A Short One Shot for MGI: Civil War 2022, Dead Hood Society.
After a long day at work, all Marinette wanted to do was lay on her couch and wait for Jay to call her. She wished he was home to cuddle up with, he was the best at making her feel better, but he wasn’t due back from his business trip for three days. So, she would settle for a glass of wine and a bad romcom instead. Approaching her door, she realized something was off.
Marinette slowly opened the door, taking note that it was unlocked but also undamaged, as she entered her apartment. Only one other person had the key and he was supposed to be on another continent. Entering, she grabbed the gun that Jason kept hidden in the umbrella holder beside the door. He probably thought she didn’t know about it but when you have 19 mini gods that share the same space, you learn there are no secrets, especially from the Guardian of said gods.
She could hear someone around the corner, in the kitchen, so she followed the noise. She wasn’t prepared to see her lovely boyfriend, who was supposed to be in New Jersey, with a child.
“Mari,” he exclaimed, going to pull her into his arms, before he noticed the gun. “What’s that for? Where’d you even get it?”
“Where’d I- Jason, it’s yours. I got it out of the stand by the door because the door was unlocked and you are not supposed to be here until Monday. Yet here you stand, without telling me you were coming home early. What was I supposed to think, babe?”
Jason rubbed his hand through his hair, nodding as she spoke. “Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry, darlin’.”
Marinette rolled her eyes a bit but refocused on the child. “Jay, honey, when I asked you to bring me something home, I didn’t mean a child. Who’s this?”
Jason whips his head around as if just remembering the boy he had brought with him. Looking at him, Marinette thought he looked a bit familiar. Almost too familiar. “Jason. You didn’t.”
“Didn’t what, darlin’? I’ve got no clue what you could be implying of your dear boyfriend.”
“Of course not. Sweetie, what’s your name,” she asks, turning to the boy. He was at least old enough to know his name and age. Kidnapping. Just another thing to add to the long list of things she had done over the course of her life, she supposed. Hopefully, Jason had a good reason for bringing him home.
The boy looked up, as if just realizing they were speaking. “Damian Wayne. Who are you?”
The name alone gave away just how much trouble she was planted in. “Jason! You didn’t!” A string of Mandarin curses followed her words, and, though he couldn’t translate them exactly, Jason had been around both Marinette and her mother to know they were not nice words. Jason winced as she began pacing the room.
“Damian, this is my girlfriend, Mari. Mari, this is Damian, my brother, but you knew that, huh?”
“Yes, i guessed from the fact that he is a carbon copy of your father with Talia fucking Al Ghul’s eyes. Merci, Jay, we’re gonna die. If Bruce doesn’t track us down to take him back, Talia is gonna murder us and burn the bodies.”
The boy-Damian-seemed surprised that she knew of Talia, but as Guardian of the Miracle Box, knowing of the League of Shadows was one of the more unfortunate duties Marinette held.
“Relax, Mari. Who do you think sent me on the trip?”
Marinette stopped moving at his words and quickly turned to face him. “You want to take a child from the richest man in the world and return him to the League of Assassins? Yes, that is just a wonderful idea. Let’s get in between the lover’s spat of the man you refuse to speak to and the woman who manipulated you and sicced you on a child.”
“No, we’re not giving him back.”
“What,” Damian asked, quietly.
“I- uh. Your mom asked me to bring you here and keep you. Until you graduate, at least. She’s worried about you, Baby Bat. Do you know how difficult it is to get Talia worried? Something had to be up.”
Damian appeared to be thinking, as he went quiet at that. “Yes, I suppose. She is my mother after all.”
Jason looked relieved he hadn’t accidentally turned the child on his mom of all people. Merde, Marinette thought. This man will be the death of me.
“I don’t suppose you would like to stress bake with me while your brother cleans out the spare room and puts new sheets on the bed?”
The boy looked at her inquisitively, as if her offer was a trap but followed her into the kitchen regardless.
This post is to announce some regular stuff you need to know for our next event:
CIVIL WAR 2022(Valentine’sEdition)
The event will be host from January 7th to 14th, teams can prepare as much as they want, but submissions have to be publish during that week for them to count.
It’s a content war, so please be nice to each other.
You can participate with whatever you can think of as long as it’s related to your pairing, the pairing doesn’t have to be romantic, If you want to make it platonic that’s okay with us too.
Some examples of participation are prompts, fics, art, doodles, recipes, tik toks, moodboards, playlists.
We’ll have a max of 20 memes per team this year. Even so, If you draw it yourself, they’ll be counted as art and won’t have a cap.
Example thanks to @thedragonbug participation in Civil War 2021
There’s not a min or max of works, you can contribute as much as you can.
All submissions have to be send to my dms (issarockz#1822) along with your team, word count, and the link. (Link can be whatever you published your work, from tumblr to ao3 to even an actual server channel if you’re more comfortable that way)
Example thanks to @phis-corner participation in Trope Tussle 2021:
Once they have been sent to my dms, I’ll publish them in the official event channel in the server and they’ll count as participation.
The table with points won’t be public this year, we want you all to have fun and do the content you want to do because that’s what it feels right, not because it’s what gives you more points.
Collabs between teammates will count as extra points
As last year, we’ll publish a general prompt everyday, it’s just for inspiration, you are not forced to follow it and can be also used in the following days.
If you’re going to publish on tumblr, please add the tag #MGICIVILWAR2022 and tag us here in @mgi-events or with our main @illiteratefucks
More questions and extra info can be answered in my dms or in the server’s #askthemods
If you’re interested in participating but are not currently in the server, go visit and let us know, we’ll make space
!!Warning for suicidal thoughts at the end - i’ve put stars (**) around where it is in case you want to skip it!!
Prompt: Dreams
~~
Jason wakes up in a field of flowers.
As his eyes flutter open, the sun’s warm rays glow gold upon the field, highlighting the way the grass moves with the wind. The flora wrap around him, as if the Earth itself is cradling him in its arms as he lays there, soaking in the warmth of this wonderful place.
The breeze picks up, ever so subtly, and he hears plants softly crunching underfoot as someone walks towards him. Out of the corner of his vision, the tall grass parts, making way to reveal a petite lady, no older than seventeen, with eyes as bright as the clearest sky, and a smile as gentle and sweet as the flowers around them.
“Jason!” she exclaims, as if he’s been expecting him. And he smiles, because he was waiting for her, too.
“Marinette,” he replies, chuckling when she squeals in excitement. “Good to see you.”
The lady grabs his hand, and tugs him forward as the flowers release him. “C’mon, Jay, we’re late for the picnic I set up! I brought croissants.” She smirks, knowing this would win him over.
He grins. It’s not like she needed to say that - he would follow her to the ends of the Earth, as far as he could. “Alright then, let’s go.”
~~
The day goes by slowly, slower than it should here in this field of flowers. Though, he supposes he’s grateful, considering how he never wants this day to end.
He is once again reminded that there is never a dull moment with Marinette. One moment they’ll be chasing each other through the wide expanse of green, spanning for miles upon end, and the next they’ll be laying side-by-side, watching the clouds go by as they speak in hushed whispers. His partner is as lively as ever, and he has the privilege of staying by her side, accompanying her as she gets to enjoy the small things in life that she never did in her time as a Guardian.
He makes sure she gets every taste of freedom that she can in their own little world. Here, she can laugh and be herself - she can take the last cookie out of the jar without telling him, she can tease him relentlessly as he slips off the log they had been using as a makeshift bridge and into the shallow creek below. Here, she can cry without fear of being caught - she can mourn her lost childhood and cry for all that she could’ve had.
He cries with her, in those times. He cries for what he has lost, too.
But he gets to see her pick herself back up, just as she’s done countless times before. He’s proud of her, with her neverending optimism and strength. He’s proud of himself, too, for his own bravery.
After all, he would have never been able to do any of this with her here had he not had mustered up the courage to speak to her all those years ago.
So he holds her closer, now. He holds her in hopes that she will be alright, and that they will be alright.
He doesn’t really have to worry. They’ve always made it together, in the end. Never one without the other.
But there is a traitorous part of his mind, telling him that none of this is real. That he needs to wake up, because there are people waiting on him that actually need him. That will actually be there for him.
He pushes those thoughts aside. All he’s ever needed is here, in this field of flowers.
~~
Jason’s world begins to crumble at dusk.
The sun is low in the sky, dipping below the horizon teasingly as the last of its light shines upon the patches of flowers in the field. The golden hue spreads over the field, enveloping all that resides in it, before the light is gone and the moon comes up. In the soft moonlight, he recognizes the magnificent orange tone of the flowers that surround him.
They’re poppies.
He rubs his eyes wearily, suddenly exhausted. He’s not too surprised, seeing as this has definitely been the longest day of his life. All he wants is to lay down, with Marinette tucked comfortably into his arms.
The breeze picks up, just as it did when he first opened his eyes. He looks up to see Marinette standing in front of him. His smile falters as he takes in her expression. She is frowning slightly.
“Marinette? What’s wrong?”
The girl flinches, tears welling up in her eyes. “You need to wake up, Jay.”
What?
“I don’t get it,” he matches her frown, not understanding her words. “I’m already awake, Mari, there’s no need. Besides, we should be going to bed soon.”
“No, Jason.” She glares fiercely. A lone tear escapes her eye. “You can’t sleep here. You can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Panic is beginning to rise in him, panic that soon makes way for betrayal and anger. “I thought we were supposed to be together,” he whispers. A thought comes to him. “Is it this field? Allergies? We can leave if you want. We can find another spot, a different place to call home. But there’s never one without the other, remember?”
The pained look returns to Marinette’s face. “I remember, Jay. But you’re going to have to leave without me.”
“But why?” His voice is hoarse with emotion. “Why are you pushing me away?”
“Because if you stay with me, you’ll die.”
And there it is. In the dark recesses of his mind, the traitorous voice pleads, begging him to heed Marinette’s warnings and leave before it’s too late. But he blocks them out once again, instead pinning Marinette with a broken gaze.
“When were you going to tell me?” He whispers, just barely audible over the wind. She freezes, eyes glazed with tears. “When were you going to tell me that you, the person I love most, are dead?”
“I was hoping the time would never come. I had hoped that you would wake up on your own, and understand that this was all some silly dream.
“You have so much to live for, Jay,” she reassures him. Before wrapping him into a big hug. “Your family, your friends, the world is waiting for you. Don’t give it up just yet.”
He gulps, trying to ease the lump in his throat. “But what about you? Where will you go?”
She smiles, and though it is a wistful thing, it is still as beautiful as ever. “Me? I’ll be here, waiting for you to come back. But only when the time is right, got it? You have to live for me.”
He hesitates for a second before nodding resolutely. Anything, anything to see her again.
“Good.” The wind shifts, and orange petals begin to swirl around him with natural grace. He takes one last look around, at this beautiful field of flowers that holds memories he will cherish for the rest of his days. He locks eyes with the brightest, strongest girl he has ever met. She is no longer holding back her tears, but that doesn’t stop her from breaking out into a watery grin.
“Don’t forget me, okay?” She shouts over the rising winds. “We’re never one without the other.”
The last thing he sees is bright blue eyes before everything fades to black.
~~
Jason wakes up in a sterile white room.
It is nothing like their field of flowers. Where he once felt comfort from the sun’s warm rays against his skin, chilled air has him shivering at its touch. Where blooming flowers once enveloped him in a burst of color with their petals, white linen sheets scratch at his skin.
Where he was once happy in the company of his love, there is nothing but empty chairs propped up along the walls of the room.
The steady beep of the monitor beside him and the drip of the IV behind him keep him anchored as the tears spill from his eyes.
**
A cold draft shifts through the room, nearly freezing the tear tracks that are surely apparent on his face. Without a second thought, he stumbles out of the bed, ignoring the sharp aches of protest his weakened legs send him. He all but drags himself to the open window, peering out to the street below.
He’s on a high floor. Cars and pedestrians pass by on the street below, unaware of his inner turmoil. His thoughts are racing by as a voice whispers malevolently in his head.
You could jump, you know.
His breath hitches.
You could meet her again… you’d like that, wouldn’t you?
Almost mindlessly, he hikes a foot up, climbing out of the opening just enough to sit himself down onto the windowsill. The winds are pushing against him, as if they were trying to corral him back into the safety of the room before he did something he would regret. His foot is pushing against the building, ready to fly, to be free -
You know she would too.
And that’s what sends him tumbling back into the room, crashing against the bed as he scrambles away from the window. Because he knows that this isn’t what Marinette would want.
**
Suddenly, that evil voice is replaced with another. One that is soft, ever so gentle as it soothes his aching heart.
Live for me, okay?
There is a phantom feeling of a hand caressing his cheek and tiny arms wrapping around him as he weeps for a lost love. For their lost time, for all the possibilities that could’ve been.
He takes the time to collect himself, sighing wearily as he directs himself back onto the bed. But as he pulls back the scratchy covers, bright orange lays stark against the clean white sheets.
There lies a poppy, crumpled slightly by what he assumes was his own weight. He is instantly reminded of a girl with bright blue eyes and a smile that promised him the world.
He carefully picks it up, cradling it in his palm as he holds it close to his heart. Never one without the other, right?
He is one amongst millions, billions just like him.
So close, yet so distant. So bright, yet so cold. So many of them, yet they are all so alone.
Jason is full of hatred. He hates how he was born into darkness, with no way to escape. He hates how he and his siblings have been abandoned by their parent Stars, left to burn bright for a child to wish upon before they go out with a flicker, inner light extinguished with the power of the wish.
Thus is their fate.
Jason hates how he can do nothing to change it.
He sees his siblings falter in their places. Sees them blinking, wearily, as some selfish Earthen child wishes upon their life force for something so trivial as a new toy for their birthdays. Do they realize the consequences of their wishes? Do they realize that his brothers and sisters and siblings fade to please them? Do they realize that most of them don’t even reach their twentieth cycle?
He hates children, with their naivety and their selfishness.
But he doesn’t blame them. For they are taught by their own parents to wish upon a star, through whispers and promises of dreams come true.
So he suffers as the lights in his siblings’ eyes die out. He cries for them, as they become empty husks, crumbling to dust in under the pressure of Space.
He cries, quicksilver tears dripping down his cheeks, knowing that someday, he will join them once again.
He hates how he doesn’t want to join them. At least, not for a long time.
He hates how selfish he is.
~~
It is the eve of his eighteenth cycle that he learns of the Moon’s latest vessel.
Her name is Marinette, and her eyes gleam brighter than any Moon he has heard of in his lifetime.
He wonders if this is a testament to her Reflection. After all, the Moon is said to be the most empathetic and understanding. They were said to be great “ladybugs” in another universe, whatever that meant.
He is instantly taken to her. There is something about her, maybe the fact that she is the Moon, that draws him in like the Earth’s tides.
Marinette is kind, almost overwhelmingly so. She makes small talk, asking him about the Stars and their duties. With a fake grin, he tells her of granting wishes and fulfilling childrens’ dreams.
He doesn’t tell her about the repercussions of granting them. So she smiles, eyes wide and gleaming with wonder, as she expresses admiration for him and his siblings.
Her naivety is a bit cute, in a childish way. He finds her genuinity refreshing, although it is a bit depressing seeing how she was never fully educated in the workings of their System.
He has always wanted to meet a Moon like this. But they never pay much attention to the Stars, certainly none as far out as Jason is.
They don’t need to, especially when they already have their Sun.
Jason resents the Suns. All day, they do nothing but sit in their perch, their brilliant heat encompassing the Planets, warming even the coldest of them. And when the night falls, and the Moon rises, they set, taking their leave with a flourish.
They’re such pretentious assholes, Jason thinks bitterly. Though, he supposes he would be too if Earthlings practically worshipped him.
Maybe he’s just jealous. Jealous after he learns that Marinette is absolutely smitten by her Sun, who somehow matches her cheery brightness with his own brilliance. They were made for one another, he can tell. After all, they are this Universe’s Sun and Moon. One cannot be without the other.
There is no place for a Star to fit into the equation.
~~
Marinette seems to have read his mind that day, because every morning, when her shift in the sky is over, she comes back to visit him. She tells him stories of the Earth - she whispers tales of sleep to him as they lay on a moonbeam. She tells him about dreams of a different caliber, and they laugh at their absurdity. He knows all of this already, but he humors her.
He basks in her presence, taking in her fair skin, freckles dotting her skin gently like the Moon’s craters, hair dark as the night she reigns over.
She is a beauty unlike that of the Stars. Where they burn, she beams.
He is captivated by her. No longer in the star-struck way he was before, when she was but a distant longing, but in a more personal way. He knows her, knows her love for nature and her love for peace. He knows of her own longing for the Sun’s love.
But that doesn’t stop his own longing for her. It grows and grows, and his closest siblings notice.
Tim teases him, of course. He will occasionally nudge Jason’s arm with his elbow, making kissy-faces when he finally looks his way.
He would’ve shown Tim just how easy it is to become a shooting star had it not been for Cass stepping in. She studies him, searching his eyes for whatever emotion lies in them, and nods when she finds what she’s looking for.
Damian is nowhere near as subtle as their older sister. He kicks Jason in the shin, threatening to kick him where not even the Sun shines if he dares hurt Marinette.
Dick puts an arm around his shoulder. The action is charged with love and care, with a promise to shield him from whatever evils try to block his trajectory.
“I’m here for you.” Dick’s soft musings are slightly muffled by Jason’s hair as he cradles the younger’s head, but Jason can hear him. “I believe in you.”
Oh Stars. The gentle confidence in his brother’s voice brings tears to his eyes, and his vision swims in gold.
~~
The comfort runs out when Marinette comes to him one day, frantically waving her arms around as she yells incoherently.
“What’s wrong?” He settles down on the pale beam of moonlight she emanates. She gives him a troubled glance, plopping down next to him with a puff.
“Adrien confessed to me today. He said he’s loved me since we first met.”
Jason’s light burns in his chest. “So what’d you say?”
“I told him that I had loved him, once.”
“Oh. Nice.” Silence spans between them, and Jason tunes out as he pleads for the universe to swallow him whole before he cries in front of Marinette. That’d be embarrassing.
He comes back to himself, and he can feel the Moon’s gaze on him, as if she were expecting something from him. “I think you’d better get back to your One and Only,” he chokes out, hating the way his light burns even harder, hurting him with its intensity. Of course, he was just a bounce-back. A second option. A replacement. “Adrien’s the only one you’d want, right?” There is venom in his voice. “We’re done.”
The Moon makes a hurt noise, bringing a hand up to his cheek. But he flinches as cold fingers brush his skin, and she pulls her hand back as if he had burned her. A sniffle is heard above him, and he looks up.
She is crying.
He hates the part of him that wants to gently wipe away the opalescent tears that escape her dull eyes. He hates her, hates how she would leave him for another so easily. When she retreats, he hates the part of him that wants to chase after her. To tell her, at least one time, that he loves her.
But Jason knows his fate. He is a child of the Stars, after all.
He is destined to be alone.
~~
No one dares come near him for a fortnight. He is bitter, overwhelmingly so, and his aura poisons those that get close to him.
Good. He doesn’t need anyone anymore. He never has.
His siblings come, one by one, trying to get him to open up. They have a semblance of what happened, but any time they try to confirm it, they choke at his toxicity. After Tim passes out from prolonged exposure to his corruption, they back off hesitantly.
But Dick comes along, and sits down right next to his brooding self.
“What are you doing?” He hisses, half-concerned and half-annoyed by his older brother. The older star grins, though his eyes are full of pain.
“I’m protecting you, aren’t I?”
His bad mood falters slightly, and his brow pinches in confusion. “There’s nothing else to protect me from.”
Dick tuts, giving Jason a gentle boop on the nose. “I’m protecting you from yourself, starling.”
What was it with Dick and making him want to cry? “Like I said, there’s nothing to protect me from,” he repeats stubbornly.
The other sighs. “Look, Jason,I know that you’re hurting. You’re doing this to yourself.” Dick grabs his shoulder, making Jason look into his eyes. The startling blue is calm against the concern written on his face. “You have the chance to be happy. To get away from here. Why didn’t you take it?”
Something in him snaps. “There’s nothing for me to take, Dick! Stars above, are you an idiot? She has no love for me!” His light burns, and with an exhale, it drops dangerously low. He crumbles, body suddenly weak from neglect and stress.
“Jason!” Dick darts forwards to catch him. “My Stars, what have you done to yourself? And for what? She loves you,idiot!”
His breath catches, staring incredulously at his brother. “What?”
“She loves you, idiot. You’ve got to be dumber than asteroids to have missed that. All of us know.”
He stiffens, before pushing himself up. Looking around, he can see the Moon’s pale outline in the distance, mocking him from afar.
“I’m an idiot.”
“You are.”
“I should go get her.”
“You should.”
“But what if she-”
“Just go get her already! We miss her too, you know.”
He shoots across the sect, missing Dick’s proud grin in his rush.
~~
The Lunar District is just about as cold as he expected.
He weaves through the bustling atmosphere, ignoring the hushed whispers that break out with every step he takes. There are more important things to worry about than useless rumors.
So he pushes through, following the moonbeams that curl around his feet and guide him to their owner. Soon enough he finds himself on the edge of the Moon’s territory, the dividing Shadow stark against the pale surface. But the beams nudge him closer, showing him a clearing in the middle of a crater.
It looks well-loved. There are rocks of all different shapes and sizes making up chairs and tables. Moonbeams spill between two of the rocks, catching on something that makes them look colorful. It is beautiful.
And perched on one of those rocks is Marinette.
She looks miserable - she looks dull, even duller than Jason in this moment. There are bags under her eyes, and her posture is hunched. She looks like the light has been taken from her.
He makes his approach known, crunching dust underneath his feet. Her head whips up, eyes narrowing in suspicion as she realizes exactly who he is. She rushes over to him, coming to a stop just out of his reach.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were done with me.”
He inhales. “I’m not done with you. I thought you were done with me.”
“Why? I didn’t do anything to-”
“It was my fault,” he confesses. “I thought you chose Adrien over me, so I pushed you away.”
Realization flashes across Marinette’s face. She steps forward, and hesitantly reaches for his hand. He gives it to her, and she clasps them together. Her fingers are cold.
“I told you,” she whispers. “I told you that I loved him, once.” She looks up. “I told you that I was in love with the brightest star I had ever laid eyes upon.”
His light pulses, emitting a pleasant warmth. “Oh,” he says intelligently.
“Yeah, oh.” She giggles at him, a pale flush on her face. “Though now I’m reconsidering the ‘brightest’ part.”
He puffs his chest indignantly. “Hey, now - I’m plenty bright!”
“Sure.” She doesn’t sound convinced in the slightest.
They walk through the garden in silence. But Jason finds that it isn’t deafening - it’s like a blanket, comfortably falling over them with a gentleness that Jason isn’t familiar with. In fact, nothing about the scene is familiar. He is no longer alone, with Marinette by his side. Her presence is warm, no matter how cold her hands are. And even with just the two of them here, in this garden, his light is content to stay here.
Jason is a child of the Stars. He has seen countless siblings give in to their fate, so many fall to their written demise. With silver making tracks down his face, he once believed that he would meet the same end.
But now, with golden tears glistening from the brightness of his Moon, he can change that.
Marinette would not call herself a loser. At least, not completely.
As Ladybug, she can never afford to lose. Losing a fight means leaving Paris vulnerable to Hawkmoth’s evil plans, and that’s something she’d rather die than let happen. So far, she and Chat Noir (now Mister Bug) have been doing a great job.
But as Marinette, the circumstances are different.
Don’t get her wrong, she’s incredibly successful. She’d been lucky with her fashion career, with it blooming so early in her life. She’d been hired for music videos, commissioned for special events, and even selected by both Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeois to show off her designs on the same runway as him.
Even now, here in Gotham, her boutique was a hit among the people. Every now and then she would come across civilians wearing one of her pieces, be it a knit beanie or even a jacket.
She was flourishing. Her connections, her business, her friends… everything she could have ever dreamed of.
Everything but love.
If she had to guess, she’d say it has something to do with her success in every other aspect of her life. Too much was going her way, and she supposes that too much good can be a bad thing.
Almost everyone in Paris had seen what had happened between her and Adrien. And when she says “what happened,” she means nothing. She had been too much of a coward to confess her love to him, and he had started going out with Kagami. They were happy in love, and Marinette had fled to Gotham to heal.
Of course, she and Adrien had kept in touch. And of course, with them being best friends, partners in crime, he had phoned her earlier this morning, confiding in her that he was going to propose to Kagami sometime soon.
Through a cracked voice and glossy eyes (though not with tears of joy, as Adrien had assumed), she had congratulated him and promptly hung up the phone. All her hard work, and her game of keep-away had finally ended. She cried her eyes out for a good couple hours before she had no more tears to shed.
Who knew winning could hurt so much?
She had needed a drink. Whether she was going to drink in self-pity or drink to forget, she couldn’t tell. But now she is here, at some random bar in the middle of Gotham, miserably swirling the contents of her half-empty glass of bourbon.
Sweeping her eyes across the room, she notices the subdued aura that the place exudes. It must be a rough night for most of the people here. She takes another sip of her drink before a loud bout of yelling rises from behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she sees a red-haired man sink under a table as a black-haired man in a worn leather jacket laugh at his state. Her eyes rake over his form appreciatively, noting the broadness of his shoulders and the mischievous twinkle of his sharp blue eyes. He turns slightly, and holy hell, she could grate cheese on that jawline.
She can feel herself about to do something stupid. The silver ring certainly isn’t helping to dissuade her. In fact, she can feel Plagg egging her on, mentally whispering for her to woman up and fucking face this hunk of a man head-on.
With a deep breath, she downs the last of her drink and sets the empty glass down on the counter, beckoning for the bartender to hand her another bottle. The man grins as he passes it over, and a rush of adrenaline meets the liquid courage running through her as she saunters over to the black-haired man’s table, slamming the bottle of tequila onto the hard wooden surface. He and his friend jump, and they turn to stare at her incredulously. She notices there’s a white streak in his hair. Sexy, she thinks, before mentally slapping herself. Stop it! Right now, he’s competition.
She clears her throat. “First to five shots wins.”
He stares for a couple more seconds before his lips split into a feral grin. “Make it ten, and then we’ll talk.”
“Finally, someone who knows how to party.”
Needless to say, they don’t talk afterwards. They’re too busy passed out on the floor to notice.
~~
After the Tequila incident, as Jason likes to call it, Marinette finds herself running into him more and more often. She sees him at the grocery store, the park, hell, she even sees him at Wayne Enterprises during one of her business meetings there. That’s when she finds out that he’s one of Bruce Wayne’s wards.
They go for drinks that night, too. Not so much for her, but for Jason. He needed to recover from the ribbing that his brothers had subjected him to after learning that he was drinking buddieswiththe Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
But they don’t become anything more than that. Marinette is actually a bit relieved by that, because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to survive getting her heart broken a second time.
Of course, that changes when they encounter Two-Face on the way to their weekly night out.
Jason is shot, bleeding against the wall of the alley he’s propped himself up on. Two-Face, with Marinette struggling in his grasp, uses his free hand to pull out his trusty coin.
“Heads, I let you go to him and you can die together. Tails, I put a bullet through his head and you go free.” And he flips it, covering the landed coin with his other hand.
It’s heads.
He releases her, already deeming her helpless as he cocks the gun. He thinks he’s won.
Big mistake.
Grabbing his armed hand, she wrenches his arm up, not even blinking as the shot goes off into the air. With a yelp from the criminal, she sweeps his leg, and flips him hard onto the street. She hears the air forced out of his lungs and she punches him in the temple, knocking him out.
She dusts her hands off with a sigh, before tensing into a battle-ready stance when two gentle thuds come from behind her. She spins around, only to find Nightwing and Red Robin berating her companion, who’s sunk to the floor with a mortified groan.
“Look at you, Jay. How’s it feel being a damsel-in-distress?”
“Fuck off.”
“Um, excuse me?” The two vigilantes whip around, seemingly forgetting she had been there. “Do you know each other?” They all turn to glance at each other, as if they were telepathically arguing with each other. She has to fight the urge to roll her eyes. They’re not subtle at all.
“Of course!” Nightwing chirps, putting an arm around Jason. The motion obviously jostles his wound, because he keels over, wheezing in pain. Nightwing winces, gently putting him down. “We’ve been tasked to protect him and his family in the past. There’s no way I could forget the man who split his pants trying to fend off Scarecrow with his bare hands.”
“Oh my god, shut up. And besides, I didn’t just try, I succeeded.”
“Semantics.”
The two glare at each other, and Marinette makes the mistake of looking at Red Robin’s face. As soon as she sees the constipated look that’s made its home there, all the laughter she had been trying to hold back suddenly comes back tenfold, and she doubles over, wheezing as she clutches her stomach. It takes a while for her to get over it, and by the time she gets back up, wiping the mirthful tears from her eyes, all three of them are staring at her.
Embarrassed, she clears her throat. “Well, as much as I enjoyed our chat, I’m sure we have to get Jason going.” All of them are confused, from the way their brows furrow simultaneously. “His bullet wound? We do have to get that treated, don’t we?” The lightbulb goes off over their heads and they nod frantically.
“Yes, of course! It’s not like we were going to take him back with us or anything - oof!” Marinette raises an eyebrow at the words as Red Robin elbows Nightwing in the ribs.
“Shut up!” he hisses. “We’d better leave, too. Would you like us to escort you two to the hospital, ma’am?”
It’s the first thing he’s said all night, and she’s mortified when she realizes just how young he sounds. He sounds like a teenager. “No, we’re good,” she reassures him. “I can carry him the rest of the way.” He looks like he wants to argue, but he glances to the unconscious man on the floor and nods in agreement. They part ways with a wave, and Marinette is left alone with her reckless drinking buddy once again.
“So,” she teases. “You tried to fight Scarecrow in your underwear?”
Jason groans. “Can we just focus on getting me to the hospital?”
“Sure, sure.” She picks him up off the ground with ease. “But you’re definitely telling me about this later.”
~~
Things change after that. They still meet up for drinks, but they also get together to simply spend time with each other. Marinette basks in her newfound friend.
Moving to Gotham was so rough for her. She’s always been a social person, proving her friendship with time and effort put into each and every one. But taking herself away from all she’d ever known was difficult. It was like moving schools, except she didn’t get the chance to start fresh and find new friends.
Until now. Until Jason.
She tells him as much, because she trusts him. They’re at the park, lounging on a blanket Marinette had set out as she confides in him, talking about feelings, of all things. She knows Jason isn’t the best when dealing with said topic, but she’s grateful that he listens to her anyways. She really needed to get this off her chest.
“I’m honored you trust me with this, ma’am.” He jokingly salutes at her, making her giggle. “Honestly, I don’t have very many friends like… you,” he admits. “But I like it. It’s refreshing, and I think it’s doing me a solid.”
She’s surprised to find that she feels the exact same way about him. Though hers is probably for a different reason - with the fact that the rest of her friends are secretly heroes - but she’s able to get away from the hero life when she’s with him, seeing how he’s a normal civilian. Well, a rich and famous civilian, but a civilian nonetheless.
“Glad I could help you out, sir,” she shoots back playfully, yelping when he shoves her off the picnic blanket. “Hey, watch it! I’m wearing a Marinetteoriginal.”
“That’s too bad. Maybe you can beg her to make you another one.”
They chase each other around the park like children, passersby staring incredulously at the display. But she finds that with Jason, she couldn’t care less.
~~
Of course, life has to fuck with her, because a couple months later she finds herself cursing herself for her own carelessness.
Of course she couldn’t keep her secret identity a secret. Of course it had been Jason, of all people, to witness her hop out of a portal from his seat on her couch, eating Doritos as the television blared in the background. Of course he had reacted as expected, abruptly standing up and leaving the apartment, the door slamming behind him as she stared after him, unable to get a single word out before he had gone. He had every right to.
Of course she hadn’t been able to save what was quite possibly the best friendship she’d had the privilege of having.
So she takes the best possible course of action: she mopes.
She finds herself in a funk, not too different from the one she had been in when Adrien had first asked Kagami out. Except now there’s no Tikki, no Alya, no Luka to console her. Now, there was no Jason to help laugh herself out of her stupor. Now, all she had was a tub of neapolitan ice cream (Jason’s favorite flavor, her mind unhelpfully supplied) and a magical black cat with absolutely no talent for making people feel better.
“Think of it this way,” Plagg had told her. “At least now you’re alone and you have no one else to blame for it but yourself!” He patted her on the back with a strained attempt for a smile.
She had bawled her eyes out after that. Plagg really didn’t know much about human emotions. But at least he tried, so she gave him another wheel of camembert.
It is day four of “Marinette’s Pity Party,” as Jason calls it, when Marinette’s miserable afternoon is interrupted by the sound of wood breaking as Red Hood storms her apartment with a plastic bag in hand. On a better day, she would probably try to subdue him, or at least ask him what the fuck he’s doing here, but she’s really not in the mood to do anything of the sort. So with dead eyes and an even dead-er voice, she grumbles, “We’re out of Doritos.”
She turns back to the television, trying to ignore the stare she can feel Red Hood giving her from behind his helmet. She hears a withering sigh as he walks over, depositing himself onto the cushion next to her. There’s a faint pop as he takes his helmet off and digs into the bag in his hands. He produces a family sized bag of Doritos before setting it in her lap, wrapping an arm around her. “I know, Nette.”
Her eyes widen as she takes in the familiarity of the scene - the leather jacket is warm where it hits her skin, so worn and perfectly broken in that it’s soft to the touch. The arm around her promising to protect her for as long as its owner could. The voice that has said her nickname so many times. The head that rests on her shoulder, smelling faintly of gunpowder and old books, that lays so vulnerable, trusting her to take care of him -
Oh. She’s an idiot.
A fresh wave of tears reaches her eyes and she sniffles, grasping Jason Todd’s jacket tight, tighter than before.
Because he’s here, and she isn’t letting him go.
~~
Of course, now that they both know that the other is a superhero (or vigilante, whatever), there are no secrets between them. They trust each other with their lives, and they trust the other to watch their back.
If either the Paris heroes or the Gotham bats have anything to say about the new person tagging along on patrol and during fights, they don’t say anything. The obvious improvements and chemistry between the two of them speak enough of their teamwork.
They’re together more often than before, which is saying something - they had already been everywhere together as it was. But with their revealed identities, there is nowhere they go without the other.
Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly to them, Jason moves into Marinette’s apartment. He’s only gone to his own apartment on the other side of town twice, and that was to get a change of clothes and a toothbrush the day after his reveal. After that, he practically lived there anyways.
Their hectic lives take a domestic turn. But neither finds themselves minding. In fact, Marinette finds it natural - almost easier than breathing. There’s a certain comfort in waking up in the morning, knowing there is someone there for you in the other room, who is there to chase your nightmares away. Who is there to ease your worries.
–Would he be there to love her too?–
There’s something in the other that Marinette can’t get from anyone else - not Alya, not Nino, not Luka, and certainly not Adrien. She knows that no matter what happens, she’ll fight for Jason until the end. She’ll be there to pick him up if he ever needs.
She knows that he’ll do the same.
And so she pushes down whatever feelings are blooming in her heart. She’s not sure when they first began to grow, but she knows this familiar ache. The want, the desire for something more. She feels greedy at that moment, for wanting that. She’s finally found somewhere she belongs to, someone she belongs to, and she’d rather stay his best friend, his partner in crime, than just another girl who’d fallen for him.
This is the one secret she will never tell Jason, not that she’ll have to worry about it ever coming up. She’s won this game before, against a boy with hair like the sun and eyes like the shiniest emeralds. She can do it again.
~~
Things come to a head the night Jason gets taken out of commission. As in, he takes two bullets to the stomach. As in, he risks his life for Marinette.
She’d been preoccupied by the self-appointed leader of the gang she and the Batfam had been tracking down for weeks. Her back had been turned, and she had been left wide open. Two gangsters, who must have arrived late to the party, open fire on her vulnerable state.
But Jason saw them. And so he dove behind her, taking the hits with his own body.
Seeing him there on the floor, bleeding out, she freaks out. Carefully scooping him up into her arms, she nods to Nightwing, who nods back with a worried look on his face. She’s off into the night with Jason in tow.
“Hang in there, Red Hood,” she whispers to him. “We can get you to Alfred in time. It’ll be alright.”
His breaths are laboured as he looks up and meets her eyes. “Nette,” he coughs. “I think this is it for me.”
Dread runs through her veins as her focus moves from avoiding buildings to the man in her arms. “Now’s not the time to be dramatic, Jay.”
“No, I mean it.” There’s something in his voice that she’s never heard before. There is none of that normal fire, brash and confident. Instead, it is quiet, like a breeze. Quiet. Gentle. It’s as if he’s trying to comfort her.
She doesn’t like this look on him. It doesn’t fit him.
“Marinette.” A hand reaches for her cheek. The leather is cold against her skin, and she hates how wrong it feels. “I love you.”
And as the hand drops, so does her heart.
She’s never run this fast, never leapt this far. All of her strength goes into getting Jason to Alfred before he bleeds out in her arms.
She makes it to the Batcave in record time. Jason would be proud, but in a secret sort of way and tell her that he could do better. She would probably laugh.
But right now, Jason’s barely breathing, and she wants to do anything but laugh as she deposits his body onto the examination chair. Alfred gets to work immediately, shooing her out of the room. With Jason’s life no longer in her hands, the adrenaline fades, leaving her in the dust as exhaustion catches up to her. She sinks to the floor, resting her head on her knees.
She didn’t think she’d win like this. Not with her being left behind with his words as the only reminder of what they could’ve been.
She knew that winning hurt, but she didn’t know that it could hurt even more.
~~
She’s brought out of her reverie by Nighwing’s arrival. He puts a hand on her shoulder, sitting down on the floor besides her.
“He’s going to be okay,” he reassures her. “Red Hood’s pretty tough, he wouldn’t let two bullets get him down.”
But Marinette can hear the slight hesitance, the concern for his younger brother figure bleeding into his voice.
She leans her head on his shoulder anyways. He needs the comfort just as much as she does.
They stay there, on the floor of the hall, content in the company of one another, when the door opens. Alfred steps out, sighing wearily at the sight of them.
“He’s out of the woods, for now. He’s sleeping at the moment, but as long as you two are quiet, it would be alright for you to see him.” She and Nightwing waste no time, throwing themselves into the room as silently as possible. There, tucked into the covers of the bed, is Jason, breath soft as he slumbers. He looks a bit gaunt, some of the color gone from his face, but he’s alive.
They both stand over his form, taking in the sound of his breathing for what seems like ages before Nightwing takes his leave. Whispering a quick “goodnight,” he leaves.
And now she’s alone. With Jason. He’s here, but he’s never felt so far.
She reaches for his hand, hesitating as it hovers barely an inch above it. Should she go for it? What would happen to them if she did? Did he mean it? Did he even love her the same way? There’s so much doubt swirling in her head. She’s pulling away when a hand wraps around hers, fingers intertwining and locking them together. She jerks her head to meet Jason’s gaze, whose eyes are soft as they fall on her.
“Hey.”
She inhales sharply as her sight blurs. She burrows her face into his arm, sniffling. “Hey yourself,” she whispers back. “You’re looking a little banged up there.”
He chuckles, hissing quietly as the motion jostles his wound. “I guess so,” he concedes. “But I’d do it again.”
And if that isn’t enough confirmation for Marinette, she doesn’t know what is.
She presses a feather-light kiss to his knuckles, giggling when his face bursts into a red that rivals that of his helmet. “You get the real deal when you’re all better. Until then, learn how to actually deflect a shot instead of letting your body take it.”
She easily dodges the half-hearted swipe that comes her way.
~~
A few weeks later, she finds herself basking in the warmth that Jason’s body provides. She’s snuggled up against him, tuning him out as he complains about her stealing all of his body heat. She swats him with the sleeve of her sweater, yelping when he grabs the offending fabric, tugging her closer and enveloping her in an enormous bear hug. She wheezes as all the air escapes her, playfully punching his back in an attempt to free herself. When he finally lets up, she wraps her arm around him, looking up to see the grin on his face, as mischievous as the day they met.
“Do I get that kiss now?”
She pretends to think for a moment. “I don’t know… I only give it to people who deserve it.”
“Nette,” he whines. “C’mon, please?”
“Mmmm… no.”
Jason takes her free hand, brushing his lips over her knuckles. She chuckles, and he smiles down at her. “I love you.”
The phrase never fails to take her breath away.
She cups his jaw with her hands, giving him a small peck on the lips. “I love you too,” she says, breathless, and his eyes widen in surprise before settling into the same lovesick look she wakes up to every morning.
And as he comes in for another kiss, Marinette can’t help but think of how she’s found herself a new game.
