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“And you’re sure they aren’t dating?” Spoiler said skeptically, watching Ladybug and Robin race around the roundabout they were supposed to be patrolling.
“Hell if I know. He says they aren’t, but that’s the first time I’ve seen him smile. Ever. He’d kill me if I teased him too long, we both know that” Batgirl responded through the private comms.
They were still stationed in France, but since their signals were indicating that Shadow Moth was still present, so they had moved to follow him, opting to go further into southern France. In the words of Batman,”leave no town uncombed.” There were several indicators that Shadow Moth had moved their bases.
“Talking about the Demon?” Red Robin asked, smoothly joining the conversation.
“Yeah, I still can’t believe that.” Jason snickered.
Jason, Bruce, Cass and Selina were the only ones who hadn’t suited up for patrol tonight.
“You think he has a crush on her?” Spoiler asked.
“They’re both simping. Hard.” Batgirl replied, adjusting the mask that was concealing her face.
“The other day, I actually heard him laugh.” Red Robin said, clearly still shocked at this news.
“The only time I’ve seen him this happy is when he’s with Cass.” Nightwing said, overhearing the quartet conversation.
“I thought the comms were supposed to be private?” Spoiler said, giving Batgirl a pointed glance.
Batgirl raised her hands in protest.
“Never specified if it was a private conversation or not. All I did was mute it to where Robin and Ladybug couldn’t hear.” She said defensively.
“Whatever. Shouldn’t we be patrolling?” Spoiler asked, but her eyes were still focused on the duo, which were now talking quietly on the other side of the rooftop. Ladybug giggled at something Robin said, and then he laughed too.
“They need to hurry up and kiss. All this pining is making me sick.” Jason snorted.
“That’s only ‘cause you’re alone and miserable.” Spoiler said irritably.
“Misery loves company.” Red Robin remarked, to which he received a sharp elbow from Spoiler in kind.
“I’m unmuting now. We need to start patrolling so I can actually get sleep.” Red Robin said, his arm still throbbing from where he had been hit.
“Guys?”
“What?” Robin's voice came sharply, almost at once.
“We’re about to start patrol. You can patrol with Ladybug, and I’ll go with Spoiler and Batgirl.”
“Got it.” Ladybug said, readying her yo-yo for travel.
“C’mon Ro, let’s take this side!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction of the group.
“Try not to trip this time!” He smirked before throwing his grapple hook all the way over and departing.
“Trip?” Red Robin questioned, eyeing her confusedly.
Ladybug flushed. “Uh, nothing. I should probably join him..um, bye!” She awkwardly waved back at him before throwing her yo-yo in the identical direction as Robin’s, then the comms went silent.
“She’s so cute.” Batgirl said.
“Yeah, I know. I’m surprised she and Robin are that close. Did you see the way she just, like, casually grabbed him?”
“Now that you mention it. I’d say she definitely likes him too.”
“Do you both have nothing better to do than to speculate over Robin’s relationship status?” Bruce’s voice crackled through the comms.
“No.” The two heroes chorused in unison.
“As I said before, misery loves company.” Red Robin grinned, and skillfully dodged a blow from both Spoiler and Batgirl, before taking off in the opposite direction. Bruce’s audible sigh was heard from the comms before he disconnected.
“Last one to the roundabout’s a rotten egg!” He called, laughing in the distance.
Ladybug and Robin landed after the trio. Spoiler raised an eyebrow as she watched Ladybug and Robin continue laughing.
“Delete that.” She heard Robin saying through a laugh, and he lunged forward in an attempt to grab the yo-yo.
“Why? It’s a good picture.” Ladybug giggled, as she dodged his attack.
“Slanderous lies.” He scoffed, leaning against the base of the chimney.
“You’re so dramatic. It doesn’t even look bad.” She said, rolling her eyes.
“Says you.” Robin snarked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
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Batgirl watched them continue the banter and stared in disbelief.
“Does Cass know about Ladybug?” Batgirl asked.
“Probably. Still be shocked when she finds out though.” Spoiler remarked.
Red Robin appeared to be deep in thought and did not comment.
Not long after, the quartet split and went their separate ways, the vigilantes bidding Ladybug a goodnight.
“You’re awfully quiet now.” Spoiler commented, prompting Robin’s scowl to deepen.
“Yeah, now that you’re girlfriend is gone.” Batgirl teased.
“I don’t have time for this.” Robin scoffed and walked ahead of the trio.
“You did back then.” Jason’s voice crackled from the comms.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Tried it, found out that it wasn’t for me.”
“Guys.” Nightwing interjected.
“You guys should date. You’d be so cute!”
“How about no!” Robin returned, in a scarily accurate impression of Spoiler, the venom lacing itself within his tone.
Batgirl snickered at the rather accurate impression, but ceased when nudged rather harshly by the irked vigilante.
Red Robin noticed him playing with a shiny piece of jewelry.
“Hey, what’s that?” He asked curiously.
“None of your business.” He snapped, putting the object out of sight, leaving Batgirl and Spoiler pestering him the rest of the journey home.
Back on base, Cass and Jason were waiting for them.
“We’re back!” Spoiler called, as she entered in the pin to the door.
“Ian!” Cass ran to Robin and threw her arms around him.
To everyone’s surprise, Robin did not attempt to push he r
They continued chatting for a bit, before deciding to retire for the night.
“See you in the morning!” Stephanie called, making her way to her room.
“”Goodnight.” Nightwing called.
__________________________________________________________________________
The next patrol, Batman joined them. As per Alfred’s orders, he was to rest for a few days, but once that time had finished, he rejoined them.
“Ladybug.” He greeted.
“Hi.” She tittered nervously.
They exchanged casual pleasantries before Spoiler swatted his arm.
“B. We like her. Don’t scare her away, please.” What sounded very much like a
They split into their usual groups for patrol.
Still reeling from his previous loss on the patrol, Robin came up with tenfold speed to make up for it, to which Ladybug said was “all rigged anyway.” Out of nowhere, Robin tensed.
“What?” She noticed.
“Assassins.” He muttered.
“Assasi- Ro, what?” Ladybug eyed him in confusion, that doubled when she saw the sword pulled out of no where.
He unsheathed his sword that she didn’t even know was on him, and began fencing with two at the same time.
“Get in front of me,” He commanded. Ladybug obeyed with little hesitation, still unsure of the current events.
In the shadows, a vague humanoid figure lurked in the black darkness. She joined Robin in combat.
“Report. Assassins in Montuke.” He breathed.
Oracle’s response was the quickest.
“Can you get away?”
“Looking quite difficult at the moment.”
A brief moment of distraction was all it took. Ladybug’s sword clattered to the ground. The eyes of the black figure in front of her widened with malice.
She sized up her circumstances. If these were assassins, they were most likely trained, so any sort of lucky charm wasn’t an option. Neither was retreat. There was a slight cry and one of them fell to the ground. Faster than light, Robin was at her side, expertly fending off three at once, until a cry of pain escaped, and with mounting horror, he fell to the ground.
“Rob!” She screamed.
“Ladybug. Report.”
Her vision blurred. She could vaguely feel herself picking up the fallen sword and continuing the duel. Metal clashed against metal, and she took out one.
When both realized that they no longer had a three person advantage, they fled into the shadows that they had arrived in.
“Reporting. Injured Robin is with me, assassins fled. Be there soon.”
She hoisted Robin’s arm up and placed it on her shoulder. They hadn’t gone far into their patrol, which added to her relief.
“You idiot,” She hissed,”Why would you do that?”
“I was indebted.” He explained, as if that was the most obvious response ever.
“When I said that, I meant buy me cookies or something! Not take a literal blade!”
“You would’ve died if you had taken it.” He reasoned, slightly wincing as the roof became steeper.
Ladybug analyzed Robin for the first time since the fall. He was losing a lot of blood and his skin was paling.
He took that sword. It was meant for you.
“Tired..” He muttered.
Panic seized her body and her chest began to constrict.
“Count backwards from 300,” She ordered.
She vaguely spotted Spoiler, Red Robin, and Batgirl rushing to him, but her eyes were focused on Robin.
The lucky charm wouldn’t work, it had been summoned too late, but maybe she could ask for- Wait. It was a long shot, but it might work.
She brought her yo-yo from her side and was vaguely aware of Spoiler and Batgirl around her.
She shut her eyes and imagined the one kwami she needed.
“Pollen,” She whispered.
The response was immediate.
“Hello, my queen.”
“I need some help.” Ladybug explained.
“Whatever my queen requires is already at her disposal.”
With that, the striped yellow kwami vanished.
She glanced down to see a shimmering gold orb floating at the tip of her palm. She sat down next to where he had been seated.
“This is going to hurt.” She warned, settling herself behind her and offering a hand.
“She’s a meta?” Red Robin whispered.
“Not now.” Spoiler and Batgirl echoed in unison, watching the nervous superhero work.
“This is going to hurt,” Ladybug warned again, offering Robin a hand that he accepted.
“She pulled out the blade from his side and placed the shimmering orb on the affected area. Robin gently squeezed her hand. Ladybug harnessed all the energy from the orb, transferring it directly to the wound. Robin squeezed her hand. I
It worked, the color slowly began to return to his face as he sat up.
Ladybug rose from where she was sitting. Bad idea. Magic was one of the most draining works ever.Her surroundings swooped out from under her, and she would’ve plummeted face first off the rooftop if Red Robin hadn’t grabbed her arm to steady her. The yo-yo at her waist buzzed. Wonderful. She utilized the Roof wall as a crutch and steadied herself.
“Hey mom!” She winced at how tired her voice sounded.
“Marinette, honey, where are you? I thought you had gone to Alya’s but her mother said you weren’t there,”Her voice crackled through the device.
“I was at the..library! Finals are coming up so I thought I would go when it was less packed.” Red Robin arched a brow.
She internally cringed. She was awful at lying.
“Alya’s mom said that she was at the library too! Why didn’t you go with her?” The concerned mother spoke.
“Um, because..because I wanted to stop at that tea store and try it out. Tea’s never really been her thing.” She explained, now aware that the rest of the vigilantes were listening to her lie to her own mother.
“Well, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m going to go to bed after the bakery closes. Love you honey!”
“Bye mom! Love you too!”
“How’s the studying going?” Red Robin asked quizzically.
“Shut it, traffic light.” She snapped.
He raised his hands in an act of surrender.
She’d forgotten to hang up on her mom. Dang. Luckily she was muted. Wordlessly, she put a single finger to her lips before unmuting the call.
She forced a laugh,” Okay, bye. Actually this time. Yes, I did. No, I won’t. Okay. Bye, I love you too!”
Making sure she disconnected the call, she turned to face the rest of her comrades.
“You are awful at lying.” Robin decreed, breaking the silence effectively.
“She may have potentially saved you from death.” Batgirl reminded him.
“Model your fate after an anime protagonist,” He bit out in response.
Ladybug giggled, then was once again reminded of why she was leaning on the wall.
“You good?” Red Robin offered out an arm and she gratefully accepted.
“I’d assume your library studying is going rather well, then.” Batman said, out of nowhere behind him.
Unaware of the source of the observation, Ladybug responded, ” Not exactly. Probably going to end up cheating if I’m being honest.”
Spoiler coughed, clearly not expecting that reply.
“What? At least I’m honest. I gave up on math in 7th grade, when all of..whatever you could call this happened.”
Her phone buzzed again. It was her mom. How long had they been standing here again?
“Sorry, gotta take this,” She apologized.
The bat members watched as Ladybug answered the call on her yo-yo.
“Yeah. No, I’ve already left the library. Yep, on my way home now. Of course! No, I’m not lying. Mom, I’m literally walking down a path as we speak.”
The others watched as Ladybug continued to lie effortlessly.
“Oh, the winds are really strong here! Hello? Is anyone there? I call you when I get-” She cut herself off, blew on the receiver then disconnected the call.
"It doesn't look like your walking."
"Whatever. Don't you have kids to be scaring with that hideous costume?" She then realized that she was leaning on his arm, and could very easily let go of her and let her fall off the roof.
"I have to get home. We can discuss this later." She have Robin a one armed hug, whispered,"Don't die," In his ear, then waved to the rest of them.
"Goodnight!" She called, making her way in front of all of them and promptly stopping because of the dizziness.
"Shit. She's calling again." Ladybug muttered.
They watched as she pulled a black earpiece from her yo-yo, then continued talking to the woman on the phone.
"I'm almost outside the house. Yes, I remember my curfew, and I'll be there before then."
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"She has to be like..Robin's age." Spoiler whispered.
"That was certaintly informing." Batman drifted off, clearly in thought.