Gotham Mouse, Paris Bug

Chapter 11

The portal closed, Marie immediately dropping her transformation and practically stomping into the kitchen. Red Hood quickly discarding his mask leaving him in his signature costume. Following her, he found her gathering ingredients, slamming cabinets shut, and setting items down a little harder than necessary.

“Marie?”

She didn’t acknowledge him, blind in her search. Jason honestly didn’t know if she was even fully conscious of what she was doing. Was she just on autopilot? She moved to grab a mixing bowl and suddenly Jason leaped up. “Marie, wait!”

Too late, Marie stepped into the shattered glass from the bowl earlier, immediately losing balance at the jolt and catching her fall on her forearms. Jason didn’t waste a moment, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her to the sink.

She looked down at her arms blankly, looking up at him finally as he grabbed the small shards in her barely sticking to her skin. “Well, fuck.”

Breathing out a hollow laugh he dropped the small shards onto a paper towel. Thankfully, Marie knew how to fall right. The glass she had stepped on hadn’t sunk in deep considering how quickly she’d thrown herself forward at the pain. She had some slices and small nicks on her forearm but it was all relatively shallow considering.

“Don’t you dare scare me like that. You hear me?” He was dimly aware that his arms were shaking a little bit. The past few days had been exhausting, between Chat Noir’s appearance, Alya’s accusations, and now this little scare he felt like he’d aged ten years.

He couldn’t imagine that Marie felt a lot better. Not that she’d ever say if she could help it.

Neither of them was very good at reaching out when the needed help. Though honestly, that may just be a vigilante thing. Or maybe a teenager thing? It was a thing. “Sorry,” She whispered lightly.

She brought one hand up, placing it on the side of his head gently. It felt nice, but he really needed to clean her arms before she got some infection. Unlikely knowing how Marie would go on random thorough cleaning rampages. But still a concern he had ingrained in him to not dismiss.

Unsteralised glass, needles, good, water- all could kill you as easily as a blade.

He washed her arms off, checking that no leftover glass was on her skin. “You wanna tell me about this Alya girl?”

She stiffened in his hold, he discreetly pressed his fingers to the pulse point on her wrists. Her pulse had picked up a bit, though that could technically be related to slipping into a bit of glass.

“Nothing to tell really. She used to be a hero, but she trusted the wrong person, and slipped.” She shrugged offhandedly, pulling a hand out of his grip to shut off the water. “It happens, there’s a new fox now. One I trust more.”

Jason nodded, moving the glass to the trashcan. “Your brothers right?”

She smiled softly nodding at him from her spot on the counter. “They’re the best, they stuck with me in Paris. And they’re the ones who helped me escape, new identity and a nice apartment rented on such short notice. They’re amazing.”

Jason smiled at her, standing in front of her considering everything. Marie wasn’t okay, but she’d never say so if she could help it. If her brothers cared about her as much as it seemed they did, then they would probably help him in getting her to acknowledge her feelings. They couldn’t do that in Paris, so maybe…