Chapter Text
Marinette unwrapped the lollipop and placed it in her mouth smiling at the taste. The small amount of sugar was going to help her focus, and the strawberry flavor was a welcome distraction from the scent of burning fabric. She’d been working on this stupid piece for Gotham fashion week all month and then at the last minute she was informed by her boss that she wouldn’t be going to the event and should stay home. Nobody seemed to remember that she was from Paris and as such she’d flown out specifically for this event a week in advance. And no one seemed to care that her return flight wouldn’t be for another week after that. So she did what she did best, destroyed everything in her reach. Her outfit for the event was a tribute to Gotham’s history, and the ghost stories that it held. She had dedicated herself to making the dress to end all dresses, a tribute to the Arkhams and the stories that were everywhere about them. She had even found an old nursery rhyme about the mythic Court Of Owls and she had embroidered owls into the panels of the dress. It was a modern remake of the nurse’s uniform that was worn at Arkham when it first opened, with the rhyme sewn into the lining of the little capelet. She didn’t want someone else copying her design though, so she had gone through the careful trouble of burning all her sketches and all that was left was the dress. She’d keep the capelet as it was easy to wear with other things, but the dress needed to be gone so she could deal with things like a competent adult later.
She heard someone land on the rooftop she was on and braced herself for a hit.
“You know, arson is kinda illegal.” A man’s voice piped up from behind her.
“It’s a fire pit, therefore not arson.” She responded easily, taking her lollipop out of her mouth.
“Okay, while you’re not wrong about that, I know for a fact that there’s not a firepit on this particular rooftop.” He walked closer and Marinette turned to see him.
“Do you know all the rooftops in Gotham?” She smiled cheekily and put her lollipop back in her mouth.
“Each and every one. What are you burning anyway?” He asked.
“Nunya,” she replied and looked back at the fire. She was pretty sure she was speaking to Red Robin, so she didn’t have anything to worry about.
“Is it at least yours?”
“It was, now it’s ashes.” She grabbed the pitcher of water from the ledge and poured it over the fire. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I may no longer have anywhere to be tonight but I do still need to eat dinner.”
He waved to her as she walked into the stairwell. “Be safe out there!”
“Always!” She called back. Alya was going to freak over her meeting one of the Gotham Vigilantes in person.