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Marinette jumped as the lightning flashed, illuminating the ominous skyline of the dark city. The dim flickering lights of the candles scattered around the apartment seemed to jump with the flash. She let out a breath as she wrapped a blanket around her and closed her eyes.
No power in the city. At all. A rogue’s dream. Except for the fact it was raining cats and dogs and if you were unlucky enough to find yourself prowling about rooftops, the odds of electrocution via lightning bolt were very high. Marinette had no doubt that there were plenty of rogues and thugs prowling about the streets at the moment, but she would not be counted among them, thank you very much. Resigned to enjoy the soft pitter patter of the rain as it came down in sheets upon Gotham.
Tap, tap, tap
Tap, tap, BOOM, tap
Tap, Tap, taptaptaptaptaptaptaptapta-
Her eyes shot open as she registered the tapping noise wasn’t the downpour. She uncoiled herself from the blanket, grabbing the nearest candle to help guide her path towards the window, ready to send whoever was trying to break in well on their way. She grabbed a banana off of her counter, along with her knife.
She opened the window, throwing the banana out onto the fire escape at whomever was trying to get in, not bothering to look through the torrent to truly figure out who was disturbing her.
“Did you just throw a banana at me?!”
“Go away,” was her simple response as she began to close the window.
“Lady Noire.”
She froze, turning to face him, eyes hardening as she made out the figure on her fire escape.
“How do you know that?”
“I may have seen you come home a few times while on patrol.”
“How long?”
“2 months.”
She let out a sharp breath. “Why are you here, Birdy?”
“Kinda didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Scared of a bit of rain?”
“Normally no. But when one's bleeding out and it's a lightning city out there, a bit.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before stepping back slightly.
“Can you get inside yourself or do you need help?”
“I can do it.”
She pressed her lips into a thin line as she watched him come in and promptly trip, landing hard on her floor.
“You still sure you can do it?” She asked, laughter in her voice.
“I’m inside, aren’t I?”
She shook her head as he lay there.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re still on the floor.”
“I’m okay on the floor.”
“Come on. Up you come.”
—--------------------------
Nightwing groaned as he picked himself off the floor, Noire’s hands gripping his arm and helped pull him up. She tossed her knife on the kitchen table as she helped support Nightwing as she led him to the island.
“I’ll be right back. If you can get the wound free without making it worse, do that. Otherwise, don’t move.”
He grit his teeth as he removed the top half of his suit, discarding it next to him as his comm came to life in his ear, Oracle’s voice ringing out.
“Nightwing, where are you?”
“Noire’s. She’s patching me up right now.”
“Isn’t she your nemesis or whatever term you two use for each other?”
“Would you prefer I bleed out trying to get back to the cave in this weather?”
“Fair. Stay safe. Try not to die on us Boy Wonder.”
“Doing my best.”
The comm fell silent again as Noire stared at him, first aid kit now laying open on the countertop opposite him as she eyed him warily.
“So, how long do I have until the rest of your clan comes knocking down my door?”
“They don’t know where you live. I turned my tracer off before I came here.”
“That’s considerate.”
“I came to your fire escape, bleeding out, in the middle of the worst storm I can remember. Figured your privacy was your own business, and you were more likely to stab me if I hadn’t.”
“Don’t count your chickens yet. I still may,” she muttered as she brought her hoard of candles around him to have light to see by.
She worked in silence as she inspected, cleaned, and patched him up, letting out a breath, before disappearing down the hall again and handing him two macarons.
“Eat these.”
“Why?”
“You lost a lot of blood and were out in the cold rain for who knows how long. I don’t want you to pass out, or get an infection, or hypothermia. Those will help.”
He eyed the cookies, doubtfully. She let out a sharp breath.
“Just eat the cookies. I made them myself, and it will be an insult to my family if you don’t. I use them after half my run-ins with you. Or if you would prefer to pass out and get pneumonia while i make a fresh batch for you, you are welcome to do that,” she told him.
“An insult to your family?”
“My parents own a patisserie in Paris. I grew up helping them. Now please just eat the damned macarons.”
He popped one into his mouth, the strawberry flavor of the cookie was not what he had been expecting, the other one a minty chocolate.
“Thank you,” she said under her breath as she cleaned up, moving the candles back to their original stations and slowly packing up the first aid kit.
“They’re delicious.”
“I know,” she replied, hesitating. “Did you not know my parents were bakers?”
“Despite knowing where you live, I haven’t actually done any digging into your identity Noire.”
“You’re a bat. You could figure it out in your sleep if you wanted to.”
“True. Or at the very least Red Robin could. I’m pretty sure he does…”
She blinked as she said that, before offering a small smile.
“Oh. Well then. Thank you. The bedroom is the last door on the right, down the hall.”
“What?”
“It’s 2 in the morning you sure as hell aren’t going out there after I just patched you up. There’s the bed. Go get some rest. I won’t peek under the mask or anything. That’d be cruel after how much you haven’t dug into my identity.”
“I can take the cou-”
“Bed. Now. I’m taking the couch,” she told him as a yawn fought to escape her.
Nightwing bit back a small laugh as he raised his hands in surrender and obediently went down the hall, sitting in the bedroom, door shut for an hour before poking his head back out, to Make sure she was asleep.
He bit his tongue as he picked her up, pulling on the stitches she’d given him earlier. She curled into him, a small hum of content escaped her as he carried her down the hall. He couldn’t help the small smile or faint blush form as she did so in her sleep, carefully setting her down in the bed and tucking her in. He lay on the other side of the bed, on top the sheets, watching out the window as he waited for the rain to let up just a bit before heading on his way, not intending for sleep to claim him.
—--------------------------
Marinette turned, snuggling into the body next to her before her eyes snapped open, her face flushing as she looked at who was next to her. Nightwing . What the fuck was she doing in her bed- She fell asleep on the couch- how? She narrowed her eyes at the hero before slapping his arm to wake him up as she rolled out of bed, ignoring the heat she felt on her cheeks.
She stood crossing her arms as she stared at the vigilante.
“Morning Noire.”
“You idiot ,” she hissed. “What did you think you were doing, picking me up and carrying me to bed?! Right after I gave you stitches too! ”
“That you’d patched me up and deserved a good night’s sleep?”
She let out a frustrated huff as she shook her head, pulling a small container out from under the bed, and shoving a couple more macarons in his hands.
“Since you clearly can’t be trusted to let nature take the wheel and heal you without risk of undoing it all,” she told him, replacing the container under the bed.
The bright lemon flavor of the first and the tart raspberry of the second were just as delicious as the two from last night.
His shirt hit him square in the chest as he finished.
“The rain’s stopped. And I don’t believe it will take much longer for the power to be restored everywhere,” she told him.
“I should be gone.”
“I’m surprised you were here when I woke up,” she admitted.
“I was planning to leave as soon as the rain let up. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
She nodded as she moved down the hall, Nightwing following shortly behind, opening the window when she reached the kitchen. “Don’t pull your stitches out before you’re healed. Please,” she told him as he joined her.
He laughed, climbing through the window once more, this time without the faceplant at the end. “I’ll do my best. Thank you, Noire-”
“Marinette. My name’s Marinette,” she said softly. “Don’t look at me like that. I can tell my name to who I want. Now shoo. We’ve both got things to do I imagine.”
She forced back a small blush as he gave her a soft smile. “Thank you, Marinette.”
“I wasn’t about to let you bleed to death. Now shoo. Bye, Bye Birdy.”
She closed the window as she said that, turning away, leaving him to leave at his own time before flopping back on her bed. The small crinkle of paper beneath her causing her to shoot upright once more, pulling a small note off the bed.
Thanks for everything, Noire.
Look forwards to our next encounter
~Nightwing
She laughed, folding the note and tucking it into her nightstand.
“So do I, Birdy. So do I.”