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They had met up for a midnight rendezvous. It had been naive of them to let their guard down, especially with each other.
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He let out a humourless chuckle. ‘Of course she is making light of this situation,’ he thought.
He had never taken her as someone who took her heroic activities seriously. Her team had no discipline or order, in addition they were barely trained enough to be called heroes, and Ladybug herself made up plans of the fly.
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“I can think of a lot of things that involves being tied up in precarious positions, sweetheart.”
She scoffed at his words, thinking ‘lewd as ever.’ She tugged once again at the restraints, stretching her head to see if there were any weak points. There weren’t. “Stop calling me sweetheart.”
“What about Spots? Or maybe you like buggy better? Personally Red is my favourite.”
"Calling me Red won't give you any more power over me. You can keep that name for yourself, Red," she responded hastily. There was no way she was going to let him call her a nickname others used for him. He was insufferable as it was, but he would definitely get worse if he called her that.
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"There's probably a couple of guards outside," he informed her, whilst doing his best to see as much of the room as possible for someone tied to a chair. "Whoever it is managed to grab me, so they won't be an amateur like those you deal with. They won't be dumb enough to leave us all alone in here."
"That's great, just great." Marinette couldn’t help but be annoyed at his words. Amateurs was a strong word to use. Just because she could reverse the damage, didn’t mean that both physical and mental scars were left behind.
Rather than getting on him for his wording, she decided to focus back on the more pressing matters at hand. “As I’m sure that you are more well versed than me in terms in technology, rather than assuming the number of guards outside, can you see what’s going on with the camera?”
"Considering this is most likely Gotham we're being held in, I'd say it's a livestream, Red. No one tends to believe the videos if they aren't," he stated with an annoyed hint in his voice, because why the fuck wouldn't he be annoyed by this situation? He was stuck in a room with her. "You'd know that if you weren't so new to the scene."
Marinette couldn't help the growl that bubbled up at his clipped, mocking tone. He just had to be an ass about everything, didn't he?
"Well, I'm so sorry I'm not dumb enough to get captured by villains, unlike you seem to be. Maybe then I'd have as much experience as you with being a damsel in distress."
"Hey, Nightwing was the great Boy Hostage not me!"
“Well suck it up,” she replied in a scathing tone. “Nightwing isn’t the one here right now, you are, and you also seem well versed in being kidnapped.”
With a smile pressed on her face that looked more like a grimace, Marinette once again started looking for a way to undo or break the ties, cursing when she failed. “Who the hell sells ties this thick?” she muttered under her breath. “If only I had one of the kwami with me, things would be a hell of a lot easier.”
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Now, Marinette didn't know all that much about the vigilante’s past, but she did know he died. She could tell from the way his aura swirled around in whisps of death and destruction and seemed to be eating at his soul. It was common knowledge that the second Robin had died at the hands of the Joker. Connecting the obvious pieces, Marinette put together that the man who had entered the room was, in fact, the Joker. Shit.
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"Fuck," Red Hood muttered under his breath when he saw the clown and his crowbar.
Despite his constant attitude towards her, Marinette couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She didn't know the exact details of how he'd died but knowing he'd been killed by this lunatic was bad enough.
"Not again," he whispered, "I can't do this again."
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"I'll do it. You can watch and learn sweetheart."
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"And who's the unlucky sod?"
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"I'd rather gouge my own eyes out with a spoon than marry you!" she exclaimed. There was no way in hell she was going to marry him.
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Red Hood suddenly started yanking at the bonds that held them together causing her to yelp in pain as they scratched against her wrists. Damn, that would definitely leave a mark. She was surprised when he suddenly stopped, as if remembering they were tied together. Instead, he began to extend his foot out and pull the knife closer with his boot. She craned her head to try and see. The knife was just out of his reach. He slouched down in his seat to give him a bit more length and almost had it...
Upon his foot making contact with the knife, he slid the weapon towards them. Towards him. However, once the knife was right by his chair, there was still the issue of their hands being tied up. They had no way to get the knife up to cut the bonds.
“Fuck,” Red Hood cursed under his breath. He knew that while he and Ladybug had their issues, he hoped she would be compliant in this situation. It wouldn’t be like she wanted to wait for Joker to wake back up.
“Spots,” he spoke, completely focused on the man of his nightmares, “I need you to move with me, please. I know that most times you don’t like not being in charge, but you’re gonna have to follow my lead on this one.”
She groaned, "I suppose I may have to follow your lead given this situation. That doesn't mean I've given up control though. We both know who’s on top in this relationship."
"Oh so we're in a relationship now, hey Red?"
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Why was landing on the Joker so satisfying? Oh right, maybe because he'd kidnapped them.
“I’ve still got the knife, so unless you want me to stab him somewhere non-lethal, then I suggest you move over.”
Feeling her start to move, Red Hood maneuvered his legs in a position so he wouldn’t fall back on top of her. “Slow it down would ya? Unless you want someone on top of you too.”
Ladybug scowled, not caring that he couldn’t see her face at the moment. “You were the one trying to rush, my sincerest apologies if my speed wasn’t up to par with yours.”
"Just saying that I'm not too opposed to pinning you Spots."
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"Hey, do I need a go with the knife too?" Marinette asked. “Make sure he’s really dead?”
<<Content Removed>>More seriously he continued, “He’s dead now. While he deserved to be mutilated and tortured for what’s he done to me and countless others, I want the big bad bat to see how clean the job was. Then it wouldn’t lead back to me, as he knows more than anyone that I would have done a lot more.”
"I suppose that is fair. I don't like being grounded either." Taking one more quick glance around, Marinette grinned, “But I guess you’ll be getting grounded anyways, because according to you, ‘considering this is Gotham we’re being held in, I’d say it’s a livestream.’”
Rather than focusing on the fact that he may have already been caught, he looked at her with a smug grin on his face, “So you’re memorizing exactly what I’ve said, huh, Spots? Can’t say that I blame you, but it’s still nice to have others prove my point.”
Fuming, Ladybug turned around, but not fast enough to hide the fire red blush rising to her face. “I- you- uh! I hate you! All I was trying to do was point out that you’ve probably already caught, so there’s no point in not making him look any worse than he already does. Besides, who thought it was okay to provide this ugly lunatic with so much powder? Even while he obviously doesn’t know how to use it, everyone should know the long-term skin problems it could cause.”
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When Jason awoke his head felt like it was full of water, splashing around making his thoughts incoherent. His eyes were made of lead and all he really could register was that there was something on top of him. It was warm though, so he pulled it closer inhaling its sweet scent. Chocolate chip cookies and vanilla.
He finally cracked his eyes open to see he was in a small dark room with no windows and a single door. It looked to be a closet if the clothes hung up were any indication. And not a very big one at that; he was propped up against the door with his knees pressing against the opposite wall, part laying down. He looked down to see the warm thing on top of him only to see... Marinette?
He made an effort to push the girl off him. She was heavier than her small form suggested, must be from the muscles she'd gained over the years. "Get off me," he muttered.
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Fumbling around a bit, as she couldn’t see, she eventually gave up on it, and quickly laid her head back down, getting sucked down into unconsciousness again.
Groaning, he looked back down at her. Maybe they could wait a little longer before moving. While the position wasn’t quite comfortable for his bigger frame, he didn’t want to deny her the luxury of rest, knowing that he himself was still tired. While they still may have their rivalry, he couldn’t deny that things had changed between them.
He snorted, of course things would have to turn out like one of Dick’s terrible romance novels. There was a reason the classics would always be better. Dear lord, if Dick had been there, he probably would have been squealing about how it was an enemies-to-lovers trope.
Yeah, everything could wait until later, for now, he would just enjoy the quiet of the closet.
It was too late. As the door opened, Jason could do nothing but fall back and ensure that Marinette was okay. Blinking up as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the sudden influx of light, he groaned quietly, and did his best not to cuss out whoever just opened the door.
Finally having focused, he groaned slightly louder, but still trying to keep it down for her sake. “Why the hell did you open the door?” he whispered shouted. “I was actually quite comfortable!”
Rather than receiving an answer, he could do nothing but watch as a grin started to make his way up Dick’s face. ‘Damnit’ was all he thought, wondering if it was too late to just go back to sleep.
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