Chapter Text
26yo Marinette was ready to go into panic mode.
Sarah was supposed to be home hours ago and Mari had yet to hear from her daughter.
She did not like to be told to just wait for her daughter to reappear. In truth, Marinette wanted to scream at the officer who made it seem like she was an overreacting mother.
Gotham was dangerous, even in the secure residential neighborhood they were living in.
The itching under Marinette's skin made her anxious, to the point that she seriously considered calling one of her friends to talk her out of going outside to look for her daughter, her little ray of sunshine.
Once it started to get dark the young mother had had enough.
Breaking her promise of staying away from Red Hood's turf, Mari was geared and ready to go out looking for her baby. She could deal with Hood's rage later if it meant that she would have Sarah back in her arms safe and sound.
"Marinette, please, be careful!" Tikki warned, but the Parisian hero didn't give them attention. Not until she opened her front door and was met with a heavily injured Red Hood.
"Maman?" the little girl in his arms whimpered. Marinette made quick work removing her face mask and dropping it on the floor before taking her daughter in her arms and nuzzling against her hair.
"Sarah! By kwami's sake, where have you been?! Are you hurt? Did they do something to you?" when the six-year-old shook her head and Marinette let out a shuddered breath, trying her best to not break down.
“Just saved their life. Need to go home and rest," Mari finally turned her attention back to Red Hood, holding his less injured arm before she motioned in the direction of her apartment. No way in Hell she would let him wander on the street like that.
“Hang on. I want you to tell me what happened,” she demanded, pulling him inside gently and only closing the door after he had passed. She motioned for him to sit down on her couch and excused herself to take care of her daughter before they could really talk.
Once Sarah had fallen asleep after a rather fast bath, Marinette took off her gear and brought her first aid kit to the living room.
"Let me look at those," Red Hood took a moment to ponder his options before removing his jacket and showing her a hidden nasty bullet wound on his left arm. The Kevlar suit could protect them only so much, and he was glad that the bullet didn't go too deep into his flesh. "This is going to hurt, not gonna lie," she tried to joke, fetching a pair of tweezers and trying her best to pluck the bullet out without upsetting the flesh even more. Red Hood's hands closed into fists against the cushions, but he refused to make a sound.
Bullet out, Marinette sewed the cut to her best capabilities after sanitizing it and moved into taking care of the less worrisome bruises, like his split knuckles and some superficial cuts on his arms.
"Thank you. For bringing her back," she mumbled. Red Hood had seen her on her Lotus gear, after all. There was no need to sugarcoat the fact that they hated each other.
The truth was, Marinette only went out using her vigilante gear when she wasn't feeling like staying at home, usually at weird hours of the night after her daughter had fallen asleep in her room. The need to get out came in form of feeling restless, unable to focus on work, or staying still enough to fall asleep, even if she had work in the morning. But she also refused to wear a miraculous and transform. Not after Paris.
Homemade vigilante gear it was, then.
"Why?" she lifted her eyes, hands frozen in the air as she wrapped the gauze around his left biceps. She didn't understand his question.
"What?"
Lotus and Red Hood hated each other. It was a fact.
Lotus was gentle, and clean, and despised Red Hood's methods most of the time. She always had comments on how bad he was doing and how his reasons for doing what he did were twisted. They made sense, but to which extent?
Red Hood freed his arm that Marinette was treating and used both his hands to unclasp the back of his helmet, removing the first layer of his anonymity.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" the woman quickly covered her eyes, turning around so she wouldn't see his face. She didn't want to deal with the bullshit of secret identities putting her loved ones in danger. Not again.
"Mari, look at me, please," she recognized that voice. And he was supposed to be gone.
"No. No, no, no. No," Mari got up from her seat to walk around the room without actually looking at the man sitting on her couch. It couldn't be real, right?
"Marinette!" Jason.
He stood up and held her shoulders gently, making the woman stop pacing and finally look at him.
Suddenly, Marinette was 19 again.
She was 19 and falling in love with the teacher's assistant. She hated Mr. James, but Jason had guided her through the content of that horrendous class and Marinette had passed with flying colors.
The late-night study sessions to catch up on university classes, Kagami's scolding for losing sleep, skipping meals...
But also the stolen moments here and there. The breaks they spent together, the weird hole-in-the-wall restaurants he took her to, the laughing and crying when she spiraled, and when he was enough to bring her back to reality...
And that one last night before he disappeared like fog.
Everything came crashing down at once.
"I missed you so much," he pulled her into a firm hug, feeling her arms around his torso.
He regretted so much.
He regretted leaving her behind.
Regretted seeing her marry someone else.
Regretted not fighting more for her to stay.
Marinette let out a choked laugh, hiding her face on his chest.
"And I thought you would never have a chance to meet your daughter."