Fractured (ON HOLD)

Chapter 6 Butch

Third pov

Butch wakes Marinette up in the morning. He's butting her arm with his head.

"Morning buddy." She sits up and scratches his head. "Have you slept well?"

Butch puts his head on her lap and she laughs. "I'm taking that as a yes." Marinette checked the time. "I'm going to get dressed and then we can take a walk in the park before I'm going to a meeting, does that sound good?"

Butch made a huffing noise and moved his head, promptly climbing onto her still warm mattress when she got up.

Marinette got dressed in a comfortable but still professional manner. Once she was done she got food for Butch and kept an eye on him while simultaneously checking her email.

There really wasn't much other than a few clients for MDC wanting something. Not that she had anything against that, more customers means more income after all.

"Come on buddy, time to go."

Time skip

The dog park in Gotham really wasn't bad in Marinette's opinion. It was big and filled with lots of greenery.

Butch certainly seemed to like it, even if running around wasn't an option for him.

The sky wasn't sunny and it wasn't particularly warm, but with Butch right there, and dogs running around them, it felt alright.

Time skip

Buying the store ended up being no hassle at all.

"So, looks like we got some work to do, Butch."

Butch looked up from the treat he'd been given, a look on his face that made Marinette think of Chloe.

"Why do I have to help?"

Her heart stings like it tends to do when she thinks about one of them, but it doesn't feel like she's about to break down, so she takes it as a win.

She looks around the room.

"I think I need some cleaning products."

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"Did you hear that someone bought old man Greg's store?"

Red Hood shakes his head to Amelia's question.

"Well it was. The new owner has a dog. Not like one of those mean ones, he looks too little to be mean if I'm honest." Amelia continued.

Hood listened closely. Old man Greg had been a nice man, but Penguin's guys had shot him by accident a few years back. Renters had come and gone, none of them staying for long.

To hear that someone had bought it?

Now that was interesting.

"What kind of dog is it?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't know. But I think he's supposed to be bigger than he is. Probably a stray she took in."

More than likely. Gotham did have its fair share of homeless animals, mostly cats, that wander the city.

Amelia stopped talking when someone knocked on the door to where they were sitting.

Hood, understanding her hesitation, handed her some money and let her go through the hidden door behind the couch before he told the person on the other side of the door to enter.

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Marinette feels the longing to swing across the rooftops. Earlier she'd pushed it back as far as she could, but with every day it was growing stronger.

Which is why she is standing on the roof of one of Gotham's tallest buildings, hiding behind a gargoyle. If anyone sees her they'll have one hell of a time to figure out how she got up there.

Not that she really cares.

She feels good right now.

She feels free.

"Yah know this ain't a good place for civilians ta be, right?"

She opened one eye to look at Red Hood.  "Scared I'll jump?"

He tilts his head to the side and she cracks a grin. "No need to worry. I'll be fine, besides, I got a reason to go home when the day is over."

"Ya didn't before?" Hood sits down by a gargoyle a little further away from her.

She leans back against her own gargoyle. "Nope. Didn't have much of anything before."

He nods. "I thought ya didn't like us bats."

She laughs quietly. "I'm not a big fan of Batman. And you caught me on a really bad day."

Hood snorts. "No shit. Freaked B out. He was convinced you might do something stupid."

He's not.... Wrong, exactly. There was a risk. There always is.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Was on mah way to a bar in Crime Alley. Supposed to meet someone tonight." He answers honestly.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "And you stopped by here, because?"

"Was gonna ask what ya were doin up here. And figured ah might convince you to get down from here without involving an ambulance."

She got up on her feet, one hand holding onto the gargoyle. "And how are you going to do that?"

He switched to casually leaning against the wall. "By askin if you're interested in coming with me to the bar. You seem the type to need somethin ta do."

Well, she's certainly made worse choices in her life.

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