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rosie-b · 11 days ago

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Growing Fangs

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to post this here, but that future Dupain-Cheng kids fic I haven’t updated since 2022? I finally finished it 😊

You can read it on AO3 or below on Tumblr! (Links both go to the first chapter because 2-year hiatus :) the section below is just the 4th chapter though)

The next morning, Adrien and Marinette gathered the family together after breakfast and told them that they needed to have a super-important meeting.

Emma raised her eyebrows at the news. Louisa had been expecting this, because of what Tikki and Plagg had told her yesterday, but her heart started to race at the news. She wasn’t sure what the meeting would cover, how much her parents would tell her and her siblings, or whether she could convincingly fake a genuine ‘first’ reaction to hearing ‘news’ she’d already had some time to process.

Hugo tilted his head and asked the first question for her. “Maman? Why do we need a super-meeting? Is it because we met the superheroes yesterday, and now we’re super, too?”

Adrien let out a low, half-hearted laugh. “You know, you’re kind of right, Hugo. This is because of what happened yesterday. I bet you all had fun meeting Chat Noir and Ladybug, right?”

Emma nodded seriously, Louisa followed suit, and Hugo bounced up and down as he exclaimed, “Yes! That was awesome! I wish we could see them every day!”

Marinette’s lips twitched. “Again, you’re not that far off, Hugo! We have something important to tell you— and it has to be kept completely secret, okay?”

Hugo’s forehead wrinkled. “Why?” he asked, bouncing his leg up and down on the sofa in the living room where they’d gathered.

Adrien reached out and lay a calming hand on his son. “Because I lost something yesterday, and whoever found it might use what we’re going to tell you against us all if they find out about the secret. You’re all old enough that you can understand how important this is, so we’re going to trust you.”

“It’s scary to finally tell you this—though one of you might already know,” Marinette added, with a sideways look at Louisa, “—but we’re family, which means we’re all in this together. It’s more important for us to trust you and tell you the secret than keep it to ourselves any longer.”

Normally-patient Emma crossed her arms at that and burst out, “Okay, but what is the secret, then? Are you going to tell us you’ve secretly been working with the heroes this whole time, like Auntie Alya?”

Adrien and Marinette exchanged glances with each other, gripping each other’s hands tightly as they sat in the center of the group.

“Kind of,” Marinette began, and Louisa, who’d been feeling the same creeping sense of guilt from yesterday crawling back over her, interrupted before her mother could get any farther.

“They’re not working with the heroes, Emma,” she blurted out. As everyone turned to look at her, she swallowed hard and wiped her palms on her pants. “They are the heroes. That’s why Chat Noir and Ladybug came to help so fast yesterday. Papa’s Chat Noir, and Maman is Ladybug. I found out when I was six, and I never told any of you except Plagg and Tikki. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Marinette looked skeptical at first, but then she sighed and reached out to comfort the girl sitting on her left. “It’s okay, Louisa. I wish you had told Papa and me when you’d found out, but thank you for coming clean to us now. I know that takes a lot of courage to do.”

Adrien, surprising Louisa, agreed with her mom. “Besides, the fact that you kept it a secret for this long, and didn’t tell anyone? That’s almost exactly what we’re asking all of you to do today. We need you to know that your parents are Chat Noir and Ladybug, and we need you not to tell anyone outside of this family— and Auntie Alya and Uncle Nino’s family. Alya and Nino already know, anyway, and their daughter is about Hugo’s age. I think it’s safe to tell her, too.”

Emma stared at her parents with huge eyes, peering around her sister to take in as much of them as she could while still sitting on the sofa. “Wait, you’re Paris’ favorite superheroes, and Louisa found out, but none of you ever told me or Hugo before?”

She sounded insulted and upset, and Louisa cringed, wishing she could sink into the floor. She knew she should have told Emma and her parents before! But no, she just had to keep it all one big secret!

“Sweetie, it’s not that we didn’t want to, but do you have any idea how forthcoming a small toddler can be? You used to go around telling strangers anything when you were younger, just like Hugo did. If you knew we were Ladybug and Chat Noir, there’s no knowing how many people would have found out! And a secret like that is dangerous to let out to the wrong person. I know it’s hard to believe, but please trust that we only wanted to protect you. Well, your father and I, anyway. I don’t know why your sister didn’t tell you, though I have a guess,” Marinette laughed.

Louisa leaned back and slid down the sofa until only her head and torso remained on the cushions.

“Well?” Emma demanded. She leaned over her twin with an accusing stare. “Why did you keep it to yourself, ‘Isa?”

Louisa closed her eyes. “It was stupid,” she said reluctantly. “I just wanted to have a secret, so I could feel special. Since we were younger, and everyone kept mixing us up, I didn’t feel like me, just like ‘Emma’s twin, Louisa’.”

Emma frowned. “I guess I understand that. But you could have told me later!”

“Emma,” Adrien interrupted gently. “You and Louisa can talk more about this later. But don’t be too mad at her, because this wasn’t really her secret to tell. If it had been more recent, she’d be in a lot of trouble for keeping her secret from us, but right now, I think it’s better if we forgive her and move on, okay? Your mother and I still have something important to tell you.”

“You being superheroes wasn’t it?” Hugo asked. He’d been bouncing with excitement on his end of the sofa for a long time, with his mind seemingly blown by finding out that the two coolest people in the world happened to be his parents. “I thought that was pretty impo-tent!”

“Im-por-tent,” Marinette gently corrected. “It was! You’re right, Hugo. That was a pretty big secret! But we have some news to share with you, too. Do you remember how we said we lost something yesterday?”

Emma nodded sullenly as Louisa slowly pulled herself back up to a normal sitting position.

“Well, that something was one of the Miraculous,” Marinette said. “That’s the jewelry that turns people into superheroes, like Chat Noir, or supervillains, like Hawkmoth.”

Emma, Hugo, and Louisa all cringed at the reminder of their grandfather. They’d been haunted by what he’d done for long enough that they all knew at least some of the crimes he’d committed against Paris and the rest of the world.

“So, with a Miraculous, whoever puts it on has access to a lot of power. They can use it for good or for evil,” Adrien explained. “But your mother and I have known for a long time that there is going to be another Hawkmoth in the future. We don’t know who it will be, or when they’ll get the butterfly Miraculous, but we know they’re not going to use it for good. And yesterday… yesterday, someone took the butterfly Miraculous from us.”

Hugo whimpered. “You mean there’s gonna be another supervillain? A bad guy? Are they going to hurt us?”

Adrien picked Hugo up and held him on his lap. “No, sweetie, we’re not going to let them hurt you! We’re Ladybug and Chat Noir, right? No bad guy is going to beat us, and we’ll never let them hurt our family!”

As Hugo relaxed, Emma asked, “But we are in danger, right? Because the Miraculous is lost? Can we find it and keep it safe again?”

Marinette shook her head. “We’ve already tried searching for it. But someone must already have it, because I can’t locate the Miraculous, even though I’m the Guardian, which means I should be able to find where it is.”

“Then, what can we do?” Louisa demanded, finally asking the question that had been on her mind since last night. “Tikki and Plagg told me the Miraculous is gone, but they didn’t say what happens next. So, what is it? Do we just wait for the next Hawkmoth to show up? Do we keep searching for the Miraculous?”

“Could we ask Auntie Alya to post on the Ladyblog and say whoever found the Miraculous should give it back?” Emma asked. “That’s how you normally talk to Paris, right?”

“It is,” Marinette confirmed. “But we’re afraid that posting about the lost Miraculous will inspire more people with bad intentions to look for it. We can’t risk it, but we will keep searching. We will take the Miraculous back someday.”

“And in the meantime,” Adrien said, “We need you to stay alert and help us. We’ll tell you more about the Miraculous and Tikki and Plagg and Nooroo later, and you can help search for the Miraculous. But don’t go out of your way to do that, because more than anything else, your mother and I want you to stay safe. So, now you know that a bad person might try to fight Ladybug and Chat Noir. They may also try to trick you into telling them about us, so don’t! Or if anyone wants Hawkmoth’s grandchildren to join them in some weird revenge plot, tell us about it, okay? We don’t know what the new Hawkmoth’s plan will be, but we want you to know that they’re out there and we want you to stay away from them.”

“Remember, you’ve taken self-defense classes,” Marinette said. “You know how to protect yourself against a normal person. But if you think you find anything related to Hawkmoth, tell us about it. Don’t keep it a secret from us! That way, we can help you, and we’ll take Hawkmoth down that much faster. You want the good guys to win, right?”

“Yeah!” cheered Hugo from Adrien’s lap. “Ladybug and Chat Noir always win!”

Marinette smiled. “That’s right. So, trust us as much as we trust you. I know this might seem scary,” she said, turning to look at Emma and Louisa, “but it’s nothing we can’t handle. We’re the Dupain-Chengs, and we can make it through anything together. Sounds good?”

Hugo cheered again, and even Emma and Louisa smiled. Maman was right, this was a scary situation, but Louisa trusted her and Papa, and she knew Emma did, too, even though she was upset. In the end, they were going to win. Ladybug and Chat Noir would make everything okay again, once the Miraculous was back in their hands.

That evening, Louisa talked to Emma about keeping the secret from her. She apologized, and eventually, after a lot of pleading and bargaining desserts and information about the kwamis, Emma agreed to forgive her sister for keeping the secret for so long.

“You would have told me eventually, right?” she asked as they were getting ready for bed.

Louisa paused to think. She’d been delighted by her secret at first, but then she’d been more afraid of letting her parents know about it than anything else. Now that the secret was out, she didn’t feel any less like Louisa, and she’d been itching to share the secret with someone other than the kwami for years, anyway. She’d practically let Maman know she knew yesterday by suggesting they call the heroes. Maybe Louisa had been ready to let her family in on the secret, after all.

“I think so,” she said, finally. “I wanted to after the first year. But I got used to keeping the secret a secret, you know?”

“I guess,” Emma grumbled. “Like how I got in the habit of always picking raspberry sorbet when we get ice cream, even though I like other flavors just as much?”

“Something like that,” Louisa admitted. “But, Emma? I’m really glad you know, now. I wanted to be different, but I always wanted to be your sister. And I don’t want to keep any secrets like that ever again.”

Emma tilted her head consideringly for a moment and then looked at Louisa with a small smile.

“I’m glad. I like being your sister, even when people do get our names mixed up. It’s funny, because they think they know us, but we’re the ones who know each other best. So, no more secrets?”

“No more secrets,” Louisa agreed. They shook on it and climbed into bed, Louisa taking the bottom bunk and Emma the top bunk, as usual. It had been a very big day, and they were still little, after all.

But they couldn't stay little for long. Eventually, the Dupain-Cheng children grew into the knowledge their parents had given them, as scary as it was.

At fourteen, Louisa was far from the same girl who’d spied on her parents and kept the world’s largest secret for a few years. She still didn’t like Ferris wheels, but she and her sister (and even little Hugo, who wasn’t so little anymore) had changed quite a bit since they’d found out about their parents’ secret and the missing Miraculous. They were in collège now, and they weren’t as powerless as they’d been back when the butterfly had been stolen. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Their parents had trusted Emma and Louisa with Miraculous of their own—not to be used in any fights, Miraculous-related or otherwise, unless absolutely necessary, and only to be used on patrols with their Maman or Papa’s permission—so they could help defend Paris, and more importantly, themselves, if they ever needed to. Emma got the snake Miraculous, and she always used her power wisely. Louisa trusted her to avoid abusing the ability to create time loops, and to let them all know any important secrets she found out while in a previous loop. Hugo didn’t have a Miraculous of his own yet, but as soon as he made up his mind and picked one, he’d be joining their ranks along with Zélie, Alya and Nino’s daughter, who’d been trusted with the turtle Miraculous.

As for Louisa, she was happy with the tiger Miraculous. It was similar to her Papa’s, but it also helped her stand out with its bright purple and pink colors. She found that Roaar was an encouraging friend to have, and the confidence required to wield the Miraculous reflected the way she’d changed since she was young and liked to keep secrets.

She still kept some secrets, of course, especially from the general public, but now Louisa knew she could share her knowledge without losing what made her special. People still mixed up her name with Emma’s sometimes, but other times, people would act shocked that they were related at all! No, Louisa was much more secure being herself these days, and she preferred to share her knowledge instead of hoard it when she thought her friends should know about it. Roaar helped her learn how to balance keeping some things to herself and sharing other things with the world.

Like the secret she’d just learned earlier that day on one of her patrols, for example. That, she was all too eager to share.

Pulling out her phone, Louisa called the Guardian’s number, stored within the magic of the Miraculous she was still wearing. It wasn’t long until Ladybug picked up.

“Hello?” Marinette asked. She sounded confused, but not concerned. It wasn’t often that Louisa or Emma called while on patrol, but sometimes they still called to ask about special tricks or inside knowledge about their Miraculous that only the Guardian would know.

They were getting more comfortable with their roles as Paris’ new heroes, the sidekicks to the old guard.

“Hey, Maman,” Louisa said as a smile played about her lips. “This is Mauve Tiger. I have a lead on the new Hawkmoth’s whereabouts… and I think with any luck, we should have the Miraculous back soon.”

Louisa felt pride rise in her chest as her mother exclaimed excitedly. Finally, they had a lead!

What she knew wasn’t much, but it was enough to spark hope that soon, the Dupain-Chengs troubles would be over. Roaar had gotten close enough to the butterfly Miraculous’ energy signature that she could sense it, so she let Louisa know its approximate whereabouts. Louisa had faith that her family could work together to take down the new Hawkmoth before they could cause any severe damage. Maybe they’d even take the Miraculous back without a battle!

It had taken years, but Louisa finally felt like she’d made up for the mistake she’d made by keeping her big secret from her family. She could work together with her siblings and parents to right the wrong caused by the butterfly Miraculous’ theft, and that spoke to how much they trusted each other.

And trust, as Louisa had learned, was worth much more than a secret, no matter how big or special it was. So at last, she dared to hope for a happy ending.

#ml fanfic #ml au #rosie-b writing #future au #very canon divergent since i started this back in like. season 4 #anyway i’m just glad this is done #is it perfect? no #but is it fun? yes

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