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- marinette had grown up in gotham
- at least until she was 11
- her parents had owned a small bakery in one of the worse parts of town
- but marinette had loved living there
- every morning she would get up early to help bake (not that she did much helping in the beginning)
- she loved making cookies with her parents
- even if they were almost always burnt
- she loved meeting the intresting people who came to the bakery
- but most of all she loved the boy who lived in a small apartment down the street
- jason was one of the best things to happen to marinette
- he was kind
- funny
- and didn’t make fun of her like the other kids did
- most of the kids who lived near her were mean
- she would never get mad at them though
- she knew that they didn’t have the easiest lives
- growing up in gotham was hard
- and not everyone was lucky enough to have parents like hers
- and not everyone was lucky enough to have a friend as great as jason
- marinette and jason did Everything together
- they would go to the library and read the most torn up book they could find
- (those were always the most interesting)
- they would go down to the train station and play hopscotch near the railroad tracks
- some days (the days when some of the older kids in town felt bad enough for them they let them borrow their bikes) they would ride to the little lake on the outskirts of town to swim
- the water there was surprisingly clean for a lake so close to gotham
- but the rogues left it well enough alone
- and no one went out that way unless it was to swim
- so the lake remained clean
- a few months after marinettes birthday, however, everything stated to go downhill
- the joker and some of his thugs had caused multiple explosions throughout the city
- one of them being on marinettes street
- marinette and her family remained mostly unharmed (marinettes room was closer to the road and the shattered window glass had left a nasty cut on her cheek that would eventually scar) but the same was not true for the bakery
- the building was absolutely trashed
- and they didn’t have enough money to fix it
- marinettes uncle was kind enough to let her family stay with him, as long as they helped out with his bakery
- marinettes parents were quick to accept
- they didn’t have many options
- the only problem is was that marinettes uncle lived in paris
- they would have to move
- years later marinette would remember the absolute heartbreak in jason’s eyes as she told him that she was leaving
- she was able to give him her new address so they could write letters to each other, but the letters would only last for a few months
- marinette would never find out why jason stopped writing
- (his mother had died. at first he was grieving in solitude but eventually he was kicked out of their small apartment. he had no way to pay and no where to go. and no where to receive letters. and no way to pay for stamps.)
- seperated by an entire ocean, neither of them had ever felt so Alone
- years passed
- marinette became ladybug
- jason became robin
- hawkmoth was defeated and the miraculous heroes retired
- jason died
- he became red hood
- marinettes parents died (health complications)
- life moved on
- but neither forgot about the other
- marinettes small fashion business earned her enough money (especially with jagged overpaying for Everything he ever got from her) to move back to gotham for college
- (she was a business major)
- with jagged and adriens help (and money) she was finally able to rebuild her parents old bakery
- her parents had put the property on sale years ago when they had left gotham
- but no one had ever bothered to buy it
- marinette couldn’t blame them
- the building was a mess
- after years of abandonment and squatters using the space the building was basically falling apart
- but marinette had plenty of time to put the place back together before her first semester started
- so she got to work
- adrien (who was now in charge of his fathers business) came with her to help
- over the years marinette and adrien had grown close
- the bonded over becoming superhero’s so young
- and their parents premature death
- and over unrequited love
- (marinette had a crush on kagami and adrien like luka but neither had ever gotten up the balls to say anything)
- kagami and luka were dating now and the pair was happy for them
- they had gotten over their feelings years ago
- it took a few months (and a lot of money) but the bakery was rebuilt
- just in time for marinettes first semester of college
- at first she didn’t get a lot of customers
- she wasn’t in the best part of town and she didn’t have enough money for advertisements
- but eventually word got around
- (she sold the best coffee in gotham)
- one evening she had a strange customer
- red robin
- (apparently he Loves coffee and had heard she had the best)
- she gave it to him for free
- “hero’s get one free coffee a night. store policy”
- “vigilante”
- “right. sorry”
- red robin must if told his friends about her bakery because vigilantes were showing up left and right
- nightwing was the second vigilante she met
- she liked him a lot
- he reminded her of adrien
she decided then that would never let them meetshe would never survive- robin’s come in a few times
- so has black bat
- even batman once
- (though she knew he sometimes waited outside on the nights when robin or nightwing asked for another cup of coffee)
- as more vigilantes came so did more customers
- apparently some billionairs kid had started coming to her small bakery (and claimed she had gotham’s best coffee) and posted about it online
- and with free publicity came more customers
- marinette was finally able to hire some help
- they worked during the day while she was in class and she worked nights
- (she would never admit it but she loved being able to talk to the vigilantes on the nights they came to visit)
free entertainment- a few months after opening, around christmas, red hood finally came to visit
- he acted strange the first time he saw her
- he stuttered when he spoke and he ran into the door on the way out
- but he came back the next night
- and the night after that
- and the night after that
- and so on
- he came most nights
- more than any of his other vigilante counterparts
- he reminded her of someone but she could never figure out who
- eventually they became pretty good friends
she liked himnot that she would ever admit it- on the night night wing would drop by he would always bring up red hood
- to see her reaction
- he didn’t get much
she just made fun of his costume- the day that jason todd walked into her bakery for the first time in almost a decade (he was determined to never let her figure out that she was Very Wrong about this being the first time) marinette closed the store
- she spent the entire day with jason
- catching up
- getting to know each other again
- they were still able to joke around like they used to
- marinette was thankful for that
- she learned about his new family
- (he invited her to dinner a week later)
- every day after that jason would come to visit her at the bakery
- some days he would buy something
- and other days he would just sit at the counter to stay in her company
- every night (most nights) red hood came as well
- marinette became torn
- she had feelings for both jason and red hood
- (and she was pretty sure both of them had feelings for her too)
- maybe one day she’d be able to choose
- but for now she was happy just being in their company
- she had missed gotham
- and she had missed jason
- maybe now she could finally find peace