— MARINETTE HAD JUST put her chocolate chip cookies in the oven when she heard the familiar tapping on her window.
Rushing over to it, Marinette gulped hoping that somehow this time, maybe Jason wasn't hurt. He was one of her best friends and being Ladybug for a good part of her teenage years, it didn't take Marinette long to figure out he was Red Hood. His excuses were pathetic so the pieces weren't difficult to put together.
To be honest, though, she was kind of expecting it. Marinette remembered the first time she met Jason. He was Red Hood.
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Some piece of shit decided that he was going to attack Marinette, so obviously, she had to teach him some manners.
Marinette ducked as he swing his fist at her, and kicked him hard, right where it hurt.
As he was groaning, clutching his stomach, Marinette kicked him directly on the head, and her assailant was knocked out cold.
"You can come out now," she called out, already sensing the presence behind her with her mystical powers.
Red Hood walked out from the shadows and Marinette cringed at his ridiculous outfit. A tin can? Seriously?
"Wow," he said, surprise evident in his tone.
Marinette scowled at him. "What is that even supposed to mean? Have you never seen a woman who can defend herself?"
"No, I mean-" Red Hood fumbled for an answer. After a few seconds, he gave up, sighing heavily and saying, "I meant that I've never seen anyone take out a person so quickly."
Marinette shrugged, flipping her hair. "I guess I'm just special."
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Now that Marinette thought about it, that was probably what prompted Jason to try and get to know her.
Once he did, well, after that, it was smooth flying.
The two of them were friends, nothing more. But, their dynamic could also be defined as Jason making sure Marinette ate and drank, while she made sure he didn't do anything stupid that could get him potentially killed.
It worked.
As Marinette put down her mittens on the table and began to hurry through the window, a fist punched through the glass and opened the handle.
Red Hood jumped in, with a body in his arms.
"Excuse you?" Marinette asked hotly. "Why would you punch through my window with a body with you? Hood, we've discussed this-"
The body groaned and Marinette froze.
It took her a few seconds to realize that the person was, in fact, alive.
"Jason?" The man mumbled, trying and failing to get up. "Where are we?"
"Oh my kwami," Marinette looked at Jason, who was unmasked now. "Jason, is that your brother?"
Said man, who was unmasked now, nodded. "It's Nightwing and he's injured. He got shoved through some walls and fell and I didn't know where else to go-"
Marinette shut him up with quick instructions, already mentally preparing the spells she would need to patch Nightwing up.
"Jason put him on the couch and get the first-aid kit."
Quickly complying, Marinette hurried over to the man now lying on her couch, wincing as she saw the extent of his wounds.
He had a lot of scratches, two large gashes - one on his stomach and the other on his chest and some broken ribs.
"I've got the first-aid kit!" Jason called out, as he entered the room.
He looked a little less worried than before, probably relieved because he got his brother some help.
Marinette pulled out some bandages to put on the relatively small scratches and as she did so, her patient seemed to regain consciousness.
"Jason?" he called out.
Immediately, Jason was at his side. "Hey Dickie, don't worry, I've gotten some help."
'Dickie' attempted to sit up once again and Jason looked like he wanted to help, so Marinette cut in before either of them could make the wounds worse.
"You should stay still," she advised, still prepping. "Don't want to make those wounds worse."
"Who are you?"
In any other situation, Marinette would have been offended, but considering the fact that he was a superhero who had to keep his identity safe, she didn't bother herself about it.
"I'm Jason's friend," she said, looking him over. "And I'm going to need you to take off your shirt."
"You know," he said with a hint of humour, and instinct told Marinette he was about to make a dirty joke. "Usually, we do the deed after the dates, not before them."
Jason groaned, in disgust, most likely, while Marinette rolled her eyes.
But only after a few seconds though; she was caught off guard by how deep it was. Oops?
It suddenly occurred to Marinette that she couldn't clean the wounds on his face if his mask was still on.
"And you're also going to have to take your mask off."
His humorous (read: attractive) laugh cut off abruptly. "Excuse me?"
Marinette sighed, already knowing what this was about. "I have no intention of exploiting your identity, I make a decent amount of money so don't be worried."
He looked at Jason who nodded casually.
"She's safe," he said, and Marinette smiled slightly. She knew Jason trusted her but a little confirmation was always nice.
Nightwing gave an exasperated sigh, mumbling 'you should have just taken me to the Batcave' before pulling off his mask.
Well, shit.
Marinette was not expecting him to, frankly, be so utterly hot.
Jason had told her a little about each of his brothers; Nightwing was the oldest (about her age), single and Jason had made it no secret he was trying to get them together, but what he had conveniently managed to leave out was that his oldest brother was ridiculously attractive.
"Er, you okay?" Nightwing asked.
Marinette realized she had been caught staring and quickly put herself to work again.
"Yeah..." she said, scrambling for an excuse. "I just didn't realize Nightwing was my age."
Jason shot her an odd look, probably knowing he'd told her everyone's ages.
It took him a few seconds to realize exactly why and Marinette was sure her flaming cheeks were a dead giveaway.
"So," Jason said in a tone she didn't like. "Once you patch him up, Di-"
He caught himself quickly, and Marinette had a feeling he was going to say his brother's real name.
Clearly, She was right because Nightwing glared at his brother.
"My brother," Jason corrected hastily, "Will need some clothes. Mari, as resourceful you are I'm sure you don't have any clothes in his size so I'll just have to run back to the Batcave and get it; see ya!"
And just like that, he left.
Marinette glared at the back of his head because he knew she had clothes in every size for every gender. She was a fashion designer, it was to be expected.
Jason had left them alone because he had suddenly decided that it was the perfect time for the two of them to get to know each other.
He texted her as much, and Marinette was sure he was doing it while he was running on roofs.
The little idiot.
Nightwing winced as Marinette dabbed the swab over his face. "Ouch," he mumbled.
Marinette shot him an apologetic smile as she continued to do so. "I'm afraid I can't do anything about the pain."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Nightwing's grunts of pain occasionally breaking it.
Eventually, he was the first one to speak. "Jason's told us a lot about you. Actually, everything but your name."
Marinette shot him a smirk. Anything to distract him from the pain he was most definitely feeling. "Is that your way of asking me my name, so you can track me down?"
Nightwing offered her a falsely innocent smile. "Maybe you're right about the first part. I didn't even think about the second part, though."
"Marinette." She said, after a few seconds of silence.
Shooting her a dazzling smile, Nightwing said, "Well, Marinette, it's nice to meet you. My name's Richard but you can call me Dick."
Marinette shot him a smile of her own.
"Well, Dick," she repeated, "It's lovely to meet you too. Now, I'm going to need you to take off your suit, so I can take care of the rest of you."
She punctuated her statement with one last delicate press on his face and looked at him expectantly.
"I still stand by what I said before," said Dick with a smirk as he pulled off the top part of his suit.
Marinette answered after a few seconds, mesmerized by his sculpted chest.
"I'm sure once you're patched up, I can whip up some dinner. Will that do?" Marinette asked airily as she cleaned his wounds.
Dick pretended to think about it for a moment before answering. "That depends."
"On?"
Marinette cringed as Dick choked on air as she cleaned a particularly deep wound.
"On what you make for dinner."
Marinette shot him a teasing grin. "I assure you, you will like it."
Dick cocked an eyebrow at her. "And how do you know that?"
"Just a lucky guess," Marinette hedged as she cleaned his chest. It really was godly.
Dick rolled his eyes.
"Okay, you can sit up now." Marinette held his arms tightly as if she had done it a million times before.
Easing himself up, Dick stared at Marinette suddenly struck by her beauty. Even at this late hour - it was nearing midnight - she looked absolutely breath-taking.
Jason would be happy, he thought with a wry grin. His brother hadn't been very subtle about meeting his friend, but each time Dick refused with some excuse or the other.
He was regretting doing that now; he would have met Marinette much sooner if he hadn't made those excuses.
Without even realizing it, the two of them leaned closer and closer until their noses were almost touching.
"Is this okay?" Dick breathed softly.
Marinette nodded, and almost immediately, his lips slanted over hers.
It wasn't like the usual fireworks that exploded once you kissed someone; it was a kiss that felt like you were returning home, to the place where unconditional love always waited for you.
Dick's hands wound up on Marinette's face as hers tangled in his hair, and things were getting heated until something - or someone - interrupted them.
"Oh my god, this was not what I was expecting-" Jason stood at the doorway, clothes in hand as he covered his eyes with the other.
Dick scowled at his brother. He had terrible timing. "Well, what were you expecting when you left us like that?"