#ChatGold

[saytr]

I LOVE The Scarlet Lady Au from @zoe-oneesama ❤️❤️❤️

[t1nymuff1n]

God they are sooo cuteee- I LOVE the ✨ Scarlet lady au ✨ from @zoe-oneesama

Yep, maybe I’m a little late but anyway- Marigold is so lovely, I loved draw her c:

Also, the versión ladynoir, Why no?

[starrynighttime]

Akuma Marigold from @zoe-oneesama’s Scarlet Lady AU

The original design for the akuma is linked here and is by @zoe-oneesama.

She’s like OG Queen Wasp if she knew what she was doing.

I’d tell you to run, Chat, but there’s a 99% chance she would find you.

Would this count as Chat Blanc?

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Troublemaker

Directory | Anansi

She was normally a busy woman, but today looked to be even busier than normal.

“Down, Fang! Uh, I need an assortment of macarons, please,” she told to the hotel worker that had come at her request.

“Oui, Mlle. Penny,” Armand replied, as she realized she was still talking on the phone.

“No, not you,” she apologized, “please confirm that red-eye flight–”

“Hey, I got the perfect way to market the new album!”

And, of course, she just couldn't relax at all, as Jagged's manager suddenly showed up out of the blue, not even bothering with a call.

“Bob, I don't think–” she tried to say, but Bob Roth, being what he was, ignored her.

She rushed back to the main room, knowing that a fight was about to take place.

“Seriously?! You want me on Rockstar Wants a Wife?! That show's the opposite of rock'n roll!”

“That's what sells, Jagged!”

Yeah, they were now throwing stuff at each other.

“I'll call you back,” she said, hanging up and running in before they broke something that ended up costing them even more bills from the hotel.

She grabbed Jagged before he could throw a football at Bob,

“Jagged, what about–” and she told him the idea that had just sprung in her mind, from one of the shows she had watched last week. His demeanor instantly changed, and he dropped the ball to hug her.

“Such a rock'n roll idea!” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “You're the best Penny!”

She loved it whenever he got like this, all happy and romantic and–

“Ugh, don't be saps right in front of me.”

And that was when she was reminded what she hated of Bob Roth.

----

She was normally a busy young lady, but today looked to be even busier than normal.

“C'mon, Manon, give it back! The deadline's tomorrow and I still have homework to do!” she begged.

The little girl, who clearly didn't understand the concept of being good for once, just laughed as she jumped around her room, wearing the hat she had been crafting.

“You look stressed, My Queen,” Pollen whispered from her hideyhole in her hair.

“I got double booked again!” she complained. “I've become so scatterbrained since taking on more as Marigold.”

And it had been a mess ever since. Between collège work, her class president duties, designing, helping at the bakery, babysitting, and now heroism, she barely even had the time to plan out how to do everything else!

Just then, her cellphone rang, and she briefly stopped her attempts to corner Manon to check.

“Huh?” The image on the phone was completely unexpected. “O-Oh my God, it's Jagged Stone's manager!”

As she picked up, she took advantage of Manon's distraction to finally grab the hat off the girl's head.

“Marinette! Phone!” Manon begged, but she ignored it.

“H-Hello?”

“Marinette?”

“Yes!”

“It's me, Penny Rolling!”

“Hi, Mlle. Penny!”

“Look, can you ask your parents something?”

“Huh?”

“I need to know if they want to show up in a TV show with Jagged.”

“A TV show?”

----

“Welcome to 'Fill My Shoes'! With our guest, the one and only, Jagged Stone!”

“Rock'n roll!” the rockstar exclaimed.

“Filling the shoes... of a baker!”

It hadn't taken Penny much to convince Tom and Sabine to allow the program to film (live, much like every other TVi program) on their bakery, and right now Tom was taking charge of showing how things were run in there, while Sabine brought out a platter full of croissants for the people coming for the program.

“Would you like a hot croissant?” she asked.

Bob Roth picked one and ignored the baker, not even bothering to thank her.

The cameraman just ignored her.

“Rude bunch, aren't they?” Sabine asked her daughter, who had decided this was the perfect occasion to wear her best uniform.

“C'mon, Maman, they're just busy,” Marinette mollified her. “Just think of what this'll do for the bakery!”

The iron grip of Sabine Cheng's right hand quickly held around Marinette's cheeks and jaw.

“It's rude to turn down hot food from your hostess!” she irately replied.

“Y-Yes, 媽媽,” Marinette mumbled back.

Meanwhile, Jagged Stone had picked up a large baguette, a croissant and a pair of other things from the counter and was holding them together in a particular form.

“Check out my edible guitar!” he joked, as he mimicked playing an electric guitar, singing. “Flour~! Eggs and butter~!”

Penny – who was holding onto Fang – laughed, causing the Cheng ladies to turn to her.

“Seems like working with Jagged Stone is fun,” Sabine noted, and Penny nodded.

“He's wonderful!” the aide replied, her cheeks blushing. “Never a dull moment, such creative ideas, always thinking of his fans, always pays his child support in time–”

“Wait, Jagged has kids–?”

“You didn't hear that,” Penny said, her demeanor now rock solid and calm, as she moved the pages on her clipboard until she found something she showed the women. “Also please sign this NDA.”

----

As Adrien sat down, table with cheese for his Kwami companion ready, said Kwami companion turned to him.

“There's no cheese on this show, why are you watching it?” Plagg asked through the Camembert piece he was already inhaling.

“They're filming at Marinette's place!” Adrien replied, just as the camera turned to look precisely at the girl he liked so much.

“Yo, Marinette, my favorite little lady! Get on stage with us!” Jagged Stone said to a surprised Marinette, who looked somewhat uncomfortable as she waved back.

“Uh?! Oh, heheh!” she awkwardly said as Mme. Cheng encouraged her to step forward.

“Marinette's really talented, you know! She made the cover of my last album!” the singer declared, while Adrien just drank in the wonderful, wonderful appearance of his friend-slash-crush-slash-love-of-his-life.

“Omigod, her widdle uniform!”

----

“Impressive! A family of artists!” Alec Cataldi declared.

“Tch!” Chloé grumbled, clearly not getting what she wanted once more.

For a moment, it looked like she might, when Marinette accidentally threw a bag of flour at Jagged Stone's head... but then the rock'n'roll singer smiled.

“Hey, look! I'm a ghost! Rock'n boo!” Jagged said, and then he tackled Alec, who was smiling as well.

“We'll be back after the break.”

“BOO!” Jagged said again as the transmission turned to commercials.

“Ugh, I only wanted to watch this dumb show to see Dupain-Cheng mess up, not to hear her praises!” Chloé complained, as was her wont whenever she didn't get what she wanted.

“But Chloé, don't you remember?” Tikki said, eager to needle her bearer.

“What?”

“It's thanks to you that Jagged Stone even met Marinette!”

Chloé immediately put her hands to her face as she tried to forget how she had helped the person she most hated in the world.

“Nooooo! Don't remind me!”

----

Back at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, Penny managed to impose some sort of order and pulled a whistling Jagged away from Alec.

“Where's the bathroom?” Penny asked Marinette, who pointed to the stairs.

“Upstairs!”

“Merci!” she replied, leading her charge.

However, they didn't notice that they were going too far upstairs until they reached a place that was very clearly not a bathroom.

“Uhh, I think we went too far up,” Penny said, as they looked around the place they had arrived. Jagged, however, had other things in mind.

“This must be her bedroom! Cool!” he said, as he started to check things.

“Oh, a sink!” Penny noted, taking the rag she had been loaned by Marinette's mother and wetting it before brushing off the flour off Jagged's hair.

“Penny, look! Marinette's seriously talented!” Jagged stated, looking at what was clearly a set of designs made by Marinette.

“U-huh.” Penny felt awkward, as she realized they were intruding into Marinette's personal space, which was something they really shouldn't be doing.

Jagged did not have the same epiphany, however,

“This one would look great on you!”

“Focus on getting back to set!”

Unfortunately for everyone involved into the matter, other people had different ideas in mind.

“Returning live with Jagged Stone 'Filling the Shoes' of a baker!” Alec declared, followed by the camera crew as they also entered Marinette's room in total disregard of her intimacy. “Let's see if our rockstar got rid of his flour!”

Before she could tell them off for it, though, Jagged played it off for the cameras and pointed at one of the walls.

“Hey, there's more pics of Chat Noir than me!” he joked. “Marinette, you got a thing for Paris' coolest cat?”

----

Back in the Agreste Mansion, one Adrien Agreste had something to say to that.

“YES!”

----

Back at the Dupain-Cheng's home, one Marinette Dupain-Cheng had a very different opinion of the matter.

“NO!” she shouted, embarrassed that her room was being bared to the entire world.

----

Back again at the Agreste Mansion, in a secret underground floor, Paris' supervillain gasped.

Then, Hawkmoth realized something.

“Wait, why am I gasping, I already knew that.”

----

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” Marinette yelled with the righteous fury of someone who had seen her intimacy violated in such a way.

Particularly when she was seeing Alec Cataldi picking and wearing the half-finished hat she had been working on earlier, as if it were in the wardrobe of his studio instead of someone else's room.

“Hey, Marinette! Want me to sign my poster?” Jagged, who once more showed a lack of ability to read the room, asked.

“I WANT YOU OUT!” Marinette yelled again, turning to the camera crew. “AND YOU! STOP FILMING! What is WRONG with you?!”

----

“Penny, do something!”

Oblivious to (or, more likely, interested in seeing) Marinette's distress, Chloé just munched on popcorn.

----

“You all heard the lady–!” Penny declared as she pushed Bob Roth away, but in process someone pulled on the cord connecting the camera to the transmission equipment.

“Penny, you cut the feed!” Alec admonished her.

“Uh–”

“Wait, get out first!” Marinette demanded as she opened her trapdoor again.

“Penny, give me the cord!”

“ACHOO!” Jagged sneezed. “Penny, I need a tissue!”

“C'mon, we're live!”

“PLEASE LEAVE ALREADY!”

“ACHOO!”

It felt like a pressure cooker in the room.

Something had to give.

And this time...

“EVERYBODY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

… it was the overwhelmed Penny.

Everybody silently filed down, out of Marinette's room, and as she closed the trapdoor Bob Roth chose to make his personality shine once more.

“What do we do now?” he asked, unconcerned.

“Film in the bakery, like you're supposed to!” Penny yelled as she opened the closest door, pen in the other hand. “Try to survive for five minutes.”

And, entering what appeared to be a library room, she slammed the door, collapsing on the ground with a long, stressed sigh, as she attempted to regain control over herself.

----

“Oh, bless up. I don't have to akumatize the girl,” Hawkmoth said as he commanded the butterfly to go for the older woman. “That's just begging for Chat Noir to show up at my door.”

----

Pollen carefully approached her Queen, who was shrunk against the wall, shaking from both anger and shame.

“My Queen, let's just talk it out, okay?” she gently said.

“They showed my Chat Noir photos, my half-finished dresses, and my month-old designs!” It didn't look like she was ready to 'talk it out'. “My fashion career is ruined! I should've burned those old designs!”

“That's simply not true!” Pollen said. Her Queen shouldn't have to destroy such wonderful things! “Jagged Stone loved them!”

“If Chat Noir sees, he'll know I'm in love with him!”

“You think so?” she asked, not sure of what was wrong with that.

----

Plagg had had many types of bearers. Some good, some bad. And sometimes just a bit irritating.

And Adrien, who was normally the best, now was approaching that last category.

“Should I go see her?! No, no, it's too soon. I should order roses! Should I get red this time?!”

“Ugh.”

Seriously, why did his kittens have to become lovesick?

----

As soon as the crew and guest went back downstairs, Bob Roth found himself under the glares of the bakery's owners, but he couldn't care less about them.

“Alright, back to work!” he ordered.

“No! We want to stop!” Tom Dupain replied.

“WHAT?!”

“We agreed to film in the bakery, not in our private home!” Sabine Cheng said, full of righteous anger. “And now you've upset our daughter! Completely unacceptable!”

“The ratings are blowing up, we're not stopping now!” Roth replied, unconcerned by the legitimate demand.

As an answer, Sabine picked up the bakery shovel and glared at the manager.

“YOU WANT TO START SOMETHING, M. BOB?!” she challenged, all too ready to go medieval on the unscrupulous man.

“Huh?” Said man was clearly unaware of the danger about to be unleashed on his person.

“I DEMAND YOU APOLOGIZE!”

However, before Bob Roth could actually awaken to the fact he was about to have a close encounter with the wooden implement, the outside doors were locked up.

“Ah, the doors!” Tom shouted, having easily recognized the beeping sound.

“You could've told us the bakery was haunted!” Bob Roth begged, sweating out of his brow.

“Uh, it's not!” Tom replied – only for one of their flour bags to start flying around covering everything in white dust.

“Ahh!” Sabine shouted in shock.

“What is happening?!”

And, with no warning, the answer showed up right behind Jagged Stone, in the form of a woman with a long mohawk, heavily painted-on face, and a total lack of damns to give about anything.

“Hey.”

“WAAAAAHH!” the singer screamed. Then again, the man had a reason for it – the Akuma had not even had the decency to warn him!

“There's no more Penny to solve your problems, Jagged! The untouchable Troublemaker will make sure you have nothing but problems!” the Akuma declared, clicking on her pen twice.

----

“Poor Penny was so busy trying to save everyone that she became a target for Hawkmoth!” Pollen noted, worried about the gentle woman.

“Good thing I'm here to save her!” Marinette stated. “Buzz On!”

----

“Oh! Look! Akuma at the bakery! Gotta go!” Adrien exclaimed, while Plagg rolled his eyes.

“I can tell you're real choked up about it,” he remarked.

----

“C'moon, Chloé, let's goooo!” poor Tikki said, pushing Chloé to stand up.

“Ughhhh.”

Chloé wasn't exactly interested in moving from her seat.

----

It only took Chat Noir a few minutes to reach his goal, Tom & Sabine's Boulangerie, aided by his memorizing of the best way between his home and Marinette's home, and acrobatically landed right on the red carpet that had been laid down for the program.

“Hi everyone!” he greeted Mme. Chamack and those who had already arrived to check what was going on. “Stand aside, this'll be a piece of cake–”

“Or you could try the door!” he heard his partner exclaim, and as he looked up, he saw her standing near the terrace Marinette liked to use.

“Marigold!”

“H–Hey, Chaton!”

He reached her in just the two jumps, and smiled, noticing that she looked a bit nervous.

“You sure got here fast!” he commented, deciding that it probably was nothing.

“O–Oh, you too!” Marigold replied, and he realized what was happening.

“You must've been watching the show too!”

----

Marigold turned so Chat Noir couldn't see her distraught face.

NOOOO! He saw it!

Why couldn't he have been watching sports or cartoons?

Regardless of her desire to just let the earth swallow her up, they had to deal with the Akuma, so she opened the window and led Chat Noir into her bedroom. Which, unfortunately, brought him next to the reason for her embarrassment.

“Wow, I didn't notice the photos of me the last time we were here!”

Why can't you keep not noticing? she wondered, really hoping that the Akuma would show up and allow herself to be dealt with fast.

She quickly got half of her wish, as Troublemaker came through the floor and threw a cushion at her, which she just barely dodged.

“HA!”

“AH!”

“Look here!” Chat Noir exclaimed... grabbing a photograph. “Hey, what do you think this means, huh? All these pictures–”

While he looked super-adorable with his cheeks blushing and wide-open eyes, Marigold knew that this was not the moment for this, so she just put a hand over his mouth.

“I think you should pay attention!”

As Chat Noir gingerly dropped the photo he had picked up, Marigold pulled out her top and swung it at Troublemaker, who clicked her pen.

And, much to her shock, the top went through her and hit the wall before bouncing back.

“She goes intangible!” Chat Noir realized. “So troublesome!”

“Vanisher knock-off!” Marigold shouted, pulling the top back towards her.

“Touch me if you can. Bye~” Troublemaker taunted them, before falling through the floor and out of their sight.

“The Akuma's in her pen!” It was the most obvious solution, given how she kept clicking it, turning her intangibility on and off.

“Fat load of good it does us without Scar!” Chat Noir complained.

“Where is she?!”

----

“Can I get five more of these blonde bitches?” Scarlet Lady said, showing the small popsicle made resembling her, but in a cartoony style. As expected, they were the best ones of the lot!

----

As both of them tried to keep an eye on where Troublemaker might come from, Chat Noir noticed something coming from behind Marigold, and turned to see the Akuma getting her hands close to the Bee Comb.

“Look out!” he yelled, swinging his staff at her. “Swiper, no swiping!”

Marigold tripped trying to dodge, but at the same time it forced Troublemaker to back off from her.

“Grrr,” the Akuma growled, clicking her pen again and falling through the floor again.

“T–Thanks, Chaton!”

“Careful, Goldie, you've got the easiest to remove Miraculous!” Chat Noir warned her, giving out a chuckle. “Maybe you should glue it down.”

Marigold felt the epiphany coming, and picked him by his face, sparkling.

“Chat Noir, you're a genius!”

“Wha, what'd I say?”

----

Marigold quickly explained her idea, and picked up a bottle of heavy-duty glue she normally used for holding stuff together in her practice designs, asking Chat Noir to help her cover her comb with it.

Just in time, though, as Troublemaker dropped from the ceiling on top of Marigold.

“Hahaha!”

“AH!” Marigold screamed in shock.

“Good Lord!” Chat Noir joined, just as Troublemaker fell on Marinette and trapped her against the floor.

But, when the Akuma went on to pull the comb away, she found that she couldn't force it.

“Huh–?! What?! Why won't this budge?!” she exclaimed, tugging the magical comb without success.

“Looks like you're stuck,” Marigold said with an impish grin, before readying her weapon. “Venom~”

“NO–!”

But it was too late: Troublemaker had been too slow to react, and the paralyzing effects of Marigold's power had quickly taken a hold of her. Chat Noir grabbed the Akumatized object.

“Everything goes smoothly when I stick with you, Honeybee,” he said, smiling.

Marigold was not smiling, though.

“Help, I glued it to my hair tie, I can't move!”

Helping his partner stand up – even with dealing with the dead weight of Troublemaker ��� he pulled his staff again.

“Alright, let's see what's keeping the royal pain,” he said, calling Scar.

Immediately, both of them heard a very familiar music tone right above them.

Chat Noir marched off to the trapdoor that led to the terrace, and slammed it open – to see Scar laying down on Marinette's chaise-lounge without a care for the world.

His temper frayed up quickly.

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?!”

“WAH–!”

----

Fortunately, it only took a push for Chat Noir to force Scarlet into the bedroom (even if Marigold would rather keep her at least one kilometer away from there) and then a move to snap the pen, freeing the Akuma and allowing Scarlet to fix everything up.

As Penny woke up and realized where she was, she looked up to them.

“W–What happened? Where's Jagged?” she asked, and Marigold smiled at her.

“Stuff Jagged,” she replied. “How are you?”

“I... I let myself get stretched too thin. I took on too much,” the young woman realized. “I should remember to look after myself too. I'm fine now.”

“I'm a pro at self-care,” Scarlet declared. “Just buy yourself a diamond phone case! You'll feel better.”

“Uhh...” Penny mumbled, unable to understand where the girl was coming from.

As for Marigold, she figured it explained so much about Scarlet's attitude.

----

As they sent Penny downstairs, the heroes came out to the terrace and gazed upon Paris after saving the day once more (well, at least two thirds of them did).

And one of them looked up to the sky, thinking over the previous conversation.

“Stretched too thin, huh...” Marigold mumbled.

“You say something?” Chat Noir asked, and she shook her head.

“Oh, no, nothing,” she answered.

“Hm.” Then he took on a quizzical look. “I hope Marinette is okay.”

“EEP!”

“I wonder where she went.”

“Probably in a hole, dying of embarrassment! Ha Ha ha!” Scarlet laughed, and Marigold had to hold back her rising murderous intentions.

I'd rip your Earrings off if there weren't reporters nearby, she ruthlessly thought.

----

By the time Penny came back to the bakery, everything was fixed up, everyone was calming down, and Bob Roth looked as unconcerned with what he had indirectly caused as with everything else.

“U–Um, hello everyone,” she said.

“PENNY!” Jagged Stone shouted, quickly walking up to his aide. “I'm so glad you're back to normal! I'm sorry I didn't notice I was driving you so hard.”

The worry and sorrow in his voice were sincere, so much that Penny knew the man(-child) in front of here was being truthful in his apology, so she thought she could forgive him.

“Jagged...”

Jagged pulled her between his arms, hugging her with strength and care, as he spoke into her ear.

“I'll look out for you like you look out for me,” he promised, and she basked into the feeling as she nodded.

“Mm.”

“Also, the mohawk was hawt.”

Good feelings gone.

“I am not shaving my head for you.”

“Damn.”

----

With the TV crew finally on their way out (and some copious buying of produce as apology for the chaos they had caused) the Dupain-Cheng family was finally left alone to deal with the aftermath.

Which was when Marinette decided she needed to bring out the thing that had been on her mind since Penny's comment.

“Maman, Papa, I need to talk to you about something,” she said, fidgeting in place.

“Okay...?” Papa asked, confused.

“I... I...” she stumbled, but then she took a deep breath. “I need you to ask before volunteering me to babysit! And I can't drop everything to help in the bakery! I–I mean, I'll still help out, I just need notice! With Jagged promoting me, I've gotten real busy, on top of being class pres–”

“Okay,” Papa replied.

“Huh?!” she said, her tirade breaking in the middle, much to her confusion.

“Sure, no problem,” Maman added.

“Seriously?! It was that easy?!”

----

Now that they were back at home, Plagg was attacking a piece of cheese with his usual enthusiasm, while Adrien just laid down on his couch, taking a break after the recent crisis.

“Not gonna visit your lady love?” Plagg teased him, but he knew not to fall for that bait.

“After everything, I don't want to overwhelm her. And I thought more about it...” he replied, smiling at the thought of the girl he loved. “If it were me, that's not how I'd want Marinette to learn I'm in love with her. She should confess the way she wants to.”

Just as his phone dinged with a message, he heard Plagg chuckle.

“Pretty presumptuous, aren't you.”

“IF! If she's in love with me!” he corrected himself, embarrassed, before checking his cellphone. “Huh, a message from Alya...?”

----

The next day, Marinette carefully snuck around the school, because she really didn't want to deal with her friends' reaction to the previous day's events.

The fact that she had come much earlier than usual helped.

“Thank God no one's here,” she whispered as she reached her locker.

“Hey, Marinette.”

“AHHH!” she screamed, lamenting that she had been proven wrong so quickly. “How do you do that?!”

Much worse, Adrien ignored the question.

“So...”

“Don't,” she warned him.

“Um–”

“Do not.”

“... about the photos.”

“AHHH!” she shouted, covering her ears and turning around so Adrien wouldn't see her blush. “You said it!”

Adrien patiently waited for her to calm down, and when she did, she decided she needed to keep him from getting ideas.

“It's not what you think, okay?! I... I'm not in love with Chat Noir!”

“HRK!” she heard Adrien squeak, even as she dealt with the fact that she had just dropped a big fat lie.

“Besides, it's too dangerous to be with a superhero while supervillains are still around,” she explained. “So, Chat Noir and I are just...”

She couldn't say it.

“He's just...”

She tried to force it out.

“He's just a frie– HRK!”

Oh, great, now she had blood coming out of her mouth.

----

Meanwhile, Adrien was having something else in mind, linked to his highly developed list of priorities.

I HAVE TO DEFEAT HAWKMOTH A.S.A.P!

----

Their moment was interrupted by the usual suspect.

“Wow, gutsy of you to show your face, Dupain-Cheng!” Chloé yelled. “If I just showed all of Paris I had the world's biggest crush on the world's biggest loser, I wouldn't leave my room until I was 50!”

“Ugh,” Marinette growled, wishing she could just throw a flour sack on her face.

“The only loser here is you, Chloé,” Alya declared as she arrived on scene.

“Ridiculous!” Chloé shouted, but Marinette didn't care, not when she saw what her friends were doing.

“Chat Noir is dead even with Scarlet Lady in the popularity polls,” Alya added, leading the class in wearing Chat Noir-themed clothes and accessories.

“WHAT?!” Chloé yelled again, completely unable to comprehend that people liked the true hero of Paris above that lazy glory hog.

“Y–You guys, what–?” Marinette asked, but Alya interrupted.

“WHAAAAT? We're just showing our Chat Noir love, same as you!”

Then she leaned to whisper in her ear.

“I convinced most of them it's just a celebrity crush and the rest are covering for you,” she said. “This'll get people off your back!”

She straightened up again, and put a hand to her cheek.

“The poor Kit-Kat doesn't get the recognition he deserves, doncha think?”

Marinette felt like crying. Her best friend was so wonderful!

“Oh, Alya!” she exclaimed.

“You're right, he doesn't!” Adrien exclaimed... also crying.

“Why are you so emotional?” Alya asked, confused.

----

As everyone else filed into the room, Alya pulled Adrien aside to check on something very important.

“Adrien, my dude, my guy, my spot of sunshine.”

“Y–Yes?” Good, he knew he was in trouble.

“You were supposed to wear Chat Noir stuff in solidarity. Did you understand the assignment?”

“Now, see, I have a very good explanation for that.”

“Mhm?” It better be a good explanation. Or else.

“My dad is Gabriel Agreste.”

“... ah.”

Alright, he gets a pass.

----

Intermission 2

@zoe-oneesama Here's to someone making enough trouble for Gabriel Agreste to ruin his plans!

Also: 420 pages, 167435 words, 902000 characters.

[clock-06]

Made this art for @zoe-oneesama’s Scarlet lady au, specifically redrawing my favorite scene of the whole series.

Did I binge the entire five season 10 ep per season comic in one morning? Absolutely yes I did. Very good and I cannot wait for more!

WHILE I WAS SKETCHING MARIGOLD MY SISTER CALLED ME TO ASK HOW MUCH HONEH WE HAVE WHICH IS NEVER AN INGREDIENT IN THIS HOUSEHOLD??? I was like “did Pollen do this to me??”

Was gonna also draw a crossover with @bigfatbreak’s Feralnette, specifically Bloody Storm from the Manynette au, but got dragged into shopping today and this piece took 4 and a half hours

Honestly think Chloe without the question marks is funnier

[solarpink]

@zoe-oneesama The Progression of Nicknames

[saltymiraculer]

A Pretty Flower for a Pretty Girl

I’ve stayed up until midnight reading @zoe-oneesama ‘s Scarlet Lady comics a few too many times, so I thought I might as well finally turn my ideas into a fic!

Also, this was too adorable for me not to.

                                                       -🌼-

Life just couldn’t give him one day off? Not one?

Apparently not, or else he wouldn’t have to be fighting a giant glob of cafeteria food and compost that insisted on being called “Lunchion”.

You know, Adrien could appreciate the pun if he weren’t covered in banana peels and eggshells, and–was that a hamburger patty? He pinched his nose and extended the baton towards Lunchion’s weak spot, the plastic tray it used as a shield.

You’d think an akuma wouldn’t use their most important object as a deflector, yeah?

Lunchion made a gargling noise and blasted him with another garbage-truck’s worth of compost.

Scarlet Lady–did he forget to mention her?–screeched and jumped backwards, catching herself with the yo-yo she had finally figured out how to use.

“Disgusting! I’m out of here. Call me when you get the akuma!“ she called back to him, swinging away and disappearing in the direction of the Grand Paris. He groaned and pushed himself off of his knees.

“Shtay Awaysh!“ the blob gurgled. “Give me your Miraculoushes!“

“Not a chance, trash can!“ he yelled, jumping just out of shooting range.

“It’sh Lunshion, idiotsh!“

“Yeah, whatever!“

As much as he wished he didn’t, Adrien needed some help. Without Lucky Charm, which he could normally figure out how to use, he didn’t have too much of a plan.

Wait a second…was that a miraculous box?

And so it was, sitting on the ledge of a building. Holy cannoli, he was actually going to have a competent partner for once!

Just who to give it to? He opened the box, and inside was a small comb, in the shape of a bumblebee.

Oh, wait a second.

Which classmate had the adorable, tinkling laugh? Which classmate had the sweet-as-honey smile? Which classmate had he had a crush on since day one?

Ding, ding, ding, it’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng!

“Um, give me a minute!“ he said, jumping as far as he could away from the akuma and running to the bakery. He landed on Marinette’s balcony, nearly knocking over one of her potted plants.

“Eek!“ he squeaked, catching it just before it hit the wood. The last thing he wanted was to destroy her porch.

“Hello?“ Marinette asked, startling him out of the panicked state. “I-is there a reason Chat Noir is standing on my porch, or am I just that lucky?“

“Oh, uhhhh–“ he fumbled the little box out of his pocket, holding it out to her. “–yeah, I need some help, so…“

“No. Freaking. Way. No way, no way, no way! Awesome!“ she cheered, immediately slapping a hand over her mouth. “Sorry.“

“it’s fine. You just transform and let’s go!“

“…how?“

“Dang it.“ 

Once Marinette had consulted the kwami–after momentarily freezing–she transformed and they looked at each other, nodded, and jumped on building after building, chasing the glob of garbage as it made its way downtown.

“You know, I’ve always hated just sitting around during akuma attacks!“ she said brightly.

“Is that why you get caught up in every single one of them, then?“

“No! I mean, I don’t want to get caught up in them, but it just happens!“

“Sure thing, Marigold. Sure thing.“

“You’re incorrigible, Chat Noir.“ she joked. He chuckled, halting to a stop and sticking out his arm so Marine–Marigold, sorry, wouldn’t fall off the edge of the building.

She slammed into his arm and fell backwards, and fortunately, he caught her.

But, sine life couldn’t even give him five minutes off, they were in the exact same positions as ballroom dancers. And she was blushing.

Dammit, life!

“I’m sorry!“ he said, letting go as fast as he could. Marigold was still looking down, a hint of blush still spread across her cheeks.

“It’s okay,“ she whispered. “It was nice.“

“O-oh. Let’s keep going, yeah?“ he set off again, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. They arrived where the akuma was about to take the top off of a restaurant, swinging their respective weapons defensively.

“Who’sh the bumblebee, pushycat?“

“That’s Marigold to you, Lunchion!“

“Finally! Shomeone getsh the name right!“

They took down the akuma in a matter of minutes, thanks to a well-timed Venom from Marinette and the smart idea to fake a Cataclysm to get Lunchion in weapon range.

“Ugh, now I’ve got to call Scarlet,“ Adrien groaned. Marinette stuck her tongue out and gave him the thumbs-down. He agreed nonverbally.

Scarlet Lady appeared, swinging in from stage right, and landing neatly on the roof ledge parallel from them.

“Ugh, finally. What took you so long? And who’s this?“

Marinette gave him a look that he interpreted as ‘spite Scar as much as possible’. He nodded.

“Marigold’s my new partner! Scar, this is Marigold! Marigold, Scarlet Lady.“

“Let’s hope she’s a good sidekick for my sidekick, so the battles won’t take as long! They’re just exhausting! And that’s Scarlet Lady to you, you mangy cat.“ Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien could see Marinette mocking Scarlet Lady, exaggerating the stuck-out hip and the way she rolled her eyes whenever she could.

He stifled a laugh.

“Look, Scarlet, there’s Nadja Chamack!“ he said, snapping her out of the stupor she was in. She applied a fresh coat of red lipstick and swung off to the ground, casting Lucky Charm and using the Miraculous Cure simultaneously.

                                                      -🌼-

“That was good,“ Chat Noir whispered. “but we’ve got something more important to attend to.“

He pointed at a little boy, who couldn’t be more than eight or nine, sitting on the ground on the verge of tears. The walked over to him and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Are you alright?“

“N-no!“

“What happened?“ Chat Noir asked gently, landing on his other side.

“My brother got really sick–because of the cafeteria food–and he’s in the hospital, and I’m really scared he’s not going to be okay!“ Marinette exchanged a worried look with Chat Noir.

“Hey, it’ll be okay! The people at the hospital will help your brother, all right? He’s going to be just fine.“

The little boy sniffled. “Th-thank you, Chat Noir and Bee Lady.” She smiled and patted his arm.

“I’m Marigold, okay? Remember that.“

“I will, Miss Marigold.“

“Good,“ Chat Noir interjected. “But we’ve got to get you back to your family. I’m sure they’re worried about you.“

A lady who they assumed was his mom ran up and hugged hum, telling the little boy it would be all right.

                                                        -🌼-

“And that’s why I’m the true hero! See, even you can–“ Scarlet Lady was saying. Nadja cut her off with a shhh noise. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay! The people at the hospital will help your brother, all right? He’s going to be just fine.“ a yellow-and-black striped hero said, comforting a little boy.

The little boy sniffled wetly. “Th-thank you, Chat Noir and Bee Lady.” She grinned and patted his arm.

“I’m Marigold, okay? Remember that.“

“I will, Miss Marigold.“ Nadja chuckled at the little boy.

“Good,“ Chat Noir said. “But we’ve got to get you back to your family. I’m sure they’re worried about you.“

She walked up and tapped Marigold’s shoulder.

“Excuse me, but can I get an interview?“ She looked at Chat Noir hopefully. He nodded and smiled, grabbing Marigold’s hand and pulling her next to him.

The cameras swiveled towards them.

“But first, has anyone met my amazing new partner?“ Nadja could hear Scarlet grinding her teeth loudly behind them, but paid that no attention.

After a few questions and some cooing over the two heroes’ banter, their miraculouses beeped and they both looked very startled.

“Sorry to disappoint, but we’ve got to run!“ Marigold said, yanking Chat Noir’s arm urgently.

“If the lady insists! Next time, Nadja!“

“Um…goodbye!“ she called after them, watching the duo swing off into the sunset.

                                                       -🌼-

They landed in front of the rosebushes of Dupont, each of which was covered in pretty blossoms.

They bumped into each other as they landed, stumbling back, leaving them about an inch apart. He took the time to notice the tiny details of her makeup–the way her eyelashes had the tiniest gold jewels on the tips, the orangey sheen over her lips, and the way the sparkly yellow mask framed her eyes.

“So–um–we’re about to transform back,“ she started.

“You’re right, um, I’m going to need that back?“ he said, pointing at the comb. She pulled it out of her hair and handed it to him, Pollen materializing immediately.

“Sun salutations, Chat Noir!“

“You ready to go back in your box, Pollen?“

“Hmmm…not really. Can I stay with Marigold?“ Chat Noir looked to at Marinette with a surprised expression.

“You can do that?“

“Of course, I can!“ Pollen huffed. “Now give the comb back to Marinette.“ He handed the silver comb back to Marinette, who pocketed it immediately.

They stood there in awkward silence for a inute until Chat Noir’s ring beeped again. he dashed into a bathroom, stuffed a wedge of camembert into Plagg, and ran out of the bathroom, back to where Marinette was conversing with Pollen.

“Out of all the 19 kwamis, I had to get the hippie one? Not that I’m complaining, but…yoga? Now?“

“Don’t complain, mine eats cheese 24/7.“

He shook his head and broke off one buttery yellow rose from the bush.

“A pretty flower for a pretty girl,“ he announced, offering her the rose. “Before I go.“

“Friendship,“ Marinette said softly. Wait, did this mean she only wanted to be friends? Shoot. “The rose, I mean. Yellow roses mean friendship.“

“Oh,“ he said, looking down. Double-shoot.

“Unless it’s thirteen of them, though.“ He looked sideways at the bush before Marinette put her hand on his arm.

“Don’t you dare. Those roses aren’t supposed to be picked, you know.“

“Sorry, Marinette. I–um–is it okay if I call you Goldie?“ Marinette smiled warmly.

“Of course, but only if I can call you kitty.“ Adrien felt a warm, tingly feeling in his chest, rising up until he felt like he could float.

“Yeah! Let’s go, Goldie. We’ve got a fanclub to meet.“

They walked the around the building, over to the class, who immediately burst into applause.

“You were amazing!“ Kim cheered.

“Yeah, I’m changing it from the Ladyblog to the Goldie-Noir Blog!“

“So you heard that, huh?“

[amythecinnabunny]

The trio for @zoe-oneesama Scarlet Lady au I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now because I love her au so much and I finally got down to actually doing it.

bg photo credits: Nikita Tikhomirov on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/up0KWziQBYQ

[solunia]

@zoe-oneesama‘s Scarlet Lady AU + Aged Up AU/Akuma? :D 

Probably too much for Chat. 

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Scarlet Lady fanfiction

Just wanted to share some good fics :-)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16593947/chapters/38888492

https://archiveofourown.org/series/1276715

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13106614/1/Marigolds-and-Catnip

_____________________________________________________________________

(Fics to read when I have time)

( @zoe-oneesama if you haven't read these yet)

[starrynighttime]

Scarlet Lady Comic

AU by @zoe-oneesama​

based on this post

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Captain Hardrock

Directory | Riposte

“Hey, Nino, where's your boy?” Alya asked as Nino adjusted the loudspeakers.

Kitty Section – the group their classmates had formed – was going to play as part of the city-wide concert Paris was going to enjoy today, and they had been invited on board of the Liberty, Juleka's mother's house-boat, where the group would be at. And, currently, they were helping organize everything so it would make for an awesome concert.

“He had something to do with his pops, he's coming after,” he said, testing the connections were alright. Alya winked at Marinette while doing a fist pump.

“That's great news, huh, Marinette?”

“Yeah!” the girl replied, smiling. “It's always great when Adrien can hang out with his friends!”

She walked away, picking up stuff while humming a melody, ignorant of the look Alya was giving her.

This girl's level of denial is amazing.

Suddenly, the box Marinette was holding to act as an improvised bin was taken off her hands.

“What are you doing, buccaneer?” Anarka, Juleka's mother, said, grinning.

“Oh, uh, cleaning?” she said. While the place was nowhere close to a pigsty, it was absurdly disorganized and could use a dusting or two.

“Ha! We don't clean here! Didn't ya hear from Juleka?” Anarka said, throwing the box in such a way that everything Marinette had collected became spread around the deck. “We keep it lively here! Everything goes on the Liberty!”

“Bonjour!”

Marinette gritted her teeth. Even here, she couldn't get rid of that.

“A princess is coming aboard!”

“Chloé?!” Marinette exclaimed, groaning.

“Aw, what?!” Nino complained.

Juleka walked up to her mother and pointed at Chloé.

“Everything goes on the Liberty except her,” she said, and Anarka nodded. She had heard enough of what the rich girl had done to her daughter, and there were limits on what she'd allow.

“Ugh, no red carpet?” Chloé complained as Ivan confronted her.

“Chloé, what are you doing here?”

“I'm here to see Adrien, obviously!”

“Huh? How'd you know about that?!”

“I heard he was coming and decided to grace your pitifully small concert. Aren't I the nicest?”

Ivan didn't bother with answering, knowing that the truth would come in by one ear and out of the other.

Instead, he grabbed her by her arms, effortlessly lifted her, put her back on the dock, and with Juleka and Mylène, pulled the plank.

“HEY!” Chloé shouted, as her plans were so easily foiled.

----

Since they had time to kill, Anarka decided to instruct the neophytes in the art of sailing (mostly Alya and Marinette, since Nino was still busy with the sound system) about some of the things that helped her run her house-boat.

“See, mateys, never put metal next to the compass, ya hear?” she said, holding a metal statue of a hand throwing the horns, and putting it closer to the compass. “The metal attracts the needle, like a magnet.”

“Whoa, it's going totally crazy!” Alya noted, picking the hand from Anarka and seeing the compass needle turning every which way around. She gave a knowing grin at Marinette. “Remind you of anyone in particular? Maybe a blonde someone??”

“You mean you and Nino?” Marinette innocently replied, and Alya began to blush heavily as this particular attempt to poke fun at her friend backfired. “Wait, neither of you are blonde.”

“No!”

----

“Those idiots are gonna regret kicking out a VIP like me!”

Why couldn't she just grab the earrings and leave?

“Chloé, you weren't invited! Let it go!”

Seriously, what was the use of being the voice of reason for a girl that refused to listen?

“Oh! Yoo-hoo, officer! I want to file a complaint!”

And, as luck would have it, it had to be the one officer that would likely take Chloé at face value.

Tikki prepared herself. Someone was going to get akumatized out of this.

----

Adrien played the last notes of the song, feeling his father's piercing glare behind him.

“Let's stop here,” Gabriel said, and he began to stand up when his father's next words cut through him. “Practice more and play it for me later.”

“But père! My friends' concert! You promised!”

Seriously, what was the use of Gabriel promising anything when he would just as easily break that promise without a thought?

“Not after that poor performance,” Gabriel replied, and Adrien felt ready to call BS on that. “You need focus.”

Gabriel left the room, followed by Nathalie, and Adrien remained sitting, crushed by yet another broken promise and losing the chance to be with his friends for his free time. With no one else in sight, Plagg slowly came out of his hideaway and floated towards Adrien.

“Hey, kid, don't take it too hard, K?” he said, in an uncharacteristically mollyfying tone; after everything he had seen Gabriel do, he knew Adrien wasn't going to take it well.

Much to his surprise, Adrien didn't answer, which left him worried.

“Are you okay?” he asked, approaching him further �� until he saw Adrien was checking something in his phone.

“What do you think, pink dye or blue dye this time?” Adrien seriously asked. Plagg felt a bit weirded out by the question.

Well, at least he wasn't moping about it...

----

Nino's phone sounded out and he quickly picked up: by the melody, it was likely Adrien.

“Hey, man, what's up?” he asked, and Marinette and Alya turned to look at their friend, waiting for news on when he would arrive –

“Oh, no way, really?” Nino said, his upbeat expression turning sour. The girls knew what it meant. “Your pops is hella harsh.”

Nino listened a bit more.

“My favorite color? Why do you need to know my favorite color?” he asked. And he was as mystified by the request as the girls... before he listened to Adrien's answer.

Which made him turn in shock and alarm.

“ADRIEN, PUT THE CREDIT CARD DOWN!”

Whatever it was that Adrien wanted to do, Nino convinced him to, at least, hold off on it for a while before he did something drastic, much to the girls' relief, before Anarka came by again.

“Marinette, right?” she said, and Marinette nodded.

“Yes, uh, captain?”

“Since I relieved you of cleaning duties, would you go to Luka's cabin and tell him we're waiting for him for the rehearsal?”

“Sure!”

Anarka gave her directions to Juleka's brother's room – which, given that they were still in a house-boat, wasn't that hard – and off she went, knocking on the door before carefully opening it.

“Hm?” she mumbled, noticing there was someone meditating on the bed.

Oh! A cute boy...

She may love Chat Noir, but that didn't mean she was blind to anyone else's looks.

Then the cute boy – who had to be Luka – opened his eyes and smiled.

Gah! Cute boy looking at me!

And thus began one of the problems she'd always hated.

“Ma-Ma-Marinette!” she tried to present herself. “Uhhh, your mother told me to tell you to join the blood-GROUP!”

WHY AM I LIKE THIS? she thought, blushing heavily. The moment she calmed down, though, she was able to look down and away. What a great first impression, Marinette.

----

Being interrupted in his meditation by a pretty girl was not what he expected to end up with, much less his sister's friend that had helped her with the photos. Seeing her blush and shake her arms around was somehow a great combination of cute and funny, but it was clear that she didn't think the same, because she now looked unhappy.

“The group is waiting for you,” she managed to say. He thought he'd try to break the ice with a small joke.

“Hi, Ma-Ma-Marinette!” he replied – and immediately realized he had screwed up.

AHH! he thought. Instead of laughing, Marinette now looked even unhappier than earlier. You made her sad, fix it, quick!

Quickly looking around, he picked up his guitar and pick and showed them to his guest.

“Sorry, I communicate better with this. Wanna hear?”

“Okay...” she replied. Alright, he had a chance to fix it, he couldn't waste it!

----

As the last notes of the song Luka had chosen vanished, she felt her mood rise in happiness. He was an artist with his guitar!

“That's amazing,” she praised. “How'd you do that?”

“Music is clearer than words,” he replied, smiling, as he began to stand up from the bed. She looked around, and noticed a familiar poster.

“And you like Jagged Stone?”

“He's my favorite singer.”

“Mine too!”

Smiling, Luka gave her the pick he had just used to play his song.

“You can keep that if you want. I have plenty.”

Marinette admired the object in her hand. It was a simple pick: triangular, plastic, with a drawing that resembled Jagged Stone. But Marinette knew that it hid that, much like her own needles, it could create works of art in the right hands.

“Oh! Thanks!”

“Let's go join the 'blood', funny girl,” Luka said, opening the door, and Marinette felt her heart doing a skip... before she began to slap her face.

What are you doing?! she thought. Your heart belongs to Chat Noir!

She knew Pollen was looking at her with bemusement, but it wasn't as if she could explain what was going on to her!

----

“This year for the Music Festival, the City of Paris has organized a whole series of free concerts with great stars in prestigious places!” Nadja Chamack happily proclaimed in her news cast. “You'd have to be a complete loser to miss it!”

Adrien felt like punching the TV screen, but instead he chose to hit his table in annoyance.

“Why do you mock me, Nadja?!” he called the reporter out, even if he knew she couldn't hear him.

“Hey, at least you can watch online!” Plagg tried to console him, but Adrien wasn't going to take it.

“I only cared about my friends' concert, Plagg. I'd sneak out if Père wasn't gonna check on me later,” he replied, annoyed with his kwami partner.

“Is that all? Then I'll give you a private concert!”

Plagg cleared his throat and –

“CHEEEESE! You astound me!”

Adrien quickly covered his ears. He really understood now why Plagg was the Kwami of Destruction. He was destroying his ear drums, his brain, and the good name of music itself with this outright abomination against nature he was belting out. He didn't even have the decency to speak of something nice!

He wasn't one to scream imprecations. The one time he had told his father (through Nathalie) to fuck off was one of the few times he had.

But here and now? It deserved the cluster bomb of unprintable words that poured out of his mouth.

----

As she saw her brother coming out from under the deck, and into the stage, she could tell he had had a life-changing experience. The fact that he was blushing like mad made it obvious what it was.

“You met Marinette, didn't you, Luka?” she teased her elder (by just a few minutes) brother, who looked away, still embarrassed.

“Shut up.”

----

Alya watched as Marinette coming from the cabins' section, and noticed how intent her best friend seemed in looking at the stage.

“Whatcha lookin' at?” she asked, looking in the same direction as her, and realizing someone new standing with the others. Quite the nice-looking boy, if she had to say it.

“Hm? Oh, was I staring?” Marinette said, shaken out of her stupor.

“Is that Luka?” She gave Marinette a teasing look. “Is your compass moving towards a new statue?”

“Whaaat?” Marinette waved her away. “No! That's not – I just think he's cool! And nice. And so mature! He's really got it together.”

----

Meanwhile, on the stage, someone had not got it together yet.

She's looking at you, keep it cool man! Ahhhhhhhhh!

Fortunately, by the time the sound was on, and his mother picked up a microphone to act as MC, he was able to redirect his nervous energy towards what it really mattered right now.

Which was giving an awesome concert.

“Alright, First Mate Luka! Whenever you're ready!” his mother announced, and he readied his second pick of the day. He had to begin this in the most awesome of ways if he wanted to impress Marinette! He brought it down –

“STOP RIGHT THERE!”

– and he stopped.

“Huh?!”

Everyone looked to the dock, where a police officer they were quite familiar with stood, showing his badge and speaking through a loudspeaker.

“Mme. Anarka, we've received a noise complaint!” Officer Roger Raincomprix shouted, leaving everyone dumbfounded – particularly since they had not even played a single note.

“A noise complaint?! From who!?” Anarka demanded.

“Yoo-hoo!” Chloé called out from the police car.

“Oh C'MON!” everyone who had had the displeasure of knowing the rich girl yelled in unison.

----

As Anarka turned to the intrusion, the officer continued to speak.

“Mlle. Bourgeois has been traumatized by your playing!” the man yelled, and her daughter's bully hid her false tears behind her hands.

“It's true! They deliberately tried to deafen me with their music!”

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! We haven't even played yet!” Anarka shouted back through her ship's bullhorns.

“I have a witness, Madame!” Raincomprix said. And that really irked her.

“Ha! I knew you were a landlubber, but I didn't know you were a bootlicker too!”

She knew she had hit a nerve when the officer cast away the loudspeaker.

“Oh, you wanna go there?!”

“Bring it, you scally wag!” she dared the man, who immediately pulled out his ticket book.

“No authorization to dock here, no concert! And the mess! And the decorations!” He began to write down. “A ticket for your attitude, for provocation, for my sea sickness, and cuz I can!”

He realized too late that he would be unable to actually hand the tickets over, given that the plank was now missing. So, he resorted to folding them into planes and throwing them at Anarka, who surprisingly waited for them to reach her before balling them up, throwing them away... and exploding.

“YOU BILGE RAT SCUM!”

“And one for name calling!”

Then a black butterfly landed on her ship's binnacle.

----

He had to admit that this was... strange.

He prided himself in ensuring everything remained organized and in place, as it was the only way to make sure all worked as expected.

It was one of the reasons why he disliked the heroes – they threw off his plans to succeed.

And no, he wasn't a control freak like that employee of his had once said when he thought he was away. He was lucky he was only fired for putting two mannequins for that expo in the wrong order. That would teach him for misrepresenting his boss!

But now... he was in the hands of a woman that thought herself an anarchist – and actually followed on it with her children! He had even akumatized one of them. It was a wonder they weren't a wild bunch.

Well, he could roll with it.

“Captain Hardrock, I'll give you an indestructible ship to blast your music for all to hear!”

“Oh, yeah, that's a way better plan! I was just not gonna pay the tickets.”

Given what he had learned, he seriously doubted she would have had paid the tickets, anyway.

----

She smirked at the losers in the boat. They thought they were smart for pushing her out of the ship? Well, now they would learn to respect their betters!

“Bet you wish you'd let me on now~!” she sing-sang.

“BOOOOO!” Césaire, Couffain and Lahiffe booed. Ugh, seriously, here she was, lowering her standards to raise theirs, and that was how they thanked her?

Then her eyes turned to the guy next to Couffaine.

Whoa, wait, who's that?! He's cute! Dresses like trash, though.

“Who's that?” the cute boy asked, pointing at her.

“You know, her,” Couffaine said.

Yes! Try not to swoon from my name alone! she giddily thought; she knew all boys were in love with her, they just needed to meet her to prove it!

“Chloé Bourgeois.”

Immediately, the cute boy's face turned into something that, if she didn't know better, she would say was disgust. Which, in the Chloé equivalent of a Central Processing Unit, was something that could not be processed.

“Oh, her,” he said, and the Chloé Processing Unit was unable to register the fact that he sounded like he disliked her, since it was impossible.

“What's that look for?!” she asked.

The sorry excuse for a boat suddenly began to shake and transform into something like a ship from those pirate movies she saw. She barely remembered them, 'cause the only good thing about them was the cute boy that was the hero, but she did remember him piloting a ship like the one that now held the losers.

“Oh no!” Dupain-Cheng said, as the cute boy looked to the back of the ship.

“Maman?!”

She looked to the back, and saw a woman wearing some atrocious get-up that she wouldn't get caught in dead, along with make up that made her look like a clown and hair that looked like it was one of those characters in that super-boring thing she saw Adrien watching one day before she got him to change the channel.

“Your mother has set sail, cut-throats! I am Captain Hardrock! There'll be only one concert in Paris!” She began to turn that wheel-thing, and the boat began to move. “Next stop, Jagged Stone and the Eiffel Tower!”

“Chloé, that means your father is in danger!” Tikki said, popping out from her bag.

“Meh, just his lame orchestra.” Seriously, why did Tikki care about that? It wasn't made of important people, after all.

“What about that XY guy you like so much?” Tikki asked.

She panicked.

“Oh no, not XY!”

She couldn't allow this Akuma to hurt her favorite singer!

----

“To your instruments, sailors! Blast the decibels!” Captain Hardrock declared, but her children and the rest of Kitty Section laid down their instruments and looked at the Akuma.

“Maman, no,” Luka declared, trying to get her to stand down. Unfortunately, Akumas were not known for peacefully standing down.

“A mutiny, is it?!” She waved her spyglass, and suddenly chains flew out from somewhere in the ship. “Liberty! Capture these rats and send them down the hold!”

One chain went around Ivan and Mylène, who were face to face.

“OUCH!”

“Are you okay, Ivan?”

Another, around Juleka and Rose, with the former hugging the latter from behind.

“JULEKA!”

“It'll be okay, Rose.”

The third, around Marinette and Luka, who were (fortunately for their sanity) back-to-back, although that didn't keep them from blushing.

“Omigosh I'm so sorry!” Marinette babbled.

The last chain went for Nino and Alya, who were placed in a 'compromising' position.

“I'm not touching I swear!” Nino said, looking everywhere but the girl that was now 'trapped' between his legs.

Quickly, the deck below them disappeared, causing them to land in the cabins that had been turned into jails.

----

“Paris is once again under threat of attack,” Nadja Chamack said, matter-of-factly, as the title under her stated No Fun Allowed.

Finally! An excuse to get out! Not the one he wanted, of course, but it still worked out the same!

“Woohoo! Plagg, I'm ungrounding us!”

“Wohoo,” Plagg repeated: he was still salty about Adrien's complete lack of enthusiasm over his cheese song. But he still complied when Adrien called out the magic words, and Chat Noir jumped out of the window, using his baton to quickly reach his target in one of the Seine's docks.

“I can even check in on my friends–” he thought, but then an unwelcome sight showed up next to him.

“SCAR?!”

“There you are, alley-cat!”

“Good feeling gone,” Chat Noir complained.

----

In the jail that was also Luka's room, Marinette and Luka were struggling to get out of the chains trapping them together, unsuccessfully, as they were too tight to slip out of.

Marinette noticed, from the corner of her eye, Pollen slipping out of her purse and opening the lock with a bit of magic, causing the chain to fall from around them.

“Wow! How'd you do that?” Luka asked, surprised.

“It was–” Pollen began to speak, only for Marinette to quickly grab and muffle her, to avoid her from blowing up her secret identity. She then cleared her throat, in an attempt to mask the error.

“Erm, with this!” she said, showing the pick Luka had given her earlier.

“You're amazing, Marinette!” he said, standing up and opening one of the windows. Before they could jump, though, heavy steps sounded near the door. “Here she comes!”

And he waved her towards the bed.

Marinette jumped under just as a boot opened the door, followed by the Akuma.

“Traitorous knaves!” Captain Hardrock declared, aiming her sword at Luka. “Capture him.”

Under the bed, Marinette silently bid Pollen not to make a noise, which the kwami fortunately understood, knowing that they were in a pickle.

“That girl... she won't be able to go far,” the Akuma said, before dragging Luka away.

As soon as she was certain she was on the clear, Marinette transformed, and Marigold jumped out of the window, giving a way round to mask where she was actually coming from.

She really didn't want to give Hawkmoth ideas about her identity!

----

Atop the Liberty's deck, things weren't going very fine for the heroes, as they were unable to get closer to the Akuma without her using her power.

“Capture them!” she ordered, and chains flew at the two. Chat Noir was able to deflect them by twirling his baton, but Scarlet Lady, less skilled, quickly got her arms trapped.

“Hey!” she shouted.

“HA!” Marigold shouted, and a strike of her spinning top broke the chains holding Scarlet Lady.

“Marigold! You made it!” Chat Noir exclaimed, relieved.

“Haha! It's harder to sneak away than I thought!” Marigold said, scratching the back of her head.

“Ha! That just proves how much of a new-bee you are!” Scarlet Lady laughed, but Marigold glared back at her.

“Must be easy for you since you don't have friends,” she retorted.

Further discussions had to be put on hold when Captain Hardrock interrupted with a repetition.

“Capture them!”

Deflecting the chains, Chat Noir turned to Marigold.

“Got an idea where the Akuma is?!”

“Somewhere on the barge!” She had not been looking when the Akuma landed, but it was likely somewhere near the wheel.

“Then I can settle this with a Cat–”

“NO!” Marigold shouted, using her spinning top to catch Chat Noir's arm. “She has hostages! They could drown if you sink the ship!”

Chat Noir gulped at how close he had been to make a mistake.

“Oh! Good catch!”

“So? The cleansing spell will bring them back,” Scarlet Lady said. She said it in such a nonchalant tone that Marigold (who had known what little regard she had for other people's lives when The Gamer attacked) was shocked.

“Huh?!”

“Good lord, Scar, no,” Chat Noir said, disgusted.

The group split off: Chat Noir went up to distract the Akuma, while Marigold (and Scarlet Lady) went down to free the hostages.

----

Chat Noir put all his fencing skills into fighting Captain Hardrock. It was a bit hard, as most of his training was about dodging and thrusting, and this required more like parrying and slashing, but he was doing fine.

“Scally wag! Landlubber! Bilge rat!” Captain Hardrock insulted.

“That's bilge cat to you!” If she was going to insult him, at least she should use the proper insults!

----

“Scarlet Lady!” Rose and Alya exclaimed, as Marigold tensed her string.

“Let's get you out of here!”

With quick swings of her weapon, the chains holding the teens were broken down, and they stretched out a bit before they got ready to leave.

But Luka had something else to do, and picked Marigold's hand.

“Marigold! Is Marinette okay?!”

“She's okay! She's the one who warned me!” the heroine said, and Luka smiled.

“Wow, that girl is brave...”

Someone else in the room didn't share that appreciation.

Why's he so focused on Clumsinette?! Scarlet Lady thought. She knew what she could do, though! The cute boy would drop the new-bee like a hot potato when he saw this!

“Scarlet Lady will save the day with Lucky Charm!”

“Yay!” Césaire said. At least she had good taste.

Then the Lucky Charm landed on her hand.

“Eh? What's this?”

It looked like the thing the Akuma had used on her, but it was still a mystery.

“Well, save us, hero,” Marigold said, scornfully.

Scarlet Lady was about to make a retort, but suddenly two objects fell from atop.

Chat Noir's baton in its split form.

“Hoho! Your Miraculous will be my war treasure, minou!”

Marigold quickly jumped on the ropes to climb up.

“Chat Noir!”

“That idiot!” Scarlet Lady said, not caring much about him.

The two heroes left behind Chat Noir's baton... which Luka picked up.

“Guys, follow my lead.”

----

Marigold managed to force Captain Hardrock to step away from Chat Noir and freed him, but they still had to deal with the Akuma.

“HAHAHA! Liberty! Onward to City Hall!”

“Oh nooo, not the lame orchestra,” Scar said, once more showing her lack of care for anyone that wasn't herself.

Suddenly, the boat began to lurch.

“Whoa–! What?!” Captain Hardrock exclaimed. Then she looked, and there, at port, the group of 'mutineers' were forcing a large pole into the bottom of the river. “You–! Mutinous scallywags!”

The 'mutinous scallywags' were Kitty Section, along with Mylène, Alya, and Nino, who had managed to enlarge Chat Noir's baton to make it drag along the riverbed, but they had soon noticed a problem: Chat Noir's baton might be nigh-unbreakable, but that didn't make them nigh-unbreakable. It was taking the effort of all seven of them just to keep the thing in place.

“We're gonna be so sore tomorrow!” Luka declared as everyone put their all into forcing the ship to run aground.

“Stop redirecting my ship!” Captain Hardrock shouted, brandishing her large sword and jumping to slash them. “Haaaa! HRK!”

The change of sound was because Marigold and Chat Noir had grabbed the Lucky Charm and jumped so as to drag the Akuma towards the most obvious place for the butterfly to be: the binnacle.

“An opening!” both heroes shouted at the same time, dragging the Akuma away as fast as possible until it slammed into the binnacle.

Unfortunately, they had been going so fast that, while they did manage to chain Captain Hardrock up, they also crashed into each other.

Marigold internally complained: she wanted to get closer to Chat Noir, but not like that!

As for the Black Cat Hero, he attempted to make a sense of where he was until he touched the closest metallic surface.

“C-Cataclysm,” he said, destroying the binnacle and freeing the blasted butterfly.

Fortunately, Scar was actually able to do her job and purified the butterfly before using the Miraculous Cure.

Of course, that was more than enough to set off her hateful side.

“Your hero has once saved the day!” she declared, even though she hadn't even tried to fight the Akuma.

“Uh, didn't we save the day?” Nino pointed out, and Scar glared down at him.

“NO!”

Ignoring the usual, Chat Noir approached Marigold, smiling.

“That makes three Akumas now, right?”

Marigold looked at him, wondering what was going on... until he rose a fist.

“Bien Joué, partner,” he said, and Marigold felt like she had received every Christmas present she wanted for the next decade right now. But, instead of jumping in joy that Chat Noir was finally warming up to her, she mirrored his move.

“Bien Joué!”

And they bumped fists for the first time as Heroes.

----

Adrien managed to return home just a few minutes before his father arrived to his room.

He wasn't sure why the man was so intent on putting up some impossible standards, but, well, he could try.

“Play, Adrien,” Gabriel ordered, and he had an idea.

“Actually, Père, I was hoping we could play together?”

“Together?”

Was he wrong, or was there a tone of something weird in his voice?

“You know, since I can't go to my friends' concert,” he reminded his father.

Gabriel adjusted his glasses as he sat next to him.

“T-That won't be necessary, you may go to your friends' concert,” he decided.

Adrien quickly cheered.

“Really?!” He hugged his father. “Thank you, Père!”

----

Gabriel knew he had very different intentions to what his son thought.

He can't know I haven't played in ten years!

----

After Luka played a few notes, Officer Roger checked the sound level meter he had been assigned for this task.

“Well, it's a few decibels above the limit...”

Chloé was smirking, certain that she would get her way once more.

“But, what the heck, it's the music festival!” the officer said, putting the device in his pocket, much to everyone's joy.

“WHAT?!”

Well, not everyone's joy.

“They're breaking the rules!” Chloé yelled. “Do I need to call my Daddy?”

“Funny you mention that,” Officer Roger Raincomprix said, leaning down to give the spoiled brat a very nasty smile. “My daughter and I looked into it and turns out the Mayor doesn't actually have the kind of jurisdiction to fire me!”

Chloé sweated. So much for her plan.

And, for once, she understood she had lost this round, and beat it back to her home.

Much to Adrien's luck, as he arrived just a few minutes later.

“Hi, everyone!” he greeted as he stepped into the Liberty.

“Adrien!” Nino cheered, and Adrien's eyes went to the deck – and one of the instruments.

“Whoa! An original ZX20.4?! Sick!” he said, approaching the electronic keyboard with awe.

“You can play that, dude?” Nino asked.

“For sure!” He had played on one like this several times, and he had trained to play the piano for long.

“Then welcome to the band, Adrien!”

“Thanks!” he told the unknown boy. Then he asked the question. “What band?”

----

The concert was in full swing, and Kitty Section was now playing what they hoped would be their first hit.

“I Love Unicorns!” Rose sang, surprisingly intense for such a sweet girl. “Almost as much as my girlfriend!”

And she pointed at Juleka, who stopped playing her bass as she turned to look at Rose, both blushing and horrified.

“That's right, Paris, France! I have a super hot gothic girlfriend!” Rose continued, even as Juleka tried to beg her not to put her in the spotlight.

She had picked the bass precisely to stay out of it!

----

The crowd formed in and around the Liberty cheered as Luka's guitar strummed the last notes of the song, and the band bowed to their grateful public.

“That's a wrap!” Luka announced, and Adrien jumped off the stage to meet his favorite fan.

“Marinette!” he said, happy that she had been there to watch.

“Hey!” she greeted him, smiling. “That looked like fun!”

“Yeah, it was great!” he replied, sitting next to her. “I've never gotten to play with others before! Did I look alright?”

Marinette giggled.

“Yeah, super cool!”

“Really?!”

He couldn't think of higher praise.

With the post-concert party going on, Marinette apologized so she could check on the girls, and he kept looking after her, until Luka approached him.

“You know Marinette?” he asked.

“Yeah! She's awesome, right?”

“Oh yeah, really sharp too.”

“Exactly!” Luka did know how wonderful Marinette was!

“Really quick on her feet.”

“You wouldn't believe the plans she thinks up!”

“Very cute too.”

“Gorgeo–”

Wait.

He turned to glare at the sudden rival that had sprung out of nowhere.

What do you think you're doing? he asked with his eyes.

Luka just smiled back at him.

The gauntlet has been thrown.

----

After a long day, Marinette was finally back at home, and she admired the photo that was the jewel of her small collage, hanging next to the mysterious pendant she had received for her birthday.

“I feel so guilty for getting caught in Luka! Forgive me, Chaton!” she said, caressing the photo of her Chat Noir sticking his tongue out.

“You have no reason to feel guilty about liking multiple people!” Pollen cheered from her sit at her knees.

“Really?” Was she blushing? Yeah, she was blushing.

“Of course! It's natural! Queens often have many consorts!”

“Huh?!”

Wait, consorts? As in plural? More than one?

“You have your chivalrous knight to fight for you, and your lovely bard to sing your praises!” Pollen continued, ignoring her meltdown. “And a romantic prince to–”

“You lost me at consort!”

----

Syren

@zoe-oneesama Hawkmoth thinks he's the orchestra director, but he can't play a note worth a damn!

OK, sorry for the wait. I've been visiting family this past week, and having times to sit down and write were not easy to find. But, well, here we are, with Luka's debut.

Next chapter, we'll have what @msweebyness has been waiting for: the first part of the Kim/Ondine pairing's day in the limelight. Hope it's fun!

[siennamon]

a well-deserved rest because that boy is so exhausted (scarlet lady au by @zoe-oneesama)

[purrfectlycontent]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Chat Noir, Marigold/Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pollen (Miraculous Ladybug), Marigold, Scarlet Lady, Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste, Chloé Bourgeois, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug) Additional Tags: i just wanted to contribute to this au, because i definitely love the idea of marinette being a bee superhero, Scarlet Lady AU, Fluff and Humor Summary:

What happens if Marinette never gets the Ladybug Miraculous? Instead, it's given to another girl, a rather lazy one at that, and Chat Noir, her partner, has to do all the work. Meanwhile, she has to put up with Scarlet Lady's shenanigans as Marigold -the bee superhero- and Chat Noir's sudden visits?

Or: Marinette gets the bee Miraculous and Chat Noir is dying™️

@zoe-oneesama

[justa-simplefangirl]

During an Akuma attack

Scarlet: hoLY SHIT WHAT HAVE YOU

DONE?! OH MY F U C K I N G LORD, THEY’RE SHOOTING AT US- *falls down*

Marigold: *sighs, goes to help her*

Chat: *goes with her, but not without looking into the camera like he’s in

the Office*