#I like new noir so far (even if I miss old Noir) but wow was I shocked when he spoke

[apocalypse-shuffle]

THE BOYS S4 SPOILERS

If Homelander does not forcibly mute New Noir himself before this season is over I’ll be surprised. The man should probably go method for his own good and mute himself on his own before Homelander’s unstable ass does it himself way more violently.

[mister-e-filman]

Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir; Year One

Autumn, September 5, Saturday: Frightingale

It was morning and the twins and Tikki were watching a video on Clara Laura Nightingale,

who at the moment was singing her latest song, "Big Bang",

Marinette then fell on her back while attempting a handstand walkover, which made Bridgette chuckle.

Then Alec Cataldi came onscreen to interview her.

"And that was Clara Nightingale's hit single 'Big Bang' for us!"

Both Marinette and Bridgette sat at their desk, with Tikki flying over.

"Wow! That girl is incredible!" Tikki remarked.

"Yes she is Tikki. So much success for a soon-to-be-nineteen-year-old," Bridgette said.

"Indeed," Tikki added.

"Both Bridge and I love her! She's totally passionate about her art!" Marinette explained.

Alec then approached Clara and started interviewing her as she dialed back her dancing to take the interview more seriously while he spoke to her. "Clara, in just a few short months you've become an international sensation with your ultra-unique singing and style. Apparently from what I've heard, you even sing and dance in your sleep! Do you ever stop?"

"Never, for you see I have Akathisia and I also have Obsessive-Compulsive Rhyming Disorder which is a form of OCD, so I decided to not have either limit me, and just have them be a part of who I am, a part of my personality. So, dancing and singing are everything to me. And I'm happy to share the joy of song and dance. To the amazing people of France!" Clara happily told him.

"See that, Tikki? She's a true artist!" Marinette gushed.

"You've come to Paris to film the video for your next song, which is gonna be titled 'Miraculous' from what I've heard," Alec said.

Clara nodded before saying, "I really admire and adore both Ladybug and Cat Noir. An homage to them I've wanted to pay because they inspire me every single day!" Bridgette gasped while Marinette shrieked in delight. "She's gonna be doing a song about me- er, us! I mean — Ladybug! Oh! I'm so excited I could... faint!" she then fell backward off of her chair.

Bridgette's mind was racing. Sure, the news was that Clara Nightingale was coming to France to film a brand-new music video, but only now was there information on what it was involving! As far as either of them knew, neither Ladybug nor Cat Noir were that well known yet to even be accessible on something like Wikipedia.

"Auditions will be held at the Grand Palais Hotel, is that right? A little birdie told me that you already found your Cat Noir. Care to share the good news?" Alec proudly announced.

Clara smiled slyly, "My lips are sealed. But just wait, soon he'll be revealed. We must still cast Ladybug and extras, by the way. So come on out and audition today!" Marinette's pink phone then buzzed as soon as the video ended. She ran over, tripping onto the floor on the way, and answered it.

"Hey Marinette, did you hear that? All us girls are heading over to audition and you're coming, too! So don't go pulling one of your Marinette specials on us, okay?" Alya told Marinette.

"And miss my chance to meet Clara Nightingale in the flesh? No way! I'll meet you there!" Marinette excitedly told her friend.

"See ya!" Alya said, ending the call.

Marinette then went and grabbed her purse from her chair.

"Why are you not going to be auditioning for the role of Ladybug, Bridgette?" Tikki asked the disinterested teen.

Marinette let Tikki rest in her hands as Bridgette explained, "Because I'd never do anything that could reveal my/our secret identity, that's all." "And as for me, I'm just gonna be an extra," Marinette added.

"All right then," Tikki said as she flew up and kissed both Bridgette and Marinette on their noses. "I'm proud of you both!"

Meanwhile over at the Agreste manor, things weren't as cheerful for Adrien as they were with Bridgette and Marinette. "It will be an excellent promotion for the upcoming opening of our stores in Korea and China. You don't have a choice," Gabriel explained to his son.

Nathalie presented Adrien with a folded-up imitation Cat Noir costume, with face mask and collar-bell. Adrien gasped in alarm, But Father—"

Gabriel held up his hand while paging through exotic fashion designs on his computer of which he showed to Adrien. "I've been designing Clara's costumes since she started out. She was very pleased with my humble suggestion of using you. She's only seen you in our advertisements, but she does admire you a lot. I'm hoping you won't let us down," Gabriel explained.

"Of course not, Father," Adrien said dejectedly as he left for his limousine.

Over at the Grand Palais, auditionees for Clara Nightingale's video had gathered out front.

A stagehand was pointing to the entrance while saying, "Extras on the left; auditionees for Ladybug on the right."

As soon as Adrien entered his dressing trailer, he had put on the suit, bell, tail, and ears components of the Cat Noir costume he was given, and was then examining himself in a mirror while holding the face mask.

Plagg gasped while admiring the costume, "Great choice of fabric! And these seams! Amazing craftsmanship! And that wig!"

"There's no way I can wear this!" Adrien panicked.

"Yeah, I've always found that little bell so ridiculous! Then again, the costume is what you really wanted deep down, isn't it?" Plagg said with Adrien looking at him in confusion.

"Okay first, I could've made my suit look however I eanted? And second, no, Plagg. That's not what I meant, which is that everyone's gonna realize that I'm the real Cat Noir, voice changer or not!"

"No way! The Miraculouses magic hides not just your voice but also your face, making people blind to who truly are! It is all in the mask," Plagg explained.

Suddenly the stagehand knocked on the door, through the door, which he asked, "You ready, Mr. Agreste?"

"Aah, uh, coming! Just a sec!" Adrien anxiosly told him before then whispering  worriedly to Plagg, "If they see me with this mask on, they're all gonna recognize me for sure! I don't wanna risk it!" He quickly placed the mask within a pile of folded fabric on a shelf. "I can't wear it!" Then he added, this time with resolve, "Right. Now I'm gonna try to act as lame as I possibly can. Hopefully they'll have no choice but to replace me." He then opened the door and gasped when he saw the array of people gathered in the main area.

Meanwhile, in the central area of the main room, a stage with a backdrop had been set up, and two long lines of auditionees to either side had formed in front of it, those for Ladybug on the right, those as extras on the left. Clara Nightingale was standing on the stage with her star-adorned microphone, greeting the auditionees.

"Thank you for coming, all of you! This is like a dream come true! Together we'll all dance and sing; It's going to be awesome and amazing!" She walked past Alya, Marinette, Rose, Juleka, Alix and Mylène who were standing in the extras line.

"We're gonna be in Clara Nightingale's music video! This is humongous!" Alya squeaked excitedly.

Marinette hhen followed suit, shrieking with delight, "I can't believe this is happening!"

Clara then tapped her mic to get everyone's attention, "And now, meet our rising star, Adrien as Cat Noir!"

Adrien then walked out toward the stage, awkwardly waving briefly. The extras reacted excitedly, with Marinette gasping, and Rose and Alya waving with raised arms. Adrien just smiled nervously at the line and waved some more. Marinette waved back. Adrien walked up to the front of the stage, where Nathalie was holding a tablet with Gabriel seen on it, and the stagehand stood nearby.

"The costume fits you like a glove, as I knew it would. But, where is your mask?" Gabriel asked his son.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, nervous about lying, "Uh, I couldn't find it anywhere."

The Stagehand then piped up, "I'll take care of it!" He then dashed off.

Then Clara turned to Adrien, as she helped him up onstage, she told him, "It's no big deal; it's okay.

We don't need the mask for tryouts anyway." Adrien breathed a sigh of relief.

Clara then turned her attention to the Ladybug auditionees "Come on!" The first few Ladybug auditionees step forward, including Officer Roger. Forty-nine audtionees later some of which were often inept while being onstage with Adrien. Of who loved Clara's skittish reactions to each, especially the fiftieth one who was a little girl spinning a Hula Hoop.

"Didn't I tell you that Adrien looks a little bit like Cat Noir?" Alya told Marinette.

"Unh, whatever! He's a thousand times more amazing than Cat Noir!" Marinette said excitedly.

More auditionees included Roger and his cringeworthy dancing, and a little girl who offered Adrien a black cat, which meowed at him in confusion. Eventually Clara saw that there were no more Ladybug auditionees, but then glanced over at the extras, and got an idea. She picked up a tray of Chouquettes from a table by the stage, and carried it over to the extras.

"You must be starving

From all this waiting!" Clara told the extras.

"Oh, look! She's coming in our direction!" Marinette excitedly squeaked.

While carrying the tray, Clara deliberately tripped herself up, tossing the tray in the air, and falling to the floor. Many of the extras gasped, and Marinette immediately got out of the line, and ran over to help Clara back to her feet while also catching the tray and moved her arm around to catch the falling Chouquettes and just before she could catch the rest, Alya gave her a panicked look, which made Marinette intentionally fail to catch the rest. She then said, "I'm sorry Ms. Nightingale!" but then Clara hugged Marinette instead of getting angry or something.

"There you are! Here's a hug,

Because you are Ladybug!" Clara announced, which made Alya and the rest of her friends gasp.

Marinette then hastily come up with an excuse ANY excuse completely anxious about the implication, "What?! I have no idea what you're talking about!" she chuckled nervously.

Clara stood herself and Marinette up, and twirled her around.

Clara then told her, "You did what Ladybug would have, just the same.

Your heart is pure, like hers. Though your accent sounds more American, why, as well as what's your name?" Marinette stammered out slipping back into her national French accent, "Uh, Ma— Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and the reason for my accent is because when I was a little girl, I would play with my dolls, putting on fashion shows like the ones I saw on TV."

Clara smiled and nodded at her before telling her, "Marinette! Say it's so!" Clara then got down on one knee, arm raised that held the Ladybug costume mask.

"Will you please play Ladybug in my video?" Both Marinette and Alya putt heir hands over their mouths in shock.

"Yes! She'd be awesome!" Mylenè piped up.

"Go Marinette! You deserve it!" Alix said with a small smile.

Marinette turned to look over at Adrien onstage, and envisioned being there with him, and sighed euphorically, before glancing down at Tikki in her purse.

Marinette then turned back to Clara, "That's so nice of you, and...I'm one of your biggest fans, but...I came here to be an extra with my friends, and I really wanna stay with them.

While Alya let out of sigh of relief, the rest of Marinette's friends gasped in shock. Clara stood up again.

"That's a pity, a shame; but I understand it's true.

That's a very cool gesture, very Ladybug of you!" Clara calmly said to Marinette and then beckoned for her to follow.

She took Marinette over and sat her in a chair by a trailer then told her, "Just sit over here for make-up, okay?

I'll ask your friends to be sent over right away!" Clara then turned and walked away. "Oh! Thank you! Thank you!" Marinette stammered in confusion. While yes, Mylène had become her friend due to Ivan telling her what had happened not to mention Alix at least giving an attempt to be friendly to make up for all the bad stuff she had done to her while being a part of Chloe's little gang. But Juleka and Rose? While yes, they can be nice to Marinette, they don't exactly consider her a friend, something that she needed to earn from them.

Tikki stuck her head out of Marinette's purse, "Good job, Marinette! You didn't give into the temptation!" She popped back inside.

Mylène came up to Marinette hugging her, saying "You're crazy!"

Alya then joined in the hug. "You turned down filming with Adrien to be with us?"

Alix joined in as well, while telling her, "You really are the best!"

Outside the hotel, a stretch limousine pulled up. Chloé stepped out, dressed in her own Ladybug costume, and sporting a Ladybug-style wig.

Chloé was now inside, walking past the line of extras, sneering at them. "Thank you all for coming. You can go home now," she coldly told them all.

"Uh, heads up; bitch alert in the immediate vicinity," Alya alerted them.

"Don't worry. Knowing Nightingale, Chloé doesn't stand a chance of being chosen," Marinette assured her.

Alya then pretended to be surprised at her best friend's gutsy attitude toward Chloè, "Wow! What's happening to you today?" She jokingly bowed to Marinette, "I have to bow before so much wisdom!"

Marinette caught on to her friend's joking nature and then jokingly said, "That's right. From now on, the name's Master Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

Marinette and her friends laughed.

Chloé said to Clara's face, while walking up onstage, "Your 'Ladybug' has arrived! So when does the shoot begin?"

Adrien stepped in, telling his godsister, "Chloé, everyone has to audition. You know that! I also know that while you can dance, you most certainly can't carry a tune,"

Chloé began doing arm stretches, making it clear that she didn't care. "Oh yeah, that little formality. Plus, they can just autotune me." She walked to one side, then launched into a series of expert dance moves, after which the extras in line cheered wildly. "Aaah...ha ha. It's been a while. Eight years of private classes with Aurélie Dupont from the Paris Op-er-a. I know. I'm breathtaking." "Hm, impressive at a glance

However, I've already seen Flashdance.

You've definitely got enough talent for me,

But you and Cat Noir have to be a good match, you see. Also, there will be no autotuning whatsoever, I don't want a repeat of Les Miserables by Tom Hooper!" "Uh, no problem! Adrikins and I have known each other since we were little!" Chloè desperately tried convincing Clara by hugging her godbrother.

Clara let out a "Hmmm."

Mayor Bourgeois, who was just offstage stood up, and stammered out, "Uh, think about it Ms. Nightingale, the son of the world's greatest fashion designer and the daughter of the Mayor of Paris — that would be just perfect!"

Marinette growled at this, gritting her teeth.

"Is there a problem, Master Dupain-Cheng?" Alya asked still in a joking tone.

"Chloé playing Ladybug? No way! Not gonna happen!" Marinette angrily stated.

"Oh? That bothers you more than not being with Adrien in the video?" Alya asked in disbelief.

Marinette had to quickly think of something to say that would throw off the rest of her friends, "Uh, if I were Ladybug, I wouldn't want a bitch like Chloé playing me."

Clara thought for a moment, and then walked to the stage edge where Nathalie was standing, and knelt down.

"What do you think, Mr. Agreste?" Clara asked Gabriel.

Gabriel rubbed his chin before answering, "Hmmm. Artistically speaking, the young lady with pigtails would've been ideal; but it's time to start filming. We'll make do with Ms. Bourgeois."

"I trust you, Mr. Agreste," Clara said.

Chloé who was still hugging Adrien, who had been resisting her let out a, "Woo-hoo! We're both going to be in a music video, Adrikins! ...Or should I say, Adri-cat! Get it? 'Adri-cat'?" Chloé laughed.

Adrien nervously said, "Adri-cat, yeah." he chuckled likewise. "By the way Chloé, where'd you get this Ladybug costume?" "Where do you think? I decided to cosplay as her!"

Marinette clenched her fists as she stood up and quickly and angrily stated "Hey wait!... I've changed my mind! I do wanna be Ladybug!"

This outburst made Tikki gasp from in Marinette's purse. "What the hell are you doing?!" Alya asked.

Clara suddenly sprung up and bounded over Marinette like a kangaroo, "Awesome! This will be the best video yet!"

First she hugged Marinette, then she kissed her on both cheeks. "Thank you, thank you, Marinette!"

Clara turned her attention back over to a now fuming Chloé, "I'm really sorry, what's-your-name,

But you can still be an extra in the video, if you're game!" Chloé was outraged as she yelled, "What?! You want me to be a mere...extra?! Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" she stormed away, followed by her father.

Outside the hotel, Chloe's butler let Chloé into the limousine, and then gave her her childhood teddy bear, Mr. Cuddly, on a tray.

Chloé took Mr. Cuddly, and tossed him on the seat next to her. "Unh! Stop annoying me with that stupid dumb bear, Jean-Eudes!" She sat for a moment, then picked up Mr. Cuddly and started sucking her thumb, until she got a wonderfully awful idea and gasped before letting out a "Hmmm."

Inside a dressing trailer, Marinette had put on the Ladybug costume given to her, except for the mask, which she was holding, and she examined herself in a mirror.

"Ooh! Great choice of fabric! And these seams! Amazing craftsmanship! Almost like the real thing, don't you think?" Tikki said, admiring the costume.

"I think that if the suit were any tighter to go with skintight then her buttcrack would be showing along with her-" Bridgette told her, but was stopped by her twin who responded with, "Okay, alright, I get it, I wasn't thinking straight when I created the suit. Speaking of which, as for my thoughts on this, it's too well done! Oh wow, Tikki; I really messed up this time! If they see me with this mask on, they're all gonna recognize me for sure! There's no way! I can't wear it!"

"Bitch, please! From my experiences with you in that damn suit, your face was extremely out of focus, especially when up close! I guess it's because of some kind of Miraculous magic?"

The stagehand then knocked on door, and asked through it, "You ready, Ms. Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette anxiously responded with "Uh, yes, I'm coming!" she quickly placed the mask within a pile of folded fabric on a shelf, and ran out to the stage, while Bridgette stayed inside playing on her black phone.

Alya then pointed. "There she is!"

Alya, her friends, and others cheered on Marinette.

Clara was clapping before saying, "Oh, spot on! And spotlight! Spotlights then switched on.

She then turned her full attention to both Marinette and Adrien. "So, you're Ladybug and Cat Noir, right? Also, no need to worry about sweating in those, they're made from a fabric that's poris, to let the skin breathe instead of being uncomfortably tight." Marinette and Adrien: Good to know that I -uh- WE won't be pouring out our own sweat when we're finished!" "Nope! Uh...uh...yeah! Aah..." they both chuckled. Adrien then leaned closer to Marinette and told her "Believe you me, wearing a costume while being soaked head-to-toe in your own sweat is absolutely disgusting! Ugh!" He shivered at the thought.

Outside, Chloé, minus her wig, was pushing her father toward the entrance, all while he was trying to tell her, "But sweetie, there's no way we can cancel the shoot now."

Chloé pulled out her phone and threatened, "I'm going to call Mom and tell her how all my dreams have been crushed!" She then feigned sorrow.

Mayor Bourgeois started stammering anxiously, then grabbed Chloé's phone and started punching in a phone number. "Let's not disturb our beloved Queen for such a little matter; right, my little Princess?"

Back inside, Clara was instructing bogh Marinette and Adrien on arm movements for dancing.

Clara was demonstrating arm moves left arm out, right arm out, both up, then down. "One, two, and three."

Marinette and Adrien, who were facing Clara, copied the moves, Marinette was lagging behind Adrien. Marinette's friends watch from just in front of the stage.

"This feels a bit like exercising, feels good!" Marinette commented. Then there came a pop with Adrien asking "Ow, did anyone hear that bone go click? It was quite painful!" He just resumed copying Clara. "What part of your body did it come from?" "My back, there's this disk that tends to slip out, the nasty little bugger, heh! One, two, three."

Clara heard Adrien's back problem then started teaching a dance move that she hoped would go easier on Adrien. "Your dance moves need to be synchronized if you can,

So you'll need to hold each other by the hand." Marinette and Adrien turned to face each other, and clasped their right hands as if shaking hands.

"Okay," Adrien chuckled as he and Marinette smiled nervously at Clara, and Marinette's friends giggled.

Clara suddenly said "Not like that. Don't be shy!"

She put Adrien's left hand in Marinette's right.

"Like lovers do. Give it a try!" Marinette and Adrien gape anxiously at their clasped hands — Adrien's left hand oddly wearing the Cat Noir ring.

Alya took out her phone and began snapping away, trying to get as many phone pictures of Marinette and Adrien, as the other girls watched. "Marinette's jaw will drop when she sees these pics!" she said when she was done.

The pictures were seen of Marinette and Adrien gaping, then smiling bashfully as they looked up away from each other.

"Oh! I can't believe how much they look like the real Ladybug and Cat Noir!" Rose said. Alya tugged at her collar before saying, "Y-yeah, how uncanny!"

"One final task:

Put on the mask," Clara said enthusiastically. Adrien nervously told her, "Uh, I didn't see it. I looked everywhere in the dressing room for it but it was..."

Marinette, simultaneously told her, while also nervous, "Uh, well, I...found the costume, but the mask was, um..."

Then both Marinette and Adrien said in unison, "...nowhere to be found!"

Clara started to laugh, prompting Marinette and Adrien to laugh, then Marinette's friends as well.

As Marinette and Adrien were viewed on the phone fidgeting awkwardly, still holding hands, Alya then said, "They don't look a thing like the real Ladybug and Cat Noir now!"

Suddenly the stagehand shouted from next to a dressing trailer, "It's okay! I found them!"

Marinette, Adrien, and Alya gasped in dread. Moments later, Clara handed Marinette and Adrien their masks.

"Go ahead, put them on, you two.

We've got a lot of singing and dancing to do," Clara enthusiastically told them. Marinette and Adrien faced each other, anxiously staring down at the masks in their hands, the eyes of the whole room upon them.

Alix let out a "Woohoo!"

Mylène then added in an impatient "Come on!"

To the sound of their heartbeats, both the anxious Marinette and Adrien slowly raised their masks to their faces, closing their eyes when they had the masks near, until...

Mayor Bourgeois came walking in, carrying a stack of papers about a foot tall, as Chloé smiled smugly and smirked behind him. "I'm sorry. My administrative staff just realized you never submitted permit A38 as stipulated in the circular B65 that one can only get at counter C, third floor of City Hall, which is, alas, closed for renovations until August, which means you don't have a permit to shoot...anywhere in France, including Paris," he told the shocked Clara. He then gave the heavy stack of papers to Clara.

Clara was bewildered as she stammered out, "I...I don't understand!"

Chloé smugly told her "It means no more dancing, no more singing today,

The nightingale can spread her wings, and fly away!"

Chloé grabbed Clara's microphone, and threw it off of the stage.

"Oh! Did you hear that? I made a rhyme! How talented am I?" she threw in Clara's face. Clara tossed the papers aside after quickly reading through them all, and tearfully ran down from the stage to her fallen microphone, whose star had cracked from the impact, and picked it up to see the damage.

Clara tearfully said, "No! The video needs to be shot here, in Paris, the capital of love, the city of Ladybug and Cat Noir!

          This ruins all of my plans!

I'm so sorry, my beloved fans!" Clara ran away in tears, and into a dressing trailer, where she leaned back against the door, crying. She dropped to the floor as she continued crying. Then an akuma flew into the trailer, and entered Clara's microphone, causing the butterfly image to appear before Clara's face.

Clara then heard Hawk Moth speaking to her, "Frightningale, I am Hawk Moth. So they tried to silence you? With the power I'm giving you, the world will be nothing but song and dance!"

Clara, unable to resist, said as she stood up "Yes, Hawk Moth, thank you, 

For making this dream come true!" She began transforming. Meanwhile, in the main room, Chloé clapped several times for attention as she addressed the extras.

"The show is over! You all have to leave now," she laughed in evil triumph. "FUCK OFF!" Adrien shouted angrily to her.

The extras started to leave. Before Adrien could roast her, a glowing whip suddenly struck Chloé and her father, giving them pink auras. The extras gasped.

Then they all saw Frightningale who was on a catwalk, "Sing, dance or rhyme,

Or you'll be frozen in no time!" "You see Chloè, this is exactly what happens when you act like such a bitch!" He flipped her a middle finger before running back to his trailer with Marinette doing the same, they quickly changed back into their regular clothes.

Chloé and her father approached Frightingale, clearly not taking the situation seriously as she asked, "What is she talking about? Dancing and making rhymes? And why not play the trumpet too, while you're at it—" Chloè suddenly turned into a shiny pink statue, causing everyone in the room to gasp.

Mayor Bourgeois gasped as well, "Chloé, hon!" Frightningale cackled.

He then quickly rralized what the supervillain meant and started to rhyme, "Please! Please! I'll keep up this rhyme,

Don't make me freeze, not this time!" "Oh, bravo!"

And you've got the right tempo!" Frightingale congratulated. She spun her whip, and started whipping some of the extras below, some of who turned into shiny pink statues while the rest fleed in panic.

Marinette witnessed everyhhing from inside her trailer, where Tikki flew into view and said, "Time to transform!"

Marinette then shouted, "Tikki, spots on! Yeah!" She transformed into Ladybug.

Adrien stopped pounding his head against his trailer's wall in complete disbelief that his own godsister was this selfish and cruel, as Plagg flew into view. "Ahem!"

"Yeah, yeah. Ready to vocalize? Plagg, claws out!" Adrien transformed into Cat Noir.

Outside the Grand Palais, Frightningale stood atop the Grand Palais, whipping people below, who turned into pink statues.

Frightningale shouted, "Sing, dance or rhyme,

Or you'll be frozen in no time!" From behind Frightningale, Ladybug used her yo-yo to catch Frightningale's whip-wrist.

"I thought you were a fan of Cat Noir and me, Nightingale; so you should know that we fight villains!" Ladybug told her.

"I'm Frightningale from here on out,

Forever and ever, there's no doubt!"

And if you stand in my way,

There'll be a price to pay!" Frightingale spat. "You have to come 'round! Don't let negative emotions take you over!" Ladybug begged.

Ladybug flung out her yo-yo at Frightningale, but she caught it, and spun the end of it as she approached Ladybug.

Frightningale then leaned close to her and said to her menacingly, "Song and dance will make the world a better place.

Don't agree with me? Ha! Then you're a disgrace!" Frightningale tried to hit Ladybug by twirling the end of the yo-yo she was holding. Ladybug's dodging it took their fight off the roof, and down to the ground, where Ladybug regained control of her weapon.

Ladybug tried one mord time to talk her down, "I can help you if you give me your akuma!"

"I won't let you take my akuma away.

I like the new me, and I'm here to stay!" Frightingale retaliated. She charged toward Ladybug, but she was tripped by Cat Noir's staff.

Cat Noir recovered his staff and spun with it. "Do you mind if I join the dance?" He extended his staff to the ground in front of him and rested his chin on it, on his hands.

Frightningale leapt up back onto the roof of the Grand Palais.

Frightningale screamed, "You're like all the others; but you can't silence me!

I'm just trying to make the world better, can't you see?" She then heard Hawk Moth "Strike them, Frightningale! It'll be easier for you

       to overpower them if they're forced to sing and dance!

Then no one will be able to stop you from

       accomplishing your dream. Now's your chance!" Frightningale nodded before addressing the two superheroes, "Do you really think the two of you

Can win this battle through and through?" Ladybug calmly told her "Two is always better than one! We're stronger together!" She turned to Cat Noir, "Cat Noir, I'll take the left."

"I'm on it!"

Ladybug and Cat Noir ran over to the Grand Palais, and ran and scampered up columns to leap above the roof, attacking Frightningale with their weapons. Frightningale maneuvered to cause Ladybug's yo-yo to merely snag Cat Noir's staff.

"Hey, look out!"

"Whoops! Sorry, Milady!"

On the heroes' second attempt, Frightningale's dodge caused Ladybug's yo-yo to entangle Cat Noir himself, and land him on the edge of the roof's dome. Ladybug quickly reeled him back down to her, but in their momentary discombobulation, Frightningale struck the two heroes with her whip, giving both of them pink auras.

Frightningale smiled "Welcome to my musical show.

I hope it will be your fatal blow!" She cackled as Cat Noir started forward for another attack, but Ladybug grabbed his arm.

"Wait! Stay right here and dance,

Or else you'll be frozen..." she told him just as she noticed her arm starting to become a statue.

       ...uh, without a chance!" her arm thankfully recovered.

Ladybug began moving rhythmically in place. Cat Noir caught on to what she meant, "Yeah, you're right. We have to rhyme.

Not so easy, um...all the time?" Ladybug sighed in relief, while Cat Noir also began rhythmic movement.

Frightinglae heard. Hawk Moth did as well, "Nice work. Ladybug and Cat Noir cannot fight back!"

"They're too busy singing and dancing while we're on the attack.

Now hurry, sweet Nightingale, it's both of their Miraculouses that I lack." Frightningale told him, "Hawk Moth, you bet! The Miraculouses you'll get!" Ladybug then flung her yo-yo, but Frightningale fended it off.

"Stay in charge, Cat Noir; don't blow a fuse!

Don't forget your dancing fight moves!" "Dancing fight moves...? Like my Capoeira grooves!" Cat Noir launched into a series of Capoeira moves, and then the battle briefly resumed until they reached a stand-off.

Frightningale chuckled, "Why is Cat Noir so dumb?

He doesn't even know fifty plus fifty is a sum!" Hey! Yes I do;

The dummy is you!

"It's—" Ladybug then cut off Cat Noir "Fifty plus fifty's a hundred and two!" Frightningale let out a "Huh?"

Ladybug and Frightningale resumed battling.

Cat Noir shouted, "Your math is crazy.

Count again, Milady." "Fifty plus fifty — the sum doesn't rhyme!"

One more false move and you're trapped, big time!" Ladybug warned him. "Uh-oh, I almost made a serious boo-boo,

But I didn't, thanks to you!" The battle continued until Ladybug and Cat Noir leapt to the ground, followed by Frightningale, who looked around for the heroes, but didn't see them.

Frightningale called out, "You think you two are being so clever,

But soon you'll tire yourselves, and be frozen forever!" Ladybug and Cat Noir were hiding behind a bus that had an ad about the upcoming Weather Girl contest, continuing to move rhythmically.

Ladybug said to Cat Noir "It's not in our favor at a glance,

Because we constantly have to advance,

While keeping up this song and dance.

We can leave nothing to chance."

"Sweet Bugaboo, I agree.

But what possible plan do you see?"

Ladybug suddenly spotted Bridgette in the Ladybug costume talking to Officer Roger, and she pointed to the duo.

"I guess our last weapon that is to do her any harm.

Is a distraction instead of a Lucky Charm!"

Bridgette then approached both heroes with Roger in tow, "What do you need?"

Ladybug pointed to Roger's set of handcuffs, to which he nodded and let her take them. Ladybug then used Lucky vision to see what to do next

Ladybug saw the cuffs, Cat Noir's ring, and her yo-yo. She gave a thumbs-up.

"Stay here and help them Officer, I'm gonna go get out there," Bridgette bravely told Roger who responded with, "Are you sure about this Marinette?" She nodded.

"Hey Frightingale, here's Marinette! You know, the pne who stood up for you Remember?" Frightingale landed on the stage her eyes focused on her. "Hm, indeed you did help me by your own choice. Now, tell me 'Ladybug', how is your singing voice?" Frightingale whipped Bridgette causing her to glow pink just as she picked up an electric guitar and started playing it.

Meanwhile while Bridgette was singing, "They're not for Frightingale; they're meant for us!

Now Cat Noir, do your stuff!" Ladybug told Cat Noir who hesitated.

"What's with the frown?

What's going down?"

"I can't find a rhyme.

Can you help me this time?"

"Oh Cat Noir, you're such a sweet-talker,

Rhymer, dancer and walker."

Cat Noir shrugged.

"Good luck!" Roger said. Ladybug handcuffed her right arm to Cat Noir's left, and used her yo-yo to lash her right ankle to his left.

Then they both with the help of Officer Roger, snuck over behind Frightingale of whom Bridgette somehow got to dance along to her song.

Ladybug swung Cat Noir toward Frightingale to get closer without being detected by her, he then did the same for her and with that she grabbed for the mic, missed, and knocked down the supervillain.

She was surprised to see them bound together.

"Connected, we're one; our movements are synched.

So let's get a move on, because we are linked!" Ladybug said as she and Cat Noir started toward Frightningale.

Then both Ladybug and Cat Noir say in unison, "As if we were dancing without thought,

Take this shot!" They struck Frightningale. "By any chance,

Will you grant me this dance?" Ladybug asked. She over at her sister and nodded. Bridgette gave a thumbs-up.

Cat Noir: "Let's cut a rug,

MiLadybug!" Cat Noir joked. The heroes fought and kicked Frightningale back inside the hotel.

Frightningale ran and climbed onto the stage.

Frightningale turned toward Bfidgette and sreamed, "You tricked me! How could I not see?!" And as for you two, you can't bend the rules!

Dancing tied up is cheating, fools!" "Well, when someone's akumatized,

We never compromise."

Cat Noir then told Frightingale as he and Ladybug climbed onstage, You know you've lost already! The battle continued between the heroes and Frightningale was pitched, until Ladybug and Cat Noir push Frightningale back, and grabbed her whip-wand together. Ladybug Cat Noir tossed it over to Bridgette who smashed it in midair by kicking it, freeing the akuma. Ladybug released the handcuffs, and threw them back over to Officer Roger. "Thank you !" "No officer, thank you! Now as you can see, we have much to do," Ladybug assured him.

"Wanna say it with me?"

"You know that I do."

Ladybug and Cat Noir shouted, "Miraculous Cleanse!" as Ladybug threw up one of her hands in the air.

The Miraculous wave restored all of the petrified people to normal, and removed Ladybug's, Cat Noir's, and Bridgette's pink auras.

Ladybug: "No more evil-doing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug captured the akuma and purified it. "Gotcha! Bye-bye, little butterfly."

Frightningale turned back into Clara Nightingale.

Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Bridgette fist-bumped "Pound it!"

"Ladybug? Cat Noir! What are you doing here?" Clara asked confused.

"You were akumatized by Hawk Moth; but everything's back to normal again," Cat Noir explained.

Clara's eyes widened "I was saved by the two of you?

How amazing! Too good to be true!" Ladybug then noticed that both hers and Cat Noir's shadows were taking the form of Queen V and Null respectively, Ladybug tore her eyes away from them to put her focus and mind back onto Clara to whom she told, "And, I have an idea how you can finish your video without anyone getting in your way!" Ladybug walked up to Clara, and whispered in her ear; Clara smiled. "Well, I look forward to whatever the video will be like, I gotta get going now!" Cat Noir told them and kissed Clara's hand before vaulting away. "I think I should go as well, because my voice is shot from all that singing!" Bridgette said, her voice hoarse. "What singing?" Clara asked. "Check the security cams, they'll show you what I mean. Say Ms. Nightingale, would it be alright if I kept this Ladybug costume?" Clara nodded, "Thanks!" Bridgette then started running home. "She can also take the spare

While Mr. Agreste can keep his as both costumes were created by my mother, Clair," Clara briefly explained.

A week later on Friday the 11th, at the Collège Françoise Dupont library that had a poster for the Paris music festival, the finished "Miraculous" video was being displayed on the large screen, while the students watched with the exception of Chloe who was sulking over at her home.

Marinette's voice came onscreen as voice-over, 🎵In the daytime, — I'm just a normal girl, with a normal life. But there's something about me that no one knows, 'cause I have a secret.🎵

During Marinette's narrative, the video shows various people, to include all of Mrs. Bustier's students except Chloé, dancing in sync while wearing either Ladybug or Cat Noir masks, starting with Juleka and Rose with the Eiffel Tower in the background, followed by Alya in front of the Arc de Triomphe, which pulled out to reveal Alix, Nino, Alya, Kim, and Max, and then Ms. Mendeleiev, Mrs. Bustier, Mr. Haprèle, Mr. Damocles, Mr. D'Argencourt, Officer Roger, and another woman in the school courtyard.

Then came the chorus ♫Miraculous! Simply the best!

Up to the test when things go wrong!

Miraculous! The luckiest!

The power of love always so strong,

Miraculous!♫ During the verse the video's dancing shots continued with one of Marc, Nathaniel, Mylène, Ivan, and Sabrina in front of the Hôtel de Ville, followed by Ondine at the swimming pool, and then Adrien, Marinette, and Luka by the Canal Saint-Martin.

Rose piped up in the library, "It's so much better like this!"

"At least now everybody gets to be in it!" Mylène added.

Alya then slyly put in, "Besides, even though Marinette and Adrien kinda look like Ladybug and Cat Noir, they really weren't believable."

Marinette added on top of Alya's statement, "I couldn't agree more! And I wouldn't have had any fun playing Ladybug. It was so much better being with you all!"

Rose ran over to hug Marinette, followed by Mylène and Alix, as Kim, Alya and Juleka also leaned in for the hug.

"Yeah, I prefer this version, too. I couldn't have pulled off playing Cat Noir," Adrien admitted.

Marinette agreed dismissively, "I know. Worlds apart!"

Adrien gasped, wondering what Marinette meant, "What?"

Marinette ran over to Adrien realizing her mistake, "Uh, what I meant was that you'd be more lame as Cat Noir than in real life. No! N-Not that you're lame in real life, right? It's just, compared to Cat Noir, you're just, I mean...you don't look a thing like him, that's what I mean," she stammered.

Adrien chuckled, "And you don't look a thing like Ladybug either."

Marinette let a "Huh?"

Adrien then added, "Uh, yeah, I mean, I'm sure she's not as funny as you are!"

Both Marinette and Adrien laughed.

"Yeah," Marinette said happily.

"I'll say this, you've got some great singing pipes, Marinette!" Sabrina complemented. "Why thank you Sabrina! Adrien wasn't so bad either." Adrien smiled.

Meanwhile, Hawk Moth was watching the video and was frowning. Mayura then placed another chess piece onto the board, "They may have won the battle again today, but soon with your army growing, it will be you who will come out on top!"

Marinette's earlier thought where both Ladybug and Cat Noir weren't well-known enough to be on Wikipedia was utterly shattered the moment the music video was released, meaning the entire world knew, spreading to the Unted Heroez of New York, and then even to a bored 13-year-old Conrad Zacharie "Zak" Storm who was just scrolling through YouTube's collection of music videos. There's more superheroes?! he thought to himself before handing the computor over to his father and grabbing his surfboard to go ride the Florida waves.

[gale-dragon-writer]

Here's some more. Also in no particular order.

~}I{~

We Are Vengeance

}{

Nino gave Adrien and Alya a stern look, arms still folded with the bat bracelet in clear view, when he said in that uncharacteristic tone, "Chloe is right, you know."

Nega-Eros cackled when he said as he patted Fang on the head, "Never thought I'd hear those words." In a more serious tone when he stated, "So think carefully about those facts and what they add to prior interactions."

}{

The colour drained from Majestia's face the moment she heard that sequence. One that only she knew and feared the day it would be needed.

"Olympia..." Knightowl muttered in worry as the cloaked hero landed next to the now-paralyzed superwoman. Sparrow wasn't too far off, but as much as she wanted to act, she couldn't, not when even Majestia stopped in her tracks.

Hacker smirked as he rested the side of his chin on his right knuckle when he stated in a satisfied tone, "Now that you know where you stand. We want you to answer some questions, truthfully."

}{

Tikki let out a small squeak when she realised who was staring at her. She let out a timid wave when she said nervously, "Umm... Hi."

}{

Marinette then snapped, "You knew what was going on, but did you do anything? Say anything? No! You just let it all happen regardless of how it was affecting everyone! You're an enabling doormat! And I can't believe I had a crush on someone like that!"

Adrien held out his hands in a 'hold on there' manner when he got out, "Wait, what did you mean by that?"

Marinette couldn't stop herself from growling out, "What do you think it means? Whatever feelings I had for you are gone! I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"

"But..." Was all Adrien could get out meekly.

Marinette quickly snapped, "But what? What can you possibly say to me that's not the words or the will of someone else?"

Adrien went quiet at these words.

}i{

Marked by the Soul

}{

"Uhhh..." a few members of the Team got out in disbelief.

Rena Rouge was the first to say something, "Wow, uh, I think I know what's going to get a lot of new fan content after today..."

}{

Conner glanced to the side. He didn't certainly didn't expect this outcome to happen, yet for some reason... It made him feel... Oddly glad that there was someone who actually knew how it felt, even if it was for the opposite reason.

There was finally someone who understood how he felt about Soulmarks.

}{

Lucifer smirked as he ran an index finger up Jason's arm, ignoring the annoyed look in the redhead's eyes. The Lord of Pride then moved his hand so that his index and thumb were tilted the immortal's chin up to look at him eye to eye and said with that smirk still on his face, "I have so much planned for you when I win this deal."

Jason used his left hand to bet away Lucifer's hand when he stated in an annoyed tone, "Keep dreaming, oh Lord of Pride."

}{

"Is it really alright for us to attend your brother's wedding?" Kid Flash asked M'gann in a somewhat baffled manner.

The young Martian nodded with a huge smile when she said excitedly as she hovered above the ground, "Oh! Of course! My family have been wanting to meet all of you for a while! And now we have the opportunity to do so!"

Chat Noir let out a gloomy sigh when he said sadly, "Not all of us... I can't go on an extended trip without a reasonable, less spacey, explanation that doesn't involve me revealing my hero life to him..."

Carapace gave his buddy a look when he got out, "Dude, considering how active you are as Chat Noir, I'm surprised the dude hasn't put 2 and 2 together. Even with your Gemini copy." The cat-themed hero let out another sigh.

That deflated M'gann a little. Martian Manhunter put a hand on his chin when he said, "I believe we can work something out while keeping everyone's identity a secret."

}I{

Night of Terror in the Haunted Mansion

}{

Miss Bustier sighed as she hung up the old rotary phone before she made her way to the grand dining hall of the mansion they were in. She quickly got her class's attention and told them, "Class, I have just finished speaking with Mr Damocles. He will be contacting all of your parents and guardians to explain the situation. Hopefully, the storm will clear up tomorrow and we can get the bus fixed."

This news relieved the class, except for Lila, who just rolled her eyes at the annoying inconvenience.

}{

Marinette couldn't help but stare at the grand bedroom she was standing in. She almost timidly pulled her suitcase towards the king-sized bed that looked almost too nice to sleep in.

Tikki poked her head out of the bluette's purse when she said what her Holder was thinking, "Wow, is this really a guest bedroom? It looks too grand to be one."

Marinette nodded as she carefully tilted her suitcase so it was now lying on the floor so she could open it without anything spilling out. "Agreed, it's kind of making me feel out of place and nervous."

}{

Alya beamed when she said, "We can make a video tour of the mansion! To show potential buyers what's here and give them ideas about how they can live here!"

Nino smiled in agreement when he added, "All of us can pitch in with the video."

The owner of the mansion couldn't help but say, "Oh you children don't have to go that far."

Sabrina was the one to say, "Think of this as a way for us to thank you for your hospitality and kindness."

}I{

Justice Reign.

(More likely to be subject to change)

}{

"Now that we've agreed," Judge Justice stated in a calm cold tone.

Enforcer Justice then stated in that same tone, "We can proceed."

}{

Chat Noir couldn't help but pace back and forth on the rooftop as he waited for the rest of the team to arrive, going over what he currently knew.

Enforcer Justice and Judge Justice were the Akuma that they needed to defeat. However, it was their immediate subordinates they also had to worry about.

Justice Mainframe had the whole city of Tokyo under surveillance, which he can and will use to alert the Akumas to any of their plans and locations. That was super bad. Justice Knight had the entire Tokyo Police force under his control, and all of them were on the lookout for anyone who would break any laws that were in place. Also really bad. Justice System was in charge of reforming all prisoners to be helpful and productive members of society, which didn't sound bad but she had mind control powers so she was especially dangerous. Now that Chat Noir thought about it, Justice System wasn't all that bad to deal with since she was not going to be out and about like Justice Mainframe and Justice Knight were...

Chat Noir couldn't help but shrink as he hoped that the rest of the team would arrive soon.

}{

Misaki looked between Eiji and the rest of the class before she asked in a mixed tone of confusion and cluelessness, "Um... How did we get out?"

}{

Tatsumi Kyoudai Ani glanced at his younger brother when he asked with an uncharacteristically baffled expression on his face, "Did they just..."

Tatsumi Kyoudai Otouto had the same expression as his older brother when he got out in an identical tone, "Yup... Which means Hawkmoth screwed himself over by giving those two serpents too much power."

}I{

Until the stories come out~

While I’m working on some stories, here are some random snippets from a few planned Miraculous projects~. They’re not in any particular order.

~}I{~

Kindness and Karma

}{

Malcom (Satan) growled in annoyance when he snapped out, "No! Your anger is the only thing that doesn't make any sense in this whole issue!"

Alya snapped back in anger, "What are you talking about?! How can me being angry NOT make any sense?!"

Malcom ran a hand through his hair when he stated, "Because there's no reason why You should be angry!" Before Alya could retort, the fiery redhead pointed at a surprised-looking Nino and then Kim when he snapped out, "They had a legitimate reason to be angry!" He waves his hands when he explains, "They gave you a specific deadline as to when they had to leave and wanted to leave no later than that! A deadline, that you agreed to! But you got mad at them for wanting to leave after keeping them at the event long after the deadline had passed! Their anger was in the right, while yours is just out of nowhere!" Malcom then pointed at a shocked Marinette when he stated, "Her anger is legitimate! She's fed up and upset with the majority of her supposed friends making plans and then bailing on her at the last minute when someone else gives them a call, yet you have been nothing but belligerent towards her!"

Karen (Ramiel) couldn't help but point out, "Mal is making a valid point." She shrugged her shoulders when she added, "While they are negative emotions, they are healthy responses to what has happened." She looked at the childhood friends when she stated, "So their emotions are normal for what happened." Karen then looked at the blogger when she said in a concerned tone, "You on the other hand... Seem to lash out at almost every interaction from what Mal and I have seen..."

Malcom folded his arms in annoyance when he scoffed out, "Which includes you leaping in my mouth when I asked legitimate questions."

Karen quickly corrected with a flat tone, "The phrase is "Jumping down your throat", Mal."

The fiery redhead huffed when he got out, "That too, Kare."

}{

Malcome and Karen glanced at each other in uncertainty before the one with the pink-tinted glasses stated in confusion as she semi-pointed her left index finger towards the group of girls, "Uhh, I'm not sure if it's because we're recent additions to this class or something, but I'm seeing a rather clear pattern to... Those indences."

Malcolm folded his arms when he stated in annoyance, "Agreed... It's making me wonder How is it that None of you noticed that it has been happening?" He scoffed before adding, “This also explains why Marinette has been acting the way she is.”

}{

Adrien: "Okay, can we agree that while it wasn't how we planned it..."

Marinette: "Yeah, no, it's got to be the weirdest way to find out someone's ID."

Plagg: "Well, at least it is a unique identity reveal. Hehe."

Tikki: "Not helping, Plagg..."

}{

Markov reviewed the data before asking, "Max, are you positive this is accurate?"

Max nodded when he stated, "It is. I quadruple-checked it..." He bit his lips when he said, "But if this is true..." Max looked at the screen again before he picked up his phone and dialled the number on the screen. Markov hovered as both listened to the dial tone.

The sound of someone picking up the other side of the line was heard. "Hello? Who's calling?" The voice of an adult man came over the phone.

Max took a deep breath before he said, "Umm, hello, is this Mr Antonio Rossi?"

}I{

Trip to Gotham

}{

Assassin’s Creed: … These new screen names oddly fit… Though I’m not sure about Alfred and Bastard’s…

Red Hoodlum: Demon Spawn, you better be talking about Blood and not me. Mine is literally my hero's name!

AcroBatz: Ah, right, Damian hasn’t met Jason Blood yet, so he wouldn’t know that ref.

RobinRed: I can tell you that it’s still going to be confusing having both Jasons in the same space… I’m surprised that Blood kept his cool in that situation.

Red Hoodlum: Really? Demon Spawn hasn’t met the Demon? I’m a little surprised.

Assassin’s Creed: Wait, so this Demon Knight screen name isn't Bastard? What are you two talking about? Who's this other Jason? And what does it have to do with a demon?

Sebastian: I just noticed the chat and read what had happened. Right now, all I have to say is…

Sebastian: Really, Master Bruce?

Demon Knight: Well, I agree with Bruce on that. You’re one hell of a butler.

Batdad: Exactly!

Sebastian: Hmm, touche.

AcroBatz: OH SHIT!

RobinRed: No! No! No! I don’t believe it!

Red Hoodlum: I did NOT read what I thought I read!

Kunoichi: ?

Assassin’s Creed: ?

Batdad: Is there something wrong with what we were talking about?

AcroBatz: Yeah! How the hell do you three fossils know about Anime?!

Sebastian: Master Dick, we are not fossils. We are merely older gentlemen.

Batdad: And we are allowed to indulge in Anime every once and a while.

Assassin’s Creed: Cass… Do you have any clue what they’re talking about?

Kunoichi: Nope. I was hoping you would…

Demon Kight: Back to the og topic… What was Cassandra texting about you Bat-Kids getting siblings?

Batdad: I was also going to ask that.

Kunoichi: 😏

}{

Alix was passing back and forth in front of the park bench Kim and Max were sitting at while Markov hovered above. The skater then got out in an annoyed tone, "I don't get it, why would Lila say something like that when it isn't true?" She paused as she looked at her friends when she stated, "We know the real reason why our class is going to Gotham, but if Lila claims to be "super close" to the Wyanes as she claims, she should've known that too."

Kim couldn't help but point out, "And know why it should be kept a secret until the Gala." He paused before he questioned, "But wouldn't that implication be worse if Lila is saying that she asked one of the Wyanes to have our class and Ms Mendeleiev's class go to Gotham?"

Max was feeling self-conscious when he got out, "Well, that can only mean one of two things... Either Lila is telling the truth and the reason we're going to Gotham is because she asked for it to happen... And the letter I got was a prank or... Lila is lying about both knowing the Waynes and being the reason behind the trip..."

Markov was quick to say, "Considering that the letter has the watermark and seal from the Wyane Company, I can conclude that it is 100% authentic." He held his claw in the air when he stated in a logical tone, "Therefore, Lila is lying about a major event."

Alix clicked her tongue before she said, "If that's true, then why make us think that?"

Kim shrugged when he suggested, "Attention? Because that's the only thing I can think of." He then had a thought before he placed a hand on his chin when he commented, "Wait, now that I think about it..."

}{

Adrien leans over and whispers to Chloe, "Uhh, do you have any idea what's going on here?"

Chloe whispers back, "No, I was kind of hoping you would."

Damian scoffs before he states in an annoyed tone, "They are not staying unless they can hold their own in a fight! I refuse to have any incompetent allies."

Cassandra: 😏

}{

Miss Bustier ran a hand through her hair when she got out in a flabbergasted tone, "I know I heard Marinette during roll call before we got on the bus! And our students can testify to that!"

Ms Mendeleiev placed a hand on her chin when she mused thoughtfully, "True, we Heard Ms Dupain-Cheng call out "I'm here!" at every roll call, but I can't recall actually Seeing her during roll call." She let out a thoughtful hum before she said, "Let's do something a little differently next roll call."

}I{

Smiling Agent

}{

With a smirk, she said, "Al'ight, Hawkmoth, I'll help you get those Miraculous. However, I'm doing things My way." With that, a black aura festered out of the Akumatized object and engulfed her.

}{

Marinette held up her hand in a 'hold-on there' manner when she got out, "Whao! Wait a second! I just talked to them regarding what kind of baked goods they would like and they told me a very different story."

Nino raised a brow when he asked, "How different are we talking?"

Marinette folded her arms when she stated, "That the type of items that Alya told me to make sure to have are things that two of them can't eat."

Ivan raised a brow in concern when he asked, "Wait, that... Doesn't make any sense." He moved his hands a bit when he added, "If they can't eat those flavours then they wouldn't ask for them."

Marinette narrowed her eyes when she stated, "Oh, they would have to ask about it alright, but only to make sure they aren't used at all." She held back a growl when she nearly hissed out, "Especially since one of them is severely allergic to one of the items!”

"Wait?! WHAT!!!?"

That was when Marinette asked in a serious tone, "So this is where I have to ask, who told you about their "favourite flavours"? Because from my point of view, someone thought it would be funny to put someone in the hospital, or worse."

}{

"Listen, I'm not bein' hypocritical or rude, but given that I can tell that Adrianne is not comfo’table when that Storyteller latches onto 'er at every interaction I've seen... It's kind of bad. So how the hell could all but a few of you NOT see that?"

"I'm a little more concerned about why Adrianne hasn't said or told anyone about the unwanted attention if it's that bad?"

"Or at least told her to stop or set up some boundaries."

}{

With that, he smiled.

}I{

Sin of Reveal

}{

Jason Blood smirked when he replied to the mental terrorist, "Oh, so you were after her! Guess that technically makes you a paedophile."

Hawkmoth: "WHAT?! No! I'm nothing of the sort!! I simply know that Ms Duapin-Cheng will be my greatest Akuma and will get me the Miraculous of the Back Cat and Ladybug!"

Jason let out a hum as he looked over the Akumatized item he used to catch the Akuma when he said almost casually, "So, that's what you've been waiting for, huh. I must say, you seem to have quite a lot of time to just sit around and wait for people to get emotionally distressed, especially teenagers, so I can't help but think that you don't have much of an active life."

Marinette couldn't help but be in awe at what she was witnessing. This man was... Taunting Hawkmoth... While he was in the middle of being possessed by the terrorist!

The rest of Miss Bustier's class came rushing over, also baffled and confused about what was going on as Marinette.

Jason kept that smirk with a short chuckle when he said, "Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline. I'm trying to avoid being involved with the Miraculous, and besides... Three's a crowd."

}{

Satan got all flustered and nervous when he got out, "Oh! My dear sister! It's good to see you!" He did his best to recover his composer when he asked, "But why are you here?"

}{

"SIr Raguel, we've got a bit of a problem."

}{

"Adrien, boyo, yah're allowed ta want answer ta questions yah had fur a good while, even if yah no longer have a connection ta tha source of it."

}{

Raguel tilts his head to the side when he asks, "Lord Satan, are you sure that you have the part of Young Adrien's soul that was agreed upon?"

Satan raises a brow at this as he shifts the box he is holding and says, "Of course I'm sure, I extracted it myself. You can ask the witnesses listed if you want to confirm." He paused before he asked the Angel of Justice, "Why do you think that I didn't have any part of Adrien's soul?"

Raguel replied in a slightly confused tone, "Because the aura coming from that box doesn't match Young Adrien."

Satan blinked in confusion when he asked, "I know it's Adrien's but... Why are you getting a different sense? And how does it feel?"

Raguel states in a calm tone, “I am not sure as to why it feels different from Young Adrien.” He then nods his head to Amelie when he adds, "But the bond you have in the box feels near-identical to that woman over there."

}I{

Inconsistency

}{

Marinette raised a brow at the question when she asked, "Why do you want to know that?"

Everyone flashed back to when Jazz kissed Officer Prowl on the lips before their final battle but knew they couldn't tell Marinette that that was the reason why they were asking.

Thankfully, Sabrina explained to the bluette, "Well, Mr Jazz did seem pretty affectionate towards Officer Prowl when we first met him, so I guess we couldn't help but wonder."

'Thank you, Sabrina!' the Miraculous Heroes thought with glee, now having a legitimate reason to be asking that question.

Marinette had an expression that read 'good point' before she finally said, "Oh, they're married to each other. In both the Magical aspects and the human way."

}{

Nino was waving his free hand frantically when he almost shouted into the phone, "Uncle Al! Calm down! I can't understand you when you're talking that fast! What happened?"

}{

Lila smirked when she said to herself, "I was right, this does look perfect on me~."

}{

Jazz tapped the surface of the wood when he asked Gabriel Agreste, "Given that there was a time gap between when her symptoms started and when she went inta tha coma... How come yah never brought her ta any hospital or even called an ambulance?" He waved his other hand when he added, "All this could've been avoided if yah did either."

}{

D hung up the phone and looked around at his work.

Everything was perfect.

}{

Officer Prowl looked up worriedly at Jazz as he clutched his niece close to his chest and then said in an anxious tone, "Don't make me arrest you."

"Don't worry, it an't gunna happen," Jazz stated coldly.

}I{

Until the Stories come out~.

[soulmate-game]

Hawkmoth was a bitch, and Marinette meant that with every fiber of her soul. Fu was also a bitch, and Marinette actually had good memories of the guy. Not many, but she had some. The fact that the guy got two ten-year-olds to become super heroes and fight a supervillain for him kinda soured those memories, though. But with Chat Noir not allowed to leave his house? Yeah, even as young as they were it only took about a year to find out who HawkMoth was and another year to take him down.

Except, that left Marinette alone. The final battle took her mom away, and Chat had to move out of Paris after his dad was arrested. Luckily Jagged allowed her and her papa to move into his house in Gotham, and everything was…

Well, it was okay. For about a month.

Then her dad was gone too, and she had no way to talk to Jagged, and the police were scaring her—

Yeah, that was the basic order of events that led to where she was now. Pushing fourteen years old, ex-superhero, protector of a magical box of gods, stealing the tires off of a very nice motorcycle.

Marinette was tempted to just take the whole thing, she loved bikes and knew she could drive it. But the thing had more security than she knew what to do with, and the fact that it belonged to Red Hood… she didn’t want to deal with trackers today, thanks. So the tires it was.

Should she maybe care more about the fact that she was stealing from a vigilante with a violent streak? Maybe. Did she? Hell no. For all she knew, maybe Red Hood was a bitch too. (Yes, she was still learning English slang. She was fluent by educational standards, but learning how to curse in a foreign language was fun and she still had a little bit to go. Her few street friends were very happy to help).

A shadow dropped down in front of her, and Marinette’s hero instincts kicked in. The tire iron she was using cut through the air, slamming right into the side of Red Hood’s knee.

—*—*—*—*—*

“Hood,” Batman’s voice grumbled over the comms, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone else who was on the comms. It wasn’t as gruff as he usually sounded, in fact it almost sounded like… he was trying not to laugh?

“Did you get gassed by Joker?” Dick asked before Jason got a chance to respond. “Need backup?”

“No,” Batman responded, sounding a little more composed. “Not a rogue. But Hood, I need you to join me at my location as soon as possible.”

Finally getting the chance to talk, Jason responded a little warily; “Sure, B. Wait,” he blinked at the location that was sent to him. “Isn’t that where my bike is parked?”

Batman didn’t respond at first, only the sound of labored breathing— again, as if he was trying not to laugh. “Just get here, Hood.”

Sighing, but not too mad since the night had been fairly quiet so far, Jason decided to humor the old man and head over. When he could see the cape-clad back of Batman, he easily leapt over the last roof and sauntered over.

“Okay, B,” he had his thumbs tucked in his pockets as he drawled. “What’s the issue?”

Batman was grinning. As in, actually showing amusement. And he just pointed down, straight at Hood’s bike.

Jason rolled his eyes under his helmet, turning to look. At first he didn’t see anything amiss, until he saw movement and looked harder. Oh. Oh, holy shit.

“Is that a kid?”

“Yep,” Batman’s grin grew.

“Is she… stealing my tires?” Hood was so, so glad he wore a helmet that hid his expression. Because… wow.

“Yep,” Batman finally lost his composure, chuckling. “This seems like Karma, don’t you think?”

“And you just watched her so you could rub it in,” Jason groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation. Of course he would. Nobody knew it (except the other heroes who knew him) but Batman was a petty little jerk when he wanted to be. He bought the whole Daily Planet just to spite Clark, for crying out loud.

“Don’t adopt her,” Batman said as he stood up, patting Red Hood’s shoulder. “It looks like she’s almost done.”

“Shit,” Jason hissed, looking down to see that she was, actually, very close to being done. She had already had one tire completely free by the time he had arrived, and now she was only seconds away from getting the other one completely free.

He took a quick assessment— she was tiny, and really thin. Definitely a street kid, he thought, though he didn’t recognize her. He knew most of the street kids that stole to get by, nowadays, which meant she must have been fairly new. But even though she seemed to know what she was doing, her small frame made her take longer unscrewing the tires than it normally would have taken. Sure that she wasn’t a threat by any stretch of the imagination, he jumped down. His plan had been to startle her a little by showing up out of nowhere, but he didn’t want to scare her too badly. Just make her jump a little.

But he had underestimated her, it seemed. Without wasting a second, she jumped up and swung her tire iron at his knee. He cursed, she was a lot faster than her had been expecting. He was able to move so that the weapon only clipped the side of his knee, his knee pad thankfully taking the worst of it. She still hit hard enough to make him stumble and hiss in pain though, which was an accomplishment.

That’s when she abandoned her weapon and her tires, darting to try and escape only for Batman to drop down and block her escape. Though really, it was the grin Batman had that scared the girl most of all, apparently, making her slowly back away from him.

“Please stop smiling,” she begged with a faint French accent to her words. “It is not natural.”

That made Red Hood laugh, already recovered and right behind her. He plopped a gloved hand on her head.

“I know, it’s creepy right?” He joked. “What’cha doin’ stealing my tires, kid? I kinda need them to drive anywhere,” he was careful to keep his voice light and devoid of any anger. He wasn’t really upset, all told. It would be hypocritical of him if he was.

She looked between the two vigilantes for a moment, clear intelligence behind those bright blue eyes as she seemed to consider something. Suddenly she pulled away from Red Hood and stepped away from his reach, straightening up and trying to look tall.

“My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she said as firmly as she could. “My father was Tom Dupain, he was killed in a mugging three months ago. We were living in a house that our family friend leant to us after my mother’s death six months ago, and we moved here from Paris. I haven’t been able to contact him, and the police… I don’t trust them,” she admitted, clearly seeing this as the chance she had been waiting for. “I have been living on the streets since my father died. I am sorry for trying to steal your tires, Monsieur Red Hood. But it was a risk I had to take.”

“Did you expect us to catch you?” He asked, crossing his arms as he re-evaluated the girl. She was a lot stronger than he had assumed earlier, both physically and mentally. She seesawed her hand to indicate ‘kinda’.

“Even if you didn’t, I could make good money off your tires,” she justified with a shrug. “To me, I would win either way.”

“Who is your family friend? Can he help you now, take you in?” Batman asked, moving forward and kneeling down to be closer to Marinette’s height. Neither he nor Jason had missed the part where she was an orphan, but they had expected that considering what they had caught her doing. And they both knew that she wasn’t likely to take any apologies they tried to offer very well. It was best not to show pity, or she might get angry.

Marinette frowned. “... Our family friend is Jagged Stone. He lets me call him Uncle Jagged,” she told them, clearly expecting the disbelieving grunts they gave. “I mean it! You can call him, he might even be looking for me! I—“

“We know,” Hood assured her, now kneeling down as well. Man, she was short. “Calm down, we know you’re telling the truth. Jagged has made several public announcements about his missing honorary niece, we just didn’t recognize your name right away. And Jagged doesn’t have access to very many pictures of you, those he does have the Mayor isn’t allowing him to show because that spineless jackass—“

“Language, Hood.”

“—Cares more about keeping bad press off the air than finding a kid, even if it’s a world famous rockstar who’s asking. That’s probably why you haven’t heard anything, the mayor’s keeping it off the radio and not many reporters are brave enough to take the story and get on his bad side.”

“Oh…” Marinette took a deep breath, fighting the tears that were threatening to rise up. “He has been looking…” she sniffled, curling in on herself a little. “Can you take me to him?”

“I think we can do that,” Batman agreed, standing up. “I’ll contact him. Red Hood, can you handle everything here until I give you a place to meet up with Jagged Stone?”

Jason nodded. “No problem, B. Come on, little rabid pixie. Step one of gettin’ you back to your uncle is to help me fix my bike back up.”

Marinette sighed, shoulders dropping. “All my hard work, undone…” she playfully complained. But in the end she didn’t argue or fight against it, she just sat down and helped him reattach his tires.

All the while, Jason’s family kept teasing him over the comms. Clearly they were also thoroughly amused by the cosmic display of karma.

“...Monsieur Hood,” Marinette asked once they were done repairing the motorcycle and he had given her his too-big extra helmet. He tilted his head a bit to show he was listening. She squirmed. “Can… can we stop by my hideout? I have something really important I have to get.”

Jason smiles gently under his mask. She might not have been a street kid for very long, but she really did bring back some memories for him. He got on his bike and held a hand out to her.

“Sure thing kid. Wanna grab something to eat after? Can’t have a reunion on an empty stomach.”

She gave him a lopsided smile— not quite overjoyed, but definitely hopeful and thankful. Maybe this was the end of her streak of bad luck, she could only hope.

“Only if you don’t mind, Monsieur Hood,” she agreed before taking his hand and letting him help her onto the bike.

“No skin off my back, pixie,” he assured her. Then they were off. He followed her directions until they got to an abandoned building about three miles away, not in a good part of town at all but at least not in crime alley. Marinette easily led him through the building, skirting around other piles of ratty blankets and up broken stairs until they got to the badly-maintained top floor. She led him over to an almost invisible door in the concrete wall that pulled out to reveal what was probably a broom closet once upon a time. It was crowded with what looked like junk and empty boxes, along with a few blankets and two or three changes of clothes that were clearly her’s. A few belongings scattered around— a book, a small pink purse, and… Marinette came out of the pile of mess holding what had clearly been a very carefully hidden box. She also grabbed the purse and slung it over her shoulder, but didn’t seem worried about anything else.

Jason frowned at the box. It wasn’t that big, but it was clearly made of old wood. There were intricate carvings that were painted pink, in a symbol that was itching at the back of his mind. He recognized that symbol, but from where?

“Ready to go, kid?” He asked as he thought about it, getting a nod from Marinette. Twenty minutes later they were at a Batburger, sitting in a shaded booth that couldn’t be seen from the street.

She never let the box out of her sight. She kept it on the seat next to her, and Jason noticed that she tried to keep one hand on it at all times. But when she spoke, now her French accent stood out to him even more than before. But why—?

And then it clicked. Paris. Hawkmoth. Ladybug, Chat Noir, magic artifacts called Miraculous. Wonder Woman had raised a fuss when the heroes disappeared, declaring that something was wrong but she couldn’t put her finger on what. Then the magic users they trusted were called in, and returned from Paris with the grim news that the former Guardian of those artifacts had activated a failsafe and passed the guardianship on to someone else while erasing his own memories at the same time. But nobody knew who he could have passed it on to, so Batman had been given the green light to do all the research he and his team could into the Miraculous box to try and help track it down.

And here it was. The carvings were in pink now, which might have been the “cosmetic change” that Constantine had mentioned might happen when the box changed guardians. He had found the box full of super powerful magical artifacts… in the hands of a newly orphaned street kid who couldn’t have been older than fourteen at best.

What the hell?

“...” Red hood reached into his pocket and pulled out an old receipt and a sharpie. He scrawled on the back of the receipt and handed to Marinette. The girl was halfway into a bite of her burger when he did, and blinked at him owlishly before swallowing and cautiously reaching out to grab it. She frowned at the numbers scrawled there.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“My contact info,” he explained. “I won’t ask questions about why you have that box,” he watched her instantly stiffen but continued as casually as he could; “but it doesn’t matter. You can call me if you ever need help with anything, kid. Help with that box, help if you get in trouble in Gotham again, or even if you’re having a bad day. You can call me for whatever, got it? I don’t care if you think it’s stupid, if you can’t talk to anyone else in your life you can always call or text me and I’ll do whatever I can. Got it?”

“...” Marinette sniffled for a second and looked down at the table in silence for a second. “... what if I want your motorcycle?” she joked, but the watery tone of her voice gave her away.

Jason laughed, patting her head. “I need my bike, but we can talk about getting you your own once you are old enough to get a license. You almost done? Bats says that Jagged is ready to meet you, I can take you to him right now.”

“Yeah, lets go!” she was newly energized and shoved the last bite of burger into her mouth greedily. “And Red Hood?” She asked as they headed out to where he had parked.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Thanks.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Permanent tag list (I remembered it this time!)

@rosalineandrosemary @neakco @justanotherfanficlovinbitch @trippingovermyfeet @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @bigpicklebananatree @fantasylover-92 @prongs-flowers @jumpingjoy82 @prettylittlebutterflie @queenz-z @literaryhiraeth @waffelyunsure @deathssilentapproach-blog @waiting247 @theirlmikan @unoriginalmess

[miraculousluvbug]

WINGLESS | Ch. 5

***New to Wingless? Start at Chapter 1!

CH. SUMMARY: Plagg panics because Lila's the devil incarnate and Lila learns that Gabriel Agreste is far stupider than he seems.

Adrien fondly flicked through the pages of The Pun-thagorean Theorem (Making Math Funny!) textbook. Plumes of dust wafted up his nostrils, causing his eyes to squint and his mouth to contort into the longest face known to man to avoid a hacking fit, but he smiled afterward nonetheless. The book was withered beyond measure, sure, but within its decaying jacket, it held the fleeting whispers of a previous life. A life before his mother went missing. When she enjoyed teaching him math with puns and pieces of candy while his father clung to the confines of closed doors. When her jokes graced the halls and her smiles left behind a fog of golden joy in her wake.

Adrien’s heart thudded with longing.

But he was determined to push back the feelings he had kept buried deep, deep, deep within his heart. So deep that he often forgot they were even there until they reared their ugly heads like a Hydra from the deepest recesses of the sea. Every time he thought he dealt with it, thought he had cut off its head and could breathe for just a second, two heads sprouted in its stead, determined to grip him by the ankles with their jagged teeth and force him to drown in his debilitating lack of self-worth.

He shook his head violently, as if that could shed him of his intrusive thoughts.

Hopefully, this book would help Lila. And then she’d leave. And then he could skip the anime and just take a fat nap. Keeping the Hydra at bay was exhausting.

Correcting his posture, Adrien approached his classmate, noticing straight away she had moved to his desk chair. Odd. But he was willing to roll with it.

Ha. Get it? Desk chair. Roll with it.

He pursed his lips, trying to hold back his laughter at himself.

Kagami had called him a clown, but Ladybug, as it turned out, appreciated his sense of humor. And if Lady-friggin’-bug--Commander of Wit and Creative Mastermind--thought he was funny, he must have been a damn comedic prodigy.

Plagg recognized that love-struck look on Adrien’s face and had to physically restrain himself from making barf noises.

“Are you ready to start, Lila?” Adrien said. Oblivious to Adrien’s whereabouts, Lila started and spun to greet him. (Was he always that quiet on his feet?)

“Adrien! You found the book.”

“Yep! Why don’t you take a look at it before we start?” Adrien smiled as he passed the book to her.

Lila returned the smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Adrien idly wondered if she had ever meant a smile in her life. She pinched the book between her thumb and forefinger as if it were a moldy sock. “Wow, Adrien, this book is so . . .”

A silence lingered as Lila racked her vocabulary for a word less insulting than crusty.

“Old?” Adrien offered, tilting his head.

Lila tittered unenthusiastically. “Yes, old.” She draped the book onto Adrien’s desk and poked at it. “How long have you, um, had it?”

“It’s been in the family a while.” Adrien hesitated. He didn’t really want to mention his mother to Lila. Lila was poisonous. She spun every piece of information she caught into a sticky web of lies like it was second nature. He didn’t know if he could stomach hearing lies about his mother.

So he bit down on the story of his mom before it could tumble from his lips. Even though he so badly wanted to tell anyone who would listen. His father never afforded him the opportunity to speak about her. His friends at school avoided the topic like the plague.

Come to think of it, Marinette was the only one of his friends who tried to help him see her movie that fateful day the press tried to pass her as his girlfriend. (Which he wouldn’t have minded, honestly, but she always seemed hellbent on them being just friends, so he accepted it.)

Ladybug, the other important person in his life, saw his mother on his desktop during that one akuma attack and commented on her smile. Those two girls (er--women? Which term was more respectful?) were the only people he truly felt safe around. Safe enough to turn his back on the Hydra he always kept a watchful, tired eye on and just enjoy the breeze of the ocean as it caressed his cheeks and messed up his perfect hair.

No, the subject of his mother wouldn’t scare them away. They could handle it.

But Lila was no Ladybug, and she definitely was no Marinette.

Behind them, Plagg was practically pulling his antennae out. It had been at least eight, maybe ten minutes since the akuma alert and his kid was none the wiser. And it really didn’t help that he just saw Ladybug and Rena Rouge pass by Adrien’s gigantic glass wall in a blur of red and orange.

But it was hopeless! He couldn’t get the message to Adrien without being seen!

Or . . .

Or could he?

“‘What’s Pythagoras’ favorite instrument?’” Lila read aloud. Her eyes darted over to the blonde leaning against the desk beside her. He bit his lip and his eyes were doing something weird. She had never seen that emotion on him.

“Go on,” Adrien pushed, his eyes practically sparkling. Huh. Was that emotion . . . eagerness?

She cleared her throat and turned the book upside down to read the answer awaiting her at the bottom of the page.

“‘A triangle.’”

Adrien giggled. What he wanted to do was slap his knee and let the whole world know he found it funny with a booming laughter that rivaled Tom Dupain-Cheng’s, but he knew that was un-gentlemanly.

Lila quirked an eyebrow.

Adrien sobered immediately. “You know,” he tried. “Since a triangle is an instrument and the theorem is about right triangles.”

Lila’s stare was unrelenting.

Adrien coughed. “So the triangle is his . . . favorite instrument.”

Lila stared for a bit longer than necessary before letting out a glaringly obvious fake laugh. Adrien was more offended that she thought that laugh was believable than that she didn’t find the pun funny at all. “Ha. That’s, like, so funny, Adrien. I can tell already that this book is going to be a big help.”

Adrien’s shoulders drooped a little. He hadn’t expected her to fall to the ground in ceaseless mirth, but he hadn’t thought her to be such a brick wall either. “Right. Well, why don’t we start with number one? Do you have your notebook or do you need a spare piece of pap--?”

The sound of the television coming to life cut Adrien’s question short. Lila’s eyes bulged out of her head and the sight would have been comical had it not also meant that Plagg was being a nuisance. Again.

But honestly, when was he not?

Lila burst from her seat and sprinted to the television. “Were you standing on the remote or something?” Lila queried, her voice high-pitched and grating to Adrien’s ears.

Adrien scratched the back of his neck. Think, think, think . . .

“Um, my room is haunted?”

Lila gawked at him wordlessly, gripping the back of his sofa. “You posted something about that on Instagram, but I thought you were, I don’t know? Making it up?”

Because you would be an expert on that, right, Lila?

Adrien plucked the remote from the coffee table and pointed it at the television, his thumb barely brushing the power button when the words from the newscaster reached his ears and sent chills down his spine.

“New akuma . . .”

“Ladybug and Rena Rouge on the scene . . .”

“Chat Noir yet to be spotted . . .”

Adrien’s heart skipped a beat. Furrowing his brow, he ran to his phone and ogled its empty notification list. Why hadn’t he received an akuma alert? Was the Ladyblog acting buggy?

Adrien had to come up with an alibi and fast. Lie like the wind, Bullseye.

He scooped up his cherished pun textbook and shepherded Lila to his bedroom door despite her protests. “I’m so sorry, Lila! I, uh, just remembered I have to practice piano for an extra hour today.” The television droned on about the deadly, unstoppable, mind-controlling, threateningly large, new akuma behind him. The hair on Adrien’s neck stood up with every added adjective.

“You’re not seriously sending me out into the city where the akuma is?” Lila exclaimed.

Oh. The thought hadn’t occurred to him.

“Um, sorry, Lila, but I’m sure you’ll be fine! You’re Ladybug’s best friend, right? She’d never let anything happen to you.” Adrien smirked inwardly at that. Lila was failing miserably at hiding her disgust for his spotted partner when he shut the door--politely--in her face.

Quickly, he propped up his phone on the piano and navigated to his voice memo app.

“I deserve extra cheese,” Plagg drawled, hovering to the side of Adrien.

“For nearly exposing yourself to Lila?” Adrien remarked bitterly.

Plagg narrowed his eyes. “No, for figuring out how to get your attention when Lila was clearly undermining you!”

Adrien stopped dead in his tracks. His finger hovered above his latest piano recording while his mind raced. “What do you mean, Plagg? I didn’t get an akuma alert. That’s not her fault.”

Plagg scoffed. “Uh, you did get an akuma alert. That--that menace got rid of it!” Plagg folded his arms across his chest, clearly much angrier than he would ever admit. “She got rid of the notification so you wouldn’t see. Even when she doesn’t know she’s doing it, she’s sabotaging Ladybug! You can’t let her in your room anymore, Adrien.”

Adrien stiffened. So Lila was far worse than he gave her credit for. He wouldn’t underestimate her again. Harmless snooping, he could live with. Interfering with him protecting his lady? Unforgivable. She did that when he was Chat Noir and he thought he had learned his lesson.

Apparently not.

“We’ll talk about this more later, Plagg,” Adrien finally decided. A moment later, the soft melody of a piano piece danced around the room. His eyes wandered to the whiteboard on his wall that had twelve tally marks souring its otherwise pristine surface. Plagg followed his gaze and looked back at his kid with a frown and drooping brows, tail and antennae betraying his melancholy.

Adrien pointedly ignored Plagg’s Pity™ look. “Ladybug’s already cleansed an akuma twelve times without needing my help. Let’s not let there be a thirteenth. Claws out!”

Meanwhile, from the other side of Adrien’s door, Lila simmered, jaw clenched, mouth dry. She didn’t have an inkling why Adrien had concocted such a ridiculous excuse, but she was ninety percent sure it had something to do with Ladybug.

It always came back to that impudent roach.

Lila dragged her feet all the way to the main staircase with every intention to vacate the Agreste premises, but a quick sweep of the mainroom revealed the bodyguard was nowhere to be seen. And interestingly enough, neither was that dreadfully stoic assistant Adrien was so fond of. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen her when she first entered.

Empty. The room was deliciously empty.

And Lila had never seen the inside of Gabriel’s office.

Smirking, she decided she would have to correct that.

Just in case she got caught, Lila inconspicuously flitted around the room in an attempt to appear like she wasn’t on a mission. She fawned over trinkets and leisurely “admired” the boring paintings accosting the walls before her twitching fingers rested on the door handle.

She waited with an ear pressed against the wood. Silence had never tasted sweeter.

The room was . . . well, it left something to be desired.

Wasn’t Gabriel supposed to be a fashion icon?

His interior design made her want to gouge out her eyes with a plastic spork.

Lila gingerly let the door fall into place behind her, the hinges creaking only slightly (a billionaire or whatever he was could afford to professionally oil his door, she assumed) before her feet carried her to a mustard yellow tapestry. The woman adorning it she recognized was Adrien’s mother. The photos of Adrien to her right were all edited from photoshoots. Perfect. Unblemished.

Lila supposed she could overlook Adrien’s pitiful sense of humor. Adrien was still great eye candy, and his reputation made him an even tastier prize.

The scent of cologne and disinfectant mingled, battling each other for dominance and the result was only a bit nauseating. Orange light seeped in from the windows, the tendrils of luminance touching everything in the room but the wall with the tapestry. It was golden hour apparently.

Unable to help herself, Lila brushed her fingers along the edges of Gabriel’s touchscreen, searching, searching. Ah. There. A ridge. A power button, perhaps? With the tip of her fingernail, she pressed it and . . .

Of course, the thing would be password protected.

Maybe Adrien’s birthday?

Wait. Did she even know Adrien’s birthday?

Lila shrugged and turned on her heel. She was curious, but odds were she would never be able to guess Monsieur Agreste’s password. Unless . . .

Slowly pivoting to face the screen again, she tried typing something crazy and, albeit, a little stupid.

There was just no way. It was a waste of time to even try.

She tapped a green enter button.

The waiting screen consisted of the outline of a butterfly slowly being filled in and then repeating. Interesting. She wouldn’t have pegged Gabriel to be a butterfly guy. But if she thought about it really, reeeeally hard, she could just barely recall a few designs Adrien had modeled that sported a butterfly-like logo.

But whatever. This butterfly waiting screen meant nothing. There was still no way.

There was absolutely no way the password to the great fashion mogul Gabriel Agreste’s personal computer was “password.”

Was there?

She idly tapped her nails on the screen, the clack-clack-clack echoing around her in the frustratingly barren room. The anticipation ate away at her until . . .

Bingo. The screen unlocked, and the light shining on Lila transitioned from the black of the waiting screen to the blue of a schematic.

Lila snorted. “Seriously? I’m no Max but even I know that’s the most brainless password known to man.”

Closer inspection led to a fascinating revelation. The schematic wasn’t actually for a building or even a design. There were photos of her classmates and their . . .

Their hero personas? Interesting. Could he have been planning a Superhero line? How did he even find out their identities?

Wow, there was Nino as Carapace and that one girl Kagami as Ryuko. Max as some horse-looking hero she honestly had never seen in her life. Kim as a monkey. Unsurprising. Some guy with blue highlights who she’d only seen around Marinette. And Alya . . . as Rena Rouge.

Lila clenched her fists. Her nails left indentations in her palms.

She didn’t have time to stew over this infuriating morsel of information, however, before the floor beneath her began to tremble. Wasting no time, she sprinted to the middle of the room and was surprised to find the floor now still. Had she imagined the earth quaking?

What sounded like mechanical whirring had her spinning on her heel to face the painting. Her jaw dropped to the floor at the sight of a hole in the previously-unmarred tile. From the dark pit rose one bonafide, Barney-colored supervillain, his back facing her.

“Nooroo, dark wings fall.”

Instantly, a waterfall of purple and white glitter illuminated the room. The light was so intense, Lila had to lift her arms and shield her retinas. Her heart thudded wildly against her ribcage.

Any sane person would have run away at the sight of a supervillain in their classmate’s mansion.

But not Lila.

Lila quite liked Hawk Moth. She more than shared his distaste for the superhero duo and was overjoyed whenever he graced her with the opportunity to fight them as an akuma.

She was even more overjoyed to find out her boss and Hawk Moth were not just cut from the same cloth . . .

They were the same cloth.

The man otherwise known as Gabriel Agreste stood before her, hands clenched into tight fists at his sides.

His shoulders were hunched up to his ears as he grumbled, “Blasted children. I’ll get your Miraculous one of these days--”

“Um, Master?” a tiny voice interrupted.

Lila had never seen such a thing. Was that a bug? A fairy?

“What is it, Nooroo?”

Upon Nooroo’s silence, Gabriel turned around and was incapable of hiding the shock on his face when he found Lila Rossi trespassing in his office.

“How much did you see?” he demanded, scowling.

Lila tittered behind her hand. “Even if I hadn’t seen everything, Hawk Moth, I’d still be asking you what on Earth that thing is.” She jabbed a manicured finger at Nooroo.

Upon seeing his computer on and unlocked, Gabriel lifted his chin and sneered at the fifteen year old girl who had evidently outsmarted him.

Understanding, Lila shook her head. “You really are a boomer,” she mused. “‘Password’ is the least intelligent password you could have picked.”

“I thought it was clever, Master,” Nooroo meekly added.

Desperate to get control of the situation, Gabriel folded his hands behind his back and stood until he was at his full height. “So now you know.” He dared not move from higher ground. “I can’t imagine you thought it’d be smart to confront an adult man who’s shown he has nothing to lose.”

Lila raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you have, like, a son?”

Gabriel’s gaze was unrelenting.

Lila almost pitied the oblivious blonde boy. “Whatever. I just wanted to snoop around your office. I couldn’t have possibly dreamed a juicier secret. Paris’s beloved and esteemed fashion designer doubling as its masked terrorist?”

Gabriel bristled.

Feigning nonchalance, Lila perched upon one of Gabriel’s long purple benches and crossed one leg over the other before leaning an elbow on her knee and resting her cheek in her palm. Mischief twinkled in her eyes. “Scandalous.”

“I could make your life a living hell, young lady,” Gabriel began, but Lila held up a hand, halting him in his tracks.

“No need to get defensive, Monsieur. You have nothing to fear from me.” Lila stood then and crossed the room to stand on equal footing with Gabriel. While the top of her head was far beneath the man she addressed, her confidence made her a formidable contender. She leaned forward and peered up at him. “In fact, I want to help.”

Gabriel’s fingers twitched. He knew she liked getting akumatized, but this was unexpected. His initial reaction was to shut it down. This should have never happened. He had to ensure her silence but keep her far from involved.

His curiosity, however, got the better of him. He was a businessman at heart, after all.

“Help how?” he pressed.

Lila smiled crookedly.

Hook.

“You’ve akumatized me before and we’ve caused great chaos together.” Lila fiddled with one of her foxtails as she circled Gabriel. “Can you imagine if we actually strategized an akuma?”

“Are you implying my previous akuma were unplanned?”

Line.

“Not at all!” Lila mended, already sensing that Gabriel’s pride was a sore spot. “But you catch your victims when they’re unhinged, laden with their own emotions. How many times has an akuma put their own needs before yours?”

Lila turned her back on Gabriel then and moseyed toward the benches once more. She let her hand trail along the fabric of the cushions, waiting for him to take the bait . . .

“I’m listening.”

Sinker.

“What if your akuma’s goals were aligned with yours? Everything would be calculated. Predisposed. And--” Lila couldn’t prevent the smile from bleeding into her voice “--I’ve never had a sentimonster assist me before.” Lila stopped moving but remained facing the window. The sun was nearly set now.

Heels clacked against the tile. Approaching. Lila steeled herself.

“I don’t suppose you’ll join my assistant and I out in the gardens, Mademoiselle Rossi?”

Lila grinned from ear to ear. Oh, she could just imagine the taste of Ladybug’s fear when she loomed over her, fingers pinching her earrings and just ripping them from her lobes. Would the joy blooming in her heart be overwhelming, like a banana overpowering the flavors in a smoothie? Or would it slide down her throat like her mother’s hot chocolate? Rich, creamy, satisfying, and scalding all at the same time . . . but faintly nipping at her vocal cords from the traces of cinnamon?

Was it unbecoming to hope Ladybug’s ears would bleed?

“I would love to.”

Unbecoming or not, it was her greatest desire, from both the deepest and shallowest crevices of her soul.

-----

I just released Chapter 7 over on AO3, so if you're itching for more, go check it out here and leave me some love in the comments. Comments are jet fuel for my creativity 🥰 Follow me for updates and check out my Instagram where I post art!

(5/?) Previous | Next

[botherkupo]

marinette and the moving castle (chapter 5)

woo new chapter is up!

ao3

5: in which there is much eavesdropping

Marinette hid behind a tree, peering through a pair of binoculars at Alya and Chat Noir. The two had met in the park and were taking a stroll along the walkway. So far there had been no smooching, but Marinette couldn't help but notice the way their arms brushed from time to time.

"Don't you think they're standing awfully close?" she muttered to Nino. "Acquaintances don't normally stand that close to each other, do they?"

"They do seem close," Nino agreed. He had his own binoculars in hand and stood behind Marinette, using his greater height to peer over her head. A gasp escaped his lips. "Wait, that was the smile."

Marinette scowled. The Smile™ was one of Chat Noir's signature looks when he wanted something—a smile that was too charming, too earnest, and usually meant that he was up to nothing good. She'd seen it more than once when he was trying to slither out of an awkward situation and wanted her to cover for him. Combined with the way he leaned closer and plucked something from Alya's hair, it was no wonder that Marinette's grip tightened on the binoculars.

"That shameless flirt," she muttered. "Look at him doing the whole 'You've got something in your hair' trick. I bet there was nothing even there."

"She doesn't seem to mind," Nino said a little morosely.

This was true. Alya actually returned his smile.

Marinette frowned as the two headed for a bench and sat down. They were still too close for her likings. Alya's knee was practically touching his.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Nino murmured.

"Let's find out."

"Wait—"

Marinette sprinted to the next tree, ignoring the way her old limbs creaked in protest like stiff hinges. She peered around the trunk, but Alya and Chat Noir hadn't noticed her. Excellent. She dropped to her hands and knees and crawled behind a row of bushes until their voices drifted towards her.

"You're showing a lot of concern for a girl you barely know," Alya said, arching her eyebrow. "It makes me wonder what your intentions really are."

Chat Noir placed his hand over his heart. "I promise my intentions are only the purest."

"Are they now? And what would you do if I agreed?"

He flashed The Smile™. "Well—"

"What did I miss?" Nino whispered, shuffling up behind Marinette on his elbows and knees.

"Shh," Marinette hissed. "I'm trying to listen."

"—and with your assistance, I think maybe it will work," Chat Noir finished.

Marinette's brow furrowed. What kind of flirting was this? What assistance did Chat Noir want from Alya?

"Are you two all right there?"

Marinette jumped at the unexpected voice and twisted around to find a woman peering down at them. Curiosity coloured the woman's expression, but there was an edge of suspicion as well in the way her gaze shifted from Marinette to Nino, her lips pursing slightly. (Understandable. It probably was an odd sight to find an old woman and a man hiding behind a bush.) The woman's chihuahua, which wore a little blue coat, let out a high-pitched bark.

"We're fine," Marinette said, resisting the urge to make shooing motions with her hands. "I just, uh—"

"Lost her earring," Nino supplied. "I'm helping her look for it."

More barking.

"Oh, Howl, stop that noise," the woman scolded, reaching down to give the dog a rub behind the ears.

New footsteps approached. "Is everything—ah, Édith."

Marinette winced. Slowly, very slowly, she raised her head to meet Chat Noir's amused gaze.

"Wow," she said, forcing out a laugh. "Imagine running into you here."

"Imagine," Chat Noir agreed, his eyes twinkling.

Well, crap. This was embarrassing.

The woman cast them one last nosy look before leaving with her dog, perhaps realising that she was the only one who was a stranger and had no excuse to linger. Alya, meanwhile, came over to stand beside Chat Noir.

"Were you two spying on us?" Alya demanded, ever the one to get straight to the point.

"No?" Nino said.

Marinette pressed her palm to her forehead. That sounded way too much like a question.

"Did she drag you into this?" Chat Noir asked Nino, a hint of sympathy tinging his amusement. "I'm sure it wasn't your idea."

"Uh …"

Marinette stared at Nino with betrayed eyes. He wasn't really going to throw her under the carriage, was he?

"Nope," Nino said, tugging at his collar. "No dragging was done here. We just, uh, decided to go for a walk and then Ma—Édith lost her earring and—"

"Funny," Chat Noir said, "because I can see she's wearing both of her earrings."

Marinette once again facepalmed. She loved Nino, she really did, but why did he have to be such a terrible liar?

Nino let out a small laugh that was more awkward than a fish trying to walk on land—just an ungraceful flop of a thing. "Oh? So she is. I guess she found it."

Now it was Alya's turn to press her palm to her forehead. "This is ridiculous. Just admit you were spying."

"Alright fine," Marinette said, standing up. "We were spying, but how can I not be concerned when Chat Noir decides to have private meetings with my—"

Chat Noir's mouth twitched as she fell silent. "Your?" he prompted, knowing very well she couldn't say the truth about her relationship with Alya. Or at least her fake truth. Gah, this was getting confusing.

"You know what I mean!" Marinette said with a huff.

His smile grew.

Meanwhile, Nino was casting unstable glances of admiration at Alya. When she caught his gaze, he offered an awkward wave.

"Hi again," he said. "Sorry about the whole spying thing."

"It's fine," Alya said, shaking her head. "I know what Marinette is like."

Marinette's eyes bulged as if they wanted to pop out of her skull and her heart stumbled on its rhythm. "W-wait, you just called me—how—"

"Marinette, how long have I known you?" Alya said, raising her eyebrow. "Did you really think I wouldn't recognise you?"

"But—"

Nino groaned. "Do you mean I pretended to be her grandson for nothing?"

"Pretty much." Alya patted him on the shoulder. "It was sweet you wanted to stand by your friend, but I'm not stupid and frankly you're both terrible actors."

He pulled his hat off his head and covered his face, but not before everyone saw the darkening colour on his cheeks. "No one talk to me," he muttered. "I need a moment to weep for the loss of my dignity."

Alya snorted.

"Don't worry," Chat Noir said, slinging an arm around Nino. "You tried your best, and we all know it's not easy to keep up with Marinette's spur-of-the-moment fabrications."

"You're one to talk!" Marinette said, and poked him in the chest. "What about all the times you've made me play along with your lies?"

"They were for a noble cause."

"Mine were too! I had a perfectly justifiable reason for pretending to be Édith."

Chat Noir's teeth flashed in a grin and he leaned closer, his nose almost touching hers. "And what is that reason?"

She opened and closed her mouth like a fish. "We're not having this conversation," she announced, and then latched onto Alya's arm. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to speak with her for a moment."

Alya's amusement faded as Marinette dragged her off away from the other two. "Girl, you have got so much explaining to do."

"I know, and I'm sorry I lied before and didn't tell you who I was, but I didn't want you to get dragged into this mess."

"Hey." Alya grabbed Marinette's shoulder and met her gaze. "Listen to me. You're my best friend. I'm happy to be part of your messes, okay?"

"That's why I didn't want to tell you! I don't—I can't bear the thought of you ending up like me."

Alya's grip tightened. "Like what? What happened?"

Marinette tried to say that she had been put under a curse by the Wizard of the Waste, but no words would come out of her mouth. It was like her lips had been glued shut.

"Come on, girl, you've gotta give me something to work with here."

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't," Marinette groaned.

"Sure you can. Whatever has happened to you, I can help. We can work this out together. Just please don't leave me in the dark again, okay? I've been so worried."

Tears prickled Marinette's eyes. It hurt to think that she couldn't tell Alya the truth. This was her best friend, the person who had always guarded her secrets. Yet here they were finally reunited and there was nothing that Marinette could say to explain why she had run away and abandoned her old life.

Marinette slumped against Alya's chest, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. "I … ugh, I hate the Wizard of the Waste!"

It was the most she could get out, and she could only hope it would be enough of a clue.

"The Wizard of the Waste?" Alya said. "You mean it's not Chat Noir I have to worry about?"

Marinette jerked back, her nose scrunching. "What?"

"He came snooping around your home," Alya explained. "Kept asking questions about you, so I decided to do a little investigating myself and see what he was up to."

Marinette's heart thudded faster, battering against her ribs. "He—he was asking questions about me? Me me?"

"Uh-huh. Seemed very interested in knowing all about you."

Marinette pressed her hands to her cheeks. "But I'm—Chat Noir only knows me as an old woman."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he knows you're actually twenty."

"She's only twenty?" Nino exclaimed.

Everything in Marinette's stomach plummeted. She swung around to find Chat Noir with his hand clamped over Nino's mouth and trying to drag him behind a nearby tree. They both froze when they noticed she had spotted them.

"Er, hi," Nino said, giving another awkward wave.

"Eavesdropping again?" Alya observed.

Chat Noir shrugged and gave a sheepish grin. "I was curious if you'd manage to get the truth out of her."

Marinette's cheeks burned. Her breathing quickened, caught up in a tangle of mortification and panic. Then anger threaded its way through the tangle.

"You!" she shrieked, marching over to Chat Noir. "You mean to tell me you knew I'm not old!"

He held his hands up in appeasing gesture. "Well, yeah. I'm a wizard. I could sense there was some kind of magic on you."

"And you never said anything?"

"I didn't want to offend you."

"What? What kind of excuse is that?"

"I mean I tried to remove the spell once I pieced together you weren't actually an old woman, but nothing changed." A shrug. "I figured you just liked being in disguise."

Her jaw dropped. "You thought I—why would I want to look like this?"

"I don't know," he said, spreading his hands. "It's not like you told us anything!"

"I couldn't!"

"Well, I can see that now."

Marinette scowled and folded her arms.

"Uhhh." Nino held up his finger in a tentative manner, his shoulders slightly hunched. "Not to interrupt, but would someone mind explaining what's going on?"

"My guess is that Marinette was cursed by the Wizard of the Waste," Alya said. "Right?"

Marinette let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness someone finally said it. Now I can talk about it."

Chat Noir's brow creased. "Then it was the Wizard of the Waste?"

"Yes."

His expression turned grim.

"What?" she said. "You know him?"

"Yeah …" He bit his lip and looked the other way. "Yeah, I do."

She frowned, but before she could press him further, Alya and Nino seized her attention again, demanding all the details about the curse and why the Wizard of the Waste had come after her. Marinette decided she would have to have a wee talk with Chat Noir later. For now, it seemed, she would have to satisfy everyone's curiosity.

[ladyanput]

Um Hi, if you're still doing prompts, maybe one where the class knows Lila's been lying but just wanted to put Marinette down a few pegs only for it to backfire on them?

Oh, this one sounds fun

---

Where the of Marinette being pompous was a thing, the world will never know. Alya.

When Marc heard about this from Nathaniel, the boy instantly wondered what kind of glue his boyfriend and his class had been huffing, because Marinette was the least pompous, egotistical person he knew. She was incredibly down to earth.

It all started off due to everyone in class realizing all of the accomplishments Marinette had managed to obtain; being a designer for Jagged Stone, being offered and internship by Audrey Bourgeois (and later on in life Gabriel Agreste), having a famous soup named after her, and so much more!

It wasn't that they felt inferior to their classmate, who seemed to already be a rising star. Or that she constantly flaked out in them. What, did she think she was too good for the likes of them? Pompous bitch.

So when Lila came along, they saw a golden opportunity. Sure, the girl's lies were outlandish and ridiculous, but she was their key to knocking the inspiring designer down a few pegs.

They began by excluding Marinette in a lot of activities, putting Lila in as her replacement in almost everything. To show that if Marinette didn't fix up her act, she was easily replaceable. So she'd better get back with bringing to class cake when it was someone's birthday, or helping them out with their dresses for the upcoming dance.

But it didn't seem to work. Well, not right away, but they were willing to wait, they knew it just needed time.

When they saw Marinette beginning to hang out with the likes of Aurore Beauréal, Marc Anciel, and others, a few of the classmates shrugged. She'd return eventually, she'd see how much she was missing out, as the class kept flooding their social medias with their fun times with their new best friend Lila.

They even managed to rope Adrien into the entire scheme, they just didn't tell him.

They exploited Marinette's weak spot by practically forcing Lila and Adrien to be together, to show Marinette that if she started acting less like an entitled brat, she'd get her chance with Adrien. They ignored how stressed and uncomfortable Adrien looked every time he had Lila hanging off of his arm and practically humping his leg.

Marinette... She had shed tears over all of this treatment. She had cried herself to sleep almost nightly, having fought off several akumas that had targeted her, she had been ready to give in, until Marc, after learning what Miss Bustier's class was doing, offered her a place to sit at lunch. He offered her a shoulder to cry on, but never told her what the class was doing exactly. He would later regret it and apologize, but Marinette and her big, loving heart quickly forgave him.

And one day Adrien showed up on her doorstep, looking close to tears and clearly distressed. Marinette hadn't hesitated to let him inside and took him up to her room.

This lead to Marinette sitting on her bed, while Adrien laid his head on her lap and cried.

"I can't take it anymore, Marinette, she's smothering me. She keeps making threats about my father and other stuff.." Adrien whispered, nibbling on one of the cookies Tom had brought up to try and soothe the boy.

"Well, you can come here anytime Adrien." Marinette stroked her crush's silken blond hair from his face, then gently wiped away his tears. "I promise my door is always open, Adrien, I'm always here for you."

"Really?" He whispered, looking up at her with those perfect green eyes of his.

"Of course," Marinette smiled, surprised at herself that she'd managed to form full sentences around him. But facing akumas daily and becoming Ladybug, being abandoned by her friends, amongst other things, had put a braveness in her. Suddenly, speaking to Adrien wasn't so scary, especially when she saw he wasn't perfect. He wasn't horrible, just sheltered and alone, but he was still good at heart. But the words she hadn't planned on saying had slipped from her lips. "I do love you, afterall."

It was then Paris saw an abrupt change in the relationship between Ladybug and Chat Noir, one that was less full of flirting from Chat and a new, stronger relationship of partners working together and defeated the akumas on record time.

And at school, Marinette and Adrien kept their relationship a secret, mostly due to Lila and the class, though Marinette's new friends were overjoyed for the duo. Even Luka and Kagami weren't bitter, after they had met each other and felt a spark.

But one day, there was a push too far and everyone just snapped.

"I told you I'm not going to the gala with you! I've already got a date!" Adrien snapped at Lila, shoving her grasping hands off of him in fury. Marinette stopped her progress to her next class and turned to watch the scene, frowning in concern.

"But Adrien, you wouldn't want to make me upset, your father-" Lila began, narrowing her eyes as she reached out for him.

"Can back off! You need to back off, so do the rest of you!" Adrien turned and pointed right at his class, glaring at them. "Stop trying to push me into a relationship with Lila, I don't even like her. I'm already dating someone!"

"Adrien, don't be silly!" Alya let out a strained laugh, catching sight of Marinette from the corner of her eye. "Lila's practically in love with you, you'd make the most adorable couple."

"Leave him alone, Alya." Marinette strode up in a fury, taking Adrien's hand and holding it tight. "If he doesn't want to be about Lila, you shouldn't force him. He's not some toy for your entertainment."

"Oh please, girl, you're just jealous." Alya snorted, crossing her arms as she cocked a hip. "Don't be so salty because you missed your chance to date him."

"Alya, she's the one in dating." Adrien said flatly, pulling Marinette closer as the class blinked with surprise.

"What...?" Alya whispered weakly, her face going pale, before cursing very explicitly. "Dammit, Adrien, this ruins the entire plan!"

"Plan?" Marinette's brows furrowed as she stared at her former best friend. "What plan?"

The class exchanged glances as Alya suddenly got an annoyed look on her face.

"The plan to get you off of your high horse, duh." Alya rolled her eyes, then motioned over to Lila. "We've had to put up with this self centered idiot for almost five months, but it almost worked. But now Adrien ruined it by dating you!"

"High horse?" Marinette felt her cheeks warm in embarrassment at their words, before fury settled in. "What high horse? What did I ever do to make you guys think I suddenly act like I was on one?"

"I mean, your accomplishments with Jagged Stone, Audrey Bourgeois..." Kim began listing off, their other classmates joining in while Lila looked like she'd been slapped. No one had believed her all this time? She had just been some pawn in their ploy to send their always down to earth friend to basically grovel.

Wow and she thought she was evil. But this class took the cake.

"You mean the stuff I earned?" Marinette teared up as a crowd began to firm, observing the entire scene unfolding. "I... I can't believe I cried myself to sleep over you guys! You put me through all of that just because I'm succeeding in life?! When did I ever hold any of my accomplishments over your heads?! When did I brag, when did I gloat?! When was I a horrible friend?!"

Everyone watched as Marinette burst into heartbroken sobs and curled into Adrien, who glared at his class. Marc and Aurora rushed forward and ushered the weeping girl away, while Adrien turned towards the class, his expression full of fury.

"You accused Marinette of jealousy, when really you guys are the jealous ones. Wow, I just... You guys really are trash. You're worse than my father, worse than Lila, even. I can't believe.. Believe I wanted to be your friends."

"Wait, dude.." Nino stepped forward, but Adrien held up a hand to silence him and rushed off after his girlfriend and her friends, leaving Miss Bustier's class to stand there, shellshocked while the rest of the student body looked at them in disgust.

That was the day the class became a social pariah at the school. Many friendships and relationships were broken because of the stunt they pulled. Chloé, who had not participated because that whole scheme wasn't worth her time, finally did go to New York with her mother. Adrien and Marinette transferred to a different class and suddenly the class seemed less bright. No cakes, no special presents or favours.

Meanwhile, Marinette felt estatic. She was dating Adrien, Jagged let it slip to the media that she was his new designer, and her website; MDC, was blowing up. And she was surrounded by loving friends and family, while her old friends were on the outside looking in, wondering where they had gone wrong.

Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @ravennightingaleandavatempus @2sunchild2 @crazylittlemunchkin @bee-wrecker @souleateralicestein @loysydark @kceedraws @realrandomposts @alienjoyful

@virgil-is-a-cutie @sidessunnybumblebee @persephonebutkore @suzen23smith @luciferge @theelventhgod @noirdots @space--butterflies @ghostglaceon @magicalfirebird @goggles-mcgee @chocolate1721 @minightrose @bookcrazybby @cupcakeandkisses @mewwitch

[nobodyfamousposts]

BURN THE WITCH! Part 4

It took more time than it should have to lose the akuma and her followers. Partly because of the shoes and the disguise as a whole doing more to slow her down than it did to protect her. Mostly because of just how many people were currently after her—and wow, was it a lot!

But she had managed to not only escape with life and hair intact (despite the attempts of the damn hairnet), but also find a place to hide until the akuma was dealt with.

From what she had observed, the akuma’s effects were carried by hearing her speak from that scroll of hers. Almost immediately after spouting off something else from the “list”, anyone within earshot would join the increasing number of minions, even if they had just been trying to run away moments prior. It was like the akuma could incite anger in anyone…self-righteous anger, and all of it specifically targeted at Lila.

She was going to have words with Hawk Moth about this. If he had an akuma able to enthrall people like this, why hadn’t he given it to her? She could have made much better use of it than Rose, of all people. Now he had an akuma solely focused on revenge instead of the masterpiece Lila could have been. Honestly, she would have Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated by now!

As it was, Lila had to survive. And to do so, she had to make do with her own skills.

Fortunately, the akuma’s reach—while growing—was only as far as people could hear her. Which made the boat at the Seine a perfect place to hide out.

Especially since the old woman and her son living there were easily drawn in.

“It’ll be all right, lass. You’re safe here.” The woman said, reassuringly. “We’ll man the gunnery if any of those fools try anything. They can’t get to you here.”

“Thank you! I just…I just don’t know why this would happen.” Lila gave another well timed but ultimately fake sob into her hands.

“Don’t worry.” The guy—a teenager, and not a bad looking one, either—rested a hand on her shoulder. “Ladybug and Chat Noir will fix this soon enough.”

Lila forced herself to smile. “I hope they do.”

If only because this was the one akuma she didn’t want to see win. Otherwise, she would fully be cheering for their demise. Possibly with popcorn.

Assuming she wasn’t the one doing it herself, of course.

“Luka, keep an eye out in case someone followed her here.” The woman ordered.

“On it.” Luka, apparently, guided Lila to the couch to rest before he moved to another part of the room. The woman took a pair of binoculars to one of the windows, trying to peer through them to see further into the distance.

Lila sighed and was preparing to finally relax.

“Why is the akuma after you, anyway?” He asked while grabbing something from the corner.

To her credit, Lila did acknowledge that Marinette had at least tried to help her. And surely the girl who helps everyone would want to continue to be of use. Even if she wouldn’t necessarily like what Lila was currently using her for.

But in Lila’s defense, Marinette DID shove her in a closet.

“I was helping with a friend’s charity work and some money went missing. There was a huge fight over it today and one of my classmates tried to blame me for the loss.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I know!” Lila continued, hiding a smile. “Rose is kind, but she is so forgetful that she could have lost the money anywhere. Then Marinette took advantage of the opportunity to claim I did it.”

Luka paused at that. “What?”

Lila nodded, mournfully. “She’s been against me from the first day I started school.”

Technically true.

“She’s been bullying me, calling me names, trying to convince everyone I’m a liar.”

Also technically true.

“I’m sure she was happy to paint me as the villain today, and everyone believed her.” Lila proclaimed with a little sob. “Nobody would even listen to me! Then Rose got mad and became an akuma, and Marinette left me to perish!”

“That doesn’t sound like Marinette.”

Immediately, all thoughts halted as she realized her mistake.

These two knew Marinette.

Okay, no big deal. She can just spin it.

“That was what I thought, too. But she showed her true colors when I tried to make friends with her! I even offered to help her with her crush on Adrien. But she’s just so jealous.” Lila insisted, laying on the charm and tears. “She’s been telling everyone such horrible things about me.”

Luka’s frown only increased though.

“She hasn’t mentioned you to me.”

She shook her head. “Then I’m sorry, but it seems you don’t know her that well.”

“What are you talking about?” The mother demanded, confused and annoyed. “That girl comes over here all the time. She’s a wonderful girl and a wonderful friend to our daughter.”

Wait…daughter?

The boy narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion.

“Where was Juleka in all this, if what you’re saying is true?”

“She wasn’t there.” Lila said, thinking quickly. Better not to implicate their daughter or try to throw her under the bus if they were getting suspicious already. “I know if she had been, things could have worked out. She’s such a good friend, and would never think badly of me.”

But Luka only looked angrier. He held up a remote.

“Then why is she with the mob?”

Lila spun in surprise at the sudden blast of sound. It turned out that the thing he had grabbed before was the remote to the television. Which was on—if muted during Lila’s story-telling.

On the screen, the akuma was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower reading from her list. The video showed Witch Hunter and her followers in full detail. Including Juleka.

Juleka, whom Lila was now realizing had to be the daughter and sister of the two in the room with her.

“She’s been influenced by the akuma! It’s her power.” Lila explained hastily.

But Luka chose to ignore her in favor of unmuting the television, which showed the akuma speaking and reading more of Lila’s crimes from the list. The scroll almost seemed to glow momentarily before she started to read.

“This just in! The Witch just tried to turn two innocents against Marinette and even their own family member. She lied about the cause of the fight! And this is after she already tried to sacrifice Marinette to save her own skin!”

Both mother and son froze at that.

“WHAT?!”

And as if it couldn’t get worse for her, the news proceeded to play a video from earlier. One that Lila had not realized was being recorded at the time.

It showed in full detail the inopportune moment where Lila shoved Marinette out from behind their shared hiding space and attempted to direct the mob’s anger onto the clumsy girl.

Slowly. Slowly…they both turned on her, furious.

“It’s not what it looks like!” She tried to claim. “She was already part of the mob and I was trying to get away from her. I was in danger!”

The two glared at her, clearly not buying it.

It seemed Lila had made a miscalculation as to the limits of the akuma’s range of influence.

Or perhaps it was just that she hadn’t counted on her would-be rescuers being family to one of her classmates.

The woman glowered at her. Without even looking, she grabbed a sword off of the mantle and pointed it at Lila with a ferocity she hadn’t seen before. In that moment, she appeared every bit the pirate she had previously been pretending to be.

“Make her walk the plank!” She yelled.

“We don’t have a plank, mom.” Luka growled, seeming downright disappointed by the fact.

“Then throw her overboard!”

It seemed her sanctuary was short-lived.

_____________________

“Kettle corn! Ready-to-cook over a fire kettle corn!”

Marinette sighed. “Master, not you, too.”

The man cheerfully sold a container to a customer, completely disregarding the problem as well as Marinette’s presence.

“Master Fu, please! The akuma is influencing everyone! Even Tikki is affected! And if I don’t do something soon, they’re going to burn Lila at the stake!”

The man gave her a blank stare.

“And what part of that is supposed to be the problem?” He asked.

“See? He gets it!” Tikki chirped.

“Sometimes, Marinette, an infected bud must be pruned for other flowers to grow.” Fu stated calmly as he imparted his wisdom.

“But flowers aren’t people!”

“It’s a metaphor.”

“Flowers don’t scream when you prune them!” Marinette shouted.

Tikki floated up to her chosen, trying to calm her. “Marinette, sometimes an akuma can actually be a good thing! Remember Bubbler?”

Marinette just gave her a dry look. “You mean when you lectured me for stopping Chloe from kissing Adrien, said it was an abuse of my powers, and emphasized doing the right thing? Remember that? The right thing? The moral choice that involves NOT letting people die just because you don’t like them?”

“This girl has been an obstacle to you and an ally to Hawk Moth.” Fu pointed out. “Would it not be better to simply let her be removed?”

She moaned. Honestly, it annoyed her when Tikki or Fu lectured her and had to be the voice of reason and morals she was pushed to adhere to rather than the support she needed in the moment. But this wasn’t support. It was just life throwing more temptation at her by having two of the people whose moral compasses she trusted pushing her to not care!

Give her a break, life! She’s having a hard enough time as it is!

"No!” She insisted. “I need the Dragon miraculous to stop this akuma! So please, help me!" 

"Another time perhaps, now is the time for popcorn!"

Marinette glared, put off at the way Fu ignored her to sell another container of popcorn to a customer.

Might as well try to take advantage of the situation though. While Fu was distracted, Marinette attempted to reach around him for the gramophone.

Fu slapped her hand.

She grabbed her hand in surprise before looking at him with a pout.

Master Fu didn’t even react.

She growled.

“Okay, that’s it!”

Later, Marinette decided as she picked up one of the pans, she would let herself feel bad for this.

Much later.

[miraculousamara]

The link is the part prior to the rest of it. Well both are chapter two, but still.

Scene: The locker room. Ivan is upset. The akuma flies in and infects Ivan's wadded-up song lyrics.

Hawk Moth: (from his lair) This is your second chance, Stoneheart, and this time you have extra help. No one will stop you from capturing the love of your life. Just remember, I'll need something in return.

(Ivan is akumatized into Stoneheart again. He opens his eyes and all the other stone beings across Paris start waking up.)

------------------

Cameron's POV:

"I'm gonna take attendance." Miss Bustier says

"Agreste, Adrien." She says

"You say present." I hear Nino whisper

Adrien jumps up and raises his hand.

"PRESENT!" He yells

I can't help myself from laughing. But Chloe doesn't glare at me because she's doing it too.

Adrien sits back down and Nino and him fist-bump.

"Um Bourgeois, Cameron." She says

"Present." I say

"Bourgeois,Chloe." She says

"Present." Chloe says

"Um Bruel, Ivan?" She asks

Suddenly the door is knocked down.

"PRESENT!" Stoneheart bellows.

"Stoneheart?" I say

"MYLENE!" He shouts and grabs her

"Let me go Ivan." She says

"I'm Stoneheart now." He says

"Why are you doing this?" Mylene asks

"So we can be together forever." He says

I see Chloe on her phone.

Oh no, she's gonna drag attention to herself isn't she?

"Daddy! The monster is back!" Chloe says

"Chloe!" I say jumping in front of her, but he grabs both of us

Stoneheart breaks a wall, and jumps out with us.

"Put us down Ivan!" Mylene says

-----------------

"You are so utterly ridiculous Cameron!" Chloe says

"What did I do wrong this time?" I ask

"Everything!" Chloe yells

"Hey buddy! You have no idea who you're dealing with! My daddy, the mayor will bring the army, the police and the entire calvary!" Chloe yells

"And don't forget the superheroes!" Says Cat Noir

"Chloe please stop talking, I don't want to get crushed!" I say worried

"Cat Noir!" I say relieved

He hits Stoneheart and he grows.

"My bad.." he says

"You mean the super incompetent!" Chloe says

"And here I thought you were related." He jokes

"Please save us Cat Noir." I say

"You wanted the calvary? Well here it is!" Stoneheart says as the Stonebeings come around Cat Noir, trying to capture him.

"Watch out!" Mylene says

"Where are we going Ivan?" She asks

"We'll deliver a message,  then be brought together forever by a pretty black butterfly." He says

"All this lovey dovey stuff is making me sick!" Says Chloe

"Don't worry monsters, I'll take care of you soon too!" He says

-----------------

At the Eiffel Tower

"Let go of my daughters!" My father yells through a megaphone

"You know what? You're welcome to them!" Stoneheart yells throwing us.

"Help!" I yell

"I'm gonna die with my evil sister!" I say a little more quietly

"Help! I promise I'll be nice to everyone, say please and thank you all-" Chloe says

Ladybug catches us.

"I didn't promise." Chloe says

"What?" Ladybug says

Chloe and I for once have the same idea and rush to our father. I mean this is all strange and confusing..

We hug him.

"My little princesses." He says

"Time to attack! We're all clear!" Says Officer Roger

Has he not been paying attention? They just get stronger with each attack..

"Wait don't! They'll only get stronger!" Ladybug pleads

"Unlike you guys, we actually have a new plan! So step aside and let the pros handle this! You've already failed once!" He says

Well that's just rude.

I watch the confidence drain from Ladybug until she is given a pep talk by Cat Noir.

Suddenly Stoneheart starts coughing profusely until a cloud of black butterflies form the face of what appears to be some sort of man.

"Daddy.. what is that?" I ask

"I wish I knew." He says honestly

"People of Paris, listen to the words I speak. I am Hawkmoth." Says the cloud.

"Did he say Hawkmoth was his name?" I ask

"He must be the head supervillain.." I say

"Oh shut up Cameron." Chloe says

He's made up of the butterflies, I mean it is a reasonable assumption. But Chloe just hates when I speak I think.

"Ladybug and Cat Noir give up the ring and the earrings now. You've caused enough damage to these innocent people!" He says

"They've caused damage?!" I shout

"You're the one who created a supervillain who threw me and almost turned me into a Cameron Pancake!" I yell angrily

"Yeah nice try Hawkmoth. But everyone here knows who the supervillain creating bad guy is here. So don't even bother trying to reverse the roles." Ladybug says

"Let me promise you this! No matter how long it takes we will find you! And you will give us your miraculous!" She yells

"Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug yells as she swipes up the black butterflies.

Wow she's so cool!

"Let me make this promise to you Parisians! No matter what dangers await us in the future, Ladybug and Cat Noir will always be here to protect you!" She says

Suddenly thousands of white butterflies fly out from her yo-yo.

"That's the problem with heroes! They're too heroic! Stoneheart, they're trying to separate you from the one you love! The only way to stop them is by taking their miraculouses." I hear Hawkmoth tell Stoneheart

"Yes Hawkmoth!" He says

"Help me!" I hear Mylene shout.

"You'll never take her from me!" He yells

"Ladybug we're surrounded! We need a plan!" Says Cat Noir

"I've got one! Lucky Charm!" She says

A parachute falls into her hand.

"Help me! I'm scared of heights!" Mylene says

"Don't worry! We'll save you!" Ladybug says

"Are you sure this plan will work?" Cat Noir asks

"I sure hope so!" Ladybug says

She uses her yo-yo to wrap Stoneheart's hand up. As she pulls on it, Mylene ends up kissing Stoneheart.

He lets go, Mylene grabs a hold of his finger.

Cat Noir throws a dark purple object up to Ladybug who crushes it with her yo-yo.

The black butterfly flies out.

"De-evilize!" She says

As she's about to catch the butterfly, Stoneheart changes back to Ivan, and he and Mylene start falling fast.

"Cat Noir! Get Ivan!" Ladybug says

"Cataclysm!" He yells

He slides down the Eiffel Tower with Ivan.

Ladybug uses the parachute to land safely with Mylene, while capturing the butterfly.

"Bye bye little butterfly.."

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She yells throwing the parachute into the air.

Suddenly millions of tiny little Ladybugs start repairing all damage caused by the incident.

"Wow this is Amazing!" Cat Noir says

"Yeah. It's.. Miraculous!" Ladybug says

------

"Chloe, Daddy, let's go home." I say

"I agree, I've had far too much excitement in one day." Chloe says

--------------------

The Next Day, at school

Lucky for me I made it to class before Chloe and Sabrina for once, because I decided not to wait up for them.

Marinette and Alya enter the classroom.

"Wait Alya, here." Marinette says motioning to the seats in front of me.

I smirk lightly.

"Ugh! You're in the wrong seat! Get lost!" Chloe says

"Well guess what Chloe, All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good people do nothing!" Marinette says

Maybe she's right...

Maybe today is the day I stand up for myself too..

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Chloe asks

"It means that I'm not putting up with your crud anymore, Chloé, and neither is anyone else around here, so take your attitude and go on, get lost!" She says

I stand up.

"You know what Chloe, she's right!" I say

"Cameron don't you dare say another word!" Chloe says

Everyone gasps shocked.

"No! Chloe I'm done. I want to be me! Not you! I'm done being a mean, bossy, bulky like you all the time. I'm done wearing what you tell me to! I'm done doing what you want me to! We may be twins, but I am my own person and I'm gonna prove it!" I say

Everyone starts clapping.

I blush when I realize I said I everything.

"Take that back now!" Chloe says

"No! For the first time in a long time, I'm proud of myself and mean every word I've said!" I say

"And Chloe your attitude is Utterly Ridiculous, so just sit down already!" I say

She gasps angrily and sits in Marinette's old seat.

All the other students laugh at her..

"Woah.. I can't believe I just did that." I say

"Marinette.. your confidence inspired me, thank you." I say with a smile.

"Really?" She asks

"Yeah." I say smiling again

"I'm glad I could help." She says

----------------

After class

"Just so you know, you'll regret siding with Dupain-Cheng over me." Chloe says

"You know what Chloe.." I say

"Bring it on." I say

[milknette]

day 30 - roommates

promise me you’ll stay, beyond the sunrise.

tumblr month: @auyeahaugust

links: ao3 | ff.net

i.

MARINETTE doesn't know how he got her address.

She'd only moved in that day, after a haphazard decision to do so for independence and freedom in her own work. (Though the whole Ladybug-and-unexplained-disappearances thing when living her parents was a huge factor, too.)

Scratch that, it's probably the onlyfactor.

If it weren't for her parents' growing suspicion and concern due to her heroic escapades, Marinette would still choose to stay at home and with them; or at the very least, stay nearby.

She had to move a good distance away— a bus ride or so, in order to rationalize with her parents why she had to move out. ("But why do you have to leave?" "Moving would be easier for me to do my work! It cuts down on transportation time a lot.")

Never mind that as Ladybug, she can move from one side of Paris to another in mere minutes.

The apartment itself is quite modest, with enough space for her to live comfortably (but not much for anything else). Nino, Alya, and Adrien had helped her move in all her stuff, though quite a few were still left untouched inside their boxes.

It's more a reflection of Marinette's need for privacy than their helpfulness as friends, though— since a hefty amount of the items in those containers hold her carefully-curated collection of Adrien Agreste collectibles, limited edition items, and posters.

So. Many. Posters.

(It's been years, but her crush on him has only grown all the more intensely. She's grown out of her stuttering phase, fortunately, but the butterflies in her stomach don't fade, either.)

Exhaustedly, Marinette lies on her mattress.

They only left an hour ago… is it okay to miss them this much?

She's not accustomed to the quiet, especially with the bustling energy of her family and the customers that arrive for their daily dose of caffeine in the early mornings. The lack of aromatic scents of freshly-baked breads and desserts as she lays down is a stark reminder that she's not home anymore.

Marinette sighs to herself.

Maybe she's lonely.

Just a little bit.

It's in that exact moment someone comes knocking on her balcony door. The balcony is a good amount smaller than the one she had at home, only really enough for a few plants and one person—

Or one disguised cat-themed hero.

His smile's bright as she pushes away the curtain and opens the sliding door.

Chat Noir doesn't even wait for a verbal invitation; he walks inside, looking around in wonder.

"Wow, you've already unpacked a lot," he starts, noticing her sewing machine set up on a desk nearby. "You already took it out?"

An eyebrow raised. "Yeah… why?"

"I thought you were setting up your sewing area last," he starts, before absurdly coughing to himself at her suspicious glance. "I mean, considering that it's the only one without a designated space… I thought you'd do everything else first, because it's common sense, right?"

Hmmm.

"That was the original plan," she finally admits. "But I have commissions to work on, so I decided to keep it there. Temporarily, at the very least." Chat Noir nods, before Marinette gestures at him. "So… how did you find out about here?"

"What do you mean?"

"My apartment?" She asks, leaning upon the door frame. "I don't recall telling you where I was moving."

"Oh…," he pauses, sifting through her boxes. "Uh, superhero, remember? Ladybug and I make it a point to know where everybody is at all times. To protect the citizens of Paris and all that!"

Well, that's not even the slightest bit true, but it's not as if Marinette can rebuff him.

So, she nods in fake understanding instead and shrugs.

"That doesn't explain what you're doing here, though?"

Chat Noir smiles. "I figured that you'd meowss the company. You moved pretty far from your friends." He sounds almost sad at that revelation, and Marinette almost feels sorry.

(What would he be so sad for? It's not like she moved far away from him.

Though she wouldn't really know, if she did.)

"Well, I can't say that I don't appreciate you showing up." She smiles, eyes bright.

It's a sweet moment.

Until:

"You can help me unpack everything else."

(They spend the rest of the night unpacking things, but Marinette insists that one box be left alone. When Chat Noir accidentally sees a peak of an all-too-familiar model's poster flap out from its cover…

he thankfully decides against mentioning it.)

.

.

ii.

Chat Noir makes it a point to regularly stop by her apartment.

(Even at times he should be busy and on patrol— though more often than not, Marinette can't find it in herself to be angry at him.)

She still doesn't see her friends and family that often, but being with him, she finds, lessens the loneliness a lot; to the point that she finds herself more fulfilled, if anything.

At first, she figured that he'd get tired of him— seeing him both as Ladybug and Marinette, and so often, but it's the complete opposite. They talk about and do everything together, with her learning so much more about him than she'd ever expected to.

If anything, Chat Noir is good and fun company, even though she'll never admit it to his face.

It's a few months into their arrangement of random meetings when Marinette makes the mistake of going to her apartment straight home as Ladybug.

"… milady? What are you doing here?"

She pauses as she reaches for the balcony door, belatedly noticing that Chat Noir follows right after her. He's perched on the balcony railings, staring at her with confusion and almost suspicion.

Oops.

"Chat?! What are you doing here?" She points at him accusingly, almost stumbling backward. "I thought you said you were going straight home after the akuma!"

"Yeah…," he starts, eyebrows knitting together. "But I always stop by Marinette's to check on her if she's doing okay. She just moved away recently, and I just want to make sure she doesn't feel lonely or sad or anything." He pauses, realizing how his statement may sound. "I mean, speaking as a superhero, you know… I can't risk her getting akumatized! Especially since she's Multimouse and all…"

"That's actually… pretty sweet of you Chat."

He smiles softly, before suddenly narrowing his eyes. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here, though?"

She halts, evidently caught off-guard. "I— uh—"

"Ladybug… visiting Marinette… in her apartment… that means…"

"Wait, don't connect the dots—"

"Marinette's planning a surprise for me!"

"I'm not—

Wait. What?"

She's never seen Chat Noir look so excited.

"I knew she was planning something for me! You know, last time I came over, we were talking about birthdays, and I told her it was some time around this month… is that what the two of you were planning all this time? Ack, this is pawsitvely exciting my tails on end!"

Ladybug wonders how he can be so smart but so dumb at the same time.

(Well, whatever the case— it works out well for her.)

Ladybug smiles. "You know I can' tell you that!" Her voice is a notch higher than usual, as she playfully and awkwardly punches his shoulder. "… pal! Now go home and let us plan your surprise, okay?"

"Can I get a hint?!"

"Uh. Cats." She stops, almost similar to the way a robot would if they were to malfunction. "Yup. Cats. Like you. Now that's all!"

She pushes at him, before he finally relents and leaves the balcony.

The next day, Chat Noir comes to Marinette's apartment, and sees his surprise:

A cat-themed party.

Marinette looks absolutely exhausted, but seeing Chat Noir's bright smile— she doesn't quite mind it.

"Happy birthday, kitty: however old you are, and whenever your birthday really is!"

They spend the rest of the night celebrating together.

(Adrien's birthday happens a week later, and she's surprised to find out that he wants to spend it treating her out, just the two of them. She wonders why he doesn't want a birthday party, and he explains that he already had one— and nothing could top how perfect it was.

They spend the day going around together, and end it as he drops her off at her apartment. Alya and Nino insist it's a date.

Marinette vaguely wonders to herself if it was.)

.

.

iii.

Chat Noir stops by when Adrien doesn't.

Marinette rereads the text over and over again:

I'm so, so, sorry, Mari. My dad's not letting me out until I finish all the work I do. Let's hang out another time, okay? Miss you, Alya, and Nino a lot!

She sighs, walking over to turn off the oven. The scent of passionfruit macarons makes their way around the apartment, as she carefully puts them into a container. Her outfit, a nicely-fitted red dress— the one Alya calls the first date dress, shines in the room light.

It's a strong inner debate as to whether Marinette should call her friends, but she ultimately decides against it.

(It'd be mean to burst into their lives with last-minute plans, and she especially doesn't want to disappoint them with the news that her dinner-with-Adrien-and-confess-your-love plan had failed spectacularly— before she could even do anything about it.

Marinette figures that she'll just disappoint them later on.)

She raises the container of sweets to her face. "So, what should I do with this…?"

"I'd like to try them."

She almost drops the macarons as a sudden voice bounces off the walls, clutching her heart in evident surprise. "Chat? What the heck, don't scare me like that! How long were you standing there?"

He looks almost sheepish. "A few minutes… I tried knocking, but you seemed so distracted in your thoughts so I just came in." His expression turns concerned. "Are you okay?"

She shrugs. "Just a little upset, but nothing new, really."

"I'm sorry."

Marinette shakes her head. "What are you sorry for? It's not your fault." She sighs to herself, before offering the container to him. "Anyway, do you want to try this? I'm not sure if you'll like it because it's passionfruit, but…"

"Are you kidding me, I love passionfruit! It's my favorite flavor!"

He beams, before quickly taking a bite of the snack, and breathing dreamily to himself. "These taste amazing." Then, a pause. "But are you sure I should eat this? Didn't you make it for someone?"

Marinette laughs softly, then walks over to sit on the couch, gesturing for him to come next to him.

"Chat, do you love anyone?"

The question is upfront and straightforward, and he's evidently surprised by it.

After the initial shock, though, he smiles to himself. "Of course I do. She's the purrfect girl, andI think about her a lot more than I should," he says, staring at her for a good moment.

Marinette doesn't know how to describe how his stare makes her feel.

"I love someone too," she finally admits.

The words hang in the air, and Chat Noir doesn't know what to say.

"He's a lucky guy," he finally breathes, a sad look in his eyes.

"You'd think," she laughs to herself, almost bitterly. "But I don't think he feels the same way, or if he ever will."

"What do you mean— who wouldn't fall in love with you?! You're kind, and sweet, and pretty on a regular day but tonight you're absolutely stunning…"

"Haha, thanks kitty," she mutters, before holding on to her dress. "I even dressed up for him today…"

A quiet pause.

"Wait… the guy you were supposed to meet today is the one you're in love with?'

She nods silently. "Adrien Agreste. He's a good friend of mine, it's just that my feelings are something so much more than that…"

Marinette isn't looking at him directly, so she's surprised to notice him abruptly stand up.

"Sorry, I have to go."

"Chat? I'm sorry if this was too much but…"

"I'll see you around, Marinette."

It's the lack of a playful nickname that gets her.

Almost frozen, she somehow manages to nod.

And Chat Noir disappears into the night.

.

.

iv.

The next time they patrol, Chat Noir tells Ladybug they need to talk.

"Are you sure I can't reveal my true identity to anyone?"

Her answer is instantaneous. "Of course. It's too risky." She pauses, then almost careful: "Why do you ask?"

(Things have become more awkward since the last time Chat Noir went to her apartment; when he just left her without explanation and stopped showing up completely. They still meet as heroes, but it's become much more strained since then.)

He sighs to himself. "It's just… I'm in love." Chat Noir pauses, then immediately backtracks. "Not with you, of course. Not anymore. I respect that you love someone else, and I've finally fallen for someone different. And I don't want to reveal too much but… she loves me back."

Marinette feels happy for him, of course, but can't quite explain why her stomach churns uncomfortably at the idea of him being in love with someone else.

"Then, what's the problem?"

He laughs bitterly to himself. "She fell for my civilian identity."

Oh.

"So you want her to know you're the same person?"

Chat Noir pauses for a moment, as if in thought, then shakes his head. "No," he finally says. "I just want to be sure she loves the entire me, and not just the perfect character I keep up in real life. I want her to fall in love with Chat Noir, too. Because this identity's just as much a part of me as Adr— as my civilian self is."

Silence, again.

"As a superhero and the Guardian, I cannot stress the importance of keeping your identity secret. Even if it is someone you love." He winces, and she presses on. "But as your friend, I want you to be happy, kitty. So, do what you must." She smiles at him. "I know you'll do what's right."

The superhero smiles back, then abruptly gets up.

"Then if you don't mind, milady… I have somewhere to be."

By the time Chat Noir arrives at Marinette's apartment, she's already home.

"What are you doing here, Chat?"

"… for two things. Do you mind if I come in?"

She doesn't exactly willing to do so, but lets him in anyway.

"The first part is an apology." He looks at her, evidently ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry I just left like that back then. I shouldn't have left without an explanation, and it was one of the worst things I've ever done. I'm so sorry."

"As you should be," she only says, before sighing to herself. "And the second part?"

"An explanation."

"Better keep it short."

"I can summarize it in three words."

She looks up at him, suddenly intrigued. "Which is?"

"I love you."

(The dots connect themselves even without Marinette willing them to, and she catches on before Chat Noir even realizes the situation they're in.

Knowing about her address, his birthday celebrations, his love for passionfruit, the mysterious person he was in love with—is in love with, and his abrupt disappearance after her confession…

How did she not realize it before?)

The faces of two people Marinette love dearly start blending into one.

She never knew it would be possible to feel so much for one person.

Marinette starts laughing, tears in her eyes, as everything becomes that much clearer.

She smiles.

"I love you too—

Adrien."

(He almost falls off the balcony.

Fortunately, however— this time there's somebody around to catch him.)

.

.

v.

He knocks on the correct door, this time around.

And with him, a ton of boxes and containers that tower almost menacingly around his figure.

"Sorry I had to use this door," he starts. "But my stuff wouldn't fit through the balcony."

Marinette laughs, before putting her hands to fold in front of her chest.

"That's a lot of boxes," she observes. "I don't recall you having that much of a problem with my stuff back then."

"That's because I only stayed the night."

"And now?"

He smiles, then presses a sudden kiss to her lips.

"Hopefully, I'm staying the rest of my life."

She huffs at the sudden surprise, then smiles back softly.

"I wouldn't be opposed to that."

[songsofacagedbird]

Is that BALIAN “BALO” DRISKELL? Wow, they do look a lot like EMILIIE DE RAVIN I hear SHE is an EIGHTEEN year old high school SENIOR. Word is they are a REGULAR student at Luxor Academy. You should watch out because they can be NAIVE and SENSITIVE, but on the bright side they can also be BUBBLY and OPTIMISTIC. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself.

the basics //

Full Name: Balian “Balo” Grace Driskell

Preferred Name: Balo Driskell

Age: 18

Birthday: February 23rd

Zodiac: Pisces

Gender & Pronouns: Woman (She/Hers)

Sexuality: Balo doesn’t label her sexuality, she’s part of the LGBT+ community (and has canonly dated both girls and boys) but she doesn’t feel comfortable labeling it personally.

Occupation: N/A, she occasionally does commissions though (both art and in like making clothes)

Relationship Status: In a relationship with Cade Carroll (npc) since early May 

Place of Birth: Rochester, New York

Hometown: Saratoga Springs, New York

Country of Citizenship: United States

Languages Spoken: English (first) and French

deeper dive //

Hobbies and Talents:

 ○ Sketching (in particular people and animals, an inspiration board for her sketch book can be found here.)

 ○ Painting

 ○ Gymnastics (her leg is her left leg! By “her leg” I mean the leg she leads off with / does her split with for her floor routine / has better balance)

 ○ Fashion Design and Sewing

 ○ Cheerleading

 ○ Gymnastics

 ○ Yoga

 ○ Roller Skating

 ○ Scrapbooking

 ○ Dancing (a hobby, not a talent)

 ○ She can touch her nose with her tongue

Favorites:

 ○ Color: The entire rainbow, Balo has issues with picking one favorite color so she doesn’t choose.

 ○ Food: Balo’s not the biggest on food but she has a weakness for popcorn. Extra butter, light on the salt.

 ○ Animal: Cats

 ○ Drink: Hot Chocolate

 ○ Flower: Sunflowers

 ○ Book: a fairy tale collection she got from Zander when she was a child

 ○ Holiday: Christmas, to the point she’ll start decorating as early as she can. (June? Why not!)

 ○ Movie: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

 ○ Scent: Strawberries, real a bit more than the artificial but she adores both.

 ○ Place: Her “little art studio” (technically just a corner of her room with her art supplies).

 ○ Quote:

“Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.” - Unknown

Bêtes Noires:

 ○ Color: Dark brown, although she won’t admit to it

 ○ Food: Chicken à la King

 ○ Animal: Spiders, Balo does not like spiders and would like to stay far away from them

 ○ Drink: Matcha

 ○ Flower: Nepenthes peltata

 ○ Book: The Divergent Books

 ○ Holiday: 4th of July

 ○ Movie: Rugrats in Paris, she thinks it’s practically a horror movie

 ○ Scent: Garlic

 ○ Place: The Driskell family home in Saratoga Springs

health //  

Conditions:

          ○ Anorexia Nervosa

          ○ HIV

Allergies: N/A

Sleeping Habits: Balo gets to bed usually at a good time and sleeps 8 hours at a shot.

Exercise Habits: She exercises multiple times of day, between gymnastics and cheerleading, it’s important she’s in prime shape. Dance and Yoga are her go-tos outside of practice.

Addictions: N/A

Drug Use: Very rarely. After a bad LSD trip (when she wasn’t aware she was being drugged until after the fact), she’s very wary of drugs on average.

Alcohol Use: Occasionally. Balo doesn’t have a high alcohol tolerance, she gets tipsy after one drink and if she keeps drinking, after a couple the odds of her stripping are extremely high. (It’s not a sexual thing, she overheats and doesn’t really think about the consequences).

personality //  

MBTI: ESFP

Enneagram: 2w3 (The Helper with The Achiever Wing)

Alignment: Neutral Good

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Percy Jackson Parent: Iris

Pokémon Type: Dragon

Pokémon Subtype: Ghost

Winx: Nature

appearance //  

Height:  5′11” – not at fc height (I enjoy her being a few cm taller than Zander too much to put her at fc now #oops)

Tattoos: One

Scars: None

Piercings: Ears

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Fashion:

 ○ link to balo’s closet

 ○ link to balo’s shoes

life at luxor //  

Classes:

 ○ Communications

 ○ French

 ○ General P.E.

 ○ Visual Arts

 ○ Fashion Design

 ○ Human Biology

 ○ Beginner Ballet

Clubs and Activities:

 ○ Art Club

 ○ Cheerleading (Flyer)

 ○  Gymnastics

fun facts //  

 ○ Balo has been attending Luxor since her Freshman year.

 ○ Balo’s kind of a literal ray of sunshine who believes (almost) everyone is truly good at heart.

 ○ Very easy to manipulate, please manipulate her. I’ll literally give you my firstborn.

 ○ Usually you’ll see her running around with a smile trying to brighten everyone’s day. She tries to put everyone’s happiness before herself, however, she’s slowly getting better about forming boundaries.

 ○ While it’d be easy to assume Balo’s dumb, that’s not quite the case. She only remembers the information she wants to. The issue is... most of the information she wants to learn is relatively useless. Want to know how to sew sutures? She’s your girl. Want to know the definition of cannibalism? Well, ask Jack how that goes.

 ○ She has two teddy bears and an American Girl doll living on her dresser. Duffy, Shelley-Mae, and Robin Banks. They’re decorative, but they make her happy.

 ○ One of her best friends is Logan Keller, the boy who went missing during the summer camping trip. The two are still in touch, and extremely close, so occasionally he gets mentioned here and there, but it’s still a sore spot for her (I am still in touch with the person who played him, so I run stuff by his mun when / if he comes up).

 ○ Jack’s adoptive parents recently adopted her, although she hasn’t said a lot about it. Your muse probably won’t know unless one of the two directly told them (or they heard it from Zander). It’s not a secret, she just didn’t make an announcement or anything.

 ○ In October 2019, Zander had an intervention for her to force her to get help for her eating disorder. She was in inpatient until April 2020, when she returned to Luxor.

 ○ Cheer and Gymnastics team member from Freshmen year until her intervention, and she returned to both teams this fall with the new school year.

 ○ Balo’s left handed (the only one of my muses that is a lefty)!

 ○   I’m aware Balo’s family page can be complicated, please feel free to dm me with questions. Also, please remember Balo doesn’t know she’s Daniel’s daughter, let alone the fact there’s even a chance Lance isn’t her father, which means your muse has absolutely no way of knowing this.

 ○ Befriended a stray racoon on the Lake George campus she named Reese Withercoon.

 ○ Literally only just said her first swear word this June, we’re very proud of her for finally getting that done. (#ThanksAxelAndLeo)

 ○ Balo finds the Winnie the Pooh theme song extremely soothing, which resulted in her naming a certain group chat with a set of friends the 100 Acre Woods - because she finds spending time with them soothing too.

 ○ I’m always willing to discuss my muses, so feel free to hit me up if you have any questions at any point.

a tl;dr history  //  

 ○ Balo’s home life growing up was far from perfect. Her father, Lance - is an abusive alcoholic, and while her mother tried her best to protect her children - she also covered things up without hesitation because she loves her husband. It wasn’t uncommon to see a Driskell in the ER with a lie and people willing to back up the story.

 ○ Balo was conceived during the time Lance and Cassandra were seperated the only time that her mother tried to leave. She’s completely unaware that she’s not Lance’s biological daughter (as is everyone else).

 ○ She’s been attending Luxor since freshman year, although she had to leave in the middle of her Junior year had to leave for a few months to attend extensive inpatient treatment. She came back in April, although she could not rejoin the cheerleading and gymnastic teams until her therapist confirmed she was doing well (so the start of her senior year) because of concerns about her well-being.

 ○ She was disowned following her HIV diagnosis over the fall. Over the winter, the Fieldings adopted Balo.

 ○ I strongly recommend skimming Balo’s timeline page before interacting with her. These are just the bare minimum basics, and there're more things your muse may know on there.

wanted connections //  

 ○ Friendships

 ○ Someone to manipulate her, please I beg you

 ○ Anyone who knows her from the gymnastics and/or cheer teams, or the art club

[thewritewolf]

In Due Time Chapter 21: Fireworks

Marinette and Adrien get ready for Alya’s New Year’s Party

@marichatmay

Enjoy!

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Read on Ao3

“Hey, listen up, everybody!” Plagg yelled as he entered the room in front of Adrien. “The kid is going to a party! And no,” the kwami quickly added as a few others tried to ask questions all at once, “it’s not one that rotten ol’ Gabe is making him go to!”

Adrien entered the living room to cheers and applause from all the kwamis under his care. The only thing stopping him from rolling his eyes were his own nerves. Soon, many of them were zooming and swirling around him as he walked through the room, checking and double checking his attire.

“What’s the matter, bucko?” Stompp said, a frown gracing her face. “I’d thought you’d be chompin’ at the bit to go wild outside your papa’s watch.”

“I am, but…” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “The only one I’ve actually hung out with in person has been Marinette. And most of the time, that wasn’t Adrien exactly.”

“Kid, it’s just a mask. I don’t see what the big deal is. Plus,” Plagg said with a teasing grin, “I know you’re looking forward to seeing Tikki’s kid today. Hm…?”

Adrien gently pushed Plagg aside when he leaned close into his face, but Adrien refused to meet his eye. The cat kwami snickered as he floated away. Adrien might like Marinette, but he had no idea if she felt the same way or if he could even afford the luxury of having a girlfriend right now. Necessity had forced romance out of his life a long time ago.

“Besides Marinette,” Adrien said, trying to get back on topic, “I don’t know anyone there. I’m meeting all these people for the first time!” He put a comb through his hair for the third time that night. “What if I just end up lurking next to the food table and being a downer to the rest of them?”

“I’m confused,” Mullo said, scrunching up their nose. “Haven’t you been talking with them using the aether for a while?”

“The device he usssesss is called the internet, Mullo,” Sass corrected gently. “Not the aether.”

“Still. Does the Guardian not already know these other humans?”

“I mean… yes, I suppose,” Adrien conceded. “But-”

“Not buts, kid,” Plagg said definitively. “You’re going to go out there and have a great time instead of slacking here with these guys. Do you understand me?”

“Oooh, the time for another year has already come?” Orikko clucked happily, dancing in midair. “I’m so happy to hear I haven’t missed it!”

“Don’t worry, Orikko, I set an alarm to let you know when midnight hits,” Adrien said as he scratched beside the rooster kwami’s beak.

“Speaking of not worrying, that same thing but to you, kid.” Plagg was tugging at his sleeve. “C’mon, let’s go. Sass has got it handled here.”

Adrien glanced at the snake kwami, who nodded. “Pleassse enjoy yourssself, Massster.”

“Trust yourself!” Mullo said, floating up to Adrien’s face height. “I am sure they will love you just as much as we do!”

“See?” Plagg motioned a paw toward Mullo. “Now come on, I don’t want you to sit here until you give yourself cold feet. And I’m not about to let you pass up the opportunity to hang out with people born in the same geological era as you!”

“You’re right.” Adrien took a deep breath and let himself get a little excited. “Come on, Plagg, let’s go.”

“‘Course I’m right,” Plagg muttered as he flew into Adrien’s coat pocket. “When am I ever not right?”

The sun had already set by the time Adrien had gotten into his car, but there was still plenty of time before the main event of the night. It was a long drive to the part of Paris where Alya lived, long enough to let Adrien think about how time had changed him. Eight years ago he would’ve jumped at the chance to go to a party and make friends.

But having one thing after another ripped out from underneath him had changed his perspective. Being stopped from going to public school. The many parties thrown by coworkers his father had prevented him from seeing. Not to mention all the stuff he’d been forced to bail on because of an akuma attack. Isolation thanks to his family and his duties had done well to keep him from having friends.

But tonight… maybe tonight would be different. The old embers of optimism burned bright inside him, despite what the years had done to extinguish them.

He found a place to park his car and walked up to the apartment. His hands were stuffed into his pockets to ward off the chill and he was still lost in his thoughts by the time he arrived at the front door. His hand touched the door knob at the same time as someone else.

Startled, he looked to see who he had bumped into only to get lost in big, blue eyes.

--------------

“Marinette, I promise you look fine,” Tikki said patiently as her chosen ran a brush through her hair nervously. Tikki smirked. “I’m sure Adrien will love what you’re wearing.”

Marinette fumbled her brush, dropping it. “Don’t just say that!”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not getting dressed up just for him!”

“Oh?” Tikki said innocently. Far too innocently. “Are you expecting Chat Noir to make an appearance too?”

A blush spread across Marinette’s face as she groaned. “Don’t even joke about that. I don’t know what I’d do if both Adrien and Chat Noir were both at the party.”

“I wouldn’t be too worried about that if I were you,” Tikki said with a knowing smile. She floated off of the desk where she was sitting and toward Marinette. “You know, this might be a good chance to spend some quality time with Adrien, if that’s what you want.”

“To be honest? I don’t know what exactly I want.” Marinette sighed and sat down, smoothing her skirt as she did so. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt this way about someone, so to have it happen with two people almost at the same time…”

“Did you not have any crushes growing up? I’ve heard that’s pretty common for young humans.”

“I mean, some I guess. Definitely nothing that I’ve acted on. And before you ask, yes I have dated. But never anything serious.”

“But you want something serious with one of them?”

“Yes? Maybe? I don’t know,” Marinette said, burying her face in her hands and groaning. “I don’t like to rush into things, but… I haven’t felt a connection like this before.” She waved her hands around. “And now I’ve got two of them!”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out! I’ve had a lot of chosen, but never one as clever as you.” Tikki landed on Marinette’s shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me about your friend’s party? To help get your mind off it.”

“Well…” Marinette said, calming down now that she was switching tracks in her mind. She grabbed her purse, which Tikki rushed into. “Alya got a taste for throwing parties back in university, so they’ve gotten pretty big sometimes. Like the Halloween one where I met Chat - she was selling tickets to that through the Cat Chat.”

Marinette left her apartment, closing the door behind her. She didn’t live that far from Alya’s place, one of many reasons she lived here in the first place. A few minutes of walking and she’d be there.

Tikki frowned. “Are there going to be a lot of people at this one too?”

“No, no,” Marinette said, waving her hand dismissively. “The New Year’s party is usually pretty small. There are usually about ten of us, mostly her and Nino’s friends. It’s nice.”

“So what do you do there?”

Marinette shrugged. “Same thing most people do at parties, I guess. Play games, drink, dance, talk. Although New Year’s is a little special because her apartment has a great view of the fireworks show the city does.”

“Wow! That does sound fun!”

“Right? Anyway, I’m also pretty nervous because Adrien said he’d try to make it. Nino and Alya have been dying to meet him, but…”

“But?”

“Well, they tend to worry too much about me. Which makes me worried that they’ll scare him away by trying to get us together.” She entered the building through the backway, a little shortcut she’d learned over the past couple years.

“Hm…” Tikki hummed, a ghost of a smile at her lips. “That’s definitely a dilemma. Be a shame if they got the two of you to really hit it off with each other.”

“Tikki,” Marinette whined as the door to Alya’s apartment came into view.

“I’m just teasing, Marinette. But still, it wouldn’t be too bad, right?”

Before Marinette could respond, her hand touched the doorknob at the same time someone else’s did. She jumped and was about to apologize when she looked up into bright green eyes.

Both of them stood staring at each other for much longer than Marinette would care to admit. This was the first time they’d seen one another since when they had first met at the fashion show, even if they’d talked plenty of times online.

Eventually, Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Hey-”

Naturally he was cut off when the door flew open, Alya standing on the other side. Now, Marinette had known her friend long enough to notice the tell-tale signs of being tipsy and right now Alya checked off all those boxes. Clearly either Marinette and Adrien were the last ones to arrive, or Alya had gotten a head start on the night’s festivities.

That likely contributed to how Alya grabbed them both by the arms and practically dragged them inside, although Marinette wouldn’t put it past her to do that even stone cold sober.

“Come on you two, stop standing outside the door like a couple of weirdos,” she said, laughing. She turned her head toward another part of the apartment and raised her voice. “Hey, babe! Your buddy is here! Come on and meet him!”

Nino poked his head from around the corner, where Marinette knew their living room and therefore game consoles were, and saw his face split into a grin when he spotted Adrien.

“DUDE!” He rushed forward and gently punched Adrien’s arm. “I can’t believe I finally get to meet you! Come on, let me show ya around my crib. It might not be what you’re used to, but me casa es tu casa!”

Nino chuckled and threw an arm around a confused Adrien’s shoulders. Adrien glanced back at her and gave her a slightly worried smile and a wave before he disappeared.

“So,” Alya said, dragging Marinette’s attention back to her. She was looking awfully focused despite the handful of drinks Marinette knew she must have already had. “Let’s talk about you and blondie, hm?

Marinette groaned. It was going to be a long party.

[crepuscular-gloom]

Poptropica Island Ratings

okay I saw a post on here a while ago and someone rated the Poptropica islands. I remember agreeing with a lot of them, but they only went so far so a lot of the newer islands were missed out. I came across it again recently and got hit by a wave of nostalgia so I’m gonna do my own now. Unoriginal content very good. i’ll put a keep reading link to stop it from taking up too much space

Early Poptropica - mega nostalgia but kinda boring. I like the original Poptropicans being pixely and there is a goth gf in the sewers however the giant green spider scared the shit out of me as a kid and the idea of an aircraft graveyard made me sad so 6/10

Shark Tooth Island - also nostalgic but I didn’t complete it for a long time for some reason.. very short. it has a story but its there is nasty shark and people stuck on an island so make a calming potion. the medicine man looks like he is from viva pinata so 6/10

Time Tangled Island - VERY GOOD AND FUN AND HISTORICAL FUCK THAT AZTEC THO DICKHEAD. quite lengthy for an island but this is good because that means more time periods to explore. it’s also educational but i just care about restoring time. very legendary the iconic just jumped out - 10/10

24 Carrot Island - stupid pun point taken off. introduces Dr Hare and people are THIRSTY. you can dye your hair with milkshakes. i thought it was creepy as a kid honestly. i think its mind control or something. but i like it, it still has nostalgia value 8/10

Super Power Island - very legend like. i loooove the antagonists, especially copy cat but i think i had to look up a guide to beat her because i was dumb af. you need a licence to be a superhero but you are a superhero!!! very fun i like this one a lot 10/10

Spy Island - i remember sucking at this one as well as a kid.  i think it fucks with peoples hair and i only remember because my character looks fresh 100% of the time and this island fucked it up i think. i don't really remember it tho. 5/10

Nabooti Island - it’s based on a Choose Your Own Adventure book so good premise. go around the world is also good. you have to get jewels i think. ngl i didn’t finish this one because i sucked at it so i’m just going off the wiki and how far i got into it. fuck the animal puzzle 7/10

Big Nate Island - who the fuck is Big Nate. i only remember the school climbing frame and a stink bomb. fuck you big nate we don’t have your comics in England 1/10

Astro-Knights Island - medieval knights.... IN SPACE?!?! COUNT ME IN. crazy jester bard guy antagonist. people are thirsty for him too. i’m pretty sure you end up in another dimension or something. cyborgs and shit 9/10

Counterfeit Island - bruh i loved this island. pretty sure antagonist is also making people thirsty. you have to go back to Early Poptropica Island to complete it, very cool. investigating crime is cool idea it’s l.a. noire in poptropica. the wiki says there is a glitch called anti-social clown and i have to say relatable 9/10

Reality TV Island - i think i completed this like twice and i remember jackshit. you get to see past characters tho so very good. it’s just doing challenges. 4/10

Mythology Island - VERY GOOD. LEARN ABOUT MYTHOLOGY. you can fight hydra and other creatures, you meet Zeus you meet Hades, Aphrodite is a bitch. 9/10

Skullduggery Island - pirates are always good no matter what. apparently it is one of the hardest islands which explains why i never completed it but you fight other pirates and sea monsters for doubloons or some shit sounds cool to me 8/10

Steamworks Island - steampunk is good. i remember completing this and thinking it was interesting and weird to look at. i think the atmosphere is was lonely tho. there’s a boss battle against a plant i think. otherwise i don’t fuckin remember 7/10

Great Pumpkin Island - it’s Peanuts so it’s nice. very nice and simple. it’s just about the great pumpkin except you’re there. 6/10

Cryptids Island - GOD TIER. CRYPTIDS IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA. some of it is scary tho. the jersey devil just fucking staring at you from the window was a shit the bed moment for a kids game. also before the islands got rebooted, it was one of the only islands to have sound effects, i.e. when the chupacabra bursts out the box. honestly because of the balls on this kids game to scare children and also being good island 10/10

Wild West Island - the only thing better than pirates is cowboys. i don’t really remember it but you do go against an outlaw gang. i like cowboys 10/10

Wimpy Wonderland Island - Jeff I know you made doawk and poptropica but did you have to show it. ngl i liked it because i like doawk. but it’s kinda... creatively bankrupt i guess. 3/10 2 points because Rodrick is there

Red Dragon Island - i think more time travel but just to old Japan. you have to save a girl. that’s all i remember. also i think there is a nasty samurai guy. but also evil dragon. i can’t remember because for the longest time this was a premium account only island so i never got to finish it for the longest time. that was a dick move 7/10 for that alone.

Shrink Ray Island - cool premise but this island expects me to learn morse code 3/10

Mystery Train Island - detectives? on a train? very nice. basically murder on the orient express except no murder and thomas edison is there and also various other 1700/1800 nerds

Game Show Island - basically Reality TV except it’s to save the world from robots. 5/10

Ghost Story Island - wow iconic. this is the only island with voice acting and it’s to fucking jumpscare you i shat myself.  ghost hunting, very cool 10/10

S.O.S Island - it’s basically Titanic mixed with Moby Dick. it’s ok 6/10

Vampire’s Curse Island - i reaaaally like this one. i like vampires. it has a vampire daddy in it so. he kidnaps a teenage girl tho because he thinks its the love of his life who is dead. kinda weird. he does stop being insane at the end tho and says sorry and dies. the girls bf is a dickhead tho. 9/10

Twisted Thicket Island - i think you’re saving a forest from becoming housing. i really like it because it introduces various folkloric creatures like the nokken. i only remember the nokken because i went on akinator to see if he knew what it was and i don’t think he did so i added it and it’s photo to his database. or maybe it was just his photo but i remember uploading something to akinator. 8/10

Poptropolis Games Island - i don’t think i liked this one 3/10

Wimpy Boardwalk Island - Jeff. 2/10 1 point added because Rodrick is also there

Lunar Colony Island - space is good. do i remember this island tho? no. i think theres aliens tho. 5/10 because i like space and aliens.

Super Villain Island - it brings back the most memorable villains like binary bard and black widow. you find out why they are evil. pretty chill 8/10

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Island - what do you expect 5/10

Zomberry Island - the last of us except i think people are just eating nasty berries really. i like it it’s spooky 7/10

Night Watch Island - Paul Blart Mall Cop 6/10

Back Lot Island - you make a film. i can’t remeber it like at all. 6/10 because it sounds ok

Poptropolis Games Island Part 2 - fuck off 2/10

Virus Hunter Island - i don’t think i completed this one either. however it is one of those inside the human body things which is always cool if cliche. 8/10

Mocktropica Island - very satirical what if about if poptropica was run by assholes. ironic since a bunch of islands were made premium only for a while. pretty sure the bonus missions still are too which is why i’m not mentioning them. funny tho 7/10

Monster Carnival Island - spooky yes. people thirst over the ringmaster raven guy too. theres a spooky clown on the ferris wheel. i don’t remember much other than i liked it because it was about monsters in a theme park. 9/10 i remember it was surprisingly short tho

Survival Island - castaway except it’s you. i don’t remember it either lmao. i got out of touch with old poptropica real bad by this time so my next ratings might be unfair sorry. pretty sure it also becomes the most dangerous game tho and some guy wants to actually fucking kill you. ballsy. 7/10 because it sounds ok i should maybe play it.

Mission Atlantis Island - i like atlantis but i didn’t play this one either. you see deepsea creatures which are spooky so extra points 8/10

PoptropiCon Island - poptropica’s answer to comicon. now i did play this one for some reason but i don’t remember it too well either. i was 14 when it came out so. sounds like yu-gi-oh so good. 7/10

Arabian Nights Island - didn’t play it i think it’s just telling the story. it’s a cool story so 7/10

Galactic Hotdogs Island - what the fuck 1/10

Mystery of The Map Island - vikings are cool. island seems very short tho. 5/10

Timmy Failure Island - who the fuck. this would be more impactful if i read these fucking things but i don’t. who the fuck are you timmy. i guess it’s called failure for a reason. (that was mean sorry) 1/10

Escape from Pelican Rock Island - prison break, nice idea. you have like a twin in this one. seems a bit repetitive sometimes tho. theres like 7 days of doing similar things. 6/10

Monkey Wrench Island - it was created to be the new tutorial, i.e. an actual tutorial rather than Early Poptropica. very fast and boring, especially if you already know everything. 2/10

Crisis Caverns Island - i know nothing about this. even the wiki is incomplete. maybe that means its shit then. 1/10 the wiki doesn’t even care too much about this one.

Greek Sea Odyssey - more ancient greece is always good. you get to beat the shit out of zeus this time 8/10

Snagglemast Island - all you do is collect coins. another tutorial one. 1/10.

bonus: home island. legit just a hub. points added because you can do a lot of customisation here and pick up a pet that doesn’t cost credits. 4/10

DOUBLE BONUS: the little haunted house mini thing. very good because spooky costumes, spooky house fun little monster party. 10/10

[ezool]

[ ml spoilers Felix episode ]

(watch the whole episode here!)

ok im just typing this as i watch it so this could be a long post

so like so far this episode is like tapping into family affairs that’s like never been brought up before so it feels kinda rushed in?

it was also sweet to see chloe actually be kind to adrien. understanding that she was lucky to have her mom back and make it clear that she’ll always be there for adrien.

im glad marinette was brave enough to confess in the video but it sucks that each time she ever gets to do anything about her crush on adrien the writers are just like “nah lets milk this lovesquare”

also felix calling her pathetic is just That Guy like *throws felinette out the window*

it’s sweet that her love her adrien was what helped her be the one to see through the ruse in the video that felix sent

but also im kinda pissed that the guys, who are supposedly closer to adrien, werent the ones that were akumatized in this episode so we just get another episode of girls losing their temper and being the bad guys

also, i was hoping for new akuma looks. like maybe they’d keep their usual powers but maybe they’d have a unified look between the three that had parts of their new outfits inspired by their usual ones

felix: he’s the fake adrien, shoot him instead! punishers: *points guns at felix* the real adrien would never miss the opportunity to die! adrien: my true friends :’)

everyone like “wow nathalie is so badass look at those moves!” but im just like “bruh they’re a bunch of 14 year old girls with no combat experience and arent even using their super powers”

ladybug: oh look adrien is outside his house! *covers eyes from bright green light* where’d be go?! but at least chat noir’s here to help now!

ok props to the person in charge of the music bc that romantic music shifting into creepy distorted music was 👌😩

as, like, weirdly paced this episode has been, i liked they made a clear message about consent. like how clear can you be when you have ladybug deck a guy in the face after he refused to respect her boundaries. i loved that!

lol what a little bitch

they’re trying to make me care about this weird family feud with these wedding bands but i dont!! care!! why introduce this so late in the season?! esp if it has nothing to do with the finale episodes?!

“my favorite cousin” are there more cousins?? or is adrien favorite by default since he’s the only one??

i did think it was weird he was shaking hands with his left hand but like i still dont fucking care about this shoehorned wedding ring feud lmao

[askiisoft]

FAN ART FRIDAY: ALL THE WARRIORS, Part 2

And to think I was planning to fit all of the OCs into one week...yeah, not happening. With 50+ entries and counting, I’ll be lucky to fit them all into four parts.

Welcome back to Part 2 of “All The Warriors”, a multi-week showcase of the Katana ZERO community’s awesome fan characters! The volume of submissions for this event has been mind-blowing, to the point where I’ve had to create a dedicated Excel spreadsheet to keep track of them all. If you haven’t submitted your character yet, there’s still one week left! If you have, rest assured that it’ll will be included eventually, so please be patient! 

For those who missed it, don’t forget to check out Part 1 of this series.

[WARNING: The work herein is based on fan creations, and should not be considered canon.]

Alpha 13, “Believer” by @DokusatsuMurXer

What is the loneliest number? ‘One’, you say? Nope, it’s 13...Alpha 13, that is.

Being one of the first Alpha-series NULL, it’s likely that Thirteen joined purely out of adoration for the illusive “Great Scientist”—a noble cause compared to the violent psychosis that defined the later Gamma-series NULL. While it’s clear he’s taken lives in service of his one-sided infatuation, it’s hard not to see him as another victim, still pining for his senpai’s attention even after everyone’s graduated and moved away years ago. Why do we always love the one who will hurt us the most? 

According to @DokusatsuMurXer’s, the drunken swirls in his Post-war portrait are hiding something much steamier. I can only imagine.

Please, senpai. By @DokusatsuMurXer

—

Beta 6, “Blade” by @Khwany_kawawii

In the Third District, there’s only two ways to get what you need: by coercion, or by force. Beta 6 opts for both, and seems to have a reputation on par with The Dragon amongst hapless goons. Ironically, it seems amnesiac NULL like Blade or Zero are the ones who kept going on killing sprees after the war, instead of throwing in with criminal syndicates or settling into an ordinary day job.

Her giant curtain of hair, while a bit ridiculous-looking standing still, would certainly add a sense of dynamism as she flipped and pirouetted in midair, tossing knives left and right. Also, knives.

“With no drugs, I will die. But with the drugs...I am the Killing Angel.” By @Khwany_kawawii

—

Ema by @Khwany_kawawii

Well, would you look at that. Not only is Ema our first non-NULL OC, but also the first...*drum roll*...Cromag! That’s right—as a child, Ema barely survived a NULL attack that killed her family, and she’s dedicated her life to finding whoever was responsible ever since. 

The concept of a private eye in Katana ZERO’s neo-noir metropolis, especially one who suffers from such intense trauma and racial discrimination, has fantastic plot potential. What if she finds the NULL who orphaned her, but they don’t remember it? What if they have to team up? I can’t help but wonder how long an average woman (bionic arm aside) could survive in this dark underbelly of drugged-up super-soldiers...

—

Gamma 4 by @camellia_066

Not every hero dies on a battlefield.

Being a commander means taking responsibility for those under your command. For some that extends beyond wartime, and especially so after the one-way process of becoming NULL; while an Alpha could skip doses of Chronos with nothing more than a nosebleed, a Gamma might require twice the dosage just to stay lucid. 

Maybe the weight of New Mecca’s defeat was too much for him to bear. Maybe he knew that a cure for Chronos was a pipedream. But it was better to die for the slim chance of salvation than witness his former comrades slaughter one another for just another dose. 

—

Gamma 12 by @wqwrppwu

So this is who’s been stealing my Uber Eats.

The idea of a Gamma-level NULL—especially one as devious-looking as Gamma 12—working as a pizza guy is hilarious to me. I have a soft spot for features like thin noses, wild eyes, and razor teeth that just scream “bad guy, stay away”. Most other NULL would just kill the cashier and take what they want, but Twelve uses his powers to steal booze and cigarettes and get away with it, every time. 

It makes sense that he’d be best friends with Alpha 25, “Pomidor” (see Part 1)  thanks to their mutual eccentricity and love of mayhem. 

Camaraderie at work. By @wqwrppwu

—

Gamma 5 by twink-182

Beta 6 had better be a wizard to claim the nickname “Blade”, given how many Gamma-level knife experts roam the city’s underbelly. Once part of Fifteen’s circle of former NULL, Gamma 5 evidently saw the writing on the wall and decided to leave before his comrade’s vendetta drew him deeper into danger. Otherwise, who knows, we might have had a quick, teleporting knife-thrower heckling us throughout the Headhunter boss fight...yeah, maybe it’s for the best that he’s M.I.A.

I’m guessing the photo and red string is just another point on Fifteen’s byzantine conspiracy board; I hope we get to see the whole thing one day.

—

Alpha 4 by @kym0433

As with any conflict, the end of Cromag War produced massive windfalls for organized crime in terms of illegal weapons, war drugs, and super-soldiers thirsty for Chronos. Luckily for Alpha 4, the Chinese had carved out their own niche in New Mecca’s Chinatown, and they offered him a steady supply of "ke le nuo si”, as they called it, plus a cushy job as a bodyguard; after all, who would dare to start trouble on their turf? Who, but a certain samurai who walked up to the roulette table one day...

While Ted might not be the strongest NULL, he leads the pack in terms of fashion. No musty olive fatigues for this killer—whether it’s a traditional patterned chengshan or tasseled shawl, Ted makes it look awesome. No one would even suspect he’s hiding weapons under there! 

By @kym0433

—

Beta 24, “Cecil” by @Tacoyaki86

Contrary to popular belief, the inability to feel pain is not a superpower, especially when paired with a military specialization as hazardous as demolitions and bomb disposal. Imagine not realizing your hands got blown off until you reached for a sip of coffee. That, and you’d be stone deaf from constant close-range explosions and minigun fire.

Knowing that, I can understand Beta 24′s desire to spend a quiet veterancy at a manga café, where the otaku don’t want to chat anyway and the biggest risks are coffee burns and paper cuts. 

Also, is that chevron on his beret the same as Headhunter’s? That must indicate rank, or possibly explosives experts. Given Headhunter’s propensity for sticky mines and suicide vests, I’d believe it.

“Detonation successful!” By @Tacoyaki86

—

Gamma 767, “Retana” by @TailWood

Given how many NULL prefer close-range weapons like knives, swords, and bludgeons, having to fire artillery from kilometers away must seem like a crushing indignity for a Gamma like 767: slowing time just means it takes longer for his rockets to hit their targets, and he can’t even collect any trophies to show off to the guys at the bar once they’re off-duty! But hey, someone’s got to do it; I don’t think even the sharpest steel would do much against a tank...

By @TailWood

—

Gamma 9, “Nara” by @couriervictor

Sadism and sharp objects don’t pair well together. It was never explained why Headhunter chose to wear her old uniform everywhere, but in Gamma 9′s case it’s pretty clear: he’s an elite, and he wants you to know it. Lack of physical strength doesn’t matter, since everyone in Katana ZERO died in one hit anyway, and his affinity for throwing knives reminds me of Biker’s levels from Hotline Miami. More knives.

—

Alpha 35, “Sako” by @matsumatsu_kou

For a Gamma NULL, overcoming a debilitating wound is as simple as using their powers to ‘reset’ and try again until they can win the battle without a single scratch. Sadly, that wasn’t an option for their lesser Alpha brethren, as evidenced by Alpha 35. 

There have been known cases of NULL choosing to retain scars and other superficial injuries as badges of honor, but if there’s a reason why Sako chooses to fight with a blind eye and busted arm, it’s beyond me. However, if Proto-15 is anything to go by, battle damage is a huge plus for you ferals out there, and it gives him an extra place to store those KNIVES. *snickt*

By @matsumatsu_kou

—

Beta 74 by @cheezysucks

“Take everything from a man but his weapon, and do not judge him thereafter.”

Even in the far-flung future of New Mecca, it seems PTSD still haunts soldiers returning from conflict, even those as exceptional as NULL—if a near-death experience is harrowing, imagine the trauma of countless actual deaths, each instance being dragged backwards in time to start over.

Still, as far as ex-NULL go, Beta 74 chose as honest a job as his ilk can manage, given their stigma abroad. And oh, wow, is he wearing a pair of those funky four-eyed night-vision goggles? Look them up, they’re real, and just as absurd-looking.

—

Gamma 5, “Heatseeker” by 6at

Pour one out for another fallen warrior, Gamma 5 (yes, I know there was already a Gamma 5 earlier, won’t be the last time this happens). Five seems more like a tactical fire commander than your average NULL, with actual combat armor and a bubble helmet seemingly inspired by early concept versions of Headhunter’s gear, replete with a digitized HUD; pretty slick-looking, I must say.

Knowing how far far New Mecca went to cover up the NULL program, I’m surprised they let Five live as long as they did, though his hermetic lifestyle likely made him a minimal risk. I’m guessing he was terminated around the same time the government halted the production of Chronos. Coincidence? 

Seems like ‘Heatseeker’ attracted a bit too much heat, heh heh.

—

And that was Part 2 of our Katana ZERO OC event. Is your finger tired from scrolling yet? Not as much as mine...

Click here to read ‘Part 3: Was Going To Be The Finale But I’m Drowning’. Thanks immensely to every single artist who’s submitted their characters and expanded the world of Katana ZERO just a bit more!

By @wqwrppwu

[hanalwayssolo]

What We Owe To Each Other: Ch. 1 - Morning

A/N: WOW I REALLY AM ALIVE IF I AM STILL POSTING MY WRITING HERE LMAO ANYWAY

I originally intended to post this as a one-shot, but my one-shot got too long for my own good so I had to divide it into 6 chapters. Said chapters will alternate between Sam's and Nate's POVs. I've had this plotbunny in my drafts for quite some time, and since I rekindled my love for this game, I have inadvertently activated this particular hyperfixation like a dormant volcano coming to life, so here we are. Also, I realized that this is my first time sharing my writing for Uncharted and I am motherfucking terrified. Please be kind to me.

Morning | Noon | Night | Midnight | Nightmare | Dawn

[Link on AO3]

Autumn in Vermont, as it turned out, was piercingly cold for Sam’s tastes. He honestly thought his balls would freeze off. He might have missed the cold at some point after all those years he spent in Panama, but he could not stand this kind of cold: sharp and biting and cruel. Jetlagged and with barely three hours of sleep, the drive—though scenic at best—became a torment. If it weren’t for his numbing hands around the wheel of his rental car, or the fact that the heater failed to offer him the warmth he sorely needed, he would have taken the time to pause from the long drive, roll down his window, maybe light a cigarette and bask in the view that unraveled around him like a nostalgic Polaroid picture: morning fog veiling the stretch of the freeway; rows of maples and aspens aflame in scalding shades of gold; hills of red and orange and ochre, as if the entire landscape waged a private war against the sky’s dreary and cloudless gray.

But Sam kept driving. No offense to the spectacular colours of fall, but all he could think about was how he was still supposed to be somewhere in India just right about now.

Maybe this entire freezing weather wouldn’t have been half as bad if his recent expedition throughout the Western Ghats had not spoiled him too much of the pleasant summer heat, the exquisite food, the thrilling views—all of which he could never be afforded on this side of the world. That or his long-ass flight from Mumbai to New York simply made it unbearable to adjust to the sickly shift in season. It was a good thing he had some sense to pack warm clothes for the road; there was certainly no way in hell he would have survived in Victor’s old yet tastefully floral Havana shirts and cargo pants. Questionable fashion choices be damned, but he had to admit: those had been immensely comfortable. Even little Meenu was charmed to see him in those clothes. 

Either way, he’s already here. What else was he left to do? He should probably just focus on finding that godforsaken cottage, so he could finally warm himself up with a drink or two…

But even as Sam drifted past foggier hills and even redder mountains, and with the sordid space of the cheap Chevy not getting any warmer, he was beginning to regret heeding Nathan’s advice to postpone his supposedly extended Indian summer.

Frankly, he was beginning to regret agreeing to this whole Thanksgiving affair at all.

Of course, this was all their stupid idea. At the time—still woozy from the euphoric, Libertalia high—they had gladly obliged to celebrate at least one holiday from there on out. But now, turning down the invitation was out of the question, not when Sam had promised Nathan (and even Elena, too, for Christ’s sake, what was he thinking?) that he would give this family tradition a try. And Sam, being a man of his word (or at least, he tried to be) wanted to deliver. He even brought the finest bottle of pinot noir for the occasion. Sure, he may be a lot of other awful things, butbreaker of promises was certainly something he was not keen to add to his growing repertoire of crimes. Especially not after what he had done to Nathan. 

Most especially not after that.

He had already failed his brother more than he should have. Participation on a trivial holiday such as this one or otherwise, he was not going to fail him again.

Besides, what harm could one Thanksgiving dinner possibly do, anyway?

Well, I’d probably end up questioning my life choices, he suddenly thought miserably. We’d all be sitting at the dinner table and Nathan will tell me everything there is to know about their new joint venture, their pleasant life in New Orleans, all the while I’d tell them the most entertaining story of how I almost got myself killed in India, how I’m failing to get my shit together, how I’m the incomparable good-for-nothing in this goddamn family —

A soft and a rather sensual moan shoved him out of that spiraling thought. And then another. It was coming from his jacket pocket; he fished the thing out—which, of course, had to be his phone and its extremely inappropriate ringtone—and saw an unknown number on the screen. He answered by the fourth moan.

“For the love of god’s balls, if this is another insurance offer I’m gonna—”

“Please tell me you’re already on your way here,” the worried voice on the other line said by way of greeting. It was Nathan. 

“Oh. Hi there, little brother —”

“So? Where on earth are you? I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday morning—“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa—relax,” said Sam placatingly, somewhat a little startled with his brother’s annoyance. “I only got here this morning,” he went on to explain. “My flight from Mumbai got delayed, then I had to book a rental car from JFK since my flight going here to Vermont got canceled, but yeah, sure—I’m on my way.”

“And by ‘on my way’, where exactly are you now?”

“Huh.” Sam drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, assessed the area that rolled before him: more maples and aspens and its swollen-red leaves; majestic oaks and its moss-encrusted trunks; an abundance of dew-soaked thickets; an endless foliage of green and gold. The forest around him breathed mist and fog. No nearby house nor sign in sight. 

“Still somewhere in Sutton. I guess,” he answered uncertainly.

“You guess?” Nathan laughed. Sam was certain he heard the slightest sound of mockery from it. “You sure you’re not lost?”

Sam scoffed loudly. “Am I lost?” Lost in my own mind, maybe. “Nathan, I never get lost.”

“Oh. Of course,” Nathan said rather feebly. “Okay.”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s this really about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you never call just to check in on me. Everything alright?”

A sudden, inexplicable silence. On the other line seeped the thick wail of a saxophone, the shrill peals of laughter, and his brother’s obvious hesitation. It was either Nathan was hiding something from him, or something was awfully wrong. 

Usually, his money was on the latter.

“Uh, yeah,” Nathan said after a strained pause. “Everything’s fine.”

“Nathan.”

“What?”

“I could literally hear your bullshit all the way out here.”

“I… uh, hang on a sec—”  Nathan’s voice faltered and was quickly followed by a muffled noise, unsteady footsteps, a slam of the door. And then another silence, more unbearable than the last.

“Uh, Nathan? Still there?”

No answer.

This time, Sam pulled over the side of the road. He was dreadfully cold and, all thanks to his brother, was now also growing dreadfully anxious.

“Nathan,” Sam said impatiently, dragging a weary hand over his face, “I swear, you’re literally killing me here—”

“Hi. Sorry.” Nathan cleared his throat, letting out an audibly weary exhale. Wherever he was, it had gone completely quiet. “Right. Okay, there.”

“Now what the hell’s going on—”

“I’m going to be a dad.”

A dumbstruck silence. Then, in an almost unnerving wave of relief, Sam burst out laughing. 

“I’m being serious here,” Nathan said irritably.

“Yeah I know—Jesus, Nathan,” Sam said, pressing his forehead against the wheel, “for fuck’s sake—for a moment here I thought you’d be telling me that you’re sick and dying. But, anyway. I’m happy for you, little brother! How far along is Elena? Or perhaps you’re referring to another baby momma here—“

“Goddamnit, of course it’s Elena.”

“Right. Just had to make sure. So. How far along is she?”

“Ten weeks.”

“Ten weeks? Wow, that’s…” Sam trailed off, his eyes narrowing on the road. He was absently watching the swirl of leaves that danced with the autumn breeze until an amusing realization finally dawned on him.

“Now you wait just a fucking second.”

“What now?”

“Really? Ten weeks?”

“Did I fucking stutter?”

“Holy goddamn shit, you son of a bitch!” Sam said, unable to hold back his laughter. “I can’t believe you did it in fucking Libertalia—”

“No, no, no—we are not gonna have this conversation."

“Of course we’re not gonna have this conversation," Sam offered helpfully. “At least, not for now. Because I’m pretty sure that’s not the reason why you called me, right? I mean, this could’ve waited until I get there and yet here we are.”

They were quiet again. Outside, the sky had visibly darkened. Drops of rain slowly pittered against the windows. 

“It’s just…” Nathan drew out a sigh, paused, and sighed again. “It’s, well, I just… I’m happy, you have to know that. I really am. But… fuck, I don’t know, Sam. I’m kind of freaking out. What if I mess this up? What if my kid—”

“Whoa, okay—slow down, alright?” Sam leaned back in his seat. “Nathan,” he slowly began, “I know for a fact that you are gonna be a good dad but first of all: have you had the chance to sit down and talk to Elena to… you know, sort your feelings out?

“Yes. Kind of.”

“Nathan.”

“Okay, fine—no, I... we haven’t talked about it. She’s been busy—well, we both have been busy ironing things out with the new firm. We haven’t had the chance. We haven’t had the time—”

“Then make time for it.” As soon as the words left Sam, he realized how sharp and cutting the way he had said it that he immediately regretted being so callous. But if his brother needed to hear his piece of mind, then he might as well tell him what he needed to hear. “Look,” he went on, “I don’t know shit about being a parent or being someone’s husband, and I know I’m not the wisest brother out here and I’ve done stupid things, but I’m not that stupid not to know one thing here. And that one thing I am sure of is that your wife needs you to open up to her. She needs you now, more than ever. So please do us both a favour and calm down and go talk to Elena, ya hear me?”

Nathan said nothing. Another silence. Sam was waiting for a witty remark, a snappy comeback, anything. 

Instead, what Nathan said next was: “Thank you. And can I just say… you’re not dumb, Sam. You never were. If you could just find Darcy again—”

“Okay, don’t even go there.” 

“Right, sorry—oh wait, hold on—” Nathan abruptly broke off. Absolute silence. Then, a series of indistinct noises followed by a voice that was unmistakably Victor’s. Sam waited. Nathan came on again and said, “Sorry about that. Look, I—uh, Elena’s looking for me. We’ll talk later once you get here.”

“Right.” Sam exhaled a weary sigh. “Then try not to lose your shit before I get there, yeah?”

“Ha-ha, cute. Be seein’ ya,” Nathan said and before Sam could even say another word, his brother had already hung up.

Sam sat in solemn silence. Rain drummed heavily against the roof of his rental car as he let Nathan’s news marinate in his head. I’m gonna be a dad. Strange to think how years ago, back when they aimlessly roamed the streets of São Paulo armed with nothing but their stuttering Portuguese, the city brutally carving capable men out of their teenage bodies and testing their will to survive, he and Nathan only used to crack jokes about the mere possibility of this, of settling down just for the heck of it: being the best man at each other’s weddings, buying a house somewhere in the tropics, watching over each other’s kids. It all sounded ridiculous at the time. It all sounded so ridiculous simply because they believed that an ordinary life was something they certainly could never afford in their lifetime. 

Now here we are and my brother’s going to be a father, Sam thought over and over, and I’m going to be someone’s uncle. Shit.

Sam dwelled on that thought more than he should have. And for reasons unbeknownst to him, he was suddenly reminded of Hector Alcázar. Who would have thought that there was once a time that a notorious drug lord had tempted him with the very prospect of a quiet, normal life? How bad could it be to have a family of your own, to have someone you can come home to, mi hermano? Alcázar would ask Sam whenever their conversations steered too close to their own personal affairs. He did not mind. It was not like they had anything better to do with all the time they had in the dark and dismal quarters of their prison cell. And with the way the man fondly recounted many an anecdote about how he had met his late wife, Sam was almost convinced that murderous cartel kingpin or no, everyone’s infamous Butcher of Panama surprisingly owned a goddamn heart. 

Is it really all that bad? Sam had chewed on that question for years like a bubblegum slowly losing its taste. As far as the Drake brothers’ wayward ways were concerned, all this talk about an ordinary life never appealed to both Sam and Nathan back then. They already had each other. They were the family they needed. Why ask for more than they could possibly have? And besides, ordinary meant easy. And they were never meant for anything easy. They were meant for street brawls and petty thievery, for unearthing ancient relics and treasures of dead men. 

But if Sam were to be truly honest—and since honesty came so unnaturally to him, this was a monumental feat—to have an easy life, or at least some semblance of it, did not seem such a bad idea at all. In fact, that was all he ever wanted since their shitty father abandoned them to fend for themselves. Because no matter how many times he had expressed his distaste at even the slightest notion of entertaining such ordinariness, a part of him wanted it. More than he was willing to admit, that part of him still starved for it. Because an easy life also meant a good life. And a good life—a comfortable life after all the shit they have been through—was everything Sam wanted not just for himself, but also for his brother. 

So Sam could only be proud of Nathan for finally finding a good life worth settling for. He was happy for him. He should be happy for him.

And yet...

A treacherous train of thought. Its relentless shriek leaving echoes of all the what-ifs. Maybe if he hadn’t lost the last thirteen years of his life rotting in a prison cell, he might have had a shot at something good, too. Heck, had he made better decisions before Panama, or before São Paolo, or before London even, he might have had something better than good. Maybe he wouldn’t even have these nightmares plaguing him every night. If good and normal and painfully ordinary meant not having to wake up in the most ungodly hour desperately clawing at the bullets that no longer dwelled inside his body, then by all means—he would gladly settle with that. And maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t be sitting in a cheap rental car in the middle of freezing Vermont, wallowing and miserable and bitter, wrestling against the horrible feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach.

Maybe Nathan was right. Maybe he really was the jealous one. And he hated himself for it.

Oh, for Christ’s sake, Sam thought. He finally rolled down the window and lit a cigarette.