clears their throat. There stood a tall man with a white tuft of hair, sticking out of his dark hair. 
“This is a private library.”
“Sorry, it’s just been a long night.”
“I know what you mean, I don’t even want to be here,” he says, taking a seat in one of the other armchairs. 
“At the party or sitting in this library with a stranger,” She smiles.
“The party, I wouldn’t mind getting to know a pretty princess like yourself,” he says, smirking.
“Nope your charm won’t work on me,” Marinette smirks. After a moment of silence, they fall into a comfortable conversation. It was getting late so she said. “Hey, Jason, I have to go find my aunt and uncle.”
“Wait, want to dance?”
“Ok, but after I must find them, my uncle can be pretty protective of me,” Marinette says, placing her hand on his stretched out hand. They walk back to the main ballroom and take to dancing together. As the song was ending, there was shots and shouts. The next thing she knew, she was pulled away from Jason with a knife at her throat. She starts crying in french to portray herself as an innocent, confused, weak foreigner. The man loosened his grip on her, big mistake. She elbowed him and pulled up a mound of fabric to reach for the knife on her thigh. “Freakin fabric.”
“Why do you have a knife?”
“I have a job to do,” She says, straddling the man with her knife at his throat. Jason took the knife from her and held the guy. 
It wasn’t too much longer later that the situation was handled, Jagged and Penny dragged her away as soon as the cops were done questioning her. “Wait can’t I get my knife back?” Marinette asks, sitting down in the limo.
“I’ll get you a new one,” Jagged said, running his fingers through his hair.
“Aww…. I really liked that,” Marinette says, looking out the window. She perked up at her thought. “Who was the boy I was with?”
“Ohh… he’s Bruce’s son, the host’s son,” Penny said.
“Nevermind, he’ll probably not want to see me again, then,” Marinette sighed to herself. Little did she know the effect she had on him. 
Jason, after everything had been sorted, laid down on his bed, twisting the knife in his hand, thinking about the princess, who had wielded it. 
“Hey, Jay, I came to-- oh sheet I know that look,” Dick said.
“What look?”
“You’re smitten!”
“What no! I only met her once… but it was amazing, she was amazing,” Jason sighs.
“Tell me about her,” Dick says, sitting on the end of his bed.
“We talked for what felt like hours, she danced with the grace of a ballerina and handled a knife as well as anyone,” Jason sighs. “She was able to get away from the man holding a knife to her throat. She was beautiful.”
“Does she have a name?”
“I’m sure she does, but I didn’t ask because I thought I would have more time with her,” Jason said, putting his head in his hands.
“I’m sure Bruce might know who she is,” Dick says. “Do you know who she came with?”
“Her aunt and uncle, I don't know their names either,” Jason said.
“Ask Tim about her in the morning, she sounds perfect for you,” Dick says, winking as he leaves Jason to his thoughts of the mysterious girl.
She felt heartbroken honestly, she knew there would be no way that Jason, the son of the richest man in the world, would want her and even if he did, there would be no way Bruce would allow it. She was called from her bed by Aunt Penny, telling her that Jagged and her would be meeting a friend for lunch. She decided to put away her sorrows and work on Jagged’s next stage outfit. She sighed and started sewing.
He woke up that morning and went to talk to Tim. “Replacement, who was the girl I was with?”
“How should I know, pull it up on the tapes and I’ll see if I know,” Tim says, looking up from his work. Not even ten minutes later, Jason comes back with pictures, “Here,” he says, placing them in front of Tim. 
Tim sighs, and picks them up and nearly chokes on his coffee. “That’s freakin MDC. Jagged Stone’s personal designer. How the heck did you manage that?”
“It doesn’t matter, I have to see her again,” Jason says, picking the picture back up, to stare at her beauty.
“Lucky for you, Bruce and I have a lunch meeting with Jagged and his wife,” Tim says, standing.
“Can I come along?”
“You can, I don’t know if she’ll be attending but you can try,” Tim shrugs, collecting his things. Jason, though he wouldn’t admit it, was jittery from excitement. When they arrived, Jagged and Penny had already been seated, sadly MDC wasn’t with them. After they had finished talking business, Jason was quick to jump in.
“MDC, she’s your niece right?”
“Yep, she’s my rockin little niece, why’d you need to know?” Jagged asks, stroking Fang. (Jason was impressed he had somehow managed to get him in the restaurant.)
“Well I want to return her knife,” Jason says, unwrapping the knife from the velvet cover he had found, showing it off to Jagged and Penny.
“Ah yeah, she was asking about it last night,” Jagged says. “She was really disappointed to leave without getting it back.”
“Can I give it back to her?”
“You could come back to the hotel with us, she’s working right now, but since it’s you and her knife, I bet she’ll be happy to hold off on finishing her work,” Penny said.
Marinette was deep in her work when she heard Penny and Jagged enter the penthouse. “Hey, how’d the meeting go?” When she heard no response she looked up from her work to see nonother than Jason kneeling in front of her holding out her missing knife.
“Jason? You know this is a private workspace,” Marinette smiles.
“You know, I just had to see the most amazing princess in the world again,” He smirks. “And I had to return her knife ‘for work’.”
“It really is for work, not only do I work as Jagged’s personal designer, I’m his and my aunt’s undercover bodyguard,” She says, taking the knife.
“And for returning your knife, can I have this princess’s name?”
“Marinette, and you could’ve just asked,” Marinette says, sliding off her seat to kneel in front of him so they were at semi the same height.
“How about a kiss then?”
“You with your charm,” Marinette giggles, placing a firm kiss on his lips.
“Thank you, Princess, I know I don’t know you well, but I’m smitten,” Jason says, sincerely.
“I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” She says, hugging him, her face snuggled in his shoulder.
Someone clears their throat, “I knew he would like to see you again,” Jagged said. “Just know, Fang will eat you if you hurt her.”
“I won’t hurt her,” Jason promises. “I’m going to treat her like the princess she is.”
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This has been the longest addition to Jasonette July, I hope you guys enjoy! This is my favorite one at the moment.
Tag List:
@jasonette-july-2k20 @abrx2002 @pawsitivelymiraculous​ @ironspiderstark @thestressmademedoit @bigpicklebananatree
Permanent Tag:
@ash-amg @bee-wrecker @damianette-is-life @mjisntme @i-will-be-your-ace @k-poplunardreams @chocolateherringtacofan @toodaloo-kangaroo @i-is-mysterious @zambie-trashart @imnotfluffy @nanakeid
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strawberry-lemonade · 3 years
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I just want u all to know that if you follow @jasonette-july-event and keep seeing weird posts or mistakes it was me I’m the one fucking up thanks
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themaribatpit · 3 years
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Masterpost
Jasonette July 2021
Saturday Challenge 1: Hurt Without Comfort
Day 1: Suit Up
Day 2: Protection
Day 3: Grave
Day 4: Game On
Day 5: Fairytales
Saturday Challenge 2: Tooth Rotting Fluff
Day 6: Trust
Day 7: Guns (references to events in ‘Suit Up’)
Day 8: Family
Day 9: Pixie (continuation of ‘Game On’)
Day 10: Light
Saturday Challenge 3: And They Were Roommates
Day 11: Enemy Mine
Day 12: Dare
Day 13: Bee
Day 14: Loss
Day 15: Night (Continuation of ‘Game On’ and ‘Pixie’)
Saturday Challenge 4: Double Crossover (Maribat x Phantom of the Opera)
Day 16: Heist
Day 17: Crime Boss
Day 18: Design
Day 19: Mistakes
Day 20: Then Perish
Saturday Challenge 5: Continue a Fic You Wrote for Jasonette July (’Then Perish’ part 2)
Hanging By A Thread 
(Soulmate AU, Jasonette - Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15 [End]
Love and War
(Enemies and Lovers - Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
A Return To Gotham
(Batman Beyond AU - Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
One-Shots
Fiasco At The Wayne Gala
Christmas Shopping With Alfred
The Lost Wayne
(Biodad Bruce AU)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
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themaribatpit · 3 years
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Jasonette July Day 19: Mistakes
Written by: The Maribat Pit  Prompt: Mistakes Rating: T 
Soulmate AU - red string of fate around the ankles, references to other versions of the myth
A/N: This might become a mult-chap, we’re not entirely sure.  Comment on this post if you want to see this story continue.  There will be some Adrien/Chat Noir salt.
Marinette often heard stories about the ‘red string of fate’, the idea that there was a soulmate out there who was chosen just for her.  No one believed her when she told them she could see a red thread looped around her ankle. No one really explained what it meant, they would just tell her that she would grow out of that silly superstition.  She would look down at the floor, towards her ankle, where she could clearly see the red string tied around it.  Maybe they couldn’t see it, but she could, clear as day. When she became Ladybug and fought alongside Chat Noir, he would go on and on about how they were soulmates and destined for each other.  When she became Master Fu’s pupil, she asked him if he knew anything about it. “What brought this on?” he asked curiously. “I see this red string around my ankle, I’ve known about it ever since I was little. Everyone says it’s just a legend or a silly superstition.” she explained. “Around the ankle is a new one, but it’s also the oldest version of the legend,” Master Fu explained, “most prefer the version where it’s around the little finger, or a woman’s little finger and a man’s thumb.” “What does it mean?” she asked, “no one will tell me.” “It means the string will lead you to the person you are destined to be with,” he explained, “it may stretch and tangle, but it will never break.” For many years, she brushed aside other boys and their advances, much to the chagrin of anyone who knew the real reason why.    Whenever Chat Noir rambled on about them being soulmates, she knew it wasn’t true. It was infuriating, really, as she would look down at the red string leading away from him.  She would tell him that she was in love with someone else, because someone else was out there waiting for her.   Not that he would listen to her, but still she always kept him at arm’s length.  Some might say that her standards were too high, never mind that some boys just could not take “no” for an answer.   She thought about using Kaalki to find her soulmate, opening a portal directly to them.  The only problem was she only knew which direction the string was pointing, and not having a clear idea of where she was going could lead to complications. Marinette kept her head held high through Lila and Chloe bullying her, and the teachers doing very little to stop them.  She didn’t hate Adrien as much as she did on that first day of school, but he had done very little to stop his childhood friend from bullying people.  Marinette had been humiliated, insulted, and almost kicked out of school on multiple occasions.   Chat Noir, on the other hand, was only in love with the idea of her.   He had absolutely no clue who she was under the mask, and vice versa.  There were times when Marinette felt like she couldn’t step one toe out of line without someone breathing down her neck about being the bigger person.  She felt like she was the only one bearing the heavy burden of carrying the Ladybug mantle.  She took being a heroine seriously, but she knew that she couldn’t do everything perfectly.  Sometimes Chat Noir was more of a hindrance than a help, and this continued for many years. When days felt tough for Marinette, she only needed to look down at the string around her ankle and remind herself of what it meant.  It meant that someone out there was waiting for her, destined to love her with all their heart and she would love them in turn.  So Marinette kept her head down by day, and as Ladybug she would fight to bring an end to Hawk Moth’s reign of terror. Whoever her soulmate was, they would know the truth about her, they would love and accept her.  Sometimes she would wonder if Master Fu had chosen wrong when he decided that she should be the next Guardian of the Miraculous.  The red string on the other hand would stretch or tangle, but never break.  She could be certain that her soulmate was one choice that couldn’t be a mistake. Most of Jason’s earliest living memories were spent in hiding.  He would hide under the table with the family dog in his arms, while the adults around him argued.  When he got older, he would scurry back to the crevices in Gotham’s streets, hiding from whoever he just stole from.   All the time he’d worry they could see the glowing red thread wrapped around his ankle.  He could never understand what it meant, he assumed everyone had one at the time.   When his questions were met with mockery or indifference, he stopped sharing his curiosity about it.  It would always be glowing in the corner of his eye, like a bright light on a summer’s day.   One day he wandered into a bakery inside Gotham’s Chinatown.  He was waiting for the shopkeeper to look away so that he could grab a pastry without them noticing.  Their topic of conversation turned to a ‘red string of fate’ and Jason was intrigued.  Supposedly, the thread around his ankle bound him to someone. That someone was the person he was destined to be with forever, his soulmate.  He left the shop empty handed, hoping to try his luck finding food elsewhere.  If his soulmate was out there, whoever they were, they were going to be sorely disappointed.  He remembered thinking, whoever decided to pair him up with someone had made a terrible mistake.   If his soulmate could see him now, they would probably think so too. When he encountered Batman that fateful night in Crime Alley, his whole world had drastically changed from that night forth.  As Bruce Wayne took him under his wing and as he took on the Robin mantle, a secret part of him had hoped that he was becoming someone his soulmate could be proud of.  Still he kept it to himself, Alfred would occasionally find him staring off into space whenever he was alone.  If Jason asked Bruce about it, he would probably tell him that he needed to focus on other things. The glowing red string was the last thing he would see at night before letting sleep take him, this time, he wasn’t afraid. When she was 15, Marinette woke up one morning to find the string no longer glowed bright red.  Instead it was grey and limp, and she was desperate to know what this meant.  At the first opportunity, she ran to Master Fu, he was the only one she could confide in about this.  He lowered his head, almost unwilling to tell Marinette what it meant for fear of how she would react.  He told her solemnly, it meant that her soulmate had died… Elsewhere, a bomb was counting down the seconds until it could go off.  Jason had been battered, bruised and broken, but as long as his heart was still beating he still had a chance. Ten… He pushed against the locked door.  That damned clown had locked him in, probably for the sheer delight of it. Nine… He had only just noticed the bomb, he had to find a way out of the building and fast.  Bruce, Alfred, Barbara, Dick and...he looked down at his ankle, his soulmate...they were all waiting for him.  Eight… This was all a mistake, he had been led into a trap.  He hoped that Batman would arrive just in time to save him.  He would probably slap him upside the head after he had recovered, and lecture him about being far too reckless, but at least he’d be alive. Seven… Strength was leaving his body, most of which was probably beaten out of him moments earlier.  The fighting spirit that always burned like a raging inferno inside of him was dimming.   Six… In those last few seconds, all he had left in him was a silent apology.   Wherever his soulmate was, he wished them nothing but happiness.  He was sorry that he couldn’t meet them for the first time.  He wanted to tell them that the mere idea of them gave him hope.  Hope that quite literally hung by a very thin thread, but it was what kept him going all these years.  It kept him going through living on the street, through pushing himself to meet Bruce’s expectations, even through the ordeal he had just endured.  All he needed to do was look down and remind himself that whoever chose him to be someone’s soulmate hadn’t made a mistake.  The reason he wouldn’t get to meet them was because of his mistake. Five...four...three..two...one. Marinette didn’t know how to mourn someone she had never seen, met, or even spoken to.  All she knew was that for the next three years, the string around her ankle was limp and grey.  The legend said that it would tangle, it would stretch, but it would never break.  Sometimes she would lay awake at night and wonder what could have possibly happened to her soulmate.  Had they even noticed the red string around their ankle? Did they even care about what it meant?  How did they die? Was it an accident or did someone kill them? These were questions that kept Marinette up at night as she gazed up at her bedroom ceiling.  She didn’t notice that the string was slowly starting to regain it’s glow, though it remained very dim.  She barely paid any attention to it anymore, and thought the faint red glow was just a trick of the eye.  It was a cruel reminder of what that thread meant and what she looked forward to. By the time she was 18, Marinette decided she needed to get out of Paris.  She wanted to be a designer, but she also thought a change of scenery would be good for her.  She kept the Miracle Box with her when she moved to Gotham City,  to keep the rest of the Miraculous from falling into the wrong hands.  Around this time, the thread around her ankle began to glow bright red, just as it had done a few years ago.  She was honestly curious to follow the thread and see where it led, but Plagg and Tikki were unsure about it.  They could sense that something was amiss with the thread reignighting, and they had a bad feeling that the forces of creation and destruction were involved. That’s how Marinette found herself pacing around her dorm room, trying to think of an explanation.  “How can you tell?” she asked them, “Maybe whoever did this chose someone else to be my soulmate? Someone who wasn’t dead.” “That’s not really how this works, Marinette.” Tikki told her. “Well, not according to Master Fu anyway,” said Plagg, “if the string is turning red again, that means whoever it is was brought back to life.” “But that’s impossible...is it?” Marinette looked at them,  not that long ago she had fought a man who wanted to use them to bring his comatose wife back.  Was it really so impossible? “Long ago, we were forced to grant such a wish.” Plagg confessed. “Plagg!” Tikki hissed, “you’re not suggesting that maybe…” “I am,” Plagg told her, “and she needs to know if she’s going to go herring off looking for someone who might be dead.”  Plagg turned his attention back to Marinette, “long ago, someone did acquire the Miraculous and they did use it to grant one wish…to make them young and strong forever.” “How did they do it?” Marinette asked, a little afraid of their answer. “We created what humans call ‘The Lazarus Pits’.  Anyone who bathed in its waters would be healed, rejuvenated, even snatched from the jaws of death.” he explained “Tikki’s healing magic is infused in the waters, that’s the healing part.” Marinette looked over at Tikki, “So what’s the catch? It can’t be that easy, can it?” “Well, the more they bathe in them, the more it destroys their mind,” she explains before giving Plagg a pointed look.  “It heals them on the outside, while their mind is slowly destroyed.” Marinette is slightly horrified by the thought.   “Can it bring someone back to life?” She asked, they exchanged worried glances. “Yes, but...Marinette, the person they were could have easily eroded away.” Tikki explained, but Marinette was growing tired of imagining and daydreaming.  She had to see for herself the person that her soulmate had become, so that’s how Ladybug set off to see where the red string led.
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boldlyanxious · 3 years
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Jasonette July 2021
Completed. I did it!!
Cocorico
Nothing Ventured (suit up)
Nothing gained (protection)
Loss or gain (loss)
Malchance (mistakes)
Bittersweet ever after
Love in the Time of Taco Trucks (fluff)
You're my fairytale (fairytale)
Something to Taco bout (night)
Cold (hurt no comfort)
Unknown (grave)
Found by Family (family)
In his Arms (pixie)
Pitch Woo (game on)
Tenuous Trust (trust)
Still Trusting (crime boss)
Racket vs Gun (gun)
Light in the Window (light)
Hot and Bothered (roommates)
Cursed Soul Bond (enemy mine)
Boop (dare)
Life of bee Party (bee)
Playing Games (double crossover)
Kiss and Run (heist)
Designs on you (design)
Meeting again (continue one)
As you Wish (then perish)
My masterlist
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miracle-sham · 2 years
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Jasonette July 2021 Masterlist.
———
| {Jasonette July 2021, Saturday Challenge 1: Hurt No Comfort} |
| Yet So Poison Entwined We Fracture (YSPEWF) |
| [Tumblr Link] | | [Ao3 Link] |
| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 1, Day 2: Protection} |
| Amidst the Howls of Death Your Divinity Gives Me Breath (AtHoDYDGMB) |
| [Tumblr Link] | | [Ao3 Link] |
| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 1, Day 3: Grave} |
| Memento Mori Cries Our Shattered Souls (MMCOSS) |
| [Tumblr Link] | | [Ao3 Link] |
| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 1, Day 5: Fairytale} |
| Stitch Your Ragged Wings and Hope to Soar (SYRWaHtS) |
| [Tumblr Link] | | [Ao3 Link] |
| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 2, Day 7: Guns} | (Chapter 1)
| Die Like the Butterfly Shoot With Their Guns (DLtBSWTG) |
| [Tumblr Link] | | [Ao3 Link] |
| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 2, Day 10: Light} | (Chapter 2)
| In the Atelier's Glow the Pupa Phoebus will Eclose (ItAGtPPwE) |
| [Tumblr Link] | | [Ao3 Link] |
| {Jasonette July 2021, Saturday Challenge 3: And They Were Roommates} |
| Crack Your Bones and Say Those Lies (CYBaSTL) |
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| {Jasonette July 2021, Week 4, Day 19: Mistakes} |
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themaribatpit · 3 years
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Jasonette July Day 17: Crime Boss
Written by: The Maribat Pit  @jasonette-july-event
Prompt: Crime Boss
Rated: M (Canon-typical violence, sexual innuendo, but also the Ventriloquist dies horribly in this one)
Ladybug’s knees collided painfully with the hardwood floor, there was maybe a very thin threadbare carpet to soften the blow.  The more she struggled, the more the handcuffs started to bite and chafe at her wrists.  She could really use someone with Cataclysm right about now, but she left that someone behind and took his ring with her.  She came to Gotham to get away from her life in Paris, away from the trials and tribulations of her teenage years.  By day she was a design student at Gotham University, and she wasn’t doing much else by night.  One night, tonight of all nights, she walked past a teenage boy being beaten up on a street corner.  The teenage boy in question was her neighbour, Leon. She sometimes took care of him when his dad was busy.  She just could not resist calling upon Tikki’s help to stop them.  Now here she was, with a bag over her head, about to meet her maker at the hands of a formidable crime lord.  She had heard whispers about “The Red Hood” and how he had done away with Black Mask and crowned himself as his successor.  She started to wonder if leaving Paris was a good idea after all.
Just as she was pondering this, the bag covering her head was ripped away and she was torn away from her thoughts at that moment.  She found herself looking up at a figure dressed neck to toe in leather and Kevlar.  He sat in the armchair with his legs leisurely sprawled out, his gloved hands gripping the armrests as he leaned forward to get a better look at her.  Ladybug saw her frightened expression reflected in a shiny, scarlet helmet, with two white spots that looked like eyes.  Ladybug could have sworn that he was squinting at her behind the helmet, closely watching and waiting for her next move.  
“So, why did you bring me another costumed vigilante?” He asked, the mask was muffling his voice, but she could clearly hear what he was saying. 
“We were taking care of some business and she got in the way,” the henchman to her left informed him.  He leaned in closer to whisper to me, “not so tough now, are you Sweetheart?” he laughed as Marinette tried to lean away from him.  Was every man determined to invade her personal space every chance they got?
“I’m asking the questions here, I will decide what to do with her.” Red Hood snapped at the henchman, he leaned back in his chair as the henchman backed away.
“Don’t know if she’s from around here, Boss.” The henchman to her other side remarked. “The little lady spoke with an accent when she tried to stop us”, Ladybug glanced over at the other Henchman before turning her attention back to the faceless man in front of her. 
Red Hood looked at the two Henchmen before looking down at the girl kneeling in front of him.  The costume was a bright red bodysuit with black polka dots, and she had a matching domino mask to hide her identity.  Her dark blue eyes were frantically trying to read the men surrounding her, there was no mistaking the fear in her expression.  Something was amiss, why would they bring him someone whom they could easily have overpowered?  Maybe they thought it would be funny to see him shoot her brains out of her pretty little head.  He noticed one of the henchmen had faint red welts around his arm, almost as if someone tried wrapping wire around it.  The lines were too thin, compared to the more sturdy grappling wires he used.  His other Henchman had a bruise on his cheek that was probably going to go from a plum colour to a sickly yellow in the days to come.  If the girl was another one of Bruce’s pet projects, then she might send the old man right to his doorstep.  If she wasn’t, she would have fit the bill anyhow.  With her dark hair and blue eyes, how she apparently just leapt into action to save a complete stranger from being beaten up.   She wasn’t armed to the teeth with gadgets, and he’d have heard something if Bruce had taken in another protégé.
“So, can you understand what I’m saying?” he asked, she simply nodded, not saying anything in response.  “What happened?” he tried to keep it simple, no sense dancing around the topic, “Who are you?”
“Your two men were hurting someone, I couldn’t ignore them” she explained, her fear morphing into a show of defiance.  Red Hood shook his head, so a vigilante no one’s heard of just leapt in to stop his men from hurting someone.  She was either very foolish or had been doing this for a very long time. 
“That someone was a little punk who owed us money” one of the Henchmen explained, “we gave ya a chance to walk away girlie, even after you whipped out your little toy.” He chuckled.
“Who owed me money?” Red Hood asked, the men suddenly went very quiet.  Something still wasn’t right, and his men weren’t talking.  He turned his attention back to the girl, time for a different tactic. “Did you know who they were hurting?” he asked, Ladybug thought for a moment before shaking her head.  So she jumped in to save a complete stranger? He couldn’t say he was surprised, what she said next would make this much more interesting.
“He was just a boy,” she explained, trying not to stutter as she looked up at him.  “He-” she began, she looked up to see the henchmen were ready to lunge for her.
He raised a hand to stop them, “go on” he told her.
“He said he owed your men money because he bought drugs from them” she said, now trying to get the words out before someone could stop her.  “He was just a boy, he’s around 14 years old, he needed help”.  His hands reached for his pistols. “Woah boss, you can’t seriously believe what this girl is saying, right?” one of the henchmen called out.
Red Hood ordered his men to shut up. “So what’s the boy’s name?” 
Ladybug gulped, “Leon” she answered.
Red Hood glared at his men. 
One man spoke up, "Punk owed us money, still hasn’t paid us for the goods, that’s why we gave ‘em a beating.” The man immediately covered his mouth. “What did I tell you, scumbags?” he asked in a low, harsh voice. “Look, we-” “My one rule.” he reiterated, Ladybug swallowed hard.  This wasn’t going to end well for any of them. “No dealing to children,” the henchman told him, “we weren’t, we were dealing to some old guy who happened to have a kid...as a courier.” he explained.  Ladybug thought it was their word over hers, she looked back up at him.  If that was his one golden rule, then it was one they had undoubtedly crossed.   She had to play her cards right, if she wanted to appeal to his humanity.  “Ask anyone in the area, and they’ll tell you he’s just a kid,” she said, “His dad barely leaves his living room, never mind the apartment.” Ladybug noticed Red Hood reach for the guns, she shut her eyes tight and ducked as if that would save her from the two gunshots she heard.
Ladybug waited for the pain of the gunshot wound, maybe even numbness from where she had been shot.  There was no guarantee that Tikki was able to protect her from gunshots, but she didn’t feel anything.  She slowly opened one eye to look up at the tall, imposing figure in front of her, who went back to reading his book.  She opened her other eye and slowly got up to find the Red Hood leisurely leaning back in his armchair, while the two henchmen lay dead on the floor.  He put his guns back in their holsters before picking up the open book next to him.  Ladybug looked around at the two men, dead on the floor with blood dripping from their foreheads.  “Y-you killed them,” she stammered, before she cursed herself, as if stating the obvious was going to stop him from putting a bullet in her. 
“I have one golden rule, and they broke it.” He explained, he lowered his book as he stared her down.  “Still, what am I going to do with you?” he wondered aloud. 
“You can start by letting me go,” she spat, she stood up as she looked right into the glowing white lights on his helmet.  Her hands were still bound by the cuffs, but she still had her legs.  Her mind raced with all the things she could do if he tried anything.  She could kick him away or use the handcuff chain to choke this man if he tried anything.  What she should be doing is running for the exit or finding a way to break the handcuffs. Instead, the man put the book down and grabbed the handcuffs by the chain.  The Red Hood could just about see the gears turning in her head as she tried to find a way out of this situation.
“Well, if the accent is anything to go by, I’d say you’re probably French? Maybe Belgian.  Eitherway, you’re a loose end I really can’t afford right now,” he explained as he pulled her closer to him.  “So, tell me mon amie, what are we going to do with you?” he asked.  Marinette tried to pull away, but his grip held her in place without too much trouble. 
Red Hood obviously didn’t plan on killing the girl right then and there, it wasn’t her fault that a couple of henchmen wanted to cover their asses for doing the one thing he told them not to.  The problem was, she didn’t know that.  As far as she was concerned, she was unlucky enough to wind up on her knees in front of an up-and-coming crime lord.  He pulled the chains towards him.  “Consider this a favor, I’ll come and find you when I’m looking to cash it in.” He stood up and put the bag over her head, still holding her by the handcuffs. 
Ladybug though he was surprisingly a little more gentle with her as he led her away from his hideout.  All she could hear were gentle reminders to watch her step, as he led her down steps and into what felt like a cool breeze outside. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, but there was no answer. After a few steps of literally blindly following a stranger, they stopped.  He pulled the bag off her head and Ladybug had to blink a couple of times to adjust to the sudden rush of light to her eyes.  She looked around and saw that she was at the pier, watching the sun rise over Gotham Bay.
“Hold still” was all she heard, as he jerked the cuffs forward and unlocked them one by one.  Ladybug looked up and only just realised that the Red Hood absolutely towered over her.
Ladybug rubbed her chafed wrists with her hands, “Thank you” she muttered, avoiding eye contact with the person in front of her.  She didn’t know what to make of him, so she wasn’t sure how she felt about owing him favours.  On the one hand, he was a formidable crime boss who had just killed two of his own men without a second thought.  On the other hand, he killed them because he drew the line at harming kids and selling drugs to them.  Seeing as she was an 18-year-old crimefighter, did he have any qualms about hurting her?  She could not be certain, though she was also cursing herself for thinking that there was something intriguing about the crime boss with an altruistic side.  “This favour…” Ladybug began, trying to look him in the eyes and ask about it.
“I’ll come and find you when I need you, I have eyes and ears all over the city now” he explained, “no offense Pixie, but you kinda stick out like a sore thumb”.  He leaned in to whisper in her ear, “if you want to make it easier on us both, meet me in Crime Alley in a week’s time”.
“And I won’t tell anyone that their city’s big bad crime boss has a sense of humour” she joked.  She took out what looked like a yo-yo and launched it towards a lamp post and swung away.
Jason was used to people not trusting him, least of all his adopted family, and now there was the plucky young crimefighter dumb enough to take on two men twice her size.  She had guts, he had to admit, and if she kept this up it wouldn’t be long before Batman took notice.  Jason tensed up at the thought, he had just met this girl, but he wouldn’t wish what he or the others went through on her.   He wondered how long she had been doing this.  The idea that someone put her up to this from a young age made him even more tense.  If that was the case, he might feel a little sorry for her.  Alternatively, if she had been doing this for a long time, and was put through the same crucible as him only to emerge from the other side unscathed…what did that make him?  He had to see what she was made of, and for that, he needed to test her limits.  He asked her to meet him in Crime Alley, the place where it always began.
In the days leading up to their little reunion, he had been asking around about the costumed vigilante.  Seeing what his contacts knew, under the guise of asking if she was going to cause him any trouble.  Going through his dead henchmen’s burner phones, he managed to contact the kid that she had saved.  He sent him a message:
“We need to talk, the guys who gave you a hard time have been taken care of.  Need to ask about the girl who saved you. Meet me outside the diner tomorrow, the one near Gotham stadium. – R.H.”
He wouldn’t be surprised if the kid didn’t take the bait, after all he was probably shaken up by what happened.  He would be remiss as a former protégé of The World’s Greatest Detective if he left stones unturned.  He also thought maybe a burger and milkshake would sweeten the deal, the kid had been through enough.  He got a reply from the kid, it read:
“How do I know you’re not about to ‘take care’ of her? Or me? I don’t want any trouble. ”
He smiled, bless his little heart for trying to protect her.  He would just have to let this kid know that he was someone who could be trusted, that he had much bigger plans for his savior.
“My men crossed a line, the girl told me about what happened and I let her go.  I just want to know what you know, I’ll throw in a burger and milkshake. – R.H.”
The next day he waited, he had hoped wherever the kid was, he was one of the many teenagers finishing school around this time.  There was no guarantee that the kid would show up.  At around 4:30pm, sure enough a scrawny little teenager was looking around for the mysterious Red Hood.  Jason noticed the kid was wearing sunglasses, probably in a feeble attempt to hide the bruising on the side of his face. “H-hello?” he spluttered to no one in particular, Red Hood emerged from the shadows with a brown paper bag.
The kid rushed towards him, and he held it open so that he could see what was inside. “You’re the kid who got beaten up a few days ago?” he nodded sheepishly, Red Hood put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Listen, I took care of them because they crossed a line selling the stuff to you, I’m sorry.” He handed him the paper bag.
“It wasn’t for me…the drugs I mean. My dad, he-” that just made Red Hood’s blood boil even more, but he had to focus. “My neighbor, Marinette, she’s a fashion student at Gotham U.  She looks after me sometimes, she’s really nice. She grew up in a bakery in Paris, so she’s always making bread and cakes whenever I come over.” As he explained this, Red Hood calmed down a little at the thought of someone looking out for this kid. He took a few bites of his burger, and a mouthful of the chocolate milkshake.  “I owed those guys money, usually my dad gave me money to pay them but lately he hasn’t.  So, my piggy bank was starting to run a little dry, and I guess one day they got sick of waiting.” He explained, Red Hood tried to steer the conversation towards the girl saving him.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, just tell me what happened when the girl showed up” he told him in a soft voice.
“I thought I saw a pink light in the distance, and when I looked up, a girl in a red polka-dotted suit was trying to save me.  One guy was about to punch me when she used a yo-yo and wrapped it around his arm to pull it away from me. I don’t know what that thing was made of, but she managed to pull the guy towards her and away from me.” He continued to gush about how happy he was that this costumed heroine stepped in to save him.  As he described the fight, that first part lined up with the marks he saw on the henchman’s forearm.  “She just told me to ‘run’ and I didn’t really question it”, he explained.
“So, a girl in a magic costume saved you by using her magic yo-yo?” He asked, “did you see anything else?”
“Nope, I did what I was told and ran like hell.  I tried to see if my neighbour, Marinette, was home, but she was probably at the library or something” he told her.  This neighbour was a student, probably pulling an all-nighter somewhere working on a project.
“You did good kid.” He stuffed a couple of hundred into the kid’s pocket. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
“Please, don’t hurt her, she didn’t do anything wrong.  She was just trying to help me,” he pleaded.
“Relax kid, like I said, the two guys won’t be bothering you anymore”, and with that he turned and walked away.  “Go see your neighbour, Marionette or whatever, she’s probably worried sick about you”, with that he disappeared into the shadows once again.
Marinette made it home safely that night, and had spent the last few days trying not to think about what this crime boss had planned for her.  If he wanted to kill her, he could have done it right then and there.  Maybe he planned to drag this out and torture her, she had no way of knowing what he had in mind.  “There was something strange about that man”, Tikki mused when she finally powered down. 
“How so?” she asked as Tikki nibbled on the cookie she kept in her bag on the way home.
“You should probably take Plagg with you next time, I could feel something strange in his aura” Tikki told her.  “I could sense my own magic, but his magic might be mixed in there too”, she explained. 
“Did you and Plagg know who he was? Did you grant a wish for him?” she had been the Guardian since she was 13, any wish they granted before then would have been a long time ago.
“I can’t recall, but somehow he came into contact with our magic”, she explained.  Marinette decided to take her advice and bring Plagg next time, she could use Cataclysm if he tried anything. 
For the next few days, Marinette had been going about her normal, civilian life.  She was going to classes by day and working in her apartment by night.  Wednesday night, Leon finally paid her a visit and Marinette was shocked to see the bruise on his face.  Marinette decided to drop everything and give the boy some hot chocolate and cake.  He was surprisingly happy for someone who was being beaten up a few days ago.  Leon gushed about the girl who saved him, and how cool she was, and how he got to meet the Red Hood. 
Marinette froze, “Um, what’s he like?” she asked, she was surprised to hear more gushing.
“Awh he’s the best, this guy bought me a burger and a milkshake, he just wanted to know about the girl who saved me.” He was cheerfully rambling on before he noticed a slightly concerned look on Marinette’s face.
“Maybe don’t take food from strangers next time” she told him, “But what’s he like? Sorry, I haven’t lived in Gotham for very long”.
“He fights crime, just like Batman. He also looks really scary but is actually a nice guy- and I probably shouldn’t be telling you all this” he suddenly looked very sheepish.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be our little secret” she said with a wink, as she placed the warm mug of hot chocolate in front of him.   So? She was dealing with a crime boss with a VERY altruistic side, so much so that he’s considered a hero.  She should have known that, given that he shot those men for what they did to Leon.  It saddened Marinette that she couldn’t do more for Leon, but she was just a university student, she wasn’t really in a position to be his full-time guardian. 
“You make the best hot chocolate, Marinette, how do you do it?” he asked.
“Well, where I’m from we have it for breakfast.” she told him, he looked as though she told him that she communed with unicorns every morning.  “It’s true, even Marie Antoinette started her day with a cup of hot chocolate.”
“The lady who said ‘let them eat cake’?” he asked jokingly.
“Yes, but it was originally believed that she said ‘Let them eat brioche’” she told him. The two of them laughed and watched movies together, but eventually he had to return home later that night.  Considering all that she went through, Marinette felt lucky that her own family always loved and supported her.  Her father was always a gentle giant, and where her mother lacked in height she more than made up for in personality and wit.  They might not fully understand why she wanted to leave Paris of all places, to pursue a career in Fashion Design, but they supported her. 
What would they say if they could see her now? 
The week came and went, and Marinette decided to show up to Crime Alley as Lady Noire.  It was a dark and damp place, enough to give Plagg the sense that so much death and misfortune happened here.  She looked around and listened for any footsteps or figures, but the mystery man she was looking for still managed to take her by surprise.
“Surprised to see you here, Catwoman” she looked up to see the Red Hood looking down at her from a fire escape balcony. “I’m sure Batman will have something to say about the new hair,” he remarked.  There had to be some mistake here, and he seemed to realise it too when he climbed down and gave her a swift once over.  “Wait a minute…nice try poser, you’re a little short to be the real Catwoman.” he remarked, “Who are you?”.
“I’ll give you three guesses...” the girl was trying to be coy, but the accent and short stature gave it away.
“What brought on the costume change?” Red Hood asked.
“You don’t like it?” she pouted mockingly “It makes my job a whole lot harder if you’re resembling someone who takes cat burglary a little too literally”, he told her.  Now he had to rethink his plan, “why the costume change anyhow?”
“Well, you didn’t specify what your favour was. For all I know you enjoyed the sight of me kneeling in front of you in handcuffs a little too much”, Red Hood was thankful that the helmet hid the absolutely mortified look on his face.  He’d also be lying if he said he didn’t think she was cute, but he had some self-control. 
“Okay, should’ve probably said something about that. So that’s what brought about the costume change?” he asked, “Was it laundry day for the other one?”
“Let’s just say, this one has a different set of skills. This one comes with a staff, and night vision too.” she explained, “If you didn’t plan on ‘that’ kind of favour, what did you have in mind?”  Red Hood had a feeling she could do a lot more than she was letting on, but he decided to leave it for now.
“There’s a shipment of firearms weaving its way into Gotham as we speak, I plan to intercept it before Batman can find it.” He explained.
“Why? So that you can use them instead?” she snapped.
“Since you’re probably new here, trust me when I say you could do a lot worse in a place like Gotham,” he growled.  “This is also tame compared to how I would usually do things.  If anyone else got ahold of these guns, people can and will get hurt.” he told her, “Two-face, Penguin, the damned Clown Prince of Crime, none of them would think twice about mowing down innocent people to get what they want.” he took a few steps closer to her and she was trying to put on a brave face as she looked up at him.  Somehow, he got the sense that this might be out of her wheelhouse.
“So what do you want me to do?” She asked, hoping he couldn’t hear her heart pounding in her chest.  There was something about the Red Hood that Marinette couldn’t quite put her finger on.  He made it clear that he wasn’t someone to be trifled with, and that she would be foolish to underestimate him.  Yet in other ways, she could just about see the faint outline of something resembling a moral compass.  It was certainly one that was cracked, but she could just about glean where it was pointing.   
This was also the moment she realised she was way out of her depth.  She had been doing this for a few years, but she was used to people who were being controlled by Hawk Moth or Mayura.  Akumas and Amoks prepared her for a lot of things, this wasn’t one of them. 
“All right, follow me.” commanded the Red Hood as he grappled up to a roof, Lady Noire jumping from ledge to ledge to follow. The two jumped across the rooftops of Gotham until they arrived at the docks. The two stood at a rooftop across a warehouse, Red Hood perched on the ledge waiting. Red Hood points to a few small speed boats racing towards a warehouse. The speedboats quickly dock and a large group of mobsters come from the warehouse to begin unloading. As the crew quickly unload the smuggled weapons to trucks in the warehouse, the boss of the group shouts at them. “All right, hurry up and load the goods into the trucks.” spoke Scarface.
Lady Noire could hear a light growl from Red Hood, “Damn, it’s the Ventriloquist. Ready for a fight?” 
Lady Noire nodded and the two jumped down to the docks. They crash landed on a couple of mobsters, knocking them out instantly. Lady Noire used her staff to fight them off, while Red Hood ran off towards the warehouse, presumably to get the smuggled weapons. 
The Ventriloquist turned around and Scarface roared, “Shoot her!” and fired his tommy gun Lady Noire. She spun her staff quickly, creating a force field deflecting the hail of bullets coming her way.  
As the torrent subsided she heard the mob boss yell. “Help me reload ya dummy” commanded Scarface. “Yes sir,” Wesker meekly replied. 
Lady Noire took this opportunity to finish off the remaining goons in the area. Just as she knocked out the last mobster, a baseball bat cracked along the back of her skull and sent her to her knees.  She then felt hot metal placed on the back of her head and a howl of laughter. “Gotcha now ya dumb broad!” Scarface laughed.
At that moment Lady Noire panicked, she cast Cataclysm and took a swipe at Scarface. This sliced Scarface in half, however the disintegration continued. Lady Noire watched in horror and disgust as she saw Cataclysm burning away the Ventriloquist's arm. His cries of pain and begging for mercy forever etched into her mind. She felt faint and began hyperventilating as she watched the man slowly dissolve. She fell to her knees and held her other hand to her mouth, feeling the bile rise up.  She wanted to reach out, to apologise, but it was too late. She could not bear to watch anymore.  Her vision turned to black as she fell to the ground. 
Marinette woke with a start to find herself somewhere strange. Someone had laid her down to rest on a mattress.  She could hear the sound of keys tapping away on a computer, and moments later the sound of someone saying “Welcome back to the land of the living, Pixie Pop.” Marinette looked around at her surroundings, she had no idea where she was.  On the other side of the room, a boy who was only a year or two older than her turned in his chair to look at her.  Marinette sat up, her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to make sense of what had happened. The boy stood up and came over to see if she was all right.
“Where am I?” she asked, “What happened? Who are you?”
“To answer your questions, you’re in a decommissioned bomb shelter that I use as a hideout.  What happened is you took out one of Gotham’s crime bosses.  Not bad for baby’s first arms deal, “ he explained. Marinette was still trying to remember how she ended up here. “had to get out before Batman and the others got there but couldn’t find you, that was until I saw a flash of black and green light.”
It was all coming back to her, she remembered what transpired the previous night. She remembers how the cries of agony and the horror of watching a man slowly melt with the power of Cataclysm.  Marinette hadn’t used Lady Noire very often, and she was starting to wonder how Chat Noir managed all those years with this power. 
“Hey, Pixie? Still there?” the boy asked, slowly reaching out to touch her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!” she yelled, her hands shook as she remembered what she’d done, “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
“First of all, it was awfully nice of you to leave out the fact that you could use magic” he told her. Jason wasn’t angry in the same way Bruce would have been, Bruce didn’t trust magic users like Constantine further than he could throw him.  Still, when you’re trained by the World’s Greatest Detective, magic becomes the ultimate wild card.  He tried a different approach, the last thing she needed was to be lectured about how an arms dealer deserves to live more than her.  “Second of all, the way I see it, it was you or him.  He could have killed you, then what?” He asked.
“I don’t expect you to understand,” she spat, “maybe you’re used to this but I’m not! The people I was up against were always being controlled by someone else! They were ordinary people who let their negative emotions rule them!”  Her voice was shaking with rage and she looked away, there was no way she was going to let him see her cry.  “I didn’t even plan on continuing to be a hero, I have been doing it since I was 13.  When...I saw that poor boy in the alleyway I just...I’ve done what you asked now leave me alone.” she turned away and hugged her knees as she curled up on the edge of the mattress. 
Jason realised what made her so upset in that moment, telling her it was a matter of survival was pretty cold comfort for someone who’d just killed someone for the first time.  The fact of the matter was they had both been at this from a young age. The difference was he had been trained to fight superpowered murderers and madmen, people who were evil of their own volition.  He didn’t enjoy seeing her like this, but she made it clear that he didn’t have a clue what her world looked like.  It was probably a hell of a lot sunnier than his outlook, it probably literally smelled like sugar, spice and everything nice.  “If he had killed you, and he could have, I would have made him suffer a lot worse than you did.  Only difference is I know how.” he said there was no use sugarcoating the truth.
“Why?” she asked, “am I just some pawn in your little game against Batman?”
He walked over to the bookshelf shelf, filled with his own little souvenir collection.  A copy of the Art of War, The Prince, and many other books were nestled around them.  Among them was a photograph he took back with him on one of his trips back to Wayne Manor.  He tried to keep his frustration in check, tried to remind himself that she was just shaken, even if she had acted in self-defense.  He took the framed photograph off the shelf and handed it to her.  As far as they knew, the boy in that picture was dead and in many ways he still was.  “Look familiar?” he asked as he sat back down on the mattress, propping himself up on his arms as he leaned back.
Marinette looked at the photo, there was no mistaking that as Batman, standing there with a stern and serious expression.  The boy next to him was dressed a lot more colourfully, Marinette almost wanted to make her own adjustments to its design.  By contrast the boy had a cheeky smile, as if he was ready to take on the world with Batman at his side. She also noticed the person next to her had a white lock of hair framing his face. “Is that…'' she asked, she had stopped crying but now she was working out what he was trying to say.  She looked at the boy in the photo and back to him, his features were a little sharper now but she could just about see that boy beneath the surface.  “What happened?” she asked, there was no sense asking questions she knew the answer to.
“What could have happened to you.” he told her.  It clicked in Marinette’s mind at that moment, in his own way he wanted to protect her.  Her heart was pounding at the thought, she was so used to shouldering the responsibility of protecting everyone. Yet, here she was getting excited at the thought of someone doing the same for her.  Maybe Ladybug reminded him of the boy in the photograph, brimming with hope that they could make the world just a little brighter.  What happened to him and how it happened was a story for another day.  She felt a comforting hand hovering just over her shoulder, she gently took his hand and held it to her.  They sat there for a long moment, just two people enjoying each other’s company.  “What’s the boy’s name?” she asked as she turned and handed the photograph back to him.  She wiped her tears on her sleeve before smiling at him.
“Jason, Jason Todd, yours?” he asked, giving her that same smile as the boy in the photo. “No one calls me “Jason Peter Todd” unless I am in seriously deep shit”, he joked.
“Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng” she told him, “I’m the guardian of magical items called the Miraculous. It’s my job to keep them out of the wrong hands, for…well now you know why.”
It suddenly made sense to Jason why she leapt into action to save that boy without a second thought.  Not just because she was his neighbour and cared about him, but because that’s just what she did, and has been doing for a long time.  The whole magic thing was still going to take some getting used to, and he had to guess she had many more tricks up her sleeve.  Still, he had to admit they made a pretty good team last night.  She hadn’t been put through quite the same trials and tribulations as him, so who could say if she would end up just like him?  As long as he was around, no one would get that chance.  He stood up, taking his hand off her shoulder and holding it out to help her up.  “Need a ride?” he asked, Marinette smiled brightly up at him before she took his hand.
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themaribatpit · 3 years
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Jasonette July Day 9: Pixie
Written by: The Maribat Pit  @jasonette-july-event
Prompt: Pixie
Rated: T
(By popular demand, a slight continuation of Game On @aespades, @certainmuffinbagelcalzone.)
A/n: Edits have been made because I noticed the paragraph errors AFTER posting this.
Marinette was really starting to miss the days of working with Chat Noir at that moment, and that was saying something.  “Bugaboo” and “My Lady” were starting to feel more tolerable when she wasn’t being called that every second of the day.  Being called “Pixie” regardless if she was Ladybug or Marinette, was really starting to get old, fast.  For reasons that she could not understand, that’s what Jason insisted on calling her.  Sure, she was a lot smaller compared to him, but that coupled with needing to hang back and let Red Hood and Arsenal deal out the heavier hits was starting to get on her nerves.  She was just as experienced as them, she had a mentor just like they did, and had been saving lives for just as long as they had.  Ever since she had joined them, she thought that she would be fighting alongside a team again.  Now she was either supporting them or using her sewing skills to add improvements to their suits.  She was in good hands, some might say hands that were a little too good.  All this frustrated her to no end because she liked Jason, she would have thought that someone who had been a vigilante from a young age would understand what it felt like to be constantly underestimated. 
“Unbelievable,” she snapped one night as she came home from another mission.  She pulled off her pink flats and threw them across the room as she entered her apartment.  She didn’t even get the chance to use her Miraculous, she was effectively closely guarded bait on that last mission.  She slumped on the bed in frustration and Tikki hovered over to her, her antenna drooping in concern.  “Some days I want to wipe that smile off of that stupid face, just to prove I can.” Marinette grumbled into her pillow.  She didn’t hate Jason, she knew that there was some good in him.  Roy was the more optimistic and cheerful of the duo, like Jason, he had also been mentored by a more experienced hero.  Jason was a lot more reserved and cynical by comparison, though he wasn’t a complete Ice Prince like his brother Damian. 
“Maybe it’s because they’ve been doing this for a little bit longer.” Tikki suggested, after Marinette complained about it for the umpteenth time.
“Batgirl and Black Bat are only a few years younger than me,” she reminded her, “and there’s no doubt that they could hold their own in a fight.  No one gives them stupid nicknames, just shortened versions of their real names out of costume.” Tikki awkwardly scratched the back of her head.  “I bet you that he barely remembers what my real name is.” Marinette was getting increasingly furious at the thought “it’s always ‘Pixie this’ and ‘Pixie that’. I know I’m shorter than him, but I have taken on giant robot dolls, literal monsters, and I once rode a dragon!” Marinette yelled. 
Marinette throws a pillow at Tikki, only for it to phase through her. “What does he think I do as Ladybug? Create Christmas presents with my Lucky Charm?!” 
 At this very unfortunate moment Jason happened to return back to their apartment with Roy in tow. “What’s got you riled up, Pixie Pop?” Jason quipped after seeing the frustrated look on her face. This was the last straw for Marinette, “Stop calling me that! Does it please you to demean me? Does it bring you joy to fucking bully me day in and day out?” Jason and Roy take a step back from Marinette’s outburst. Marinette continues “I have kept Paris safe ever since I was 13, I didn’t have the World's Greatest Detective or a Robin Hood cosplayer helping me. It’s always you two off saving the day while I’m the distraction. Do I have to remind you that I’ve beaten Robin and Red Robin?” 
 “So have we, right Roy?” Jason says look backwards to Roy. Roy meanwhile was slowly walking backwards with his arms up in surrender.
 “Don’t drag me into this please.” Roy pleaded. 
 Marinette continued her rant, “So why do you keep calling me Pixie Pop like I'm some pet or stuffed animal?” She storms up to Jason and pulls him down to her height by the collar. 
Roy sensed the tension and wanted absolutely no part in making it worse, “You know what? I’m gonna go get us some shawarma.”
Jason looked over at Roy “Really, Roy?” A slight scowl made it clear he knew Roy was essentially leaving him to face Marinette’s wrath.
“All I know is that they are open at four in the morning and I’m hungry, so I’ll be right back.” Roy said, and he left the room.  Just as he thought Roy was out of earshot, Jason heard sprinting down the hallway.  Roy had abandoned him to face the burning blue fire in Marinette’s eyes.
Marinette let go of him, she didn’t need them, she had made that absolutely clear. 
“I’m done,  I don’t expect you to understand what it’s like to be underestimated all of the time.” she muttered harshly, “to always be kept at arm's length, because no one trusts you to do anything right.”
Marinette had no idea just how deep her words cut him, and Jason couldn’t really blame her.  As far as she knew, compared to his brothers, he might as well just be ‘the one with the guns and leather jackets’.  He hadn’t really told her about what had happened all those years ago, he didn’t even like to think about it himself.  Roy was one of the few people who understood what he’d been through. It was true that both of them started out as sidekicks, maybe the red in their costumes helped them stand out from their mentor’s shadows.  Their time as young crime fighters had left their scars. They were blindsided when they found someone who had been a heroine since she was 13, and took to it with the same determination they had when they were younger, more innocent, more naïve. 
 As Marinette flitted around the room, gathering her things, every nerve in Jason’s body was screaming at him to stop her.   He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, trying not to think about just how small it felt around his hand.  “Look, I’m sorry,” he began. What could he say to her? That he knew exactly what that felt like? That the last thing they wanted was for her to end up like them?  That every hit they took in a fight was one that she wouldn’t have to, so that she wouldn’t turn out broken like they were?  The problem was she didn’t see them as broken, she saw them treating her like glass.  If she was put through the same ordeal, Jason had no idea what he would do.  If she shattered just like they did, then in a way, they would have failed her.  If she came out still whole, still brimming with light, then what did that say about them?
 Marinette pulled her arm away, “I’ll show you, then you’ll be sorry” she told him bitterly.  With her backpack in hand and shoes on her feet, she pushed past him and walked out the door.  
 Jason remains staring at the open door, regretting how he had treated her. He grew fond of her during their time together as ‘Red Arse Bug’.  She had a cute face, cute voice and she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. “Stupid, stupid” he says to himself, facepalm at each syllable. Even with the now hostile relationship with Marinette, he knew he had to follow her. He had to stop her from making the same mistakes he did, so that she would not become like him. He put on his helmet and left to search for clues as to where Marinette would go and what she would do.
 Marinette wandered through Gotham city, unsure what to do now that she stormed out of the apartment she shared with Jason and Roy. She felt like everyone belittled her, Selena did, and now so did Jason. She needed to do something eye-catching, to prove to everyone that she didn’t need their help.
As she wanders past the Iceberg Lounge, she gets a spark of inspiration. If she could take down the Penguin single-handedly, nobody in Gotham would doubt her ever again. With unyielding determination she calls out “Spots On” and turns to Ladybug, ready to take on one of the cruelest crime lords in all of Gotham. Ladybug walks up to the front door and kicks it down, sending the door flying and knocking any unfortunate goons behind it. Penguin’s gang whipped out their guns, tire irons, pipes and anything that could count as a weapon and were now charging in to stop the intruder. 
 Marinette swings her yo-yo to wrap around one of the goon’s ankles, before swinging him around crashing him into several others. A guard points his rifle behind Ladybug, she spins around, sending her yo-yo towards the gun and pulling it from his hands. As the guards begin to group up together in an attempt to minimise the effectiveness of her yo-yo, Marinette looks up and begins to smirk. She flings her yo-yo upwards and hooks it onto a chandelier. She yanks it down, sending the chandelier crashing onto the unsuspecting guards. 
 Marinette dusts her hands and proceeds to walk through into the main hall. She proceeds to kick down that door too, she is then greeted by The Penguin surrounded by his gang. “I’m taking you down Cobblepot.” She shouts, swinging her yo-yo as if it was a lasso, preparing for a fight.
 The Penguin stands up from the seat of his large chair. “What are all you idiots waiting for?” He shouts all around him. He points his umbrella at Ladybug, and begins shooting his umbrella gun. “Get her!” The penguin roars, at this cue every gangster charges at Ladybug. 
 Marinette gracefully dodges and weaves around Penguin’s army, knocking each one out one by one. Until only The Penguin remains, she wraps her yo-yo around his umbrella, easily disarming one of Gotham’s most wanted. She walks towards The Penguin, slowly unravelling her yo-yo in anticipation of tying him up and sending him to Arkham Asylum. 
 The Penguin takes out a little remote control from his suit pocket, “It's not over yet.” he snarls and pushes a button. At that moment the entire building shakes.
“Born on a Monday” a voice groaned, followed by another loud thud. “Christened on a Tuesday.” the same voice groaned. Then a giant hand shoots up from beneath the floor, “SOLOMON GRUNDY” roared the giant as it emerged from the floor. 
 Red Hood and Arsenal had been watching the fight from a careful distance outside the Iceberg Lounge.  “Well, she’s managed to take on Penguins goons just fine,” Arsenal observed through the small pair of binoculars,  “she’s certainly had plenty of time to get very creative with that yo-yo”.
Red Hood’s hand was still itching to reach for one of his pistols, ready to jump in at the first sign of trouble. “By the way, how was your shawarma?” he asked sarcastically.
Arsenal looked over at him, raising an eyebrow “Hey, I’m not the one who said the one thing that just made her angrier, you were on your own there.”
“Nice to know you had my back.” he grumbled.
“Oh I do in a fight, you just decided to be an ass and poke the angry girl with a stick.” Arsenal pointed out.
Their banter was interrupted by an earth shattering thud, following a loud groan “Born on a Monday.” At that moment their blood ran cold. Red Hood and Arsenal rushed towards the Iceberg Lounge. Both worried for Ladybug and aware of what comes after that dreadful nursery rhyme. 
 “What are you two doing here? I can handle this.” growled Ladybug as Red Hood and Arsenal arrived. 
 Before either Red Hood or Arsenal could answer, they were interrupted by Solomon Grundy smashing the ground where Ladybug was standing. Ladybug gracefully dodged the punch, grappling onto a ceiling lamp to swing towards Grundy with a kick. 
 The giant grabbed Ladybug while she was mid-air and threw her towards her partners. Red Hood catches her, holding her tightly as the two fly across the room. He shields her from the shock, taking the brunt of the impact as they crash into the wall. 
 Red Hood groans “You okay?” Ladybug looks up to see she was relatively unharmed, but Red Hood had taken the brunt of the throw. Concern visible on her face as she sees Red Hood’s damaged helmet, and the bruised and bloodied face beneath.  
 Their quiet moment together was interrupted by Arsenal's cries for help. Every arrow he had in his quiver wasn’t making a dent in Solomon Grundy. Ladybug decides to cast Lucky Charm in desperation, and swings her yo-yo up. The ladybugs converge to form...a polka-dotted stick of dynamite. 
 “Arsenal!” She called. “Tie this to the end of an arrow, Red Hood and I will keep it busy.” She tosses the dynamite to Arsenal and tells Red Hood to tie Grundy down.
 Ladybug using her yo-yo grabs on to Solomon Grundy’s left arm while Red Hood uses his grappling hook to hold on to his right arm. Leaving Grundy exposed and immobile, giving Arsenal the opportunity for a clear unobstructed target. 
 Arsenal draws and aims the special Lucky Charm Explosive Arrow. The giant zombie growls “Arrow Boy no hurt Grundy.” 
 “Arrow Boy yes hurt Grundy” quipped Arsenal, before releasing the arrow causing a thunderous explosion into Solomon Grundy’s face. The giant slumps, Ladybug and Red Hood quickly release their hold and watch its body fall back into the hole in which it came from. 
 Solomon Grundy’s body lays motionless in the basement of the Iceberg Lounge as the three peer over the hole in the ground, “Let’s get outta here before the GCPD or worse, Batman arrive” Red Hood points to the front door, and the three of them leave the lounge to head back to their apartment.
As the three arrive home, they each find a nice comfortable spot to collapse onto. Jason claimed the sofa, slumped down Roy in the middle of the living room floor and Marinette sat at the dining table. “I vote for a week off.” groaned Roy.
“I second that motion” agreed Jason. 
“I still have design work to do.” Marinette told them, not really looking at either of them at that moment.  She was torn between appreciating their help, and frustrated that she hadn’t been able to handle the situation herself like she thought.
“Still that was one hell of a fight, and hey, you still managed to take on a squad of goons by yourself.”  Roy said, “I’m so proud” he said dramatically pretending to wipe away a happy tear. 
He nudged Jason in the leg, “um, yeah, good work” he said awkwardly, slightly lost in thought. Marinette smiled slightly, before turning her attention back to her little fairy friend perched on the table. 
“So does this mean Red Arse Bug is back together?” Roy asked enthusiastically, Marinette wasn’t really paying attention. 
The name still needed work, for one thing.  For once Marinette felt like her powers were being used in harmony with their abilities, but she wasn’t sure if it was a feeling that she should get used to.  Marinette could still vividly remember seeing Jason’s bruised and bloodied face beneath his helmet.  Jason stood up and walked over to the fridge, looking for ice to dull the swelling on his face.
“Not with that name,” Jason grumbled, not entirely sure if Marinette was willing to stay after their argument.  Someday, somehow, he would tell her the full story of what happened to him.  Right now, that was a whole Pandora’s Box that he just wasn’t prepared to open.  Nestled at the bottom of that box was hope, a hope that no one else would meet that same fate.
“...Lucky Shot?”  Marinette suggested as she carried Tikki over to the sofa and sat down.  Both Jason and Roy looked up, it made some sense, seeing as they both used projectiles and she had her lucky charms.  Jason tentatively made his way back to the sofa, ice pack in hand.
“Sounds better than ‘Red Arse Bug’.” Jason remarked, as he sat back down. 
“Well, let’s see if our little adventure made the news” Roy said, as he reached for the TV remote.  Jason tuned out Vicki Vale’s voice as she reported on the fight that took place at the Iceberg Lounge. 
As Roy slept at their feet, Jason knew if they were going to continue working together as a team, they couldn’t keep her in the dark any longer.  
“Hey Marinette.” Jason speaks softly. Marinette's ears perk in surprise, hearing speak her name for the first time. “I’m sorry, for what I said and how we treated you. You’re right.” He gestures to the sleeping Roy on the floor, “Both of us started out as sidekicks, we both grew up in the shadows of Batman and Green Arrow. Both old men with impossibly high standards, everything we did was never enough.”   Marinette listened intently as she shuffled closer to him on the sofa.  “We’ve both been to hell and back, Marinette. Literally in my case.” he explained, Marinette glanced down at Tikki for a moment, as if silently asking if her magic was somehow involved in this.  “But always remember, we have each other’s backs, just like The Three Musketeers.” Jason told her, Marinette giggles at his literary reference.
“Roy’s Porthos, you’re Aramis, I guess that makes me D’Artagnan.” Marinette chimes. Jason loved to see that hopeful smile on her face.  What scared him the most was the idea that something or someone would try and take that away from her.  They couldn’t keep treating her like glass, and they couldn’t keep treating her like a sidekick if they wanted to keep her from making their mistakes.  They were all going to fight like hell to make sure this world didn’t break her the way it broke them.  Marinette leaned in close and rested her head on his shoulder.  He felt her calm even breathing, fanning his neck as she slept peacefully at his side.
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boldlyanxious · 3 years
Text
Malchance
Jasonette July prompt 19: mistakes
Prompt applies to the beginning
Final part of Cocorico
My masterlist
Malchance sat on the roof overlooking the roof where Nightwing and Red Hood had been engaged in a fight for several minutes. They either knew each other's fighting style very well or they were evenly matched. She should have brought popcorn. Red Hood got a lucky hit before Nightwing could dodge and managed to lift him up by the back of the neck.
She dropped down behind them, losing sight of the lovely double view of them from behind when Red Hood turned to face her. Nightwing broke away from the hold while Red Hood was distracted. Malchance walked up to them carefully swinging her cat tail around, seeming relaxed. She was not relaxed. She had escaped one only to be nearly caught by the other so she was definitely on her guard.
"You were right about Black Mask. He is a nasty piece of work."
"See I tried to protect you from him."
"You kidnapped me."
"I told you it was temporary. You were a guest and I let you go."
"I escaped and then was immediately chased by him."
She pointed at Nightwing who had been watching them argue.
“I have so many questions. You kidnapped her?” Nightwing looked over at Red Hood when he asked that but then turned back to Malchance. “What is going on with Black Mask? That is what I was trying to find out before but you ran off.”
“I don’t remember any questions. You just started chasing me and then got out your cuffs.”
She sauntered over and winked at him, but looked back over to see Red Hood’s reaction. As she approached, she moved her hand to her staff in case she needed to make a quick get away. She couldn’t see Red Hood’s face to gauge his reaction but he had tensed. She laughed at them.
“You cuffed her? You aren’t trying to tell me we are after the same girl are you. I think she is warming up to me.” He took a step toward her.
“Maybe I am. I was even thinking about holding your hand.” She looked up at him seductively through her long cat eyelashes the suit gave her and whispered. “Cataclysm.”
She brushed her hand against a discarded box on the rooftop and the men watched it disintegrate and both of them took a step away when she turned back to them and reached out her hand.
“What are you?” Nightwing asked.
“Finally getting to some interesting questions. But I don’t answer interesting questions.”
“Why are you dealing with Black Mask?” Red Hood asked, changing the subject.
“Bonus points to you for bringing us back to the topic of the day.”
“What do I get with my bonus points? I might want to cash them in.”
“You destroyed my business. You will never get enough points to get yourself out of the hole.”
“I feel like I’m missing a whole lot of history here, and I’m definitely curious. But Black Mask. That seems to be the issue to focus on right now instead of your weird version of flirting.”
“Jealous?” Red Hood said.
Marinette ignored them and instead explained her actual purpose for being in Gotham and her former business. She omitted plenty of details that were more sensitive in nature but was able to give them an overview of the magic that was at the core of Gotham and how she thought Black Mask was utilizing it. She would not be able to stop him all on her own as she had found out in her dealings with him. He had too many people working for him that may not be loyal to his goal but still supported the goal of removing her from the picture. She was more offended that he tried to kill her instead of paying her what he owed.
“So you what, need our help to take him down?” Nightwing asked.
“Yes. If he harnesses this magic it would hurt the balance of the whole world. Gotham is surrounded by the miasma but it would extend far beyond that.”
“So you just want us to trust you? There is a system. You haven’t even been vetted.” Nightwing argued.
“I don’t need your approval. My authority spans far beyond Gotham and far beyond your plane of existence. You are inconsequential.”
She turned away from him when she was finished and Red Hood followed. She glanced back at him and he didn’t seem to be making a move so she just stayed vigilant in case that changed.
“I’ll be in touch,” she told him.
“Wait, can we talk?” Red Hood asked.
She motioned with her head and jumped away; he followed. They crossed several rooftops and made sure they were not being followed by anyone, Nightwing included, before Marinette led them to a rooftop that felt surprisingly calm for Gotham. You couldn’t hear the noise from the street or the docks and no sounds of fighting. It was like a calm in the storm. It was her favorite place to hang out when she needed to get away from everything.
“What did you want?” she asked.
“To apologize.” Red Hood said. He paused for a moment and removed his helmet. She could see his hair and facial features but his eyes and the surrounding skin were still covered by a lensed domino mask. He reached out for her hand.
“I’m listening,” she said.
“I guess it’s not enough to say I need to apologize, I actually have to follow through.”
“That is how apologies work.”
“I’m sorry. I should have handled the threats against you differently. It would have been better if I had convinced you to come with me.”
“That is your apology? You are not admitting the mistakes.”
“I mean I’m sorry for kidnapping you.” It sounded more like a question than a statement.
“It wasn’t just the kidnapping. You didn’t trust me to handle my own affairs and you ruined my business."
“I still have plenty of business for you. You gave up on it. Also, clearly something happened with Black Mask so maybe I was right.”
“This is the worst apology ever. The biggest mistake was listening to you at all. I’ve changed my mind, I don’t need help, not from you.”
“Just hold on a minute. You are twisting everything. It was my fault that anyone was after you. Someone made a joke about me flirting with you and word got out. I just wanted to take responsibility to make sure that you didn’t suffer because of it.”
“Maybe employ fewer gossips and don’t flirt with everyone you meet.”
“I employ at least one less gossip, and I don’t flirt with everyone I meet. It just happened with one person. There is a reason it was noteworthy gossip worth making such a large bounty for.
Malchance turned back to him and watched him without responding. He did appear contrite. Usually she would have a sense of someone to know whether they were a danger to her. She thought it just didn’t work with him because she never felt in danger. She may feel adrenaline or nervousness but it hadn’t tripped her internal sense of self preservation.
She stepped towards him and kept watching him. He looked down at her and she could tell he was making eye contact before he took off his mask. Her eyes searched his, looking for answers she was too afraid to ask. She reached up and pushed the shock of white hair away from his face. He closed his eyes as her fingers slipped through his hair. Her hand slid down to his cheek and she finally spoke.
“Why me?”
"Because I feel like you see me how am, and you don't recoil. There is attraction; you are gorgeous. But more than that, I feel drawn to you."
He stepped close and cupped her face. She was suddenly remembering his measurements and exactly how she felt being close to him to take them. She couldn't keep meeting his eyes. She looked away.
"I'm not sure what you see is actually there. I'm just a broken person with a mission to complete."
He lifted her chin to have their eyes meet again. She closed her eyes for the moment. His thumb brushed across her jaw before he dropped his hand and shuffled his feet. She looked back at him, but sure what she felt.
"I can get Nightwing and Batman to help take care of Black Mask."
"You and Nightwing were just fighting. Batman is one of your enemies. How does that even work?"
"We have to play by their rules but it sounds like this is a threat to us all. We can get along for a moment and fight later."
"I did not agree to anyone else's rules. This is my mission and I'm not just letting them take over."
"I should clarify. I meant his no killing rule. It's a restriction for me that I doubt changes things for you."
"It doesn't. I won't work harder to protect the life but I won't attempt to take lives."
"That should be close enough. Can we meet here in one week to discuss details?"
She nodded her assent. She was turning to go when he stepped towards her. She allowed him to turn her face slightly and put a gentle kiss on her cheek. She reached out and squeezed his forearm slightly. She tried to pass it off as a comforting gesture for him rather than to keep herself from melting off her feet.
---
It was the day of the planned assault on Black Mask’s operation. As far as Cocorico could tell they were at the location of the magical manipulation. Groups of Red Hood’s militia were prepared all around to breach but right now Cocorico was gathered with Red Hood and Nightwing to discuss the final details. It was all going as expected until Batman showed up and Cocorico suddenly wondered if this was a good idea. Red Hood and Batman were clearly far from okay with working with each other. Cocorico thought they might kill each other before the battle even started. Batman stepped towards Red Hood so Hood had removed his helmet and was stepping right back in some display of aggressive dominance.
Cocorico would not allow them to ruin her plan. She had gotten them to help a few weeks ago but she had been working toward this for almost 2 years and she wasn’t going to let them ruin it. She pulled Red Hood away and turned to scold Batman but she had pulled Red Hood too hard and when he spun to adjust they both stumbled towards the wall. Just before her head connected with the wall Red Hood slipped his hand behind it. Her back hit the wall and she looked up at him as he was suddenly pressed against her. His other hand had planted against the wall and he was pushing back, probably to continue his argument with Batman.
It was just a thought. She wasn’t planning to do anything about her errant thoughts about Red Hood. She had a mission and she had worked hard to have no distractions. But their eyes met for that brief second and she couldn’t bear to have him turn away. She grabbed the front of his jacket to turn him back toward her. She told herself she just wanted to see his eyes again but without thinking she moved toward him. He was shocked when she kissed him but he recovered quickly. He pressed her back into the wall and kissed her back. It was desperate and brief. Being interrupted by Batman clearing his throat. If looks could kill Red Hood’s would have killed Batman in that instant that Cocorico pulled away.
“For luck,” she said and reached back up to put a peck on his cheek.
“I could use some luck,” Nightwing said.
Red Hood’s eyes narrowed at him but Cocorico responded before anything else happened.
“Batman is right there,” she pointed at him. “Pucker up.”
That effectively ended any further comments about luck or kissing. Red Hood put his helmet back on and Cocorico took a moment to merge Orikko and Plagg as added protection during the battle. Then they moved in.
It was far longer than they expected before anyone noticed their presence. They had fully infiltrated the building before anyone sounded the alarm. Chatcorico thought that must be due to the training of the militia. They had found guards but they were neutralized, brutally in some cases, but they were still alive per Batman’s insistence.
She was shocked by the glow over the compound when they reached the hub. It was otherworldly. She stumbled under the weight of the magic that hit her. Red Hood turned to her in concern. No one else seemed to be affected. She could feel it though. It was not only the ancient sorcery of the city. There was miraculous magic here.
Whatever they were planning was going on now. They paused while everyone gathered at their appointed locations. Chatcorico looked around to decide how best to proceed but what she saw caused her to jump into action and charge out without alerting anyone. Black Mask was there as well as an unknown person bound at the center of all the activity. She was on her knees with her hand bound behind her and a gag in her mouth. In front of her was Black Mask walking towards her with a knife.
That was all bad for the person, which they would endeavor to protect when the assault began but she saw more. There was something in front of them that was drawing in all of the ethereal light seeping from somewhere below. Marinette didn’t know what they were trying to accomplish but she knew it would be bad. She rushed Black Mask from behind. He turned just as she reached him and knocked her over. She used her kite to block. But he didn’t have time to keep after her Red Hood was already behind him.
Chatcorico saw the rest of the group moving in to attack but she focused on removing the bindings from the woman. She undid the bindings on the hand first and then focused on the ones binding the feet together. The woman pulled the binding from her mouth and immediately transferred guardianship of the box to Monk. Marinette remembered that he was the guardian she had met in New York. The box seemed to shed the magic that was attempting to infect it and then floated up. It seemed to mask itself as it exited the building. Chatcorico assumed that it would go to the new guardian of the box, as had happened when she gained the guardianship. Then woman in front of her would have no memory of it.
The battle was long. By the end, they had claimed the building but Black Mask retreated and got away along with many of his men. Those left were behind she suspected would be arrested. Red Hood had his crew filtering out quickly. There was nothing to say they would not be arrested too when the time came. She didn’t expect that Batman’s generosity to work with the man would extend to keeping him out of jail when the time came. The partnership was very limited.
She started to get concerned that the same could be said of her own partnership with him. She was an unknown and she could tell he didn’t trust magic users. He knew enough to suggest a couple other magic users who he trusted enough with the magic seeping out. That didn't seem to include her and she wasn't sure she could handle it anyway. It had become clear that her involvement was to recover and protect the miraculous magic and the former guardian. She could leave the woman to their questioning.
She released Orikko, who had been active longer and she would have an easier time traveling as Malchance. She nodded at Batman and Nightwing, giving them no chance to stop her before she scooped up the woman and vaulted out of there. She took her to her apartment and left her sleeping in the spare room. She would have to find out about contacting the new guardian soon. The order would have some way to care for the woman who lost her memories to the cause.
Malchance would return to her shortly but she had to check. She landed on the roof and as she suspected Red Hood was waiting for her there. He looked up and watched her land and walk toward him. He stood and reached out for her. She was shocked at how right it felt to go into his arms. Maybe it had been too long since she had allowed herself to form any connections. She didn't want to bother with the 'why' of anything tonight. She just craved the connection. She knew it wasn't love and probably wouldn't last. Maybe he only liked the chase and maybe she didn't care. She pulled him down and kissed him. The only thing that mattered was it was right now.
Taglist
@jasonette-july-event | @theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo | @adrestar | @zynna
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miracle-sham · 3 years
Text
Crack Your Bones and Say Those Lies.
| {Jasonette July 2021, Saturday Challenge 3: And They Were Roommates} |
| [Ao3 Link] | | [Masterlist Link] | | [Spotify Playlist Link] |
———
| After getting roped into the Vigilante life by Chat Noir, her friend and partner in crime, Maladroit tries her best to help fight crime to make the city a better place, if only Red Hood and his gang would stop causing problems. |
| Or alternatively, Marinette and Jason are roommates with secrets. Both have huge crushes on each other but more importantly, both are trying to juggle moonlighting as their secret identities. However, when watching the nightly news together, everything changes. |
| Word Count: 5,014. |
| Warnings/Tags: No Miraculous/Different Powers Au, Roommates, minor gang mentions/Red Hood is a gang lord, gun violence, Vigilantism, Identity Shenanigans/Mistakes, Miscommunication, some emotional hurt, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, and Domestic fluff. Also Oblivious, Protective, & Mutually Pining Marinette and Jason. |
———
| A/N: Hey! Sorry this is nearly a week late but where I live got hit with a nasty heatwave and I was barely able to write from sheer exhaustion from the heat. But on a happier note, I'm so glad I've finally been able to write and post a proper Vigilantes au (as in like Spidey style vigilantism with homemade gear and all!) Because that kinda Vigilante au especially combined with roommates is my favourite trope ever! Well maybe joint with Dragonrider AUs, but still! I've had multiple Vigilante Aus sitting in my notes and drafts so it's brilliant to finally release one into the wild! Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this! |
| Also side note, Don’t Like? Don’t Read. Also also, please do not criticise any of my writing. This was written for fun and receiving criticism, even in a compliment/criticism sandwich, is the exact opposite of fun. |
———
It's Friday night, and Maladroit and Chat Noir are midway through their usual patrol of their slice of territory in the city.
“Race you to the billboard!” Chat Noir calls out, snickering in an almost cat-like-chitter as he launches himself forwards. Swinging over Maladroit's head with his grapple, he lands on the next roof ahead, in a perfect three-point landing.
Maladroit giggles, “Oh, you're so on!” She grabs her grapple and shoots. Swinging after him and onto the same roof. She instead, dive forward rolls for her landing and uses the momentum to propel her into a run.
Losing his lead due to the momentum loss of the three-point landing, Chat Noir vaults over a roof vent.
Forced to swerve to the side, Maladroit barely dodges a massive puddle of rainwater on her side of the roof.
Neck and Neck, the two raced across the rooftop. Closer and closer to the billboard they raced.
Nearly there! She thinks, c'mon! Reaching an arm out to slap the billboard—
Bzzt!
“Eep!” She yelps, startled by the buzzing crackle of her earring-comms. Unintentionally, she accidentally veers to the side and crashes straight into Chat Noir's side.
They collide with a loud thud, and two of them crumple into a pile.
“Graceful as ever, Mal.” A voice teases over her earring-comms. “Joking aside, didn't mean to spook you, sorry!”
Maladroit groans, “thanks,” and gingerly extracts herself from the vigilante limb pile.
“Gamer!” Chat Noir cheers, having heard him through his own disguised comms. “Got any crimes for us to fight tonight?”
There's a chuckle over the line, “Lucky you should ask, Chat, I do happen to have found some villainous plans for you to thwart.”
Chat Noir cracks his knuckles and stretches. “Oh? What are they?”
“Two which are time-sensitive.” Gamer adds.
Maladroit stifles a squawk, “Two! That are time-sensitive?” Her voice goes up a pitch on the last word, making it sound like a question.
“Uh-huh.” He confirms. “Chat Noir, there's a break-in at a jewellery store two blocks over from you. I'm sending you the directions now to your phone.”
Chat Noir does a two-fingered salute to the nearest security camera. “Got it, G! Detective Noir is on the case!”
“And Maladroit, we've got reports of sightings of Red Hood outside his usual area. By the Warehouses on fourth. There are no security cams around there so I've got nothing but rumours to go on. See if you can check it out and find out what he's up to.” Gamer informs her, sounding slightly irritated at the fact he's got little information to give her.
Maladroit nods, grumbling slightly. “When isn't he up to something.”
Slinging an arm around her shoulder, Chat Noir grins like the Cheshire Cat. “C'mon, Mal! It'll be a quick sweep and nothing will turn up like the last twenty times we've gotten this kinda tip-off!”
“You owe me ice cream from André's when we're in civvies tomorrow!” She huffs. “I made us macarons last time!”
“I haven't forgotten!” Chat Noir protests. “Anyway, see you tomorrow if we don't catch each other for the end of the patrol?”
Maladroit nods. “Yep! See ya later Minou!”
The two split. Chat Noir dashing after the directions, and Maladroit swinging towards the warehouses on fourth.
———
Breathe, Maladroit—reminds herself, perched on the rafters in one of the warehouses on fourth. Staring at the blood-red glowing mask of the red hooded villain, who happens to be oh so creatively named the 'Red Hood', leaning on the balcony railing on the opposite side of the warehouse to her rafter, and presumably glaring up at her.
“It's you again, Maladroit.” He growls, distorted by whatever voice modifier he's got wired into his mask.
She can't help but wince at the reminder of the word she had accidentally said the first time she had ever helped Chat Noir fight crime. Which irritatingly enough, stuck as her vigilante name. Especially since her second attempt at a name, Ladybug, didn't stick. She frowns beneath the black and red spotted bandana covering her mouth, and tightly grips her bladed yo-yo—with piano wire instead of string—of the same colour scheme.
“What are you planning, Red Hood?” She spits out, voice also modified by her bandana, a tad too grumpy and bitterly for the awkward-but-smiley "persona" she's supposed to act like (although it's not so much of a persona when that's just how she is almost all the time). But in her defence, she's had a rough day at uni, things have been awkward at home because of her crush on her roomie lately, and more importantly, Red Hood's lackeys have been a pain in the neck for the past week, so her reaction is more than warranted.
He has the audacity to laugh. “What makes you think I'm going to tell you, Pipsqueak?”
“Well,” Maladroit huffs, “I was hoping you were feeling considerate.”
Red Hood shifts his shoulders. “Aww, sorry Pipsqueak. I'm not feeling particularly considerate today.” In a split second, he slips both guns from his holsters, spins them, and shoots.
Maladroit squeaks, instinctively tugging on her power, and dives off the rafter to dodge the shot. “Rude!”
She's just able to shoot her grapple off and swing up to another metal beam.
“How the fuck do you keep dodging my shots?” He snarls, gesturing at her with his guns in short angry-looking motions.
In response, she throws her yo-yo at him, tugging on her power again. The yo-yo spins through the air, slashing through the Red Hood's jacket sleeve and slicing a deep groove into the gun, then rewinds on the wire back to her. “What makes you think I'm going to tell you, Bullet Boy!” She parrots back, cheekily.
“Hey!” Red Hood snaps, aiming another shot at her.
Tugging on her powers once more, Maladroit yelps as she swings to yet another metal rafter beam in order to avoid the shot. “Your aim sucks!”
“Fuck you!” He retorts, firing off four more shots aimed at her head.
There's a horrifying moment as she barely manages to tug on her powers in time. The bullets barely skimming past her hood, one even tearing the fabric slightly.
“Mal!” Comes Gamer's terrified voice over her earring-comms, “I need you to pull back immediately! Red Hood and his gang have been spotted nearby and Chat can't get to you in time to back you up if you do get into a fight!”
She raises a hand to her earrings and quietly laughs hysterically. “Little too late for that, G! I'm uh currently staring… face to gun to him”
“Oh, fuck!” Gamer responds, voice going up a pitch. “I'm contacting Chat now. Try and get out if you can but prioritise not getting yourself killed, please!”
Red Hood fires his guns again. “Eyes and ears on me, Pipsqueak.”
Squeaking yet again, Maladroit desperately tugs on her power once more and swings to another rafter. Her heart thunders in her chest as loudly as his gunfire. She spits out a frantic, “no promises!” to both of them.
“I've informed him, your backup is on the way.” Gamer tells her.
The main warehouse doors clatter open with a resounding slam! Followed by the stomping of multiple pairs of boots storming inside.
Maladroit waves at Red Hood, the quiet terrified hysterical laughter practically bubbling out of her mouth. “Haha, well I'm afraid that's my cue to Bug Out!”
“Oh, I don't think so, Pipsqueak.” Red Hood taunts, shooting six bullets at her, rapid-fire. “I ain't finished with our convo yet.”
Squeaking for the umpteenth time, and really just giving him even more reason to keep giving her that stupid pipsqueak nickname, she riskily shoots her grapple, aiming and swinging towards the warehouse's large balcony windows.
“Get the fuck back here!” He snarls, voice deepening with fury. Pausing to reload before firing off more shots at her with abandon.
Maladroit wriggles midair, tugging on her powers to try and dodge the shots. She curls into a dive forward roll as the grapple forces her to land onto the balcony. The same one that Red Hood has been stood on this entire time. Oh, help me! She thinks, eyes widening behind her makeshift red with black tinted lenses, goggles-slash-domino mask.
He aims his gun at her once more. “Move and you fucking die, pipsqueak.”
Putting her hands in the air, she swallows a gulp of air. Her body armour is padded beneath her red, and black spotted, hoodie but it isn't bulletproof. And she can feel the straining exhaustion of overusing her powers clawing at her.
They're at a standoff. Still as statues, the both of them. It's almost poetic how they parallel each other. He's got his gun aimed at her, whilst she's desperately clutching at her grappling hook gun in one of her raised hands. Both donned in red. Both committing crimes in the eyes of the law. Two sides of the same coin, one and the same.
Maladroit feels sick to her stomach, staring down the barrels of his guns. Ever so slowly, she tugs on her powers. The window a little bit behind her creaks quietly enough that Red Hood doesn't seem to notice beneath the clamour of his gang doing whatever it is they're doing below.
She counts her breath and tugs on her power. A minute passes with no movement, no words, nothing happening on the balcony. Out of the corner of her eye, she can just see that it's now open enough that she should be able to make it out unscathed. Or at least mostly unscathed.
Closing her eyes, not that he can see, her power snaps. Instinctively she doubles over and slaps a hand over her mouth. Barely in time as a stifled scream is yanked from her throat, leaving her panting for breath. Her knees crash onto the balcony flooring. A bullet whizzes past her neck.
“Shit. What the fuck was that?” Red Hood grumbles, sounding genuinely concerned. He storms across the balcony towards her.
Maladroit can't help but flinch, bodily throwing herself back as far away from him as she can. Mind racing in panic.
He stows one gun back into a holster then reaches a hand towards her. “Hey, hey, hey. Calm down.”
“Gotta go! Bug-bye!” She squeaks out, wrenching on her power with all her remaining strength, and bolting for the window.
“I think the fuck not! Fucking pretending to be hurt.” Red Hood barks, ripping the gun back out of its holster.
Narrowly dodging the spray of bullets shot at her, Maladroit dives through the window and fires off her grapple. Safely swinging far away from the warehouse.
———
Carefully Maladroit drops with the ease of far too many nights of practise, onto the fire escape outside her bedroom window. She crouches and lets the shadows of the night hide her form. Creeping closer, she checks the windowsill for any marks or signs of tampering but it all comes away untouched. Content with her quick security check, she fumbles for the disguised piece of string wedging the window ajar in a way that's barely visible unless you know where to look for it. Got it! She thinks to herself, grabbing ahold of it and prying it, and the window above it, up and open.
Slipping through the open window, she sits on the sill to rip her thankfully not-too-dirty studded steel-toed boots off. Picking them up in one hand, she wiggles the rest of the way into her room and immediately resets the security measures, yanking the curtain down for privacy.
Maladroit then shuffles over to her bed. Tikki—her gorgeous fluffy red and dark brown miniature dachshund—blinks sleepily up at her, from the dog bed next to it. The puppy yaps in greeting before snuffling and curling back up to sleep.
She coos at the cuteness before continuing on. With the other hand not carrying the boots, she pries the blanket covered duffel bag out from underneath. Wrestling to unzip it in one janky and awkward motion, grunting slightly at the exertion. The metal of the zip digs in but the discomfort is mostly mitigated by the padded gloves and wrist guards she's wearing. The easy to clean plastic bag designated for temporary storing of her boots is dragged out of the bag and said boots are tossed in without a second glance.
Huffing, she starts to take the rest of her cross between mostly homemade and refashioned sports kit vigilante gear off. First, tugging down the hood of her hoodie and unclipping the black scrum cap hidden under it. It's dumped unceremoniously into a secondary plastic bag in the open duffel bag. After that, Maladroit removes the black neck guard and pulls her makeshift goggles-slash-domino mask over her head. Those too, are dumped into the other plastic bag. Then she unties the bandana with the nose guard underneath, from around her mouth and nose. Unsurprisingly, they're also dumped in the bag.
Next, she undoes the velcros on her red and black padded gloves, black wrist guards, as well as black elbow, knee, and shin pads. Also dumped into the other bag. With the outer protective wear removed, Maladroit pulls her hoodie over her head. Continuing on, she peels the padded rugby body armour and shorts off, and then the thermal under-armour. All dumped into the third and final plastic bag. “I swear,” Maladroit mumbles to herself, “getting changed out my gear never gets easier. And to think back when I had my last P.E. lesson at school, I thought I'd never have to touch this kinda kit ever again. Rip me.”
Lastly, Marinette—no longer Maladroit seeing as she is no longer in her vigilante gear—throws on her running-to-the-bathroom spare bathrobe to cover herself. She hastily shoves the three plastic bags into the duffel bag and kicks it under her bed. Purposefully leaving it unzipped but quickly fixing the blanket covering the bag, so that she can more easily grab her kit to clean everything later, whilst keeping it sufficiently hidden.
With that mostly taken care of, she nabs the mouthguard case, some clean pyjamas, and dashes out of her room—clinging awkwardly to the bathrobe. She hops in the apartment's shared bathroom, the rest of the place is silent, meaning her roomie, Jason, must have gone out. Still, Marinette locks the door regardless. If there's one thing she's learnt in her foray into the nightly masked vigilantism, is that one can never be too careful.
“Shit! Nearly forgot to take this out.” She grumbles to herself, just as she was stepping into the shower. Prying the mouthguard out of her mouth as she shuffles over to the sink, she gives it a quick rinse under the tap. Followed by a thorough scrubbing with her toothbrush and glob of toothpaste. She pops it into the mouthguard case and leaves it on the side of the sink for now.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Marinette finally allows herself to indulge in a good half an hour-long hot shower to get the grime from a night of crime-fighting off of herself.
She's only just drying off her hair, having already changed into her pyjamas, when the blare of the TV echoes through the apartment. Tensing up, her anxiety runs wild. It's what they get for living in the cheaper but slightly dodgy apartments where the walls are thin and the doors are thinner. Grabbing the mouthguard case, she wraps it up in the bathrobe and peeks out the bathroom door and looks down the hall into the open plan kitchen lounge. Jason's back, he's sitting on the sofa watching the TV.
Shoulders untensing, she finished drying her hair and heads out into the hallway. In place of a greeting, she exclaims, “oh! Jason, you're back!”
Jason flinches slightly and looks over his shoulder back at her. “Yeah, a friend had an emergency so, y'know.”
Immediately, concern wrenches at Marinette's heart, “oh no, I'm sorry. Are they… okay?”
He waves a hand in a so-so gesture and clears his throat awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. They're fine now.”
“That's good!” She says, nodding, as she makes her way fully into the lounge and the TV catches her attention. “Oh is it nearly the eleven o'clock news already? I need to watch this! Alya texted me earlier saying I have to, and she sounded really excited!” Glancing down at the bundle in her arms and flushes red. “Actually, I'll be back in a second!”
“I'll yell as soon as it actually starts.” Jason offers, smiling warmly at her.
Marinette just misses the smile, rushing back to her room, and throwing a quick, “thanks,” over her shoulder back at him.
Also missing his smile turn fond and the good-natured roll of his eyes at her antics.
Barely half a minute passes before she's bounding back into the lounge, with a sleepy Tikki at her heels. She plops herself down on the sofa next to him and hopes the blush on her face could simply be mistaken for the flush of running about like a mad thing instead. Tikki whines until Marionette picks her up and lets her on the sofa with them, padding over to the furthest corner to curl up in.
Jason points to the pink floral steaming mug on the coffee table, right next to his Pride Prejudice and Zombies themed mug. “Whilst you were in the shower, I made us both hot chocolates with marshmallows, my granddad Alfie's recipe.”
“Oh!” Marinette responds in pleasant surprise. She turns to him and positively beams, eyes shining with happiness. “Thank you so much, Jason! You're always so thoughtful!”
He blushes and rubs the back of his neck bashfully. “Yeah, well, I thought it's only fair since you normally make 'em. And I visited Alfie recently, and I promised to get you his recipe to try, so I thought it'd be a nice surprise for once!” He pauses and points at the big bowl also on the coffee table, “also I cooked us some popcorn.”
“Aw! Thank you again! I really appreciate this!” She scoops up the hot chocolate with slight reverence and takes a sip. Immediately her face lights up even more in joy. “Oh, this is delicious!”
Jason chuckles, “isn't it the best! I'll pass that onto Alfie though, he'll be glad to know you like it so much. Speaking of which, he's gonna give making them a try next time I'm up since I wasn't there long enough this time. Would you fancy coming with me to see him, then?”
Her eyes widen and her heart stutters in her chest, feeling close to bursting from happiness. “I'd love to! Do you have a date when you're thinking of going up?”
He nods. “Yeah, maybe around—”
But he's interrupted by the starting audio of the eleven o'clock news.
They both immediately shut up and watch the screen intently as the news anchors appear on the show. The starting discussion is somewhat boring, talking about the local billionaire Wayne-or-something business and a related upcoming charity event of some sort.
Marinette doesn't pay attention to it, but she does catch Jason wrinkling his nose and scowling at the conversation.
Luckily, the topic shifts quickly enough. “And now, over to our newest reporter, Alya. We hear there's been some rumblings regarding the conflict between local vigilante Chat Noir, his sidekick Maladroit, and the gang controlled by the infamous Red Hood himself.”
“That's stupid,” Jason grumbles, “Maladroit is a fully-fledged vigilante in her own right and not just the catboy's sidekick. That's like saying Nightwing is Batman's sidekick!”
Marinette frowns, very touched by his words and trying her damnedest to appear nonchalant. “I don't know… from all the-uh news clips, Maladroit seems like Chat Noir's sidekick to me. She's always hovering nervously near him like a strong wind would spook her.”
“C'mon! She's been reported to have held her own against Red Hood on multiple occasions, alone!” He argues, sounding rather offended on her alter egos behalf.
Scoffing, she shakes her head. “Clearly that's because he's going easy on her! He's never directly shot her, according to the reports clearly, he's soft on her!” The lies taste bitter on her tongue.
Jason splutters and flushes bright red, turning away from her slightly. “W-well that's obviously a testament to her skill and not Red Hood's mercy! He's always reported as being a merciless killer, why'd he be soft on her!”
“I don't know!” She makes a dying-choking noise as she flushes even more red than earlier. Shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth to avoid having to respond any further.
Luckily, the news shows pans over to Alya standing in front of a screen showing a recorded feed of a warehouse. Not just any warehouse, but specifically the one on fourth that Maladroit had faced Red Hood in less than an hour ago.
Marinette feels her pulse quicken at the reminder of the close shave she'd had.
“Hey wait a second, those warehouses don't have security cameras at all? How'd they get this footage?” Jason complains, eyes narrowed at the TV.
It feels as though ice has been poured down her spine at his words. She freezes, body stiffening in shock. He's right… G said there's none because that's why he asked me to check things out. The only people who'd know this are Chat, Gamer, myself, and Red Hood and his gang. She swallows thickly and tries to subtly side-eye Jason. Oh no. I've been crushing on my roommate who works for Red Hood's gang? Oh god! The friend with the emergency was referring to Red Hood calling him into work!
She can't help but inhale a shallow panicked breath. He could've been one of the lackeys shooting at me and Chat this past week. Or, or I could've hurt him with my yo-yo. Or—
Jason turns to fully face, clearly registering the blatant panic on her face. “Hey, hey, hey, Marinette, you're okay, you're safe. What's wrong?”
“Are you working for Red Hood?” Marinette blurts out, accidentally, the words pouring out in an unintentional panicked rush. “Are you in his gang?”
He jerks back, fear, confusion, and hurt crosses his face. “Wh-what? What makes you think that?”
“His gang was just in that warehouse, and you were out on an emergency for a "friend". And how would you have known unless you were there tonight and working for his gang?” She chews her lip forcefully and winces as the taste of iron floods her mouth.
He reaches towards her, eyes widening concern.
She flinches back, suddenly reminded of how similar this is to that moment with Red Hood on the warehouse balcony.
Jason jerks back as if her flinching burnt him. Raising his hands, he leans away from her to give her some semblance of space. “Fuck. Look, I'm not going to hurt you! Have I ever hurt you whilst we've been roomies?”
Nervously, she shakes her head.
“I really care about you, Marinette. Hell, we've lived together for nearly a year now. I would never hurt you, okay! I promise.” Tears prick in his eyes, and he grimaces slightly, lowering his hands to rest on his lap. “Yeah, I uh, I'm working for him. But I do everything I can to keep work from following me home. I didn't tell you because I never wanted to scare you.”
Guilt gnaws at her. “I'm sorry! I shouldn't have judged. I—” She takes a shaky breath, “I really really care about you too. I'm just worried, what if Red Hood, or even Maladroit, or any of the other vigilantes hurt you? What if you get hurt in one of those gang wars?” Her words aren't lies but they're not the full truth either.
He sighs, “I can't promise I won't ever get hurt on the job. Maladroit and the other vigilantes do a lot of good but Maladroit especially is far too nice to hurt any of us. I've uh, seen her fight some of the others gang members, and been fought by her too. And out of everyone against the gang, she's the one who leaves us with barely more than a scratch at worst.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Most in the gang really respect her for that, y'know.”
Marinette's brain feels like the windows shutting down sound. “Oh. Oh.”
Sheepishly, he smiles half-heartedly at her. “Yeah.”
“So, is that why you were so adamant she's a fully-fledged vigilante in her right?” She asks, feeling bashful yet honoured whilst completely surprised.
Jason clears his throat and glances away. “Uh-huh.”
“Oh.” Her brain rewinds a moment. She splutters for a second, desperation racing through her. “Wait, she's fought you!?”
Full-on grimacing, he nervously laughs. “Left but a scratch!”
“Are you misquoting Monty Python right now? Oh good gods, that's the knight who says that after getting his limbs chopped off!” Marinette exclaims, looking every bit as horrified as her tone of voice conveys.
“Seriously, I've never gotten worse than a couple of minor cuts and bruises, I'm fine!” Jason reiterates.
She frowns and gingerly shuffles across the sofa closer to him. He keeps leaning back away, so she physically throws herself at him, pulling him into a tight hug. Incidentally burying her face in his shirt. “Okay, okay. Just, please let me know next time you get hurt. I've a friend who lived in a bad situation before, so I know how to help patch up minor injuries. Promise?”
Jason stiffens at the hug and slowly moves one hand to cup the back of her head whilst wrapping the other around her back. He shuts his eyes, cocking his head back and sighs. “Alright. I promise I'll tell you. And I'm sorry for keeping something this big from you. As I said, I was worried you'd be scared of me or that you'd get dragged into gang-related shit because of it.”
“You don't need to apologise.” Marinette mumbles in response, “I get it. I really do understand.” She bites at her sore bleeding lips again in guilt, her secret identity left unspoken on her tongue.
He shrugs, “so uh. I'm guessing you're still happy to stay roomies then, right?”
“Of course!” She responds without missing a beat hugging him even tighter.
Eventually, they release each other from the embrace to finish their now lukewarm hot chocolates and popcorn. The news continues playing, no longer forgotten in the background as the two try to act as if nothing has changed.
———
Jason collapses onto his bed with a heavy sigh. He pulls out his phone and rings a number on autopilot.
The dial tone plays as the line connects. “Hey, whaddup Jay?”
“Holy fucking shit balls, man.” Jason groans. “I fucked up.”
Roy hums, “like need help burying a body fucked up or what?”
Jason groans even louder, smushing his face into his bed covers. “My roomie is smart, right. I accidentally let a tiny detail slip when we were chatting whilst watching the eleven o'clock news as usual. And she now thinks that I'm in Red Hood's gang.”
There's a long pause, before Roy bursts into raucous laughter. “Holy shit, I'm dying! She's not wrong!”
“Yeah. I know. She ain't right either though.” He grumbles in response. “She was absolutely terrified when she realised. Nearly had a full-on panic attack and everything.”
“Oh fuck.” Roy helpfully says.
Jason grunts in agreement. “She was also real concerned that Red Hood or the vigilantes have hurt me.”
“Well, that's better?” Roy offers, sounding rather unsure of his own words.
“Yeah but she's taken thinking I'm some low-level member of my gang this badly, how the fuck d'ya think she's gonna take finding out I'm the big bad Red Hood himself?” Jason sighs. “I don't want to ask her out without her knowing this, 'cause it could endanger her.”
Roy hums again, “well, you've been roommates this long already and she's been completely safe from the Vigilante-Gang life so far.”
There's a gentle thump as Jason lifts his head and throws it into the sheets again out of sheer frustration. He relents, reluctantly. “That's true…”
“See. And since it sounds like she's not planning on moving out, clearly she doesn't mind living with you. Just ask her out to dinner already.” Roy adds, cheerfully.
Huffing, he rolls over on the bed. “I'm starting to feel like those weird girl slumber party ads with the creepy phone-a-boy games.”
Roy wheezes, followed by a thudding noise and the distant sound of his cackling.
“Wow. And to think I called you for help. I'm offended.” Jason goads with no bite, waiting a few seconds to hear Roy's response but it's just more laughter.
He rolls his eyes and ends the call, not like Roy will mind. Throwing an arm over his face, Jason barely refrains from grabbing his pillow to scream into. He doesn't, obviously. Because the walls are thin enough that Marinette might hear him and he's worried her enough this night as is.
Sighing like a lovesick protagonist in a period romance novel, Jason moves his arm to run his fingers through his own hair. A date. Just gotta ask her at some point, to dinner at a fancy-ish restaurant. It'll be fine, what's the worst that can happen?
Her terrified reaction on the sofa flashes through his mind, followed by the reminder of how small and scared Maladroit had seemed when she had fallen to her knees on the warehouse balcony. There was no way that she was faking the pain, like he'd initially thought. She had practically staggered in her mad dash to escape. And there's no way for me to find out whether she got to somewhere safe afterwards. God, she could be lying dead in some dank alleyway for all I know right now. Fuck, I hope she's okay...
He groans in distress and shifts in place. Already feeling like he really won't be getting any sleep at all tonight at this rate, thanks to his concern for those two.
———
| Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little fic! Comments, Likes, and Reblogs are much appreciated! |
| I decided to go close to canon for names this time, hence why Chat Noir remains unchanged but Max is Gamer (because A. that was his Akuma name, and B. he's like Player from Carmen Sandiego in this, couldn't help myself), and Marinette is Maladroit (from the first thing she calls herself in Origins). |
| Oh, also whilst it's not explicitly stated in the text; Marinette/Maladroit's has the power of luck/being lucky, Chat Noir has the power of being unlucky, and Red Hood has "Perfect Aim" aka he's a hitscan. Which is why Maladroit is able to dodge his bullets by making herself "lucky enough" to dodge in time. |
| Also feel free to send me any comments with any questions you have regarding this fic, I'll be more than happy to answer! |
| @jasonette-july-event |
52 notes · View notes
mochegato · 4 years
Text
Giving Up On You
For the Jasonette July Pit Madness prompt.  This is the first idea for a fic I ever had and the first I started writing.  Not the first finished by any means, but definitely the first started.
 Looking at pictures on the wall of her cozy apartment felt like a warm embrace. In the center was the picture Adrien had taken after her first fashion show.  Jason had picked her up and twirled her around as he hugged her in triumph.  Her eyes were shinning as she smiled staring into his eyes.  They hadn’t even started dating yet.  She was so happy and he was so proud of her.  It was right before their first kiss.  Next to it was the picture Tim snuck of them at the manor one day as they relaxed in the library.  Marinette was focused on her sketching while he read, his head in her lap.  His free hand rested on her knee, subconsciously seeking as much contact with her as possible.  On the other side was the picture Dick took of them at a picnic in the park.  Marinette and Duke had managed to convince Tim, Cass, Dick, who convinced Damian, and, of course, him to go for a picnic.  They were all so happy that day, almost like a real family. Marinette was seated between his legs with his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin on her shoulder.  Her head was thrown back in laughter as he beamed in pride at having made her laugh so hard.  The pictures were a testament to how strong and happy their relationship was.
It wasn’t right.  It didn’t match.  The happy couple in the pictures on the wall didn’t match the despondent voice in front of him now.
“Jason, I… I love you.  You… I… you make me feel…” Marinette started quietly, her voice broken.  She looked down for a second before looking back up to his eyes that she knew she wouldn’t meet.  “…like we make each other better and can trust each other, like we have each other’s backs.  You make me feel like I can do so much more than I thought I could because you won’t let me fall. You make me feel… No, that’s it,” she gave a small, sullen smile staring at her hands, “You make me feel.  And I thought I did the same for you.”
He turned and looked at her, looking down before they could actually make eye contact.  He’d been avoiding eye contact for weeks now, rarely meeting her gorgeous blue eyes anymore. If he looked her in the eyes, she would notice how his were changing, how they’d lost their blue hue, slowly turning green.  And he was desperate to save her from that, to preserve her image of him.  Out of the corner of his eye he could see her trembling and straining against it.  Trying to hold herself up, not let him see how hard this was on her.  He did this.
Steeling herself she continued, “But, I… something changed and I don’t know what. You won’t tell me.  It feels like you shut me out.  And I don’t know what happened.” She tried to hold in a small sobbing breath, “Did something happen?  You can tell me, Jay.  I want to help.  I want to be the one there for you, if you want me to, if you’ll let me. Like you have always been for me.”  
She searched for the right words to say.  She didn’t want to make him feel guilty.  She didn’t want a relationship built on guilt.  But she didn’t want to hide anything either.  She didn’t want to walk away and leave things unsaid.  She had done the not telling the other person how you feel thing and she was determined never to make that mistake again.  This was too important.  Jason was too important.  She had to try to save their relationship, if there was anything left to save. She looked away, examining the pictures Jason had looked at earlier for a clue to the right words but they gave her no more information than she had before.  
One last bit of heart wrenching honesty then.  “You’re not… It feels like you gave up on me… on us.” She whispered, finally looking at him again.  She was close enough to brush her thumb across his cheek but felt so, so far away, “It hurts…and I’m starting to give up on us, too.”
Her eyes were pleading, looking for any response from him.  Anything.  A word or a movement. Anything to show she was getting through to him.  She looked at him for any sign of what he was thinking. No, that’s not it.  She was looking for a sign that she was wrong, that he wasn’t giving up on them, that he hadn’t walked away already in all but body.
But he gave no reaction except for furrowing his brows a bit more.  He refused to make eye contact with her, just like each of the few times they’d been together for the past few weeks. She couldn’t remember when the last time she had looked in his eyes was.  God, she missed looking into his eyes.  Now he wasn’t even talking to her.  She wasn’t getting through.  Shouldn’t she be able to? Isn’t that what you do when you’re in love? Figure out how to connect to the person you love.  They had been in love, hadn’t they?  
“Jay, say something,” she begged, a few stray tears breaking through and falling down her cheeks. “…please,” she tried one last time, desperate to get to him the way he had always been able to get to her.  He brought her back from the edge when anxiety made her start spiraling. When she doubted herself, he gave her confidence.  He gave her the world but what did she give him? He was so angry and on edge when she was around him. He was so unhappy and nothing she did made it better. Everything she tried only seemed to make him more upset.  He knew exactly what to do to make everything better for her and she couldn’t help him at all.  She only made things worse.  She looked down at her hands, gaining some resolve to do what she needed to, for him. She couldn’t make things better for him, but she could take this one burden from him, give him one less thing to worry about.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye, broken and shaking, trying not to collapse.  ‘It hurts’ that’s what she said, looking so incredibly small.  That sentence and the way she looked saying it played on repeat in his head as his brows furrowed, anger starting to rise.  He did that to her.  He made her feel that way, doubt herself.  She was strong and brave and kind.  She was bright like the sun.  She could blind you if you stared too long, but she helped everything around her grow, get better, made him grow and get better.  She made him feel like the hero he knew he wasn’t.  She made him feel like he deserved her, but he didn’t.  He knew he didn’t.  All he did was hurt the people he loved.  Sooner or later it was always going to end like this.  Maybe it was better it happened now before he lost control completely and truly hurt her.  He’d been trying to protect her from this.  To keep her at a distance so she wouldn’t get hurt in the fallout.  But it hadn’t worked.  She was still crying.  She still got hurt.  He had still hurt her.  But, she could now walk away.  She could now be happy, safe, away from him.
“So this is it then,” she said almost inaudibly, looking toward him, her eyes glistening with more unshed tears she was barely keeping in, “I know something is going on, Jay.  I wish I could help you.  I wish… I’m sorry I couldn’t reach you.  I’m sorry I couldn’t love you the way you needed.  I hope you find someone who can.  You deserve that.  You’re a good man, Jay.  You deserve so many good things.  I hope you get them.” She reached out to touch his face as he turned his face slightly toward her.  She stopped her hand midway to him and withdrew it, no longer feeling like she had the right to touch him.
He noted the recoiled hand, like a flinch.  She had flinched at him.  He made her flinch.  He made her feel the need to flinch away from him.  He made her afraid.  He nodded as he stood up and turned to the door, coming to a resolution of his own. He needed to leave before the anger and self-loathing turned to rage, before he did something he couldn’t ever forgive himself for. He couldn’t look at her as he walked away.  He couldn’t bear to see what he did to her, but he heard her hit the floor and start sobbing as soon as the door closed behind him. He squeezed his eyes shut, his hands curling into white knuckled fists.
Guilt fed the anger he started feeling since he saw what he had done to her.  Anger turned to rage and the rage started to overcome him, his eyes turning a toxic green. He stalked away, barreling into people, elbowing them out of the way as he searched for an outlet for the rage that had started to control him.  He missed the narrowed, masked eyes watching him from above.
  Jason woke up and looked around with hazy eyes. He was in his old room at Wayne Manor.  “Fuck” he said sitting up and holding his aching head.  He stumbled around the manor looking for someone to tell him how badly he screwed things up this time while he was out of it.
He found Dick eating cereal in the kitchen, feet propped up on the table. Alfred must not be around then, he thought continuing toward the coffee maker.  Dick looked up surprised and dropped his feet off the table. “Hey, how’re you feeling?”
Jason moved past him, ignoring the question.  He couldn’t give Dick an answer he didn’t have. “So how much damage did I do this time,” he asked instead, pouring himself a large cup of coffee.
“Beyond breaking up with Mari, you mean?  Nope, that’s the worst you did,” Dick said shaking his head and giving him a sympathetic look.
Jason stared into his cup.  That was not a conversation he was ready to have.  “How did I get back here?”
“Tim found you barreling your way away from Mari’s place in full pit mode, eyes glowing green so brightly he could see it from the rooftop.  He brought you back so you could ride it out here.”
“Ah,” he said quietly.
“Do you want to talk about it,” Dick asked gently, walking over to Jason.
“Nope,” he said popping the p, refusing to look up from his cup.
“Okay, but if you change your mind, I’m here for you, Little Wing.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said convincing nobody but effectively ending the conversation.
Dick looked at him for a few moments. “Yeah, okay. I’m still here if you need me,” he said walking away. “…when you stop being a masochistic dumbass,” he said quietly but loudly enough for Jason to hear him.
 After a few more days cooped up in the Manor, Jason had recovered enough to go back on patrol.  Even if he wasn’t fully recovered physically, mentally he needed to be back on patrol. He needed to be back out where he could get in a few fights, take a few hits, feel pain because of something other than his own screw ups.  Fortunately, it was a pretty quiet night to ease him back into the routine. Unfortunately, that meant he had nothing to get his aggression out on until a particularly nasty gang fight requiring backup popped up.  With Red Robin’s help, they had taken down the members and turned them over to the police. Even under the mask, he could feel Red Robin’s glare the entire time.  After they returned to the Batcave, Jason turned to Tim to thank him for the assist when he felt a strong, sharp pain in his jaw almost knocking him down.
“Feel better?” He asked grabbing his jaw and tenderly moving it from side to side to assess the damage from the punch Tim had just thrown.
“Oh look, he can talk.  Who knew?” Tim snarled at him angrily.
“Get over it.  It’s done. Move on,” Jason said looking away. “I have.”
“Well yippee for you.  You’re the only one that has.”  He waited for Jason to say anything else but he appeared to have no interest in defending himself.  But Tim wasn’t done.  Jason didn’t get to get off that easily.  Mari would never let him know the damage he had done, but Tim had absolutely no qualms about it.  “You made her feel like she was nothing to you.  You left her without even saying a word, like she wasn’t worth the effort. You made walking away look easy for you, like she was easy to walk away from.” Tim yelled.
“None of this was easy,” Jason grunted pushing past him to walk toward the stairs. “She’s better off.  She’s safer.”
Tim scoffed as he looked away, “whatever helps you sleep better at night, asshole.”
Jason sighed and ran his hand through his hair moving to sit on a stair, shoulders slumping slightly, “She was afraid of me.” He said looking down.  “I never wanted to give her a reason to be afraid of me. I wanted her to feel safe with me, but I failed.  I scared her.”
“What?” Tim growled incredulously.  That did not match the description Marinette had given him. Granted she didn’t give him many details from that night, but being afraid of Jason would have been something she mentioned. “She wasn’t afraid of you.”
“You didn’t see the way she flinched from me right before I left,” Jason said lifting his eyes a bit.
“Mari has never been afraid of you,” Tim assured him gruffly, coming closer.
“She should have been,” Jason huffed out.
“Maybe,” Tim nodded, not denying the claim.  He’d seen some of the damage Jason had done in the grip of the Madness and the thought made him shudder.  “But she wasn’t.”
Jason focused on his hands and furrowed his brows in frustration.  “I can’t hurt her, Tim.  I couldn’t live with myself if I did and we both know I can’t always control myself.  I would eventually.  I can’t drag her into that.  She deserves better.  She is so amazing, so… she is such a good person, like truly a good person with a good, bright heart.  Not like us.” He finally lifted his eyes up to stare at the cave ceiling. “Her smile makes me feel like the world isn’t so bad, you know, like there is hope out there? The only thing I can give her is pain. I can only drag her down to my level in the shadows.”
Tim paused before continuing.  Pep talks were not his area and considering he had just punched him and was still ready to do it again, was he really the best person for this?  Where was Dick when you needed him?  Still out on patrol.  The bastard.  He sighed sitting down next to Jason.  “Yeah, her smiles are amazing, but that brilliant smile you mentioned?  You gave her that smile. That concentrated sunshine smile, the one that makes the world brighter for you, that didn’t show up until a few weeks after I introduced you two and you ‘just happened to’ end up wherever we were working, constantly.  Dude, you weren’t subtle.” Tim shook his head remembering the jokes in the family about having to implement countermeasures in order to hang out with Mari without Jason crashing it.  The plots rarely worked.  Jason always knew how to find Marinette, always.  
“And she gave it to you, too.  A bright… carefree smile.  I’ve never seen you with a carefree smile.  You were happier than I’ve seen you in… ever. And I’ve been watching you since you were Robin.  Hmm, that sounded creepy.  Ignore that last part,” Tim said quirking his lips to the side.  “You two were #relationshipGoals,” he snickered as Jason glared at him.  That made the comment worth it.  “Until you got into your own head and decided you didn’t deserve her and decided to sabotage everything.  Now both of you are in pain.  Such a much better result.”  He playfully pushed Jason’s head down.
He took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, I don’t know if you deserve her.  I probably don’t deserve to be her friend either considering the very real risk of her getting dragged into helping.  But, she isn’t naïve.  She knows what the risks are just as much as we do and she thinks you are worth the risk. The question is do you think she is worth the risk, too.”  Tim paused considering his next words.  When did this become his job?  He was in no way qualified to give love life advice or pep talks, especially to his family.
“Ultimately, what she deserves is happiness and you gave her that,” He smiled lightly at Jason.  “You deserve it too; to be happy.  You know that, right?”  He watched Jason process what he said for a few seconds before Jason shook his head, refusing to think about that right now.
“You need coffee, Replacement. You’re starting to sound like Dick.”
“Oh fuck… we need to end that real quick before I start acting nice to Damian,” he said giving an exaggerated shudder.
Jason gave a small chuckle, “or start sleeping with every willing woman you come across.  I am not interested in that drama again.”
“Yeah, Kon might object to that,” Tim smiled lightly.
Jason snickered quietly with small smile on his lips. “See, that there, that’s the old smile, the Before Marinette smile.  I like the other one on you better.” Tim said patting him on the back and standing up, leaving Jason to think.
  Jason spent the next few hours thinking about what Tim said, weighing the risks.  After a few hours of tossing and turning in bed, not getting any rest, he decided to give up on sleep.  It would not be coming to him any time soon anyway.  He decided he needed a walk to clear his head.  He walked out of the manor doors shortly after sunrise with no destination in mind.  
He wandered around the city for hours.  Was he willing to risk never seeing Marinette again?  Would it really keep her safe if he did?  If he was with her, he had a better chance of protecting her. But he didn’t need to be with her to protect her, right?  But would he be able to see her and not be with her. What would he do if, no when, when she started dating?  He didn’t want her waiting around for him if he wasn’t able to be with her.  He wanted her to be happy.  That was the entire point of this, wasn’t it?  For her to be happy and safe.  And if he was hanging around as Red Hood, there was a higher chance of someone noticing and connecting the two.  So, it was better for everyone if he stayed away completely.
But, would he be able to stay away?  He hadn’t been able to stay away from her for more than a day or two since they had first met.  No matter what he had done, he had always found his way back to her.  Without even trying, he always found her.  It was like his heart sought her out.  She owned his heart.  Totally, completely, all of it.  It belonged to her.  He belonged to her.  He wasn’t exactly sure when that happened.  No, he did remember.  It was the first time he made her laugh, really, truly laugh.  The sound of her laugh made his heart skip a beat and race at the same time.  He loved her so deeply, so completely it scared him.  The thought of losing her though, or hurting her….
He made his decision.  He knew who he was, what he had to do and what he needed to say.  He stopped to look around and figure out where exactly he had ended up.  He found himself outside Marinette’s apartment building.  Of course he did, he realized.  He would always find his way back to her.  It was where he belonged.
He made his way up to her apartment door but hesitated to knock.  He had messed up so badly.  He had hurt her so badly.  Would she forgive him?  Did he deserve her forgiveness?  Did he really have the right to even ask?  He stared at the door, brow furrowed hands clenched.
Before he could work up his courage, he heard a gasp behind him.  He had been so focused on his internal spiral he missed the sounds of Marinette returning home.  The decision had been made for him.  Life was not going to let him chicken out.
He turned face her and met her eyes.  He opened his mouth to tell her all the things he had been thinking and the decisions he had come to, but seeing her dazzling eyes for the first time in weeks only to see them filled with confusion, apprehension, and pain made his knees weak.  God, he had missed her eyes.  He didn’t realize how much until then.  It shook his courage. He had done that to her eyes.  He put those emotions there.  He could no longer find his voice.  He didn’t know the words to use to make her understand how thoroughly he knew he had screwed up.  How he promised to never hurt her like this again.  How he vowed to make sure she knew how deeply he loved her.  How he had pledged his heart to her.  He snapped his mouth shut.
There was too much.  The knot in his throat was too large.  Tears started to form.  The more he tried to talk, the harder it was to talk, the more the tears fell.  She reached her hand out to wipe away the tears but hesitated midway to his face unsure whether it would be welcome.  She started to lower it instead but Jason reached out to gently grasp her hand and pulled it toward himself to bring her closer to him, forceful enough to let her know it was intentional but not so much that she couldn’t easily break away if she wanted to.  He squeezed his eyes shut again and dropped his head in frustration. Too much he wanted to say.  Too much he wanted her to understand.  Too many words and none of them right.  She stepped closer to him and cupped her hands on the sides of his jaw looking up at his closed eyes.  
“Jason?” She questioned timidly.  
He lowered his head more to gently touch his forehead to hers. And opened his eyes to look into her eyes again, the eyes that had always given him hope, the eyes that still shone with love, the eyes that made him want to believe in himself and in them.  “Don’t give up on me,” he said in a broken, desperate voice grasping the cloth at her waist in his fists, “please.”
“I won’t,” she whispered moving so there was no longer any space between them and wrapping her arms around his neck.  She let out a raspy, relieved breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding since he left.  “Never on you,” she murmured as she laid a gentle kiss on his lips that he desperately returned.
Tag:
@fsketchart @jasonette-july-2k20
433 notes · View notes
mochegato · 4 years
Text
I Don’t Even Know My Last Name
Written for the Jasonette July prompt Honeymoon.  
Y’all know how this is going to go already.  This was supposed to be a short, cute interlude while I had writer’s block on another story and it turned in to this behemoth.  In which they are idiots about identities and we are all Roy.  
 As Marinette slowly entered back into consciousness her brain started trying to make sense of the world around her.  Why was her head throbbing?  Why was she waking up before her alarm?  And how bad had the fight been last night to warrant her feeling like this today?  They had been fighting someone, right?  Maybe? Thinking really hurt right now.  Everything hurt.  Except whatever she was laying on.  That felt really, really nice.  Everything but the cloud she was on hurt.  The cloud could stay, everything else had to go, including thinking.  Thinking could wait until later.  There was absolutely nothing she needed to know right now that was urgent enough to warrant making her head hurt more.
She groaned as she tentatively opened her eyes. It wasn’t a cloud, it was a bed. A really fluffy, white bed.  She greatly approved of this bed.  Whoever’s bed this was, because this was not her bed… and this was not her room, which made sense since it wasn’t her bed.  She congratulated herself on successfully following that logic process without causing a migraine.  
How had she ended up in this amazing bed that didn’t belong to her?  She didn’t remember going home with anyone.  Actually, she didn’t remember anything from last night… what happened in that fight?  If there was a fight.  Was there one?  You know what, still not urgent enough to warrant the pain of thinking.
She groaned and closed her eyes again.  She was just starting to ease back to sleep when she felt arms wrap around her from behind.  She whisper squealed and fell out of the bed as she fumbled to get away from the offending arms.  
This!  This was more important than the pain.  This warranted thinking, remembering.  Recalling what happened last night, who she had gone home with, and why.  
Marinette waited a few seconds huddled against the bed, getting into a position to fight, should she need to.  She waited to see what the person in the bed would do next… which was apparently to let out a quiet snore?  She needed to take stock of the situation and come up with a plan. She might be… oh God, naked.  She was naked.  She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration and let out a steadying breath. She might be naked, but she was still Ladybug, damn it.  She slowly raised her head just high enough over the edge of the bed to observe the person still asleep in it.  
The first thing she noticed was he was a very large man.  He seemed like he would be tall, maybe even as tall as her dad.  His broad, exposed chest and arms were solid, toned muscle. He had a number of scars marking up his chest indicating violent past.  Despite the violence on his body, his face looked completely at peace.  He had beautifully defined features with high cheekbones and a squared jaw.  His tousled, black hair fell over his eyes.  He was an extremely handsome man… who she did not remotely recognize.  She had gone home with a total stranger.  This was a disaster!  She needed to figure out what happened RIGHT NOW.
“Tikki?” she called out quietly.  “Tikki where are you?”  She whisper shouted a little louder this time, trying to keep quiet enough not to wake the stranger.  It must have still been a little too loud because just then the man let out a sleepy grunt surprising the already on edge Marinette.  She eeped in response, grabbing the comforter off the bed as she fell backwards.  She quickly wrapped the comforter around herself to try and protect some kind of modesty in her decidedly immodest state.  
The movement of the comforter managed to finally wake the man.  He started groaning quietly before opening his eyes to look around the room, taking in the surroundings for himself.  His eyes settled on her and he squeezed his eyes shut with a grunt.  
Jason had been having a really good dream.  He couldn’t remember what he had been dreaming about exactly, but there were a lot of flashes of dark hair, captivating blue eyes, soft yielding lips, bare skin, and beautifully enticing moans.  The eyes and hair were very familiar features to him. He knew who he had been dreaming about. It wasn’t the first time he had dreamed about her.  The woman in front of him was not her.  
“Fuck” he said as he ran his hand over his face in an attempt to force more awareness into his mind.  What the fuck had he done?  He was definitely in love with someone else.  He had been dreaming about her last night.  How did he end up in a hotel room… hotel room? Yeah, probably. This was too pristine to be someone’s actual bedroom… in a hotel room with not her?  
“No offense sweetheart, but who the fuck are you?” the man grumbled out sitting up.
Instead of upsetting her, his blunt manner calmed Marinette slightly.  It was good to know she wasn’t the only one who had no idea what was going on.  “Nice.  If I could remember anything about last night myself, I might be offended,” she responded wryly.  “I’m Marinette.  And you?”
“Jason”
“Nice to meet you Jason.”  
“Yeah, you too.”
He looked at the woman, Marinette, who he had spent the night with… black hair, blue eyes, very soft looking lips, definitely bare skin under that comforter… Had he been dreaming about her?  Or, did he go to bed with her because she looked a little like Ladybug?  Oh shit. Did he sleep with her because she reminded him of Ladybug?  Classy, Jason, real fucking classy.
Marinette backed up against the far wall trying to make sense of the situation.  How had it happened?  She was in love with Red Hood.  They had been getting closer to actually dating, or she thought they were.  Did something happen between them last night? Is that why she went home with someone else?  She looked at the man, Jason, again.  His head was in his hands, gently rubbing his head like he was trying to rub away a hangover. Folded over like that with his face covered, he looked like Hood.  He had the same body frame.  Oh God. What if she went home with him because she had a fight with Hood and Jason reminded her of him?
Looking for anything to cling to so the situation wasn’t as bad as she thought, she looked up at him with pleading eyes and asked, “You don’t suppose there is any chance that we didn’t actually… you know.”
He stared at her incredulously for a few seconds. She could not be serious could she? Yep, that look of panicked desperation definitely indicated she was.  “Sure, we can go with that if you really want,” he swung his legs over the side of the bed being careful not to jostle his throbbing head too much.  He scanned the floor for his clothes.  Underwear, pants, anything.  It was a large room, they must have decided to spring for something really nice.  That was unusual for him.  But, with a room this large, there were lots of places the clothes could have been thrown.
His first scan didn’t reveal any clothes, his or hers.  Seriously, there must be clothes somewhere, they couldn’t have walked in naked. Maybe in their drunken haze they decided to throw their clothes away?  He checked the trash can next to the night stand and sighed at the sight. Well, there goes the hope for chastity. “But, that used… fuck, those used condoms say otherwise.”
Marinette groaned and hit her head on the wall sliding down it.  What had she done?  Even if she wasn’t dating Hood, it felt like she had betrayed him.  She needed to figure out what happened last night.  She needed to know how badly she had screwed up before she faced Hood again.  “What do you remember from last night?  Anything?”
“No, nothing.  But if I can get my phone, I might be able to get some clues.  Any ideas where our clothes are?” he asked wrapping a sheet around his waist and standing tentatively.
“Oooo, that’s a good idea.  No, no idea.  Honestly, I haven’t made it that far yet this morning.” She furrowed her brow, rubbing her forehead when suddenly her head shot up, immediately letting out a loud groan.  That was a mistake.  She dropped her head back down quickly and started rubbing it again to ease the ache she just caused.  “But I have an idea.”  She walked over to the hotel phone and punched a series of buttons.  A few seconds later he heard ringing in the other room.  “…We have two rooms.  Probably should have figured that out already.  Stupid, damn hangover.”
They pulled their makeshift covers tighter around themselves and opened the door to the living room.  Marinette gasped and Jason exhaled heavily at the sight.  It was a mess.  Things were knocked over throughout the room and there was a trail of clothing starting with her ripped underwear hanging on the doorknob and his now buttonless shirt strewn over a pair of overnight bags and purse that had been dropped by the front door.
“We came prepared.”  They must have met, hit it off, decided to come here, gone home and packed a bag, then met at the hotel to get a room. And clearly had enjoyed it if her ripped dress laying at her feet was indication.
“It wasn’t a spur of the moment thing.  We thought this through.  We planned.  What the hell kind of drug does that?”  He grabbed his phone out of his pants pocket and started scanning through his phone. “Check your texts.  If we planned this, we might have texted someone about it.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant!”  She grabbed her phone out of her purse and looked through her calls and texts.  There were a few calls from her business partner but only one text since yesterday, from Spoiler…  She didn’t have Spoiler’s phone number on her personal phone.  At least she didn’t used to.  Apparently that changed last night.  ‘Hey, I know you said to watch the earrings and don’t try them on.  Is that a hard rule?  Is there wiggle room in there?  Also, how long am I supposed to sit on these?  When are you getting back?’  She immediately reached up to her ears and noticed her earrings were not there. She gasped loudly.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT!!??  Now she knew why Tikki didn’t respond earlier.  She wasn’t just hiding, Marinette had given her to Spoiler to hold for her.  Why had she done that?  She was never separated from Tikki.  What had she been thinking!  Clearly she hadn’t been thinking, that was the entire problem with last night. Tikki must have been acting as the voice of reason, warning her against doing all the things she was doing and Marinette decided she didn’t want to hear her anymore.  Excellent.  Terrible friend.  Terrible guardian.  Terrible romancer.  
“What did you find?”
“Uh, nothing.  Just a… uh… friend asking how long I’m planning on being gone.” She answered absentmindedly.  “Huh, I wonder what she meant ‘gone’.  Did she think I was leaving?”
Marinette looked at the text quizzically for a few seconds before her eyes widened.  “Oh my God! You don’t think…”
Jason jumped up and ran to the curtains in front of the balcony doors, ripping them open.  “Fucking fuck,” he sighed heavily opening up the drapes so she could see the view beyond.  A very distinctive view.  A huge fountain and a street lined with casinos.  “Because we did.  We’re in Vegas”
“How did… How did we get here?”  She asked coming to stand next to him in a daze, staring at the Vegas Strip in terrified wonder.
“No idea,” he said in a defeated voice. “This is so much more complicated than I thought.  We should see what we can piece together.  Maybe over food.  I’m starving.”
“Yeah, me too.  I think I want to take a shower first if you don’t mind.”
“No, go ahead.  I think I’ll do the same after you do,” Marinette gave him a small nod and picked up her bag before heading into the bedroom.
As soon as Marinette walked out of the living room, Jason called Tim.  He picked up on the fifth ring, annoying Jason more than he was already.  “What the fuck happened last night?” Jason demanded before Tim could even say Hi.
“Well Good Morning to you, too.  What do you mean what happened?  Don’t you remember?”  Tim asked.
“Would I be asking you if I remembered, Replacement?” he growled back.
“Damn, you must have been hit with the toxin too,” Tim mused.
“What toxin?” Jason asked, apprehension edging into his voice.
“You didn’t seem to be affected, just a cut on your leg you were going to go home and patch up.  We thought your mask protected you.”  Jason moved the sheet around his waist to look at his leg, only now noticing the patched up thigh.  “You didn’t do anything stupid last night, did you?”
“How stupid are you looking for?  What was the toxin?”
Before Tim could answer Jason heard Marinette give out a loud gasp followed by a strangled noise.  Jason ran into the bedroom, almost forgetting to keep ahold of his sheet in his rush to check on Marinette.   Marinette looked stark white and was having a hard time breathing.  “Hey, are there any after effects of that drug?”
“No, not that we’ve noticed.  Why?”
“Nothing, I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up and threw the phone down, rushing over to her.  “Are you okay?  What happened?”
Marinette didn’t respond.  She couldn’t respond.  The spacious room suddenly felt very small, confining, pressing in on her. She felt like she couldn’t move. Breathing was difficult.  Where had all the air in the room gone?  There wasn’t enough air.  She couldn’t get enough air.  Her sight was blurring.  The only thing she could see was her hand, more specifically the ring on her hand. She was brought back to focus by Jason’s frantic voice.  
“Marinette?  Marinette, you’re starting to scare me here.  What is going on?  Marinette please.  You have to use your words.”
She hesitantly looked up at him still looking dazed.  “That’s… that’s… that’s not my ring,” she stuttered out quietly.
Jason looked down at her hand and saw the band on her hand.  The distinctly wedding looking band on her ring finger.  Oh fuck. Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck.  He looked at his own hand and found a distinctly wedding looking tungsten band on his ring finger.  Fuuuuuuuck. There weren’t units large enough to accurately measure how monumentally he had fucked up.  Alfred was going to be so disappointed.  And Ladybug did not seem like the kind of woman who would be cool with him fucking marrying, not to mention actually fucking, someone else while he was flirting with her, of him using some innocent, sweet woman in her place.
“We got married,” she whispered.
He nodded absentmindedly.  “That explains coming to Vegas…” He looked around “…and the room.  We must have sprung for a honeymoon suite.”
Marinette squeaked in response to that.  Tears started to run down her cheeks.  Oh God, now he made her cry.  Excellent.  He was acing this whole thing.  “Hey, hey, it’s okay.  It’ll be okay,” he said not quite sure if he was reassuring her or himself.  “This is Vegas.  There has to be a quick and easy way to annul this, yeah?  We’ll do that, okay?  It will be like this never happened.  We never need to see each other after this.”
She wasn’t responding to him.  It was like his words didn’t register with her.  Her breathing was coming faster again.  He recognized the signs of an anxiety attack. Hell, if he hadn’t been trying to comfort her, he might be spiraling into one too.  He moved closer to her to comfort her.  He reached out to grab her shoulders but paused just short of touching her.  A stranger touching her might make it all worse.  Instead he lowered his hands and held them out in a placating gesture and lowered his head, trying to capture her gaze.  When he finally spoke it was in a soft, gentle voice, “Hey, it’s okay, Marinette.  It’s not our fault, okay?  My brother said we were hit with some kind of toxin last night.  It must be one that messes with your impulses and memory.”  He waited for her eyes to focus again and look at him.  He smiled gently, “Not. Our. Fault.  Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she smiled weakly at him.  He was trying very hard and he was very kind.  But no matter how kind he was, he wasn’t Red Hood… was he?
“This might sound strange but I don’t suppose you’re Red Hood?” said with a small, strained smile.
Jason’s chest tightened.  He stopped breathing.  How had she known that?  He hadn’t told anyone and neither of them remembered last night, so how could she know? She couldn’t.  No, it was a wild guess.  It had to be.  Maybe she was a fan?  Of, fucking fuckity fuck.  Please don’t let him have slept with a groupie.  He gave her a smile that he hoped looked roguish and said, “Do I look like Red Hood?”
“A little bit, yeah,” she responded quietly.
Fair enough.  “No, I’m not.  Why?”
“It would just answer a few things,” she responded softly, looking away from him.  Not Red Hood, just some random guy she had hooked up with.  Probably because he looked a bit like him.  Some nice guy she was using as a proxy since she couldn’t get the real thing.  Awesome. She’s just a stellar example of a human, isn’t she, she thought bitterly.  
She took a deep, calming breath and nodded to herself.  She wiped away her tears and focused back on him.  “Do you know a lawyer we can talk to?  Where do you think the marriage certificate is?  We’re going to need that if we want to get it annulled.” She said more firmly.
“Yeah, I know someone who can be discrete.  You go take that shower and I’ll call her and look for the license,” he responded, glad to hear her sounding more in control.
“Sounds good.  Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” he watched her turn and walk into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.  As soon as she was out of sight he sat down and took a deep breath. He had gotten married.  He had married a complete stranger.  Why would he do that?  Why would he sabotage himself like that?  He chuckled darkly to himself.  That was probably the answer.  To sabotage himself.  And he decided to drag that innocent, sweet woman into this mess with him.  He hung his head in his hands again.  Disappointment rolled off of him in waves.
The only thing he could do for her now was to get the marriage annulled as quickly as possible.  He needed to find the marriage certificate.  After a few minutes he finally found it on the desk in the living room surrounded by a few empty bottles of champagne.  He looked at the certificate.  It certified that Jason Peter Todd married Marinette Xiang Dupain-Cheng in Vegas last night.
 After getting cleaned up and dressed, they made their way to the main floor of the casino.  They wandered around until they found what looked like the least pretentious restaurant in the hotel so they could eat and talk in private.  
The host asked them for the name to put the reservation under.  Marinette opened her mouth to give a name but immediately snapped it shut twirling around, looking at Jason with wide eyes.  “Oh my God… I don’t know my last name.  Wait, did I take your last name?  No. Never mind.  That’s stupid.  There is a whole separate process.  But still, I don’t know your last name.”
Jason smiled at her. “Yeah, we kind of missed that step.  Todd,” he looked at the host.  “Put it under Todd for two.”  
The host nodded and looked back down to his reservation list.  “Right this way, please,” he motioned for them to follow him.
They started walking but paused when they heard yelling.  “Yo! Jason!  Mari!”  They looked over to see a red headed man running toward them with a big smile.  “There you guys are!  I was wondering when you would wake up and if you would bother to leave your room today at all.”
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”  Marinette asked her brow furrowed confused.  Man didn’t seem familiar to her but he was acting like he knew them.
The man gave her a baffled look at her for a second.  “Seriously? How drunk did you guys get last night after I left?”
Jason stepped in “Marinette, this is my best friend, Roy.  He must have come with us.”
Roy stared at him waiting for the punchline. But they didn’t laugh.  Their faces were completely serious.  “Yeah, we met yesterday.  Remember?” he asked slowly.
“Not really no.  Neither of us do.  We remember being in Gotham at the beginning of the night but everything after that is gone.”  Marinette supplied seriously.
Roy burst out laughing.  “Oh my god!  Seriously? I’m going to need popcorn for this. You don’t remember yesterday at all?”
“This isn’t funny, Roy.” Jason warned him.
“Oh no, it is.  It really, really is.” Roy said, giving him a huge grin and vibrating with excitement.  “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!  This is going to be so good.”
“What is going to be good?” Jason eyed him suspiciously.  “What do you know?”
“I know what happened last night and I’m not going to tell you,” he sing songed.  “I will say this though.  We got here on Oliver’s jet, a wedding present he doesn’t know about yet, so is the room actually, I’ll tell him about it later,” he said conspiratorially before continuing, “also, nobody coerced anyone into anything, and you,” he pointed at Marinette, “know me a lot better than you think you do.”
She stared at him hard.  What did that mean?  How could she know him if she didn’t remember him?  “Oh my God!” she squeaked out.  “Oh God.  Oh my God!” She started hyperventilating, panicking over the only reason she could think of, “how drugged up was I last night?  Tell me we didn’t…”
“Oh God, NO.  And thanks for the look of utter disgust, by the way.  I’m a mother fucking catch, thank you very much.  But agreed,” he said pointing between the two of them, “ew. Plus I don’t have a death wish.  No, not in the Biblical sense.  In the platonic, trust you with my life, but not my croissant way.”
The host cleared his throat reminding them he was still waiting to take them to a table.  They looked at Roy questioningly but he backed out immediately.  “You guys go ahead.  I’ve already eaten.”
Roy watched them be led into the restaurant. As soon as they were out of ear shot he leaned over to the host and said, “Please tell me there’s a seat at the bar close to where they’re sitting.  Maybe one close enough to hear what they’re saying but not one they can see?” he held up a hundred dollar bill.  “I don’t want to miss this.”
The host nodded and grabbed the bill, “Right this way, sir”
 “Sorry about my friend.  He can be like that sometimes.” Jason apologized taking a bite of his food.
“He seems nice. My friends would get along well with him.  If you don’t want him, can I keep him in the divorce?”
“I’m going to give that a lot of consideration.” He chuckled lightly. “But it looks like he isn’t going to be any help in piecing last night together. So, what is the last thing you remember before this morning?”
“I remember getting dressed for the night.”
“To do what?”
“Ha… hang out with friends.  Honestly, I don’t even remember where we went, just a vague recollection of leaving my apartment.  How about you?  What do you remember?”
“About the same.  Getting ready to go out with my family.  I remember meeting up with them.  I have a fuzzy memory of messing around with them, but nothing concrete.  I don’t even have flashes of anything.”  He reviewed what he knew about the night before, which was really just what Tim had told him.  “You know, my brother was surprised I couldn’t remember last night.  I must have been acting normally while I was with him.  So the toxin must not make you act too wildly out of character.”
“I don’t know, getting married to a stranger is pretty wildly out of character for me,” she gave him a wry smile before turning thoughtful.  “Your friend seemed surprised that we didn’t remember and he was with us all night. He doesn’t know me enough to know if I’m acting strangely, but he should know you well enough to pick up on whether you were.  Are we sure it was the toxin?  Because either it wasn’t the toxin, the toxin had a delayed reaction, or the effect was not easily observed.”  She leaned back in consideration, “Could we have gotten that drunk, like blackout drunk?”
“That’s awfully drunk.  And how drunk did we have to be before even leaving Gotham to decide we were going to get married to strangers?  But those are really good points.”  
“I mean, I’m pretty hard to resist.  You might not have needed much convincing,” she smiled cheekily at him.
“I have absolutely no doubt about that, princess,” he smiled back at her.  He could see how someone could fall for her.  She was beautiful.  Her hair fell gently around her face, framing it to bring focus to her mesmerizing eyes. Her dress brought attention to her shape without showing much skin.  She had already shown she was a quick thinker, funny, and kind.  He could definitely see how he could have ended up with her.  But he didn’t love her.  He loved someone else.  Someone he wanted to get back to and see what she thought of it, see if she would forgive him.
He sighed and ran his hand over his face again. They didn’t have many clues and none of them seemed to fit together.  None of this made any sense.  He looked over to his temporary wife.  Her eyes were pointed toward the flowers on the table but her focus seemed to go beyond.  Her brow was furrowed in thought.  
“Come on,” he said downing the last of his drink, “let’s get out of here.”
They just made it out of the restaurant when Roy came up behind them and tossed his arms over their shoulders.  “Soooo, since you guys have decided to leave your little love nest and have replenished your energy, how about we hit the craps tables?  I’m sure you can spot a winner when you see one, Mari.  You are the expert on getting lucky after all.”  He said with a wink.
Jason hit his chest, “Don’t be so crass, jackass.”
Marinette’s eyes widened.  He knows who she is.  How would he know who she is?  Did she reveal herself to him last night?  Why would she do that?  She wouldn’t, right?  Even with lowered inhibitions.  Not unless he was a hero too.  Who does he look like?  She stared at him, head cocked to the side, really looking at him.  Roughly her age and red hair.  So not Batman or one of the batboys.  She’d never seen Hood without his helmet but Roy’s build didn’t match Hood’s.  Who has red hair?  Arsenal.  Her head shot up and she straightened up.  Red hair, her age, same build… He’s Arsenal!  
But no, that’s not right.  If he’s Arsenal… she looked back at Jason.  Jason said he was Arsenal’s best friend.  Hood is Arsenal’s best friend.  Jason is Red Hood.  That’s why his body shape looked like Hood’s.  She knew her designer eye for measurements wouldn’t let her down like that.  She had been right!  He was Hood. She married Red Hood. Oh my God!!  She married Red Hood!  That’s why they got married.  She didn’t just marry some random stranger!!  Thank God. Wait…
“What do you think?  Want to hit the casino before we go back?”  Jason asked, completely oblivious to Marinette’s discovery. When she didn’t respond, he turned back toward her only to find her staring at him astonished.  “What’s up, Marinette?  You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
That brought her out of her stupor and her expression quickly morphed into anger.  “You!”
“Me…”
“Him” Roy grinned from the side.
“You… you… you absolute ASS.  Do you know how guilty I felt?  How disappointed in myself I was?  All morning!  All morning I’ve felt terrible about myself.  I felt like I’d betrayed you!  And none of it would have happened if you just would have told me the truth! You unbelievably asinine asshole,” she yelled before she stormed off.
Jason stared after her.  “What was that about?”
Roy was jumping up and down still grinning like a kid at Christmas, well none of the kids Jason knew, but middle class kids at Christmas.  “This is what I’ve been waiting for.  Honestly, I’m a little disappointed.  It took far less time than I was hoping.  My hints were too good.  She picked up on them too quickly.  I always knew she was smarter than you.”  He patted Jason on the back.  “Well, go after her.  You know you want to.”
Jason looked at him with furrowed brow.  “We’re going to discuss this when we get home,” he growled at him.  “That woman doesn’t deserve this.  You’re playing games and she is the one that’s going to get hurt.  Why would you let us get married?  Why didn’t you stop me?  You know how I feel about Ladybug.  Why would you let me marry some stranger?”  
“You know, I do know how you feel and yet I let you elope with Marinette.  What does that tell you?” Roy responded with a smug smile.
“It tells me you’re a sadistic fucking asshole and we are done.  When we get back to Gotham, I don’t want to see your face again.” He shoved Roy back and ran after Marinette.
He found her in the hotel’s botanic garden pacing back and forth, talking to herself quietly with animated gestures.  Watching her caused an annoyingly familiar niggling sensation in the back of his mind, like it was trying to push something to the forefront but getting derailed along the way.  He approached her slowly, trying not to upset her more than he already had somehow.  “Hey Marinette.  You okay? What happened back there?”
She froze for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and turning toward him.  She took another few seconds and a deep breath before she continued.  Her eyes flicked up to his then turned away focusing on the display of flowers next to them.  “I’m trying to decide how upset with you I am.”
Well, that was better than calling him an asshole again.  “Okay… Let’s hear the argument either way.”
She looked back at him, staring at him with those beautiful, somehow familiar blue eyes. “Well, on one hand I’ve been feeling absolutely horrible about myself.  I was raised not to just end up in bed with someone when I didn’t even know their name.  Not even your first name.  I’ve never had and never wanted to have a one night stand and here I made it worse by turning a one night stand into a drunken marriage.”
“Sorry,” he said guiltily, shuffling his feet.
“You don’t even know what you are apologizing for yet.” She responded exasperated.
“There’s more?”
“There’s more.  And it all could have been avoided if you would have just told me the truth.”
“What did I lie about?  I’ve tried to be completely truthful with you.”
“Really?” She looked around again to make sure nobody could overhear them “You want to try that one again, Hood?” despite knowing nobody was around she still lowered her voice with the last word.
“Excuse me?” He looked around too “I don’t know why you keep saying that….” He looked at her and stopped.  Her deadpan expression let him know that she knew. She knew and nothing he said would convince her otherwise.  He moved closer to her and lowered his voice, “You really need to be careful about what you say.  If the wrong person hears my identity it could get me or one of the other vigilantes killed.  And someone who isn’t the wrong person now could become the wrong person with the right pressure.  It is safest for everyone if nobody else knows.”
“I was careful.  The only one close enough to hear is Roy.” She said indicating the other side of the hedges they were standing next to.
His head whipped around toward the hedge and he glared looking for his friend.  Finally spotting his red shirt through some leaves he yelled “What the fuck, Roy?”
“What!?  I told you I’ve been waiting for this.  And finally! Finally it’s happening.  I’m not going to miss it.  Now pay attention or you’re going to miss the best part.”
“Best part?” he asked confused, turning to Marinette.
She sighed “God, it’s a miracle you idiots are still alive,” she said shaking her head.  “That’s the other side.  I understand the importance of a secret identity and I can’t honestly say I would have responded any differently if you had asked me if I was Ladybug.” She looked up at him softly.
“So… which side won?  Are you still upset with me?” he asked.
She stared at him incredulously.  He couldn’t be serious, could he?  Red Hood was smarter than this.  Maybe she had gotten it wrong because Hood was impulsive but he wasn’t stupid.  But Roy’s response confirmed her original suspicion, “Seriously?  What did I say about her being smarter?  You’re supposed to be a great detective.  I’m taking away that title.  You’re never allowed to claim anything like it again.  And, I’m telling Dick about this when we get home so he can remind you when I’m not around.”
Jason looked between the two of them, replaying what she said.  He had clearly missed something.  She had said something important.  What did she say?  She said she would have done the same.  So she isn’t upset, right?  No, that isn’t it.  There was something more to deserve the way they were both looking at him.  She would have done the same if he had asked if she was… “Ladybug!  You’re Ladybug!”
“What were you just saying about secret identities?  Maybe try not to let all of Vegas know.”
He smiled down at her almost reverently.  He reached out to touch her face hesitantly and ran his other hand through her hair, just to confirm to himself that it was her.  She was real and she was right there in front of him.  She was Ladybug.  Marinette was Ladybug.  And she was here with him.  “Hey, Pixie.”
She smiled sweetly back at him and leaned into his hand on her face.  “Hey, Red.”
His smile grew wider, “Marinette…” he said gently as if testing to see how the name felt on his tongue.  “Your name is Marinette.”  
She returned the smile “And yours is Jason.  It’s nice to finally be able to see your face,” she said caressing his face and moving his bangs off of his face.
“Soooo, are we still done?” Roy interrupted smugly.
Jason huffed in response, annoyed at the interruption of their moment.  “No, I forgive you.  Now, fuck off, Roy.”  He returned his attention back to Marinette.  “Think you’ll be able to focus on our missions knowing this,” indicating his face, “is under that helmet?”
She rolled her eyes “You think there is anything more distracting than that helmet? If I can block that out, I can block anything out.” She smirked up at him.
“Rude.” He responded in mock offense.  He smiled down at her, “Because I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”  She looked at him in confusion “I don’t think I’ll be able to focus now that I know who’s under the mask.” He brushed her bangs out of her eyes and ran his thumb over her cheek.
His eyes looked down to her lips and he leaned down.  He flicked his eyes back up to hers as if asking permission.  She smiled in response and rose up on her toes to get closer.  “Hey!” they jumped apart and turned to Roy.  A casino security guard had grabbed him and was pulling him away.  “I wasn’t peeping.  They are in public.  It isn’t illegal to watch two people in public and they are my friends.  Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this? Do you know how long I’ve had to put up with them?”
The large security guard turned to the couple and asked, “Do you know this man?”
“No officer, I can’t say we do.”  Jason grabbed Marinette’s hand and pulled her behind him, “Come on, let’s talk back in the room.  Where we can get a little privacy,” he said aside to her but loudly enough for the guard to hear as he pulled her out of the garden and back toward their room.
“Not fucking funny, Jason.  Jason? Jason!” Roy yelled after their retreating figures as they ran away.
“Come on, son. Let’s have a little talk about respecting other people’s boundaries.”
“Do you know what a slow-burn is, sir?” the guard looked at him through narrowed eyes but bobbed his head slightly to indicate that he was familiar with the concept. “I’ve been living through a real life 200,000 word slow burn story with those two and I’m finally, finally seeing the payoff.  Please, sir.  I’ve earned this.”
 They stood next to each other during the elevator ride up to their floor, still holding hands and shooting each other soft looks and shy grins.  He smiled down at her as he opened their room door.  As soon as the door closed, Marinette’s phone rang.  “Damn it.  I have to answer this.  Sorry,” she said looking apologetically up at him.  “Excuse me just a second.”  She walked into the bedroom as she started talking.
Jason watched her walk away with a smile. Ladybug.  He’d married Ladybug.  Ladybug was his wife!  Jason couldn’t believe it.  No matter how many times he repeated it, it didn’t seem real.  He smiled as he looked out over Vegas.  His bliss was cut short by his phone ringing this time.  He checked and saw it was the Wayne Enterprises lawyer he had contacted earlier in the day.  “This is Jason,” he answered. “Uh huh.  Yeah.  Got it. We might want to put that on hold for now.  Yeah, I’ll let you know.  Thanks.” He hung up and looked toward the bedroom door.  Everything was different now that they knew each others’ identities.  At least it was for him.  He wasn’t sure if it was for her.  They hadn’t had that conversation yet.  They needed to talk about what they both wanted to do.
Jason cracked the bedroom door slightly, poking his head in to see if Marinette was still on the phone.  He found her standing against the windows looking out over Vegas as she spoke on the phone.  He frowned noting her frustrated expression.  “No, I'll be back as soon as I can.  Yeah I know.  It was a mistake.  I wasn’t thinking.  Yeah, yeah, I know that.”  She paused listening to the person on the other end of the phone.  “I know! I’m sorry.  I'm going to fix it as soon as I can, okay.  It’ll be like it never happened.  Yeah, I’ll talk to you tomorrow after it’s done, okay?”  She hung up the phone.
He backed out of the room and quietly closed the door.  His heart clenched.  He couldn’t breathe.  She thought their marriage was a mistake and she was looking forward to getting out of it as soon as possible.  He had read the whole thing wrong.  He was so stupid.  She hadn’t been interested in him.  Of course she wasn’t.  They were just flirting, having fun.  It didn’t mean anything to her.  
His head popped up as the bedroom door opened and she came out looking at him sheepishly.  “Sorry about that.”
“No, it’s okay,” he said gathering himself and trying to even out his voice.  She didn’t need to know how devastated he was.  They could go back to the way they were. They’d get the marriage annulled and they’d just go back to… what?  Friends? Flirting?  He didn’t know.  “I just got a call from the lawyer.  She says she can see us tomorrow to start the annulment proceedings.”
“Oh… right.” Her smile faltered but she quickly recovered and plastered on a fake smile. “We should probably head back to Gotham soon then so we don’t miss it then.”
“Right,” he agreed.  He stared at the floor for a few awkward moments without moving.  “I’ll… I’ll go talk to Roy about getting the jet ready to head back.”
“Thanks Jason.” She offered him a strained smile.  “I guess I’ll start picking up our things in here to get ready.”
Jason just nodded in response and left to find Roy’s room.
 Jason paced the hallway trying to calm his racing heart down.  He was fighting the need to punch something.  He whipped his head around when he heard the sound of the elevator arriving on the floor.  Roy walked out and spotted him immediately.  “Not cool, man.” He scolded Jason before he saw his expression. “Hey, what happened?”
“How soon can you get the jet prepped to leave?”  Jason demanded coldly.
“I can have it ready by tomorrow morning.  Why?  Are you seriously going to head back so soon?  Don't you want to extend the honeymoon more than one day?” he waggled his eyebrows at Jason.
“It’s not a honeymoon.  You don’t get a honeymoon for marriages that aren’t real,” Jason let out bitterly.
“Not real? Seriously?  It looked pretty real to me.”  Jason glared at him.  He had missed something.  Something had to have happened in the 15 minutes between when he last saw them and now. They had been doing that sappy, in love thing couples did before.  “You could make it one.”  Roy suggested hesitantly.
“She isn’t interested.  She made that very clear.”  Jason growled back.
“When?” Roy asked in shock.
“All fucking day, Roy.  She’s mentioned the annulment constantly and I just walked in on her telling someone about what a huge mistake this has been.”
“Are those the words she used?  ‘Getting married to Jason was a mistake.’”  Roy asked slowly.
“Not those exact words…”
“So you don’t know if she was talking about the marriage or something else?” Roy interrupted before Jason could finish.
“Come on, what else could it have meant?” Jason asked exasperated.  
“Anything,” Roy was close to yelling from frustration.  He had worked too hard for them to throw this away now.  “Maybe she was talking about not telling her parents before the wedding and now she feels guilty for springing it on them.  Maybe it was leaving without warning Bruce.  Maybe it was missing a day of work.  Maybe it was wearing that dress today.  You don’t know.”
“She’s been pushing annulment all day.  And there’s nothing wrong with that dress on her at all.”  Jason answered quickly.
“Agreed but, she was pushing for the annulment before she knew you were Red Hood, when she thought she had married some random guy who looked vaguely like Red Hood because the real Hood wasn’t interested.” Roy took a deep breath.  He knew them.  He knew how they really felt about each other.  Anyone who had spent any time around the two of them knew.  But he couldn’t force them to stay in the relationship.  Brute force would just result in both of their stubborn asses digging their heels in and fighting harder.  
How would Alfred deal with this?  Alfred would be gentle, delicate, a guiding light.  He looked around trying to find the words.  Delicate wasn’t his forte.  He needed Jason to come to this conclusion on his own.  “Look Jay, you guys got gassed, lost all your inhibitions, and the first thing you guys decided to do wasn’t to have sex, which absolutely would have been my first move, it wasn’t even to make out, though you did do that, a lot, later, in front of everyone.  But your first instinct was to reveal yourselves to each other and get married.”  He paused for a moment to let that sink in.  “Your most basic, primal instinct, was to make a commitment to each other.  That has to mean something, right?  That doesn’t sound fake to me.”  He looked Jason in the eyes, “Just talk to her, okay? Don’t do something you’re going to regret because you’re stubborn and afraid.”
“I’m not…” Jason looked down and nodded.  He couldn’t even deny that what was driving him.  “I’ll talk to her, but you should probably get the jet ready.  And you might want to make room for me on the couch.”
 He took a deep, calming breath before he opened the room door.  He saw her immediately.  She was leaning on the balcony railing and looking at the ring on her finger with a sad smile.  The wind was gently blowing her hair around her face and making her dress flutter around her legs.  The sun was shining on her face making her look ethereal.  He lost his breath.  She was gorgeous.  He didn’t deserve her, he knew that.  She was smart and brave, bold and kind, creative and beautiful... and his wife. However he'd managed it, they were married and he'd be an idiot to throw that away.  And no matter what Damian thought, he was no idiot.
He approached her quietly, leaning against the railing next to her.  “Whatcha thinking about, Pix?”
She startled slightly and stuttered out “Oh… um… No… nothing… just never thought this is how I would end up married.  I never thought I’d come to Vegas at all, let alone get married here.”
“Me either,” he smiled gently at her.
“Oh no, I totally thought that’s the way you’d get married,” she laughed.
“Oi!” he squawked in fake offense, making her laugh even harder.  He quickly joined in her laughter.  The laughter settled after a few moments.  He stared at the fountain in front of the hotel in contemplation before deciding to take Roy’s advice and ask the question he needed to ask, well, the first of a few.  God he hoped this turned out better than how things usually turned out when he listened to Roy.
“What was the call you took earlier?” he asked hesitantly.
“What call?  The call when we got in the room?” she asked confused.  Why was that important now?  He nodded his heart beating wildly.  “It was my business manager.  I was supposed to put through a rush order to a fabric manufacturer this morning so we could get the fabric we need in time for a commission.  He was really upset with me,” she grimaced.  “But Adrien is kind of a drama queen so he’ll be fine as soon as I fix it. I promised I would take care of it as soon as I could and try to fix it so we don’t lose the commission.”
He let out a relieved breath.  It was work.  She had been talking about work, not their marriage.  She didn’t regret their marriage.  Or, maybe she did.  He needed to find out.  “Does that mean you never pictured yourself getting married to me?”
She sputtered out in response.  “What?”
“You said you didn’t picture yourself getting married in Vegas, but you did picture me doing it.  Does that mean you never pictured yourself marrying me?”
“Did you picture yourself marrying me?” She deflected hoping he wouldn’t notice the heavy blush on her cheeks.
He looked her in the eyes, sincerity shining through as he looked at her softly.  “Yes.”
Looked at him in surprise “What?”
“This isn’t how I pictured it, but I absolutely pictured myself marrying you one day.  I’d marry you anyway you let me, Marinette.  I love you.”
Tears started running down her cheeks. She felt Jason gently wipe them from her cheeks. “We can still get this annulled if you want, if you aren’t ready.  But know that I want to be married to you.  If you aren’t ready now, I can wait.  We can get the annulment and see what happens from there.  If you aren’t interested at all, and God I hope that isn’t the case, then never.  And we stay friends, if you want.  You control this.”
She looked at him in wonder.  “You want to stay married?”  She asked hesitantly, seeking confirmation.  This couldn’t be real.  This was too perfect.  This was everything she was hoping for, being married to Jason.  He nodded, smiling softly at her.  She smiled back at him, “I… I want to stay married.”
“Yeah?”  His gave her a blinding smile.
“Yeah.”  She beamed at him and cupped his face.  “I love you, Jason, so much.  You’re amazing.  I don’t think you really realize how amazing you are.  You have such a huge heart.  You’re funny and brave.  You make me feel understood, loved.  I don’t know that I deserve you, but I hope I can make you feel like you make me feel.”
“You deserve so much more than me, so much better than me,” he said quietly, looking at her lovingly and playing with her hair gently.  “I’m going to try to make you understand how incredible you truly are every single day.” He leaned down to kiss her.  Her eyes closed in anticipation.
She could feel his breath on her lips when Jason’s phone rang.  She giggled when he grunted at it before hitting the end call button.  He gave her an apologetic smile and brushed her bangs out of her face before leaning down again.  Before their lips could touch his phone rang again.  He groaned in frustration and hit end call again.  He started leaning down again when both his and her phones rang.  She giggled “I think you better answer that.  It’s probably Batman.  We don’t want him to send a rescue team.”
Jason grunted and aggressively hit the button to answer the call “Yeah, B I’m fine.  Yeah, she’s fine too.  No, I’m not coming home tonight.  Neither is Ladybug.  We’re on our honeymoon.”  He turned his phone off and threw it into the room.  Marinette smiled giddily at him.  He crashed his lips to hers before anything else could interrupt.  He pulled her closer and angled his head to deepen the kiss and add even more passion.  She wound her arms around his neck and pulled his hair to bring him closer to her.  He moaned into her lips and ran his hands along her sides until he reached her thighs and grabbed them to pick her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist.  They broke the kiss to take deep breaths, grinning happily before diving in for a searing kiss laced with all the want and pent up lust they’d been feeling for each other for the last year.  He stood up and walked her back into the bedroom, both of them removing clothing along the way and throwing it haphazardly, making the room look very much like it had the night before.
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