✩𝔻𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕥 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝔹𝕝𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤✩

𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 & 𝘉𝘶𝘨𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘍𝘭𝘺 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳

If there was one quote that taught the French girl a lesson that night, it was to never meet your hero!

Robin was sour and Marinette wasn't sure if it was because of her interference or her lack of apology for landing on his back.

Standing around and twiddling her thumbs wasn't helping as he took out his frustration onto a nearby trash can.

Marinette sighed and pouted. Everything that happened in the past few minutes was concerning to say the least. Hawkmoth was on the loose and Chat Noir needed to be one of the first to know.

"Look, she got away and it's my fault."

"Agreed," he groaned as he watched her put on her most apologetic face.

"Geez you don't have to rub it in," she grumbled as he took out a grappling hook gun and aimed it towards a nearby building.

"Don't follow me! "

"Hey!"

Marinette could feel her bones rattle as the boy jumped onto the rooftop. That kid needed an attitude adjustment but she still felt like she needed to make amends. If there's anything she's learnt from being by Chat Noir side, it's to never make enemies out of strangers. Whatever brought the vigilante to Paris, was about to involve her too.

Flying behind him, she gave a little chuckle as he scaled from building to building.

"God he looks silly hopping around like that," she said before the smile evaporated off her face. "God, Chat and I look silly hopping around like that."

The concern over her usual hopping form distracted her such that she had failed to realize that she was flying a little too low for the vigilante's comfort. He took a sharp stop as soon as he felt the gales of flapping wings against his black hair.

"I don't need a tour guide," he muttered to her as she hung over his head.

"Unfortunately, I offer the best service in town," she said to quickly pass off his distaste. "Let's work together."

"Not happening."

"Then leave Robin. Paris already has me and the black cat on the case. We'll find that girl and handle her our way."

The male let out a little gruff before ongoing down on his knee and taking out a tracker.

"So that's your ultimatum?" he said with a raised eyebrow. "Look, you're an amateur. I would rather have the kitten reach out to me than some over-adventurous bug themed teen girl provide cover for me."

"Says the bird themed sidekick with navigation issues. I can find your little villain so you can get out of our city quickly so that I can deal with my own villain."

With her hands behind her back she craned her neck over his shoulder. A little height difference was all it took to snoop a look before he shifted the device away from her eyes.

"See, your little tracking device isn't even picking up any reading because of the akuma."

Robin placed the device back into his belt poach before pinching his nose.

"Just tell me about this akuma and I'll be on my way."

Marinette shook her head.

"No way! I can't just share information like that. You are getting way over your head about this."

"Then what do you want?" Robin growled in frustration.

"An answer."

Robin kissed his teeth. One thing the boy seemed to admire about Ladybug was her persistence. Admittedly he was in an unfamiliar playing field with very little knowledge to get a start. All his clues vanished into purple smoke in a musty alleyway. Robin slicked his black hair back and huffed.

"What's the worst you can do to me if I refuse to leave the city?"

Marinette crossed her arms.

"I'll have your face plaster across every broadcasting station in the country. I'm sure you don't want the city of Paris thinking that you are some little birdie who wants to cause trouble an Atlantic Ocean away from home. You won't be enjoying your little hunting exercise arch rivalry with the French police awake at night, would you Boy Wonder? "

Robin stood with a silent scowl across his face.

"You are annoying and I don't like you," he said before extending his hand towards her. "But the sooner I get out of the city the better. So let's... work together."

Feeling the slight sting of gripping her heart, Marinette, half-heartedly took his hand.

"And I'm only going to work with you," his voice went lower. "You absolutely can't tell anyone about this. The butterfly, the criminal and the smoke, this night stays between the two of us. If you peep a word to the cat, consider your city to be ruins."

Ladybug nodded before letting go of his hand to give him a half smile. Robin sighed in response and turned his back against her.

"I'll come to you so don't make any moves without thinking, " he said as he stepped off the ledge of a building and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

All the gears in Marinette's head began working over time. It was reassuring to have the Gotham knight agree to a team up but not having to tell Chat Noir about the looming threat over their city felt wrong.

Hawkmoth was no longer a vivid nightmare they put behind them. It was clear to the teenage girl that Chat Noir would be beyond devastated if she lied to him but perhaps silence was golden. She had to make sure that what she saw was real and the best way to do that was to wrap her yo-yo around her mouth.

Marinette looked up to the dark sky as the moon shimmered past the dark clouds. The only worry that seemed to weigh down on her less than Hawkmoth was how she was going to hide the empty cream puff trays from her father the next morning.