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cipherwrites · 1 year ago

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This person gets it, it's why people like me rewrite the show over and over again.

Do you really think all of ML's problems would be fixed if Adrien never existed?

Good heavens, no.

Adrien isn't the problem. He's just a symptom of a much larger issue. That issue being laziness and poor writing that comes in the form of "tell, don't show", plot threads that go nowhere, and lack of character development or plot progression that leads to a setup of "Status Quo Is God". Removing Adrien wouldn't fix all of that. Heck, it wouldn't fix any of that.

I can't fault the writers for replacing Felix with Adrien. Even if I and others could write out a plot with Felix, that's not to say everyone could or that the writers could. It could very well be that Felix as he was in the PV simply didn't work for the setup they had in mind.

...the issue here is that the setup they had in mind seems to require stagnancy. Where Hawk Moth attacks without winning and the heroes fight off the akumas without really trying to track him as the source and the two leads chase each other around in circles without anyone making any headway in either of these battles. Marinette wants to date Adrien. Chat wants to date Ladybug. It's why all her plans to ask him out fail while his attempts to express his feelings aren't taken seriously. And there is no forward movement, whether in their arc or in the fight against Hawk Moth. There wasn't even build or lead up to the two falling in love. They just started out episode one with crushes on each other and remained having crushes on each other until arguably season 5.

But no good story is stagnant. In this setup, characters need to do things and there needs to be a feeling of forward momentum.

Break it down this way: What is Adrien's problem? What is his goal? What is the obstacle to his goal?

Yes, we could say Adrien's dad being a supervillain and a neglectful jerk is Adrien's main problem, but it's not the problem Adrien is actually focused on in the show. Instead, if we could say Adrien has a problem, it would be that he wants to date Ladybug. And his goal is to date Ladybug. And the source of the problem and obstacle to his goal is...Ladybug.

So his problem, his goal, and the obstacle are all the same thing. This ultimately seems to make his problems Ladybug’s fault then because the problem would be solved if she gives in to his wants rather than by any real effort on his part.

Adrien as he is in the show doesn't do anything. And he doesn't need to do anything because he is at his base a character that things are done for. He doesn't have a goal or direction or drive. He just comes out to deal with akumas as needed, flirt with Ladybug when he can, and then be sad because his life is so hard when he doesn't get what he wants. We don't see him doing anything else. We don't see him making friends. We don't see him engaging in school. We don't even really see how he interacts with the classmates he only recently met. Things happen around him, but he is not a driving force in anything in the show.

But Felix in the PV is a very driving character. He had a problem: he's cursed. What does he need to break the curse? A kiss from Ladybug. What are the obstacles to his goal: Ladybug refusing to kiss him and Hawk Moth trying to kill her. How does he get that kiss? By flirting with her and trying to earn her affections while protecting her and making sure she doesn't DIE against an akuma before he gets that special curse-breaking kiss.

It's the start of Felix's journey. His goal and the various obstacles to that goal that make his story interesting and his growth possible. As such, I see him as a character who would progress in his attempts to obtain his goal as well as one who would progress the storyline...which is also accurate of 3D Felix since that's kind of what he's done more in his relatively few appearances than the series has in 5 seasons.

Adrien didn't have to have Felix's personality. He didn't have to have the same goals or level of drive. But he could still have had things where he grows and helps to push the plot forward.

Adrien...

...just started school. He has no friends, knows no one, and is trying to learn the ins and outs of public education. How is he doing in the different setting with teachers instead of tutors? How is he trying to get along with his classmates? Does he experience bullying? Does anyone NOT like him? What is he going through as a new student who had been homeschooled all his life?

...is friends with Chloe. What's it like learning his "only friend" is a bully? How do people respond to this? Does anyone (besides Marinette) fear him or avoid him because if he's friends with Chloe, he must be just like her?

...is a superhero. He could have been spending time learning the history of the ring and trying to develop his powers. Trying to get stronger? Trying to get to know Plagg? What is he experiencing as a highly known model who is also a superhero and having to juggle those dual identities?

...has a dead mom who died of a "mysterious illness". Given that this loss supposedly occurred about a year prior, he could still be mourning her. Maybe trying to learn what happened to her.

...has a neglectful father. How is he trying to interact with his dad? How does he feel about his dad not being around? What is he doing to try to resolve this?

...has a supervillain father. Like, I cannot stress this enough! His dad is a SUPERVILLAIN! His dad is THE SUPERVILLAIN THEY ARE FIGHTING! People were predicting him finding out and joining Gabriel to try and revive his mom! People were living for the eventual heartbreak of when Adrien finds out the truth! Entire AUs, fan arts, and fanfics were born of this very idea! Going into the drama and struggle Adrien would be experiencing being caught between the "right thing" and the girl he loves and his duty vs his father and his mother and his family. HOW CAN THEY JUST IGNORE THIS?!

But we don't get any of that. Instead, we get Adrien...

...just acclimated with no issues in school and automatically friends with everyone. Good for him, I guess. Wish it was that easy for the rest of us.

...doing little besides occasional comments to Chloe as she is completely horrible for five seasons including Chloe stealing from classmates, getting the entire school punished for something she did, stealing a Miraculous, trying to crash a train, and betraying the city to Hawk Moth. But it takes him learning about something she did to Marinette a year ago for him to finally decide enough is enough and drop her as a friend.

...only goes out to deal with akumas as they come but does nothing to try and figure out his powers and history, get stronger, or try to track Hawk Moth.

...just moves on from dead mom. No relevance here aside from wanting to see a movie she was in or making a passing comment about how she got sick. No attempt to find out what happened to her. No questioning what she may have wanted for him.

...is just sad about his neglectful father neglecting him but seems to get over it rather quickly.

...never learns his father is a supervillain. Okay, I take it back. He learns twice and those timelines are erased with no real repercussions other than trauma for Marinette, so it really doesn't feel like they count. The pieces are all there, though! He knows his dad has the grimoire but never questions him about it! Never asks his dad what the deal was with Tibet! No question about how mom died or what is going on with Nathalie or what he's doing with a hidden mechanism in mom's portrait.

Adrien has potential. He has plot threads and aspects that could be used and goals he could have. But the writing does nothing with him, so while he has a number of things he COULD do to move forward and progress as a character or for the plot, nothing comes of it.

And that all boils down to a problem with the writing.

Adrien was chosen over Felix as an "easier" option to keep the story at a standstill so they could drag it out for as long as needed. That doesn't mean it should have been. There were so many paths that could have been taken, but Adrien was given the personality of a wet noodle, so he acts on none of them because that was what the writers wanted out of his character.

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cipherwrites · 1 year ago

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Sugar & Spice, Chapter 4: Evillustrator

<- Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (WIP)

And then, Stormy Weather is blown away by her own parasol turned against her, and the great Mightyllustrator saves the damsel in distress!

“Oh, Mightyllustrator, you’re my hero!” the Damsel cries out.

“Heh, it was nothing.” the hero responds nonchalantly.

“I love you, Mightyllustrator!”

“I love you too, Marinette

Nathaniel Kurtzberg, a red-haired student of Francoise Dupont Lycee, sighs as he crosses out a number of things in his comic.

Wrong, wrong, it’s all wrong! No matter how much I try to envision it or dream it up, I can’t come up with a good story. Besides, it’s not like I’d ever get a real chance to rescue Marinette like this… The young artist thinks to himself, mentally comparing his damsel figure to the similarly shy but determined target of his affected, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Nathaniel only met Marinette last year, but in the short time he’s known her, he’s known her to be a kind and charitable girl who’s been relentlessly targeted by Chloe Bourgeois for, according to his classmates, three years now. He doesn’t know why it started, and frankly, he doesn’t care. All he knows is that Marinette is a sweet, caring soul who doesn’t deserve the bull-

“Nathaniel!” a ruler slams into his desk, and the meek redhead jumps at the sight of Mme. Mendeleiev, the purple-haired science teacher. “What are you drawing?” she asks with a cruel snarl on her face, clearly annoyed that this has had to interrupt her lesson, and he gulps nervously.

“Wa, well, it’s, erm…” the young man stammers.

“These artistic endeavors of yours are clearly why you are failing science,” she says. “You have been given the option to join the art program before, but your continued ignorance of this opportunity has not gone unnoticed. March down to the principal’s office and tell him just why you’ve been doing so poorly in my class!” she orders, and the redhead gulps.

“Yes, ma’am…” he says softly and gets up, tripping over a bag and gasps, landing on the floor, his sketchbook landing open on the ground. He reaches for it, but it’s snatched up by Chloe.

“Ooh! Look, Sabrina! It's him as a superhero! And look who he's saving! It's Dupain-Cheng!” She teases.

“It’s who?!” Marinette exclaims with a blush, and several other classmates join the confusion, most of which Adrien. Which, frankly, Nathaniel can understand- that short display of anger Marinette showed him on the first day of school only impressed Nathaniel further.

“He’s totally crushing on you, you know.” Chloe taunts Marinette.

“Doesn’t seem like much of your business,” Alya retorts, defending her best friend.

“Gimme that!” Nathaniel snatches his book away from Chloe, blushing deeply.

“Enough! Nathaniel, go!” Mme. Mendeleiev states, clearly sick and tired of the interruptions to her lesson. “No more gossiping, or you’ll all be joining him in the office!”

Nathaniel rushes out of the room, not even meeting Marinette’s gaze as he does so. Lost in thought and despair, Nathaniel’s eyes wander as he moves towards the office on autopilot.

Chloe. She ruins everything! She’s devoted to ruining Marinette’s life, and she humiliates and degrades everyone around her for no good reason other than the fact that she can. She’s evil- the kind of evil that Marinette needs to be saved from.

Nathaniel stumbles just a bit as he walks, and his pen falls to the ground. He picks it up, his body moving automatically as a purple butterfly enters the pen. Nathaniel could hardly comprehend what was happening before a voice entered his mind, commanding and omnipotent through his thoughts as the helpless boy’s anger turned to an uncontrollable hatred and rage against his will.

“Are you tired of having your spirit crushed? Evillustrator, I am Hawkmoth, your friend and patron of the arts. I’m here to offer you support…but I don’t give this kind of power for free. I have a couple of items that need retrieving.”

“Name the price, and it’s yours,” Nathaniel says with contempt, transforming into Evillustrator in the darkness of the halls, leaping to the rafters to hide and wait for his prey to emerge.

---

Nathaniel? Crushing on me? I don’t even know him that well! Marinette thinks to herself.

He’s so sweet, though! He didn’t deserve to be humiliated like that, even if I don’t feel the same way.

I should talk to him, though. I’ll catch him after class.

“The next particle physics presentation group is Nino, Adrien, and Alya!” Mendeleiev announces, insistent on not letting students pick their own groups. Luckily, her loud tendencies snapped Marinette out of her thoughts.

Wow, lucky. Marinette thinks to herself, remembering that it seems like Adrien is as intelligent as he is pretty…or at least, he’s pretty good at recalling information.

“And then Sabrina, Chloé and Marinette.” Mendeleiev states and Marinette feels her heart drop.

“Oof…unlucky.” Alya cringes.

Marinette looks over at Chloe, who has a malicious grin on her perfect little face.

No no no no no no no no-

“Mademoiselle!” Marinette suddenly stands up, fear evident and spiking. “C-can I work alone, please?”

“This is a group presentation, Marinette,” Mendeleiev states. “It’s a policy of mine not to give any of my students unfair advantages or disadvantages. You’ll have to deal with it.”

“Are you gonna be okay, Marinette?” Alya asks as the bluenette slumps back into her chair.

“I…I’ll be fine, Alya!” Marinette says with a smile. “Better than fine! Don’t worry about me!”

---

Marinette stands beside Sabrina as Chloe goes through her locker with a smug look on her face.

“Forget it! I don’t have time for some dumb project. I’m sure you two can handle it on your own. You’re still nice and efficient when you put your mind to something, aren’t you, Marinette?” Chloe grins, her voice like a toxin in Marinette’s ears.

“That’s fine, Chloe!” Sabrina says. “We can do all the work, don’t worry!”

It would be easy to let this happen. To have a few days of peace while I do everything she said.

“It’ll be just like old times,” Sabrina says.

I…I don’t want to go back to old times.

“No,” Marinette says, determined.

“What was that?” Chloe glares her way.

“I said no. Those bridges have long been burned by both of us. I’m not going back to how things were!” Marinette starts to yell, and Chloe takes a step back, as if surprised by the determination that now shines in Marinette’s eyes.

“Oh, it’ll be okay, Marinette!” Sabrina says, trying to defuse the tension. “It’s all equal! I do the research, you do the writing, and Chloe presents it! That way, it’s equal.” she explains. “Chloe and I have been doing this for years, you remember!”

“I remember plenty,” Marinette says coldly. “I remember,” she turns to Chloe, “that you’re too thick to do anything yourself, so you throw your money and influence at whatever useful people you see, taking advantage of the most talented people you can find and assume they’ll stick with you just because they’re afraid of you!” She grits her teeth. “Just because they care for you. That’s not how friends work.”

“Not only am I Sabrina’s best friend,” Chloe stomps her foot, “I’m her only friend. Because when I find someone and make them mine, they are nothing without me.”

“Well, maybe some people would rather be nothing than have you!” Marinette shouts, and Chloe looks taken aback and shocked by the statement. Guilt immediately pangs Marinette.

Maybe I went too far…

“Chloe, I-”

“Whatever!” Chloe flips her hair, walking past Marinette and Sabrina. “I’ve got more important things to worry about. My hair is a hot mess and Jean Claude promised to work his magic. Later!” she slams the door and storms off, leaving Marinette and Sabrina behind.

“...fuck.” Marinette leans against the locker and falls to her knees, hands at her face to try and keep the tears from coming. “What happened to us…?”

“Marinette…are you okay?” Sabrina asks, and Marinette turns her head away. “I…thank you. I’ve never seen you stand up to anyone like that before, and…you did it for me.” she holds out her hand to Marinette. “Chloe will cool down, I promise. She just has to think…maybe you’ve finally given her something to think about.” Sabrina gives a pained smile.

Marinette looks up and takes Sabrina’s hand, letting her help her get up.

I hope so.

---

Watching from the rafters of a library, three girls enter- first two, then another, and they begin to argue. He only cares for one of them. He only hates another. He grins wide as he prepares his tablet and begins to draw…

“Ugh! What do you mean, you’re not doing my assignment?!” Chloe exclaims, scowling at Marinette and Sabrina.

“I-I’m not your slave, Chloe! Marinette’s right, you haven’t been treating me like a friend!” Sabrina defends herself.

“Well, Marinette Dupain-Cheng didn’t buy you a super cute beret at Gabriel, and I did!” Chloe boasts, holding up a new beret she clearly had delivered to the school after she stormed out.

Marinette visibly seethes in her chair.

“It…it is a cute hat…” Sabrina says, seeing Chloe holding up the hat. “And it would look good on me…” she mumbles.

“I won’t pretend to have any excuses.” Chloe huffs. “But you, Dupain-Cheng, are trying to steal my friend from me, with homework!” Chloe declares pompously.

You wanna bribe, Chloe? Let’s give you plenty to work with.

Suddenly, from above, a pile of berets falls on the rich girl!

“AGH! My hair!” Chloe complains.

From the ether, a massive hairdryer materializes and starts tormenting Chloe, who begins to scream in fear and run away.

---

“Er…was that an akuma?” Sabrina asks.

“Or the byproduct of one.” Marinette surmises.

Okay, I’ve planned for this: make distance from civilians and transform.

“Let’s split up!” Marinette tells Sabrina. “It’ll be easier to dodge it that way. You can meet me at my house, it’s not far from here- you remember where the bakery is, right?”

“Um…y-yeah!” Sabrina nods.

“Good, go!” Marinette orders, and she and Sabrina take off in different directions. If we’re lucky, Chat Noir and I will have this akuma handled by the time I make it home.

She hides between some of the scarcely used shelves and grins. “Tikki, Spots On!”

From the shelves, Ladybug emerges and pins the hairdryer to a bookshelf. “Hide, now!” she orders, and Chloe runs away.

“I’ve gotten wind that you were being blown away by a hairy situation!” she hears a familiar voice quip, and Ladybug rolls her eyes at her partner’s humor.

“Less punning and more action, Chat Noir!” she leaps up and lands beside him. “It’s not a real akuma, just some kinda byproduct. Made by it, or something.”

“Well, then I don’t have to feel bad about doing this! Cataclysm!” He declares, and lunging for the hairdryer, it disintegrates into dust, and they all hear an exclamation of pain- a backlash for destroying something an akuma controls.

Looking up, they see some kind of feedback coming from the arm tablet of a purple man in a beret and awfully odd clothes.

“Well, that guy looks pretty sketchy!” Chat quips.

The two chase the akuma, but he gets away by creating a wall.

“He got away…most akumas we’ve faced have run to get a better vantage point, but that’s only after trying to fight us.” Ladybug murmurs. “Where could he be going?”

“I don’t know, but he sure has a way of illustrating his point.” Chat grins, and Ladybug can’t help but wheeze out a frustrated chuckle.

“Is there some kind of punning superpower I don’t know about?” she teases her partner.

“I got more where that came from, I can do this all day!” Chat grins.

Ladybug shakes her head, her smile never leaving her face. “Alright, the akuma was targeting Chloe Bourgeois, so we should find her.”

“To the Grand Paris!” Chat Noir points dramatically in the wrong direction.

---

“Seems like the akuma’s targeting you specifically, Chloe. Any idea why?” Chat Noir asks, standing with Ladybug in Chloe’s room in the Grand Paris. Ladybug is tapping her foot impatiently- she probably has somewhere to be. She’s a busy little bee! Er, bug. That’s why they need to be so efficient; unlike Adrien, Ladybug’s civilian identity actually has a life outside the mask.

“No! Everyone adores me.” Chloe states.

“Right, 'cause you’re sooo adorable…” Ladybug mutters, and Chat holds back a laugh at his partner’s sarcasm. Unfortunately, Chloe doesn’t seem to pick up on it.

“Yes! Ladybug just said I'm adorable! I totally need a picture of the two of us together!” she says and forcibly takes a selfie of them both with her phone, and afterward Ladybug walks to the balcony with Chat.

“That was unpleasant…” she mumbles.

“Well, I look great, of course, but your smile is all wonky. I'll take another!” Chloe says from behind them, but Ladybug stops her.

“Not now, Chloe. I’m…camera shy,” she says as she continues onto the balcony with her partner.

“Well, someone’s got a fan.” Chat Noir teases.

“Yeah, great.” She rolls her eyes.

“Alright, what’s bugging you? No pun intended this time, either.” Chat says with a gentler smile.

“Let’s just say I can’t stand this girl, even with a mask on.” she sighs and looks at her bugphone.

Eh, that’s not really a clue. Chloe tends to leave a bad impression on most people- Ladybug could be a student at Dupont, but she could just as easily be the daughter of someone working for Chloe.

“I…I need to go.” Ladybug says hesitantly. “I have somewhere to be if I want to preserve my identity. I can probably be back in a few hours- can you protect her until then?” Ladybug asks.

“I can handle it Ladybug, no sweat! Go, go! Make an alibi.” Chat Noir insists, giving his leader a salute.

The smile Ladybug gives him as she swings away makes his heart flutter more than the little butterflies that plague Paris.

“Ahh! Ladybug! Text me!” Chloe calls after her desperately.

---

Marinette breathes deeply as she arrives home, seeing Sabrina pacing around in the main room of the bakery. She steps in, and Sabrina runs up to her.

“MarinetteIwassoworriedItriedcallingbutyouneverpickedupIwasworriedtheakumagotyou-” Sabrina begins rambling, and Marinette smiles kindly, taking Sabrina’s wrists before she can drape herself over Marinette.

“Whoa, Sabrina! Calm down. I just got a bit turned around, and my phone ran out of charge.”

And to cover my bases, I turned my phone off before stepping inside.

“So…you’re okay?” Sabrina asks.

“I’m okay. Come on, let’s go upstairs and get our project started,” she says with a kind smile.

Marinette and Sabrina don’t talk much. They divided the project into three actual equal parts, created a shared slideshow, and sent it to Chloe with a list of what she’ll need to do. While they work, they don’t talk much, even when Sabrina tries to start it. Quite honestly, Marinette doesn’t want to talk with Sabrina for too long.

If I talk with Sabrina too much, she’ll start talking about Chloe, and…and I don’t want to talk about her right now.

About 30 minutes pass, the duo making a good start on their project, and as Sabrina’s about to come up with some snacks Mari’s parents made, the girls hear what sounds like some kind of wiping- Marinette’s on her bed, Sabrina on the ladder up to the room- and Marinette’s eyes widen as her window erases, and a familiar form enters the room: the akuma.

“You-!” Marinette’s eyes widened, resisting the urge to call for Tikki immediately. “What are you doing here?” she questions, but rather than the rigid expression she saw before, the man’s expression softens to a fond look.

That’s…not the look of someone who knows I’m Ladybug.

“I-I just wanted to see you!” he insists.

Or it’s a fanboy. Then I’ve got a whole new thing to deal with.

“If that’s all you wanted, why did you attack Chloe?” Marinette questions.

“Because Chloe is vicious and cruel!” he growls, and Marinette winces a bit.

“I can’t…argue with that,” she says hesitantly. “So…what happens now? Are you going to abduct me? Attack me?”

“Never,” the young man says, which catches Marinette a little off guard. “You’re Marinette! You’re beautiful, sweet, and kind, and smart and…you’re perfect, I could never hurt you!” he expresses with a lovestruck expression.

Okay, let’s think about this. Akumas increase emotional states. A crush turned to obsession…a disdain for Chloe that likely happened today…art coming to life…

As Marinette connects the dots, it’s like a window shattering. Her eyes widen as she sees Nathaniel’s face beyond the veil of the akuma, the Quantum Mask that shrouds identity broken for her and her only, bringing with it an uncanny feeling of confusion that she ever saw anything but the boy behind the mask.

Oh, Nathaniel. What has he done to you?

“Nathaniel, what happened to you?” Marinette asks, concerned.

“My name is Evillustrator now, Marinette. It’s my birthday tonight, and I was hoping we could have a party. Just you and me, on the seine!” he offers excitedly.

“Tonight…” Marinette whispers, seeing the trapdoor opening slightly, seeing the terrified Sabrina staring at the scene like a deer in headlights.

If I let anything loose about the group project, there’s no telling who he’ll hurt to make sure he has me to himself!

“I’ll do it,” Marinette says, and Evillustrator looks ecstatic. “On one condition.”

“Of course, Marinette!” Evillustrator grins. “Anything for you!”

“You can’t hurt Chloe. Or anyone anymore. No more fighting.” She orders.

“You are a gentle soul, Marinette. For you, and you only. I’ll wait for you next to Notre Dame, at sunset!” he expresses before leaping out of the window.

Marinette waits for a beat before groaning loudly, falling facefirst onto her bed.

“What were you thinking?!” Sabrina suddenly bursts through.

“I’m thinking that this is the only way to keep people safe!” Marinette says sadly.

“Marinette, you’re brave, but isn’t this a bit much?” Sabrina asks. “I mean, er…the project! We have to finish the project, right?”

She’s reaching for anything she can to try and get me out of this. Even after everything, Sabrina is sweet and kind.

“You should go home, Sabrina,” Marinette smiles. “You know me. I can get this whole thing cranked out by tonight.”

“Marinette…” Sabrina sighs. “I’ll…I’ll get my Dad! Then we can-”

“No.” Marinette shakes her head. “The Police are useless against akumas. I don’t want anyone else to be hurt.”

“Marinette…” Sabrina whimpers, but lowers her head to acquiesce.

---

“Ohhh... Sabrina is so selfish! Making me do this project by myself?! Ugh, my brain hurts... Huh? Hey! Cat Noir, Are you any good at particle physics?” Chloe looks at the black cat, and he sighs a bit.

“Well, I’m not bad at it…” he says, trying not to share that he’s pretty good at science as a whole. Which Plagg laughs up considering how much of my life will now revolve around magic…

“Ah! Great!” Chloe says and pulls him by his arm. “Sit, kitty!” she orders and shoves project materials into his arms. “Now, make it sound purr-fect for my presentation. See what I did? I made a cat joke! Ha! I can be funny.” she states, and Chat Noir just stares at her.

“Hilarious,” he says sarcastically.

C’mon, Chloe, I’m trying to empathize with you, don’t make it so hard for me.

At that moment, his staff rings, and he drops the materials to the ground and starts to walk back out to the balcony. “Sorry, Mme., I've got a call from the Lady in Red!” he says and leans on the balcony as he answers. “You know, Ladybug, some may call it unprofessional to be catcalling during work hours.” Chat Noir teases and is met by a smirk.

“Well, what if I told you that you didn’t have to worry about Chloe anymore?” She asks.

“I’d say I’m listening. I didn’t see any magic ladybugs, so I doubt the akuma’s beaten…” Chat Noir responds.

“The akuma calls himself Evillustrator. He went to a civilian’s house and talked to her, and she answered some of my questions. Not only that, but he asked her on a date.” Ladybug explains.

“The akuma’s a lovebug? What, did Chloe diss his crush or something?” Chat asks.

“You could say that.” Ladybug sends an image, and Chat’s eyes widen. “Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Cute, huh?”

Ah. I see why Chloe was attacked now.

“M’Lady, are you trying to set me up with an akuma’s crush? Scandalous.” he teases, and he can practically hear her rolling her eyes.

“I’ve told her my basic plan, and I’ll need you to protect her tonight and fight the akuma without me. I’ll be indisposed.” She explains.

Guess that alibi’s going on longer than expected. But hold on…

“What about your Lucky Charm? Or the Miracle Cure?” He asks, worried.

“I’ve gone over it with Tikki. This is the ideal time to test out the capabilities of our powers without the Ladybug, in case something happens to me. Evillustrator is more docile than most akuma, after all, so it’ll be more of a trial by matchlight than trial by fire.” she explains.

“A fair point,” Chat nods. “What’s the plan?”

“All Miraculous weapons have a kind of…hammerspace, for lack of a better term. Only the Ladybug can use that space to purify an akuma, since I then use the energy from that akuma with my Miracle Cure to pinpoint what exactly got broken and fix it. However, you can still hide the akuma in there, and it’ll remain even if you detransform. Keep the akuma contained, and we’ll meet at the Eiffel at Midnight for me to purify the akuma.” Ladybug explains.

“What about the Lucky Charm?” Chat Noir asks.

“I left it with Marinette for you. You’ll need to figure it out from there, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy,” she explains.

Chat sighs dreamily. “You really thought of everything.” he fiddles with his bell. “And…you really think I can do this without you?” he asks.

“I believe in you, Chat Noir. Take the akuma down,” she says, and he smiles.

“I won’t let you down, M’lady!” he says, determined, hanging up as he launches off.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Chloe yells after him, but Chat just smiles as he heads for the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

---

Marinette had already told her parents about everything, and while they were terrified, Marinette assured them she’d be protected by Chat Noir, and she’d be arming herself with some pepper spray (though they insisted she also take a knife).

She looks down at the Lucky Charm in her hands- a small red tablet pen. As she turns it over in her hand, she hears an impact on the balcony above her, and she sighs. Showtime.

“Nathaniel…? Is that you…?” she wonders aloud, doing her best to sound as normal as possible, and as she heads to the balcony, she sees Chat Noir, bowing dramatically towards her (yet not making eye contact…weird).

“Good evening, young lady! The name’s Chat Noir.” he smiles wide.

“I assumed as much,” she smiles a bit and shakes his hand. “So, you’re here to protect me?”

“Yep! That birthday boy date of yours is bad news. Don’t worry, though, you’ll be safe with me!” the leather-clad hero boasts.

“That puts my mind at ease,” Marinette says, resisting the urge to tease him.

“But I may need a little help…” he says, frowning as he sees the tablet pen. “I hear you’re pretty creative. Care to assist a superhero?” he asks hopefully.

We haven’t even begun yet, and he’s already asking for help. Silly kitty.

“And what would Ladybug think of you asking another girl for help with your hero work?” she asks teasingly.

“Well, maybe you could be my Ladybug tonight.” he challenges, and the two grin at each other, before they blush a bit, as if they both realize some kind of mistake made, and turn away from each other.

“I couldn’t imagine fighting crime with the heroes of Paris. No matter how amazing it might be…” Marinette quickly dissuades.

“Yeah, erm…just get the pen from Evillustrator, and I can do the rest!” Chat Noir says.

---

Evillustrator sits on the boat of his own creation, sketching additional things for his date with Marinette. It has to be perfect, it must be perfect. She deserves nothing less.

“That is a lovely scene you’re setting.” the voice of Hawkmoth enters his mind. “But you’d best not get distracted, boy.” He threatens.

“I just want Marinette to love me…” he responds, and he feels a pang of pain enter his mind.

“And I want the Miraculous, so get them…or else,” he threatens, and Evillustrator feels a pain course through his body. “I’ll show you what else my Miraculous can do when a ‘failsafe’ is required.”

“Okay, I will, I will!” Evillustrator promises desperately, and the pain leaves him as he hears footsteps.

“Happy Birthday.” he hears, and he sees Marinette wearing a beautiful dress with a floral pattern, a purse at her side with a pair of flat shoes, and her hair tied in a braid down her back.

“Marinette!” the akuma stands up, smiling. “Thank you for coming,” he says, making a bridge for her to step onto the boat from the seine’s edge.

“It’s all so beautiful,” Marinette says as she steps on board.

“You like it? Well, hold on, ‘cause I’m just getting started!” He says gladly, about to draw something more, but dark clouds begin to roll in, blocking the moon from view. “No…no! Come on, you’ve gotta be kidding!” he complains, and after seeing the way Marinette looks at him, he tries to compose himself. “Uhm, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. It's just... I can't draw properly in the dark.” he explains and draws a glowing sphere in the nearby sky resembling the moon, using a lantern to supply light. “Voila!” he smiles.

The two ride on the boar, playing music from his pad, and Marinette soon scotts closer to him.

“You're very talented, Nathaniel.” She says.

“It’s Evi-” he begins, but Marinette puts her finger to his lips.

“Try as you might, Nathaniel, nothing you can do can make me call you evil,” she says gently, and he blushes deeply, unable to argue with her. “What I’d like to know is why you’d use this power to hurt people.”

“Not all people!” Evillustrator clarifies. “Just Chloe. And I'll never do it again. After all, you were true to your promise, so I'll be true to mine.” He says kindly.

“I draw a little too, you know, for my fashion designs. I actually made what I’m wearing tonight.” She says, and his eyes light up.

“Really? It’s very pretty…” he says.

“Is it okay if I try drawing something?” she whispers to him, and he swallows. “I could draw something special for your birthday.”

“Y-yes…that would be amazing,” he says, and she touches the pen, both of their hands now gripping it, and then Evillustrator notices something out of the corner of his vision…a dark shape with glowing green eyes.

“Marinette, wait, give me the pen back. I need to draw something now!” he expresses.

“Sorry, Nathaniel,” Marinette responds and starts to run. “Chat Noir, the moon!”

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir declares, destroying the moon Evillustrator created and causing a feedback that causes Evillustrator to wince, plunging everything into darkness!

“Marinette! Are you working with him? I'm so stupid... I actually thought you liked me! But you're really just like Chloe. Teasing me, mocking me, leading me on!” Evillustrator begins, gripping his head, and he charges for Marinette! He tackles her down, grabbing the pen from her as he throws her against Chat Noir, who catches her as the two seem to be thrown back!

“Now I’ve got you!” Evillustrator grins as he starts to draw on his tablet, crouching down to the lantern, but…nothing?

“Sorry, Evillustrator, but that’s not your pen,” Chat Noir smiles, and the akuma’s eyes widen as he sees the red pen with black spots, which he can only make out now in the light of the lantern. “This is!” Chat Noir snaps the real pen, and the akuma flutters out, which Chat Noir immediately catches inside of his staff.

“No-” Evillustrator exclaims as he transforms back into Nathaniel and falls to the ground, nearly passing out from the exertion.

“All right! Pound it!” Chat Noir says, and Marinette’s eyes widen a bit. “Oh, er…” Chat stammers. “Sorry, it’s a thing Ladybug and I do when we win, and…I guess it’s kinda muscle memory-”

“Hey.” Marinette smiles and holds up her fist. “It’s cool,” she says, and Chat smiles wide as they bump fists. “Now go find your Lady, so she can fix all of this,” she says, referring to the things Evillustrator had summoned, and she walks over to Nathaniel.

“Come on, Nathaniel. Let’s get you home…and talk.” Marinette suggests.

“Okay.” Nathaniel nods a little bit.

---

“So you don’t even know why they left?” Alya asks Chloe, exasperated.

“Not at all! Clearly, that akuma knew not to mess with me.” She says, flipping her hair over her shoulder dismissively, and Marinette sighs as she watches failing to get very substantial information about the akuma from Chloe.

“So, you’re really going back to Chloe?” Marinette asks Sabrina, not too far away.

“She’s doing more than usual!” Sabrina tries to defend, but the new beret Sabrina is sporting doesn’t go over Marinette’s head.

Well…there’s some doubt there! Maybe.

“Hey, Marinette!” she hears Adrien call, and she smiles fondly as Adrien walks up to her. “I heard about your adventures with Chat Noir yesterday. Were you scared?” he asks.

“Oh, uh, plenty!” Marinette says.

Which isn’t really a lie. It was my first time going toe-to-toe with an akuma without the Miraculous.

“But Chat Noir was there! He saved me.” Marinette smiles.

“So, what did you think of Chat Noir?” Adrien asks. “Not many people talk about him. Was he awesome?”

“Yeah…he was.” Marinette smiles a bit. “Maybe cooler than you.” she teases, and he laughs a bit.

“Marinette, you wound me!” He smiles a bit playfully, and the two walk out of the classroom as the bell rings, chatting until they head to Adrien’s car, upon which he heads home.

I talked with Adrien! We joked around! We had fun!

Marinette’s eyes wander, and she smiles as she sees Nathaniel finally heading to the art club to give himself a proper outlet, so his emotions can no longer be taken advantage of, while everyone around her gossips about the recent KIDZ+ scandal regarding the Weather Girl competition, and the exact reason why there are two girls now, not just one.

Life is good.

#sugar & spice au #miraculous au #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #mlb fanfic #fanfiction #my fic #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug and chat noir

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cipherwrites · 1 year ago

Text

Sugar & Spice, Chapter 3: Stormy Weather

<- Previous Chapter / Next Chapter ->

It’s a beautiful Parisian day! The sun shines down upon the Place des Vosges, and on this tranquil day, within Tom and Sabine’s Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette…is chasing the little blur that is Manon Chamack through her home upon the upper floors. Despite her attempts to turn on the TV to placate the child, all the KIDZ+ channel has on is their Weather Girl Competition, which is not entertaining for an 8-year-old girl with the attention span of a goldfish.

“Come on, Manon, give that back!” Marinette exclaims as she tries to get a sun hat she’s been working on from the little girl.

“But I wanna be a fashion designer, too!” Manon complains, and Marinette tumbles onto the sofa.

“Manon, it isn’t finished! Please don’t rip it!” Marinette pleads. She lets out a cry as she stubs her foot against a table, and she bites her lip to keep herself from crying out something inappropriate in front of the little girl.

“Where did you go now…?” Marinette wonders, realizing that Manon had gone and hid with her hat in her moment of pain. She throws open some curtains, but she hears Manon giggle as she makes her way back to the TV.

“I’m gonna vote for Mireille, she’s the best!” Manon exclaims, and Marinette turns to see Manon pushing on the remote control like it was a phone, just hitting a number over and over. Marinette looks to see how far the girl had gotten in the competition, and sees Alec Cataldi’s…‘consistent’ style of hosting.

“We started off with 5000 contestants. But with the help of our audience at home, we whittled our talent down to just these two amazing young ladies! So, let's welcome our fantastic finalists! To my right, Aurore Beaureal, and to my left, Mireille Caquet! Who will be the lucky winner? Vote now! Text 1 for Aurore and 2 for Mireille. And remember, standard text messaging rates apply.” He says with a wink.

As he winks, the channel changes- via Manon’s bashing on the remote- to channel 222. Marinette ponders how 5000 kids were able to get their parents to sign off on such a competition while she takes the remote from Manon and turns the TV off.

“Why did I agree to this, again?” She groans as Manon rushes out of the room.

“Don’t worry, Marinette, it’ll all be fine!” Tikki says from her jacket pocket.

“Stay low, Tikki!” Marinette whisper-yells. “I don’t need Manon thinking my house has a fairy!”

“You know what? If you can handle Manon for a day, any villain from here on out will be a piece of cake.” Tikki states jubilantly.

“I appreciate the optimism,” Marinette grumbles dryly, and Tikki hides as the doorbell rings. Marinette walks over and opens the door, her eyes widening slightly as she sees the familiar form of her best friend. “Alya?”

“Hey, Girl!” Alya smiles. “I got a huge scoop for you. Guess who's on a photoshoot in the park?” she asks, holding up her phone with a picture of camera equipment in the neighboring park.

“Adrien’s in the park? Next to my house? Now?” Marinette asks, her poorly veiled developing crush on the model boy making her face immediately flush redder than Ladybug’s suit.

“As we speak! Come on, now’s a chance to talk to him!” Alya smiles. “You know, rather than stammer and avoid him like you’ve been doing.”

Marinette takes a deep breath and pats her cheeks, trying to make the blush go away. “Alya, I appreciate the help, but I’m fine keeping my distance from Adrien until I get things figured out! Besides, I’ve got a little detail to take care of.”

“What little detail?” Alya asks incredulously, and in that moment, Manon makes a beeline for the open door, making it easy for Marinette to scoop the girl up.

“This little detail!” Marinette smiles as Manon laughs.

“And who is this?” Alya smiles warmly to the little girl.

“This is Manon, the daughter of one of my Mom’s friends,” Marinette explains. “I’m watching her all afternoon.” She explains.

“Don’t tell me. Another favor?” Alya arches an eyebrow.

“She’s a friend of my mom!” Marinette pouts.

“Most babysitters get paid, you know.” Alya retorts. “Besides, kids love the park!”

“This little angel will do whatever she wants, and even if we do go to the park, we won’t have any time to be distracted by…other things.” Marinette says with a huff.

“Oh, don’t worry. I know how to deal with little angels.” Alya smirks.

---

“How did you to that?” Marinette asks, now at the Place des Vosges and watching Manon play nearby without the danger of her running off.

“I have two sisters at home her age,” Alya states with a grin. Marinette looks across the park, seeing Adrien, but…she arches her eyebrow as she sees some other carts rolling up with the KIDZ+ logo on it.

“Oh! I should get Manon a balloon.” she smiles and rushes over, pulling out her purse, but pouts a bit. “Weird…no Aurore ones.”

---

“This is the moment we've been waiting for!” Alec announces with a grin. “The viewers at home have made their decision, and the new KIDZ+ weather girl is…” there is a drumroll, and the votes are shown onscreen, with Mireille having significantly more votes.

“Mireille!” Alec declares, and Aurore is astonished at the stark defeat she’s faced as the crowd cheers.

“Man, she crushed you, eh? Better luck next time!” Alec taunts.

Aurore puffs out her cheeks and storms off, as Alec continues to taunt after her.

It doesn't make sense. I’ve been practicing so hard, she looks like she just crawled out of bed. I spent time getting clothes, she looks like she’s wearing her pajamas. I’ve done social media work, and I’ve gotten my friends on board, so why did I lose? Why did so many choose her?

She wanders past a window, and she gazes out, her eyes turning steely as she sees a cart across the street pull out balloons.

…and how come they’ve only made Mireille balloons?

She grits her teeth, recalling something Alec told her once as the lights in the elevator flicker.

“Listen, Aurore, you’re great at what you do, but the execs are looking to add a bit more diversity to the team! Don’t be surprised if you don’t get far, the last thing we need is another blonde piece of eye candy.”

“Those bastards set me up.” Aurore declares angrily as the elevator suddenly stops, and she gasps. Her eyes widen as she sees a purple butterfly starting to wriggle it’s way through the doors.

“No…no, no! Wait!” Aurore declares in terror, waving her parasol in front of her, trying to keep the monstrous bug at bay. For a second, it almost seems like it’s working…until the akuma phases into her umbrella, engulfing it in shadow.

“Stormy Weather, I am Hawkmoth.” a voice says, a chilling grasp on her mind coming, her feelings of anger, disdain, and jealousy bubbling out of control. “You should have won that little competition.”

“I should have won,” Aurore affirms. “I have the looks, the star power, everything! But she took everything from me- they took everything from me!”

“I give you the power to seek revenge on them as my weather girl. All you have to do is bring me the Miraculous. Can you do that?” Hawkmoth asks.

“Yes, Hawkmoth.” Aurore grins, completely losing herself to Stormy Weather.

---

“We can stroll by real casually,” Alya suggests, but Marinette rolls her eyes as she sits on a bench with Manon running around, running herself ragged.

“If you’re going to insist I talk to Adrien, we can do it naturally, when there’s a lull in the photoshoot,” Marinette suggests.

“And if there’s isn’t one?” Alya asks with an arched eyebrow.

“Well, that wouldn’t be so bad!” Marinette laughs nervously, and Alya scoffs.

“Come on, girl! You gotta do something!”

“You have your way of crushing on boys, I have mine,” Marinette says dismissively.

“Oh?” Alya smiles smugly, her interest piqued. “Do tell. What do you do? Track his every move? Find out about your past dates? Plan your future together?” She prods, and Marinette blushes at the last statement. “Oh, I found something~” Alya teases.

“S-shut up!” Marinette laughs, pushing Alya away, who also laughs.

---

“Magnifico! Super! Come on now, I want to see hunger in your eyes!” Vincent, Adrien’s photographer, hypes him up. He’s always been a bit odd, but he’s a genius at what he does, and Adrien appreciates him.

Adrien’s eyes wander during his posing, and he sees Marinette and Alya not too far away, on a bench and playing with a little girl. He waves at them between the shots with a smile, and the two wave back. Alya whispers something to Marinette, and she subsequently elbows Alya.

Wonder what that’s about… Adrien ponders.

“Bravo! That's it! Give me the smile when your momma brings in spaghetti! Okay! And now, Oh no! Mama dropped the spaghetti! And now, you have to eat the spaghetti off the floor! Oh yes, you're angry! Show me anger, yes, yes, yes!” Vincent rants madly. The first time Vincent brought up the ‘mother’ stuff it was a sore topic, but Adrien’s gotten used to it.

---

Marinette smiles as she watches Manon giggling, running around her her Mireille balloon.

“Can we go on the carousel, Marinette?” Manon asks.

“Of course, Manon.” Marinette smiles.

“Really, Marinette? Any chance to get out of this, huh?” Alya asks.

“There’ll be other days, Alya!” Marinette sighs. “I’m here for Manon today.”

Alya gets a sneaky look on her face and walks off while Marinette plays with Manon at the carousel. When Alya returns, she has a smug grin on her face.

“I don’t like that look.” Marinette narrows her eyes. “What did you do?”

“What I did was decide to bring you some good news,” Alya says coyly. “The shoot needs an extra to pose with Adrien, but since it’s so last-minute cause the photographer is some kind of eccentric, they don’t have one on-site.”

“...oh, no. No, no, no!” Marinette stands up, making an ‘X’ with her arms while Manon looks on blankly, clearly not paying full attention as she looks at the photoshoot and the blonde that’s been the subject of so much discussion today.

“Is that boy your boyfriend?” she asks, and Marinette blushes deeply.

“N-no! I mean, hopefully…I mean, no! He’s not! And he probably never will be!” Marinette rants.

“Come on, Marinette, this is your chance! Shoot your shot!” Alya encourages. “What are you waiting for?”

“For my time with Manon to be up!” Marinette slaps herself again, pushing down the blush. “She’s my responsibility today!”

Alya just sits next to the child. “You take care of Prince Charming, and I'll take care of Miss Unicorn here. You don't know how to control her anyway,” she says, and after some brief complaints from the little girl, Alya is able to expertly distract her, and Marinette sighs as she stands up, walking towards Adrien to see if the cameraman would really want her.

As she walks, however, a massive gust of wind comes, and she hears a cackling on the wind.

…is this Ladybug good luck for stopping me from having to talk to Adrien, or Marinette bad luck for bringing an akuma on a babysitting day?

---

Ladybug swings above the Place des Vosges, freshly transformed. Despite the adrenaline of transformation, however, the doubts of Marinette echo in her mind.

Why did I leave Manon? I should have never done that!

No. Alya's with her. She's in good hands. I can trust her.

Can I? I’ve only known her for a few weeks…

Ladybug grunts as she fails to wire-cut the ice that now surrounds the carousel, and she takes a deep breath.

Right, Plan B- stop the akuma!

If I can find it…

---

“Hey Ice Queen, what's with all the terrorizing? Why don't you pick on someone your own temperature?” Chat Noir taunts the villainess with a grin from atop a fence.

“My name is not Ice Queen, it’s Stormy Weather!” she growls.

“Yeah, I get it, names aren’t Hawkmoth’s strong suit.” Chat teases. “So, listen up. I’m feline more generous than normal today. So, cool down and call it quits, and we don’t have to let this get ugly, ‘kay?” he offers with a grin, and she just frowns and fires a gust of air at him, and he extends his baton, spinning it at high speed to act as his shield!

“Yeah, didn’t think that’d work,” Chat strains as he blocks the wind, but the increasingly intense gust throws him backward! He crashes into the street and groans, eyes opening wide as Ladybug lifts him to his feet.

“And here I thought cats always landed on their feet.” Ladybug smirks.

“Well thanks, M’Ladybug, but I had it covered.” Chat Noir smiles, kissing his partner’s knuckle, but she places her finger on his nose and pushes him back.

“No time for your charm today, Chat Noir. But, you’re welcome.” She smiles. They see a shadow rising over them, and Stormy Weather gathers a mass of clouds that surround her!

“We should be expecting a sudden thunderstorm…right now!” Stormy Weather points her parasol forward, conjuring a barrage of lightning towards the pair of heroes!

Even with the advanced reflexes the Miraculous give them, even Ladybug and Chat Noir can’t outmaneuver lightning itself. Both are stuck (Ladybug a bit more than Chat Noir, he notices), and Chat thanks whoever might be listening that the Miraculous protect them from most mortal wounds. It still hurts like hell, though.

Chat groans as he gets up, seeing Ladybug coughing a bit from the ozone, and his hair is frazzled by static.

Ladybug’s relying on the Miraculous for her fighting skills- she doesn’t have actual fighting experience to fall back on, like me. Speaking of which…

“That’s it, you’ve just earned yourself a catfight!” Chat Noir snarls, shorting his baton to be easily wielded with one hand, holding it out like a saber- something he’s come to do whenever he needs to take a fight seriously.

“Oh, go away, kitty cat! I think you’ll find it’s about to be raining cats and bugs!” Stormy Weather swings her parasol around, throwing Chat Noir away with an overwhelming gust of wind! “You too, bug!” she grins and throws Ladybug back and flies away.

“She ran…?” Chat Noir ponders.

“More like repositioning,” Ladybug reasons. “Her powers are probably stronger if she’s near the clouds. She’s trying to draw us somewhere.”

“Well, two can play at that game!” Chat Noir suggests. “She’s the one that wants our Miraculous right? We can draw her somewhere.”

“We can’t risk that,” Ladybug shakes her head. “She’ll just start attacking civilians again.”

“As always, you’re right.” Chat sighs. “But where would she go? The Eiffel?”

“Too obvious and too precarious,” Ladybug shakes her head. “It has to be connected to whoever she is. She has weather powers, and called out her attacks like she was reporting them…” Ladybug’s eyes widen. “Aurore.”

“Who?” Chat asks, thinking the name sounded vaguely familiar.

“A-Aurore Beaureal!” Ladybug stammers. “She was part of a competition today, and she must have lost. I saw the competition, but didn’t see any of her balloons.”

“Anger enough to be akumatized, from losing a competition? We’ve had a few petty akumas, but…” Chat taps his chin. “You think maybe she was set up to lose?”

“You really think that’s possible?” Ladybug questions.

“The industry is cutthroat, m’lady.” Chat Noir shrugs.

“How do you- nope, not gonna bite! No identity stuff!” Ladybug covers her ears, and Chat smiles a bit, loving how embarrassed she got to avoid anything identity-related.

“So, where was this competition held?” Chat asks.

“The KIDZ+ channel,” Ladybug says, slowly taking her hands off of her ears. “The Studio Tower is probably where she’s gone.”

“Then that’s where we’ll go! After you, M’ladybug.” Chat smiles as Ladybug swings away, and he follows her with a vault of his staff.

---

Within the Studio Tower, Ladybug blushes as Chat Noir leads her through the tower, holding her hand tight as they rush through.

“Be careful! Some of us don’t have night vision,” Ladybug says as Chat Noir peers through his green-tinted vision.

“But you gotta admit, it comes in handy!” Chat Noir smiles as they advance up the stairs.

“Oh! I see light!” Ladybug says as the two get to the door at the roof, stepping out. “Alright, I think I can manage to-”

“Duck!” Chat Noir pulls Ladybug down as they narrowly avoid a fire extinguisher thrown by Stormy Weather.

“...follow your lead on this one,” Ladybug mutters.

“You airheads!” Stormy Weather taunts. “You fell right into my trap!” she grins, starting to conjure a whirlwind, the akuma sigil appearing over her face. “There’s no way out! It’s the end of the forecast, fools!”

Ladybug feels her courage swell in her chest- the same courage and power from the day she confronted Hawkmoth on day one- and stands up.

“We’re just-” she’s about to raise her hand and realize she’s still holding Chat’s hand. He gives a sheepish smile as the blushing girl pulls her hand out of his. “We’re just getting started, Stormy Weather! Lucky Charm!”

Tossing her yoyo into the air, Ladybug conjures…a bath towel.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” the superheroine mutters.

“Well, we’ll be dry when Hawkmoth’s latest crony obliterates us,” Chat suggests dryly.

“Oh, just hold your whiskers!” Ladybug huffs.

“Time for some early onset hail!” Storm Weather proclaims as a chill crawls across the tower, and Chat Noir spins his staff to protect both himself and Ladybug from the hail.

“So what’s the plan?” Chat Noir asks, just a bit agitated by the dire situation.

Let’s see, what can I use this with? HVAC tube…the towel…that sign…bingo! “Tip the sign!” she orders, and Chat Noir nods.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir declares, compressing his baton into his palm and coursing pure destruction through his hand.

Chat draws Stormy Weather’s attention, but leaps and dodges to avoid the lightning, starting to get a better feel for her pattern of attack now- a great strength of his. If Ladybug recalls correctly, Chat Noir’s cataclysm destroys whatever it touches, but it differentiates material…which means that by cataclysming the metal holding up the billboard, the whole thing will come falling down onto Stormy Weather!

Stormy Weather redirects her attacks to try and keep the heavy billboard at bay, and Ladybug uses this chance to wrap her yoyo around the akuma’s ankle and leap from the pipe, yanking Stormy Weather downward and towards her, wrapping the towel around her face from behind to blind her as the parasol falls from her hand!

Chat Noir smiles as he catches the parasol and snaps it over his knee. The akuma emerges, and one Ladybug lands, she catches the butterfly and purifies it.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” the heroine declares, letting loose her miracle cure to return everything to normal.

“Pound it!” the heroes fistbump.

“Same time next akuma?” Chat Noir winks.

“Actually, I…had an idea,” Ladybug says. “Would you be willing for us to meet up more often than that?” she asks, and when Chat Noir’s eyes light up in excitement, she quickly backtracks “Not in a romantic way! I just-” she hears the beeping of her earrings and his ring. “Okay, I’ll make this quick. We’ve been doing good so far, but the akumas are just gonna get stronger, and we can’t fight akumas in a trial by fire. We need to train, and train with each other so we can properly support each other! You know how to fight, I know how to plan, but if we just leave those things to each other alone, it’s not a good team.”

“Hm…you make a good point.” Chat taps his chin in thought. “Alright, how about the Eiffel? Midnight tonight, we’ll get schedules sorted out for training- and maybe patrols, too!”

“Yes! Alright! Perfect! Tonight!” Ladybug smiles.

“It’s a date!” Chat Noir winks and vaults away.

“Wha- IT IS NOT A DATE!” Ladybug calls after him, and sighs exasperated, but can’t help but smile a bit at her goofy partner.

---

“So…you good?” Alya asks her bestie with an arched eyebrow.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Marinette asks.

“Because Manon stole the spotlight,” Alya states, seeing Manon and Adrien taking pictures together.

“Oh, don’t worry about me.” Marinette chuckles with a small smile. “It’s like I said, I have my own way of doing this! I’m not worried about Adrien,” she says, writing away in a book of hers.

Marinette has many books she draws in- a sketchbook, a planner, and she’s even in the process of writing one with all the notes she needs about being Ladybug…but this book in her hands is the one she’s had the longest.

Even as a little girl, Marinette has always wanted three things in life:

-A loving husband spouse (changed after she learned she was a bit more open to other prospects)

-Three kids (She has a few dozen names written down, but she’s been honing in on a handful lately)

-A hamster (She loves hamsters. She had one when she was a little girl, and she’s been meaning to get another one.)

She’d love to have all three together, and lately, she’s been debating if Tikki fits under the “hamster” category or the “child” category. Then again, maybe she could add a new one. A family business of sorts…

A whole family of superheroes would be fun. Family outings saving the day…

Marinette blushes and crosses out those few lines in her book when she begins to think of a cocky boy she’s going to be seeing more than she sees Alya, and tucks it into her bag to put in her room.

I can’t consider him! I don’t even know his name…then again, Adrien’s no safer a prospect. A model boy with an inheritance in the millions and a superhero who seems like he was born for the job; skills, quips, and all.

What chance would little unlucky Marinette have with either of them?

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #fanfiction #my fic #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug and chat noir #Sugar & Spice AU #ml fanfic #mlb fanfic

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cipherwrites · 1 year ago

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Sugar & Spice, Chapter 2: Butterflies

<- Previous Chapter Next Chapter ->

At the peak of the Eiffel Tower, a dark butterfly rests and begins to flap faster. Slowly, more akumas peel out of it like, flowing like a dark cyst. The butterflies fly up and reach across the city, cementing any hint of a negative emotion that they can find.

The multiplication of akumas is an unintended side effect of the Butterfly Miraculous, which is why it’s important that another Miraculous is used to counteract them in the case that the wielder of the Butterfly is unable- or in this case, unwilling- to release influence over them. Alas, it is in the nature of insects to breed…and akumas breed and grow in numbers in the presence of powerful emotions.

“Just as Paris is about to celebrate the appearance of our two new superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir, a new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital as dozens of people are mysteriously transformed into stone monsters!” Nadja Chamack reports on the news. “It’s simply unbelievable.”

“Even the most unbelievable things can come to pass.” Hawkmoth chuckles from his lair, keeping track of his growing army of statues and the news broadcast to monitor his new enemies. “Despite the name I’ve given him, Stoneheart has a rather sensitive one. It won’t be long before anger and sadness strike again…and when Stoneheart returns, his stone beings will come to life! Then we’ll see how well you can hide, Ladybug and Chat Noir. Once I have your Miraculous, you will be powerless against me! The Cosmic Wish is within my grasp!” Hawkmoth laughs triumphantly as he can feel the fear sweeping the city, relishing the fact that two of those little pinpricks of fear must be his adversaries.

---

“We won’t stop until we find a way to get these people back to their normal selves!” Mayor Bourgeios proclaims upon the live news feed. “Unfortunately, we haven’t made much headway.”

The camera on the television flips back to Nadja, who continues her report. “Paris is relying on our new guardian angels, Ladybug and Chat Noir, to save us all-”

The television inside the Dupain-Cheng residence gets turned off, and Tom and Sabine look over to their daughter, who just turned it off from the kitchen, tears in her eyes. She wipes her eyes and turns back around, trying to wordlessly continue the dishes. The parents look at each other, and Tom walks over to put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Listen, I know how upsetting and scary this is, but don’t worry, sweetie!” Tom assures her. “We’ve got two superheroes looking out for Paris, and the best way of helping is to show them that we’re not scared, because we trust them.” He raises his fist, smiling confidently.

“But what if they fail?” Marinette asks, unmoving in her doubt.

“Well, then I’d come and keep you safe!” Tom smiles, brandishing a baguette like a sword. “Super Baker to the rescue!”

Marinette can’t help but laugh a bit, and Tom smiles earnestly at his daughter’s hope. She hugs him, smiling.

“Thanks, Dad.” Marinette takes a deep breath. “Now…I think I need to head to school.”

“Oh! Don’t forget this!” Sabine rushes over and hands over an umbrella and a can of bug spray. “In case those butterflies come close.”

“You sure this will help?” Marinette asks hesitantly, knowing full well that it won’t.

“Well, we can only hope.” Sabine smiles, and Marinette sighs as she takes them, heading downstairs to head out.

“I’m glad you’re sticking with this, Marinette,” Tikki says softly from her purse. “You seemed so sad…I thought for a moment you’d renounce the earrings.”

“That’s not an option, Tikki,” Marinette says as she reaches the door. “I got Paris into this mess,” she says as she sees a frozen Stoneheart within eyeline of the bakery’s front door. “So I’m going to fix it.”

---

Chat Noir leaps across the city, and he sighs as he looks out across the skyline. He’s tried to look into the Stoneheart monsters, but Plagg says akumas born from multiplication aren’t like the others- they’re tied to the host akuma, which means the items they possess vanish upon transformation. The only way to free them would be to somehow use the Butterfly Miraculous to free them, or to face the true Stoneheart again and actually purify his akuma this time.

It is remarkably fucked up how Adrien has to hope some poor, heartbroken man has to get heartbroken again if he wants to save these people. He’s always hated moral puzzles.

“Well, at least there’s one good thing I can do with these powers in the meantime…” Chat says as he lands in an alleyway. “Sneak out of the house! Plagg, Claws In.” he declares, transforming back into Adrien.

“You’re such a strange kid,” Plagg remarks as he emerges from the ring. “No matter what age you’re in, classes and lessons are boring! Who would wanna attend class when you could just stay at home all day, admiring your riches?”

“You don’t get it, Plagg. My whole life, I’ve been a shut-in! I would only get a chance to go out with my Mom, and even then, we hardly left at all.” Adrien explains. “I want to meet people and make friends! Go to a normal school, like everyone else!”

“Ugh, whatever, do what you want, just feed me.” Plagg orders weakly.

“You know what’s strange?” Adrien challenges as he pulls a wedge of camembert cheese from a container in his bag. “The fact that all you eat is this disgusting, rotten-smelling cheese, and that I’m gonna have to smell like it 24/7!”

Plagg consumes the cheese in one gulp and laughs. “If you wanna be a superhero, then stinky cheese is the deal, my friend!” he quips. “And don’t worry about the whole Stoneheart thing. I’m sure my better half’s holder will find a way to solve it all soon. It’s what the Ladybug does!”

“I hope you’re right,” Adrien says as he can see the school within his line of sight. “But for today, I’m gonna do what I can to be a normal kid, despite where I come from…and despite what I’ll have to do.” he clenches his fist with the ring on it. “But that’s for tomorrow! Lycee Francoise Dupont, here I come!”

---

“I call it the Ladyblog!” Alya declares proudly, shoving her phone into Marinette’s face as they walk through the halls of the school. “I was up all night perfecting it! I’m gonna use it to bring people all the latest news about the coolest superhero, Ladybug! How awesome is that? I mean, check out the number of views it’s got already!”

Well, at least her positivity will mean the butterflies should ignore her. Marinette thinks to herself in relief.

“Hey…Alya?” Marinette fiddles with one of the ribbons in her hair nervously. “Why do you trust Ladybug so much? All the Stonehearts around, it’s all so…” hopeless.

“She’s gonna handle ‘em!” Alya declares confidently. “It’s what heroes do!”

“She only just showed up. What if Ladybug doesn’t have what it takes to be a superhero, even though everyone thinks she does? I mean, what do they know? They don’t even know who she is!” Marinette can’t help but snap in worry and exasperation.

“Oh, I see what this is.” Alya smiles, and Marinette freezes up.

Crap! She’s a superhero fan, of course she figured it out that was the rule the one rule, “don’t tell people who you are,” and I blew it and now Tikki’s gonna go away and realize I’m a lousy, good-for-nothing excuse of a hero-

“You’re scared!” Alya puts her arm around Marinette. “Listen, that’s totally natural in a place new to superheroes! But hey, you don’t need to be! It’s happened time and time again- villain shows up, hero shows up, hero faces villain, day is always saved! Like clockwork.” Alya snaps her fingers. “And besides, I’ve seen her with my own two eyes, girl! Ladybug is a superhero! She’ll protect us all!”

“Right…and Chat Noir, too.” Marinette smiles, remembering her apparent partner in heroism. He acted like more of a happy-go-lucky superhero from a comic book than Marinette did, after all.

“Oh, he basically squandered around and made jokes the whole time. He’s like comic relief, the sidekick!” Alya reasons, and Marinette can’t help but feel just a little bit insulted on behalf of her new friend.

“I don’t know if that’s-” Marinette begins, but she’s cut off as she overhears some of her classmates interacting.

“So you really don’t remember what happened?” Alix asks Ivan, who’s being pestered with questions from her and a bunch of other students, curious and concerned at the whole situation.

“No. The last thing I remember was going to the Principal, and I felt so angry. Then the anger just…grew, and I blacked out.” Ivan explains.

“You were going ballistic. It was so rad.” Juleka remarks with the smallest of smiles.

“You were out to crush me, dude!” Kim exclaims.

“I’m so sorry, Kim. I wasn’t myself…” Ivan mutters, clearly overwhelmed by everything.

“Hey, dude, it’s-” Kim begins, about to likely let this whole thing flow under the bridge with his remarkable superpower of “no social awareness,” but of course, someone else had to butt in with a signature scoff.

“Oh, please! As if we’d believe that.” Chloe Bourgeois says, waltzing onto the scene. “You’re totally psycho!” she accuses, and Ivan looks hurt and afraid at the accusation. “Once a monster, always a monster!” she declares, and Ivan grits his teeth and storms away. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” she says cockily.

That rotten, terrible girl. I oughta rip her a new one…

But I have to be the hero here. I can’t just be mean to her, even if she deserves it. That’ll just cause more problems down the line. The best thing I can do as Marinette is damage control.

“How could you say that to Ivan? You’re the real Stoneheart!” Alya growls, stomping over to argue with Chloe.

“Oh, so I’m the one that broke Sabrina’s Dad’s arm, am I?” Chloe scoffs. “Just because your footage of those lame superheroes was shown on TV, doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about.” the heiress remarks, blowing a bubble with her gum and popping it.

“Why, you little…” Alya growls.

“Oh, look out, she’s angry! She's going to split her hairs and turn into a huge muscly monster!” Chloe mocks, and Alya huffs as she walks off, clearly trying not to let Chloe get to her.

Chloe looks like she’s about to turn her mockery onto Marinette, when they hear a voice.

“Hey, Chloe!” a young blonde man calls to her.

“Adrikins! You came!” Chloe rushes over to the young man, as do several students.

Marinette recognizes him. How could she not? He’s plastered over half of Paris’ youth culture. Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste, heir to a Fashion Empire with a total net worth to rival the Bourgeois family. Marinette doesn’t have time for another rich kid right now, especially not one that has less social interaction than the heiress who keeps those “beneath her” at arm’s length.

Damage control. Where did Ivan go…?

Wandering away from the forming crowd, Marinette surmises that the best way to keep Ivan safe is to make sure he doesn’t feel anything too negative! Which, granted, was easier said than done, but maybe, just maybe…

Heading into the lockers, Marinette sees Ivan sitting on the ground, feeling sorry for himself with his headphones on. Marinette considers coming back later, but she takes a deep breath and steels herself.

If he’s just left alone listening to music, that’s leaving him alone with his thoughts. If these things are drawn to negativity, that could be dangerous.

“You know…” Marinette finally speaks up, and Ivan looks at her and pulls his headphones back. Marinette has a kind reputation, and it seems like that’s speaking some volumes here. “You could tell Mylene how you feel.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ivan looks away, muffling his voice in his folded arms.

“We all see you you look at her.” she says, and Ivan clenches his fist, so she quickly amends, “in a good way! You clearly like her, and it’s very sweet. You don’t have to get sad, or angry, or…negative at all when you think about her!” Marinette explains gently. “If you talk to her, I’m sure she has feelings for you, too. And even if she doesn’t, maybe she’ll give you a chance so she can develop them.” She explains, and Ivan looks up.

“...you really think so?” he asks, and Marinette gives him a small smile.

“Well, it’s worth a shot,” she says honestly.

“...I’m no good with words, though. I’d just screw it up,” he responds.

“Ah…who needs words?” Marinette shrugs. “You could get her a gift, draw her a picture…”

“...I could write her a song? I know she likes music,” he says, and Marinette smiles.

“There you go! Go for it, Ivan.”

Ivan smiles. “Alright. Yeah! A song. Thanks, Marinette!” he says and rushes off to get to work.

“I believe in you!” Marinette calls after him.

Perfect. Hopefully, that’ll buy me some time to figure out how to fix the Stoneheart statues.

---

Adrien was used to people swarming him for autographs whenever he was in a public space for a photo shoot, but school was different- people were still swarming, but they were all his age, so it was a bit more comfortable than the girls who were either way too old or young for his comfort.

“This is your seat, Adrikins!” Chloe says adamantly. “I saved it for you, right in front of me!” she almost seems to purr.

“Oh, uh, thanks, Chloe,” he says, sitting down, and he sees the boy next to him. “Uh…hey! Adrien,” he says, offering his hand to his classmate for a handshake, who just looks him over.

“So…you’re friends with Chloe, huh?” the cap-wearing teen asks.

“Erm…yeah? Is something wrong with…?” Adrien begins, then hears snickering, and he turns to see Chloe and Sabrina planting gum on one of the nearby seats. “Hey! What’re you doing?!” he exclaims.

“The brat that sat here yesterday needs a little attitude adjustment. I'm just commanding a bit of respect, that's all.” Chloe says with a flip of her hair.

“You really think that’s necessary?” Adrien asks, suddenly a bit concerned.

“Ah, you've got much to learn about school culture, Adrikins. Watch the master,” she instructs, but Adrien sighs and gets up to start prying the gum off.

“It’s still not cool…” he says, and Chloe has a sour look on her face as he works, though he’s having some issue with it.

“And what are you doing?” he hears a stern voice behind him, and Adrien whips around from his crouched position to see a crystal-eyed girl glaring down at him.

“Oh, uh…I…i-it’s not what it looks like!” Adrien protests as Chloe and Sabrina start snickering.

“Okay, I get it. Good job, you three. Very funny.” the girl says, glaring down at him like he’s a cornered mouse.

“No, no, I was just trying to take this off!” Adrien pleads.

“Oh, really?” the girl questions.

Oh god it’s my first day and I’m gonna get beat up oh god I can’t fight without my saber oh god Father’s gonna be so pissed off-

However, just as fast as the storm in this girl’s eyes appeared, she took a deep breath, and it dissipated, and she just looked sad.

“You’re friends with Chloe, right?” she mutters.

“Why does everyone…?” Adrien trails off as the girl continues.

“Please…just leave me alone,” she says, and as Adrien gets up to return to his seat, it’s only now that he realizes she’s actually shorter than him. With the way she loomed over him, he thought she’d be a lot taller…but all that rage wasn’t there anymore. Maybe he was just seeing things…

---

“Here, girl, let me help.” Alya helps Marinette get the gum off the seat, and Alya throws it away in a balled-up tissue. “You can sit in my seat for today, if you want. You look like you need a win.”

“I’ll be fine,” Marinette says, sitting down.

I can’t snap at people like that. Then I’d be no better than Chloe.

Even if it felt so good to see the fear in that little rich prick’s eyes…

“You know that guy?” Alya asks. “Cause if he’s some creep…”

“Not officially,” Marinette says. “He’s Adrien Agreste, the son of my favorite fashion designer. He’s a big and growing name in the industry, and his Dad’s been a shut-in for decades, with Adrien only ever seen leaving for a photoshoot, since he models the company’s clothes. He’s also Chloe Bourgeios’ best friend.

“Daddy’s boy, teen supermodel, and friends with Chloe?” Alya chuckles. “Girl, forget that! If that guy messes with you, you come to me!”

“Thanks, Alya.” Marinette smiles softly at her new friend.

---

“Why didn’t you tell them it was Chloe’s idea?” the boy next to Adrien asks, and he frowns.

“I’ve…known Chloé since I was a little kid,” he says. “I know she's not perfect, but I can't throw her under the bus. She's like my only friend,” he says, and the boy puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Dude, that is tragic. Man, I’ll be your friend,” he says with a smile. “The name’s Nino.” he grins, and the two shake hands.

---

Nathalie Sanceour sighs as she returns to the Agreste manor. Gabriel has locked himself in the atelier, so she dials him up on his work phone.

“What is it?” Gabriel answers, clearly not appreciating the interruption.

“Adrien made it into the school by the time we got there. We can’t drag him back without causing a scene, and well…you know how much young people today record things.” Nathalie explains. When she’s met with the angry silence of her employer, she takes a deep breath. “Sir, perhaps it’s time to consider that Adrien should be enrolled.”

“And why is that, Nathalie?” Gabriel asks, clearly enraged by the very idea, but respecting Nathalie enough to at least hear her out.

“Adrien’s been getting more curious lately. If not the outlet of school, it’ll be something else. This estate is big and empty, and we don’t need him…“hurting himself” by going somewhere in the mansion he shouldn’t be. If he’s out making friends and doing schoolwork, then there’s a place we always know where he is at designated times, and it keeps him pacified.” Nathalie explains.

There is a long pause, before Gabriel sighs for about five seconds straight.

“As usual, Nathalie, you are right. Very well, tell Adrien the good news when you pick him up from school today. Oh, and make a sizable donation to the school. I want it placed on lockdown whenever there’s a supervillain present,” Gabriel orders.

“It will be done, sir,” Nathalie affirms.

“Good…now, excuse me, something’s come up,” Gabriel says as he hangs up without another word.

---

Adrien sits quietly as Mme. Bustier, his new teacher, was taking attendance.

“Agreste, Adrien?” she calls, and Nino whispers to him that he’s supposed to indicate he’s present, and Adrien shoots up.

“Present!” he says, and he blushes as the students laugh at his forwardness, and Nino fist bumps him when he sits down. Anime didn’t prepare me for roll call…

“Bourgeois, Chloe?”

“Present!” the heiress calls.

“Bruel, Ivan?”

Ivan? Where have I heard that name before…?

At that moment, the door to the classroom bashes in as the familiar form of Stoneheart looms. “Present,” he growls.

Oh, no.

Adrien tucks and rolls as Stoneheart abducts one of Adrien’s shorter classmates- Marian? Maylin? He hasn’t learned her name yet- and Chloe. As he bursts out of a wall, Adrien runs into the lockers, making sure he’s alone before he grins down at his ring. Luckily, everyone’s smart enough to run out of the school or take cover somewhere more protected.

“My first day at school and I don’t even make it past roll call.” Adrien sighs.

“Welcome to the life, Kid!” Plagg snickers.

“Well, seems like I’ve gotten some homework already,” Adrien quips and holds his fist out. “Plagg, Claws Out!”

Letting the freeing transformation wash over him, Chat Noir leaps from a window and vaults up with his staff to get a better view of the situation from above. Pretty quickly, he’s able to land his eyes on the army of Stonehearts, but one isolated Stoneheart has the pair of abductees in his hands.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with!” Chloe shrieks. “My Daddy, the Mayor, will bring in the police- the army- the CAVALRY!”

“Don’t forget the Superheroes!” Chat Noir quips as he leaps down, brandishing his staff to slam into the monster…and then it gets bigger. “...ah. Right. My bad.”

“Ugh, superheroes? More like super incompetent…” Chloe scoffs.

“You wanted the cavalry?” Stoneheart growls. “Well, here it is!” The akuma sigil appears over his face, and hordes of Stonehearts begin to rush forward. “Seize him!”

“Who uses ‘seize’ anymore?” Chat taunts as he dodges the stone giants. “If you wanted to be a stereotype, a good ol’ ‘Get ‘em, boys!’ would have sufficed,” he smirks as he dodges a lamp post thrown at him, and he sees the original Stoneheart walking away, speaking to his captives out of earshot.

Chat Noir continues to flip and dodge, realizing all he can do is move and block, or else the fight gets a lot harder! “Ladybug, if you can hear me,” Chat Noir calls out, “I could use a little help here!”

At that moment, a scream is heard, and Chat turns to see Alya, one of the girls from his class, recoiling as a car is hurtling towards her! Suddenly, a familiar yoyo twirls around it, and the car is swung, redirected to throw one of the Stonehearts back as Ladybug lands!

“Ugh, I’m just late to everything today,” Ladybug complains as she gets back-to-back with Chat Noir.

“I’d prefer to think of it as coming in at the last minute to save the day!” Chat Noir smiles. “So, what’s the plan?” he asks nervously as they get surrounded.

“Regroup! We need to find the real Stoneheart.” Ladybug states, and the two use their weapons to escape to a roof, out of the Stonehearts’ reach. As they fly, one Stoneheart grabs Chat Noir’s staff and pushes it over, and Chat Noir gasps as he’s about to plummet, but Ladybug grabs onto the side of a building and throws her yoyo backward, catching Chat’s leg and pulling him up with her as she makes a final leap to a neighboring rooftop! She pulls her yoyo over a weather vane and pulls, pulleying Chat Noir by his leg to her level.

“Well, M’Ladybug, you certainly know how to turn my world upside down,” Chat Noir winks and bows from his vertigoed position.

“And you have to take care of your comedic timing, tomcat,” Ladybug quips and helps him onto the roof. “Now, how do we find the real Stoneheart…?” she ponders.

“The real one’s holding Myl- er, my assumption of the girl he has a crush on, and this…other, loud girl.” Chat Noir explains, pained to have to describe his dear friend in a basic way. “They’re heading for the Eiffel Tower.” He points toward the tower, and then sees the sea of stone being between them and the tower. “If we take care of the original, they should all return to normal, right?” Chat Noir asks.

“That’s the working theory. Oh, and check out what my kwami showed me.” Ladybug says, taking her yoyo and turning it into a Bugphone, and Chat Noir excitedly tinkers with his baton, finding a Catphone!

“Oh, that’s fun!” He states.

“And useful. We can keep in touch like this. Come on, we need to take on Stoneheart.” she says, and the two leap across the rooftops.

---

Ladybug leaps and swings across the city.

I can do this I can do this I can do this.

“I demand my daughter's safe return!” Mayor Andre yells through his megaphone towards Stoneheart Prime on the tower itself.

“Daddy, help me!” Chloe calls in fear.

“You know what? You can have her!” Stoneheart grunts as he throws Chloe, and she screams in fear while the Mayor screams in fright.

No! Chloe’s bad, but she doesn’t deserve that!

Ladybug swings herself forward as hard as she can, the magic of the yoyo and her leap propelling her forward, letting her catch the gibbering blond and land on the ground.

“You okay?” she asks her, and Chloe’s face is just a deep red and a stammering mess, tears streaming down her face.

“I- er- I mean- ah- I didn’t- I promise- I- you save- uh-” Chloe sputters, and Ladybug puts her down gently just as Mayor Andre arrives, and he hugs his dear daughter closely.

“My little Princess…” he hugs her close and protectively, and the terrified Chloe wordlessly hugs her Father back.

An event she will most likely deny later on…

“We're clear to attack!” Officer Roger states, and Ladybug turns to him.

“Like hell you are!” she snaps. “He’s still got a hostage, and your gunfire will only make him stronger!”

“I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You've already failed once!” Roger scolds, and Ladybug flinches.

“Oh, be quiet!” Chat Noir lands beside them, scowling at the Officer. “Without Ladybug, Chloe wouldn’t even still be here! And without us, there isn’t a chance of victory.” He says and puts his hand on Ladybug’s shoulder. “Come on, partner. We beat him once, we’ll do it again!” he says, and Ladybug smiles a bit.

We barely know each other, and yet he stood up for me like that…

Suddenly, they hear…coughing? They turn, and on the tower, Stoneheart is coughing and gagging as the akuma sigil flickers, silhouetting his face in violet light. He lifts his head high and screams out in tormented pain as a swarm of dark butterflies emerges from the depths of his throat. The butterfly swirls and converges, creating a vague and horrid shape of a man’s face, obscured by an iron mask.

“People of Paris, listen carefully. I am Hawkmoth.” a voice echoes throughout each butterfly, creating a booming voice of mass proportions.

“Hawkmoth?” Ladybug and Chat Noir exclaim.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir, give me the Ladybug Earrings and the Ring of the Black Cat now. You've done enough damage to these innocent people!” the voice booms, and people begin to murmur, but Ladybug steps forward.

I’ve had to deal with so much just in the past 24 hours- no, the past FIVE HOURS. I learned magic was real, not just a hoax or a rumor to mask the truth of mutated or augmented superheroes. I learned there’s some set of powerful jewelry that gives you powers. I learned I was chosen to wield one of the most powerful ones. I learned that puts a target on my back. I learned about akumas, how a despicable, evil person is perverting one of the Miraculous and probably enslaving a poor, defenseless kwami. And I’ve learned…that I really hate Hawkmoth.

“Here’s something you should know about me, Hawkmoth: I hate liars,” Ladybug says, her voice cold and bitter. “You really expect us to believe those words? I didn’t even find these stupid earrings until you attacked the city! Chat Noir and I aren’t the ones mentally abusing the people of Paris, enslaving them to do our dirtywork! Don’t reverse the roles here, you terrorist! Without you, none of these innocent victims would be transformed into villains, and we wouldn’t even have to be here! So if this power you’re using is the result of a Miraculous like ours, then mark my words, Chat Noir and I will find you and take yours away from you!”

And save that little kwami.

Ladybug then leaps forward, swinging her yoyo forward like a whip. “Now, let’s do this right!” she shouts as her yoyo carves through the face of akumas, catching them in droves. The citizens of Paris look on in awe- as does a red-faced Chat Noir- as she lands on the tower where the face once loomed, holding up her yoyo.

“People of Paris!” She proclaims, “I promise you, no matter who wants to harm you, Chat Noir and I will do everything in our power to keep you safe!” she professes as she gestures to her grinning partner. She then opens her yoyo up, and a purified swarm of white butterflies emerge as the people of Paris cheer for their hero.

---

“Wow.” Chat Noir smiles, putting a hand over his heart. “Whoever’s under that mask, I love that girl,” he says with a loving look in his eyes. “I can’t wait to be her partner.”

There is a roar, and the heroes see Stoneheart now back to normal, snarling. “You'll never take Mylene from me! Come to me, my stone beings!” he declares, and he begins to climb as Chat Noir leaps up to join Ladybug, the stone beings beginning to surround the tower.

“Well, what now? We can’t attack him.” Chat says.

“Well, we know where the akuma is,” Ladybug states as they scale the tower.

“In his clenched fist, but he’s also holding his crush,” Chat affirms. “Maybe we get them to kiss? I hear she likes him, too!” he shrugs with a smile.

“This isn’t a fairy tale, Chat Noir.” Ladybug chuckles.

“Worth a shot.” Chat shrugs.

“Let’s see what karma has in store for us. Lucky Charm!” she declares, throwing her yoyo into the air this time, and a parachute appears and lands in her hands. “Hmm…alright, I’ve got a plan. Get ready, Chat Noir!”

Stoneheart roars as Ladybug and Chat Noir arrive at the peak, using his free hand to hang onto the steeple, the two heroes launch themselves upwards, and Chat Noir grins as he holds the parachute and makes it to Stoneheart’s face, and he pulls the cord, the parachute itself hitting Stoneheart in the face and blinding him!

“Gah!” he exclaims and, in reaction, lets go of Mylene to pull it off, and both Mylene and the paper begin to fall!

In a single dive, Ladybug catches Mylene, and Chat Noir catches the paper, ripping it to shreds. “No more evildoing for you, little akuma!” Chat grins, then compresses his baton into a disk. “Cataclysm!” he clutches the akuma in his hand, dissolving it into nothing. “Turns out, I can fight them, too! Just takes a bit more.” he chuckles as he catches the falling form of what is now Ivan.

As Ivan and Mylene reunite, Ladybug picks up the parachute from where it landed on the ground. “Hmm…let’s see if I’ve got this right.” she throws it into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!” she declares, and the glowing lucky charm bursts into a swarm of magical ladybugs, swarming across the city and repairing all damage done, and the release of the Prime Akuma from existence causes a chain reaction that destroys all akumas spawned from the original, returning the Parisians to normal!

“Whoa. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Chat Noir asks as the Ladybugs swarm the city.

“Yeah. It's beautiful and amazing. It's…” Ladybug says, speechless.

“Miraculous?” Chat Noir offers with a cheeky grin, and she scoffs with a smile.

“You’re insufferable.” She states.

“You’ll get used to it!” he winks as he leans on his baton.

They look over and see Mylene reading the paper, hugging Ivan as the two make up. Ladybug smiles.

“Well, they seem made for each other,” Ladybug states.

“Kinda like us~” Chat Noir says with a wink, deciding that big and bold is the way to go with his affections- too many times he’s seen guys be all reserved and secretive about his feelings in media, but not him! He’ll sing his affections from the rooftops.

“A punner and a flirt? Lucky me.” Ladybug rolls her eyes, and she hears her earrings beep. “Looks like it’s time to split. Let’s meet up soon, Chat Noir. We’re partners now, after all.” she says and swings away.

“I can’t wait, M’lady.” Chat Noir smiles gently, his heart beating quicker.

---

“So, by the time I biked to the Eiffel Tower, it was all over! I'm way bummed.” Alya complains to Marinette as the two return to school.

“Oh…don’t worry, Alya! You’ll get your scoop eventually.” Marinette smiles, supporting her friend, despite her…dangerous idea of fun.

“You know what, you’re right!” Alys smiles. “And my next target: Ladybug! An exclusive interview!”

“Ooh, sounds exciting.” Marinette giggles. I could probably make that happen…but not right away. I’ll need to prepare myself to face Alya while in the mask.

“Oh, wait!” Alya grins. “Even better: finding out who’s really under the mask!”

“Oh! Uh…good luck with that one!” Marinette chuckles nervously.

Okay, I definitely need to train myself to interact with people in the mask.

---

When Adrien walks into the classroom, he pales as he sees Marinette and Alya sitting where Sabrina and Chloe were sitting yesterday, with Marinette having the most devilish little smirk on her face.

“You’re in the wrong seat. Go on, get lost!” Chloe scolds.

“‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good people do nothing’.” Marinette quotes confidently, and Alya looks proud.

I know that one. That’s a Majestia quote. I don’t know if I’d call Chloe “Evil,” though…

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chloe asks.

“It means I’m not putting up with you anymore, Chloe.” Marinette slams her hands on the desk and stands up. “And, quite frankly, neither should anyone else. Because you’re hardly the scariest thing in Paris anymore. I’ve just gotten a bit of perspective.” she remarks with a smile. Chloe fumes at her words, scowling, but sits down where Marinette was yesterday, and Adrien takes his seat in front of Marinette, gulping nervously.

“You wanna try and get him to move, too?” he hears Alya ask behind him.

“Nah…it’s fine. I think I’ve made my point.” Marinette says confidently.

Oh, she’s made her point alright. I can practically feel her eyes boring into the back of my head. She’s tiny and sweet, but she’s terrifying. Like a ghost pepper-flavored macaron.

“Dude,” Nino whispers to Adrien. “You wanna make friends, right? Well, you should talk to Marinette about the gum thing!”

“What? No! I’m pretty sure she hates me,” Adrien whispers back.

“Marinette doesn’t hate anyone! Except maybe Chloe,” Nino says, and Adrien groans. “Look, bro, she’ll forgive you! Listen, Marinette would never admit this- probably cause she doesn��t believe it- but she’s, like, the most popular girl in school. Chloe may be the Mayor’s daughter, but not being Marinette’s friend is not only practically impossible, it’s also social suicide.” Nino explains. “Just tell her what you told me! She’ll understand!”

“And if she doesn’t?” Adrien asks.

“Then I may just be your only friend ever.”

Thanks for the reassurance, Nino…

---

Ugh, the weather app didn’t say anything about rain today! And it was such a good day, too…I got to tell of Chloe!

Oh god, I told off Chloe. Why the hell did I do that?! She can ruin my life! Ruin my family’s life!

I’m a goddamn superhero, though! I can afford some vindication.

I can’t afford to let an adrenaline high get me into fights all the time, though…

“Hey,” She hears a voice, and she turns to see Adrien, and he opens his umbrella to cover them both. Marinette, immediately confused, just stares at him, and he gulps nervously.

She’s not sure why people always seem uncomfortable when she just looks at them like this! She’s not big or scary (no matter what Nino tries to tell her about her thousand-yard glare).

“I-I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat. I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.” he explains, handing his umbrella to her, their hands touch and they gaze into each other’s eyes, and Marinette can tell that he’s being truthful.

Marinette gasps as the umbrella closes over the two of them, and they laugh a bit as they get out of the umbrella, and Marinette straightens it out.

“I’m being picked up. Keep the umbrella!” he says and walks away. “See you tomorrow!” he says, and Marinette smiles a bit.

“See you tomorrow, Adrien!” she waves to him and smiles, feeling a warmth in her, and her smile vanishes as she puts her hand over her heart. “Oh…oh no.” she sighs a bit and leans against the wall. “Not again…”

“Oh, I think I have an idea what that means!” Tikki giggles knowingly, and Marinette blushes deeply at her kwami’s words.

---

As the rain beats down, an old man returns to his parlor with a smile on his face.

“Well done, Master!” Wayzz says. “You’ve managed to choose two wielders who seem to complement each other well! They even get along as civilians.”

“Indeed. Fate has always drawn the Ladybug and Black Cat together, bringing their wielders in proximity as well,” Fu chuckles. “And while it may not always be a romantic attraction…I must admit, from what I’ve observed today, those two seem like they’re made for each other.”

“Ah, to fit together as well as the Ladybug and Black Cat do…such a wonderful design of destiny.” Wayzz smiles.

“Alas, unlike the embrace of love, Tikki and Plagg can never again unite…” Fu closes the Miracle Box after depositing the Miraculous he had used that day. “Under any circumstances.”

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #fanfiction #my fic #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug and chat noir #Sugar & Spice AU #ml fanfic #mlb fanfic

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cipherwrites · 1 year ago

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Sugar & Spice, Chapter 1: Luck & Misfortune

Next Chapter ->

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a normal girl with a normal life! She’s clumsy, a romantic at heart, and she has a true passion for fashion design. The 16-year-old is moving into her second year of Lycee, but as this new school year begins, so too does chaos from an ancient magic unveiled, a responsibility to protect her city, and quite literally falling head-over-heels in love with the boy just one year elder that’s been kind to her…

That’s right. Both of them.

A few things you should know about this fic before we get into it:

-A personal pet peeve of mine is putting kids in dangerous situations! Even when it comes to magic, I would much prefer that adults held that kinda power. However, since a good deal of the series revolves around school drama, I’ve decided to put our main cast in Lycee and make them all young adults.

-According to my research (which could be wrong or outdated so please don’t judge me I am not from france), age of adulthood is 18 and full legal capacity comes at 16. I also found reference that the age of consent is 15, but that won’t really come into play in this fic.

-I will try to refer to French things as well as I can, such as “Lycee” instead of “High School.” For those that don’t know, Lycee is the three-year education system that comes after College (which isn’t University).

-Our main cast is in their second year of Lycee! Lycees are typically ages 15-18, so our main cast is ages 16-17 when the series begins. Specifically, Marinette and Adrien are 16, and Adrien will of course turn 17 during ‘Bubbler’

-I will be making new Miraculous lore! I will be both ignoring old lore and building off existing lore at intervals I deem appropriate.

-I’ll be changing a few Miraculous abilities, including giving them all a significant nerf/upgrade that comes from another fic series I wrote.

-I will also be changing character designs slightly, including costumes, but I have no talent in art so when I describe them simply use your imagination.

-I’ll be writing this like it’s a proper reboot, so I’ll be alluding to things that we all already know and pretend Hawkmoth’s identity is a secret until “Season 2”

-Felix and Adrien are sentimonsters. They are the only “human” sentimonsters that will be in this fic series. I have nothing against Sentimonster Kagami, but it’s just not for me in this story.

-On that note, this series will have Lukadrigaminette (gosh that’s hard to type)! Again, nothing against Feligami, but the story I’m building needs him to be a lonely boy for now.

With all of that said, please enjoy!

===

In the millennia before humans could even fathom recording their history, a powerful Mage made contact with an ephemeral being. The being was lonely, for it was everything that ever was and would ever be. It was all, yet it was nothing. A cosmic confusion that it could never understand. Its attempts to help humanity only brought fear and terror, and the being grew to loathe humans. However, the Mage pleaded with the eternal being that humanity just needed a new perspective. The cosmic nothing came to see reason, and split itself into two halves: Creation and Destruction. The embodiments of these concepts came to be bound by jewels the Mage forged, and he went onward to bind the aspects of humanity, the very concepts of the universe themselves, into these many jewels. In due time, these nineteen pieces of jewelry would be known as the Miraculous.

The first two Miraculous remained more powerful than the others: the Ladybug of Creation and the Black Cat of Destruction. The Ladybug could create anything and restore order and balance. The Black Cat could destroy anything and bring disorder to the world around it. The legend says that uniting these two will allow them to reconverge into the original Cosmic Nothing, and they will do as they always have: consider the wish of their wielder, and grant it in the only way they know how: destroy the very universe, and recreate it in a way where the wish is granted. The Cosmic Nothing cannot comprehend the horrors of its own actions, and so it was declared that these Miraculous could never be united…

---

“I want that wish, Nooroo.” a malicious man says in the shadows, three long months after a woman’s disappearance. The boy is kept calm and complacent by means he could never understand, but the man has no such freedom of ignorance. “I must have those Miraculous!”

“But Master, I was separated long ago!” the tiny purple kwami exclaims, “I don’t know where the Miraculous are anymore. No one does!”

“I found you though, my little Nooroo.” the man grins. “Your Miraculous…remind me of its powers again.”

“The Miraculous of the Butterfly allows you to swath someone in need in comforting shadow and give them the power to achieve victory with their inner potential.” Nooroo recites.

“Throughout history, the Miraculous have been used by those that have gone down in history as heroes. When it comes to luring in heroes, what could be better than creating villains?” the man suggests with glee.

“But…but you can’t! Master, the Miraculous cannot be used for evil purposes!” Nooroo warns in fear.

“I must have that cosmic wish!” the man orders, pointing at the helpless kwami. “Your Miraculous is in my control! I am your master, and you must obey me.”

“Yes…master.” Nooroo obeys sadly.

“Nooroo,” the man affixes the brooch to his attire, “Dark Wings Rise!” He orders, transforming through the power of the Miraculous. “From now on, I shall be known as…Hawkmoth.” he laughs maliciously.

---

“Marinette!” a voice calls, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng gasps awake to the sound of her alarm going off. “Your alarm’s been going off for fifteen minutes! You’re going to be late!”

“Oh, no, no, no!” the sixteen-year-old Marinette Dupain-Cheng panics. “Coming, Maman!” she calls down, swiftly changing clothes and getting everything together.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a petite girl with black hair that she dyes into a light shade of blue. She wears her hair in a pair of pigtails and a nice mix of colors in her homemade clothes, primarily her favorite color pink. However, the main thing people notice about Marinette is the bandages. Marinette is immensely clumsy, so she often wears a large number of bandages to cover the bruises and cuts she gets from merely existing day after day. Rushing to get her school bag together, she packs a box of bandaids with cute designs, because chances are she’s gonna have a new mark on her face by the end of the day.

As Marinette rushes out of her room, she takes one last look to make sure she isn’t forgetting anything, scanning her room in half a second. Marinette’s room is chaotic in some portions but also ridiculously organized in others. Marinette has several crafts projects beyond her personal clothing designs, plenty of empty binders and books for when she inevitably takes an extracurricular, and walls that have been bare of photos for four long years…well, that ends today! She’s gonna make friends, take pictures, and fill this room with life again!

Marinette barrels into her Family’s kitchen, practically running into the table to try and hurriedly stuff her face.

“Remember to chew, dear,” Sabine says calmly to her daughter. “And please sit down.”

Marinette mumbles a bit between her bites as she sits at the table, swallowing a handful of food at once. “Sorry, Maman.” she sighs. “I’m a little nervous, I gotta admit…Chloe’s probably gonna be in most of my classes again.”

“Four years in a row of this, is that even possible?” Sabine asks.

“You know me, the picture of luck!” Marinette chuckles nervously.

“Oh, don’t say that!” Sabine scolds, frowning at her daughter’s self-deprecation. “It’s the start of a new school year! Everything will be fine.”

As Marinette considers her Mother’s words, it’s as though on cue she drops the spoon in her hand, hitting another object and hitting many others like a Rube Goldberg machine of chaos and misfortune. Marinette just groans, tempted to just fall to the ground and let the earth take her. Before Marinette can spiral any further into her doubts, her Dad walks in, humming to himself as he places a Boulangerie Patisserie box full of macarons down in front of his beloved daughter. Marinette sees the treats in the box she has requested her Dad make for her new class, and her eyes light up in renewed triumph.

“Papa, these are so awesome!” Marinette hugs her Dad.

“Glad you like them,” Tom smiles warmly.

“My class will love them, Papa. You’re the best!” Marinette hugs him, and after Tom catches the dropped box and hands it to her, she kisses her parents on the cheek before rushing out. “See you tonight!” she calls back, aiming to get to school quickly.

Marinette rushes out of her home clutching the box of sweets as she slings her backpack onto her back. She manages to avoid tripping over herself as she reaches the intersection, but as she breathes a sigh of relief, her eyes widen as she sees a little old man crossing the street slowly, struggling with his cane…as a car is fast approaching! Everyone around her is on their phones- only she can see him! Gasping in fear, she rushes forward, using every ounce of strength in her tiny body to tackle the old man on the other side of the street! The two of them groan, and Marinette feels her heart fall as she sees her box dropped in front of her, the macarons spilling out and in pieces. Marinette just hangs her head as the old man gets up.

“Oh, my! Young lady, thank you…young lady?” he seems concerned, but she pulls herself together.

“Oh! No, it’s fine, it’s…” She watches helplessly as someone on their phone walks by, stepping on one of the dropped macarons. She just hangs her head, her gaze blurring with frustrated tears before she wipes them away. “It’s fine!” she wipes the tears away. “I’m no stranger to disaster. There are even a few left! I might be able to dust some dirt off of these ones…”

The old man picks up one of the broken pieces from the ground, dusting it off and trying it.

“Well, they still taste delicious to me.” the old man smiles kindly, and Marinette smiles.

“Thank you, sir.” Marinette shuts the box and suddenly, she hears the school bell in the distance! “Oh, no, I’m gonna be late! Ah, have a nice day sir! Be careful of traffic!” she shouts as she rushes off.

---

As the old man walks into an alleyway, he takes a deep breath and slumps against a wall.

“Reality,” he mutters, dispelling the illusion of the speeding car that has since pulled into an alleyway and the illusion around himself. “Trixx, Orikko, divide.” He says, the two kwamis emerging from the Miraculous.

“Master, this was incredibly dangerous!” the fox kwami warns.

“I have to agree! You shouldn’t be wielding a Miraculous at your age, much less unifying them!” the rooster agrees.

“It’s just for today.” the old man explains as he feeds the kwamis some macaron crumbs he picked up. “I need to be sure the people are worthy. I need the Fox to set up the situations, and the Rooster to give me the power of empathic reading. That way, I’ll be able to tell if those I choose are right.”

“Was she right, Master?” the Fox asks.

“I believe so, Trixx.” the old man smiles and slips on some glasses. “Now, for the final part before moving forward. Kaalki, Full Gallop!”

---

Barreling through the doors of Mme. Bustier’s classroom at top speed is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, barely able to catch herself as she stumbles into the room with what many classmates would refer to as “three left feet” with how fast and bumbling she is. Marinette can see many familiar faces and a few new ones.

Mme. Bustier was the primary teacher this year…again. Caline Bustier is a decent teacher, and through her own skills and the positive enforcement of her students and their families, she went from a Junior Secondary teacher to a Senior Secondary teacher in just a few years!

Maybe she advanced a bit too quickly, that quiet, rude corner of Marinette’s mind said.

I just need some faith. She wouldn’t have gotten the position if she didn’t deserve it! The rest of Marinette reasoned.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” a shrill voice says her name like it’s an accusation, interrupting her train of thought. Marinette takes a deep breath, having only just sat down.

Here we go again…

“That’s my seat.” Chloe Bourgeois herself, self-appointed Queen Bee of the school, almost universally despised, and daughter of Mayor Andre Bourgeois.

“Chloe, it’s the first day of school! Seats are being assigned right now, and you came in after me for once!” Marinette complains.

“Not anymore!” Sabrina proclaims. “New year, new seats!”

“You refuse to know your place, so I have to put you in your place.” Chloe grins, looming over the sitting and diminutive form of Marinette. “Why don’t you go sit by the new girl?” she gestures to the Creole girl a row away reading a comic book, whose attention has been caught by the situation. “Adrien’s arriving today, and since he’s going to sit there, I’m going to sit here.”

“Adrien…Agreste?” Marinette blinks. “But- the Agrestes are shut-ins!”

“Not anymore!” Chloe smirks. “Oh, does the little fashion wannabe actually wanna meet an Agreste?”

“I- you- but-” Marinette stammers as Chloe grins cruelly over her.

“Maybe if you finally put yourself in your proper place, I’ll consider letting you meet him. The only place you belong is-” Chloe begins, but suddenly, they’re interrupted.

“Hey! Who elected you Queen of Seats?” the Creole girl accuses, having stood up and coming up with her comic book rolled up.

“Oh, look, Sabrina! We’ve got a little do-gooder in our class this year.” Chloe chortles. “What, another superhero nerd? What are you gonna do, shoot beams at me with your glasses?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Alya scowls and leads Marinette by the hand, “Come on, you can sit with me and away from those two.”

As she leads Marinette, the shorter girl gasps as she trips, once more spilling her macarons until only one remains in the box.

“Sorry! Sorry. I’m sorry…” Marinette whimpers.

“Hey, it’s okay, girl!” Marinette’s new seat neighbor gathers the dropped sweets and tosses them into the trash. “No biggie.”

“I wish I could handle Chloe the way you do…” Marinette mutters.

“You mean the way Majestia does it,” the girl explains, rolling out the comic again. “She says that ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing’.” She then points at Chloe. “Well, that girl over there is evil, and we are the good people. We can’t let her get away with it,” she explains like it’s a simple fact.

Chloe isn’t evil…she’s not perfect, but she’s not EVIL. I hope.

“Well, that’s easier said than done,” Marinette says instead. “She likes to make my life miserable…”

“That’s cause you let her, girl! Get some confidence!” the girl grins, and Marinette can’t help but smile at the sentiment.

“I’m Marinette,” Marinette says, handing Alya the last macaron.

“Alya.” the girl smiles, taking and eating it with a smile on her face.

“Alright, class, let’s get started!” Mme. Bustier smiles.

“Where is he…?” Marinette can barely hear Chloe mutter.

---

Adrien has just helped an old man from tripping and falling into the street, turning back with a sight to see the two people he knew would drag him away from the steps of Francoise Dupont Lycee. Nathalie Sanceour, archaeologist-turned-assistant, and Placide I.T., a gorilla-like American bodyguard that hardly understands a word of French, much less speak it.

“I just want to go to school like anyone else. What’s so wrong with that?” Adrien protests.

“Let’s go home, Adrien,” Nathalie says, and the Bodyguard opens the door of the car.

“... please don’t tell my Father about this,” Adrien mutters as he steps into the car.

---

The Butterfly Miraculous allows one to tap into truly empathic abilities, allowing one to read emotions and surface thoughts for many miles while in a meditative state. There is negativity all across the so-called “City of Love,” but it is one emotion picked up on. Anger, Sadness, Resentment, and Regret all together at once! A shy boy hiding his anger, pent up with rage with a want to express his love, but how could he ever?

“This is perfect.” Hawkmoth grins. He holds his cane up, and the head opens. A butterfly lands on it, and the head closes. Dark energy pulses through the head of the cane, corrupting the harmless butterfly into something more potent. “Burn a hole into his heart, my horrible akuma!” the head of the cane opens, and the cracking purple-black butterfly emerges, fluttering out of the window with a target in mind. “Fly now, and akumatize him!”

When the akuma closes in, he can feel the anger spike. Scorned by the Principal, who should be protecting these youths. The akuma finds its way into the object with the most emotional attachment: a crumpled-up piece of paper, a failed confession.

“Stoneheart, I am Hawkmoth.” Hawkmoth declares, his influence driven into the boy’s mind like a knife. Proclaiming his new name, so that he has no chance to deny that Stoneheart is his identity. “The world hurts, doesn’t it? I can give you the power to shut out all pain. However, in return, there is something you need to do for me…”

“Whatever it is, you’ve got a deal, Hawkmoth.” the weak-willed young man agrees, and the horrible shadow covers him, mutating him into something so much more.

“Make some noise, Stoneheart.” Hawkmoth orders. “Grab Paris’ attention.”

---

Marinette and Alya were in the library, when the ground suddenly shook. Marinette fell to the ground- not actually her fault, this time!- and plastered across every news screen was that of a monstrous golem-like creature tearing through the school.

“KIM!” the monster roars in anger, and Marinette can see the monster’s fist tighten around something in his hand.

Something…breaks.

“Ivan?” Marinette mutters, blinking in surprise.

“Hello? This is the police?” Damocles exclaims, talking on his phone as he rushes through the library, trying to hide. “Get me the army!”

“Whoa, a real-life supervillain!” Alya rushes to her bag, swiping through her phone. “GPS, synced. Battery, charged. I am so ready for this!” she starts to rush out the door…towards the danger?!

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Marinette exclaims.

“Supervillains mean Superheroes, and Paris hasn’t had either in years!” Alya grins. “There’s no way I’m missing this!”

Marinette sees the news on another student’s phone and just how…destructive this monster Ivan has become is. She winces, and she thinks hard.

My new friend has a death wish! I have to help her!

What can I even do? I’d just get in the way…or worse, my clumsiness could get her hurt!

I can’t just do NOTHING, can I?

There’s another boom from outside.

I should…leave this to the Police.

---

Adrien, ever-bored, waits patiently as he answers each of Nathalie’s questions easily. Suddenly, the door to Adrien’s room opens.

“Give us a moment, would you, Nathalie?” Gabriel Agreste himself requests, and Nathalie steps out. He then turns to Adrien, holding his hands behind his back. “You are not going to school. I already told you.”

“But, Father-” Adrien protests.

“Quiet.” Gabriel orders, and Adrien promptly shuts up. “Everything you need is right here where I can keep an eye on you. I will not have you outside in that dangerous world.”

It’s not dangerous, Adrien thinks to himself. Why can’t I just go to school like everyone else…?

Gabriel walks to the door, opening it for Nathalie. “Continue,” he orders, and Adrien walks to the door as he walks away, and Nathalie looks into the room.

“We can leave it there for today if you-” Nathalie begins, and Adrien promptly shuts the door in her face.

Adrien groans, laying on his bed. He hears thumping and…explosions? He rushes to the TV and turns it on, seeing a monster literally absorbing gunfire into its body, growing bigger!

---

“As incredible as it seems,” Nadja Chamack reports, “it’s been confirmed that Paris is indeed being attacked by a supervillain! The Police have been struggling to keep the situation under control.”

“First day back at school…and a supervillain attacks.” Marinette faceplants into her chaise. “This is a new low.”

Marinette looks up at the monitor, her eyes squinting as she sees a small box she doesn’t recognize next to it. “Huh…?”

---

Adrien stares at the screen in disbelief, then notices something on one of his darker shelves he hasn’t noticed until now…something that definitely wasn’t there before.

“What’s this doing here?” Adrien picks up the box with the intricate design and opens it up, and a bright glow emanates from within!

---

“AAGH!” Marinette falls back, seeing the creature that emerged from the box. “Help! Giant bug- mouse- bug-mouse!”

“Everything’s okay, don’t be scared!” the creature tries to comfort her.

“AAGH IT TALKS!” Marinette panics.

---

“I’m Plagg, nice to meetchya.” the creature grins in front of Adrien before promptly starting to destroy his room, looking at anything shiny and possibly edible.

“Hey, hold on-!” Adrien protests.

---

Marinette slams a jar over the creature.

“Okay, if that makes you feel safer, Marinette…” the creature says.

“What are you and how do you know my name?!” Marinette exclaims.

“I am a kwami, and my name is Tikki. Now, just let me explain-” she begins.

---

“-I grant powers,” Plagg explains simply from the grip of Adrien’s hands. “Yours is the power of destruction, got it?”

“Not even a little,” Adrien says honestly, prompting Plagg to roll his eyes.

“Good enough for me!” he phases out from the hands, causing Adrien to shudder as both his hands feel like they’ve fallen asleep. “You got anything to eat? I’m starving.”

“This can’t be real,” Adrien says, shaking his hands. “I’d assume someone was pranking me, but I’m the only one in this house with a sense of humor…”

“No one must know I exist!” Plagg suddenly gets in Adrien’s face.

---

“I’m your friend, please trust me! You’re the only one who can stop Stoneheart!” Tikki pleads, having phased out of the jar to stop Marinette from getting her parents.

“This has to be a mistake! The only superpower I could have is how abysmal I am at literally everything I do…I know!” Marinette looks up at the kwami. “Alya would know! That’s my friend! Well, I think she is…and I think she would…she loves superheroes, and knows way more than me about being a hero! You should totally go see her, instead!”

“Marinette, you were chosen!” Tikki insists.

---

“I’m a pretty crummy choice,” Adrien admits. “I’m stuck here! I’m not even allowed to go to school! What good is a superhero stuck in his own house?”

“No good at all.” Plagg grins mischievously. “That’s why that’s all going to change soon. If you’re willing to use my power to break the chains that keep you here.” Plagg lounges on the open box, gesturing to the black ring tantalizingly.

---

“Okay, break the object, capture the thing! What’s the…charm thing again?” Marinette asks.

“I can’t say it, but part of the transformation involves knowledge. You’ll know it when you transform!” Tikki explains. “It will create an object that will help you deal with one threat! Once the threat is neutralized, you can release the energy of the object back into the universe, restoring the balance and fixing any damage the threat has done!”

“This is going…very fast, Tikki, I…I can’t do this!” Marinette whimpers.

“Trust yourself, Marinette! You have the potential inside of you!” Tikki smiles. “The transformation phrase is ‘Spots On’.”

“Spots on?” Marinette questions, and her eyes widen as Tikki is drawn into the earrings, and the transformation curls across her body!

Her eyes become a deeper blue and segmented like compound eyes, her hair becomes longer, the ribbons curling off her back. A shoulder-length cape with a Ladybug pattern around her neck is worn, and beautiful reds and blacks make up the Ladybug pattern of her attire, including a yoyo at her waist! There is a pitch-black pattern on her suit that makes a pair of gloves, with the black going along the underside of her forearms, and her boots have a similar pattern.

---

“Plagg, Claws Out!” Adrien declares, more ready for this than anything else in his life.

“No, wait! I haven't finished explaining-!” Plagg shrieks as he’s pulled into the ring, and Adrien transforms.

Adrien’s heroic form is fashionable leather, catlike eyes, and his hair has become wild and longer. A tail-like belt and a golden bell completes the look, and his clawed gloves are a wonderful touch, and he grins with a toothy, somewhat fanged grin. At his waist sports a collapsible staff that can become as compact as a palm-sized disc.

“This is gonna be so cool!” Adrien laughs excitedly.

---

Marinette looks down at her hands, gazing at her transformed visage.

I feel…weird. Out of my element.

“Tikki, can I get my old clothes back? Tikki…? You there…?” Marinette mutters to herself, and she feels the earth shake again, and she looks at the monitor worriedly.

“The monster, which calls itself ‘Stoneheart’, is heading toward the Montparnasse tower! The monster seems to be unstoppable!” Nadja reports.

Marinette sees Alya rushing toward the scene from the news feed, and her eyes widen in fear for the safety of her only friend.

I have to help her, no matter how weird this magic stuff feels!

“Marinette!” Sabine calls from downstairs, and Marinette’s eyes widen in fear. Tikki was very clear about keeping her identity a secret. “Marinette, sweetie, are you home? Are you okay?!”

Marinette knows that if she responds, she’d have to confront her Mere, and they’d want her to hide with her and Papa. Climbing up to her balcony quickly and silently, she feels guilt spike into her as she hears her Mere worried about the lack of her daughter in the house.

Okay, I have powers or something! And a magic yoyo.

Marinette feels the magic of the suit gives her the instincts to use the yoyo to swing. Her reflexes have been improved, but her hand-eye coordination is still pretty bad. The powers seem to enhance her existing abilities, not replace them.

The wind in my face, this new strength, I feel better than ever!

I still feel a bit weird.

…no, not weird. I feel powerful.

---

Adrien can’t help but laugh and whoop as he launches himself throughout the city he’s never had a chance to see! Every building, a new opportunity at vaulting himself onward! Adrien was already pretty skilled and physically fit, but the Miraculous has increased all of that tenfold (well, maybe not tenfold, but it still feels great!)!

He’s walking across a gap between two buildings using his staff at a tightrope- his model poise and the Black Cat’s instincts making it practically impossible for him to fall- when he hears a shriek from above. Looking up, he sees a blur of red slam into him, yoyo strings tying them together as they hang upside-down.

“Well, hey there.” Adrien smiles, happy that he was able to find his apparent partner so easily. “Nice of you to drop in!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” the blue-eyed bug girl proclaims nervously. “I didn’t mean to- this wasn’t on purpose!” she stammers slightly, and in a few moments, the two of them are able to free themselves and reclaim their weapons.

“So, you’re the partner my kwami told me about?” Adrien asks, and the girl nervously nods. “Well, you can call me…” Adrien taps his chin, grinning. He’d been thinking about this all the while he was vaulting across Paris. Something short and sweet, rolls off the tongue, but makes sense and tells people everything they need to know about him. “Chat Noir. Yeah, Chat Noir!” the new hero grins. “And you?”

“I’m Ma- er, uh-” the girl scrambles with her yoyo wildly, and winds up tossing it up and it hits her on the head before she catches it. “...Madly clumsy. I am so clumsy.”

“No sweat, Clumsybug!” Chat Noir sidles up to her, putting his arm around his maybe-sidekick’s shoulder. “I’m still learning the ropes, too!”

The ground shakes again- another indicator of the Stoneheart fight! Chat Noir grins and starts sprinting towards the fight, seeing where the dust is kicked up!

“H-hey! Where are you going?!” Clumsybug exclaims.

“To save Paris!” Chat laughs heartily as he takes his staff, vaulting upward once more!

---

The students of Lycee Francoise Dupont have the unique privilege of using the Parc des Princes as their school’s P.E. grounds. The students are packing up early, unaware the mysterious quakes are anything more than just that…until the monstrous and massive form of Stoneheart bursts through the entrance and walls!

“KIM!” Stoneheart roars, looming over the student. “Who’s the wuss now?” he is about to slam his fist down upon Kim, who’s tripped over, but suddenly a black blur gets Kim out of the way before brandishing his staff as though it were a blade, pointing it at Stoneheart!

“Hey, maybe you should pick on someone your own size!” the wielder of the Black Cat proclaims.

“Just as expected,” Hawkmoth smirks, looking through his Akuma’s eyes. “The Miraculous of the Ladybug and the Black Cat have been activated! Here they come to save the day, only to be destroyed by my machinations.”

---

“Where are you, partner?” Chat mutters as he is thrown back by an even bigger Stoneheart- every hit of his staff makes the villain grow! Chat tries to throw one of the football nets at Stoneheart, hoping to tangle him and render him immobile, but instead, Stoneheart just throws it away- and is about to hit a girl recording everything! Chat Noir is able to save her, but she pays no mind to him, looking up at Clumsybug, who seems to be frozen with fear from atop the stadium’s bowl.

“What are you waiting for, Super Redbug? The world is watching you!” the recorder eggs on.

---

I can’t do this. I’m not a superhero! Look at the size of that thing! How can I fight that?

Marinette can hear Alya, and she sees Chat Noir fighting alone, against all odds.

He’s fighting. I could try and be like him.

What if I get in his way? What if I tie us together again? What if I-

What if nothing, I can’t just stand by and do nothing!

Marinette resolves herself, leaping down and brandishing her yoyo.

Never again.

She throws her yoyo forward, doing the best thing she can- let it go wild! It ties around Stoneheart’s torso, and she yanks, pulling herself towards him! She lands on his head and kicks off, snapping her fingers to make the yoyo’s strings loosen, allowing her to pull it back to her side, pulling the string together like a mechanical tape measure’s retraction.

“Animal cruelty, Stoneheart? How shameful.” Marinette quips, trying to emulate Chat Noir’s boldness. “Sorry it took so long, Chat Noir.”

“It’s cool, Wonderbug.” Chat Noir says, coming to her side. “Let’s kick his rocky rear!”

“We can’t just rush in brazenly when our attacks will only make him bigger and stronger!” Marinette reasons. “We have to do something different…”

“Alright, I’ll bite. Different how?” Chat Noir asks.

“I…don’t know.” Marinette hangs her head.

“Well, I do. What do you say we test out our powers?” Chat Noir smiles, and Marinette nods a little bit.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir holds his hand forward, but…nothing happens. “Huh, what the heck?”

“Tikki said they use our weapons. Like, mine is the Lucky Charm-” Marinette says, holding her yoyo in her hand, and the yoyo glows and thrums with power! She shrieks a little as the light pours out of it, conjuring a spandex suit that resembles her own. “Ugh…” she falls back from the disorientation. “I should probably throw that away from me whenever I do that from now on…”

“Oh! So it’d be like this…?” Chat Noir compacts his staff into a palm-sized disc, palming it into his ring hand. “Cataclysm!” he declares again, and this time, the dark power thrums through his hand and the disc! “Alright! Apparently, I destroy whatever I though. What’s yours do?”

“It’s supposed to help us win, somehow. We only have 5 minutes now until we turn back…” Marinette mumbles.

“Ah…probably should have listened to my kwami.” Chat Noir chuckles. “Any other tips?” he asks, leaning against a goal that starts to disintegrate.

“...our powers are only single use,” Marinette says softly, and Chat Noir looks back at the destroyed goal.

“...oops.” Chat Noir says, embarrassed.

They hear a roar from Stoneheart, who is starting to charge towards them!

“His right hand is always closed…it must be where that whatchamacallit is hiding, the…the akuma!” Marinette reasons.

“So, uh, what’s the plan?” Chat Noir asks nervously, seeing the monstrous villain charging.

“The plan, it’s…it’s…” Marinette looks around wildly, soon locating precisely what she needs. “I’ve got it!” she swiftly ties a nearby hose to the suit, then ties Chat Noir with her yoyo. “Okay, uh, don’t resist, I need you to trust me.”

“Oh god, she’s crazy.” Chat Noir says as she picks him up! “How are you so strong?!” he exclaims,

“Why are you so light?!” Marinette exclaims, genuinely thinking she was gonna have a harder time with his plan (and honestly a little concerned with how little he weighs). Regardless, she throws him like a shotput.

The plan goes pretty well. Chat Noir is captured, then so is Ladybug, then the Lucky Charm’s use goes well and they’re able to destroy the object!

“Wow…that was awesome.” Chat Noir declares, laughing as he lies in the grass, looking at the sky. “She’s awesome.”

“What’s going on? Why am I here?” Ivan exclaims, worried, and Marinette’s heart bleeds. He doesn’t even remember what happened to him.

“Well, you did it Super…Clumsy…Bug Lady.” Chat Noir laughs, still clearly unsure of what to call her. “You were great!”

“We got there in the end, didn’t we?” Marinette smiles and holds up her fist. “Partner.”

The look of elation on Chat Noir’s face was perhaps the purest joy Marinette had ever seen.

“Pound it!” Chat Noir says as they fist bump, and Marinette laughs.

“What was that?” she smiles.

“What? It’s fun!” he grins goofily, and notices his beeping ring. “Ah, we should probably get going.”

“Right! Identities gotta be secret.” Marinette nods.

“Farewell, M’lady bug!” Chat Noir winks with one last nickname and vaults away on his staff. “Let’s do this again soon, okay?”

Not too soon, I hope… Marinette thinks to herself as the adrenaline starts to wear off. She walks over to look at the paper the object was in, and she reads it, and she frowns as she realizes what Kim has done.

What he always does, with those twisted attempts at jokes.

“There’s no shame in telling someone you love them,” Marinette says to Ivan, and he looks away, ashamed as the paramedics come in to try and get the scope of the situation.

“Uncanny, amazing, spectacular!” Alya suddenly interrupts. “Are you gonna be protecting Paris from now on? How did you get your powers? Did you get stung by a radioactive Ladybug? Oh, I've got a ton of questions to ask you, uh, miss... uhh…” She trails off, as though trying to decide which of Chat Noir’s many names could be her moniker.

And honestly, while it was a bit plain and simple, Marinette liked his last one the most.

“Ladybug. You can call me Ladybug.” She smiles wide.

“Ladybug! Super awesome!” Alya exclaims, recording the scene as ‘Ladybug’ swings away.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #fanfiction #my fic #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug and chat noir #i'm posting these here now #since I can change colors here on tumblr #Sugar & Spice AU #ml fanfic #mlb fanfic

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