the fact that i wrote this for one line at the end—
— JASON LIKED TO THINK of himself as a mentally stable, dependable person.
Sure, he had died a few months ago, and sure, he was probably going to go insane from the Lazarus Pits, but, Jason was absolutely certain that he was still all of the things stated above.
Oh, and one more thing to add — he also liked to be positive and optimistic.
Quite like Dick actually.
He absolutely had that quality now — not like dying made him a tad bit negative, or, you know, jaded.
Yep, those were the qualities that defined Jason Todd.
Marinette looked at Jason with more than a little bit of worry and horror.
Kwami, what had this man been through?
Honestly, if he was a nutcase and Marinette had wasted her time by picking him up from the side of the road, she was going to throw a temper tantrum.
In her opinion, it was completely justified too.
She had had a terrible day, with Audrey yelling at her as soon as she walked into the office and with Hawkmoth deciding to akumatize her, with Marinette as her subject of anger.
It had been quite a feat if Marinette could say so herself, that she managed to escape from the akumatized version of Audrey.
Not without a few broken ribs, but you had to make a few sacrifices for the 'greater good' right?
At least, that's what Fu told her, each and every time she went to see him for advice.
It was beginning to get a bit annoying, especially when Marinette was nearing a time when she would probably have to move out of Paris if she was going to live the rest of her life.
Hawkmoth needed to be done with before that, otherwise, Marinette would be stuck in Paris, fighting a stupid villain who couldn't get over his stupid obsession.
Marinette had promised herself to smack the man around as much as she could if she found out who he was.
Scratch that.
Making it when.
That's right, in case you didn't know, being positive was most definitely Marinette's best skill in life.
Or call it false hope.
Whatever worked.
But, back to the point, if the man Marinette had spontaneously decided — certainly not with a lot of cajoling and maybe a little guilt-tripping from Tikki — to pick up from the side of the road, turned out to be someone who needed to be checked into an insane asylum, that was it.
Marinette was going to quit her job, quit her superhero duties and turn into a reclusive hermit.
Synonyms, she knows, but it just made her all the more dramatic, which was what she was going for right now.
"You need help."
Marinette gave the man sitting before her — Jason Todd, he said his name was, and then looked at her as if she was supposed to know who he was — an unimpressed look as she sipped on her sixth coffee of the day.
She was probably going to regret it, especially this late in the night, but she couldn't particularly bring herself to care.
Jason laughed — it sounded slightly hysterical — and leaned forward. "Oh, absolutely. I don't deny that. But, you asked me who I was, and I explained."
The silent message was clear: it was up to her whether she believed him or not.
Marinette decided two could play this game and leaned forward too until she was inches away from Jason's face.
If she moved just a little closer, they would be kissing, but, there would be another time for that.
Adrien hadn't been particularly satisfying while they were dating and often, Marinette had been subjected to help herself — if you catch her drift. After their break-up, there simply wasn't enough time to 'help herself' or just, you know, date someone.
If what Jason said about himself was true, then he, too, had been stuck in a dry spell like her.
What was the TikTok again?
Two best friends in a room...they might kiss or something like that.
Change the 'best friends' to 'strangers' and you'd basically be describing the two of them at that moment.
Pushing aside those thoughts, for now, Marinette looked challengingly into Jason's jaded blue eyes and said, "Well, would you believe me if I said I was the one and only Ladybug, superheroine of Paris?"
Jason leaned even closer until there was barely an inch in between the two of them.
"I would."
Each word hit her hard until Marinette was staring at him dizzily, hunger evident in her eyes.
So maybe she was a little insane too, thinking about things with a complete stranger she had picked up off the road.
What would her mother say?
Marinette could already sense Tikki's disapproving eyes on her back, but at that moment, she didn't particularly care especially when Jason's soft-looking lips crashed onto hers.
That night, Marinette learned three things: one, Jason had a lot of stamina for whatever reasons, two, he was very enhanced in certain departments and three, her bed was one resilient thing.
The next morning, Marinette awoke to be wrapped in Jason's arms to an almost suffocating degree and yet the man himself was still deeply asleep.
As she attempted to wriggle from underneath his iron band-like arms, Marinette called Jason a few choice words, none of which convinced the still asleep man to let go of her.
Eventually, Marinette was forced to stop fighting and stay in her current position, which, was admittedly quite comfortable.
That didn't mean she had to be happy about it.
"You know you could have just woken me up, right?" Jason's deliciously sleep-ridden voice murmured in her ear.
Some parts of Marinette heated up, but mustering up all the dignity she had after last night, all Marinette said was, "I know."
It was silent for a few moments before she spoke again. "But haven't you heard it's impolite to wake your hook-up before they actually do wake up?"
The breath was knocked out of her lungs when Jason flipped her onto her back, blue eyes alight with something Marinette had acquainted herself with last night.
It was quite a satisfying morning.
A few weeks later, Marinette and Jason were subtly getting off a plane to Gotham, Marinette scrolling through her phone while Jason got their suitcases.
You might be wondering — how did that happen?
Simple, really.
Jason claimed he knew people from his past life that could help Marinette and her Hawkmoth situation, but in return, he wanted her to accompany him while he reacquainted himself with his family.
After much consideration with Tikki and the other Kwamis, Marinette accepted his offer.
Having some semblance of trust in him now, Marinette waited patiently as Jason got their suitcases, rechecking that the miraculous box was with her.
She didn't trust Jason that much to let him know of its existence.
How would she even bring it up?
Hey Jason, I forgot to mention this earlier — certainly not because I didn't trust you — but, basically, I turn into Ladybug because of these flying creatures—
Jason's arrival snapped her out of her thoughts.
"So," Marinette said, as she called for a taxi. "Where exactly are you dragging me?"
"Oh, you'll see," Jason said, smirking.
He proceeded to direct the taxi to a location that left the driver so gobsmacked, Marinette was afraid that he was accidentally going to kill them.
"I swear to god Todd," she muttered, looking at the now-slightly green driver. "If I die because of you, I'll haunt you for the rest of your miserable little life."
Jason shrugged, looking outside with something like nostalagia. "Sure. It'll be nice to have some constant company anyway."
Marinette rolled her eyes, turning to look outside as well.
When they arrived at the house — or mansion, would be a more apt definition, Jason paid the driver with Marinette's money — tipping him too! — and pulled a protesting Marinette out of the car.
She wasn't an endless pocket of money like Gabriel Agreste.
Walking into the gates and the heavily-technology-guarded door, Jason walked in dramatically, with Marinette flanking him from behind.
Jason barely gave Marinette time to marvel over their surroundings before he was dragging her to a set of double-doors, slamming the door open with a loud bang.
The occupants of the room, varying in ages, stared at Jason like they had seen a ghost.
Which, Marinette thought dryly, wasn't too far off.
"Surprise!," Jason yelled loudly, hands flailing about dramatically. "I'm back from the dead! Isn't that exciting?"