#He may quite possibly be Gabriel Agreste okay sorry

[phis-corner]

statue of ice

yes i am still updating this fic lmao

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She only lasts a few weeks before caving and telling her brother that she’s Ladybug.

The Guardian – Fu is his name – was vehemently against revealing her identity again, already annoyed that she’d told Jason. Privately, Marinette thinks that Fu can “go fuck himself”, and maybe Jason would have said it out loud, but she does not.

Instead, she ignores his wishes and tells Tim anyway.

To his credit, her brother isn’t even surprised. He just quirks a smile during their scheduled video call and says in a light voice, “I guess it runs in the family, then, doesn’t it?”

Marinette is inclined to agree. After all, what are the odds that both of them ended up being protectors of two cities?

.o0o.

A week later, Tim calls her to confirm Marinette’s suspicions that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.

“He’s slippery. Paid to have all the security cameras around his home removed, but I traced akuma sightings on social media and marked them on a map and what do you know, his house was right in the center of the circle. I also checked out the property. He literally has a butterfly window, Mari. Everything in his house is butterfly patterned. It checks out.”

“Thank you, Tim-Tam. I’ll take care of it from here,” Marinette says. Her mind is already working, forming a plan to take Gabriel down. Permanently.

It has to be public. The city wouldn’t believe it otherwise, and some are already accusing Ladybug and Chat Noir of creating the akumas themselves so that they can make themselves look good by defeating them.

Exposing Gabriel as Hawkmoth would cause the downfall of his company and result in the loss of thousands of jobs, but Audrey Bourgeois had a Parisian branch of Style Queen that was still fairly new and looking for employees, and she knows that Audrey would most likely hire all of Gabriel’s employees out of spite.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to help?” her brother asks. “You don’t have to do this alone, you know.”

She knows. She wants so, so badly not to do it alone, to have her brother by her side as she faces down a magic user that could turn her into a puppet in the blink of an eye if she allowed herself to feel just a little bit too much, but she can’t bring him into this. Can’t bring anyone else into this. Tim already spends his nights stopping rapists and murderers and seeing all the horrors that Gotham has to offer. He doesn’t need to see what Paris throws at its people as well.

“It’s a miraculous matter, Tim-Tam,” Marinette says instead of voicing any of those thoughts. “Besides, bringing anyone else in puts them at risk of akumatization. It’s best to keep as few people involved as possible.”

“Okay then,” Tim responds, not fully managing to hide the disappointment and apprehension in his voice. “Good luck, Mari.”

The corners of her lips twitch upwards in a tiny smile. “I am the living embodiment of good luck, Tim-Tam. It will be alright.”

.o0o.

It is easy to poke and prod at Gabriel’s ego until he thoughtlessly lunges, crashing through his own window onto the street below when she dances out of his way.

Ladybug follows, dropping and rolling with a familiarity that comes from being forced to do that same motion countless times, and she toys with him, dodging, ducking, but never really attacking, until the news helicopters start circling overhead.

Chat Noir arrives just as she sweeps Gabriel’s legs out from underneath him, and he doesn’t quite manage to stifle his gasp of horror, all irritation at Ladybug for taking Hawkmoth down without him forgotten when he sees who is underneath the mask.

Ladybug may find Chat Noir (Adrien Agreste, she reminds herself,) a nuisance at best, but she is not heartless. She knows what it’s like, to want to believe that one’s parents are good people. She knows what it’s like when that illusion one tries so hard to maintain finally shatters, and it’s something that nobody deserves to experience.

Chat’s face hardens as Ladybug starts murmuring words in an ancient tongue underneath her breath, casting a spell on his father, who gave up the fight as soon as the butterfly was removed from his hands, to ensure that Gabriel will never be able to touch another miraculous again. He won’t be able to exist within three feet of one.

It’s a good thing she chooses that spell too, because it protects Gabriel from his son’s wrath.

As the authorities are cuffing his hands behind his back, something cold settles in Chat Noir’s eyes as he calls up a Cataclysm and lunges at his father, the clawed hand rippling with dark magic outstretched, ready to disintegrate a living, breathing human being.

Gabriel is yanked backward by an invisible force, pulled out of harm’s way, and Chat’s Cataclysm lands on a chunk of debris instead. The Black Cat is held back by his partner before he can try something else.

“Chat,” Ladybug hisses, as he struggles in her hold, still trying to go after his father, who is being put away into a police car. “It’s done. It’s over. He won’t hurt anyone ever again, and the justice system will deal with it.”

Chat Noir slowly starts to resist less and less at her words, and she takes that as a cue to continue. “It feels anticlimactic, and I know you want to do more. You think we should do more than just let them take him away, because you’ve been fighting on the front lines of this battle since the beginning. But our part is over. Our duty has been fulfilled. He won’t be acquitted, if that’s any consolation. There are mountains of evidence against him.”

Her partner turns around, suddenly, and buries his face into her shoulder as his body jerks with what she realizes are sobs. He’s crying,Ladybug realizes. He’s crying for his father. For who he thought his father was.

When was the last time she cried for one of her parents?

Ladybug reaches a hand up and awkwardly pats Chat Noir on the back for a moment before she spots the reporters.

“Let’s take this to our usual meeting spot,” she whispers to her partner, and he nods, composing himself in an instant. Janet would have liked Adrien, she thinks. Gabriel’s parenting style was evidently similar to how Marinette had grown up.

Five minutes later, they’re standing on the Eiffel Tower, overlooking the city they’d sacrificed so much to protect.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Chat Noir asks, turning to her. “This is the end? There’s no use for us anymore.”

Ladybug inhales slowly, taking in the view from above one last time and committing it to memory. Not that she needs to – her eidetic memory ensures that she’ll never forget. It’s for the sentiment, she supposes.

“Yes,” she murmurs. “We have to give them back now. Say goodbye to our kwamis.” She’ll miss Tikki’s company, she thinks, but not as much as she misses Jason’s. The kwami was sweet, yes, but she didn’t understand Marinette’s need to do something other than being Ladybug.

“Where do we even return them to?” Chat questions, and then she remembers that he’d never been told of the Guardian’s existence.

Ladybug unhooks her yoyo from her side, tossing it up and down one last time as she prepares to swing. “Follow me,” she says, and then she throws the yoyo and leaps off the side of the Tower.

.o0o.

Fu’s massage parlor is just as inconspicuous as ever, and somehow, no one is walking along the street when Ladybug and Chat Noir enter.

The Guardian has been expecting them – there are three cups of tea sitting on the table in front of him.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir, please sit,” he says in his wheezy voice. They oblige, but the tea remains untouched on the table.

“Chat Noir, it is time to return your miraculous,” Fu states, and the two of them stiffen, immediately picking out what’s wrong with that sentence.

“Why am I not included?” Ladybug inquires, her polite tone holding an undercurrent of danger. “There cannot be a Ladybug without a Black Cat.”

“Well, you see, you won’t be using the Ladybug,” the Guardian explains with a slightly condescending look on his face. “But there can only be one Guardian, and I’ve chosen you to be my successor.”

The sound of Ladybug’s palms slamming on the table makes the other two people in the room jump. “Absolutely not,” she declares as she stands up. “I did not agree to become the Guardian. This has never been discussed.”

Fu looks up at her with confused eyes. “But you became a candidate when you agreed to put on the earrings, and Chat Noir is simply not fit for the job.” Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Chat Noir wince, but he does not disagree.

“I put on the earrings because people were dying,” Ladybug growls. “Because this city needed something, someone, to look up to, and there was no other viable option. The Guardian is never in the light. They spend the rest of their extended lives hiding in the shadows to protect a box of magical jewelry. The Guardian is not a symbol of hope, because nobody knows the Guardian exists. I put on the earrings to be a symbol of hope, not because I wanted to, but because people needed one. The people don’t need one anymore, and I don’t want to continue doing this.”

“I was fighting a war, Fu,” she spits, furious words laced with venom. “I was fighting a war with one ally by my side and we were both children. Now that the war is over, I am no longer needed, so I am leaving. I want the shreds of innocence I had before this war back, but that is not possible, so I can at least try to move on from this instead. Let me move on.”

Without warning, she reaches up and carefully takes the earrings out of her ears. She would have loved to rip them off in one swift movement, but earrings were not that type of jewelry. The Ladybug suit disappears in a flash of pink, and then she is Marinette again, standing in a massage parlor with a pair of red-and-black earrings in her hand and two sets of wide eyes fixed on her.

“Marinette,” Chat Noir breathes. “Oh my god, I… I’m so sorry.”

Marinette drops the earrings on the table in front of them. “Are you sorry for being an ass, or just sorry because the person you convinced yourself you were in love with was an illusion?” she asks, not looking at anyone or anything in particular as she pivots on her heel and strides for the exit.

When she reaches the doorway, however, she pauses, eyes still fixed straight ahead of her. “Oh, and Adrien?” she calls, eliciting two identical noises of surprise. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry too. About your father, of course.”

Then she opens the door and walks through, never once looking back as she sees the city that once weighed so heavily on her shoulders from the ground looking up, instead of from above, gazing down.

.o0o.

She’d spent some time wondering how she was going to adjust to life in Paris after that, knowing what she knew about Adrien and Gabriel and what Adrien knew about her.

As it turns out, she only has to go through one week of feeling Adrien’s green eyes on her at every available moment in class and going out of her way to avoid him, because her mother dies.

It’s surprisingly anticlimactic.

Janet Drake was always such a formidable woman. Her mere presence in a room could make grown men cower. To Marinette, she seemed almost invincible – always superior to everyone else, untouchable as she lashed out with quick with and a sharp tongue and long nails digging into her children’s shoulders. If there were ever any cracks in Janet’s façade, if it even wasa façade, she’d never seen one.

And yet, in the end, it turned out that she wasn’t untouchable after all. She’d died because she drank poisoned water out of desperation, even as Batman was right there. Batman had arrived to save them, he had freed them from their bonds, and the first thing they did was drink water poisoned with nerve toxin. Jack had survived, though he was in a coma and paralyzed.

Janet did not.

And that was it. That was the end of a woman that had dominated Marinette’s life for so long, a woman whose voice still hissed and lingered in her mind, reminding her to sit still and be silent and never, ever let your emotions show on your face.

Tim – he’d never had that mindset thrust upon him as forcefully as she did. After all, Tim had a father that didn’t despise him for his gender. Jack took charge of molding the son, and so Tim is crying, when he tells her all of this. He thinks he’s being subtle, but she’s his sister. She knows better.

Marinette didn’t care for her mother much, but she supposes she could give the dead at least some modicum of respect.

So as she packs her bags and books the next available flight to Gotham City, Marinette honors her mother’s wishes and does not shed a single tear for Janet Lynn Drake.

statue of ice

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[the-angriest-bunny-of-the-fandom]

The not so curious case of Adrien Agreste and abusers:

Adrien at this point in the show is surrounded by four abusers and what I find quite concerning - the writers don't seem to realize how deeply concerning and realistic this is. For reference I'm not pulling this from nowhere - I was emotionally abused by my mother and then later my brother. What I'm sharing here, I learned to look for in therapy.

None of these people need introduction, however I do want to rank them based on the danger they present to Adrien, his mental health and self-esteem.

1. Gabriel, 2. Nathalie, 3. Lila, 4.Chloe (about Lila and Chloe we can argue, I'm not so sure)

What I need everybody to understand here is that there is a specific reason as to why these abusers just seem to flock around Adrien. Emotional abuse affects your self-esteem, self-perception, perception of the world around you and even the way you talk. Abusers know exactly who to target and at this time Adrien (sadly) is an easy target. Why? Because he's not aware of the abuse. He feels the neglect, yes and even expresses that he's overworked and sometimes uncomfortable with the public spot-light his father has dragged him into. But he would never call his father abusive. What I also need everybody here to understand is that the relationship is unsalvagable. Adrien needs to escape. As soon as he can. The extent that Gabriel permits himself to control his sons life is more than just concerning. He's neglecting Adrien, bullying him, stripping him of his rights to an identity to the point where Gabriel is so self-aware of the power he has over Adrien that he is using something as simple as withdrawal from school to blackmail him into the behavioral patterns Gabriel expects of his son.

Nathalie is actively reinforcing this behavior. She witnesses abuse in the Form of emotional bribery and not only ignores it but feels sorry for Gabriel? She is supposed to be his caretaker when Gabriel is away and not only tolerates abuse but more often than not becomes the Hand that delivers the blow. No questions asked. This is dangerous behavior, because she has established that she is willing to put a child's wellbeing in jeopardy because it's her job. Neglect. And I'm not even going to get started on how often both of them gave no two shits about Adrien during Akuma Attacks.

Now to something positive. While Adrien isn't quite aware of his abuse at home he does reject Chloe and Lila. They can hardly be called friends at this point. But they manage to be regulars in his social interactions. They are trying to leech off of him - and sometimes it works. Chloe is quite concerning here. Because she was his only friend and contact to outside for a long time she's had time to try to make her behavior seem okay to Adrien. He most of the time does not fall for it - however he's apologetic and understanding towards her. Which is a damn problem. At some point Adrien needs to get angry, to protect himself. Better even would be fearful, so that he would feel urged to leave this environment as soon as possible. I believe the key to this may be Lila. So far she is the only identified thread by Adrien. No excuses anymore. The fact that Gabriel is using her to spy on Adrien could be the first big realization for him about his father's abuse. Because this permitted invasion of privacy by Lila and driven by his father should be shell-shocking.

Another example as to why I think that Adriens confidence has been seriously damaged by this. The episode with Felix. You are going to tell me that Plagg tells Adrien that his cousin (who he isn't close with) is rummaging through his things and it doesn't bother him? And then he let's the dude use his shower, no questions asked? Adrien, it becomes abundantly clear does not know how to enforce boundaries. And it comes even worse, he doesn't seem to have a sense of boundaries.

At this point the writers need to acknowledge the fact that they have written a remarkable portrayal of narcizisstic abuse and how the victim is affected. But now they need to do something with what they set up. Adrien needs to be scared of his father because HE HAS EVERY REASON TO BE. This is scary. He needs to get angry at him. They need to have a talk in which Gabriel should stay as he was before because if he suddenly turns loving... Yeah my dude we've got ourselves a case of love bombing and I'm not gonna tolerate this shit.

If the writers do not solve this situation the correct way we have a serious problem. I know alot of young people watch this show. I started when I was 15. Just one year after I went no contact with my mother. To see a character choose their own well-being unapologetically on TV? That would've been so encouraging. So to the writers of miraculous ladybug... please get a therapist involved with the show and do this correctly. Acknowledge the abuse.

[pearl-star]

Two Way Link

When Marinette cracks and gets akumatized, it’s not what she’s expecting. Hawkmoth is equally confused and more worried than she is. Turns out the mindlink is a two way streak, and her earrings make the link even stronger. Needless to say, some secrets got revealed.

Marinette had allowed herself to imagine herself as an akuma before. It was kind of hard not to when their class started bets for if Marinette or Adrien would get akumatized first. It also didn’t help after seeing Chat Noir’s akumazation first hand. If she ever got akumatized, Hawkmoth wouldn’t win. Oh No. The world would be in ruins. So if it wasn’t already an obvious goal, Marinette made it her mission to never even let a butterfly touch her. Of course she’s only human, and when she’s sleep deprived and dealing with a lot of extra stress her emotions run rampant. Not only did she deal with both night and day akumas for the past week, she also had extra work planning the fundraising events and the school trip. Include all her requests from her friends for different things and her regular school work, Marinette was already at her breaking point. Top it off with a couple idiotic stories from Rossi while the girl would slip in comments dissing the bluenette, and you got the recipe for a perfect akuma victim.

Marinette wasn’t even in the right headspace to try to hold off her emotions. She simply nursed her large cup of coffee, that may or may not be the 6th cup of the day, as she stewed in her seat. Why was her class a bunch of idiots? Like Marinette cared for them still, don’t get her wrong, but they hanged off her every word like it was air. Why didn’t they get curious and do a little research of their own? It would have saved everyone the trouble. And Adrien’s dumb high road advice would do more harm than good. He’s worried about Lila getting akumatized? Try the whole class when the truth gets out. Of course, Marientte had almost been akumatized because of Lila. Maybe she should have slipped that into her conversation with Adrien. That might have changed his mind. It didn’t matter much now though. She had just begun to speak normally around him. He might think that Marinette was lying about it to make him see her way, and that wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.

No one even noticed the butterfly coming into the room. It was only noticed when it landed on the coffee cup that Marinette held and the glowing mask appeared on her face. Very quickly, the class turned around and stared at their class rep. Marinette merely blinked a few times before groaning. “Really!? Come on! I was doing so good until now. Okay, you know what, fine. You want to akumatized me? Whatever. Just put the butterfly somewhere other than my coffee. I need that if I’m going to make it through today. You’re to blame for this, by the way. You couldn’t have just stopped with the akumas for the day could you. I mean one a day is bad enough. Why did you have to do two in one day? And at, like, 2am dude? Really?” Hawkmoth was just confused as the rest of her class. Marinette’s face scrunched up before her jaw dropped. “WAIT! GABRIEL AGRESTE!? YOU’RE HAWKMOTH!!?” The class paused before freaking out. Hawkmoth paled. He didn’t even get time to do his monologue before the girl started to speak out at him. As he started to reading deeper into her thoughts, he realized something. “You’re… Ladybug?” He was honestly surprised that this clumsy girl could possibly be Ladybug. Marinette just scowled. “Oh stop. I can feel your judgment from here. It’s a secret identity for a reason. Of course I’ll act differently with magical jewelry. Except, you don’t act too different than you do in real life. Maybe treat your son better, will you? He needs to have a backbone for when Rossi and Cholé drape themselves over him.” Cholé gasped and Lila tried to turn the tale but Marinette continued.

“I’ll give Cholé the benefit of the doubt since she had been childhood friends with him, but what Lila’s doing is bordering of sexual harassment. And you employed her as a model too. Like do you even care about you own son’s mental well-being?” Gabriel made the mistake of thinking about Lila and Marinette’s face shifted from shock to neutral. “Okay, so you made her spy on Adrien and report back to you as well as cause akumas. Got it. And that’s an interesting fact about her willingly getting akuamtized. Too bad my class has become too ignorant to realize that every word she says is nothing more than bull crap.” Hawkmoth, Gabriel, should have tried to rein her in. However when he tried it, magic was interfering. It was something that Nooroo had warned him about once before when he expressed the desire to akumatized Ladybug or Chat Noir. They would naturally have more resistance to him, especially Ladybug since her powers balanced for good and becoming evil would take drastic measures. Before he could try to act, the girl spoke again. “Oh, it’s nice to know that you at least let Nooroo talk. Seriously, I forgot about that whole Sandboy fiasco for a second. You couldn’t have at least allowed Nooroo to enjoy his whatever number cycle in peace. You had to traumatize so many people by creating their nightmares.” No one noticed as Adrien slipped away to transform.

Plagg flew out of his pocket and had the audacity to be laughing. “What is so funny?!” He demanded. Marinette was akumatized! Not only that, but she was Ladybug. Ladybug was akumatized and the akuma won’t be purified. Nor would any of the damage be reversed. Not to mention that his own dad was apparently Hawkmoth. Plagg caught his breath and was able to speak. “I’m sorry, but it’s too funny! This love square you guys had going on was great entertainment already. Top that with what Spots is doing and it’s gold.” Adrien decided to ignore what Plagg was saying for now and transform instead. While he was doing that, Marinette decided to discover something very important: what Gabriel’s motivation was.

Marinette clamped a hand to her mouth as she pulled the memory from his mind. Then that shock turned to hot rage. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?” ALL THIS TIME YOU HAVE KEPT YOUR WIFE IN A GLASS COFFIN IN YOUR FUCKING BASEMENT LAIR?!?” Hawkmoth actually flinched from the raw power and anger she emanated. He made the mistake of recalling the peacock miraculous, setting the girl off on another tangent. “AND YOU’RE ALLOWING NATHALIE TO USE A BROKEN MIRACULOUS?!? Wow! Just, Wow!” Maybe if he detransformed and left now, he wouldn’t have to face the girl’s wrath. Nooroo’s powers allowed them to feel the strength of a person’s emotions. Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s emotions showed that even without powers or a miraculous, she would kill him with her bare hands. If he was told a day before that she would be capable of murder, he would never have believed it. Now though, he was scared.

It was at that time that Chat Noir decided to bust in. He was both shocked and impressed that Marinette was still holding out. Maybe if he destroyed the object now she won’t be transformed. Of course would that negatively effect her somehow? Before he could ponder it longer, the girl in question acted first. “You better meet me in front of your mansion and give me both the butterfly and peacock miraculous. You also better fire Rossi and put a restraining order on her so she can’t touch Adrien again. Otherwise this cup will be replaced with your neck.” Marinette crushed the cup with her hand and the butterfly flew out. Standing up, she called on her transformation before her kwami could protest. She swiped the akuma out from the air and looked around. The whole class was quite. Lila didn’t even try to say anything, and in fact she shrunk under her stare. “Alrighty then. Time to go kitty.” She walked calmly out of the room, ignoring everything that just had happened. Chat paused before following her.

Back in his lair, Gabriel detransformed from shock. Nooroo tried to hide his smirk. Wordlessly, he went back into the main part of his house and approached Natalie. She looked confused. “What’s wrong? I thought you were finally akuamtizing Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Gabriel just shook his head and held his hand out. He was slightly shaking. “Just give me the peacock miraculous. Turns out, she’s a lot more dangerous than expected.” Natalie wanted to question her boss, but he seemed to be in shock. She did as asked and followed him as he walked out the front doors of the mansion. Outside was a smiling Ladybug and a concerned Chat Noir. Ladybug’s smile looked dangerous, like she was giving a warning. When Gabriel willingly handed over both miraculouses, Ladybug laughed. A dangerous sweetness dripping out. “Thank you! Also you better be honest with what you’re wife was doing with the miraculous when the police question you. I’ll see if the damage can be undone without the potential for ending the world. Oh also I will be taking your son away. He deserves better parents and I’m sure that mine will spoil him. Chat you take his assistant, I’ll grab him. It’s time to drop them off.” Chat grabbed Natalie and had her over his shoulder before she could react. Ladybug did the same to Gabriel, ensuring that neither could make a grab for their miraculouses.

A lot of things happened on that day. Hawkmoth and Mayura were announced to be defeated. Gabriel confessed to having Lila work for him both as a spy and as a willing accomplish for Hawkmoth. Adrien’s mom was brought to a hospital and Master Fu repaired the peacock miraculous and reversed the damage done to both her and Natalie. Lila was taken off to serve time in juvie and the two adults went to jail. Adrien was not to blame and was unofficially adopted by Marinette’s parents, which resulted in him spending a lot of time at the bakery. Adrien’s mom and Gabriel both revealed how she was forced into the marriage and forced to use the miraculous against her will. She got a divorce and ensured that Adrien got therapy. He was able to quit modeling and even got a restraining order against Lila just in case. He revealed himself to Marinette after a month and they decided to date. Her class did everything to make it up to the bluenette, but she merely shrugged at their words. She could care less now. They only wanted her to be their friend again because she was Ladybug. She and Chat announced their retirement to Paris two weeks after Hawkmoth’s defeat, although she still got to see Tikki and Plagg. It seemed like getting akumatized was the best thing that had happened to her.

[maribatshipper]

Miraculous Jiminette: String

Liam sighs as he watches everyone with his amber coloured eyes. Everyone says that you have soulmates, & there is a string on your finger connecting you to your soulmate. He didn't believe it until he turned twelve & started seeing strings on everyone's hands. No one else seemed to see them, even when he asked, everyone looked at him like he was nuts. He looks at his own naked fingers. He could see everyone's strings except his own. He's seen people with platonic soulmates, romantic soulmates, & any other soulmates there are. The romantic soulmates were attached by the ring-finger & any others were every other finger.

"& I swear we're soulmates."

Liam groans as his Italian cousin drones on about some famous celebrities. He's seen her fingers. Her soulmate is as fake as she is. What she does have that's real is a soul enemy.

"Lila, shut up! I've had enough! You are not soulmates with you may think, but there is one person in here attached one of your fingers, & it isn't a good one!" Liam glares at his cousin.

Lila goes to sob when Liam says, "You have a soul enemy. In fact, you have quite a few soul enemies. One of them is in this room."

Everyone stares at shock at Liam. He's usually a quiet guy, almost never talking to anyone, & now he's just confused everyone in the room. He holds back from grabbing at his own brown hair. Lila starts crying.

She sniffs, "Why would you say that to me, Liam? I was just trying to-"

Liam interrupts, "Get attention, again! I'm sick of it! I'm out of here!"

He storms out of the room, feeling a tug on his pointer-finger. One of his Platonics must have been in that room. Marinette follows him out.

"What was that about, Liam?" She asks.

Liam sighs & sits down on a bench. He trusts Marinette more than anyone in that room. Maybe she’ll understand... Here goes nothing.

"I can see people's strings."

Marinette's eyes widen in shock.

"Soulmate strings?" She asks.

Liam nods, "Everyone's except my own & the Miraculous heroes."

Marinette sighs, "That must be painful."

"I guess. It's painful to see people fall in love with people that are not their soulmates, & I can't tell them without feeling guilty."

Marinette asks, "Why did you yell at Lila, though?"

“Because she’s a liar.” Liam frowns.

Marinette nods, “Can’t argue with that.”

Liam sighs, "The strings are different colours, based on personality or an important trait of the soulmate. Her romantic soulmate string is dull and clear, which usually means they are either dead, or a fake, like her."

Marinette sits next to him & asks, "What about Soul enemies? What's that?"

Liam points at his middle finger, "Right here is a string attached to people who are made to be enemies. Hers is connected to you. It glows a blinding red when you are close to your most hated enemy. Yours is Lila, my cousin, & one is, oddly enough, Gabriel Agreste. Then there are dull but not dull enough strings. Those are for the people that could possibly be a kind of soulmate. Chloe's string attached to you moved from your middle to your pointer. It's dull, but there."

Marinette frowns, "What about everyone in class?"

"Alya was supposed to be Soulmates with Nino, because their strings are attached to the ring, but if something gets in the way, the bond weakens until it just snaps. Especially if one in the relationship turns abusive and toxic. Adrien's attached to Nino's, yours, & Chloe's pointer, Rose & Juleka I never get a clear look, Mylene & Ivan seem good, but I can't tell if someone's a true romantic soulmate until they become adults except some people." Liam explains.

Marinette's face becomes downcast, "So... Adrien isn't my soulmate?"

Liam shakes his head, "Only a platonic. You need to remove all those pictures in your room of him. It'll only hurt more. But... I can do something for you."

Marinette raises her eyebrow, confused.

"I can tell you what your possible soulmate will look like, & where he lives, if you'll let me. I just need to hold your string." Liam offers.

Marinette asks, "You'd do that?"

Liam nods. Marinette holds out her hand to him, giving him permission. He grabs a hold of the blue/silver string attached to her ring finger & closes his eyes. A slim young man appears in his vision, with blue eyes, dark hair, a few scars, & fair skin. One thing that seems to recur is a suit of armour, shocking Liam. The kid in Liam's vision is seen fighting strange creatures in a place in America called Arcadia. The boy then becomes a strange being of stone, then a bigger one, then a human again. Liam opens his eyes, flabbergasted.

"You have a knight in shining armour for a soulmate." He breathes.

Marinette giggles, "Yeah, right. Tell me what you really saw."

Liam locks eyes with Marinette & tells her, "Your soulmate looks like a knight. He's blue-eyed, black hair, very slim, & is in America. A town called Arcadia. I think I saw someone call him Jim."

***

Jim Lake Jr looks at his phone. Toby had died just last week during a fight with a Troll. He was mourning his best friends' death when he had passed out on his bed.

In his dreams, he's wearing the Trollhunter armour he lost after he turned back into a human. He saw Toby almost die again, only for a girl wearing ladybug themed spandex to jump in front & protect him with a yoyo. The girl wraps the yoyo around the troll & pulls tight, cutting the troll apart.

"Leave them alone!" She yells at the troll remains.

Jim asks, "Who are you?"

The bluenette smiles, "I'm Ladybug. Hero of Paris, but you'll end up knowing me as-"

Suddenly, a man in a strange butterfly costume & a woman in a peacock costume appear & attack the Ladybug girl.

"Give me your Miraculous, Ladybug!" the Butterfly man orders.

Ladybug yells, "Never, Hawk Moth! Cat Noir, Ryuko!"

Two other animal-themed people appear behind Jim.

"Coming, M'lady! Watch out for Mayura." The cat boy yells as he extends his Baton & uses it like a sword.

The other one seems to be dressed up as a dragon & attacks with an actual sword. Jim stares in shock as the three heroes help each other with attackers. Ladybug gets knocked down by Mayura, & the other two are being distracted by Hawk Moth. Mayura's about to bring her dangerous fan down onto Ladybug. Jim's eyes widen in panic as he lunges in front of Mayura & holds his sword Daylight in a defensive position against the deadly fan.

"That's enough." A new voice announces.

Suddenly, everyone except Jim disappears.

"Toby!" Jim exclaims.

A boy places his hand on Jim's shoulder to comfort him.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I'm Liam. I need to tell you something, Jim." the boy explains.

Jim asks, "What could you possibly need to tell me?"

Liam answers, "A, this is a dream. When I hold someone's soulmate string, I can contact their soulmate via dreams. B, I can see people's soulmate strings. Apparently, those heroes are your soulmates. Platonically, of course. We are in Paris."

Jim frowns, causing Liam to hesitate.

"I do know one of your soulmates. What kind I’m not saying just yet. Her name is Marinette. When you come to Paris, try not to get upset though. I'll explain it more here."

Jim wakes up, terrified. Something about that dream just seems too real. He goes to the computer & researches Paris. What he finds shocks him.

***

Jim's sitting in a library searching about the word "Miraculous". So far, there is almost nothing, until he stumbles onto the Ladyblog on the library's computer. He calls Claire.

"Claire, we need to go to Paris."

***

Liam rolls his eyes as another akuma tries to take over Paris.

"Look out!" Someone yells.

Liam looks up to see a beam coming towards him when two people crash into him. One's a girl with a white strip in her hair & one-

"You?" Liam asks.

Jim asks, "You?"

Claire asks, "You know each other?"

Both males answer, "Long story."

Liam grabs both their hands & runs.

"Where is a bloody akuma shelter when you need it?!" Liam growls.

Claire asks, "What's going on? What's an akuma?"

Liam sighs, "Another long story."

He looks at Claire's hand, a habit with his ability. He feels his ringfinger tighten & widens his eyes. He panics when he sees Ryuko.

"Ryuko! Help!" He yells.

Ryuko jumps next to the three teens. Liam grips his ringfinger as he pushes the other two towards Ryuko.

"Take these two, please! They're tourists! I'll find a shelter!" Liam orders.

Ryuko nods & grabs the two teens and rushes away to a shelter. Liam picks up his pace as he dodges the akuma.

"Liam!" a very familiar voice exclaims.

Liam trips & crashes into the ground, getting a few bruises. He looks up & prepares himself for the inevitable when a strong pair of arms wrap around him. He opens his eyes to see Ladybug saving him. He feels his pointer-finger tug as she takes him far away. His pointer flashes, & he looks down to see Marinette's name written on it. That's new.

"Thanks, Ladybug." Liam smiles.

"Be more careful! We can't lose the only guy that can see soulmates." Ladybug frowns.

Liam suddenly looks at Ladybug in shock. He's only ever told his parents and...

"Marinette..." He whispers.

"Get somewhere safe." Ladybug orders.

***

Marinette groans, "I messed up Tikki!"

Tikki rolls her eyes, "Marinette, Liam can see Soulmate strings. You & him are Platonic soulmates. It was bound to happen. So you slipped up. He won't tell anyone. He's too nice for that."

Before Marinette can respond, a knock comes from her trapdoor. Liam comes through the trapdoor.

"I brought someone, Nette." Liam smiles.

A boy with blue eyes, black hair, a blue jumper, and a scar over his right eyebrow pokes his head through the trapdoor.

"Meet your soulmate. Enjoy." Liam smirks as he leaves the room.

A/N Okay, so I'm a big crossover shipper, in case you haven't noticed. This is the Jim Lake Jr X Marinette Dupain-Cheng ship. There aren't nearly enough fanfics for this ship. Also, I apologise for killing Toby. I was gonna go with killing Claire, but I had to get them to Paris fast SOMEHOW. Should I do a second part of this? Or are you cool on the cliffhanger?

I got told to make a sequel, it’s right here people!

Part 2

[milknette]

day 31 - dealer’s choice (christmas)

i just wanna keep on waiting, underneath the mistletoe.

tumblr month: @auyeahaugust

links: ao3 | ff.net

LADYBUG is the only one he's excited to see again.

It's understandable though, since he hadn't wanted to go to the Christmas party in the first place. As his father was busy planning for his trip abroad, it had fallen upon Adrien to spend time and speak with adults who really only cared about him because of his family's wealth and stature.

They're all sickly-sweet and overly-kind to him, though it's intensely clear that if he were anything other than an Agreste, they'd never even give him the time of day.

(It's exhausting to spend time with people who don't even really see you, after all.)

The last straw, however, is when he speaks with a particularly snooty lady who corners him to talk about fashion. The conversation is halfway decent, until she brings up the feathered hat in Gabriel Agreste's newest collection— one she says is, verbatim, "the worst thing she's ever seen featured in a runway," and that "it was clear a high schooler was the one who made it."

Adrien surprises both himself and the lady when he answers back.

"Actually," he starts. "That hat is an inspired and unique work that even my father was in awe of. She may only be a high schooler, but her sense of fashion and style has grown so far past that." Adrien looks at his conversational partner's outfit, then pauses. "And that's one thing about her that… not everyone can say about themselves."

The woman splutters, mutters a few words about disrespect and how his father will hear about this, as she almost stomps away from him.

It's weird that he doesn't feel that bad about it.

"You're going to get in so much trouble for that," someone suddenly speaks up, hands haughtily folded in front of her chest. Beside her is another girl, who stands much more calmly but holds the same level of intimidation.

"That was in poor character for you Adrien," she steps in, eyes still the slightest bit wider from surprise. "I had never expected such behavior to come from you," she continues, then slightly tilts her head to her partner. "I mean, I'd expect it from Chloé, but I thought you'd be able to control yourself better."

Ignoring the indignant 'hey!' from the blonde, Kagami looks at him in worry. "What did she say to you?"

"Just… she said something wrong," he finally replies. "And I corrected her."

"We're not here to correct people, Adrikins," Chloé points out. "We're here to listen and agree and make sure they still want to work with our parents."

Adrien sighs. She's right.

"It's not too late to apologize," Kagami says. "We cannot be any less than the perfect children anyone expects of us."

A brief silence encompasses the three, as the weight of the words crush upon them. It isn't easy being in their position; to always have to watch their behavior, growing up quickly in the elite circles of high society. It's strict and limiting, and Adrien can't imagine not having Chat Noir to let him freely express and be his true self.

He misses staying inside the suit more than he does outside of it.

Or maybe he just misses the girl he sees when he's in the feline's costume.

He knows what she'd do if she were in his position.

"I stand by what I said," Adrien finally says, somewhat determined. "She said something bad about a friend, and I'm not sorry for protecting her." He pauses, then adds as an afterthought: "It's what she would do."

Kagami looks shocked, but nods slowly. "An honorable choice."

"You're going to regret it," Chloé only says, though he can see the hint of a smile on her face. "But I think your superhero crush would be proud of you for doing it."

As if perfectly on cue, an all-too-familiar figure steps through the entrances of the hallway.

Dressed in her token red suit and mask, Ladybug comes in, an awkward (but bright) smile on her face.

She looks absolutely beautiful tonight.

(But she always looks beautiful to him— so nothing's really new.)

"Are you a witch or something?" Kagami whispers under her breath. "Your timing is impeccable."

"I have my Ladybug radar on at all times."

"What about your Ryuuko radar?"

Chloé scoffs, then smiles softly. "Is that even a question?"

At that, the two sneak off, likely to some empty hallway to have time for themselves.

Adrien doesn't mind, watching with awe as Ladybug kindly greets all the guests at the party.

(He thanks the lucky stars that Ladybug had accepted Mayor Bourgeois' invitation, even if she only plans on stopping by briefly.)

They gravitate toward each other, as Adrien is the first to spark conversation.

"It's great you're here Ladybug," he says, almost flustered. "I'm a great fan of yours."

"I'm a great fan of yours too— I mean, you're a model! Right? I've seen you on billboards and stuff… you know, while I'm going around and saving Paris!"

The fact that Ladybug, of all people, is a fan of his civilian self brings Adrien a rush of joy that he never thought possible.

"You have no idea how much you being a fan of mine means to me."

"Believe me, I feel the same way."

They smile at each other, and enter into pleasant conversation.

She's definitely Adrien's favorite conversational partner by far.

They spend a good hour or so simply talking to each other (much to the envy of the other guests), and Adrien feels as if he's on cloud nine.

It's only when they walk to the beverage table that they are interrupted, as Ladybug accidentally bumps into a vase of greenery, consequently getting some of it in her hair.

Adrien leans in to help her, only belatedly noticing how closely they're standing together as whispers seem to surround the two of them.

Then:

"Mistletoe!" Someone suddenly chants, pointing enthusiastically at the two of them.

The rest of the crowd joins in, as Ladybug panickedly waves her hands to say 'no'— though it only serves to intensify the situation. He picks at the red berry upon her head, then smiles softly.

"May I, milady?"

She looks at him with wide-eyed surprise, then nods slowly.

Her eyes close, visibly nervous.

And Adrien presses a kiss to her forehead, before picking out the plant in her hair.

He shows it to the rest of the guests, then smiles. "This is actually holly, not mistletoe." Adrien looks almost mischievous, as they dissipate in disappointment.

"Wait… if you knew it was mistletoe, then why did you kiss me?"

He shrugs, the teasing grin still on his face.

"Maybe I just wanted to."

.

.

ADRIEN comes to pick her up before they go to school.

It's become a kind of strange tradition between them, for him to stop by the bakery every morning and walk with her to Françoise-Dupont. Ever since he was permitted to go to classes on his own— a freedom long overdue, really— he explains that he's been making the most of it as much as he can.

Her parents don't really mind, after all.

In fact, they think Adrien's a good kid, and it helps that someone else is around to make sure their daughter gets to school on time. Sabine and Tom also think that the two of them are pretty cute together, but decide to keep that little factoid to themselves.

Marinette's late, as per usual, stumbling down into the shop as she's greeted by the sight of her boy friend— emphasis on the space— comfortably leaning upon the counter, talking animatedly with his parents about some random topic about the happenings of the previous day.

(Is it strange that she's already getting used to that sight?)

"Marinette!" He notices her first, brightening up as she awkwardly waves at him. He's snuggly wrapped up in a warm jacket and hat, holding a to-go cup of hot chocolate in his hands.

"Morning, Adrien," she says, before quickly planting a kiss to her parents' cheeks. "Mom, dad."

"What? No kiss for Adrien here?"

Marinette splutters, to the amusement of his family— and even Adrien, who quickly coughs into his hand to hide the laughter that threatens to escape his lips.

She can't even say anything, with Adrien finally taking pity on her and tapping on the chair beside him, gesturing for her to take a seat.

"I was just talking with your parents," he starts. "About your plans for the holidays."

"Yes," her mom chimes in, smiling brightly as she leans onto her father. "You know, poor Adrien here doesn't have any plans for Christmas Eve? Mr. Agreste is only coming back from New York on Christmas Day, and I can't imagine how lonely it's going to be…," she side-eyes her husband, then gently nudges him at his blissfully unaware expression.

"Ah, right!" He coughs, then speaks in an almost overly-dramatic way: "How sad for Adrien, if only there was something we could do for him… if only he had somewhere to spend the day…"

Both of Marinette's parents eye her with sad eyes, as she only rubs tiredly at her forehead.

Why are her parents like this?

She takes a side glance to see Adrien, who has a somewhat soft smile on his face. (If anything, he even looks hopeful that she'll say yes.

Which is strange, considering that he can probably spend his Christmas anywhere he so wanted— from all the most lavish Christmas parties and celebrations… maybe she just doesn't understand the rich.

And it's not like she wants to tell him no, either.)

"Are you okay with this?" Marinette finally decides to ask, turning to face him directly.

After years of being friends and spending time together, she's glad to see that her tendency to stutter and stammer (and ultimately fail as a human being) around him has lessened by quite a bit.

But as he sits only a few meters away from her, close enough for her to almost count how many eyelashes he has, she frankly becomes reminded of how little it lessened.

And how her crush on him has only grown exponentially since they first met.

He smiles at her, and she has to physically force down the blush threatening to take over her face.

"Of course I am," he says honestly, maintaining eye contact with her as he leans the slightest bit closer. Marinette can't look away. "There's no place I'd rather be."

She wants to stay in the moment— really, she does— but her parents watching from beside her with the hugest smiles she's ever seen is more than enough to sever the mood.

Coughing awkwardly, she steps back and slings her bag over her shoulder. "That sounds great, then!" She finally says, "Christmas with Adrien Agreste, no big deal, nope! I'd love that— I mean, not that I love you but…," she pauses, then sighs in resignation. "Just. We'd love to have you there."

He laughs lightly, then stands up as well, holding the cup with one hand. He bows lightly to her parents. "It's always nice to talk to you, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng."

"Please, just call us mom and dad."

They wink, and Marinette decides against turning back so she doesn't have to see their faces. Instead, she grabs Adrien's hand and pulls him forward.

"Let's go," she says, only belatedly realizing that ohmygod they're holding hands and they fit so perfectly together do all fingers intertwine and meld this amazingly—?

They're one foot out the door, when her parents speak up:

"Ahem, Marinette," her mother says, forcing her to turn back.

"What?"

She only smiles, before gesturing for her to look up.

Oh, you've  got  to be kidding me.

At her exhausted expression, Adrien looks at where she's staring:

Consequently noticing the mistletoe hanging above the bakery door.

"Really?"

Her parents look excited.

"I'm not going to—"

Marinette turns to Adrien, fully expecting him to decline as well: until she sees his awkward (though almost… excited?) smile.

His fingers tighten their grip around her own, as he looks down at their intertwined hands.

"It's just a harmless tradition," he says quietly, some sound of amusement resounding from his tone. "A little holiday fun?"

She can't speak.

Is he serious?

He leans closer, and she closes her eyes in anticipation.

Then she feels the unmistakable touch of someone's warm lips.

Upon her hand.

Marinette's eyes flutter open, in time for her to see him press a kiss to her knuckles.

"What?" He asks, almost playful. "Did you expect anything else?"

She can't even speak.

(And thankfully doesn't notice the stifled laughter from behind the counter. Betrayal.)

"Come on, we're going to be late!"

He tugs her forward, as they disappear outside the bakery.

Marinette doesn't realize that Adrien's still holding her hand until they arrive at François-Dupont.

.

.

MARINETTE waits for him outside the balcony.

It's eleven-fifty in the evening as the snow starts to pile up, leaving Marinette to wish she'd put on more layers than her pair of pajamas and a cardigan around her small frame. Her nose is getting red from the cold, but she doesn't quite mind it as much as it should.

Because when she thinks about him, all Marinette can really feel is warmth.

Blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a smile that can bring even the sun to shame…

She's only distracted from her thoughts as a familiar suit of black starts making its way toward her.

He arrives almost clumsily at her balcony, holding a bright-red box in his hands as he furtively tries to hide it from her attention.

(It doesn't work.)

"Chat," she only says, then rolls her eyes. "You're late."

The first thing he does is bow down to her.

"Yes, and I'm so sorry, but I had some issues at home and—"

"Never mind that," she only says instead. "Do you have it?"

He smiles. "Of course I do," he starts, jokingly saluting at her. "Your local delivery man, at your service."

Marinette brightens up almost immediately as the words escape his lips.

"And it's really from him?" She asks, slowly taking the box into her hands.

It's quite small, fitting the palm of her hand, but Marinette knows that whatever's inside— the worth is immeasurable.

She hugs it close to her chest. "I can't believe he got me a Christmas present."

Chat Noir smiles at how excited the girl seems to be. "I— I know he's just really sorry that he couldn't give it to you himself."

"It's fine," Marinette only responds, the soft smile still on her face. "I know that he really wanted to go, and that's more than enough for me."

She recalls how apologetic Adrien had sounded over the phone, after telling her that he couldn't spend Christmas Eve with her family. (If anything, Marinette thought that he sounded more upset than she did about it—

Which is saying a lot, considering that she'd been looking forward to it as soon as he said he'd go.)

She tinkers with the box for a few more moments, then looks up at the superhero.

"Did he tell you what was inside?"

He ponders her question a bit longer than he should have. "Technically, no," he says, then pauses. "But I do know what it is."

"How do you know?!"

Chat Noir smiles lithely. "Let's just say that Adrien and I are similar in a lot of ways."

Marinette has to stop herself from snorting. "Please," she laughs lightly. "The two of you couldn't be any more worlds apart."

"... and what do you mean by that?"

"Adrien's the perfect type," she starts, then stops as she notices the superhero's almost hurt expression.

"So I'm not?"

"Nope," Marinette says easily. "But that's what I admire about you. You're imperfect and messy and chaotic, but you love and embrace your flaws, and even my own. It's so easy to be around you."

"Then Adrien is…?"

"He's kind," Marinette says carefully. "He's the kind of boy everyone dreams of, me included. But I always wished he'd drop his perfect interior in front of me and show his true self."

"The flawed self?"

"Yes. Because I'm sure I'd still love him just as much."

She smiles absentmindedly, then carefully starts to open the box.

Inside is a locket; gold, with a simple ladybug token hanging upon the chain.

Marinette belatedly notices the simple paper put inside the box:

To our Everyday Ladybug—

She turns the paper around.

And my ladybug.

Marinette isn't even given a moment to process the information as she looks away from the box, to notice none other than the boy in question standing before her.

Plagg floats next to him, a cautious expression on his face.

"Adrien, I— you— wait…" He tries to make calming gestures with his hand, giving her time to understand what's happening. "This can't be real…? You— are you really… and Plagg… wait, I thought I wasn't supposed to know your true identity…"

He looks absolutely nervous, and can't even get the words out.

Plagg speaks in his place:

"Sorry for the surprise, kid, but Tikki and I talked it over. With you being the guardian and all, it was only a matter of time before you two find out," then he sighs tiredly. "Adrien found out about your true identity by accident. And after that, he's been insistent on being the one to do the reveal."

"I— but— you— I'm— this is—"

The sudden buzz of Marinette's phone informs them that it's midnight.

"Merry Christmas, Marinette," Adrien finally says, voice soft as he takes her hands. "I love you."

He leans closer to her, as she suddenly stops him.

"Wait— but a kiss— it's too soon, and so out of nowhere…"

Adrien pauses thoughtfully, then smiles; almost mischievous.

He retrieves a pen from his pocket, then takes the box from her hands:

The word 'our everyday ladybug' is crossed out, as a simple word proudly displays itself in black, bold, lettering.

He holds it above their heads.

MISTLETOE.

"Is this enough of a good reason?"

Marinette can't stop herself from laughing. "You couldn't even draw it?"

"I'm not the artist," he only says. "That's your job."

"Then what's yours?"

"I provide the quality humor and flirting, I think."

She has to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Fine then," Marinette starts, leaning close to him before…

Pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"The cheek?!"

"You didn't even get real mistletoe. So you don't get the real thing, either."

He hmphs, before his eyes suddenly twinkle. "But if I get real mistletoe, then I'll get a real kiss?"

"As long as it's still Christmas, then sure."

"Great," he grins. "Twenty-four hours then."

.

.

CHAT NOIR looks at her for confirmation.

The mistletoe stands proudly above the two of them as the purified akuma flies away into the night, easily forgotten by the rest of the Parisians.

All they care about— and all he cares about is the girl held in his embrace, as she looks at him with eyes that he can't at all decipher.

(Or maybe he can: but it's too terrifying to think of what things could be if he were wrong.)

From the background, Alya holds her phone as the scene is livestreamed to all the families and friends celebrating their Christmas together.

He leans in close to her, hesitant, as if asking a question.

The outsiders can't make it out, but he whispers in her ear:

"That's real mistletoe," he points out. Then slowly: "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Ladybug doesn't say yes.

She doesn't say no, either.

Instead, she only smiles, leans forward:

Then kisses him.

Alya drops her phone as she throws her fist in the air, and the quiet chill of the city is instantaneously broken with a series of loud celebratory cheers and cries for celebration.

Everyone calls it one of the greatest Christmas miracles of all time—

And neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir can correct them.

[sugarcubetikki]

Felix as Future Hawkmoth and Lila as Future Mayura

A lot of people are on board with Lila being future HM and Felix as future Mayura, however, I'm one of those people who prefer the vice versa.

Many suggest that there's not enough evidence behind Felix being future HM whilst Lila had that obvious foreshadowing in Timetagger when she was babysitting Chris.

However, I may have stumbled off across something fascinating (it's because me, BB, Kat and Avec were analysing endcards) between both Ladybug and Felix as episodes.

It's interesting to note that both Felix and Ladybug are written one after the other.

Felix: 323

Ladybug: 324

(The production code order is the order in which the episodes are written, XXX, the first X represents the season, whereas the second and third X represents the number the episode was written as).

Since they're one after the other, the writer's flow of ideas has a pattern: giving the more villainous characters a focus: Gabriel, Felix, Lila and Nathalie. This is obviously done to subtly foreshadow future Hawk Moth and Mayura. And I'm not blindly saying that.

Firstly, Felix was an episode to introduce Felix as a character, and engage more into Adrien's family backstory. Felix and Adrien are hinted to be very similar, Not only in looks. Both of them are highly skilled and talented, and both of them can relate to having lost a parent. Not to mention, both of them lack experience in making friends. The large contrast between the two's personality and attitudes.

Adrien's kind whereas Felix is cold. Adrien seeks new possibilities whereas Felix is rigid. Adrien's represented as a heroic character and Felix is represented as a villain. You know, Felix sounds like someone else we know?

Gabriel Agreste, I'm looking at you. It's also interesting that this is also the episode that shows a great difference between Adrien's and Gabriel's attitudes towards moving on. Like I said, Adrien seeks new possibilities, he wants to get out the house, make friends, he's also fine with the idea of Nathalie being his step-mom. This behaviour does not invalidate how much Adrien misses and loves his mom. He has a more healthy attitude, he knows he can move on. Gabriel, on the other hand, doesn't. He's stuck in the past, He doesn't want to get out the house. He definitely doesn't want to meet new people. Not to mention, he's pretty much terrorizing the entire city and sheltering his own son to get his wife back. It's unhealthy, and Gabriel can't move on.

In some way, Gabriel's attitude parallels Felix's own. From what it looks like, Felix can't move on, and is inflicting most of his pain unhealthily. Just like Gabriel is doing. I'm not exactly sure what those rings represent but for some reason, I'm sure they do have a vital part in Felix's own motives (also, have a little theory going on that they're linked to his father).

The idea that Gabriel and Felix both parallel each other as characters: cold deamonours, cunning, manipulative and inability to move on could reflect and foreshadow Felix as future HM.

There's not only that. Remember the scene where Felix steals Gabriel's ring without him noticing. Their might be more meaning to that. Just a theory as of now. But the whole idea could potentially foreshadow Felix stealing another piece of jewelry (that was or is Gabriel's) in the future...perhaps...a certain...brooch.

Moving on to the episode: Ladybug. This episode was focused on the drama between Lila, Marinette and Adrien (yes, Adrien plays a vital part at the end). And Lila...obviously thought she held all the pieces her, in order to manipulate people and ruin Marinette's reputation to get what she wants. What Lila wants in the rawest form is attention, and she'll do anything to get it, trying to eliminate others who try and manipulate her.

This episode was largely focused on Nathalie as well. Her devotion to helping Gabriel and all that. Don't worry, I'm not going to compare Nathalie and Lila, they're too different.

Nathalie is quite mysterious in the sense that we don't know exactly how she's so connected to Gabriel and Emilie. In fact, she was the one who brought them the peacock and butterfly miraculous in the first place. What we know is Nathalie loves Gabriel and would do anything for him. Anything. Even helping him terrorize a city to get his wife back, there's nothing to lose in love, right, nope, there's everything to lose. Her love is unconditional. I'm not saying that's a good thing necessarily, in a different context, it might's been a better thing. But the thing is that Nathalie devotes most of her time into loving Gabriel, even if she can't act on it. That kind of devotion does become tad concerning (I still want Gabenath to been endgame though in the very far-off future when Minibug and Kitty Noir grow up).

Coming back on track, this episode is dominated by two ladies of power, both wanting very different things.

Isn't it interesting that Lila is surrounded by blue light here? Nathalie isn't even in the end-card even though she had a prominent presence. Or did she?

I'm not gonna lie, Nathalie's blind devotion and damaged miraculous makes her a less compelling villain. Whilst she did try to go and do something by herself, it didn't quite work out and we somewhat dismissed her.

Lila, on the other hand, is quite compelling as a antagonist, she's way to compelling. In fact, she's stealing all the blue light for herself? And she's pictured in the most dominating manner as possible, in the centre.

This is where we draw the line here. Nathalie and Lila are nothing alike. Unlike Gabriel and Felix, they don't parallel each other. What's important to note is that Lila will be a different villain and definitely more compelling than Nathalie (I'm sorry, Nathalie).

Unlike her, she's not going to be devoted to anyone. Her goals come first. That's why Felix and her dynamic in the future will be very interesting. Unlike Gabriel and Nathalie, I doubt they'll have this soft bound, but it'll be more "evil duo". And they might not have each other's backs. Ngl, Gabriel and Nathalie's weaknesses in a way are each other. Felix and Lila might not even care enough about the other. They might have this we're willing to work together because "we share the same goal" thing going on.  It'll be fascinating for sure.

That's just me listing plausibilities. Have nothing against Lila being HM, just not a fan of it, I don't like her motives that much. They're not that compelling in terms of getting the miraculous specifically. I believe Felix would want the miraculous as HM in the future and Lila is Mayura just to satisfy her grudge against LB. Also, the plot potential there, Lila's a backstabber, okay, she could be secretly scheming to steal the miraculous herself, but Felix is just as smart and cunning as her, so he'd be just as suspicious. They'd have this really interesting dynamic (both of them trying to backstab each other).

It hits differently. Lila wanting the miraculous from the start (and I don’t trust her motives to be compelling enough) vs Lila becoming Mayura to satisfy her grudge against her heroes, and growing into the desire of possessing the miraculous

(Another possible parallel! Lila making a deal with the current Hawkmoth also foreshadows her making a deal with the future Hawkmoth!)

These are all my opinions. You might prefer the vice versa but I’m just making observations of my own to support this theory. 

[un0vian]

Hear me out, SSS Miraculous Ladybug AU?

oh man you guys have no idea how much I’ve thought about an au like this before

The anon is new, but this has been in the inbox for a while, I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long! Also this kind of takes a general understanding of the show to make any sense!

This is just a HUGE bundle of ideas lmao I’m sorry it’s so disorganized. I’ll put some of the doodles up here and put in a read more for all of my bullet points (I wrote almost 2K words for this hhhh)

No Pokémon in this AU, and I’m not clever enough to shape the Miraculous after any of them lol.

I think Lance being the Guardian of the Miraculous fits the most.

Lyra becomes the Ladybug Miraculous holder the same way Marinette does, by showing and acting upon her compassion towards someone in need (not the same exact way, considering Lance isn’t nearly as old as Master Fu; she probably saves an old man and Lance notices).

In this AU’s origins I think it would make sense that Giovanni and Silver just moved to Goldenrod from Kanto. Giovanni (obviously) was a part of the crime-world, but found out about the Miraculous and their power, got ahold of the Cat and Butterfly Miraculous, learned of the Ladybug Miraculous’ general location, then decided moving was a good idea. They move into a place like the Agreste mansion (Silver thinks the move is just random btw).

I would say Giovanni holds Silver to high standards like Gabriel does for Adrien. Giovanni has Silver play the Violin and Cello (READ FVAWA!!!), and was probably homeschooled in Kanto. I’ll also say he probably has basic self defense training.

To blend in, Silver becomes enrolled at the same school that Lyra, Kris, and Ethan attend.

Lyra, Kris, and Ethan always try to yoink the back two tables, and every new seating chart the three play Rock Paper Scissors, loser sits alone. Lyra loses and ends up at the table next to the other two with an empty seat.

Their teacher, Professor Elm (I mean, who else would it be?? There’s Oak ofc but eh), introduces Silver to the class and has him sit with Lyra. 

It’s obvious to Lyra that Silver is more socially reserved, but she introduces herself anyway.

Lyra moved from New Bark Town to Goldenrod City early in her childhood (Her and Ethan were childhood friends, Ethan moved to Goldenrod a little before Silver. Kris grew up in Goldenrod). I think it would be cool to keep the Bakery; Lyra’s mom would work there with Lyra helping out a lot.

I’m thinking Lyra could possibly be a model like Adrien, but wayyy on the DL in comparison. She has the right temperament for being in the spotlight (aka not being a flustered mess all the time), hence why she’s so well suited for the Miraculous.

Her passion is writing! Writing poems, speeches, music, all of it. And she enjoys public speaking. She’ll pull out a notebook (or just type on her phone like a sane person) whenever she gets a new idea.

Lyra sings and plays the synth. She plays songs she writes sometimes!

Tikki helps Lyra a lot with her worries about being a Superhero, and is great at giving suggestions and ideas of what Lyra should write if she has a block. Basically usual Tikki being great.

When the first Akuma appeared, Lyra found her Miraculous the same way Marinette did. The difference is when Tikki appeared she was less fearful, and learned about de-evilizing Akumas from the start.

When Ladybug showsed up to stop the Akuma there was no other support. She was able to defeat the Akuma, but damn, what a workout.

Hear me out here, what if there wasn’t an umbrella scene? I’d rather have their feelings for each other grow over time as Silver begins to doubt his father’s reasons for needing the Ladybug Miraculous and reflects on his actions. Besides, Lyra having feelings for Silver in the beginning would be kinda cringe 😬 (@Marinette in the PV smh)

The first Akuma was Giovanni’s way of testing the waters, and confirms that the Ladybug Miraculous is in Goldenrod. The night afterwards he approaches Silver with the Cat Miraculous. Giovanni explains that he needs the Ladybug Miraculous along with the Cat Miraculous to bring Silver’s mother back (which is total bullshit, all he wants is power), and offers him the Miraculous.

And about Silver’s mother; I know there’s a theory about Ariana being his mom, but in this AU (and in general, really) I HC his mother being kindhearted and not part of the mob ahah. (Also same sitch as Adrien’s mom in this AU)

Silver is apprehensive towards the “offer”, but can he really say no? And he does want to see his mom again. So he accepts. Giovanni barely hides the vile smirk on his face and throws in a “I’m proud of you, son” for good measure :/

From then on, Cat Noir shows up to battle Ladybug after an Akuma is de-evilized.

Plagg is somewhere between neutral and good. He’ll (not-so) subtly suggest that Silver should join Ladybug, and point out how much of a dick Giovanni is… but he won’t actively try to stop him because he can’t really do anything about it anyways. Plagg supposes he’ll just have to be patient. And he teases Silver about anything and everything, and his reactions are priceless.

Already having no partner to rely on during Akuma battles, Ladybug is most definitely tired out and has far too many close calls in her battles with Cat Noir. Lyra vents about this to Tikki, and worries about being unable to contact the guardian and request more help.

Lance realizes his mistake after a particularly nasty fight when a stroke of luck saves Ladybug from de-transforming. He introduces himself right after that fight, and apologizes for his oversight.

At this moment I don’t know if it would make more sense to introduce only one more Miraculous holder or two, and if they should be permanent or temporary. I’ll put down my bare-bones ideas for the Miraculous holders anyways.

Ethan - Fox Miraculous, Kris - Turtle Miraculous. I see Kris suiting the Turtle Miraculous because she waits for the right moment instead of jumping right in. I see her as being a great protector compared to Ethan.

Sheesh this is already super long any I haven’t really gotten to the SSS portion 

Slow burn like the show, but in this case neither has a crush for a whiiiile. That part is quite different from the show, but the context is not the same.

Eventually there’s a semblance of a friendship between Lyra and Silver. They got close through sitting at the same table in class and working on different projects together. They also find they both share a love of music.

Anyways, Lyra gets really excited about their friendship and prattles on about it to Tikki.

“Wow, it almost sounds like you like him!”

“Whaaaaat? No!!! He’s just a friend, Tikki!” (Nice Adrien impression, Lyra 😃)

Along the way Silver begins questioning Giovanni’s reasons more and more, but it’s difficult for him to decide whether to keep fighting Ladybug or not because of all the things that could happen. 

Eventually Plagg sits him down and is like:

“You don’t want to fight Ladybug.”

“Right.”

“You have a friend (Lyra) who has made it clear to you that you are welcome in their home, so you would have somewhere to stay if Gio-bitch kicks you out.”

“Right.”

“Ladybug may not trust you at first, but if you explain yourself she may begin to understand, and the act of switching sides paves the path to redemption.”

“Right.”

“So SWITCH SIDES.”

“OH. OKAY.”

Then there’s the ol’ switcheroo. During the worst Akuma yet (with Kris and Ethan helping as heroes), Cat Noir is able to get close to the Akuma and Cataclysms the Akumatized object. He flees immediately, thinking it better to show loyalty in small increments pffff

It’s a HUGE shocker to Giovanni. And Ladybug for that matter. Silver already packed a bag and had his violin ready to go, he grabs his things and doesn’t bother staying. He’s a little pissed Giovanni didn’t even try to stop him.

At this point Lyra and Silver like each other, but neither know how the other feels. Silver feels SO awkward about showing up at the Bakery with his stuff and almost turns around when Lyra’s mom (who had a bad vibe about Giovanni in the first place) spots him.

“Do you need a place to stay?”

“...No.”

“You’re lying. Tell me what happened.”

Silver reluctantly explains that he couldn’t stand staying there anymore, and that he had had enough of his father’s shit. So he left.

Lyra’s mom is a bit iffy on letting him stay. Without enough context it seems like Silver is just angry with Giovanni. Silver can tell she doesn’t understand and tries to explain the situation more.

“I… betrayed him. In a way. I’m sure he doesn’t want to see me around for a while.” “I understand. Feel free to stay the night, but you should talk to your father about whatever’s going on tomorrow. If he doesn’t let you back in you’re welcome to stay.”

Lyra shows up moments after, very confused. Her mom explains the gist to her and leaves them alone to talk.

Tikki overhears Silver explain the situation with a bit more detail and becomes suspicious. If Giovanni was Hawkmoth and Silver was Cat Noir, this situation would make a lot of sense. And Silver has the same hair color as Cat Noir (Lyra is obviously none the wiser because Adrien and Marinette be like that). Tikki doesn’t draw solid conclusions (it’s very easily just a coincidence) but she takes a mental note.

I think that’s where I’ll leave it. I’m already delving into so much plot skdjfbfb Anyways here’s a bunch of bonus drawings for sticking til the end!

[gryffindorcls]

What Are We Waiting For?

(ML Lovesquare Fluff Week 2k19 - Day 6:Napping)

WARNING:  THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR CHAT BLANC AND THE SEASON 3 FINALE

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Hello, lovely readers!

HAPPY DAY 6 OF LOVESQUARE FLUFF WEEK 2019!!!

The Day 6 prompt is “Napping”.

(NOW...was Day 6 yesterday?  YES.  Did I also miss Day 5 and will finish it later this week?  ALSO YES.  Is that okay?  100% YES.)

Thank you @lovesquarefluffweek for organizing this week of fluff!

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What Are We Waiting For?

Day 6: Napping

Adrien yawned and stretched his hands behind his back. He was exhausted. Unfortunately, he wasn’t just physically drained, but he was mentally spent, as well.

Last night had been difficult. His father once again kept him from an outing with his friends. While it was something that he was used to, he was getting tired of having to sit alone in his room practicing piano or learning Chinese for hours on end. All he wanted was to exist as a normal teenager. He was seventeen now, and he wondered when his life would finally change for the better.

The frustration piled even higher this time because he knew that Marinette would be there. Sure, he had the chance to see her when they were galavanting across the rooftops as Ladybug and Chat Noir, but it’d been days since he’d transformed. Ever since they had accidentally timed out in front of each other after a particularly difficult Akuma attack, he’d sought out every possible opportunity to spend time with her. Not being able to see her always put him in a sour mood.

When they discovered each other’s identities last year, Ladybug had cried. He’d been so worried that she didn’t want him as a partner anymore. Adrien closed his eyes and the image of her tear-stained face flashed across his mind.

“Ladybug...Marinette...I don’t understand. Please tell me what’s wrong,” he pleaded.

She looked at him and choked back a sob with a smile. “Everything and nothing…that’s what’s wrong.”

He hung his head. “You’re sad because we have to give up our Miraculouses. I should have looked away. I messed everything up.”

“God, no. I’m the Guardian. Who am I going to give my Miraculous to? No one. I’m Ladybug. And you...don’t you dare put yourself down. YOU’RE my Chat Noir, and I trust you...oh, I trust you! I can trust you! Thank God...that makes so much more sense. Of course, you wouldn’t have told anyone...you’re wonderful. I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

“I still don’t...does that mean you’re happy?”

“Chaton, I’m relieved. I thought I couldn’t trust you again...not after...I can’t...not today...and then I gave you up because I thought…”

“You’re not making any sense right now.”

“There’s so much that you don’t know, and honestly I don’t understand everything either. But what I do know...Chat...Adrien...I’m so happy that it’s you.”

“Then why are you crying? And what do you mean you gave me up?”

“Adrien, I’m glad you found someone who loves you. Things are starting to make a little bit more sense now. When Bunnyx took me to that place...well, I had no idea what she saw in that other timeline. She wouldn’t tell me.”

“Bunnyx? When was she here? What happened?” His head was reeling.

“You kept saying it was our love...oh, my God...you loved me. You really loved me. We must have figured it out...and...and…”

“I’ve always loved you. I don’t understand.”

“There must have been a time when we were happy. It can never be, but maybe I can rest better knowing that it could have been wonderful. It’s too risky for us...Hawkmoth must have figured it out. I just don’t know...there are still so many missing pieces. Adrien, you deserve happiness...someone who can freely love you right now. It broke my heart to leave that day, but you have her. That’s what matters. You have someone.” She buried her head in her hands and sunk to the ground.

He ran to her side and pulled her into his arms. “Ladybug...I’m still confused. Who are you talking about? What happened? When were we happy?”

“Last year, I did something, and then I saw...you were Akumatized, but I fixed it. You knew who I was...I was so confused. It’s such a long story, but it led me to believe that I couldn’t be myself around you...well, Adrien you...so when I saw you with Kagami...you looked so happy. I left. It broke me, but I had to let you go.”

“Are you talking about Kagami? Oh, Marinette, I never...we never...I couldn’t. I was never ready to be with her. She got tired of waiting. My heart has only ever belonged to you, my lady, but I thought you were with Luka.”

She pulled away and met his gaze. “My lady...I missed hearing you say that. Poor Luka. Sweet, kind Luka...he’s wonderful, but he’s not the one. He’s not you.”

“Wait, are you telling me that I’m ‘the one’? I was the boy you were in love with?”

“No, my feelings aren’t stuck in the past. I am in love with you, and I always will be.”

“Then let’s be together now. My heart has only ever beat for you. We could be happy. We could make that happen.”

“No, Adrien we can’t. We never can. Not until he’s gone. Otherwise, everyone will be in danger. You didn’t see what I saw. I can’t...we can’t...you don’t know how badly I wish it weren’t this way, but we have to protect everyone. I have to protect you. I’m sorry.”

At that moment, his heart wanted to shatter, but one burning question still lingered in the back of his mind. “If we defeat Hawkmoth, could we be together?”

Ladybug didn’t answer right away. The small sliver of hope inside of him was beginning to fade.

“My lady?” he asked with desperation lacing his voice.

“Yes,” she whispered through a breath.

“Then I will wait for you until the end of time.”

“Oh, Chaton.”

It had been a year since the accidental reveal, and Marinette had become his best friend. They slowly learned how to talk to each other and trust each other with everything. Seeing each other outside of the masks proved to be a challenge, but he cherished every second he spent with her. There had been countless nights where one of them would transform and sneak into the other person’s room. They continued to patrol regularly, but they took extra time to hang out when they were done.

When school let out for the summer, Adrien feared that his time with Marinette would decrease drastically. Usually, his father had him travel abroad for various events and photoshoots. He couldn’t bear the thought of going days or weeks without seeing her; however, when Marinette landed one of the coveted junior internship positions at Gabriel, he’d been thrilled. While they didn’t see each other every day, it was more than he’d anticipated.

Yesterday had been filled with work and tutoring; as a result, his only interaction with Marinette had been a goodnight call. It’d been two days since he’d seen her in person, and it was making him irritable. He couldn’t wait for today’s shoot to finish so he could rush over to her house and spend some much-needed quality time with her.

“Mr. Agreste?” a voice called, pulling him out of his reverie.

He shook his head. “Mr. Agreste is my father. Please...my name is Adrien.”

In front of him stood a young woman with a smug expression who hugged a clipboard against her chest. “Okay...uhhh...Adrien. I came here because there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Is it an emergency? I have to be back on set in five minutes, and I was hoping to get some coffee. The photographer told me that I was looking droopy.”

“Uh...yes. It’s important.”

He sighed and flashed her a polite smile. “Okay. What’s up?”

“So, I wanted to bring it to your attention that one of the other interns is asleep in your trailer.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“That black-haired intern with the pig-tails is asleep on the couch inside of your trailer.”

“Marinette,” he thought, trying to suppress a chuckle, “I wonder what she’s doing here. She’s supposed to have a day off today.”

He cleared his throat. “Okay, so I’m guessing that you’re also an intern. May I ask what you were doing in my trailer? Interns usually aren’t allowed in there.”

She looked taken aback. “Well, I was told my the lead designer on set to get the red jacket that was hanging on the rack in there...unlike someone else who is obviously in there without permission.”

Adrien nodded. “Sounds great! Thank you. Where’s the jacket?”

“Oh, I...uh...left it there. The girl startled me, and I ran all the way here to tell you what I saw.”

“I see. Could you do me a favor then?”

She perked up and moved closer to him. “Sure, Adrien.”

He took a step back. “Yeah...could you grab my jacket from the trailer and bring it here?”

“Wait...what about the girl?”

“Oh, right...her. Could you make sure that you don’t wake her up when you go in there? Thanks!”

Adrien could hear unintelligible noises come from the intern as he walked away. He did his best not to laugh as he took his place on set and readied himself for another two hours of posing.

Unlike the first half of the photoshoot, he found himself feeling much perkier with the knowledge that Marinette was waiting for him. He was practically vibrating by the end of his session with the photographer.

The second he was released from his modeling duties, Adrien rushed to his trailer. He ran up to the door and paused before quietly stepping inside. He could feel a soft smile form on his lips as his eyes landed on Marinette.

Despite his presence, she continued to sleep soundly on his couch. Her head rested on a soft, blue throw pillow, and she clutched a small package against her chest.

His heart swelled when she released a small sigh and a contented hum. Sometimes, Adrien was shocked by just how much he loved her. While he knew that he would do anything for her, he was still often overcome by how strong his feelings were.

Each day, Adrien held his heart in an outstretched hand in the hopes that Marinette would finally accept it. Despite her hesitation, Adrien knew that she loved him just as much as he loved her. She was the day to his night, and he was the sun to her moon. Their souls had been created together at the beginning of time. She completed him, and he knew that they were made for each other.

Adrien knelt on the ground next to her sleeping form and brushed a stray hair away from her face. She breathed deeply when his finger lightly grazed her forehead. Marinette’s eyes fluttered open.

“Adrien?” she asked groggily.

He smiled. “Hey there, Princess. What are you doing here? You should be at home. I was planning to come and visit you today.”

“I didn’t want to wait. I was hoping to catch you on your break.” Marinette reached out and cupped his cheek.

He happily leaned into her touch. “Is there a reason why you didn’t want to wait?”

“You sounded sad on the phone yesterday, so I made you something. I was...uhhh...up a little late, and your couch was comfortable. My head felt fuzzy, so I closed my eyes for a few minutes. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry. You needed the rest.”

“I was surprised to see that you had a trailer this time. Usually, the models just get a tent.”

“Yeah, it was a bigger shoot this time, so they got me a trailer. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s nice when it does. My lady, did you walk all the way here?”

“Umm...yeah.”

“Marinette, you didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to. You sounded so upset last night, and I hate it when you’re upset. I couldn’t wait to give you this.” She sat up and held out the package she’d been clutching against her chest. “It’s not much, but I just wanted you to smile.”

Adrien carefully took the package from her hands and opened it to reveal a small hamster plush attached to a keychain. “It’s adorable, Marinette. I love it!”

“I remember you saying that you always wanted a hamster...just like I do...and I couldn’t get you a real one, so I was hoping that this one would be a good substitute.”

Adrien could feel hot tears brimming in the corners of his eyes. Unable to contain his emotions any longer, he choked back a loud sob. Within seconds, Marinette was on the floor next to him with her arms wrapped around his shaking body.

She rubbed one of her hands up and down his back. “Chaton, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

He pulled away and shook his head. “Everything is wrong. What are we waiting for?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Marinette, I love you so much it hurts. Anything that keeps me away from you frustrates me. I want a future with you. I want to get a hamster with you and love you and be by your side every day. I don’t understand why we can’t.”

“Adrien...I...we really can’t. There’s Hawkmoth, and…”

“Screw, Hawkmoth! What does he have to do with us?”

“YOU DIDN’T SEE WHAT I SAW!” she screamed, scrambling away from him and reducing to a puddle of tears in the middle of the floor.

“Then tell me. What did you see? Help me understand.”

“It still gives me nightmares, Chaton. You don’t need them, too.”

“I need you.”

“Adrien..”

“Tell me,” he urged.

She held herself and sobbed. “When Bunnyx came and got me, everything and everyone was gone. You were alone, but you knew who I was. You called yourself Chat Blanc, and you said our love destroyed the world. When I learned your identity last year, I finally figured out that we also must have figured out each other’s identities in an alternate reality. Hawkmoth was there, too, and I don’t know what happened. However, I do know that there is...was...a timeline where we were together and in love...but the world almost ended.”

“But it’s not the same situation. It won’t happen like that again. That’s not how time works. The circumstances are different this time. It wouldn’t be the same.”

“How do you know that? Hawkmoth is still out there. If he found out anything...our identities or our relationship...he could use our love against us. How are we supposed to stay safe if we’re together?”

“We could keep it a secret. No one has to know.”

“What?”

“You’re afraid of us loving each other in the open. My lady, none of those other people matter. You’re the only one who matters. Let me love you behind closed doors...away from prying eyes. It’ll be just us and only us. We can belong to each other and no one else. Then when Hawkmoth is gone, we can be free to show our love to the world.”

“I don’t know.”

“You are my everything. You’re the center of my universe. Marinette, please. I don’t want to waste any more time. You once told me that you trusted me. I will never let anything happen to you...to us. Let me prove that to you. Now that we know, we can do our best to avoid what you saw. Please...unless you don’t love me anymore. If you don’t, I’ll go away, and I promise I’ll never ask you again.”

She wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand and moved next to him. “I’ve loved you since the day you gave me your umbrella. I tried giving you up so you could find happiness, but I never stopped loving you. You’re my everything, Adrien. My heart feels incomplete without you, but it’s afraid of losing you. I’m scared.”

He reached out his arms and she willingly fell into his embrace. “It’ll be okay, my lady. I promise.”

“How do you know?”

“Because we’re Ladybug and Chat Noir. We can overcome any obstacle as long as we’re together. Just you and me against the world.”

A long silence permeated the room. Adrien’s heart pounded against his chest as uncertainty crept into his brain. Nonetheless, the small sliver of hope in his soul remained ignited.

“Okay,” she whispered into his neck.

His breath hitched. “Okay? Does that mean what I think it means?”

“Yes. As long as we’re careful. No one can know....just us.”

“Anything, my lady...anything. As long as I can love you the way you deserve to be loved, I’ll be content.”

Marinette’s hands made their way to the back of his head where she played with the hair around his neck. “You’re right. I think we’ve waited long enough.”

He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”

“It’s not going to be easy, Chaton.”

“It never has been, my lady.”

“How are we going to do this?”

“We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

Marinette pulled away and smiled. “Well, in that case, I love you, Adrien Agreste.”

Adrien leaned in and rested his forehead on hers. “And I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng…forever.”

AO3

[alexannah]

Just Keep Digging PART THREE

Chapter One | Chapter Two | FFnet | AO3

Summary: Lila makes a big mistake when showing off one day to the class. But her mistake may turn out to be not such a bad thing for Marinette and Adrien. From a prompt by @countingdowndays

Author Notes: Okay since this is no longer a one-shot, I discovered (thanks, Keyseeker) that I need to clarify where this fic stands canonically. Most of my fics I actually ignore season three, but obviously I can’t do that entirely here since we’re post-Chameleon.

So … This fic takes place shortly after Chameleon, and obviously we’re now AU because of the reveal, but it takes into account season three up until and including Startrain. (Whether I’ll get as far as events in those episodes actually occurring, I have no idea.) However Kwami Buster onwards is NOT taken into account. So no worries about our heroes having to give up their Miraculouses, or future Hawk Moth, or any Cat Blanc stuff. None of that exists here!

And for the record, I’m a fan of Gabriel and Nathalie and a supporter of the redemption arc. Whether this fic will go there or not, I don’t know. Still improvising here!

Just Keep Digging

By Alexannah

Chapter Three: Just Keep Intimidating

“Do you have any idea how lonely Adrien gets, Mr Agreste?” Marinette blurted out.

Gabriel Agreste blinked at the abrupt change of subject. “I’m sorry?”

“You’d better be. He spends most of his time shut up in this house, not allowed to leave except for school and classes. I get that you want to protect him, but all too often you cross the line between keeping him safe and keeping him a prisoner. He hardly ever complains because he’s used to it, it’s his norm; but that doesn’t mean it’s right or best for him. People need social interaction, sir. He hates being so isolated; you may not mean to, but you hurt him so much by doing that to him.”

“He told you this?”

“He doesn’t have to. We can all see it a mile off. Which makes me wonder why you can’t.” Marinette paused. “No, actually I know why you can’t. Because while you keep him physically close, you keep him emotionally distant. You don’t give him any quality time, or make him feel like he can approach you. I understand that you’re a busy man, but surely you can spare some time to spend with him, instead of always palming him off on your staff. It would make him feel so much better to at least know you’re trying. Instead there’s this massive wall between you and it’s growing bigger every day. And wrapping him in cotton wool isn’t the answer. You know what happens to people when they’re wrapped in too much cotton wool, Mr Agreste? They suffocate.”

There was a long, long silence once she finally stopped talking, wondering if she had completely blown it. Mr Agreste was still staring at her, no recognisable reaction on his face except extreme surprise.

Finally he broke eye contact, removing his glasses and polishing them. “I see you care deeply for my son,” he finally said, quite quietly.

“Yes, I do.”

“Hmm. Most of his fans desire him because he’s handsome and famous.” He replaced his glasses and looked back at Marinette. “But not you.”

“I’d love him just as much if no-one had heard of him and he had a face like a gorilla’s butt.”

Mr Agreste’s mouth twitched. “So I assume your intentions towards him are of the … more long-term variety.”

“The forever kind of long-term,” she agreed. “The ‘till death do us part’ kind of long-term.” For a moment she thought something weird flickered in Mr Agreste’s eyes at the ‘death do us part’ bit, but a second later she was sure she had imagined it. “The ‘married with three kids and a hamster’ kind of long term.”

“I see. And what do you imagine Adrien would be doing, other than helping you look after three kids and a hamster?”

“Whatever makes him happy. Whether that’s modelling, or his music, or tap dancing in the street.” Marinette tried not to giggle as she remembered him actually doing that as Cat Noir. “I’m sure you have your own grand ideas about what Adrien should do with his life, sir, but he’s his own person who deserves to make his own decisions. Even if you think they’re the wrong ones. Maybe I don’t meet your high standards; maybe none of his friends do. But we all love Adrien and want what’s best for him.”

Silence fell for a long moment as he gazed at her thoughtfully. “Tell me, does Adrien share your very specific vision of your future?”

“Well, I don’t know if he wants the same number of kids and a hamster, but I know he wants to spent the future with me. We should probably work out the details after we’ve been a couple for more than a few hours.”

Again, Mr Agreste’s mouth twitched, and Marinette dared wonder if he was actually amused by her words. Whether or not that was a good thing, however, remained to be seen.

“I will allow your relationship with Adrien,” he said finally. “But I have conditions.”

“So do I,” Marinette said before she knew what she was saying.

His eyes widened. “I beg your pardon?”

“I already told you, Mr Agreste, that there are areas of your relationship with Adrien—well, the whole thing, really—that you need to work on.” Marinette folded her arms decisively. “So if you really want him to be happy, then I expect you to be willing to do so.”

She received a speechless gape in return.

“I expect you to choose presents for Adrien yourself and put thought and care into them. I expect you to make it up to him whenever your work gets in the way of spending time with him. I expect you to find time to actually tell him you love him, because to my knowledge he’s never heard that from you. I expect you to consider Adrien’s feelings and consult with him when making decisions for his protection or whatever, and if necessary reach a compromise you’re both happy with. I expect you to be more open to suggestions from other people who care about him on what’s best for him and what he needs to be emotionally healthy. I expect you to try, Mr Agreste. I expect you to want to be a better parent and be willing to learn.”

It was impossible to work out what he was thinking, but for some reason she couldn’t explain, she thought her words might actually be getting through to him.

“And this isn’t just about Adrien,” Marinette continued boldly. “Assuming that our future progresses as we both hope it does, then one day I guess I’ll be your daughter-in-law.” The expression on his face was suddenly beyond laughable. “And I may as well make this clear now so there are no surprises in the future, so you can’t possibly have any reason to withdraw your approval of us later on.”

“I’m listening.”

“I expect you to learn not to be such a control freak, so that when he’s an adult, you don’t make him feel like he has to do everything you want him to rather than what he wants, in order to keep you happy; because that’s not healthy—it’s not healthy now—and you can’t regulate his life decisions forever. I expect by the time he and I are married for you to have let go and let him have his own life. Assuming you take on board everything I’ve said, I’m hopeful the two of you will have a much better relationship by then than you have now; and if, as I think, you really do love him, then I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t want that.”

“I do love him,” Mr Agreste said quietly.

“Good. So we’re in agreement.”

He still looked a bit stunned, but didn’t disagree.

“I haven’t finished,” Marinette continued. “Our future children.” He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t expect you to be perfect, but I expect you to make an effort. I expect you to actually have a relationship with them, not be this distant figure they hardly ever see and barely know. You will respect that Adrien and I are their parents, and therefore our decisions are the ones that go; and while we’ll be open to advice, at the end of the day we’ll be the ones making the decisions we feel are best for them. You will do your very best to be present at every single special occasion; and I won’t accept any excuses, only the most valid, out-of-your-control reasons. Every Christmas and birthday, every school play and concert, every fencing meet or whatever interests they end up pursuing, regardless of whether they meet your approval or not. You have been absent from the important things in Adrien’s life for way too long and I won’t stand for you treating your grandchildren the same way. I want them to have a grandfather they can actually have a good relationship with, someone they will love and look forward to spending time with. And I know Adrien would want that too.”

Once again, the room was dead silent once she had finished.

“So what were your conditions, Mr Agreste?” Marinette asked, almost sweetly.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Er …”

~*~

In the next room, Adrien was trying desperately to resist the temptation to listen at the door. His father and Marinette’s voices were muffled, so he couldn’t work out what they were saying, but they sounded quite heated.

If he were alone, he probably would have listened, but Nathalie was there. While he wasn’t entirely sure she would stop him, he didn’t want her to mention to Gabriel later that he had overheard whatever was going on in there.

“Thanks for letting me tell him myself,” he said finally to break the awkward silence.

Nathalie nodded. “Do you love her, Adrien?”

“Completely and utterly,” he said with no hesitation. He thought about adding “I’d die for her,” but stopped himself just in time, thinking that might not have the right effect.

Her expression softened. “I very much hope she can win your father over.”

“So do I. She’s so wonderful; and if anyone can, she can; but … Father’s so stubborn.”

“He is,” Nathalie agreed. “And overprotective. But he does have a heart, Adrien.”

“He has a funny way of showing it sometimes,” Adrien muttered.

Nathalie sighed. “I know.”

There was an awkward pause.

“So … how did the two of you …?”

Adrien hesitated, quickly sorting through the memories and censoring the superhero identity stuff in favour of a simpler version of the story. Marinette coming to comfort him after what Lila had said, and him realising she felt the same way about him than he did her … yes, that would do.

“Well, it started with us all talking about our favourite movies …”

~*~

Marinette opened the door, and saw Adrien sitting talking with Nathalie, who looked quite angry for some reason. She quickly schooled her expression to be more neutral as she saw her, and stood up. “How did it go?”

“Er … well, he’s happy for us to date.”

Adrien beamed. “He is? Yes! I knew you could win him over, Marinette!”

“You sound quite relieved nevertheless,” she teased, drawing up to him.

“Well … maybe I was a bit worried,” Adrien admitted. “That’s not a reflection on you at all, though.”

“I know. Anyway, it’s all okay. Though he has set some conditions.”

Adrien frowned. “Conditions?”

“Nothing bad. Just, you know, sticking to curfew, bodyguard, stuff like that.”

“That was an awfully long conversation for just going over ground rules,” Nathalie said, in a tone which made Marinette sure she suspected a lot more had been discussed.

“Other subjects may have come up,” she said vaguely.

“Oh? Like what?” Adrien asked.

“Well … er … your dad’s lousy parenting …”

“What?” he gasped, and Nathalie choked.

“You’re the one who told me to be honest!” Marinette said to her.

“Sheesh, Marinette, what did you say to him?”

“Basically, everything I and the rest of your friends have wanted to say to him for the last few months.”

Adrien groaned. “I can hardly believe you’re still breathing! Let alone that he actually approved us dating?”

“Apparently I proved to him that I’m not after you because you’re a famous model.” She kissed his cheek, and he blushed. Aw, she would never get used to that. “And on a completely unrelated note, he’s made a resolution to have dinner with you at least four times a week, let you attend at least one social thing a week (three in the holidays), and he’s coming to see you in the school talent show next Friday.”

And when you turn fifteen, you’re getting a surprise birthday party, she silently added.

Nathalie raised her eyebrows. “Goodness,” she said, sounding very impressed.

“Wow,” Adrien said, sounding just as much so. “Marinette, you do realise that apart from my mom, you and Nathalie are the only two people who have ever been able to get my father to change his mind about something like that?”

“Um … no, I didn’t.” Marinette looked at Nathalie. “Thanks for the tip.”

“You’re welcome. Oh, Adrien, here’s your phone back.” She handed him his phone, then looked between them. “Is Marinette staying for a while, or do you two have other plans?”

“Er, I think it might be a good idea to give Mr Agreste some space from me for the rest of the day.”

“And we do have other plans,” Adrien agreed, taking her hand. “I promised her ice cream at Andre’s.”

“Ice cream?” Nathalie glanced out of the window. “Are you sure? It looks like it’s going to start storming again soon.”

“Oh,” Adrien said, sounding disappointed.

“We could go to my house instead,” Marinette suggested. “Only fair you get to meet my parents now.”

“They’re not going to interrogate me, are they?”

“Not like that. My dad is a very different kind of intimidating.”

Adrien raised his eyebrows. “Er, what kind of intimidating?”

“You’ll see.”

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway, and they all looked over to see Mr Agreste had appeared. “Nathalie, could I have a word?”

Marinette gulped, wondering if this was about Adrien’s birthday present.

“I wonder what that’s about,” Adrien said, frowning slightly after Nathalie had followed her boss from the room.

“Er …” She cast her mind around quickly for a change of subject. “Yeah, um … there’s someone else we need to talk to. Master Fu,” she said in a low voice.

Adrien paused. “Oh. Right. We know our secret identities now … Do you think he’ll be upset?”

“I don’t know, but whatever his reaction, we shouldn’t put it off.” Marinette took out her phone and selected the turtle icon in her contacts.

~*~

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Nathalie said after closing the door behind her.

“They’re dating, not engaged,” Gabriel said quickly, though he couldn’t help silently adding yet. He shook himself and remembered what he had actually intended to talk to her about.

“I think you made the right decision, sir. Marinette seems a sweet girl. And Adrien is clearly absolutely smitten with her.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it goes both ways. She was very …” Gabriel paused, searching for the right word. “… specific about her feelings for him.”

“Really?”

He knew from her tone that it was not actually a surprise, and wondered what she had said to Marinette before the meeting. “Yes. Very bluntly honest.”

That was putting it mildly. Marinette Dupain-Cheng had let him have it with both barrels. Gabriel thought the last time he had been that intimidated by a teenager, he had been the same age himself. Fortunately he didn’t think he had let it show.

“I see. Good for her.”

“Yes.” He paused. “The thing is, she did bring up something which I should ask you about.”

“Oh?”

“I understand that the present she intended to give to Adrien for his birthday, was somehow mistaken for being from me.” He arched an eyebrow at Nathalie, whose eyes widened.

“Oh. Er … d-did she tell Adrien?”

“No. And she stated she has no plans to do so. Apparently he was delighted to think it was from me, and she doesn’t want to disappoint him.” Gabriel fixed his assistant with a sharp frown. “I don’t suppose you could shed any light on how this misunderstanding occurred, Nathalie?”

She sighed. “On Adrien’s birthday, Marinette dropped off a gift for him, shortly before you … asked if I had got him a present from you. I … didn’t remember you having asked me to before, and … I panicked.”

“You told Adrien that Marinette’s scarf was from me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why did you not simply go out and get him something?”

Nathalie fixed Gabriel with a surprisingly hard look. “Because that would have required leaving Adrien to eat lunch alone on his birthday, Mr Agreste. Which I didn’t want to do. Nor did I want to have to tell him that his father had either not got him a present, or asked me to and that I had forgotten. I knew any of the above would hurt him.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “And as it happened, because of the Bubbler, he had lunch alone on his birthday anyway.”

The accusation was impossible to miss, and a long, very tense silence fell between them.

“I … will not akumatize anyone on Adrien’s birthday again,” Gabriel finally relented.

“Especially not friends of his who only wanted to do something kind for him,” Nathalie added.

“Er … yes. I mean … no, I won’t.”

Her expression softened slightly. “Marinette really got through to you, didn’t she?”

“You put her up to that, didn’t you?”

“All I did was advise her to be honest. The rest was all her.”

“Well, it worked,” Gabriel admitted. “There are some … changes I need to make.”

Nathalie nodded slowly, frowning again. “Talking of honesty … did you by any chance sense any negative emotions from Lila Rossi earlier today?”

Gabriel blinked, completely taken aback. “Yes, actually. She’s been very emotional for most of the day, but you know I’ve been tied up with work I couldn’t delegate. It’s been quite frustrating having to wait; I was planning to seize the opportunity once Marinette had left. How did you know?”

“Adrien told me about something that happened this morning between the two of them. And … well, you’re not going to like it …”

~*~

Lila checked her text again.

We need to talk.

She didn’t know why she had come to the meeting place Adrien had specified. What more did he want to say? Adrien was the forgiving type, but she was certain this was beyond even him.

One little miscalculation, and everything had been ruined. Usually Lila planned her stories with care, but from time to time had simply grabbed an opportunity. And now she’d had the horrible misfortune of picking the wrong person to lie about.

How the hell was I supposed to know she was his mom???

If she transferred to a new school (Lila was already formulating an argument to present to her mother why it was necessary), then she would be more careful. At the very least do an internet search before opening her mouth.

She turned as she heard the car pull up behind her. The back window rolled down, and her eyes widened in surprise as it revealed not Adrien, but his father.

“Get in, Miss Rossi,” Gabriel Agreste said shortly.

She did, hesitating as she realised he was alone in the back. “Where’s Adrien?”

“He did not send you that text. You are not the only one with the ability to deceive.”

A cold chill went down her spine as the car pulled off, and Lila was suddenly very aware of the fact that no-one knew where she was.

“S-sir? What do you want?”

He didn’t look at her, face set in grim determination as he stared straight ahead. “Adrien told Nathalie what you said about his mother.”

Lila had guessed he’d found out, but still felt the blood drain from her face. “Sir, I swear, I never meant—I had no idea he was talking about his mom!”

“That is not the point. Your story could have severely hurt him, and the only reason it didn’t was because he believes something tragic happened to her.” He suddenly fixed Lila with a glare so fierce, she wished he was still looking straight ahead. “I wanted to tell you personally that if you ever do or say anything that could hurt Adrien again, regardless of whether or not you meant it to, you will severely regret it.”

Lila waited for the car to stop, but it didn’t. She glanced at the driver. It wasn’t Adrien’s bodyguard as usual; it was the aforementioned secretary. For some reason this felt foreboding.

“Um … wh-where are we going?”

He did not answer her question. “Miss Rossi, your relationship, in any sense, with my son is over. You are not to go near him again. You are not to talk about him or to him, and the same goes for his friends, because when they are hurt so is he. You are toxic and I will not have your poison harming my family.”

“I understand, Mr Agreste.”

“I’m not sure you do. You have been akumatized … how many times?”

“Er …” Lila said, taken aback at the question.

“Four, as I understand it. And you have a deep hatred of Ladybug which has made you valuable to Hawk Moth.”

“I’m not sure I understand—Wait, how do you know?”

“I am very well informed, Miss Rossi. Especially about the people around my son. I want to make one thing absolutely clear. Should you be akumatized again, no matter what Hawk Moth wants of you, Adrien and his friends are off limits. You cannot use that as an excuse with me.” His eyes sent icy daggers of fear through her. “You will find I can be a much more dangerous enemy than Hawk Moth.”

Before she could register the movement, his hand had crept around her throat and started to squeeze.

Lila choked, struggling to draw breath, and grasped weakly at his strong fingers, trying to pull them off. They were immovable. He wasn’t blocking her airways, but it hurt. She saw Nathalie glance in the mirror but merely look away, showing no sign of mercy.

Mr Agreste finally let go. “Is that absolutely clear?”

“Y-yes, s-sir,” Lila gasped, massaging her throat.

“Now you are going to get out, and you are going to tell your parents about every single lie you have told. If I find you have missed any out, I will tell them myself.”

They stopped, and Lila saw they were outside her home. She had never been so relieved to be able to get out of a car. She would take being grounded for the rest of her life over spending one more second in that man’s company.

“This is your only warning,” Gabriel Agreste said darkly, before closing the door again. The car pulled away.

Lila braced herself, and approached her front door.

~*~

“Don’t dawdle on the way home,” Gabriel said to Nathalie, settling back in his seat, satisfied and in anticipation. “I will not miss this opportunity.”

“Of course, Mr Agreste.”

He could already feel Lila’s anger and frustration, but once her parents found out everything, it was bound to increase. Her next akumatization would be her most powerful form yet.

“Do you think she’s afraid enough to leave Adrien alone?” Nathalie asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. “She might have thought you were bluffing.”

“She didn’t. I can tell.” Gabriel looked back at his assistant. “Do you think it was too big a risk?”

“As long as you left no visible mark on her—”

“I didn’t.” He had been very careful not to.

“—and she’s convinced that you really would hurt her if she hurt Adrien again—”

“Which I will. And she is.”

“—then no. Even if she tries to tell someone you attacked her, no-one is going to believe her now.”

Gabriel nodded. That had been the plan. His Miraculous glowed as Lila’s emotions suddenly spiked. “Faster, Nathalie. I mean … Catalyst.”

To Be Continued …

Author’s Note: Thanks to phantombullets240 for your idea; it’s what turned this into a multi-chapter fic.

I initially drafted the penultimate scene with Gabriel ending his deal with Lila, then remembered it hadn’t happened yet in canon. Which is a shame because it would have been so much more tense. But I’m happy with the rewrite.

Part of the scene between Marinette and Gabriel was inspired by a conversation from Monster In Law, but it’s been years since I’ve seen the film so I’m not sure how close it is to the original.

I have a plan for the next chapter, but action isn’t my strong point, so it might take a little longer than the others to write!

[ecofinisher]

A new partnership 44 and last chapter

Chapter 44

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26109937/chapters/70992534

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13681547/44/A-new-partnership

https://www.wattpad.com/1015101708-a-new-partnership-moving-on

Inside of the hospital in the patient room, Adrien stood along with Nino in front of the bed where his mother lied still in a comatose state. Adrien held his hand over his mother's hand, which lied on the mattress, and watched his mother with a sad face at her status.

„Oh mother, all this time you were under our house. All these months I thought you were dead or gone....Father should have said me something or even Nathalie, not just keep it a secret as if what he was doing was a great thing,"

Nino watched Adrien glance at the mother lost for more words, then he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him.

„It's not easy to talk to someone who's not here," Nino commented, then someone knocked on the door and Nino left his friend to open the door, afterward Alya Césaire got into the room embracing the boyfriend which smiled at the girl's affection. Alya walked along with Nino to Adrien, which stood by his mother, then Alya held her arms out for the blonde to hug her.

„I'm sorry for what you have been going through," Said Alya earning a nod from Adrien. „What will be about you now with your father now gone?"

„As long as my mother is here I will be in London with Aunt Amelie as I was before. Tonight she will arrive to look for me and her. She will also see if it is possible to relocate her to a Londoner hospital. So we're able to visit her," Adrien said looking back at his mother then caressed her on the cheek. „So we're able to see her often and hope she will wake up from the coma,"

„Have you thought about if she doesn't? Or worse, she's declared for death?" Questioned the girl making Adrien shrug his shoulders.

„Nope, but I will proceed that there's a 50/50% chance for anything of this to happen. I've heard of cases where such thing happened after ten years or more,"

„Yeah, but remember if you need someone to talk about it, we're here. We may not know exactly how to talk with you about this, but we're able to listen," Offered Alya earning a nod from Adrien, then he looked up at his mother,

At the school, fewer students were around due to the afterschool activities in the classrooms and Luka was together with Marinette, Marc, and Ivan watching a group of girls act along with Myléne Hapréle and Lila Rossi.

„We fought hard to get here sir. If you just treat us like trash there's no way you're going to find people who are as worth as us!" Lila announced looking at Mireille Caquette, which wore a fake mustache.

„Well Mrs. Tak I will see, what I can do," Mireille said, then the girls turned around to the audience bowing down making the group, that attended the play to applaud.

„Wow, Marc you were right. Acting really suits Lila as well," Marinette commented looking at Marc, which held the camera of his smartphone at the group.

„Yeah, I'm quite surprised at how quickly she learned to improve herself during the times she was here. She's the one who learned it quicker as the ones who are longer here," Ivan mentioned earning a nod from Marc.

Lila sat along with Myléne between Marc and Ivan, then Marinette gave Lila a thumb up making her smile.

„I didn't expect to see you here," Lila mentioned. „Did I any good?"

„You did great. You really should in future stay in this area if you enjoy it," Marinette commented making Lila smile.

„Thanks. You're kind of cool when getting to know you better,"

„I feel the same about you. Mostly the real you," Said the blue-haired girl earning a smile from the brunette girl, then Luka waved at Lila to get her attention.

„Hey since you're fond of acting, I've been thinking about asking you to play in a music video for a music of my band. You get to play the secondary character, which is a girl, which has two boys interested in her. A nice, shy boy and an overly confident one. Only the girl and the shy boy aren't taken yet. If you're interested, you could take part in it,"

„This sounds like a good idea Luka. I will think about your offer,"

„Great take your time and report it to me when you're sure about it," Luka replied earning a nod from Lila.

Onyx stood in the patient room in front of Nathalie Sancoeur looking at the woman drinking a drink with a powder listening to the superhero, which spoke to her.

„You've been doing all that, because of love?" Onyx questioned bewildered at the story of the woman. „But you know if this all had worked out in the end he would have chosen his wife over you?"

„Yes. I know it was wrong, but we assumed it would end up well for our side, but.....you heroes kept leading and leading the situation. Even now as it seemed we had a bigger chance it still......it still wasn't worth it. I never meant to hurt anyone with it. I just wanted to help Gabriel get his wife back"

„Yes, I see. You know you cannot really get out of this issue here. You still acted negligently and will need to face justice after you're free from here. No one's going to expect you to know the exact whereabouts of Gabriel or his further plans, but if you assume your guilt and show you regret you may have a shorter stay in jail,"

„I will do what is right....Onyx I don't really know how I should say this, but....I'm grateful that you've risked your own life to save me, giving me the chance to improve myself,"

„Don't mention it," Responded Onyx back, then made his way out of the patient room passing by a security agent, which stood there in front of Nathalie's room. „I'm done," Onyx said earning a nod from the man and the boy made his way along the corridor, then stopped in front of a foreign patient room and glanced into it to spot Hydra standing in front of the bed of Nathaniel shaking his hand. Onyx got into the room approaching the boy's bed, then placed his hands on the board on the end of the bed.

„Hey how are you doing?" Onyx questioned watching the redhead glance at the raven-haired superhero.

„I'm better now," Nathaniel answered. „I heard Nathalie and Gabriel were behind all these schemes of Hawk Moth. Is that right?"

„Yes it seems so," Onyx added in response to the redhead. „Soon as Adrien found out about it he tried to find us to inform and he helped us with your miraculous again to defeat the few akumas. Hawk Moth managed to escape in the end as we fought him inside his hideout.....You know the fight could have worked out better if we had more space and acknowledge about it,"

„We will catch him next time then. We all know at least Gabriel Agreste is behind all this and we caught Nathalie. It will be easier for us to deal with him in the future....hopefully, it will,"

„I know what you mean Nathaniel. For now Paris will be safe for a while until Gabriel decides to try out his akumas. The other question will be how will we figure it out when he's in a different hideout,"

„You're right," Recited the dragon miraculous holder.

„Hey now that you two are here, what is that reunion all about which Ladybug had set on the day I leave the hospital?" Questioned the redhead patient.

„I think she wanted to ask us all if we wanted to show each other our identities and further talk about how we are going to move on after we lost Hawk Moth," Onyx responded.

„Well half of the team already know my identity. It sort of would be fair for me to know you too," Nathaniel pointed out making Hydra chuckle.

„You're right or to be aware of civilian life situations that could ruin or relationships with certain persons," Hydra added walking at Onyx, which sank his head a little tragic remembering the moments he needed to lie to the friend about his identity.

„You know I'm happier now to know I don't have to lie to you about our superhero duties," Onyx enunciated watching Hydra place her hands around his arm to gaze up at the boy.

„You did that for a good reason. Don't blame yourself for performing your duty correctly," Hydra reminded the boy, which nodded and embraced the girl to peck her on the forehead.

„Please get out of here, if you wanna make out," Nathaniel ordered feeling abashed from seeing the two in his room, which began to laugh at his comment.

A few weeks later Marinette was in her bedroom fiddling around her treasure chest she had in her room with beside her Tikki sitting on top of the miraculous box.

„Are you sure you don't want to wait for the boys to help you out?" Tikki asked watching the girl have her arms in the box trying to screw something inside it, then she groaned as she had let fall down a small wooden board into the box with its one edge to the ground and the one corner was attached with a screw into the wall of the chest.

„Are you kidding me?" Marinette complained picking out a few screws, then she held the board up in the middle of it, then pointed at the nails for Tikki to take them and she flew into the box again, then gave them to Marinette to place it into the holes of the hinge. Behind her, the door got opened up and Luka looked up, followed by his friend Jin, which checked the bedroom out and both boys got into the room, then Luka went down on his knees to greet Marinette.

„Hey Marinette," Luka greeted shrieking Marinette, which jumped afterward she sighed in relief to see her crush Luka there.

„Oh hey Luka. Sorry, I was distracted," Marinette droned, then watched Luka stare into the box and hold the board up for the girl.

„Here I help you," Luka offered making Marinette smile, which watched Tikki hold a screw against the hole so Marinette could screw in the bolt.

„Are you okay with it or do you need a third hand?" Jin asked making Marinette shake her head.

„For now it's fine Jin, thank you," Marinette responded then Jin sat down behind them and noticed under the table of Marinette several wrapped up presents making him curious then he took out a pack to see it. Marinette watched Luka take out another hinge to place it inside the chest and Marinette shrieked as she noticed Jin holding one of the presents Marinette's past self wanted to give Adrien to his birthday in the future. „Jin! Get your hands off it! They're not yours!" Complained Marinette turning red.

„Oh really?" Jin asked looking at Marinette. „It said for the most handsome boy. I thought it was for me," Jin joked making Marinette fake a laugh.

„Very funny Jin," Marinette quipped then Plagg reunited with Tikki to look at the box they're working on.

„Don't worry, Babyface knows he's not the prettiest one in this city," Plagg mentioned making Jin chuckle.

„You're saying that because of the way I decided to leave my hair, right?" Questioned the Chinese boy.

„No not really," Plagg responded.

„Are you sure no one won't recognize you with that hair?" Luka asked holding his hand inside the chest so Marinette could screw the bolts into the box.

„I don't think this will happen that easy," Jin responded putting the gift back.

„Don't worry Luka. Adrien already got dressed once as Cat Noir, yet no one figured out he and Cat Noir were the same person," Assured the cat kwami, making Luka shrug his shoulders.

„I think we almost got it, Luka," Marinette stated earning a nod from the boy, then Plagg flew around the bedroom of Marinette landing on the desk of the girl, where she had a plate of cookies and he took one to eat. Behind the keyboard of the computer, he spotted a key attached to a keyring, making the kwami left his right eyebrow and he took it out to check it.

„You have kept Master's keys?" Plagg asked watching Marinette hit her head on the open door of the chest, followed by Luka caressing her on the head making her smile and she got up to meet the kwami.

„Yes I did," Marinette responded. „He gave it to me after he lost his memory and.....yeah,"

„Yeah...." Plagg stated neutral, then Jin got up to look at the key while Luka placed his arm around Marinette to comfort her.

„We saved Paris on that day and weeks ago we saved Nino and discovered Hawk Moth's true identity. It won't take more time until we get his miraculous back," Luka said to Marinette, which nodded.

„We brought back Adrien's mother. She's in coma and all, but who knows with the time she might come back and we will be able to know more about what happened," Jin added then Plagg dropped the keys on Jin's hands, which looked at them. „What sort of keys are they? They resemble the ones they have for lockers,"

„Why would he walk around with a locker key?" Luka asked making Marinette widen her eyes and approach Jin to see the keys.

„I think they must be from a locker," Marinette said watching Jin hold the key up by its ring.

„Probably from the train station," Jin mentioned watching Marinette grab it. Marinette looked at it to encounter a number on it and she realized that the keys Master Fu left was to help her out in the future.

„Jin, Plagg you're are geniuses," Marinette complimented making Jin smile while Plagg frowned at Marinette's words.

„Hey, I'm the one who found it," Plagg objected. „The only thing Jin found was one of your future presents for Adrien Agreste,"

„Can you all please stop picking on my past behavior?" Marinette asked. „It's hard to not think about that every time I see these presents,"

„It would be a good thing to get rid of them," Jin suggested. „Or give them to someone else," Jin suggested picking up a flat gift making him look bewildered. „What the heck is in here?"

„A vinyl record of the mighty king of rock," Marinette commented grabbing the present away from Jin. „One of my dad's favorite singer, which Adrien apparently seemed to like too according to Nino,"

„Okay," Jin responded looking at the rest of the presents, then Marinette picked out one present with the number 2 and gave it to Jin.

„I've bought this at the jewelry store down at the park. Your bracelet here says I love you. If you want, you can give it to Yi or exchange it at the jewelry store," Marinette offered making Jin nod.

„I think she might like it," Jin mentioned „Thank you,"

„No problem and now excuse me, we have to finish the box before we leave," Marinette announced and took the last board to install in along with Luka inside the chest while Jin sat there watching the two work.

Adrien stood holding his baggage waiting along with his Aunt, Amelie to catch their bus on the outside of the train station of the English capital. Adrien gazed down at the ground neutrally, then his aunt placed his arm on his chin and moved his face at her to check his mood, then Adrien rolled his eyes away from the woman.

„It was a quite shock for you to know what had been going on in your house the entire time am I right darling?" Amelie asked making Adrien nod.

„This all could have been different if I just had searched for the facts why my father was always absent in my life and wanted me so bad to give him the miraculouses instead. He wanted all that to bring mom back home, but......Ladybug said it wouldn't be a good idea to do so,"

„I know what you mean. Now forget what happened back there. Try to focus on today and your future. Your mother is now here with us in the hospital. Who knows maybe when life allows us, we may be able to talk to your mother again,"

„Or even not. I.....I even feel that knowing mom is in a coma feels way worse than knowing she's dead or vanished,"

„That is terrible my darling, but don't quit visiting your mother the many days you promised. Haven't you heard of people from coma reacting to the voices of their loved ones? I'm pretty sure there is at least a chance of 50% for your mother to react to your voice," Amelie comforted the boy which nodded. A red double-decker stopped in front of them to let several people out with their baggage, then Amelie entered into the bus along with the blonde boy, then moved along the corridor, and at the end of the corridor, a trio of students jumped up excited at the sight of the two blondes.

„Welcome back, Adrien!" The trio shouted surprising Adrien, which wasn't expecting to see his English schoolmates.

„Aja, Felix, William? What are you doing here?" Adrien asked and William got closer to the blonde placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

„We heard what happened back in Paris and wanted to make sure you feel good," William told earning a nod from Felix.

„I always knew your dad was a jerk, but.....If I have to be honest him being Hawk Moth was the last thing I would expect. I know this doesn't make you feel better, but I thought you could need to listen about this from more people,"

„It's fine Felix, thank you," Adrien responded sharing a hug with his cousin. Adrien moved on to Aja, then grabbed her hands giving her a little smile. „Hey," Adrien spoke quietly.

„Hey Adrien, I'm really sorry to hear about what happened in your home city. You can always talk to me when you need to. If you need someone to be with you in the hospital around your mother, when you don't feel well in going alone. I want you to know that,"

„Thanks Aja," Adrien responded, then received a peck on his cheek and saw the trio sat down on the back, afterward Adrien sat along with his aunt on a row in front of the students waiting for the rest of the passengers to take sit inside the bus before it left for downtown.

„As we grow old, we realize life doesn't always give us all the gifts we hoped it would. I would have loved to tell you all this in person, Marinette, but if you're reading this, it means I've already lost my memory. But you mustn't be scared, and you mustn't be sad. As I was telling you at the beginning of this letter, experiencing loss is a part of life, but it doesn't define it. Because what really matters isn't whether you win or lose. It's the ability to accept changes in ourselves. It's accepting that even if life doesn't always give us the gifts we're hoping for, the real gift is the life itself. You're not alone in this, there's Cat Noir and every other member. I feel that you fear your responsibility now as the new guardian. I can comprehend it. Take advice from your friends, accept their help whenever you need it. I know that soon or later you'll be able to master this situation and get back Hawk Moth's miraculous. I believe in you with all my heart,"

Marinette arrived along with Master Fu in front of a train with the destination Genève Airport. Wang Fu took one look at his flight ticket, which had the destination of the Nepalese capital and he gazed up at the blue-haired girl, which smiled at the man.

„Well.....I guess this is it," Marinette spoke earning a nod from the man. From the train a elderly woman in a brown jacket left making the senior stare at her in awe, making the woman smile enchanted and she let Wang take his hands looking down at the eyes of the shorter man.

„Hehe....It's incredible. I only met you and my heart is beating crazy as If I have known you for ages," Wang Fu said earning a nod from Marinette.

„You should always trust your heart," The woman spoke making the senior smile, then Marinette approached the couple and showed them a box filled with macaroons colored in various colors making the senior smile.

„This is for your trip, sir," Marinette explained giving it to the man.

„Thank you, young lady. I will never forget you," The man said making Marinette smile sad, then watched the couple enter into the train and the three waved at each other, afterward, the couple disappeared into the train and Marinette turned her back around sighing sadly at the goodbye, then watched the train puff beginning to tax slowly out of the station. Marinette walked off, then Tikki flew out of the girl's purse and patted the girl on the shoulder comforting the teenager.

„Don't worry Marinette. Ms. Lenoir knows where to go with him. He will be safe," Tikki explained earning a nod from the blue-haired girl.

„Life goes on. Whether you chose to move on and take a chance into the unknown. Or stay back locked in the past thinking of what could have been. Life is like a book and you're the author. You may have every little detail of your life planned, but as the story goes you notice many things moving differently than what you have planned. You believe to not like it at first, but soon you figure out it works out well,"

Jin and Yi stood together looking at André the ice maker making for the two an ice, while waiting Yi gazed back at Marinette, which stood there in queue with Luka.

„That's a fact. Where did you get that quote from?" Luka asked, then Marinette pointed down at Marc, which stood in the middle of several classmates of Marinette's class. „Okay,"

„There you go you two. Dark chocolate with coffee and strawberry for the young man and dark chocolate with peanut butter and blueberry for the little lady," André said handing the two his ice, then they walked together to the stairs waiting for Marinette and Luka, which were the last ones.

„Why didn't Kagami come?" Jin asked making Yi shrug her shoulders.

„Kendo practice," Yi responded. „But she promised she would somehow get here on her own,"

„Okay, that's good," Jin said, then stove his hand into the pocket of his pants, then took out two bracelets and showed them to Yi. „Yi I'd like to ask you personally.....would you be interested to be more than just friends?" Yi chuckled at Jin's comment making him grin a little embarrassed at the question, then Yi spoke to him again.

„You're meaning it?"

„Well, I thought about asking you if you would be okay if....I was your boyfriend and you the girlfriend," Jin stated showing Yi the bracelets with the love message. „You don't have to answer now. You have time,"

„You kidding? I would love to be your girlfriend," Yi answered making Jin smile, then he took the red bracelet and placed it around Yi's hand. Jin then put the blue one on his pulse and showed Yi a half-circle on his bracelet and Yi saw on hers that she had hers too, therefore allowed Jin to attach his circle on hers.

„Now people will know we belong to each other," Jin mentioned making Yi smile enchanted at the boyfriend and went on her tiptoes to kiss him on his lips.

Luka and Marinette walked downstairs along with the Chinese descendant childhood friends and walked beside the canal of Saint-Martin and all sat down in pairs. Jin and Yi sat between Nino with Alya and vice versa to them Luka took the place together with Marinette, which looked at Jin, that gave her a smile.

„Thanks for everything you've done at the beginning of our.....other life," Marinette mentioned earning a smile from Jin, then she looked at Luka, which was adjusting his guitar, that lied next to him while on his other hand he had his ice cream.

„Were you before at the train station?" Luka asked earning a nod from the girl.

„I went to see Master Fu one last time before he would leave Paris. I'm still scared of what future awaits me as a guardian, but with you two and the rest of the team around I feel safer than I did before,"

„Jin and I will always help you out no matter what, Marinette. You're never alone," Luka promised seeing Marinette lie her head on his shoulder, then rolled her eyes down at his guitar.

„Will you play something?" Marinette questioned, then Luka looked at the other couples and friends eating and he gazed back at Marinette.

„What exactly?" Luka asked making Marinette shrug her shoulders.

„Anything you want," Marinette said earning a nod from Luka, which handed the ice cream out to Marinette, so he could pick up his guitar, while he adjusted it he observed in the middle of the circle Nathaniel which had his crutches lying behind him and he held his legs down at the canal and his left pant was folded back revealing his injured leg with a metal fixture on the outside, which he had to keep for a few more weeks. He sat between Marc and Lila laughing about something, then Nathaniel raised his ice cream in the air and the two friends leaned their ice on Nathaniel's doing a similar pose to the musketeers and after they removed their ice Nathaniel's ice cream dropped down only leaving a big, green ball on his wafer making him wide his eyes in surprise and the two friends got embarrassed at their little accident.

Nino and Alya were sharing Nino's smartphone listening with one pair of earplugs to music. Besides the two were Kim and Ondine eating ice and joking with each other, next to them Alix and Max were alone eating their own ice colored after themselves. Max lifted up his smartphone to check a message, then showed it to Alix causing her to laugh. Nino also took out his smartphone to see a message he received and he began to laugh as he saw a photo of Adrien pretending to be a guard at the palace in London with a strange mimic on his face and he showed it to Luka and Marinette which began to laugh at the image.

„Too bad Adrien can't be here with us," Luka mentioned. „But with the sort of father he had, he is at least safe for now," Luka mentioned earning a nod from Marinette, which smiled watching Nino put his phone back and she looked at Onyx's alter ego Jin, which smiled lovely at his girlfriend, then placed his hand under her chin and leaned his forehead on hers. Marinette smiled glad about the boy's happiness and she wrapped her arms around Luka's, which smiled at the girl and began to play on his guitar.

Marinette smiled listening to the boy playing the melody of a country song, then Luka smiled watching Marinette close her eyes as he continued to play the song. The sporty couple and the artistic trio watched Luka playing the guitar, agreeing to enjoy the talent of the raven-haired teen. The guitarist plucked on the strings, making Marinette chuckle and close her eyes to enjoy the music just like the cat-themed superhero's alter ego was doing, then Yi noticed it and leaned her head under his chin making Jin smile and lie it over her. Luka continued performing the Melodia, then observed Marinette getting lost into the music, then he leaned his mouth near Marinette's ear to whisper making her wide her eyes turning red at his words, then she moved her face to the boy, which was smiling at the girl and Marinette nodded turning redder than before, then she pecked the boy on the cheek which continued playing the song for everyone around them.

Inside a garage building in another part of Paris, a vehicle with a garage license was parked on the spot for electric cars, afterward, a rented family van appeared and parked beside it, then opened its window from the driver side and so did the other vehicle on the other side of the car. Inside the white vehicle sat the fashion designer Gabriel Agreste and on the other side of the vehicle sat a brunette woman with a tan skin complexion.

„I've heard in the news. You're the monster, that has been terrorizing everyone including my daughter" The woman argued earning a nod from the blonde.

„I know your daughter well. She was really unstable after her first akumatization," Gabriel spoke. „Mostly after this time she always was alone at home. No one could try to help her out of this situation only one person,"

„How could you do that to such a young girl?" Mrs. Rossi asked. „And everyone else in this place?"

„Your daughter was after her akumatization really frustrated what happened to her before with Ladybug. Forgiving Ladybug's indelicate behavior never was an option to her and I wanted to make sure it would never get to that and used every thing I could to pull her strings hopefully making it to create a bigger chaos to Paris, which worked well,"

„You're lucky you were able to escape from the superheroes' hands. Otherwise you would be under the earth right now!"

„Wow I've always heard Italians women were really temperamental. Now I see where Lila has got it from,"

„I'm warning you, if you put a finger on my daughter again with or without the miraculous I will personally take care of you life!" Warned Mrs. Rossi making Gabriel laugh.

„I like you. What do you think of we making a deal," Gabriel offered. „I leave your daughter for good and you help me get the miraculouses of Ladybug and Onyx. When I really need someone to use the peacock miraculous this is where I was thinking about adding you to. If we manage to get the miraculouses, I will leave you and your daughter, Lila, for good and I will use the miraculouses to bring back my lovely wife back from her coma,"

„Your wife?" Mrs. Rossi asked earning a nod from the man. „That works?"

„Yes, but it's not as easy as it sounds. There's a price for it I'll have to pay. But that will be with me," Gabriel explained watching Mrs. Rossi look down at the steering wheel. „Do we have a deal or do you want to think about it?" Gabriel questioned watching Mrs. Rossi think about it.

„And you will leave us in peace?" Mrs. Rossi questioned again earning a nod from Gabriel, which held his hand out to the woman. Mrs. Rossi frowned and put her hand out to shake the hand of the man. „You can count on me, Mr. Agreste" Affirmed the mother of Lila making Gabriel smile.

„Wish you a pleasant evening," Gabriel wished turning the engine of the family van on and left the diplomat back, which placed her hand on her face in regret at the step she had just done.

„Don't worry, it's all for your daughter's safety," Mrs. Rossi commented putting the engine on to leave the parking spot too heading to the outside of the garage.

The End.

FINALLY! I'm not sure if this took longer than Super Nathan 1 or 2 did or if I'm just feeling like it was a long way to go here. Well, when I worked on this fic I feel like I was taking it ten times more serious than usual, mostly when it came to trying to work on character redemption in here. Seriously the NYC special killed my brain at some points of the movies while others were alright. Serious the writers should stop or sink Marinette's creepy behavior. Yeah, she's in love and all that, but I don't think any girl in real life acts THAT weird. (Well this now refering to other awkward moments) But well I know many others that didn't like her behavior improved her in fanon better than the writers and I tried to do the same to her here. The idea was something else, but now as I had Jin to use the cat miraculous I thought he should be to Ladybug like an older brother to help her grow and understand that some issues that in canon she never gets called out for have a reason to be called out. Rest in peace English....Sorry for the last sentence...

Okay as you see I left an open ending, which means later at some point I will make a sequel. What else it will be about remains unknown for now. It will also be the last one for now as when I wrote this crossover I wasn't expecting it to be well, usually crossovers I don't tend to be that good, but hey if this one went well I can jump and make a Snow Queen & Miraculous crossover with a more awkwardly ridiculous lovesquare xD I mean the idea is hilarious, but if I can manage the logic in it is the other question.

Upcoming fics you wonder? I'm thinking about part 4 of the Adventures of Super Nathan, but I don't have a lot of ideas for the plot. We'll see soon, what it will be.Thanks for sticking with me in this fic. I really adored working on this crossover and exploring the relationship between the characters from both fandoms. Feel free to leave a comment, kudos or anything.See ya around!

[silvorr]

Gabriel Approves The Second Time Around

Part 2

“Hello?”

“Nino, I need help.”

There was a pause on the other side of the line. Then; “Is this about Marinete?”

Adrien flushed red. “Yes?”

Adrien heard Nino chuckle and the blonde had a feeling that even though his best friend could not see him right now, Nino probably knew that Adrien looked as red as a tomato. The thought made Adrien pout “Ninoooooo.”

“I know I know. Look just- gimme a second okay? I’m with Alya right now and she’ll burn me alive if she knew I was talking to you.”

“Right.” Adrien considered himself blessed that he hadn’t had a chance to encounter Alya yet. He supposed that he wouldn’t be alive right now if he had.

A few minutes passed and Adrien heard Nino make some excuse about a calling relative. He assumed that Nino had slipped out to somewhere private before the boy’s voice rang through the phone again, “So. Marinette.”

“Yeah. Nino I- “

“If you ask me, the gentlest way to let her down would be privately. Especially- “

“Maybe I’m won’t have to let her down Nino.”

A pause. “What do you mean?”

Adrien ran a hand through his hair, “I may have just come to the realisation that I like her back? Pl- A friend helped me realise that maybe the girl I was crushing after wasn’t the best choice after all.”

“Who were you crushing after?”

“Ladybug?” In that moment, Adrien’s voice sounded high pitched even to himself.

“Dude- Ladybug?! She was Marinette’s competition?!”

“Well now, I wouldn’t say competition- “

“Duuuuude, no wonder you never looked at another girl! And, by the way, your friend is right. No offence but you have no chance at Ladybug my dude. For one, she wouldn’t put a civilian in danger by even entertaining the idea of dating them and two; if anybody ends up dating Ladybug, its Chat Noir.”

“Right.” Adrien mumbled. He knew for a fact that Chat stood as much a chance as anyone else did with how things had been going until now.

There was a short silence in which Adrien assumed that Nino was soaking all the new information in. He spent the time picking at the ends of his shirt before Nino finally spoke up again. “So. Marinette huh?”

Adrien’s blush, which had just resided, slowly crept back into his cheeks. “Yeah.” He mumbled.

Nino chuckled in amusement, “Well, you better do something before someone else swings in and swoops her off her feet because, let me tell you, she is one hell of a catch.”

“Nino, you have a girlfriend.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m blind my friend.”

“Touché. How do I go about this though? I have no clue on how these situations work. Except from what I’ve read in comic books and mangas that is. I’m pretty sure those don’t count.”

Nino hummed in thought, “Well, thing is, Marinette’s already smitten with you, so there’s not much worry over whether she’ll be up for it or not. I’d suggest going slow for now, ‘cause Marinette gets easily overwhelmed when it comes to you- “Adrien winced. Nino didn’t notice. “Why don’t you take her out on a date? You know, get to know each other, make her comfortable around you, stuff like that. Take her somewhere where she’ll be thoroughly occupied, y’know? Cause she can’t be nervous if she’s distracted.”

“That’s- “Adrien swallowed, “That’s actually solid advice. I owe you one Nino.”

Nino chuckled, “Anything for a friend dude. Alya’s gonna flip when she hears this.”

“Don’t tell her yet,” Adrien was already feeling much lighter now that he had a solid plan of action, “I want her to hear it from Marinette when I ask her out tomorrow at school.”

He heard Nino whistle, “Eager, aren’t we?”

It was Adrien’s turn to laugh, “You have no idea how oblivious I can be. Now that I’ve been thinking about it, it’s so obvious Nino.”

“Dude, I know. I’ve had to watch you two from the day you came to class. You only realise now, but do you even know how painful it was for the rest of us?”

“I’m sorry?”

“You better knock her off her feet Agreste, ‘cause Alya and I won’t accept anything less.”

“And here I though I’m asking Marinette out?”

“Marinette has a whole liege of people who’d give up their lives for her, you know? Alya’s president of the ‘Protect Marinette’ squad and by default, that makes me co-president.”

“Don’t doubt that. I might have to steal Alya’s title though.”

Nino laughed, “You can try pretty boy. I’ll talk to you later, yeah dude? Alya’s starting to get suspicious.”

“See you Nino. Thanks for the talk man.”

“Anytime my dude. Nino out.”

Adrien looked at the phone in his hand with a soft smile. He already had a rough idea about what he needed to do.

-

 “Marinette!”

The girl in question froze on the front steps of their school as Adrien rushed up to her. She slowly turned to face him, an awkward smile on her face. “Hey Adrien.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, something he did when he was anxious. Even though Adrien had had the whole weekend to think this through, that didn’t make any of it easier. “Listen- ah- could we talk in private for a moment? Please?”

Her eyes widened in surprise, “S-sure! Uhhh…”

“Right,” He moved to walk in front of her, “This way.”

He could tell that his movements were stiff as he weaved through the crowd of students standing in the hallways. His whole being felt jittery with nervous energy which showed in the quake of his hands as he clenched them into fists by his side. He was not losing his nerve right now, not if he could help it. At least Plagg’s warmth pressed right over his heart was some comfort.

They made it to the school library, which was mostly empty this early in the morning, except for the few students getting last minute work done. He led them through the rows of book shelfs to somewhere near the back, where he knew they’d have some privacy if they kept their tone of voices low.

He turned back to face Marinette as she looked around self-consciously. Adrien could make out that she was about as nervous as he was, if not more, by the way her eyes refused to meet his and the way she was fidgeting with her hands.

“Uhhhh…” Now that they were finally here, his words seemed to elude him.

“Why did you bring me here Adrien? Yo-you don’t need to sugar coat things f-for me. I’d understand i-if you’re here t-to tell me th-that you’re not interested.” It surprised him that she sounded quite sure of what she was saying, even surer than when she had confessed to him two days ago. Did she really have no faith in this? Was she so sure he was going to reject her straight out?

Internally, the mischievous- Chat Noir side of Adrien smirked. Well wasn’t she in for a surprise?

“You’ve got it wrong.” His voice was soft and quiet, but firm. Because right now, not only was this for him, but it was for Marinette as well. And he would soon come to realise that he’d go against the world if she asked him to.

“Marinette, will you go on a date with me?”

Her head snapped up from where she had been determinedly looking down at her shoes, bluebell eyes wide in surprise. He looked her straight in the eyes with determination as he waited for her thoughts to catch up with her. He could see that her mind was making progress by the way her cheeks started to flush an apple red. Her jaw had dropped open and he chuckled before his hand made it to the back of his neck. “I-I mean, if you want to, that is.”

“W-w-w-w-“

“Listen.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, “Take your time with your answer, okay? I don’t mind.” He paused as the school bell rang and sighed, “We- We have to get going to class now, okay?”

Marinette didn’t respond as he moved past her, in the direction of the library entrance. His whole being felt somewhat lighter, but his mind kept snagging on the tiny fear that there was still a possibility where she could say no. And frankly, he was far too deep in now to take that answer too well. He may have just realised that he liked Marinette romantically speaking, but he had already cared deeply for her anyways, this was just an extension of it. Still, he turned to look at her over his shoulder. She was still standing right where he left her and knowing Marinette, it’d take her some time to unfreeze.

“Marinette?” She stiffly turned around to face him, bluebell eyes still wide in shock. He gave her shaky smile in response, “Don’t leave me hanging, okay?”

[p-artsypants]

Longest Night (14) Gasping

Marinette had thought Highschool had been hard. Right now, in this moment, she'd give anything to go back to those petty arguments and gossip fueled drama. But she couldn't. Instead, she and Adrien were trapped here, being punished, humiliated, tortured, for being heroes, all broadcasted for the world to see. At least she and her kitty were in this together. For now. Whump!Fic

Ao3 | FF.net

Warning: This chapter, we go back to Adrien and Marinette, and it is very dark. There is a conversation with Hawkmoth, and then after that, things get grim.

—

7:00 am.

As strange as it would seem, this was the most comfortable Adrien had been in the last 24 hours. The chain held his bum arm up so weight wasn’t pulling on it. He wasn’t in a small enclosed space, and he wasn’t laying on hard dirty ground. The stage lights were warm as they beat down on him from all sides.

Finally, he could get some rest. Though again, rest was to loose term.

Marinette didn’t bother him. She just watched from across him to make sure he was still breathing.

All that was left to do was wait. Wait for Salo to come back and inflict more pain. Wait for her to mess up, give someone a clue. Wait for the authorities or someone to find them.

She tried pulling at the chains, and tried to make her hand slide through the cuff, but it was solid, and cutting into her wrist the more she moved.

So her feeble escape plan ended prematurely.

8:00 am

There were people looking for them right? Mr. Agreste had certainly seemed like he had been following their tribulations. Her parents had been in that room too, right?

What about the others? What about Alya and Nino? The rest of their classmates?

With the way they had left things in the classroom, she wouldn’t be surprised if they had abandoned them. At least her. Adrien didn’t do anything wrong.

Well, neither did she, but sometimes that’s enough to draw enemies.

What was Lila saying about her now? Not that it mattered anyways, but it was impossible to not think about it.

Don’t let people who hate you take up real estate in your head. That was something her mom had always said. Meaning not to give thought to how others have wronged you, if you can’t do anything about it. It made more sense than ‘forgive and forget’. Right now, Lila was none of her concern. And depending on what she was like when and if they got out, she may not ever be a problem again.

Marinette wanted to believe they would beat this foe like anything other. She wanted to believe that they’d fight the good fight. But without Miraculous, what could a model and a baker’s daughter do? Sure, they had the brains of a superhero team, but what good were brains against guns?

9:00 am

She surveyed the room. There was one man sitting in the shadows, his reflective classes illuminated by the light of the computer screen. He hadn’t so much as sneezed in the hours they had been here.

“Hey,” Marinette called.

He didn’t reply.

“Can I ask for water? Does Salo want us to die of dehydration?”

He finally turned to look at her. Then after a beat, he stood and went to Salo’s table of horrors.

Marinette couldn’t see what he was doing, but she heard him pouring something.

He came over with a glass of water, or so she hoped. It had a straw.

“This isn’t poisoned, is it?” She frowned.

He only held it up to her, face impassive.

Well, If this was the opportunity to get a drink, she wasn’t going to miss it.

Hesitantly, she took the straw and sucked up some water. Well, what was partly water. And partly something else? It burned and certainly didn’t taste good. If anything, it dried her mouth out more.

“Ugh!” She shivered as the liquid sloshed uncomfortably in her empty stomach. “What is that?”

“Water.” Said the man. “With a little Vodka. To kill the bacteria.”

“What?”

“It’s not tap water.”

“Then...where did it come from?”

The man shrugged. He walked over to Adrien, smacking his face.

He blinked blearily, noting the glass and took a drink. He finished all the water, before he shuttered and coughed. Then, almost immediately, he fell back to sleep.

The man set down the glass, and meandered back to the computer, off frame. She could see as he moved, he had an earpiece in. Most likely to hear Salo’s commands.

Even if the woman wasn’t in the room, she was still in control of it.

11:00am

Marinette’s stomach was growling quite loudly. She wouldn’t be surprised if those at home watching could hear it.

Noon

In vain, she tried to swing her arms around, trying to get the feeling back in them. Her hands tingled unpleasantly and her arms trembled. She swallowed, trying to quell the dryness in her throat, but it did little good. She didn’t bother asking for more water. Salo was going to make sure they didn’t die until she wanted them to. She didn’t want to make herself sick in the meantime.

1:00pm

She started to feel lightheaded and nauseous. There was a large chance it was the lack of food. On the other hand, she had had her arms raised above her head for the last few hours.

2:00pm

It was stifling under these lights. She needed more water, even with the alcohol in it.

3:00pm

There were at least four cameras in the room. One behind Adrien, pointed at her; one behind her, pointed at Adrien; one on their side, and one towards the ceiling looking down.

Marinette kept staring at the one behind Adrien, looking right in the lens. She imagined those who were watching. Her parents, Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie. Maybe her classmates. Fans. Children.

“Hey,” she spoke to them. “If you’re watching this, you…you’re probably feeling a little hopeless. I don’t blame you. I feel…pretty hopeless too. I mean, I’m…I’m stuck. I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of this. But…but Ladybug always saves the day, right?” She glanced away, choosing her words. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I’m 17 years old, and my favorite color is pink. I’m the daughter of the best bakers in Paris, though I might be a little bias.” She smiled slightly. “Before I became Ladybug, I was a normal girl, with a normal life. What made me extraordinary, was my willingness to help others, and my kindness. So Paris, I have a favor to ask:

“Be helpful and kind. Go out of your way do something nice for someone once a day. If you can do this for me, then I know Paris will be safe until we return.”

She glanced over to Adrien, then the man at the computer, and then back at the camera. “Maman, Papa...I’m really really sorry I had to hide this from you. I didn’t want to, and some days I thought about how much easer it would be if I just told you. How I could explain the lateness and absences, and my bad grades. But I just had to let you think I was a bad kid. It was for your safety, after all...but despite my best efforts, this still happened, and now you’re in danger. Please get somewhere safe. Leave Paris if you have to. I love you so much. I promise I’ll be out soon.”

Her bit the inside of her cheek, hesitating, but then said, “Alya, I’m sorry too. You…you probably feel kinda betrayed right now. But, like I said, it was for your own safety. You were put in peril so many times because of me. How many more would that have been if Hawkmoth thought you knew my identity? After everything, I hope you finally believe me now...sorry, that was harsh. I...I’ll forgive you, if you forgive me. Deal?”

Then she was out of words. What else could she possibly say? ‘It’s going to be okay?’ Because she had no idea if it was.

4:00pm

She started to follow the cracks in the walls with her eyes. It was hard to see them in the shadows, but she’d follow a line until she couldn’t any longer.

Then, her eyes ran into a letter. And another. And another. Squinting, she could sort of make out a word. Not one she immediately recognized, but it was a word none the less.

‘Notausgang’

Marinette stared at it for a long time. Was it an acronym?

Adrien inhaled harshly, then squinted against the light. “My lady?” He whispered, his voice soft with sleep.

“I’m here kitty. Did you get some sleep?”

“Yeah, I…I was exhausted. Sorry to leave you alone.”

“It’s fine, Cat. You were awake alone last night. I say we’re even.”

“Did I miss anything?”

“Not really. I tried to give a pep talk to those watching us. But I don’t know how genuine it sounded.”

“I bet it was lovely, My Lady.”

She smiled at him, longingly. She desperately wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him for hours. Somewhere safe, where the Salo’s and Lila’s and Hawkmoth’s of the world could never find them.

It was odd, staring at Adrien like this. It had nearly been a full 24 hours since they were revealed to each other, and now, he felt like a stranger to her, rather than Chat Noir or Adrien. Both. And Neither. She still loved him, of course, that was undeniable, but her view of him was skewed.

It didn’t matter anyway. There was no point in asking the big questions right now. What were they now? How did this change their dynamic? If Chat loved Ladybug, did that mean—

“Notausgang.” She blurted.

“Pardon?”

“Notausgang. Does that word sound familiar?”

He creased his brow, thinking. “No...it sounds German though. Why?”

“It’s written on the wall behind you.”

“Like Graffiti?”

“No...it looks like it’s supposed to be there. Like a sign.”

“A German sign on the wall? You don’t think...we’re in Germany, do you?”

She swallowed thickly. “I have no clue where we are, but...why else would there be German on the wall?”

“Well, maybe we’re still in France. Maybe not Paris, but Alsace-Lorraine or...” he choked.

“Oh Kitty,” she tried to console, though this revelation had shaken her too. If they weren’t in Paris, what were the chances they’d be found? How likely would it be for Rena Rouge and Carapace to take trip to Germany without raising suspicion in their normal lives?

Did the authorities in Germany even care about Parisian superheroes?

6:00pm

The door opened with a loud creak.

Up until this moment, Marinette had been silently praying for Salo to come back and just get it over with, because the suspense was killing her. But now, her stomach was in her shoes and she was terrified.

“Well well well, how are we doing now? 12 hours is a long time to leave you hanging around. I’m so sorry, I meant to come back sooner, but I had errands to run.”

She set a paper bag down on her table in the shadows.

“I heard your little speech, Ladybug. Very moving. I’m sure mommy and daddy loved to hear all about how you lied to them over and over for years. And the Ladyblogger! Oh, she must be absolutely crushed. Her best friend, her hero, lying selfishly. Dangling that one bit of knowledge that she always wanted just out of reach. What a friend!”

Marinette looked away, in an attempt to block out her lies.

“But I’d like to correct one thing, however. You told Paris to be kind and all that junk, to make sure it stays safe until you could come back. Sorry, Ladyliar, you’re not leaving. Gabriel Agreste blew the only chance of Adrien getting out, and you…you have no chance. I have you right where I want you.”

Marinette glared at her, her eyes full of malice and rebellion.

“So much spirit in you still. That’s fine, we’ll cure you of that soon enough.”

Pasolini came over, undoing the chains that kept them hanging from the ceiling, and instead had their hands link behind their backs.

Adrien’s bum arm flopped uselessly down, and a wince pulled from his mouth.

Another man came forward with two steel buckets, and placed them on the floor in front of them, upside down.

���Step up.” Salo commanded.

They had to be careful, as the buckets wobbled with the uneven weight.

Marinette’s flipped out underneath her, and she fell shoulder first on the ground.

“My lady!” Adrien called out, but he was swiftly silenced with an elbow to the gut.

“Get up.” Salo demanded, standing above her.

Without the use of her arms, Marinette struggled to stand. Finally figuring out how to do so, she returned to her feet. The bucket was righted, and she stood back on it again, no fumbling this time.

Salo held her hands up like she was framing a picture. “Yes, yes this is all coming together.”

With a little swing in her step and a hum on her lips, Salo waltz over to her table, and returned with two black cloth bags.

The first one, she brought over to Adrien, holding it open and bringing it towards his face.

“No…no, no please don’t! Please!”

“Oh, what’s wrong kitty cat? Afraid of the dark?”

Adrien didn’t answer, just continued to stare with wide, fearful eyes.

“Or are we…claw-strophobic?” She grinned.

He never hated a pun. Until now. Was this woman going to ruin puns for him?

Without his consent, he whimpered, his lips trembling.

With a chuckle, she raised the hood again, ready to put it over his head.

“Incoming call ma’am.” The man at the computer spoke.

Salo backed off, gleefully going towards him. “Oh, a call, hmm?”

“The facial recognition program found a match.”

“Oh goody. We mustn’t keep him waiting then!”

The large screen opposite of them blinked to life, and there, in a dark room, with a completely phlegmatic expression, stood Hawkmoth. The man who had spent years trying to kill them.

Marinette couldn’t imagine this conversation going well.

“My my, took you long enough. I would have thought Hawkmoth would have the Ladyblog as the home screen on his computer.”

“Did you summon me to antagonize me?”

“Summon you? What, like you’re some sort of demon? Some kind of god?”

He remained emotionless.

“Your face says I’m wasting your time, but your eyes say you’re jealous.”

“Get on with it.”    

She chuckled, “And impatient too. No wonder you always lost.”

She walked over to the safe, entering a combination that Marinette couldn’t quite make out. Then she walked to the camera and held out her hand. “Here, the Ladybug earrings and the Black Cat ring. Bonafide jewels of magic. Now, what will you give me for them?”

Hawkmoth narrowed his eyes.

“I have no idea what you want with these. I can’t see the appeal of a grown man running around playing superhero. Perhaps you want the Black Cat to use for heists? But I couldn’t fathom a use for the Ladybug earrings. Unless you want them to be a circus performer.”

Marinette bit her lip, she desperately hoped that Hawkmoth wouldn’t say anything about the ultimate power of their combination.

Luckily, Hawkmoth just kept his mouth shut, and continued to glare with his steely expression.

“You know, in bartering, there has to actually be, you know…bartering.”

“What about the children?” He asked. “If I want the gems, and those two along with them. What’s the price?”

Salo barked out a laugh. “You-you want—oh that’s rich! What? You want to torture them yourself?” She shook her head. “No can do, Hawkman. I have business with them. But that was a good joke.” She wiped a pretend tear from her eyes. “Look, these are useless to me. I have all the power anyone could ever want. I’m being reasonable by offering these to you first, since you so desperately want them. But if you don’t want them, then I’ll just put them for auction up online. You can try to get them there, before some other yahoo outbids you. So, do you want them, or not?”

Hawkmoth’s lip twitched in a scowl. “Oh, I want them. But I’m not making any deals with you. I abhor torture.”

She scoffed. “Oh yeah, and what would you have done with these two if you had gotten their miraculous on your own?”

“I would have sent them home. I have nothing against them personally. It is their job to fight the akuma. And once relieved of that duty, they are free to go. In the same way, they have a duty to Paris to stop criminals. But now they’re only teenagers. What you’re doing goes beyond revenge, it’s insanity.”

“Oh, so now the terrorist is trying to lecture me? You’re playing all high and mighty, now that you’re not the villain anymore. But I guarantee you, if it was you verses them, and the Miraculous were in sight, you would do anything, including killing them, to get them. Don’t talk to me about insanity.”

Hawkmoth grit his teeth in anger, a fire of hatred burning in his eyes. “I will be taking those Miraculous on my own.”

“I’d love to see you try. Tell you what, I won’t put these up for auction until I’ve disposed of these two maggots. Go ahead, akumatize any random, innocent civilian you want and send them to me. But unlike them,” she thrust a thumb over her shoulder, “I won’t hesitate to kill your little minions.”    

Hawkmoth ‘hmph’ed and the call ended.

Salo laughed. “What a moron! No wonder he loses all the battles. No strategy, no thinking, just ‘I’m gonna get them’. It’s pretty sad actually. You weren’t even good heroes, just better than the villains you faced.”

Marinette had basically tuned out all of Salo’s blathering. She was more focused on what Hawkmoth had said. I would have sent them home.

“Alright, now that that flaming garbage is over…where were we?”

Adrien tensed, seeing her go for the hood again.

Then he had a stroke of genius, or idiocy. His arms were bound, but his legs weren’t. He was free to run.

Salo picked up the hood, and brought it closer to his face. He waited until the last moment and collided the top of his head with her chin, making her bite her tongue.

“You motherfu—!” Salo bit, before covering her bloody mouth.

Adrien skirted around her, running to the door. It was open! If he could just—

A gunshot echoed and whizzed passed his good arm, putting a hole in the wall. Adrien halted immediately.

“Next time I won’t miss.” She hissed.

He turned to look back.

Marinette was still on the bucket, biting her lip to keep from screaming out. Salo had her gun pointed right between her eyes.

“It’s your decision kitty cat. The door is right there. You can run, or you can save your little girlfriend.”

The choice was simple, and he complacently walked back to his place.

“What do you say?”

“…sorry, ma’am.”

She punched him solidly in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, and sending him to the floor.

He rolled onto his side, desperately gasping for breath.

“What do we say?”

He gasped over and over, trying to breathe. “I’m—I’m sorry, ma’am.”

She kicked him in the side, making him cry out.

“What do we say!?”

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” He all but screamed.

Pasolini grabbed his arms and hauled him to his feet.

“Then stand on the bucket.” Salo demanded fiercely.

His legs were a lot more wobbly now, and he trembled all over. But he stood on the bucket, not eager to upset her again.

He clenched his eyes shut as the bag slipped over his head. It blocked out all light, and he could feel the heat of his breath on his face. It was too hot, and the cloth pressed into his nostrils as he inhaled. He couldn’t get any air. He couldn’t—

“I can’t breathe,” he choked.

“What was that, kitty cat?”

“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Desperately, he shook his head, trying to shake it off. “Please, I can’t breathe! Get it off!”

Salo was silent. The room was quiet. Could anyone hear him?

“I can’t breathe!” He wailed. “Help!”

“Adrien!” Marinette’s voice cut through the darkness, making his panic subside for the moment. “Take a slow, deep breath.”

“I-I can’t! I-I-!”

“Sshh…” She hushed him. “Just inhale….and exhale…”

He did as she instructed. Keeping his eyes shut tight and focusing on his breathing.

Shortly after he was bagged, she was too, and she understood why he was so terrified. The hoods did make it harder to breathe, but not impossible.

Salo and her men were doing something, though neither of them could tell what it was.

“What’s happening, my lady?” Adrien asked, panic still very much taken hold of his body.

“I…I don’t know. Just keep breathing…”

“I’m—I’m scared.”

“Me too, kitty. Just keep breathing.”

And then, there was something else over their heads, and resting on their shoulders.

“Do you know what this is?” Asked Salo, sounding ever like a kindergarten teacher.

Adrien shuttered.

Marinette answered. “It’s…a rope…”

No.

A noose.

“Oh god…” She started to cry. Was this it then? Was this the end to their torture?

“This is a very easy game to play.” Said Salo. “All you have to do, is stay very still. As long as you don’t fall, you won’t lose! Now won’t this be so much fun?”

Adrien made a noise that sounded halfway between a sob and heave.

“Oh come now! You’ve been standing for 12 hours already, what’s one more?”

One hour of this.

One hour of looming demise.

All she had to do was stand still. Very still. Marinette controlled her breathing, and tried her damnedest not to even twitch.

Her heart broke as Adrien’s haggard breathing reached her ears. He was hyperventilating, choking on the hood, being swallowed by it.

“Breathe…” she said again. “Inhale…exhale…”

“No no,” Salo chastised, “we don’t speak!” She hit Marinette, not enough to push her, just just hard enough to knock her off balance.

The bucket wobbled under her.

Oh god please no…if there was ever a time for her to be graceful and balanced, now would be the time!

Unfortunately, Marinette was doomed to fall.

The bucket toppled, and skidded across the ground, clanking loudly.

“My lady!” Adrien shouted, hearing the commotion.

Marinette didn’t answer, just let out pathetic gasps for air.

“Marinette! Marinette please say something!”

But she didn’t. She couldn’t. She just kept gasping, gurgling, and coughing.

With nothing to keep him calm, Adrien spiraled into another panic attack.

Marinette landed on the pads of her feet, thankfully, but the rope tightened around her neck.

She was choking. Her breathing asthmatic, her pulse thundering in her ears. If she could just stay still like this, she’d still be safe! Just a little longer!

Bright lights danced in her vision as her jaw felt tight. She didn’t have much longer. How long had it been? A few minutes?

Finally, the rope was cut and she collapsed on the floor.

“My lady…my lady…” Adrien kept calling for her. Begging her to answer.

The hood was ripped off her head, and she could see him, still playing Salo’s game.

“Adrien…” she whispered. “Hang…hang in there…”

“My lady!” His voice was wet with relief, and he outright sobbed.

The hour ended, and his noose and hood were pulled off as well.  

He met her tired eyes, nothing but longing and relief in his gaze.

“So, Adrien’s our big winner for the day, hm? Well, you get a very special prize! I know you’ll just love it! Come now, it’s getting late. It’s been a big day! And tomorrow’s going to be big too!”

Adrien obediently stood and waited to be escorted back to their cages, but Marinette still laid on the ground.

“I said, it’s time to go. Get up.”

She turned on her side, but she looked extremely weak and couldn’t find the strength to get up.

Pasolini simply grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her across the cement.

Back in the cages, Marinette was uncuffed, and then tossed into her cage. Adrien got a little more ceremony, where he was able to walk in on his own.

The cage, by comparison to the hood, felt a lot less suffocating, and he felt much more relaxed than the first night.

The slot in the door opened, and a deep voice said, “your prize.”

A blanket dropped on him. Wool, smelly, itchy, and maybe a little moldy, but it was much much warmer than nothing. He wrapped the blanket around himself and then settled on the floor, reaching his arm out under the door. “My lady? Are you there?”

Her small hand weakly grasped his, her fingers cold in the dampness of the room.

“That was a stupid thing you did.” She chastised. “Brave, but stupid.”

“…I know…I was just…I saw the hood and my flight or fight kicked in…I’m sorry.”

She squeezed his hand, but didn’t reply.

“So…what happened? I couldn’t see anything.”

“I fell, but the rope was long enough that it didn’t kill me, just choked me.”

“Salo sure knows what she’s doing.”

“Yeah.”

They lapsed into silence.

“Can I confess something?” Asked Adrien.

“Anything.”

“I hope…I hope Hawkmoth is successful in getting our Miraculous.”

“You think he’d show us mercy?”

“…at least, more than Salo.”

“I don’t know…but I think he might just be our only hope.” Marinette’s eyes closed, her body begging for rest. “I’m sorry, I’m so tired…”

“Sleep, my lady. I’m right here.”

And so sleep, she did.

[unreachablevoice]

Moving In Is What Started It All

Summary:

With Marinette’s parents being away with work, she is left in the care of one of their supposedly family friend; who just so happened to be someone who she has always been idolizing. And throw in the fact that she is having a hard time with friendships experiencing hardships, bridges being burned, and secrets unraveling and her parents unintentionally (plus being clueless with their daughter’s suffering) throwing their daughter in a pit of misery.

Note:

This fanfic will not contain Miraculous. Though, This does still contain the concept and some of the episodes of the show just cut out the parts of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Previous | Next | Masterlist | AO3

Extra Chapter | This is The Grown-Ups’ Talk, Kids Keep Out! (or not)|

This is the part when both Marinette and Adrien's parents went to a separate room to leave the two to “bond”.

It's just a little extra/filler chapter where you'll read what they talked about when they left them alone.

You can skip it if you want, I mean it's just an extra chapter. There won't be any ship scenes anyway. You don't have to read this to know the rest, but if you're still going to read it then....

Enjoy^^

P.S.

Sorry if this is umm posted like after Chapter 3... it’s actually supposed to be before. I kind of got confused, sorry. Just check the Masterlist to see the proper sequencing of the umm Chapters... yeah, sorry. 

Narrative POV

The adults are now in the dining room, leaving the two teens to bond with each other.

"So.... What's happened lately? Is the situation about that again?" Gabriel said, as to try and start the conversation. The Dupain-Chengs’ faces turned to each other and sighed in sync. 

"Yes, actually. Some of our clients had a problem with our workers, and some of our workers are having problems with handling interviews and auditions." Sabine replied.

A chuckle escaped from the lips of the older Agreste. "It's like the problems are both vice versa."

Sabine had shown a smile on her face by the time he chuckled. "I guess you could say that I bet both the clients and the workers are going to be another pain in the–!”

“Language!”

Sabine meekly looked at her husband and muttered an embarrassed ‘sorry’. Tom laughed at his wife, which was followed by a deep, throaty chuckle from Gabriel. A few more series of laughter was heard, and then they continued their conversation.

"So... Any news on Emilie? Is she... awake yet?" Tom asked, carefully keeping in mind how sensitive the subject can be. A hurt, lonely, and sad look replaced the expressionless look on the slight blonde's face. His eyes looked like they were about to burst into tears at any moment. Seeing his wife in a hospital bed—which could also possibly be her deathbed—wasn't really the most satisfying.

"Sh-She's still the same... Nothing really worsened nor improved.... It just hurts how I can't do anything to help her with the battle she's facing." Gabriel's voice cracked, his eyebrows trying their best not to knit together, and his lips trying their best to smile which just turned to an uncanny curve. The couple in front of him knew he was hurt, they wanted to do something to help their friend but they knew that even they can't tell what time could. They don't have powers that can magically heal his wife, nor are they skillful people that could help the woman.

"Oh Gabe, it's okay to cry.... We know it hurts, so don't hold back okay? We're your friends... We know if something's wrong so don't try to fake your act on us like that. You're stuck with us whether you like it or not." Sabine said in response to the look that he showed, placing her hand to the slight blonde's shoulder; reassuring him. While Tom hugged the man tight.

Small and quiet sobs broke from Gabriel's mouth. He was glad he had such good and supporting friends like them. Lucky for the three, every room in the Agreste Mansion was made to be sound proof (only if they want to, there are buttons that they could press to make the room soundproof or not) so they didn't have to worry about the two teens hearing them.

After calming down, it was Gabriel's turn to ask the two and switched the topic. "I heard your daughter is a big fan of mine. Is that true?" he smiles as he visualized in his head how a petite noirette would look like while holding a magazine of his and squealing adorably.

The Dupain-Cheng's nodded in agreement and in unison. Their daughter really was a big fan of him, ESPECIALLY his son. But they couldn't tell him that, they'd betray their daughter's trust, well not like she knows that they already knew she has a crush on him.

"Haha, yes it's true. She likes all of your designs, and she bought each and every magazine you've ever published.” Tom chuckles as he remembers that one time where little Marinette had filled their whole storage room with different magazines and some are even scattered on the floor and their furniture.

“You know, she’s aiming to be a fashion designer one day. She’d won each and every one of the contests that she had joined by a landslide. And she even has a lot of famous and rich people commissioning for her, adding to her growing lists of connections!" he added, proud of the accomplishments his daughter had gained.

Gabriel was touched, his friends' own daughter idolized HIM! Isn't that sweet? She even has a lot of accomplishments and connections! He thought that maybe this girl could succeed his company, and may possibly be his future daughter-in-law, AKA his son's wife.

"So... Tell me, is Miss Marinette interested in someone? Perhaps, someone a lot closer than I think?" he asked. Hoping that his friend would say it was his son, Gabriel waited with anticipation. His hands were on his knees, on the verge of ripping a hole on his black uncluttered slacks. His face kept an unreadable expression, yet inside he was sweating bullets. He wanted Adrien to marry this girl, and he wanted her to be a part of his family so bad to the point that if Tom would say no, he'd THREATEN the girl and her parents into letting her marry into the Agreste family.

"Marinette? Well, the thing is..." Tom did not continue, he hesitated, scared of his own daughter being mad at him. And boy, she was a force to be reckoned with when mad. 

Gabriel wondered what was wrong. Tom usually didn't take this long to answer, so what happened? Gabriel looked at Sabine who just shrugged, saying that she'll leave the answering to her husband.

"Tom... There's someone, isn't there? Who is it? TELL. ME." Gabriel uttered as slowly and as intimidating as possible, signaling to Tom that if he didn't tell him, he'd probably do something he wouldn't like. Tom swallowed a huge chunk in his throat that he, himself, didn't even know he was holding in.

"Dear, I think you should tell him already. Look, you're going to pee your pants in that voice of his." Sabine spoke, trying to save her husband from all the trouble. Tom sighed, finally giving in to the slight blonde's demand. He looked Gabriel straight into the eyes, begging him not to make any uncanny noises that could.

"Alright... The truth is, Marinette does have someone she likes. And that person is ---”

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

“Adrien, she likes Adrien.”

Gabriel was surprised. Though he was right, he still didn't expect his hypothesis to be correct. His friends' daughter liked HIS son! So his dream will come true! Gabriel smirked at the thought of him being correct, and at the fact that he could ship his son with their daughter.

"Wait.... How did you know that Miss Marinette liked Adrien?" he asked, curious about how his friends could keep an eye on their daughter even though they're not around all the time. The couple giggled at his reaction. Knowing Gabriel, he's probably thinking about something that's not that important.

"Oh Gabriel, of course, we'd know.” Sabine smiled fondly at the Agreste, getting ready to reminisce about a memory of hers.

“Remember that episode of Jagged Stone where he visited our house? She had pictures of Adrien plastered on her walls right?” Tom recounted the time when Marinette was so upset he was almost certain she would’ve thrown them out of their house. “Though, she did lessen down the posters now.”

“Well... before that, there was also a time where we asked people to clean her room and those people saw it. Of course, they'd come running to us, and just by one glance of those plastered pictures, we immediately knew that our little girl liked him." Sabine chuckles as she remembers when their housekeepers had frantically ran to them and was quite scared with the number of faces that welcomed them in their daughter’s room.

The couple laughed, a full belly laugh as their daughter’s panicked and embarrassed face flashed on to their view. Gabriel was dumbfounded, he thought they'd also put a security system inside their daughter's room just to look after her like he did, but no. They didn't.

"So you didn't have to put any security system around your house?" Gabriel asked, shocked on how come they didn't have to go through what he went.

The couple in front laughed at his statement. "No... Why Gabe, did YOU put one in your house?" Tom asked, in which Gabriel returned with a low nervous chuckle. "Well.... we wouldn't be surprised if you did that. I mean, you are Gabriel Agreste, the control freak," he added, in which was pronounced as a slight mumble.

Gabriel heard the declaration that was just made, even if it was just a mumble. He couldn't help but open his mouth in shock. "Excuse me??!! What do you mean you wouldn't be surprised?! And-And what do you mean control freak??!! I am not a control freak!!" Gabriel said with a stern voice, meaning to say that he did NOT like what he just heard and will NOT want to hear it again.

A few more arguing and laughing was heard, which explains why Adrien and Marinette had to stop their little "moment" (REFERENCE TO CHAPTER TWO). Though, that wasn't the end of their little get-together. Of course, the friends missed each other so they needed to bond as much as possible. But catching up was the least of their problems, they still had to hook up their children to each other for who knows how long....

Though, they finally decided to head out to the living room to discuss the whole move-in thing to their children much further.

[chocoluckchipz]

Dance with Me, Chaton - 4

Read it on A03, WattPad, FF.net

Written for @ladynoirjuly2019

< Previous

4. Babysitting

Chat Noir: Okay, so, if we’re doing this we’ve got to give everyone a code name.

Ladybug: We already have them. Chat Noir and Ladybug?

Chat Noir: But what about M Agreste?

Ladybug: Why does he need one? We can call him The Boss.

Chat Noir: Too obvious.

Ladybug: What’s wrong with that?

Chat Noir: Nothing unless someone hacks us? We'll be in huge trouble.

Ladybug: :thinking: Won't they see us giving the codenames in the first place?

Chat Noir: We’ll delete these messages.

Ladybug: I feel like it’s easier to agree than argue OTL

Chat Noir: You’ve got it, my Lady.

Ladybug: Okay fine. Let’s do Hawk.

Chat Noir: Hawk? O_o Why?

Ladybug: Because hawks symbolize creativity, wisdom and determination. M Agreste is a hawk.

Chat Noir: Pfft. No? He’s more like a moth. Cooped up in his room all day with fabrics around him.

Ladybug: Hawk.

Chat Noir: Moth.

Ladybug: Listen. If anyone will hack us it’s better to have a more noble code name for him. Just in case.

Chat Noir: And I’ll take full responsibility but he’s a moth.

Ladybug: And you’re stubborn. Okay, fine. Let’s combine them. Mothy Hawk?

Chat Noir: Hawky Moth? LOL

Ladybug: LOL Nope. Hawkmoth? Or Mothhawk?

Chat Noir: LMAO Let’s go with Hawkmoth. It sounds more evil.

Ladybug: Hawkmoth it is then.

Ladybug: So, what do you propose we do? How do we convince them to do something about those designs?

Chat Noir: :thinking: Tbh, I haven’t really thought about any strategies yet. Let’s see what’s realistic at this point at first. I get it that there is no time for creating new designs?

Ladybug: Nope. With a month left till the big show? No way.

Chat Noir: What about pulling them?

Ladybug: We’ll lose at least 10 out of 15 outfits from that line. Not really an option either.

Chat Noir: So, fixing the existing once?

Ladybug: That’s the only way I see it.

Chat Noir: So let’s do this. We’ll sketch the existing designs sans the abomination and present it to him and idk maybe a survey of the company’s employees on which version they prefer? To show him that people hate his “innovations.”

Ladybug: Yeah. Only the issue is no one has access to the full collection apart from Hawkmoth himself. Multiple designers worked on that line over a few months and even they don't know which outfits made the final cut and which didn't. You know how Hawkmoth likes to keep his lines as much a secret as possible to prevent the leaks?

Chat Noir: I admire your adaptability, my Lady ;3 Using the code names already.

Ladybug: LOL I won’t admit that I retyped that message a few times because I kept writing his real name XD

Chat Noir: Still impressive, Okay so we need access to his collection. Suppose we’ll get it. What’s then? I can’t really draw.

Ladybug: Then you’re lucky I can. But I really don’t see how we can get them. Rumours say he keeps everything on his work computer under the state-of-the-art security system.

Chat Noir: Oh shoot. I have to go, my Lady. Let’s think about it and chat later?

Ladybug: Sure. My cue, as well. Thanks for doing this, Chat.

Chat Noir: My purrleasure.

Adrien put the phone away as he noticed Kagami approaching. She was typing something on her cellphone but as soon as she caught him in her side vision, Kagami smiled and waved.

He smiled. Not so subtle, are we, Ladybug?“Good morning, Mlle Tsurugi.”

“Call me Kagami.” The girl smiled at him, putting her cellphone away. “I thought we’ve been over that yesterday.”

“Yes, we’ve been.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I haven't gotten used to this yet.”

She chuckled. “You’re socially awkward, Adrien. That’s adorable, but we’ll need to work on that. A future leader of such a company as Gabriel needs to exude confidence.”

“Right.” Adrien straightened subconsciously. “I’ll work on that.”

“Should we go then?”

“Your shadow for the next few days is ready.”

Kagami smiled, her eyebrow arched. “Good. Because I have quite a few things to show you today.”

And so, Adrien’s mission to confirm that Kagami Tsurugi was the mysterious Ladybug had started. It fitted splendidly. She was fierce and brave and wouldn’t take nonsense from anyone, including his father. Though, with him, she’d held back, expressing her opinion in a polite but confident way. Although he couldn’t confirm her drawing abilities, mentioned in this morning’s chat, that didn’t dishearten Adrien. He’d find a way to do so later without bringing unwanted attention to himself. He couldn’t risk her learning his identity now, not when they’d only just started their conspiracy online.

***

Chat Noir: I hope your day was enjoyable, My Lady.

Ladybug: More or less. Had a lot of work and babysitting to do.

Chat Noir: Babysitting? At Gabriel? Or you skipped work?

Ladybug: LOL. Nope. Babysitting at work. I had a tail following me everywhere today. An intern to educate.

Adrien bit on his lip. Universities had just ended their school year, and Gabriel had a lot of interns following many of his regular employees. It could’ve been anyone. Or Ladybug must be being smart and calling him an intern, so she could still mention her troubles without revealing her identity.

Chat Noir: Were they annoying? It doesn’t sound like you’ve enjoyed the experience calling it babysitting.

Ladybug: XD No they were fine. It’s just a term we’re using for interns. “Babies” because they have no idea what they are in for. And as such, having an intern is babysitting.

Chat Noir: LOL Fitting. So? Do you have any ideas regarding our project?

Ladybug: Sadly no. I’ve thought of showing crazy designs vs regular ones to a third-party and ask their opinion and then show the results to Hawkmoth, but that’ll be leaking the designs. We’ll get fired immediately.

Chat Noir: Didn’t we discuss surveying the company? Not a third-party?

Ladybug: I don’t see how anyone’s opinion inside Gabriel can convince him to change his mind. Someone Hawkmoth admires has to tell him and we all work for him. Not exactly that admiring.

Chat Noir: Well, then we’re thinking more. Say, Ladybug, can I ask you a question?

Ladybug: Shoot, but be quick cause I’m about to call it a day.

Chat Noir: Got it :3 I was wondering what got you to change your mind and go for this? Trying to convince Hawkmoth again.

She took her time to reply, but when she did, Adrien straightened in his seat.

Ladybug: Do you remember how I told you Adrien Agreste was a stuck up antisocial prick?

Chat Noir: Clearly.

Ladybug: Well. Happens I was wrong about him, so I thought if I was wrong about him, I might be wrong about his father not be willing to listen and change.

Adrien huffed and typed.

Chat Noir: Oh, you were right about Gabriel Agreste. Let me assure you. He’s pretty unchangeable and doesn’t like to listen. Believe me. Talking from personal experience.

Ladybug: That’s a pity.

Chat Noir: But he can bargain.

Ladybug: That’s something. The hope lives on ;)

Chat Noir: Let’s hope so, but may I ask what made you change your opinion on younger Agreste?

Ladybug: I guess, meeting him myself. I might have previously formed my opinion on his character based on rumours, the fact that his BFF was Chloe Bourgeois and he dated Lila Rossi. I mean what sane person would hang around those ladies?

Chat Noir: You know the Lila rumours are false, right?

Ladybug: They are?

Chat Noir: Completely. I’ve heard him say himself. In fact, it quite surprised him to hear them. He’d met Lila just yesterday, and it wasn’t anything he’d love to repeat.

Ladybug: But he’s still friends with Chloe?

Chat Noir: Yeah, but only because he wasn’t allowed to attend a public school, and she was the only one around. Though I’ve heard they are not as close now as they used to, and he’s got normal friends in his university.

Ladybug: You know quite a lot about him, don’t you?

Chat Noir: Side-effects of working close to his father. Nothing unusual.

Ladybug: Right. XD Well, I’m glad he's a decent person. He seemed to be. Anyway. I have to go now, Chat. Goodnight.

Chat Noir: Goodnight my Lady.

I’ll see you tomorrow, he whispered into the silence of his room.

_______________________________________________________________________

Next >

[seasonofthegeek]

JfT: Every Life Lived, Part 2

For the lovely @miraculouspaon

Parts 1, 2:

It was a weird sensation, watching himself walk around his old home. Felix and Marc followed in step behind his sullen younger self as he trudged down one of the long hallways of the Agreste mansion. 

“Which reality is this?” Felix asked, keeping his voice low even though Marc assured him they wouldn’t be noticed by anyone.

“I needed to latch onto a strong emotion to get this started and the one you felt when you spoke of Nino was enough.” His expression was apprehensive. “Just be prepared. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be pleasant.”

Younger Felix turned a corner and came face-to-face with an ashen Nathalie.  “Is it true?” he murmured, not quite meeting her eyes. “Was Adrien killed today?”

Nathalie swallowed audibly and then cleared her throat, though her voice was still strained as she spoke. “Yes. I’m so sorry, Felix.”

Felix watched his other self stiffen even as a small chill ran down his spine. 

“Don’t be sorry for me,” the younger man replied flippantly. “I never appreciated the competition anyway.” He turned on his heel and walked away from Nathalie’s shocked face. 

“Adrien’s dead...” Felix whispered and felt his heart clench. “I don’t understand...”

“Perhaps we should see if we can find out more of the story,” Marc suggested. He gently linked their arms and they moved through the crumbling Nathalie and down the hall. 

There was an inhuman scream and a loud crashing sound and Marc and Felix shared a glance before they drifted through a wall towards the commotion. Gabriel lifted his expensive desk chair over his head and threw it across the room, the beautiful crafted wood splintering as it hit the wall. Dried blood was splattered from his mouth down to his chest and arms and his eyes were wild with anger.  Pierce stood stoically by the door, the only reaction a tightness in his eyes.

Felix watched his father lose control and wondered if he’d been like that after losing his mother or if this was a different kind of loss. The realization that he could see his mother through Marc came to him and he tucked the hope away for later. They’d need to make it through this hellish landscape first.

“We need to move on,” he managed. As much as he loathed his father, it was hard to see Gabriel so broken. He hadn’t been coherent when Jagged dragged Felix away to his death. Had he grieved in the same way or was this only for Adrien? He tried to shake the thought away. It did no good to think on it either way.

They came across a sobbing Adele being comforted by an equally sobbing Nathalie and Felix pushed Marc to keep going. He couldn’t take the heartwrenching sound of their cries and his words to Nathalie still rang cruelly in his ears. 

“I never appreciated the competition anyway.”

It had to have been said out of pain. Felix never truly hated Adrien, though he’d been an annoying pest of a younger brother, he never wished him ill. He wanted to see himself again and then in the magical way this dreamscape seemed to operate, they were standing outside his old room. Two guards took up a post by the door and Felix put a hand out to halt Marc’s progress so he could listen to what they were saying.

“...came out of nowhere apparently. Killed Sasha and McClain before they took out the prince.”

“I heard the king got there just as they snapped the prince’s neck and he went feral. Linell was with him and said he drained three of the hunters in less than a minute. Unheard of.”

“Didn’t a couple get away?”

The other guard grimaced and lowered his voice even more. “Yeah. Fast bastards apparently. That’s why we’re stuck here with the royal asshole.”

“You really think they’d come for the other prince tonight?”

“I didn’t think anyone was ballsy enough to try for the younger one. I have a feeling things around here are about to get a lot stricter.”

“Might be time to try to switch houses.”

“Good luck with that. King would kill you before he’d let you transfer.”

Felix swallowed against the bile rising in his throat and beckoned Marc to follow him through the guards and the door to his old bedroom. He felt a small twinge of hope when he saw his younger self curled in a ball on his bed and crying silently into a pillow. He watched him for a while before turning back to the other man. 

“You said this is the reality without Nino. So my father killed him in the fight after Adrien?”

Marc shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure. We can try to move forward in time and see if you’d like.”

Felix was impressed. “You can do that?”

“I can try. That’s the point of this whole exercise.” Marc smiled but it vanished quickly. “Let me have your hand.” He took in a deep breath and then they were in the middle of a fight. There was yelling and screams of pain and the whole world was chaos. Hunters and Agreste guards fought to the death through the halls and Felix spotted his younger self brandishing his dagger and he ran toward him with Marc on his heels. 

Felix inhaled sharply as he saw human Nino back up against the wall with wide eyes as younger Felix advanced on him, fangs bared. Nino was weaponless and looking around wildly.

“You killed a child and you call us monsters,” younger Felix snarled. Nino made a protesting sound but it morphed into one of pain as the dagger slid into his gut like it was cutting through butter. “Rot in hell,” the prince seethed as he ripped the dagger upwards.

Felix turned and threw up before he could see Nino’s insides spill to the floor. The sounds were more than enough. “Go...please....” he rasped and blindly reached out for Marc. There was a rush of sound around them and then a quiet that left his ears ringing. He slid to the floor and threw up again.

“That was Nino then,” Marc said, voice quiet.

“I killed him...how could I...how...he’s...” Felix dry heaved but there was nothing left on his stomach. He could still see the frantic look in Nino’s eyes and knew this Nino hadn’t killed Adrien either. He didn’t stop it this time but there was no way that man had directly killed a child, though perhaps that wasn’t any better.

“That wasn’t your Nino,” Marc explained gently. “None of this is real. You chose a different path. You both did.”

Felix called to memory a few calming exercises he used in the past in particularly emotional times and he finally was able to look at Marc after a long few minutes. “I need to see how this timeline ends.”

“May I ask why?”

He took a second to gather his thoughts. “Nathaniel explained that with your powers, what I saw before could actually be my possible future.”

Marc blushed and ducked his head. “That’s true but I hope he also explained that the future is constantly changing and I have no control over that.”

“He did, but...I think I need to know that not all roads come to the same end. That feels important somehow.”

“You want to know that your decisions matter. I understand,” Marc nodded. He offered his hand once more. “Another jump forward then?”

Everything moved around them in a rush of air and sound and then Felix was staring at a slightly older version of the man he’d just watched kill his beloved. The other Felix’s hands were covered in blood and he turned to look right at him.

Marc gasped softly as Lila sauntered through them like the ghosts they were. She perched on the edge of the desk and leaned over to look at what was hidden behind it. “You could’ve waited until I at least got to watch,” she pouted and reached out to try to bring the other Felix closer to her. “Did he beg for his life?”

Other Felix pulled away in obvious disgust but only moved back far enough so that she couldn’t touch him easily. “He was resigned to it. I think he was surprised I’ve let him live this long. He put up a fight but there was no effort behind it. He’s been weak for a long time now.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and attempted to wipe at the drying blood on his hands.

“Do we get to go kill Adele now? Ooo, let’s see how long it takes the bond to kill Nathalie if we take our time with Adele,” Lila crooned. “I’ve always been curious.”

“And I have no doubt you’ve sated that curiosity with other unfortunate souls many times over,” he replied dryly. “They’ll live for now.”

“Well, you’re not going to be any more fun than Gabriel as the king.” She leaned back over the desk and looked down at the former king’s broken form. “I think I’ll take his body if you don’t have any use for it. I have many hungry pets.”

A pained look flashed across the other Felix’s face but quickly disappeared as he waved his hand. “Do what you want. I wanted the throne and now I’ve got it, thanks to your help. Everything else is inconsequential.”

Marc grabbed Felix’s arm as he began to move past him. “Sometimes it’s best not to see everything,” he said quietly.

Felix wanted to protest but he knew he wouldn’t lose the memory of watching himself kill Nino anytime soon. Perhaps it was wise not to add another visual to the list. “I killed Nino. I killed my father. I’m still king though, just like in the other future.”

“But at what cost?” Marc winced. “What kind of king could you possibly make in this state? Do you want to go further?”

He shook his head. “I’ve seen more than my fill of this reality. I knew my life was better with Nino in it no matter the troubles we’ve had but this cements that for me.” He cast another look at his other self and saw the evident pain on that Felix’s face as he stared down at Gabriel’s dead body. “If it’s okay, I’d really like to see my mother now.”

___

Just for Tonight

Before Just for Tonight drabbles

Buy me a cherry coke?

[mrs-berry]

Phone Call History

Click here to read from chapter 1 on AO3!

Summary: What happens when Marinette sees her phone call history after the Oblivio akuma attack? Knowing Marinette, probably a meltdown of some sort.

Phone Call History Ch. 3 by mrs_berry

Marinette paced around her room restlessly, clutching her hair and ruffling it, making her hair extremely messy—a true reflection of her inner turmoil.

Messy hair, messy heart.

For the umpteenth time, Marinette spun towards her kwami, squeaking out, "A-Adrien is Chat?!" before returning to her endless pacing. It was a rhetorical question at this point as this revelation had already been confirmed as fact by Tikki, who had seen Chat Noir detransform into Adrien Agreste during the Dark Owl akuma attack.

A fact that Marinette was desperately struggling to process.

"Chat Noir is actually Adrien Agreste," she muttered to herself this time, still pacing, and scratching dramatically at her hair again.

Finally, after about half an hour of this, Marinette plopped gracelessly onto her lounge chair, utterly mentally exhausted.

"This must be a dream," she mumbled, eyes glazed.

"Marinette! It's real and it's not a bad thing!" Tikki piped up, floating directly in Marinette's line of sight. She was not about to let her holder regress to denial. Her initial outburst and nervous pacing was more than enough to deal with.

"But, I-I just don't understand..."

"What part?"

"My crush, Adrien. My partner, Chat. They're... one person?" Marinette asked inquisitively, wondering if she somehow misunderstood.

"Yes, they are. And always have been," Tikki assured firmly.

"But Adrien is so kind and reserved, such a good boy. And Chat is... well he is kind, too, but the furthest thing from reserved. He is a flirtatious dork who has a questionable sense of humour. Besides, he's more like a bad boy than a good one, isn't he?"

"Marinette, just think for a moment. You have seen firsthand how sincere Chat's feelings are for Ladybug. For example, the candlelit dinner he planned for Ladybug, who is you by the way, and turning down your civilian self for your superhero self, who he thinks are different people. But if he knew you were the same person, then he—"

"Right... Adrien likes Ladybug. Not me," Marinette whispered, tears welling up in her eyes at the realization, thoughts already beginning to spiral downward, tuning out Tikki's speech.

Tikki noticed and screamed internally. "You are Ladybug!!" Tikki raised her voice. She was not going to let her amazing holder put herself down for a second longer. She was too protective of this wonderful girl, even when she was being ridiculously obtuse. "And you didn't let me finish!"

Marinette dabbed at her teary eyes, reminding herself not to interrupt this time. She knew better than to mess with Tikki when she was serious or seriously annoyed. "Sorry, Tikki, please continue."

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, if Adrien knew you and Ladybug were the same person, he would be able to openly admit that he feels more than friendship for you. But since he doesn't know, he's forced to lie to himself about his feelings for you as your civilian self to avoid the guilty feelings of loving two people at the same time. Make sense?"

Marinette did not look entirely convinced yet, but she nodded, eager to hear more.

"How do I know he has feelings for you? Well, Chat may be flirty, but he mostly flirts with you, both in and out of your costume. But when he isn't wearing his mask, Adrien acts far less flirty and doesn't really flirt with anyone, and yet, he has flirted with you, Marinette, on several occasions. Do you see the pattern?"

"Wait, what?! W-when has he...?" A blush crept up Marinette's neck as she wracked her brain for when on Earth he could have flirted with her. Surely she would have noticed... wouldn't she?

Tikki shook her head, not at all surprised by Marinette's reaction. She really needed to make this girl see the facts and it seemed the only way, at this point, was to list them.

"He winked at you when he complimented your feather hat. He leaned in awfully close to you and complimented your macarons. He leaned in awfully close to you again when he teased after he found out you had posters of him all over your room. He makes physical contact with you a lot, like patting your shoulder, or holding your hand, or dancing with you at Chloé's party. Based on that loving kiss yesterday, he fell for you during the Oblivio attack when neither of you had your memories, during which you had definitely de-transformed and worked together as your civilian selves, before transforming again later. These are just a small handful of examples. I could go on, but we have other matters to address."

Marinette was stunned and red-faced, with her eyes widened in disbelief. She chewed on her lips as she fondly mulled over those precious memories.

"Marinette, you haven't noticed all of this because you have been too blinded by your crush on him. You've put him on a pedestal and convinced yourself you're not good enough for him, and that there is no way he would ever fall for you. But he has fallen for you—twice, in fact. He is just unaware of his feelings for you, Marinette, because exactly like how you are blinded by your love for him, he is also blinded by his love for Ladybug. But the undeniable truth is that Adrien also loves you, Marinette, and you also love Chat Noir, even if neither of you are ready to admit to it."

Marinette opened and closed her mouth, attempting to push words out of her lips, but only managing to expel air and strangled gasps.

Before Marinette could form words, Tikki continued, "Anyway, Marinette, going back to the topic of Adrien and Chat Noir being the same person. Adrien is more reserved likely due to his image as a model and being the son of Gabriel Agreste. Meanwhile Chat Noir has the freedom to be silly and eccentric because his identity is a secret. But I don't think you even like Adrien for the fact that he is reserved. You fell for his kindness and carefree laughter that time he lent you his umbrella, right?"

Marinette managed a weak nod. Tikki was on a roll and Marinette badly wanted her to continue. It was making an astounding amount of sense and helping her feel much better.

"Another thing you mentioned was sense of humour. Again, Chat Noir has the freedom to make silly jokes and be embarrassing. Adrien likely has to be careful to maintain an image of maturity, for the same reason that he is more reserved. Yet, Adrien has slipped a bad joke here or there. As an example, after the Darkblade akuma, Adrien made the pun, 'What a knightmare,' as he dramatically passed by. It was easy to miss but that was definitely a silly pun that he let loose, even if I was the only one to fully notice it," Tikki explained with a chuckle.

Marinette let out a giggle, too. She really hadn't noticed at the time as she was too busy lying to Chloé about becoming a knight in order to preserve her secret.

"Finally, about Chat Noir being a bad boy... you don't actually believe that, do you? Someone as loyal, protective, and sweet as him—there's no way he's anything but a good boy."

Marinette had to agree. And damn if Tikki wasn't right about everything. Still, if Marinette had her head on straight and used a logical thought process, she would have come to the same conclusions eventually. Probably. But thanks to Tikki, she didn't have to stress and overthink about all of that on her own. Tikki saved her from the anguish and Marinette was once again reminded how lucky she was to have such a thoughtful and loving kwami.

After several quiet minutes of processing and analyzing everything that Tikki had covered in her monologue, Marinette took a deep breath, finally ready to discuss the next course of action.

"Okay, so I know the truth about Chat and Adrien. But what now? Should I still keep my identity a secret from him to try and keep him and Paris as safe as possible?"

Tikki smiled fondly at her responsible chosen. She was so proud of her; even after finding out her crush is now attainable, she was still putting the safety of everyone else first.

Shaking her head, Tikki said, "No, I don't think that is necessary anymore. You will both have to be very careful, though, with the knowledge of such a delicate secret."

"So what? I should just suddenly tell him I'm Ladybug?" Marinette looked apprehensive and yet hopeful.

"You could, though it would be quite a big shock. It might be better if his kwami tells him. However, as that is highly unlikely to happen knowing Plagg, it may be best if he finds out for himself... The boy is as blind as you though, so he would need some help with figuring it out," Tikki said with an air of wisdom. Then again, everything she said was so wise. There was a minor insult thrown in there, but Marinette couldn't find it in herself to be mad, because it really was true that she was painfully oblivious sometimes.

"Then do you think I should try dropping some hints?" Marinette asked.

"It's worth a shot! You should do it," Tikki encouraged. "Tomorrow at school, just muster your Ladybug persona in front of Adrien and he will become putty in your hands, I guarantee it. He loves your courage, wit, and strength of conviction. Once you lay that on him as your civilian self, it shouldn't be too long before he recognizes who his partner really is. And then you two can finally start dating." At least, that is what Tikki dearly hoped. She never wanted to see another one of her holders suffer ever again. She wouldn't allow it.

Marinette blushed at the dating comment. Would it really be as easy as it sounded?

Only one way to find out.