#That's Marinette's thing as a matter of a fact! She's always legging it like a mouse when she can't handle things

[xhanisai]

You know what I really like about Adrien distracting himself from horrible events and trauma by always focusing on his future wife Maribug and trying to woo her?

It's that once Gabriel gets caught and revealed as Monarque, Adrien isn't going to run away to idk London because he can't cope with the pain.

Naw.

He'll be persistent to finally wed his Lady immediately because why face all the bad shit when you can vibe with your badass, unhinged and thirsty wifebug?

[aalissy]

First Sight

Andddd welcome to the first chapter of Marichat May :). I hope that you like it <3. I'm still upset about how short the reverse love square was tbh!!

AO3

Marinette had practically fallen in love with Adrien Agreste at first sight. That was a universal fact. He gave her his umbrella and that had been it for her. She had been his.

Except for when she wasn’t...

Because she hadn’t fallen in love with Chat Noir at first sight. No. The love she had for her partner had grown slowly. So slowly, in fact, that Marinette hadn’t even recognized it until that day at the museum where they faced Manipula together.

Marinette sighed as she pulled her knees up to her chest, swiveling on the chair she was sitting in. She nestled her chin on her legs, glancing down sadly at her bedroom floor. 

But, it just seemed different now. He didn’t seem to have the same feelings for her. No matter how hard she tried to get closer to him as Ladybug, Chat seemed to be pulling away. Almost like he had lost feelings for her.

Marinette clenched her eyes shut tightly, shaking her head rapidly. She didn’t want to think about that. That was just a terrible thought.

A small tap on the trapdoor above her bed had her suddenly grinning from ear to ear, however. That was at least one thing that hadn’t changed. Chat still continued to pay visits to her. Instantly her mood was lifted as her eyes fluttered closed, listening to that familiar tap on the trapdoor above her bed. 

In just a few more moments, Marinette grinned, springing up, her heart fluttering with anticipation. Chat's visits always managed to brighten her day, no matter how down she might have previously felt about the fact that his feelings may have changed for her.

With a swift motion, Marinette sprang up her bedside ladder, opening the trapdoor. There he was. Her partner. Her Chat Noir, grinning mischievously as he descended gracefully into her room. "Good evening, purrincess," he greeted her with a bow, his emerald eyes sparkling with excitement.

It took everything in her not to positively swoon at the nickname. Had he always called her princess with that intonation? How had she never freaked out about that before?! Oh, she was very much so going to be gushing to both Tikki and Alya later tonight.

"Hey, Chaton," Marinette replied, trying to sound casual despite the warmth spreading through her cheeks. "What brings you here tonight?"

Chat’s grin widened as he approached her, his cat-like grace evident in every step. "Oh, just wanted to check on my favorite civilian," he teased, leaning in closer to her. She almost thought she imagined the humorous glint in his eyes, however, when they suddenly softened, and he murmured, “I missed you.”

Marinette felt her heart race at the comment. She felt dizzy. Like she was floating on a wonderful bed of clouds. It felt just like old times. She hadn’t heard Chat talk like this for years.  

Clearing her throat, she attempted to keep from fainting on the floor below. "Y-your favorite, huh?" she retorted, a playful glint in her eyes. “But I missed you too.”

Chat chuckled, a sound that never failed to make her stomach flutter. "Well, seeing as how we were both missing each other, purrhaps I should consider stopping by more often," he quipped, his tail swishing behind him. 

He seemed almost... anxious? Was that even possible? Marinette didn’t think she had ever seen Chat look this anxious before.

With a small smile, she nodded. “Yes. Yes, please. You, um, you’re always welcome here, mon Chaton.”

Marinette's heart raced as she watched Chat, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. She couldn't deny the warmth that spread through her at his words, at the familiar banter that felt like a comforting embrace.

Chat’s eyes lit up at her response, and for a brief moment, Marinette thought she saw a hint of relief flicker across his features. The anxiety seemed to melt away as he replied, his voice soft and sweet, "Thank you, purrincess. You know I always feel at home when I'm with you."

Marinette's cheeks flushed at the sincerity in his tone. It was moments just like this that reminded her of why she had grown to love her partner so deeply. Despite the masks and the secrets, there was a connection between them that went beyond words. They just seemed to understand each other. Even without the use of words.

With a motion of her head, Marinette led him down the ladder into her bedroom. It was time for her to defeat him in a game of Ultimate Mecha Strike III just like usual. He bounded after her, his eyes sparkling as he knew exactly where they were headed.

She pulled up the game, and as they talked and laughed while playing, she couldn't help but steal glances over at Chat, noticing the way his eyes sparkled with genuine happiness whenever he was with her. It was a side of him she positively cherished, one that was making her heart skip a beat.

The night wore on, and eventually, even Marinette who was used to going to bed late, was yawning in the middle of their matches. Chat paused their game, causing her to frown over at him. She was not ready for their night to be over yet! She still wanted to continue talking with him!

“Hey!” She pouted. “I was winning!”

“And you can win again tomorrow,” he said, bending to brush a kiss against her forehead. “I’ll see you then.”

“O-okay.” A dizzy smile spread across her lips as Marinette lifted her hand to wave up at him. He had just kissed her! The top of her forehead was still tingling! 

He bid her goodnight with a lingering smile, his eyes filled with something that she couldn’t quite identify. She watched him bound up onto her balcony, falling back against her chair with a contented sigh. He was coming back tomorrow! How crazy was that?! He didn’t usually pay her visits two nights in a row. 

Maybe... maybe... it was possible that he still felt the exact same as her. With another yawn, Marinette stood up with a stretch. It was time for her to go to bed. Climbing up her ladder into her bed, she was ready for dreams of Chat Noir to greet her.

[coffeebanana]

Hi hi it's random snippet time again 👀

***

“You idiot,” Carapace shouted, despite the fact his face was only inches from Chat’s. “What the hell were you thinking?”

The weight of his body held Chat pinned to the ground of the alleyway, as did the pure shock of Carapace’s anger—Chat had never seen him like this.

“I had to save her,” Chat said weakly. “It’s my—” 

He’d meant to say job, but…that wasn’t it. Not really. She was Ladybug. Marinette. It didn’t matter if she was barely speaking to him in the suits these days. It didn’t matter if she probably hated him.

He couldn’t just stand by and watch while she was in danger.

He still loved her.

Carapace shook his head, finally getting up. Chat missed his warmth. He missed the feeling of their heartbeats pressed together. But he pushed those feelings down, the way he had been for months. It was a fantasy, thinking he could have everything he wanted.

“Rena had her covered.” Carapace paced around as Chat got to his feet. “You knew that.”

“So? What does it matter if everything turned out fine?”

“What does it matter? What does it matter?” Carapace’s laugh was inhuman. “You can’t just keep throwing yourself into the line of fire! Don’t you have any respect for your own life?”

Not really, he thought, but wisely kept that to himself. “I’m sorry.”

Carapace turned and walked right up to him, his hands gripping Chat’s shoulders and pressing his body against the wall. “Sorry won’t bring you back if the next time you go to far.” He no longer sounded mad. Instead, his voice trembled. “Please, Adrien. You can’t keep scaring me like that.”

Chat couldn’t help but stare at Carapace’s lips as he spoke, no matter how messed up that was. Never mind how inappropriate his timing was, or the fact that he was still trying to get Marinette back too. How could he want this as well?

He did, though. He wanted the fire in Carapace’s eyes when he defended his loved ones. He wanted the way coming home to Nino always felt safe and warm and right. 

One of Carapace’s hands ghosted down Chat’s arm. He laced their fingers together, then seemed to pull away until Chat squeezed back. The air between them was molasses—thick with tension and bitter with regrets and completed by the tiniest bit of sweetness.

That last detail was all Adrien knew as he surged forwards and crashed their lips together.

If he’d ever though about this moment before—and, alright, he had—he would have imagined Nino taking a moment to respond. He would have expected shock. Maybe more anger. Possibly the end of another one of the best things in his life.

Maybe that was even a little bit of the reason Chat had finally taken the leap—to test those boundaries.

Instead, Carapace kissed him back immediately. Hungrily. His hand slipped behind Chat’s head, both cradling his head from the brick and pulling him closer. He still tasted of the cookies he’d stolen from Adrien’s hand an hour prior, the action chased by Marinette’s laughter and Adrien’s realization that he might still have a chance to fix everything after all.

Now…now he had no idea what he’d be able to salvage.

But if this kiss left him wrecked, Chat didn’t think he’d care. It was worth the pain, he figured, for the chance to feel alive in a way he hadn’t in years.

His lips moved along Carapace’s jaw, eliciting a moan before their mouths met again. Carapace nipped at his bottom lip. Chat threw off Carapace’s hood and dug fingers into his hair.

He could have done this all day, if given the chance.

Carapace was the one to end it, pulling away slowly with a blissful stare until he locked eyes with Chat and his expression sobered. “You matter, alright? That’s what matters”

Chat’s legs felt weak, suddenly. His fingers shook as Carapace took his hand and raised it to his heart.

“You matter,” he repeated. 

They sprang apart when Rena Rouge dropped into the alley beside them. “You’re an idiot, Agreste.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, suddenly feeling sick. Had she seen? Nino had tried to tell him something earlier, about how he and Alya had some sort of agreement, but still. Chat hadn’t even thought about her before making his move.

Everything seemed fine, though, when Rena tackled him into a hug at the next second. When she let go, she eyed him fiercely before moving to Carapace’s side.

Carapace settled an arm around her easily, like nothing had changed. But she must have read something in his face when she looked up, because she frowned and looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Something else happened,” she said.

Carapace nodded. “Yeah, uh…I think we should sit down somewhere and talk. The three of us.”

They stared at each other for a long moment.

“Like, talk talk?” Rena asked. “About…”

“Yeah.”

“Right," she said slowly. "About that. We might need to make it four, actu—”

Ladybug landed at the end of the alley, walking right through a puddle as she made a beeline for Chat. He raised his arms warily, unsure of what to expect. She didn’t drag him into a hug like Rena or kiss him senseless like Carapace. 

“Why?” she demanded, her voice shaking. “Why, Chat?”

There was no need to ask what she meant. 

“I don’t know,” he said, dropping his gaze.

She shook her head. “Then think. Because I don’t know isn’t cutting it anymore.” She pressed her face into his chest, her whole body trembling as his arms settled instinctively around her. “I c-can’t keep wor-worrying I’m going to l-lose you.”

Chat didn’t know how he could feel just as safe and loved in her arms as he had kissing Carapace. He didn’t know if he’d have to choose between them, or how the hell he’d be able to decide that.

But suddenly he knew he couldn’t keep pushing her away. He couldn’t keep hurting her when there was something he could give her, something she’d been waiting for since he’d watched her drop her transformation with a smile a week after the final battle with Monarch, expecting him to do the same.

He’d run then and a hundred times since.

He was so tired of running.

“Plagg, claws in.”

[lycorogue]

Latest Story: Never Take This for Granted

Who’s ready for probably the shortest ficlet I’ve written for this fandom?

Well, I woke up this morning with (more-or-less) these exact thoughts in my own head, and something told me that Adrien would probably have them too. Maybe it's because I see myself in him a little bit. Maybe because I think he'd learn the same lessons I did with regards to losing a parent. I lost my dad roughly the same age that Adrien lost Emile. While my mom did not end up neglectful, abusive, manipulative, nor a terrorist, much like Gabriel, my mom did make it well known how hurt she was to have lost her spouse. I felt the pain of her realizing she lost the love of her life too early in life (she wasn't even 40) and after far too few years together. I praise my mom for the strength she has shown through the years and how – unlike Gabriel – her love for my dad made her stronger and helped carry her forward.

I know from experience that loves cannot last forever, and may very well be ripped from you too soon. Which is probably why I had these thoughts (ones I frequently have, if I'm honest) when I awoke, and why I feel Adrien might have them too. So, enjoy my morning thoughts, as told by Adrien.

(If you want that extra ambiance, I had the song "Ceilings" by Lizzy McAlpine stuck in my head while I was writing this)

Summary: Adrien awakes overwhelmed with gratitude to be married to Marinette.

Rating: General Audience

Word Count: 420

Status: completed one-shot

Continue reading below, or find this story over on AO3, on FFN, or on DA.

Never Take This for Granted

Adrien awoke before their alarm. The gentle sunlight through their curtains was enough to stir him. The laundry list of things that needed to be done raced through his mind, and he debated taking advantage of the early start to the day.

Then Marinette softly snored beside him.

With a smile, he knew his place was in bed. At least, for a little while longer. He shifted so he could spoon his wife; careful not to move her or wake her. He rested his hand on her hip, and closed his eyes to the world so he could soak her in with his other senses.

They had been together for twenty years, but it still felt like not enough time. He knew that twenty years was both an amazing gift and just a drop in a hat. The duality of it being exceptionally long and tragically short. He needed another twenty years. Forty. Sixty. Eighty! No matter how long they had, it would always be too short.

“Please,” he silently prayed. He wasn't sure to whom, but to any and every Greater Power there might be. He wordlessly screamed his plea to the cosmos. “Please, never let me take this for granted. Have me always be comforted by her body heat against me. Let me always find her quiet breathing soothing. Let my hand always feel at home on her hip. Let her smell always lull me. Let the fact that I wake up with her beside me always amaze me a little bit. Let me feel lucky that I have her in my life; always. Forever. Please, please. Don't ever let me take her for granted. Let me memorize every morning I have beside her.”

He wanted to squeeze her. Hold her closer. Never let her go. Prove to himself that she was there and real and not going anywhere.

But he couldn't chance waking her. He couldn't chance ruining this moment. Clinging tight to her would never improve what he had in that instance.

So, he comforted himself with his legs tucked within the nook of hers, and his hand on her hip. That was enough. That grounded him. That was the proof he needed that she was there and he'd be alright for another day.

The sun flooded the room in a golden glow. Adrien didn't see it though. He kept his eyes closed, focused on the warmth of his wife beside him, and fell back asleep until the alarm rudely interrupted their quiet slice of paradise.

.

** Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know if you want me to tag you on any of my writing updates**

@discoveringmiraculouswriters

[aliensunflower-fics]

How to Exploit Kindness [A New Kind of Lila Salt Prompt]

[ Ive seen Lila and Class salt that goes a lot of different ways. In some Lilas a sad lonely girl who will do anything for friends and the class fall for her lies through a mixture of manipulation and Lila’s genuine sad lonely but real persona. In others Lila is insane and the class get basically sucked into her cult. And in others still, Lila slowly breaks the class down by preying on there insecurities, hidden jealousies ect. There are the versions where Lila just bribes the class with connections and the versions where Lila frames Marinette until no one believes her. But I wanted to write a new idea for people to use, one that I feel is a bit more realistic. One where Marinette’s classmates are more their more authentic kind selves but still get slowly pulled into Lila’s web and where Lila is just a bit more intelligent. ]

[ As usual with all my prompts feel free to borrow the idea to write for your own thing salt, sugar, cuteness angst ect just be sure to credit me for the idea so I can read it. ]

Lila was furious! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go! She was supposed to be everyone's friend! She was supposed to finally get a cute perfect boyfriend who would cherish her like she deserved! She was supposed to be HAPPY! But no, the pathetic beetle Ladybug and that goody two shoes Marinette kept ruining everything!

No… No that wasn’t quite true. As much as she wanted to blame her problems on those two it wasn’t entirely their faults. Honestly Lila wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Her lies had been working at first, they had gotten her praise and compliments and adoration and friendship! But now? Now they were all ignoring her, unimpressed by her celeb lies! She could not understand it! At first she’d been sure it was Marinette or Ladybug maybe even Adrien had turned on her! But when she’d probed for information she’d learned that none of them had blown the whistle. So what was it! Tomorrow… Tomorrow she will find out one way or another. She needed to get them back under her thumb somehow.

 It was Chloe who gave Lila her answers. Chloe was the reason none of her classmates cared about her stories! Chloe was the idiot mayor's brat. And what a brat she was constantly wiggling her way into her mothers fashion shoots or had celebrities over at the hotel. Of course Lila’s classmates didn’t care about Lila’s celebrity connections because Chloe was always name dropping just as many people as herself. The only difference was Lila used fake modesty and shyness that made her ‘friends’ view her lies in less of a gloating light than Chloe’s haughty claims of celebrity meetings.

It was a damn shame, celebrity lies were her bread and butter, they were exciting got people to think you were important and they were hard to prove or disprove allowing Lila to easily get around the messy little detail of ‘proof’ if someone asked for pictures all she could say was that her mom didn't let her take any because she didn't want her precious daughter being targeted by crazy fans. And if someone asked her to use her celebrity connections? Well she could just turn on the water works and cry about them just being her friend for her connections. Thus her prey would be forced to be her ‘friend’ , always listening to her and doing things for her, unable to ask for anything in return. Then when her mother announced their next move Lila would tearfully say goodbye and leave all her suckers behind. But without the sway of her celebrity lies her system broke down. That was the problem with picking the school full of rich talented idiots she supposed.

Well with Chloe ruining her system she’d need a new one. Scrolling through her classmates' social media for a clue she sneered at their overly cheerful and cutesy posts. Always encouraging one another and posting encouraging puff pieces about this or that. Always acting like they were so nice. As Lila scrolled over a charity fundraiser event that Alya had retweeted from Milene a sudden thought crossed her mind. Her classmates were very ‘nice’ and annoyingly so. They were always butting into each other's business, always being SO concerned, always organizing events to help each other and appreciate each other and going to charity events.

In fact now that she thought about it the stories that had intrigued her ‘friends’ always had some sort of charity garbage attached. Saving Jagged’s kitten or raising money for some cause or other that always got her heaps of praise. Sure saying Clara whatshername stole her dance moves got attention but not in the same way saying she raised money for some green project. Was it really that simple? Sure her classmates all loved Marinette for her extreme generosity and kindness but was it REALLY that simple? She needed to check.

 It was actually that easy. One simple little lie about how she pulled a blind old man out of danger when he was nearly run over and suddenly the class was bathing her in praise. And the ‘fact’ that the whole very real thing made her miss first period and sprain her ankle? Well that was just the cherry on top. Suddenly Max was offering her a copy of his notes and everyone was back to caring for her like she was a princess. The fact that Marinette looked like she was seething only for sweet naive Adrien to keep her mouth shut was just so perfect. She’d found her golden ticket. Her classmates were truly ‘good kind people’ and nothing could be exploited quite like kindness.

With this knowledge Lila would easily be able to destroy Marinette, sure she wouldn’t be able to do it quickly but slowly she would replace her, with every good deed she made up with every act of false modesty she would build a reputation greater than Marinette’s she would replace her and become there new ‘everyday ladybug’ and the best part was she wouldn’t have to say ANYTHING against Marinette. Not. A. Thing. No sweet righteous Marinette would eventually snap, sadly for her it would probably be too late with how much control Adrien had over her, so when it happened Marinette would look like the jealous crazy girl going after the girl that was kinder, sweeter, and better than herself. As for Adrien… Well she had a hard time believing it at first but he really was an idiot with a pretty face as long as she was careful as she built her new reputation he would genuinely believe that she was changing for the better and then he'd fall for her.

The best part was, her classmates were genuine. As she built her new good girl heart of gold persona they would genuinely come to love her, all the loyalty Marinette got to enjoy all the perks of being friends with such talented, kind, sweet people would become hers. Slowly no matter how Marinette struggled she would lose, eventually she’d have nothing left. Of course she’d need to be careful with her lies but that was easy. Bring the class to a charity here and there and tell them that she was the one who gave the idea for the charity to the actual organizer but didn't want any credit because she was just that kind and humble. If they tried to make her do actual work then she’d have a sudden accident that would require she sit down.

And then once she’d done more photoshoots with Adrien for Gabriel she’d ‘convince’ the man that a charity would make him look good and boost sales. She’d MAKE her lies true all while winning over her future father in law, and heck maybe she’d even pocket a little of the money, she could use a better wardrobe and the extra would be perfect to buy her ‘friends’ the occasional ice cream or presents. In between that she’d just lie about saving people or volunteering on weekends. Maybe even let it ‘slip’ how she was a temp hero for Ladybug . One of the sweetest parts was that between volunteering with Lila, there own activities and hanging out with Lila so she could ‘thank them for their hard work’ no one would be spending a second hanging out with sweet pink little Marinette, they'd abandon her without even realizing it because they’d be SO busy. Sadly this plan of hers would take a little more work then her others, but it would be worth it to become the queen bee of the class- NO the school! And when Marinette eventually slipped up and looked like the biggest jealous bully in the school. Well she’d have no choice but to leave the school with her tail in between her legs.

Victory was looking sweet and satisfying.

 [ And where it goes from here is up to you. Lila can win, she can slowly convince the class and school that she's a model citizen and an everyday hero. She can sneakily maneuver the class to not spend time with Marinette slowly separating the girl from her friends. In this way Alya and the rest of them don't become evil salty versions of themselves who overnight hate Marinette and love Lila, but rather they are good naive people who got slowly separated and tricked by someone who wants to use their genuine talents and skills to make herself look better. Adrien who is already shown to be naive and wants to believe the best in people, can fall into Lila’s trap and become genuinely convinced that his high road method really worked and ‘reformed’ Lila into a better person. OR Lila can fail, she can claim to be the wrong temporary hero for ladybug, or she can pick the wrong charity to lie about, or get exposed any number of ways and the class can realize with horror that because they are kind but flawed people who are perhaps too trusting and gullible that they got pulled away from Marinette through subtle manipulation and so they can be redeemed because instead of turning into outright bullies they stayed the same kind people they always were but just got genuinely tricked which is something that can actually happen in real life. You can go heavy salt where Marinette does eventually leave the school or class heartbroken that her kind friends have fallen prey to a bad person Marinette cant find a way to expose. Or you can go clever salt where Marinette figures out Lila’s plan and fights her from the inside slowly exposing the cracks in her facade. Or you can go sugar and redemption where maybe just maybe Lila actually LIKES being nice to people and having real friends who dont care about her fake celeb connections, maybe she honestly redeems herself and even makes amends with Marinette. You can do genuinely anything with this idea and I hope to see this generate some new less *and suddenly everyone is evil* content for those that like salt and angst. ]

[justcourttee]

hiiiii i don't know if you take prompts or requests or anything, but would you maybe consider writing a sequel to A Moment Too Late? maybe with a happy ending? i love your writing!!

I tried for what I’ll call a happy-ish ending, but I hope you still enjoy it! 

*WARNING* This piece and part 1 mention attempted suicide and can be difficult for some. Please, please, please be sure you feel comfortable reading about this topic before clicking below the title. 

In The Nick of Time

Damian took his first step into the city of love at 4:00 pm.  

He had a general idea of where to begin, but the combination of no sleep and jet lag was taking its toll. He had tried reaching out to her several times on the flight over, but she ignored his every effort. It could have just been the fact that she was in her classes. She may have been suicidal, but maybe she still took her education seriously?

It wasn’t likely, but it helped put his mind at some ease, hoping he still had time. His first order of business was renting a car. Technically speaking, his father had a villa on the outskirts of the city with a multitude of cars to pick from, but seeing as no one knew where he was, he wasn’t eager to tip them off.

He gazed over the taxis lined up, eagerly looking to take advantage of the tourists piling out of the airport behind him. He didn’t want someone to eager, he just needed someone who looked on the brim of exhaustion. His eyes landed on a poor man propped against his car, his eyes drooping like Tim before his first cup of the day. Perfect.

“Excuse me sir, but I’d like to rent your car from you for the day.”

The man peeked one eye open as he glanced warily over Damian.

“Scram kid, it’s a package deal, me and my car. You can’t just rent one or the other-”

Damian smirked as the man snatched the bundle of money from his hand, popping off the taxi light that stood on top of his car. As Damian slipped into the driver’s seat, he motioned for the man to step back over.

“Here’s a couple of extra bills to catch yourself a taxi home.”

The man’s mouth gaped as if he was searching for air underwater. Damian didn’t even bother to see if he would step back from the curb as he pulled off. The one benefit of the agonizing six-hour flight was Tim’s laptop. Damian had managed to hack into each of the high schools around the city until he narrowed it down to three Marinette’s. After looking at approximate ages and distance, he assumed she had to be the first; one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Her family owned a bakery a little less than a mile from the high school and on the off chance she hadn’t stayed for any clubs or activities, she should be arriving there at any moment. Damian tapped the address into his phone ignoring the multitude of messages he had between his father and Dick.

It was a simple fifteen-minute drive from the airport.

Damian exhaled sharply as he sped down the exit. Fifteen minutes was enough time. It had to be enough time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .

“Welcome to the bakery! Is there anything I can interest you to today?”

The woman’s face wore a mixture of fake smiles and exhaustion. It might’ve been enough to fool the average customer, but to Damian, she simply looked one gust of wind from collapsing.

“Uhm, I’m looking for Marinette? Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Is she here?”

Instantly her fake smile dropped and the exhaustion settled into the creases of her face. There wasn’t even a hint of worry at the mention of her daughter’s name from a stranger’s mouth. It irritated him.

“Look, whatever she did now, we don’t have any money for a settlement. Maybe you can work out a deal with her, but we have nothing more to give.”

The woman offered him a half bow before pointing him to a small door at the back of the store. He assumed she meant for him to go through it and without another word, he stepped past her. As he made his way up the countless stairs, his irritation only grew.

He was well aware that there were parents out there indifferent to their children, but his soulmate wasn’t supposed to have one. She was always so happy and carefree when they were younger, abusing the bond whenever she could. He assumed it was because her parents had drilled into her that it was within her right too. But after that short interaction, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Finally, a white door came into view. Hesitantly, he reached out the knob twisting without resistance. Inside was a moderate flat with what appeared to be an attic access. As first impressions went, he thought it seemed like a warm and gentle place to grow up in. Very different from the windowless stone building he began in.

He slipped out of his shoes, placing them beside a pair of light pink ballet flats before taking his first step. Someone was home and by the looks of it, it should be his soulmate. Damian contemplated on whether to call out or not. He didn’t want to frighten her, but he thought it might be worse if he just opened random doors instead. Finally, he settled on attempting their soulmate link once more.

“Marinette? Are you there?”

There was no answer, but he couldn’t be sure if that was just the continued strike from his earlier efforts. Tentatively, he took another step forward, his eyes scanning the apartment. It was pretty much an open concept, so he could see everything quite easily. The only thing that eluded him was the staircase leading above.

That had to be where she was.

“Marinette? That’s how you pronounce your name, right?” Damian sucked in a breath, resisting the urge to hit himself. No matter how he intended it, he sounded like he was some stalker here to kidnap her. “I’m not here to hurt you, I just wanted to talk.”

It didn’t sound any better. Maybe he should've stuck with a gentle introduction through their bond. Speaking out loud only reminded him how terrible he was with people. Animals were easier. Everything that needed to be said could be expressed through body language.

Biting the bullet, he decided it couldn’t get any worse than barging straight up the staircase into the attic. As he pushed open the access, the first thought that crossed his mind was-

“A mess,” clothes were strewn across the floor, remnants of paper scattered within the piles. The walls were a soft pink at one point, but it looked as if someone had taken a paint scraper to them, mere flakes hanging on by a thread. For such a well-put-together apartment, the room almost seemed abandoned.

Pulling himself into the room, Damian left his legs to dangle, his toes longing for the security of the stairs just below him. It didn't seem that she was in here either. He remembered passing another floor, perhaps that was also part of their apartment? Just as he decided to plant his feet back onto the sturdy steps, his fingers brushed over one of the scraps of paper he had seen earlier.

Instinctively, he pulled his hand away from the floor, his eyebrows furrowing. Damian was fairly certain that wasn’t how paper should feel. Reaching back out, he gathered a few nearby scraps. Turning them over one by one, a picture began to form. A group of girls, all laughing completely lost in a moment of time. His curiosity bested him as he pulled himself into the room, gathering each of the scraps he could find.

A half dozen photos was all he could form by the time he collected the larger pieces. Most were group shots, but two were of a blonde guy. Upon further analysis, he determined that he was the son of the fashion dictator Gabriel Agreste. He had seen the boy at a couple of Bruce’s international parties.

Perhaps she thought he was attractive? After all, the photos seemed to be ripped from a magazine, unlike the other four. As he glanced around the room once more, he felt like he had finally found a straw to grasp at. A reason she dropped so far, so fast.

But as much as he gathered from her room, he still had no idea as to where she might be. Her shoes were at the door, but it didn’t seem as if she was anywhere in the apartment. Standing slowly, Damian took a step back toward the access he had entered through when a breeze tickled the back of his neck.

His entire body stiffened as his hand moved slowly to where he kept his emergency kunai.

“Is that you, Marinette? If so, you’re pretty good at masking your presence. I didn’t even sense you approaching.”

There was no response, but now that he knew she was there, it was easier to pick up on her shallow breathing. In one swift movement, Damian flicked his wrist backward, ducking to avoid any retaliation.

A soft grunt earned a glance backward, his eyes widening a bit at the sight. She hadn’t even tried to dodge it. Lodged into her right shoulder was his kunai, and just below it, centimeters away from her heart, was a pocket knife. A bright pink light blinded him and instinctively his arms darted out. When he could see again, a petite figure rested against his frame.

“Marinette?” She was unresponsive, a deep ruby dripping from her wounds. “Marinette!”

What was this panic he felt rising? He’d seen comrades die on the battlefield before, wounds more deadly than this. So why couldn’t he move? Logically, he knew he had to act fast, but his body wouldn’t inch.

“You’re her soulmate, right? Do something!” Damian’s head snapped up, but he couldn’t find where the voice came from. Whoever it was, it was enough to break whatever daze he had fallen into.

“Okay Marinette, I have basic medical training and I can patch you, slow the bleeding, but I can’t remove either blade. Do you understand? I’m going to have to move you, quickly and as stable as possible.” Her breathing was shallow, but her eyelids flickered in what he hoped was a response. As gently as her could, he lifted her into his arms, attempting to avoid moving either stab wound. Her soft grunt pulled at his heart. “Hold on a little longer Marinette, please, I need to apologize.”

The stairs were one agonizing moment after another and as he laid her into the backseat of his rented car, he felt winded himself. Sliding into the driver’s seat, Damian quickly pulled out his phone, cursing as it slid through his hands.

“Dammit, where did it fall?” He frantically searched, his heart rate rising with every passing moment. Was this the world’s way of punishing him? He killed and fought and argued every passing moment of his life. He pushed her away and now that he thought he was making a change, he could just waltz back into her life as if nothing had happened? He wasn’t going to make it.

“Just drive, I’ll guide you.” Had he finally lost it? It was the same imaginary voice he had heard before. Perhaps it was his subconscious, a guardian angel? Could he really trust it? “Drive boy, take a left at the stop sign.”

He couldn’t afford to wait another moment so he did what felt most logical; he drove. The drive was killing him, each painful breath becoming slower, a dagger to his heart as they escaped from her mouth.

“Just leave the car in the front, save my friend.” The only thing keeping him going was the voice.

Damian had barely parked, his feet already slamming on the pavement before the engine had stopped. Gathering her into his arms, he burst through the sliding doors, the fear rising in his throat.

“Help! I need help!” He knew his French was rusty, but he had to try. The nurse tentatively approached him, her gasp needing no explanation. A stretcher was rushed, and as they ripped her from his arms, Damian couldn’t help the anger he felt.

“Be careful with her! She’s going to die if they shift too much!” A security guard stepped over, his hands raised as if he meant to calm Damian. He took another step forward, trying to grip Damian’s arm. “What are you doing? I need to be with her! Marinette I’m right here! Can’t you hear me? I need you Marinette! Please don’t leave me!”

Damian watched as they placed the stethoscope on her chest, grim expressions hastening their step.

“Don’t look at her like that! Help her! Please!” It felt as if his lungs were collapsing, his vision blurring. Why was he reacting like this? He barely knew her. In fact, this was his first time ever seeing her.

“Sir, please calm down. They are treating your friend right now, the best thing you can do for her is sit and wait.”

The man led him to a couch where his legs finally caved, his back sinking into the chair. Damian lifted his hands to his face, wiping the tears he hadn’t even realized he had cried, but it only left his cheeks damper than before. Slowly, he pulled back his hands, his stomach plummeting. There wasn’t an inch of skin left uncovered by the red.

“Oh, oh,” Had he really not noticed how much blood she had lost? He was so focused on getting her here that he didn’t even consider if she would make it. “I thought I could make it, I thought I still had time.”

Damian recognized this feeling rising in his chest. It was the same as when he collapsed on the roof, the same as when he heard from her after so many years of silence. Was this what his mother meant by a soulmate bond being a distraction?

He had never understood why people took the insane challenge of fighting his Grandfather for a chance to leave the league in search of their soulmate. If he was honest, he thought it was a pointless endeavor and he couldn’t begin to imagine how someone believed they could pull it off. But, as his chest tightened with the rising waves of nausea, a realization washed over him.

A soulmate bond was so powerful that even if you just met them, you felt the need to protect them, to care for them. You became vulnerable for them, scared to lose them, terrified of how the world would be without them. It was a terrible weakness and a strong ally.

“Can you walk to the bathroom?” Damian felt his head stir, but it was as if it were being pulled by strings, out of his control. “I’ll explain everything if you could just meet me there.”

How could this voice be so all-knowing? Hadn’t it just surfaced from his subconscious as a way to kickstart his movement again? Yet, if that were the case, why did he find himself rising, stumbling toward the bathroom in a daze?

He slipped into the closest stall, collapsing against the door, the minute it locked. Why did he feel so drained? It was less than 500 feet.

“Do you need to sit down? I know that this must be hard on you.”

Damian’s eyes scanned the stall in search of a source for the voice, but alas, he came up with nothing. Sliding to the ground, he chuckled to himself, his hand clutching his shirt.

“I’ve finally lost it. Todd told me this day would come, but how could a dumbass like him even know?”

“You haven’t lost anything, I’m right in front of you, you just have to push through the veil.”

Damian perked up, squinting his eyes at the space directly in front of him. Slowly, but surely, his eyes focused on a red blur until the floating object came into full view.

“Holy shi-” Two paw-like things pressed his lips together, a disapproving look monopolizing its small face.

“Can you keep it down? And what’s with all this foul language? I can’t say I approve of you being my Chosen’s soulmate with a mouth like that.”

It floated a few inches away, crossing its arms as if trying to push the point across. Damian tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry. He was positive that he hadn’t had anything. Perhaps this was one of those sleepless hallucinations that Drake constantly rambled on about?

“I know that look, I’m not a hallucination, I’m a kwamii! My name is Tikki and I am Marinette’s partner. Together, we merge to become the superheroine of Paris, Ladybug.”

Ladybug? He had heard Bruce mention a Parisian team. They asked for any heroes to stay out of Paris as their villain was one that manipulated emotions, turning his victims into puppets of his own bidding. No wonder Bruce and Dick were blowing up his phone. They weren’t just worried about him running off, they were also worried about him breaking an international treaty.

Damian blinked slowly as he processed the image in front of him. Kwamiis. He had heard the legend of them back when he was apart of the League of Assassins, but he had no idea they truly existed. Why was his soulmate in possession of the most powerful being in the world?

“It’s a long story soulmate of the Chosen. I have traveled long and wide and have had many wielders before, but never one as capable as Marinette. When I first found myself as her partner, she was clumsy and shy, but so friendly and kind, always going out of her way to help people. Together, we defeated the original Hawkmoth, but in the battle, his kwamii was reclaimed by one of his partners and a new Lady Hawk emerged.”

“Why are you telling me this?” The kwamii shot him a questioning look as if the answer was obvious.

“I’m trying to give you the full picture of where it all began. You blame yourself as the catalyst, but you were only a small stepping stone in her downfall, almost not worth mentioning.”

Damian felt an odd swelling in his chest. It almost felt like, relief? Had he really been this worried that he had pushed her down this path? A lonesome tear trickled from his eye, but he was quick to snatch away.

“Marinette had friends, a boyfriend even. She wasn’t completely lost without a soulmate. After all, her parents weren’t soulmates, and her best friend was rejected by their soulmate too. She was happy.” The kwamii paused, her smile reminiscing before it slowly morphed into a frown. But it all changed when a wretched girl transferred into her middle school.”

“Just one girl changed everything?”

The kwamii nodded, small tears forming.

“She was the real catalyst. The reason everything fell apart.”

Damian lost track of how long he sat listening to the small God. When he stood to return to the waiting room, he couldn’t help but clench his fist in an attempt to calm himself. Marinette had to pull through, she just had to. Damian had to show her that there was more to life than this shitty one in Paris. He had to rescue her like his family had for him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was 36 hours before he was allowed back to see her.

She had been lucky, the knife had missed her vital organs and even though it had punctured her lung, she seemed to be on track for a full recovery, one that she needed to take slowly. Damian dealt with the police on her behalf and thanks to Tikki’s information, he was able to help them identify the mugger.

Tikki had gone ahead to talk to Marinette and to give him time to freshen up. He didn’t have much, but the little he had packed at least got him fresh clothing, clothing not stained with her blood. Alfred would not be happy with him once he returned.

Damian was unsure how to approach her. He had found some flowers in the gift shop he thought were nice and some chocolates as well. But as he stood in front of her hospital room, he realized he hadn’t figured out the first thing he should say to her.

I’m sorry? No, that sounded too arrogant after everything she had been through. My name’s Damian, I saved your life? No, that would be condescending. God, he really hated talking to people.

“Are you going to come in or just sit outside all day?” Her voice sent shivers down his spine. She hadn’t always been this cold, but he couldn’t blame her.

Hesitantly, he reached out, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. She looked angry, slight red emphasized on her pale skin, the dark circles under her eyes protruding as if they dared him to comment on them. There were a million and one wires and tubes poking out in different directions, some hooked to machines, some to random bags of fluid.

Yet, despite all of it, she still looked absolutely stunning.

“Well, sit down or something. You’re creeping me out just standing there.”

Damian shuffled awkwardly to the opposite side of her bed, his legs wobbling as he lowered himself into the chair.

“Uhm, I brought you some flowers-”

“I hate the color white.” Damian felt his eyebrow twitch, but he tried his best to hold back the expression he felt. Gently, he reached back, setting the flowers on the windowsill.

“I-Uhm-I also brought you some chocolat-”

“I’m on a liquid-only diet for the next two weeks.”

Damian could feel the red rushing to his face as he breathed deeply. He knew there was a chance that she would be spiteful, but he hadn’t been completely ready for it. His fuse was short, even if it was his soulmate, he wasn’t sure he could contain the explosion.

“Are you feeling any better?” Marinette scoffed, her eyes never leaving her hands.

“Did you fly all the way to Paris for small talk Damian?” He wasn’t sure how to respond, knowing his next words might be his last. “Ask what you really want to. Like why did I detransform before trying to face the mugger? Or why have I tried to kill myself multiple times even if each time ended in failure?”

“I-”

“Ask me why all my friends left me. Ask me why my master chose the easy way out, forgetting everything before passing on weeks later without even a single message about his death from him or his girlfriend. Ask me why I hate life so much that I just don’t see the reason in living anymore. Ask me if I think you’ll change my mind! Spoiler alert! You won’-”

“God woman, do you ever shut up? Give me five damn seconds to get my thoughts together.”

Damian instantly felt the eyes of Tikki fall upon him, the anger draining from his body only to be replaced by his rising fear. He felt the apology building up, but before he could even let the first word spill out, a bitter laugh cut him off.

“Yeah, I do shut up. But only sometimes. I figured Tikki told you everything. I also figured you’d have questions. I’m not interested in telling my sob story over again and I’m not interested in some knight in shining armor swooping in to save me, Got it?”

Damian tried to speak, but it was as if his voice were caught in his throat. What could he say to her? He wasn’t trying to be her knight? He didn’t need her explanations? Everything sounded so thoughtless, but he couldn’t string together one coherent and earnest sentence to save his life.

“What I am interested in is your nonsensical shouting. You ‘need me’? You just met me, how do you know that you need me?”

If he wasn’t already as red as a tomato, he was certain that was how he looked now.

“I,” he cleared his voice, praying to whatever was listening to keep the crack away, “I just had this feeling swell up in my chest seeing you like that. I was terrified and it scared me. It scared me to feel that way about someone who I had just laid eyes on. I had heard about soulmate bonds and how they affect you. They can strengthen you, but they can also be your downfall. I needed to get to know you, to know how our bond would affect me.”

He paused, the feeling of her eyes on him choking him up.

“I, uh, I know it’s selfish, but I couldn’t let you die. You don’t have to believe me, you don’t even have to listen to me, but I have been where you are before. But before I could even make my first attempt, I had a group of people come into my life, people who lifted me up and saved me. I was scared that you didn’t have that and I arrogantly believed I could do that for you. I’m truly sorry Marinette,  but I refuse to apologize for saving your life. If I could, I would do it over and over and over again as many times as it takes until you decide to keep living.”

The silence was deafening. Even if she just yelled at him and told him to leave, he would take it over this quiet. He didn’t dare look up, he barely felt the urge to breathe. It was as if everything fiber in him was holding their breath, waiting to hear her response, any response.

“You’re really not gonna leave me alone, huh?”

Her voice sounded tight as if she were holding back tears. The urge surged through him to reach forward and pull her into a hug, but he contained himself, defaulting to a simple nod instead. Again, the silence followed, but he was patient. He would wait all day if it meant hearing her speak again.

“Fine. I’m not guaranteeing a damn thing, but I can offer you a start.”

“A start?” Damian risked a small glance up, his heart racing at the sight. She was smiling, a genuine smile. It looked out of place among her tear-stained face, but he would be lying if he didn’t say it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

“Yeah, apparently I’m going to need someone to stay by my side 24/7 when they release me. Someone to take care of me. A stay-at-home nurse if you will. So, I nominate you, Damian. Your response?”

“Absolutely, it would be my honor.” His reply was instant, his smile unwavering even after she chucked her pillow at him, cussing him out in a manner that Todd would be proud of.

Yes, it was just a start. Yes, it didn't mean anything was fixed. But, there was one thing that put his heart at ease.

He wasn’t too late.

No, in fact, he was just in time to save her life. And at that very moment, he vowed to never wait till it was almost too late again.

Despite everything that had happened, he decided he could live with that.

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[sturchling]

Hi I'm back I have 2 ideas similar but with 1 boy and 1 girl (Zoe) I'll send the boy later. Zoe is told about Lila but when Lila comes to her she is genuinely kind to her she doesn't call Lila out do to her experience but goes out of her way to be friendly which throw Lila off this is a two part so I'll send that next

Rest of the prompt : Part 2 Lila is thrown off by Zoe's kindness and it sickens her she believes it's a ploy (because of a bad experience with a fake friend) and tries to get her in trouble but it doesn't work and Lila is exposed when Zoe forgives her Lila snaps gets akumatized goes to jail or something and that's it

Thanks for being patient, here you go.

Zoe was excited to start at Dupont. She had heard wonderful things about the school and all its students. She got her class assignment, Mrs. Bustier's class and met with the class rep, Marinette. Marinette looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, but still smiled brightly at Zoe. She showed Zoe all around the school and made sure she knew where everything is. Before they left the empty art room to go to their class, Marinette stopped Zoe. "I just want to warn you about one of the girls in class. Lila. She is a liar, lies about knowing all these major celebrities and will promise you a meeting with them or help with a goal or something. But she won't follow through. I just don't want you to get hurt by her and be aware of her. But try not to call her out, or she will torment you." Zoe was a little shocked and agreed to be careful around Lila.

While she would be careful around Lila, that didn't mean that Zoe would be mean to her. After she was introduced to Mrs. Bustier's class, she was sat in the front row, next to Lila. "Just until I'm sure you are all caught up Zoe, then you can sit where you like." Mrs. Bustier told her. Lila was fuming, since Adrien had to move away from Lila. After all, Adrien was the only reason she wanted this seat in the first place.

This was only made worse when Zoe sat down and was immediately nice to Lila. Lila hadn't even plied her with promises of celebrities and dreams coming true. Zoe was just kind to her for no reason, and that didn't sit right with Lila. No one was nice for nothing. Everyone always wanted something for their friendship. Lila wouldn't fall for this again.

The last time she had believed that someone was just genuinely nice, she payed the price for it. Lila didn't have many friends back in Italy. As a matter of fact, she was teased a lot. So when someone new joined the class, a girl named Alysse, and was nice to her as soon as they met, Lila hoped that she would finally have a real friend. They hung out all the time and Lila shared a lot of secrets with Alysse. She really thought they were best friends.

But the truth eventually came out. Alysse only talked to her, because she knew her mom worked at the embassy. Alysse wanted to work in a similar profession when she grew up and hoped that being friends with Lila would give her a leg up in achieving that goal. Maybe there was an internship program that Lila's mom knew about and could help her get in. The only reason Alysse had ever even spoke to Lila was to use her as a stepping stone to reach her goals. When Lila found out, she told Alysse that being her friend wouldn't give her any kind of benefit in achieving her dreams, but that she would support Alysse in her dreams and wanted to still be friends. But when Alysse heard this and realized Lila couldn't help her, she immediately ditched Lila and never spoke to her again, leaving Lila alone once more.

This pattern would continue at every school Lila attended. She would be an outcast and teased. Then someone would think that Lila could help them with some kind of goal, and try to get close to her. But once they found out it wouldn't help, they would immediately ditch her. Lila eventually became very jaded about friendship and was sure the only way anyone would ever like her is if she could help them with their goals. In her mind, the only worth she could have is if she had connections to help her 'friends', even if those connections were as fake as her friends. So when she and her mother moved to Paris, she reinvented herself as a girl who lived an amazing life and had plenty of connections to help all her new 'friends'.

So the fact that Zoe was just being nice to her for no reason bothered Lila deeply. This had to be an act, it couldn't be real. It was never real before. Lila decided to strike first, before Zoe could try anything herself. Lila tried to frame Zoe for stealing her earrings, and reported her to Mr. Damocles. She was sure that once she did that, Zoe would get the message and leave her alone, quitting this fake friend routine. But the plan didn't work at all.

Mr. Damocles pulled Zoe into his office, where Lila sat crying about how her earrings were missing and she was sure that Zoe had stolen them. "She was admiring them yesterday, and after school I left them in the classroom on my desk while I ran back to the locker room to get something. When I came back, they were gone! The only person in the classroom at the time was Zoe, it had to be her! I just don't understand why she took them! I just want them back." Zoe was surprised by the accusation, and immediately offered to open her locker and bag. Lila smirked, knowing the earrings were in there, since she slipped them in her book bag today when no one was looking. But the smirk dropped from her face when Mr. Damocles said, "That won't be necessary Zoe. After what happened between Marinette and Lila, I made sure to repair all the cameras in the school. There are several cameras in the classroom. We can see exactly what happened." Lila watched in horror as he pulled up a video that showed Lila leaving the classroom yesterday with her earrings on.

"Lila, you left the classroom with your earrings in. You must be mistaken about where you left them. I will keep looking through the cameras for you, but at the least, this clears Zoe, since you had the earrings when you two went your separate ways. You may both return to class now." Lila was upset that her plan failed, but relieved that Mr. Damocles hadn't continued the video and seen Lila slip the earrings in Zoe's bag. As they exited Mr. Damocles' office, the rest of Mrs. Bustier's class left the class room for lunch. Before Lila could rejoin her friends and try to come up with a new way to rid herself of Zoe, Zoe stopped her. "Lila, I know you probably won't say sorry for what just happened. But I wanted to say I forgive you. Mistakes happen and I'm sure you didn't mean to falsely accuse me. Just please be sure next time, before you go to Mr. Damocles. You could really hurt someone if you accuse them without proof and they get in trouble."

The class heard everything and asked Zoe what had happened. As Zoe told them everything, Lila felt her anger grow. Then she heard someone scream "Akuma!" As everyone ducked for cover, Lila turned and looked. Sure enough, a dark butterfly was floating nearby. Lila turned back to Zoe, with a smirk on her face, completely forgetting about the class being there. "I'll show you. You won't make a fool of me. You are going to regret ever trying to trick me!" Lila raced and grabbed the dark butterfly, fusing it with her necklace. Hawkmoth droned on and on about her powers she would receive and Ladybug's and Chat Noir's miraculous. Just as she agreed and could feel the dark energy envelop her, she felt it fade away.

In front of her was Ladybug, holding Lila's necklace. Well, the remains of Lila's necklace. She broke the necklace and purified the akuma before Lila had a chance to even transform, let alone cause any damage. Lila was furious, and tried to attack Ladybug, Zoe, anyone she could get her hands on really. But she was quickly and forcefully restrained. Sabrina had called her dad the second she saw the akuma, and he had been in the area and arrived quickly. So quickly, that he saw the Lila grab the akuma and try to attack Ladybug. Lila was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center outside of the city limits, so it would be harder for Hawkmoth to reach her. She was deported back to Italy after this, and sentenced to a juvenile detention center for the attempted of assault of Ladybug, and Zoe. All because she couldn't accept that Zoe was just a genuinely kind person.

[emixion]

Magic - Day 16 - Maribat March 2021

pixie hollow au time! @maribatmarch-2k21 ao3 link There was something in his room. Damian was sure of it.

He thought it was a bee at first, in which case he would’ve just ignored it, trusting it would find its way out on its own.

Then he caught sight of a large iridescent wing as it flitted across the room and hid in the corner behind his bedside table.

Hmm, strange.

It must be a butterfly, Damian thought. Must be seeking chelter from the rain. Though I have no idea how it got in here.

He decided to investigate, grabbing a small jar to safely secure the creature without hurting it. He was an animal lover after all.

He slowly approached the corner of the room where he saw the creature fly to, jar in hand.

Carefully moving his bedside table, he quickly placed the jar on the wall when the creature flew up to flee, trapping it against the wall.

What. The. Hell.

That sure as hell wasn’t a butterfly.

The tiny creature fluttering about the jar, was a tiny person, with a tiny pink dress and little shoes to match. She had midnight hair in two small braids. The long iridescent wings he’d seen before were attached to her back.

She was…a fairy?!

A very panicked looking fairy.

The tiny fairy was flying frantically around the jar, looking desperately for a way out. It took Damian a moment to pick his jaw up from the floor to register that the fairy must be scared.

He quickly lifted the jar, setting her free and she wasted no time in zooming up to the ceiling out of his reach.

“Um…hello?” Damian said to the ceiling, idly wondering if he was going out of his mind. Seriously, was he seeing things or was there actually a fairy in his room? “Are..are you a fairy?”

The little fairy just looked back at him in fear, pressed against the ceiling.

“Look, I’m not going to hurt you.” He assured. “I just, ah, wasn’t expecting this?” He scratched his head. “God, I must sound crazy.”

The fairy tilted her head, studying him for a moment. She cautiously flew down from the ceiling but stayed above Damian’s head.

“Where did you even come from?” Damian asked, though it was more like he was asking himself. “Grayson used to tell us stories about fairies when we were young, but I always felt like I was too old for them.” He mused, lost in thought. He didn’t notice the fairy fly down to his level until she came into his view at eye level.

“Oh!” He startled, quickly covering it with a cough. “You came down.”

The fairy was still studying him. Up close Damian could see that her tiny eyes were grey and she had itty bitty freckles on her nose. A cascade of gold dust flurried off of her wings in a constant stream.

She reached her little hand out and slowly flew even closer to Damian.

He was so entranced by the fairy that he wasn’t expecting it when she reached out and poked his cheek with a teeny finger.

“Hey!” Damian exclaimed, but there was no bite in his voice, in fact, a small laugh pulled from his lips.

The fairy quickly pulled away, but laughed too. Though the only sound Damian heard was that of a small bell…

“Do you always jingle when you laugh?” He asked. The fairy looked at him quizzically, opening her mouth to say something, but all that came out were more bell sounds.

“I guess you can’t talk.” Damian concluded, but the fairy shook her head vigorously. “You can understand me?” A nod. “And you can talk?” Another nod. “Then why do I only hear bells when you speak?”

The fairy shrugged, just as confused as he was.

“Alright then, I guess we’re just gonna have to play charades.” Damian held his hand out, palm face up. The fairy looked at it for a moment before tentatively resting on his palm, her legs resting daintily beside her in a mermaid position.

“First off, what’s your name?” Damian asked. The fairy scrunched up her face and tapped her chin, trying to think of how to answer. Spotting a book on his desk, she stood up and flew over and pointed to the letter ‘m’ on the page.

“M? Your name is M?”

The fairy shook her head and pointed to the m again.

“Your name starts with M?”

A nod and a smile.

“Okay, what’s the next letter?”

The fairy pointed to an ‘a’.

“A. Okay, let me write this down.”

The game continued until Damian had written out a full name, M-a-r-i-n-e-t-t-e.

“Marinette?” Damian tested, looking at her, “Your name is Marinette?”

The fairy, Marinette beamed and nodded.

Damian matched her smile, extending his hand to the little fairy.

“I’m Damian. Nice to meet you.” he introduced. Marinette took one of his fingertips in her tiny hand and gave it a shake. The air filled with jingling bells.

-

“So there’s a whole kingdom of fairies that lives in a meadow?” Damian asked.

Marinette nodded enthusiastically.

The past few hours had been absolutely fascinating to Damian. Marinette had told (or rather, charaded) him all about herself and the fairy world.

He’d learned that there was a place called Neverland that you could only get to by flying to the second star to the right. Apparently all fairies lived there, in a place called Pixie Hollow.

She’d explained that she was here on the mainland looking for supplies when it started to rain, and not being able to fly in the rain, sought out shelter in a small hole in the wall of his house. Damian was going to have to get that looked at.

“And the tree in the middle, it has all the dust that helps you fly?” Damian continued, looking at the small map that Marinette (with his help) had drawn of her home.

Marinette nodded, the sound of bells jingling as she spoke. It didn’t matter to her that he couldn’t understand, she babbled away all the same.

Damian smiled softly at her enthusiasm, he’d observed that she was quite eccentric and it filled him with amusement.

“So, back to the talent thing.” Damian continued. “You never told me your talent.”

Marinette let outa jingling “oh!” and smacked her head as if she was just remembering.

Marinette flew up in front of his face from her place on the map. She mimed using a hammer.

“A..building fairy?” Damian guessed. Marinette shook her head. She mimed screwing in something with her hand and polishing something. “A…repair fairy?”

Marinette shook her head again, growing frustrated.  She mimed fiddling with something.

“Um…a tinker fairy?” He guessed again. Marinette’s face lit up and she nodded happily.

“A tinker fairy…wow. So you create different things?” Damian asked. Marinette nodded again. “What kind of things do you make?”

Marinette mimed drinking tea, riding a cart, and even pointed to her outfit.

“You made your dress?”

A nod.

“That’s really cool, Marinette.” Damian praised. Marinette’s little face went red, and she waved her hand as if to say “no big deal.”

She then pointed to the pixie dust tree on her map, as if trying to get Damian back on topic.

“Okay, okay, back to the pixie dust. So, how much do you need each day?”

Marinette shrugged, cupping her hands as if to say “this much.”

Damian hummed, writing that down next to the map. Marinette landed next to his hand.

“Is flying fun?” he asked. Marinette nodded, doing a little twirl.

“Showoff.” Damian mumbled, a fond smile on his face. Marinette stuck her tongue out at him.

“I wonder what it’s like.” Damian mused. Marinette’s face lit up and she snapped her fingers, clearly having an idea. “What?” he asked.

Marinette fluttered away from the desk, tugging Damian’s pinky as she went. Damian stood up and followed her, nearly being dragged along. She was much stronger than she looked, especially for such a little fairy.

With Damian now where she wanted him, Marinette smirked and then began flying around him in circles, letting the golden pixie dust encase him.

“What are you- whoah!” Damian yelled as his feet left the ground. He was…He was…

“I’m flying?!” Damian sputtered. Marinette grinned cheekily at him, clearly pleased with herself.

“Did your dust do this?” He asked. Marinette nodded and flew forward take Damian’s fingertips again.

She slowly flew backwards, pulling along a floating Damian as she went.

“Marinette…this is..” Damian cut off with a laugh, smiling at her. Marinette beamed back, pulling him up a little higher.

The next several minutes acted as a flying lesson. Damian was by no means a natural (as humiliating as it was to admit), but he had Marinette to guide him. She gave him plenty of encouragement, patting his cheek and kissing his nose if he got discouraged, and in no time Damian was flying around his room at the same pace as Marinette.

Damian whooped in delight as he flew, even doing a few spins in the air. Marinette put her hands on her hips and looked at him as if to say “who’s showing off now?”

After a while, the dust started to settle and Damian started to sink down to the floor, Marinette tried to give him more dust but Damian declined, insisting she keep it for herself.

-

“It’s getting late..” Damian said, breaking the silence. He was lounging on his bed with Marinette sitting next to him on the pillow. She looked over at him, her grey eyes looking sad as she turned towards the window. “It’s still raining though..”

Marinette looked torn, while she should probably be getting home, it was still raining…and they were having so much fun..

“Marinette” Damian began. “Would you like to stay here tonight?” He asked. “It’s going to rain until morning.”

Marinette’s sad face brightened. She nodded and flew up to kiss his cheek.

Damian chuckled. “Okay, you can stay. We’ll figure everything out in the morning, okay?”

Marinette gave a small salute before snuggling up on Damian’s shoulder. The boy chuckled again.

“Goodnight, Marinette.” he whispered and joined his new fairy friend in the realm of dreams.

[intercoursefluids]

The Impromptu Sleepover Part 1

“Alright! The adults are asleep what do you guys want to do?”

Alya being Alya, decided to take over the sleepover to celebrate Marinette’s friends finally realizing (or in most cases finally speaking up) about Lila’s lies.

“Swordfight!”

“Movie Marathon!”

“Let’s play truth or dare!”

Different ideas all resound from the girls currently huddled in Marinette’s room, all the boys trying to pretend they didn’t exist.

Only nine people were there, Adrien had wanted to come to the sleepover, but his dad wouldn’t let him.

These 10 were the only ones from her class to come back to her and apologize once they realized who the real victim was.

Marinette almost couldn’t believe her eyes when Alix, Alya, Kagami, Chloe, Nino, Kim, Max, Nathaniel, and Marc came up to her asking for her back.

The only ones who had actually believed Lila’s lies were Alya, Max, and Nathaniel but the others still apologized for not speaking out for her.

This group apology and cry session that immediately followed ended up with them holding a sleepover to celebrate their reconnection.

One thing Marinette forgot about though. Was the fact that Chat Noir would come to hang out with her on Fridays.

Which is why, when pebbles started hitting her window. She damn near had a heart attack when everyone else noticed immediately stopping their conversations.

“Mari, Love, Darling dearest. Who, might I ask, is throwing pebbles at your window?”

Every single one of her friends look at her with shit-eating grins as Kim blinks up innocently at her like he didn't just confirm for everyone there was in fact someone outside throwing a rock at her window.

Persistently.

With a deep sigh, Marinette grabs a lightsaber and spray bottle from the back of her closet.

"Alya, I am giving you permission to film this. I am NOT, however, to post this to any social media, and no one except for those in this room are to ever see the footage unless I give explicit permission otherwise. Understand?"

Alya nods frantically pulling out her phone as she and Marinette climb up to the balcony.

"Oh, Romeo Oh Romeo. Where art tho Romeo?"

Chat Noirs sarcastic call sounds from below with a bouquet of Alstroemeria, Amaryllis, and Blue Irises.

Alya hides behind the railing, just out of Chat Noir's sight as she films the interaction.

With a deep sigh, Marinette turns to Chat with regret and sorrow written all across her face, making Chat pause.

"Princess? What's the matter-"

"I'm sorry Chat Noir. But it's over."

The stricken look on his face almost makes Marinette feel sorry for him.

Almost.

"I don't understand? Did I do something wrong?"

With another deep sigh, Marinette runs a hand over her face.

"It's over Chat."

Faking tears, Marinette ever so slowly pulls the lightsaber from behind her back turning it on making the red illuminate half her face.

"I have the high ground."

Marinette sniffles for good measure as Alya finally catches on. Turning her phone back to Chat to see him looking like he was about to cry before it finally clicks.

His face goes blank as he stares up at one of his best friends.

"I hate you so much."

Marinette cackles as he pulls out his baton, stretching up to her balcony to be face to face with her.

"I can't believe that guy calls you 'Angel'. Your halo hides your horns too well and- Ladyblogger? What are you doi- Eep!"

He cuts off abruptly as Marinette squirts him in the face with the spray bottle making him reel back with a yowl.

In his haste to get away, he knocks himself off balance starting to fall over backward until Marinette grabs his bell yanking him forward.

"Okay, that is it! I'm going home and I'm telling Ladybug you're picking on me."

Marinette wheezes, trying to get her breath back and just giving up. Climbing down her skylight to collapse in a pile of giggles.

Chat and Alya both follow her down. Alya pushing her off her bed so Kim has to catch her before she hits the floor.

"Please Alya. PLEASE, tell me you got his reaction on film."

Alya smirks showing the video currently saving to her phone.

"Of course I did. Now we have a new guest here now assuming that Chat wants to stay for the sleepover."

Chat's eyes widen, looking every part the excited kitten.

"Can I?! I've never been to a sleepover before!"

All of the girls gasp in horror, surrounding Chat as they search through drawers and Marinette's closet.

Marinette, always one step ahead, runs to chat.

"Go in the bathroom, detransform put these on, and come back out. I'm assuming your Kwami eats camembert cheese since you constantly smell like it. I swear no one here is going to find out your identity or even try if they don't want me to put them on blast with all of the dirt I have on them. Now go!"

Chat is shoved into the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind him. Doing as he is told in fear of Marinette, Chat detransforms catching Plagg as he cackles in the air.

"Oh, I like her! She'd make a great kitten, with how easy it is for her to cause chaos, just how I like it!."

Shaking his head at his cackling Kwami as he got dressed. Putting the mask Marinette made him on trying it securely around his head. Stepping out to find Marinette coming back with a LARGE tray of food and everyone else huddled around Alya's phone.

Chat can't help the startled yelp he lets out when Alix pulls him down to her, gently petting his hair as she glares at Marinette.

"You're a monster Marinette. How could you do that to him?! Look at his face! His little baby face! He looked heartbroken!"

Marinette snorts at the playful scolding.

"Let him go, Alix. Go find your own stray."

Alix snorts as Marinette pulls a blushing Chat to her hugging him close. Marinette sits down dragging him with her as he buries his face in her hair. Too embarrassed to speak.

He doesn't have a babyface. Does he?

"Awe come on Mari, you found the cutest one the least you could do is share him!"

Everyone laughs as Kim makes a grab for Chat just for Marinette to pull him closer to her.

"Noooooo, this is MY alley cat! Go find your own!"

Chat Noir would never admit how hard he had to fight down his purr when Marinette started petting his hair.

You know. Before he lost that battle and a purr sounded loudly through his chest.

"Please stop. It's not fair and you're embarrassing me. Mariiiiii! Stooooooop."

Everyone laughs when Chat complains for Marinette to stop, even as he starts to melt into a puddle on her lap.

"One of these days I'm going to tell M'lady on you and she's gonna dangle you from the Eiffel Tower."

Now, under normal circumstances, everyone would be worried, but it's hard to be serious when one of Paris's superheroes is melted in a puddle in your friend's lap with a purr so loud it's hard to understand him.

"I'm pretty sure Ladybug would dangle YOU from the Eiffel Tower for being in a girls room this late, without letting her parents know. Even more, so that you detransformed in front of us. Still want to tell Ladybug on Marinette?"

Everyone turns to Marc, Nathaniel's adorable spouse as they radiate badassery.

Chat's purr stutters before starting up just as loudly again.

"I will no longer be telling M'lady."

Marinette snorts leaning back on her chaise as Chat adjusts himself so he's laying between her legs with his head on her stomach. Facing the rest of the class as Marinette plays with his hair.

"Are you guys dating?"

"Of course they are Cesaire. Ridiculous-!"

"Utterly ridiculous!" "Ew! No!"

Are the two different responses that cut Chloe off. The group finishing Chloe's catchphrase as Marinette and Chat Noir look at the rest of the class in disgust.

"Okay, first of all. Chat what the HELL do you mean 'ew'? Marinette is a babe, and everyone in this room has had a crush on her at least once before. How dare you say 'ew' like you would never date her you would be incredibly lucky if she even considered you."

Alya states with a finger in Chat's face.

Alix, Alya, Kagami, Chloe, Max, Kim, Nathaniel, Marc, and Nino all looking incredibly offended for Marinette even as she blushes and tries to hide her face.

"Guys, stop! And what do you mean all of you? Half of you are dating each other!"

Chat snickers at her distress, pulling out his burner phone and snapping a picture of her face.

"Okay, there may or may not be a literal 'Queen Marinette Club" or 'QMC' for short. We even have several social media accounts dedicated to giving you the credit you deserve. Before you ask this started that one time we went to Gotham and you answered all of the Riddler's riddles and yelled at Nightwing and Robin for their poor fashion choices and called Batman a furry when he tried to stop you."

Surprisingly Nathaniel is the one who answers instead of Alya as she pulls out her phone.

"We didn't even start the club! It was some people in Gotham who did. Max is the one who found out about it."

Sweet Marc, sweet sweet Marc never knowing when to stop before Marinette popped a blood vessel from blushing so hard.

"Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Cat Woman, The Riddler, the entire Batfamily (Batman included), and even some of the Waynes follow the accounts. Not to mention the other celebrities you've befriended like Mr. Stone and Ms. Nightingale."

Max reads off of his phone, seemingly proud of Marinette's followers.

"Even my mom follows you, Mari. That says something."

Chat looks up cackling as Marinette tries to suffocate herself with a pillow, Plagg rolling around on her hair as he clutches his stomach.

"Dang! Pigtails has some, what's it called? Clout! You're famous, kitten!"

Marinette whimpers from behind the pillow, her face practically radiating heat.

Chat snorts before turning back to the group.

"Number one I am well aware that Marinette is awesome and that I would be the luckiest man in the world to have her as my girlfriend. However, she's basically my little sister, same as Ladybug. Sorry to burst your bubble, Alya. Number two, she already has a boyfriend, has for a little over a year now, and he scares me. I am not testing if I really have nine lives cause he would take all of them. Number three, can you show me the 'QMC' accounts I want to follow them."

The room is silent as Marinette glares at Chat.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Princess? It's not like this is new informa-! They didn't know did they?"

Marinette reaches under her, pulling out a very nice-looking dagger from under the cushions of her chaise.

"Say goodbye to eight of your lives Chat. I need a new black fur hat."

Chat yelps scampering away from Marinette on all fours as she lunges for him with Plagg chasing after them laughing.

They keep running around the room until they pass Kim and he reaches out and grabs Marinette, trapping her in his arms.

"Okay, nice knife. Not sure where you got it nor do I want to know. Second of all, what's this about a boyfriend?"

Everyone surrounds her as Alix pulls the dagger from her hands putting it back under the cushions.

"Why haven't we heard of any boyfriend? Are you out of your mind?"

Alya's calm tone is very misleading as Chat hides behind her.

"He didn't want anyone to know just in case people claim for me to be a gold digger. Scratch that, I didn't want anyone to know so he didn't get sued for assault if anyone called me a gold digger and he found out."

Chat snorts.

"Yeah, you, definitely a gold digger. You know, since you didn't even realize who he was for the first 5 or 6 months of your relationship."

Marinette's glare does nothing as a blush covers her face.

"We don't speak of it Chat. I can and will still skin you."

Everyone looks at Marinette in shock.

"Okay, so all we know is that they are a he. He is rich enough to make people assume Marinette, Marinette of all people, is a gold digger and they are in a secret relationship. Who is it?"

Max looks up from his phone, where he is no doubt taking notes.

Marinette looks at the ground mumbling something that no one but Chat can make out thanks to his super hearing. He laughs and walks over to her phone unlocking it as Marinette finally answers.

"Damian Wayne."

Everyone looks at Marinette in a mix of shock and confusion before Chloe bursts out laughing.

"Only you Marinette. Only you would get over your crush on a millionaire heir to fall for a literal billionaire heir without even realizing it."

She breaks off into hysterical laughter as everyone turns to chat who is now on Marinette's computer connected to her phone as a facetime call takes place.

It answers on the second ring to someone who is most definitely NOT Damian Wayne.

"Hey Pixie Pop! Sorry, but I had to steal the phone from demon spawn. He was trying to kill me and Dick with a spoon and lunged for his phone as soon as it started ringing. Me and Dick were closer so we grabbed it and are now trying to find somewhere to hide so he doesn't actually kill us. Dick wanna say 'Hi'?"

Everyone hears a shout of 'sure' from someone out of the frame before the phone is passed over to someone who looks much like the first, except they are older and have no white streak in their hair.

"Hey, nettie! How's school?"

Chat smirks, covering Marinette's mouth as she tries to reply. A door slams shut as the two guys hunker in the near darkness, a lock clicking into place.

"School is great thanks for asking. Could be better but we are all getting by."

Two faces appear on screen looking a mix between worried and angry.

"I swear to god if you are holding Pixie Pop for ransom you will have the rage of all of Gotham fall upon you."

Chat just looks confused before remembering that he's wearing a mask and is holding Marinette's mouth shut.

"Oh! No, I'm not holding her hostage, we're friends. Chat Noir, Parisian superhero at your service. I just wanted to prank her boyfriend, she's having a sleepover and I was invited."

Their expressions immediately relax.

"Oh good. I was worried about what would happen when everyone else found out. Especially Damian."

Both boys shudder and smile as everyone else in the room comes into the frame.

One of them opens their mouth to speak before a loud bang comes from the door. Two equal looks of fear take over their faces.

A second later a loud bang fills the air as the door basically explodes open, high-pitched screams of terror fill the air before all is silent a new face filling to screen.

"Sorry Habibti, my brothers are imbeciles with death wishes. What do you need?"

"Wow, Habibti? I didn't know you felt that way about me Damian, or should I give you a pet name too?"

Chat's grin SCREAMS mischief, as Damian looks down an ice-cold glare in place.

"Let go of my girlfriend before I fly down there and skin you alive regardless of her wishes."

Everyone shivers at the pure venom in Damian's voice as Chat lets go holding his hands up in the air as he grins.

"Sorry, sorry. Letting go."

Marinette and Damian both glare at him before turning to each other, both looks immediately softening.

"Sorry, Shaytan. I'm having a sleepover and Chat outed our relationship and decided it would be funny to call you."

His smile is so gentle it shocks the rest of Marinette's friends.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault the Cat is a moron. I miss you. When do you think you can come back?"

Both of them choose to ignore Chats highly offended 'Hey!' as well as everyone else in the room with Marinette.

"That depends on when you want me there and when I can catch a flight."

Damian sits down at a table pulling a laptop to him as he sets up his phone so she can still see him.

"Well I want you here now, and I can have you a flight soon enough if I ask Father to get the family jet ready. If I work fast I can have you here by tomorrow morning, if not sooner."

Marinette looks shocked.

"You can't just ask your Father to get a plane ready just for me Damian!"

He glances back at the phone before going back to his computer.

"Why not? Everyone here loves you and if you're worried about the cost of it I can assure you a single minute of your time is worth far more than a measly plane ride."

Kim and Alya make cooing noises at the two from the sweetness of it all as Kagami steps up wrapping her arms protectively around her.

"Before you make any more trip plans you are going to tell me what you plan to do with Marinette in the future. I will not allow her to be some temporary girlfriend if you aren't serious about her."

Damian turns back to the phone looking past Marinette to acknowledge the others for the first time since the call started.

"I can assure you I don't want Marinette to be temporary. I plan to marry her and I truly couldn't care less if any of you have a problem with it."

Marinette's face invents a new shade of red as everyone coos over how cute that is. After getting over their initial shock of course.

"Habibti, do you want them to be able to come with you next time you come over? I can have father speak to their parents if they don't agree right away."

"Are you sure that would be okay?"

Marinette's timid voice makes Damian look away from his computer.

"Why wouldn't it be? If you don't want them to come with you then they don't have to, I know that you have some trouble with a few of your classmates. Seeing how late it is there I would have thought these were the ones who didn't turn on you or came back once they realized how idiotic they were to leave in the first place."

"Rude, but true."

Damian chooses to ignore Alya.

"No I would like for them to come, it could be fun! I'm just worried about space and where everyone would sleep."

Damian snorts.

"You have nothing to worry about, if you don't want them to stay in a hotel they can stay with us in the manor, there's plenty of space. And if there isn't enough space you can just sleep with me in my room."

He finishes off with a cheeky grin as Marinette sputters.

"You can't just say stuff like that Damian! It was bad enough that you said you planned to marry me, you don't need to add sharing a bed to the pile!"

Damian has the audacity to look confused.

"What do you mean? I never hid my plans to marry you nor my feelings, I don't get what the big deal is about sharing a bed anyway. It's not like Alfred would let us do anything and we wouldn't even have the chance with the circus monkeys I call brothers."

Several offended voices with 'I heard that!' 'Excuse me?' and 'You love us and you know it!'s all sound from his end.

Alix and Kim are basically collapsed onto each other as they wheeze at his bluntness.

Marinette sighs resting her head on her hands with a 'why do I even bother?' before looking up again.

"Fine, how is next weekend for everyone. I know Adrien will want to be included and I don't think he has anything going then. It will give me enough time to convince everyone's parents if need be and pack."

Everyone agrees and they end the call. Damian and Marinette saying their respective I love yous and Goodnight/Good mornings.

"I'm going to duel him."

"Kagami NO!"

Kagami looks Marinette dead in the eyes before smiling.

"Kagami yes."

[thenovelartist]

Game Over: Be Mine

Happy (late) Birthday to my friend @galaxyofconstellations​

“I swear, Adrien, you frickin’ blue shell me, I am going to kick you out of my house right now.”

The young man sitting beside her just laughed. “It’s not like I have the option of who to blue shell, though.”

“You have the option to not blue shell me in the first place.”

“Yeah, but what’s the fun in that?”

“Adrien Agreste,” Marinette growled.

He shot her a smug grin. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette huffed. To say this was out of the ordinary for her to sass a supermodel would be a lie. She’d met the man beside her a couple years ago when her best friend happened to start going out with his best friend. And then game nights between the four of them began to transpire every once in a while. And then once a month. And now about once week. However, there were times Alya and Nino, due to their schedules, wanted to ditch game nights so they could actually have a date night that week.

Just as they had done tonight.

And that was all right by Marinette and Adrien. Because they had become plenty close over the past couple years and had learned to enjoy solo game nights without the lovey-dovey couple getting all lovey-dovey on them.

“I am not kidding.” Marinette warned.

“I’d love to see you try.”

“To kick you out?”

“Yeah.”

“I will.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t underestimate me. I’m stronger than I look.”

“I’m not. I’ve seen you lift flour bags. I know full well what you’re capable of.”

“Therefore, you know better than to use that blue shell on me.”

Marinette snuck a glance at Adrien, who was wearing a smile that she Did. Not. Like. It was that smile that always meant trouble yet caused her heart to flutter. It was not fair that he looked extra attractive wearing that grin. Being a fashion designer, she’d seen her fair share of models. She hardly cared for them beyond being able to display her creations. Attractive men who constantly made passes at her while she fitted them with clothes were a dime a dozen.

However, the model next to her with his tongue slightly sticking out while his brows furrowed deeply in concentration could not be so easily tossed under that blanket statement, even if he had jokingly made passes at her while she tailored his outfits. Honestly, she found herself wishing more often than not that he’d meant them despite knowing he hadn’t.

“Well…” he said, shooting her a quick wink before turning back to the screen, “knowing and doing are two different things.”

“Adrien Agreste.”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“About pressing this button?”

“Yes.”

He moved his finger.

“Don’t you dare.”

“Oops.”

“Screw you!”

Marinette watched as the blue shell flew through the course and struck her, causing her cart to explode right before the finish line. Before her cart could even fully recover, she watched as Adrien’s cart zipped past her across the finish line.

“Winner!” he shouted, tossing his hands in the air while wearing a beaming smile.

“You mangy—”

“Hey hey, be nice.”

“Nice?!”

“Yeah.” He shot her a smile that did not under any circumstances cause the butterflies in her stomach to swirl. “It’s not becoming to be a sore loser.”

Marinette sputtered. “It is when you’re a cheater!”

“How’d I cheat? I merely used what the game gave me.”

“You strategically planned to screw me over.”

“But but but…” he began with a pout. “That’s kinda the point of Mario Cart.”

She let loose a growl before turning away from him. “Honestly, you’re such a piece of work.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

The words were said in jest. Marinette knew this. Her heart could not take it in jest. Not when she had developed a healthy crush on the man who was now behind her.

“Mari?”

Adrien’s concerned voice floated towards her, and her anger was already fading. She couldn’t stay mad at him, even if he did win this game five times in a row. She wasn’t a sore loser, but she also knew she was better than this.

“Maaaaariiiiii.”

His voice now resonated right by her ear. She could feel the couch cushion sink under his weight as he crawled across the couch to now be right behind her.

“Get lost. I’m sulking,” she snarked, turning her face away from him in hopes to hide the smile growing on her face.

“Oh, are we now?”

“We are,” she resolutely returned.

“Oh.”

There was a pause, and Marinette felt the cushion under her return to normal as Adrein shifted off the couch entirely.

“Well,” Adrien said, rounding the arm rest to place himself right before her. She had to cover her mouth in hopes of hiding her grin just a little while longer. “I do know one way to get you to stop sulking.”

Marinette froze for a second, hand falling away from her face—her smile was long gone now—as she looked towards Adrien.

He was grinning.

She began panicking.

“You wouldn’t.”

His smile only grew in responce.

He would.

In a flash, Marinette spun around, planning to bolt off the couch and out of his reach.

Unfortunately, she was not fast enough to escape. And she squealed as he began his attack.

His tickle attack, that is.

“Adrien!” she shrieked, collapsing onto the couch in a fit of laughter. She tried to wiggle away from him, but it was no use. He had crawled over the arm of the couch and was now hovering over her. “Stop.”

“Never!” he cried, wrapping his arms fully around her to hold her close as his assault on her sides continued.

Marinette let out another shriek, laughing so hard tears were forming in her eyes as she tried to wiggle her way out of Adrien’s grasp. He was now laughing along with her as he pinned her fully beneath him to the couch, his arms around her waist that held her tightly enough to continue tickling her sides. “Give up,” he cried, giggling all the while.

“I give!” Marinette screamed, still laughing as her back arched and hands pushed against his shoulders in an unfortunately futile attempt to escape his grasp. “I give! I surrender! Please.”

He held his hands still, though his fingers still lingered on her exposed skin right between her pants and where her shirt had ridden up on her hips. He propped himself up best he could and pulled her back towards him, close enough for his face to hover right above hers. “No more pouty Mari!”

“Yes, yes! Okay. You win. Stop!”

With that, he fully halted his attack, allowing Marinette a moment to breathe. Wide smile still lingering on her face, she let her eyes shut as she took heaving gulps of air that she wasn’t able to get during her tickle-induced laughing attack.

Faintly, she became aware of Adrien also breathing heavily, a short chuckle escaping him here and there. “Hey.”

She opened her eyes, only to come face to face with Adrien. “What?”

“I didn’t go too overboard, did I?”

With a heavy sigh, she let her eyes drift closed for a moment before shaking her head. “No. No more than usual.”

“Good,” he huffed, clearly relieved.

While the two were coming down from their giggle fit high, Marinette became increasingly aware of their very precarious position. At the moment, she was pinned to the couch, a fact she had already been aware of, but not to this extent. Adrien’s face was barely hovering above hers, looking every bit as handsome as he possibly could be while he laid on top of her, their legs intertwined and his arms fencing her in.

She felt all her blood rush to her cheeks that moment. It wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be able to have this affect on her. He was a model like any one of the dozens she was frequently surrounded with.

But he was also her friend. And a huge dork. And great at video games. And skilled both in the art of cheering her up and melting her heart. And and and…

And it just wasn’t fair how badly she’d fallen for him. Or how badly she wanted to kiss him right now.

“Adrien.”

“Hmm?”

“What… what if…”

She bit her lip. Just what did she think she was doing right now?

“What if I told you you did go overboard? What would you be willing to do to pay me back for it?”

He paused, distress slowly beginning to shadow his pretty features. “Anything.”

“Anything?”

“I have Nino, who’s my best bro. But beyond that, the person I’m closest to… is you,” he quietly admitted. “I’d do whatever it took to make it up to you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Her heart was racing as she looked at the handsome man before her, the one she’d come to care for deeply and sincerely. She knew better than to take advantage of this situation. She knew better than to be manipulative like this. And yet, as Marinette looked at him, she also wasn’t sure she cared. “Then, close your eyes.”

Without hesitating, he did just that.

It wasn’t lost on Marinette the amount of trust he put into her. He was the kind that asked “how high” when asked to jump, but only for a select few people. Everyone else could take a long walk off a short pier for all he cared.

It made her realize once again just how precious that trust in her was.

Which made her rethink what she was about to do.

Ultimately, she shoved doubt aside as she raised her hands to cradle his cheeks, and he sucked in a sharp breath at her touch. They were soft to the touch yet very well defined. He was so handsome. A model through and through.

And maybe, she should stop saying such things, because what did it matter that he was a model. That was the one thing she could care less about when it came to him. Not when he had so many other qualities that shone far brighter.

Slowly, she started pulling him closer. And he came willingly. Yet, at the last moment, she froze.

In the end, she couldn’t go through with it.

“Adrien.”

“Please tell me you’re going to kiss me.”

She gasped quietly, unsure how to proceed or even answer that question. “I…” Words choked up in her throat. “I… wanted to.”

“Wanted to?” Adrien asked, eyes cracking open to match hers.

Her hands fell from his cheeks, curling together on her collarbone. She glanced away shyly. “I don’t… can’t take advantage of you.”

His hand reached up to brush aside her hair before cradling the back of her neck, bringing her attention back to his soft and sweet smile. “You’re not,” he gently assured. “Not by a long shot.”

“Then…” Marinette once again reached up to cradle his cheeks, and Adrien took that as his cue to pull her close and kiss her.

It was a single kiss, one that was a firm, lingering press of their lips together.

And in that moment, Marinette knew this was game over for her and her heart. Adrien had won again. But this time, she hardly minded.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” Adrien whispered. “But… seems like you were braver than I was. It never felt like the right time, and I was too chicken to push my luck when I knew I could end up losing you.”

Words now completely failed Marinette. What was she supposed to say to that? How was she supposed to respond? “I… get… how you feel.”

Above her, Adrien’s loving smile grew. “So, does this mean I can press my luck and get a favorable answer when I ask if you’d be my girl?”

Marinette was quick to nod. “Yes.”

Adrien visibly relaxed, faint blush growing on his own cheeks. “I’m… really glad to hear that.”

A short silence passed between them.

“Second question.”

“Yeah?” Marinette whispered, her heart already over the moon and head completely in the clouds.

“If I asked to kiss you again,” Adrien said, leaning closer. “Would that answer be a yes?”

Those words wracked around in her mind for two seconds before short-circuiting everything. Forget speech, because that had become physically impossible, Marinette just grabbed his cheeks again.

Right before she could pull him down to grant his request, she could hear him chuckle softly. “I like that answer,” he whispered. “But…”

His lips brushed against hers as his voice got low and so quiet she could barely pick up on the words that fully destroyed her. “I like you even more.”

[thewritingstar]

I Wont Cast You Aside

Pairing: Marinette x Chloe 

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug 

Word count: 5k (was suppose to be 1k but I wanted a bigger story line) 

Note: This is a commission for the wonderful @wombatking I want to thank you for not only commissioning this but trusting me with a pairing I haven’t written for yet. One thing about writing fics for a new pair is the fear of not being able to capture them together. I rewrote this beast so many times and I hope that you enjoy it! 

Thank you for being so patient with me and I really hope you like it :) Also yes, the title is a pun, I couldn’t resist. 

                                        ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

There's a rush of adrenaline in her system as she takes off running. She ignores the yell from Ladybug and soon the wind is all she can hear. The streetlights of Paris swirl into a bright blur as she practically flies from rooftop to rooftop. Nothing can stop her as her target is locked in sight and she can feel a victory coming.

For months she's been gaining traction and skill. All she wanted was to prove to Ladybug that her choice shouldn’t turn into a regret. That she was meant to be Queen Bee.

Another jump and she's closing in. She can almost feel the energy of the akuma buzzing within that cursed object. Her eyes narrow and she calls out for her spinning top while activating her venom. It's over now. That's what the blonde tells herself as she sends the weapon spinning through the night and wraps it around the leg of the villain of the day.

Pride. It swells through her as they go down with a thud. They won, a victory that has her name stamped on it and she wants nothing more than to have Ladybug and Chat Noir beside her to finish off the job.

She turns to look for them but all she sees is the stars dancing on the horizon. It's strange and she can feel her stomach twist in a way she doesn’t like.

A dark chuckle comes from the villain below.

“Ladybug?” She whispers to herself and as she turns towards her voice, there's a louder sound that rings through her ears. “Ladybug?” She calls out louder. She doesn’t understand. They were right behind her. She wasn’t that far, they had to have followed her.

“No one is coming.” The villain says.

Queen Bee looks at their eyes but there's nothing there. No sense of emotion can be found and for a second, she wonders if they are alive. It's terrifying and she feels alone. Their laughter turns to an uproar.

“You’re nothing!” They scream as they try to jolt towards her. “You’re a waste of space. A hero with no merit.”

The ground below her starts to sink like quicksand. Her throat goes dry, and she tries to scream but nothing comes out. Pain shoots through her body and she can feel tears streaming down her face as the world above her disappears and she falls into a darkness.

“Ladybug!” She manages to yell but the light above is cut from her view and now she's falling.

Her body is weightless and every fear she's had is echoing around her like a cave of personal torment. A golden flash surrounds her, and she can feel the power drain from her system. Pollen stares at her with lifeless eyes as the comb hovers in her face, taunting her as the gold turns black like ink.

“You were never a queen.” Pollen spats.

It crumbles into dust as her lungs squeeze from the scream leaving her lips.

“Pollen!” Chloe cries but she's nowhere to be found as the dust surrounds her in the dark.

                                          ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Chloe wakes with a jolting start.

She looks around to see herself in her room. No plunging darkness or a disappointed Pollen. The voice of Ladybug isn’t calling out to her. She's in her bed safe and sound. Her heart rate is skyrocketing as she tries to catch her breath. She turns to the clock and sees that it's barely four in the morning. The nightmares had been happening more and more. Nights become restless and her body is starting to move to the brink of exhaustion.

That night of her failure plays on a repeat. It's like a broken record. The face of the villain staring at her as she falls, the scream coming from her throat and both Ladybug and Chat Noir’s voices echoing in her ears. No matter how many times she has it, the fear doesn’t leave.

“It's just a nightmare.” She tells herself, but she can see it and feel it so clearly that she isn’t sure if it's just her imagination.

Chloe grabs a tissue from her nightstand and wipes the sweat off her brow. All she wanted was a peaceful night of rest but apparently that's too much to ask for. Her stomach feels like it's turned upside down as she makes her way to the bathroom, moving slower than what she was used to.

Cold water splashes against her face and she stares at the mirror to a face that looks paler than usual. Bags have formed under her eyes and not even her imported skin care can undo the damage of losing sleep. Even the blue of her eyes had seemed to lose their brightness.

“You’re okay.” She whispers with a shaky voice and swallows hard. “You’re okay.”

It's the only thing she can say to herself. The only thing that can calm the storm from within until the nightmare strikes again.

She makes her way back to her bed that feels more like a prison at this point. Bedrest sounded so glamorous at the time but now that she's been stuck here for almost two weeks, she wanted nothing more than to leave. She is afraid to close her eyes. Afraid that when she does, the darkness will form once again.

Suddenly there's a knock on her balcony door, it breaks her from her thoughts. There's hardly any wind tonight and the trees had just been cut so there's no way for the tree to reach the glass. For a moment she wonders if it's another akuma. Maybe she wasn’t awake after all, and her nightmare is continuing. The door gets another knock.

Her eyes narrow towards the door, but the shadow of a figure suggests that the wind wasn’t the culprit. She recognizes the figure instantly.

Her stomach goes into a knot and shame fills her heart. A part of her didn’t want to open it. She’d rather not face the superhero again but knows that's not possible. Instead, she huffs and manages to get over to the door without falling over.

She opens the door to Ladybug who stands in front of her with flowers and a soft smile on her face. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Chloe steps aside and lets the hero pass by. “It's four a.m.”

“I know, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Haven’t gotten the chance to see you.” Ladybug looks down at the cast that adores Chloe’s right leg. Guilt washes over her and when their eyes meet, she knows she was caught staring.

Chloe nods and bites her lip, trying to ignore the look on Ladybug's face. “It's fine, you’re busy.”

“Queen Bee.” Ladybugs starts but Chloe raises her hand to stop her as they sit on the couch for more comfort. She wants to tell Chloe every single apology in the books. Tell her it's her fault she got hurt and to make sure she knows she's going to do anything in her power to help her out.

Instead, Chloe frowns. “Ladybug, don’t.”

“Chloe.” She had brought her a bouquet of bluebells and marigolds, her favorite and she wonders how she knew but also doesn’t question the gift. “I’m so sorry.”

This was a surprise. She looks at the superhero, distress clear on her face. “Why are you apologizing? I’m the one who got hurt.”

“On my account. If I stayed with you, your foot wouldn’t be broken and don’t try to change my mind on that. I couldn’t reach you in time. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am.”

Chloe holds her tongue but then again, she's not one to keep quiet. “I don’t blame you. It's not your fault nor Chats. I was clumsy and too eager, but I learned my lesson. I’ll be fine, it's a clean break anyways.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I should have protected you better.”

“We all make mistakes, but you aren’t the reason I broke my foot.” She lets out a sigh. “Maybe it's for the best.”

“It's not.” Ladybug frowns and shakes her head. “I just want Queen Bee back by my side. I want you back on our team.”

The blonde looks towards the flowers, a sense of comfort washing over her. “I’m surprised you even want me on your team.” Her voice is low and she's trying not to cry but it hurts too much to think that her time as a superhero is done just because she was reckless and in a cast. An ugly white cast that clashes with every clothing article she owns. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

A laugh bubbles from Ladybugs lips. “Of course, I still want you! You’ve grown so much over these past few months and sure, it was a rocky start but look at you. You’re a member of this team Chloe. Chat and I can always rely on you in a pinch.” And she means it. Chloe of course doesn’t know her true identity and maybe she doesn’t quite believe her words, but Ladybug does.

She smiles at the blonde who just happens to be her girlfriend in her civilian life and she's trying to keep her guilt at bay. The moment she found out Queen Bee had broken a leg, she blamed herself. Tikki tried to reason with her, begged her to see the bigger picture and that accidents happen. If it was anyone's fault, it was that damned Hawk Moth.

A small weight comes off of Chloe’s shoulder as she relaxes. “Thank you, Ladybug, that means a lot.” Chloe smiles and wipes her eyes. “I promise I’ll get better soon; you can count on that!”

“I know I can.” Ladybug smiles and stands. “I should get going, it's late-or well, early. Take it easy Chloe and if you need anything, just holler.”

Chloe watches as she leaves through the balcony door. She looks at the arrangement of flowers and a small smile forms on her lips. Grabbing her crutches, she manages to get to her bed much easier than before.

Her eyes flutter close and for the first time in a while the nightmare doesn’t greet her.

                                         ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

It's odd. The limo pulls up to the school and yet she doesn’t want to leave. The moment the word got out that Queen Bee had gotten hurt, and her civilian form was now stuck in a cast, chaos within the press had broken out.

She was used to the flashes of cameras, being the mayor's daughter had some publicity perks, but she didn’t like the limelight on her injury. She wanted to be treated normally. People began to treat her like she was made of glass. She wasn’t. She was fine. Yeah...she was fine.

Even her friends saw her differently. Adrien seemed on edge when visiting her as if he personally caused it. Little did she know the fear he was holding as he handed her flowers and told her that he can rely on her for anything. Sabrina tried her hardest not to overwhelm her with concern, but the redhead had burst into tears when she had seen her best friend being bandaged up.

Flowers had started to pile up in her room that she sent them to decorate the lobby of the hotel and even offered others the chocolate she had been gifted. Even many fan letters addressed to Queen Bee had begun to show up and although she adored the attention, reading them while stuck in bed had begun to feel like she had let everyone down.

All she wanted was for people to say their comforting words and go on with their day. Of course, seeing all of her friends standing on the steps of the school to greet her with smiles was a step in the direction she was aiming for. She knew that all of their hearts were genuine, and she didn’t mind each of them personally visiting her. They cared about her, and she was happy to know that she had people who did.

Over the past few months, she has grown into a better person. She was tired of being seen as the mean popular girl and learned that making friends with compassion and kindness was always the better way. After all she had learned first-hand from her girlfriend.

Out of the crowd Marinette stepped forward. She held out her hand to help Chloe out of the limo and grabbed her bag so she could get onto her crutches.

“Hi.” Marinette said with a smile and kissed her on the cheek. “How are you doing?”

In all honesty, she was exhausted. Tired of this ugly cast, tired of being treated with kid gloves, tired of it all. But the one thing she would never get bored of, was her girlfriend and those beautiful blue eyes that held care and affection.

The blonde forced a small smile onto her lips. “I’m doing alright, but I would feel better if you walked me to class.” She looked towards the rest of their friends and smiled. “Don’t worry these crutches won’t stop me from being fabulous so no need to get worried.”

“Happy to have you back.” Adrien smiled as many heads nodded in agreement.

“Sabrina told me that she has all of your notes in your locker.” Marinette said right as the bell rang.

Chloe huffed. “I forgot that I still have schoolwork. This is ridiculous.”

“Utterly ridiculous?” Marinette giggled just as Chloe’s cheeks flushed.

As they started walking, Chloe took Marinette's hand. “I’m really happy to see you.” She whispered.

“You’ve seen me for the past three days straight.” Marinette responded.

“I know but you make everything so much better, even if you do nothing but just be in the same room as me.”

“Aww Bee.” She blushed. “I like being around you too.”

They reached their classroom just as the bell rang signaling that class was about to start. Marinette dropped off Chloe’s bag and helped her into her seat. “I’ll see you at lunch.” She winked and went to her seat next to Alya.

                                          ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Marinette stared at the back of Chloe’s head the entire day. Although she had seen her as Ladybug the night before, it didn’t help the fact that the guilt was stirring around her. Again, and again, she tried to remind herself that it wasn’t her fault. That her girlfriend falling from the rooftop and waking up with a broken leg was just a mishap with an akuma.

It didn’t help though. She could see it in Chloe's eyes. The desperation on her face when she was told that the cast would be there for a few months. Those crutches would become a new normal and she wouldn’t be able to do certain activities with her friends such as swimming just as the sun was coming out. It wasn’t fair and she felt like she let her down not only as a superhero, but as a friend.

There was something off about Chloe as she went through the day. At lunch, people gave her some flowers and offered to sign her cast, but she had declined any signatures. Marinette offered her company on the bench and held out a small box of sugar cookies. “I made these last night for you.”

She could see Chloe’s shoulders instantly relax a little and a small beam of pride was felt as Chloe took the box and thanked her.

“I was wondering if you wanted me to come over tomorrow night. My mom and dad are out for the weekend on a delivery so I would be alone.” Marinette said. “I was thinking of a movie night, and I made some designs for your cast and crutches.”

There was a part of Chloe that wanted to be by herself. However, the other side of her wanted nothing more than to be cuddled up next to Marinette while a movie played in the background. Her social battery was becoming challenged lately but Marinette only seemed to add energy as she never got tired of being around her.

“Honestly, I could use some girlfriend time. I love my dad, but he's been babying me and although I’m in a cast, I can still handle myself. Plus, I can hardly stand this ugly thing.” She tapped on her cast. “Tomorrows perfect.”

“Awesome! I’ll bring over my art supplies and a bunch of movies.” Mari smiled and kissed her on the cheek as the bell rang. “Here let me get your bag.” She offered and put it on her shoulder.

“It's alright, I can probably carry it myself.” Chloe tried to reach for it but instead Marinette took her hand and placed a kiss to her knuckles.

“I’m sure you can but I would like to carry my girlfriend's stuff.”

“Alright Dupain-Cheng. Just let me know when you get tired of it, all we need is for you to fall down the stairs and get put into your own cast.” Chloe teased.

Marinette rolled her eyes playfully. “I’m not that clumsy.”

“Of course not. But you are cute.” She winked and started to walk to class leaving a flushed Marinette behind.

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Everywhere she looked there was glitter. It was as if someone had taken all the sparkle particles in the city and sent them straight to her bedroom. Yellows, purples, golds and pinks of all shaped plastic that was as tiny as the tip of the pin covered her hands.

“Mari, I love the enthusiasm but am I going to have to get my room deep cleaned?” Chloe asked as she wiped her hands on a towel and yet the glitter still shined across her palm.

Marinette giggled as she grabbed another paintbrush and dipped it into black paint. “It will come out soon, or in a day-maybe even a year.”

The blonde wanted to be annoyed that she could potentially wake up covered in the stuff but seeing her girlfriend enjoying herself as she decorated those ugly crutches was enough to make her okay with the sacrifice of her rug.

“Well as long as my crutches look better than anyone’s ever had, I don’t mind.” She smirked.

“I’m sure they will. And done!” Marinette exclaimed and stood up to examine the crutches. “What do you think?”

Chloe always knew that Marinette was an artsy person, anyone could tell that just by looking at her. No matter how many times she was shown her work, she would always be in awe at how amazing it was.

The crutches had gone from a dull light grey to a masterpiece. They had been painted a light yellow and had black flowers all around them. Small bees were hidden all around and had glitter on top to add a little extra flair. Even the cushions that her arms rested on were now wrapped with black fabric.

“They look stunning.” Chloe gasped.

“A Queen Bee theme for a queen.” Marinette smiled and placed them against the wall so that the paint could dry. “They should be dry in a couple hours so if you need to move around, I’ll help you around.”

“Thank you, Marinette, I love them a lot.”

“Anything for you.” She kissed her cheek. “Now are you ready for the cast? I was thinking of painting sunflowers and then our friends can sign the petals to make it even more special.”

“That sounds lovely.” Chloe says as Marinette moves her leg, so her cast is sitting in her lap.

“Perfect! Will you pass me the yellow paint?” She points.

Chloe reaches to the bucket of paints and picks out the tube of yellow and hands it to her. Her eyes shift over to her crutches, and she focuses on the bees. She loves it and thinks it's pretty, but her chest still feels tight when she thinks about her being Queen Bee.

“Marinette, can I tell you a secret?” She whispers and she feels like she wants to take the words back when Marinette looks up at her.

“Of course, always.” She responds and sets her brush down.

“I shouldn’t be Queen Bee.”

Marinette's eyes shot wide open as she's shocked from the words that left her lips. “What? Why would you say that?”

She expected her to react like this but something about the look in Marinette's eyes makes her wonder why she looks so upset. She suddenly feels so small, and she knows that if she speaks, tears will follow.

She feels Marinette take her hand. “Is this because you got hurt?”

Chloe sniffles and she turns her head away. “It's more than just that. It's nightmares and letting everyone down.”

“Chloe.” She frowns. “You didn’t let anyone down.”

“It's ridiculous Marinette. I really thought that I could be this amazing superhero and be helpful. Instead, I was a fool that almost cost us the win. Ladybug told me that the miraculous would be waiting for me once I’m better, but I don’t think I should go back. I can’t mess up again.” Chloe looks at her and now she can see it.

She can see the heartbreak in Chloe’s eyes. The bags from hardly any sleep are showing up and she wishes she noticed sooner. Every time she had visited Chloe, she never talked about the nightmares, or the cast and she didn’t want to bring it up herself. It's weighing on her and all she wants to do is reach out and take away the pain.

Tears gather in Marinette's eyes. She had never seen pure devastation on her girlfriend's face or seen how vulnerable she is allowing herself to be. The conversation she had when she was Ladybug comes back. She takes a breath because she isn’t sure her words would work when Ladybugs didn’t do so well.

“You know what I admire about you?” Marinette starts and cups her cheek. “You have a remarkable amount of bravery. It's okay to mess up and make mistakes, but what really counts is if you get back up again.”

A sigh leaves the blondes' lips. “I don’t know.”

“I can see it in your eyes Chloe. No matter what, you love helping people as Queen Bee. Getting hurt doesn’t make you a bad superhero. It makes you human. No one will blame you for being scared to go back out there. You have so much courage just considering it. I believe Ladybug when she says she wants you back out there. You’re amazing and I wish I could show you how great you are.”

“Do you really think she means it? That she’s waiting for me?” She asks.

“Definitely. Ladybug would never cast you aside.” She reassures her.

Through her sobs Chloe let’s out a laugh. “That's exactly what Chat Noir said.”

Marinette's eyes widen when she realizes the pun she just accidentally said and scoffs. “Of course, he did.” Her thumb catches another tear. “I mean it Chloe. Not as just your girlfriend but as someone who truly believes in you and is on your side. You are the only Queen Bee for Paris. Plus, it would be utterly ridiculous of you not to go back out there.” She tried to make her smile.

And it works. The tears slow as Chloe takes a deep breath. “It would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it?”

Marinette scoots closer and nuzzles her nose against hers. “I mean if you quit then I couldn’t brag at how my amazing, stunning and absolutely gorgeous girlfriend is one of the greatest superheroes the world has ever seen.”

“Well, we couldn’t let that happen.” Chloe giggles as she feels her heart becoming lighter.

It becomes clear to Chloe that she can’t let this affect her. She wouldn't let a broken foot and fear hold her back. No, she was going to be the hero her girlfriend believed her to be. She wanted to rise to the challenge and get her mojo back. Make sure that Ladybug knew that she was ready to get back out there and be back on her team. She wanted to see Pollen again and help stop Hawk Moth.

“You’re amazing Chloe.” Marinette and that's enough for Chloe to want to be better.

It has always been Marinette cheering her on. She won’t let her down. She leans forward and takes Marinette's lips slowly. It's soft and slow but fills her stomach with butterflies. A warmth fills her chest as Marinette kisses her back. She runs her hand through her dark hair, pulling her impossibly closer and she can feel the smile forming on her girlfriend's lip.

“Thank you, Marinette, for believing in me.” She said as they pulled apart.

“I always will Chloe.” She responds just as she kisses her again.

                                       ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

                                                  A month later

“Alright Ms. Bourgeois, your cast is officially off, and you won’t be needing to rely on crutches anymore. All I suggest is taking it easy for about a week or two, but you recovered extremely well.” The doctor smiled and Chloe could feel a new freedom as she wiggled her toes.

“It's about time.” She spoke.

“You can discard your crutches in the other room if you no longer want them.”

Chloe turned to her crutches that were still as pretty as the day they were painted. “Absolutely not. These crutches are the best in Paris and there is no way that I am getting rid of them.” She then sees her cast sitting on the back counter. “I want to keep that too.”

“You want to keep your cast?” The doctor questions.

She only scoffs and hops off the medical table. “Of course! My friends worked hard to make it look special, it's going to be framed to remember my time of bravery.”

The doctor shrugs. “Okay then, you’re free to go Ms. Bourgeois.”

“Thank you.” She huffed and grabbed her crutches before heading out toward her limo.

For the first time in what feels like a century, she's able to get into the car without any help. She can cross her legs and shift comfortably. “I’m never taking advantage of walking again.” She says to herself as she pulls out her phone. She dials a number and on the second ring it picks up.

“Mari? We have a date in the park this Saturday and I want your finest sugar cookies.”

She hears her girlfriend's soft laugh on the other side of the phone. “I’ll be there.”

                                       ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

It had been a few days since the cast was removed. She felt perfectly fine, and everyone was starting to revert back to treating her normally. No more kid gloves or pampering hand and foot excessively. Now it was them pampering her hand and foot normally, just how she liked.

She stared in the mirror as she reached for a hair tie to pull her hair up. Behind her, she heard a tapping noise coming from her balcony door. Looking at the time, she realized she had about ten minutes before her date with Marinette.

Another tap from the door and she rolled her eyes.

“Stupid wind.” She complained as she walked over to the door. Instead of the wind or a random object, the hero of creation stood before her. “Ladybug?” She gasped.

The hero offered a bright smile. “Heard you got the cast off and I’m in need of some assistance.” She said as she held out the miraculous box.

Any doubt or guilt she had carried over the last few weeks had vanished. There was a hint of pride in Ladybug's eyes as she offered the power to her.

Chloe reached out for it before hesitating. “I have a date with Marinette.” She frowned.

Panic settled in as Ladybug held the box. “Uh, I’m sure she will understand. After all, you are a superhero and about to help save Paris. Plus, you then get to tell her about all the exciting action you faced!” She said quickly.

Chloe thought about it for a second.

“I guess you’re right. She is one of the most understanding people around, unlike most of the fools I know. Now, hand me that box Ladybug, I have a villain to crush.”

A bright golden light emerged, and Pollen faced her with a smile.

“My Queen.” Pollen bowed.

“It's nice to see you again.” Chloe patted her on the head. “Time to remind Paris who their Queen Bee is!”

“Absolutely!” Pollen cheered.

“Pollen. Buzz on!”

As the light surrounded her, it filled her with joy. There was no darkness, no villain taking her down. Fear of failure was a thing of the past.

A hand came onto her shoulder. “It's good to have you back Queen Bee.” Ladybug said.

Chloe turned and engulfed her in a hug. It took them both by surprise, but she felt Ladybugs arms around her. “Thank you.” She whispered.

“You are always going to be Paris’s bee.”

                                        ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

There was a rush of adrenaline flowing through her as she transformed back to her civilian form. She handed Ladybug her miraculous and for the first time in months, she was at peace with herself.

“You did amazing Chloe! Give Marinette my best.” Ladybug said as she zipped away.

Without wasting any time, Chloe rushed over to the park to find Marinette sitting on a picnic blanket.

“Sorry for the wait.” Chloe said as she joined her on the blanket.

Marinette laughed and handed her a drink. “Don’t worry about it. I ran back to the bakery to grab some stuff, so your timing is perfect.”

“Well, you have to be perfect to be a superhero.” Chloe smirked proudly. “I’m not sure if you saw but I got the final blow in.”

“I was on the edge of my seat watching the Lady Blog. You looked incredible.” Mari said as she took her hand. “I’m really happy you didn’t give up. You’re an inspiration to others by teaching them to not let fear hold them back. Ladybug is lucky to have you.”

Chloe felt her cheeks flush at her girlfriend's words. Pure adoration was clear on Marinette's face. “If anything, I’m lucky to have you.” Chloe told her before kissing her on the lips.

                                        ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Thank you for reading :) 

[airi-p4]

Ice Dreams - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | ...

Lukanette Figure Skating AU? Lukanette Figure Skating AU.

I’ve been planning this for more than one year already ( @mamanabeille​ knows ) but Freya’s recent art for me fueled me to finish the first 2 chapters (out of more than 60...)

Header art is traditional art drawn by me about one year ago - Full pic HERE.

Summary

Despite being very talented and loving to skate, Marinette is determined to quit Figure Skating after the lack of decent results and the great amount of stress and pressure on her shoulders.

On the other hand, Juleka and Luka are average skaters in pairs category who, after years of hard work, have finally started showing some good results. But suddenly, Juleka is forced to retire, leaving Luka at the verge of retirement because of his need for a partner.

Can Juleka convince Luka and Marinette to give figure skating a second chance? Can they form a bond strong enough to reach the top and accomplish their dreams? Could something more than partnership spark between them?

AO3

________________________________

CHAPTER 1: Marinette

Figure skating can appeal to people for many reasons: the competitive part, the artistry, the music arrangements, the performances…

For Marinette figure skating was everything- her whole life.

When she was happy, she would love to skate. When she was sad, skating never failed to cheer her up. She was athletic, flexible and talented, gifted by both technique and artistry, as well as tenacity to work hard and never give up. Skating was an irreplaceable part of her life.

WAS.

In past tense.

Because even when it’s pleasant to watch the beautiful programs the skaters have to offer, there’s something that never changes during competitions: the scores are what really matter. Fail one element and you're screwed. Keep the program perfect but with minimum difficulty, you're off the podium. Do perfect in practice but fail in front of the judges: it's over.

This was Marinette's case.

Recently, consistency always failed her in competitions, and it had been a letdown to see how the past seasons had been going blank for her, without any outstanding accomplishment, despite her being on top almost all of her childhood. Her effort, and full potential didn’t show off on her competition results.

Marinette's parents and her coach, Miss Bustier, associated her disappointing results to her mentor’s and grandmother’s passing. But Marinette was well aware that the main reason behind her failures wasn't only how much she missed her granny; the real cause had a girl’s name: Lila Rossi.

It had already been 2 years since Lila joined her training classes under Miss Bustier's teachings. And everything had gone downhill after that.

It's not that she hadn't already been enduring bullying from Chloe Bourgeois, but Lila's bullying was at a whole different level.

The pressure, the expectations, the stress, the bullying, the injuries and damaged property, the struggle her parents went through to pay for her classes and competitions, how she had to sew her own dresses because she didn’t have the money to buy them, how she almost had no friends left... Everything piled up for years and made her finally crumble. Her skating consistency was affected and led only to constant failure.

In the end, she was exhausted, and no matter how much she loved ice skating, she reached her limit. She surpassed her limit.

Lila Rossi had won.

For two weeks now, since her last failure at a National Competition, Marinette had been skipping her skating classes. Coach Bustier was always exceptionally kind to her, and had been considerate (in her own way) this time as well, suggesting she take a few days to rest and get back again when she felt confident again.

But Marinette didn't intend to return under her coaching. Instead, she had set her mind to resign from her classes and, probably, even quit figure skating too.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

The most talented skater of the decade was seriously considering quitting skating for good. And it made her sad, but she couldn’t see any other way out of the spiral of failures she was caught in. No one was there to get her out of the dark hole she was buried in.

She certainly didn’t expect a second chance in figure skating.

_________________________________

During the days she didn't go to her classes, Marinette always spent her time at the Miraculous Ice Skate Rink, where her 'grandfather', Master Wang Fu worked as a manager, taking care of the installation and the opening and shutting down hours, along with the material to rent and the tickets for open to public times. Being her mother’s uncle, she had been babysat by him and his wife since she was a little kid. It was, in fact, Marianne Lenoir, was the one who taught Marinette the skating basics and the one who made her start practicing and love figure skating since she was 3 years old.

Marinette loved her grandparents a lot, and the passing of Miss Lenoir still pained her everyday. After her tragic loss, they became even closer, especially when Master Fu gave Marinette his late wife's earrings as a memento - he knew she would have given them to her at some point, since she loved the dark-haired girl a lot. And with no children on their own, Marinette was the closest they had to a daughter or granddaughter. Marinette had promised to treasure the earrings. They had a ladybug’s design engraved on them, only visible when light illuminated themfrom a certain angle. They were very mysterious and unique, and Marinette had loved them since her eyes had fallen on them. After becoming their owner, not even once she took them off. She felt the luck on her side as long as she wore them.

Except, that wasn’t the case anymore.

Marinette had her own theory of how Lila might have corrupted them when she touched them once, since all her luck was now gone from her side from that moment onwards.

On the ice, Marinette skated a little. But when she attempted to jump, a memory of her last competition crossed her mind and she fell down. Instead of standing up like always, she stayed seated on the floor, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Marinette! Are you ok? Did you get hurt?" asked Fu, worried. Rushing (as much as his old legs allowed him to) to aid her.

"Master-! I- I-... I can't skate anymore!" She broke down to cry even harder.

"That's not true, Marinette. You're just feeling discouraged now because of your recent results in competition. It's normal to feel like that. It will be ok"

"No Master…  It's not just competitions… It's everything… Lila, Chloe, my coach, my parents, my friends…and I miss Granny Marianne so much... I'll never be able to follow her steps now… I should just be realistic and give up..."

"Don't say that, dear. You have luck on your side. Like a ladybug. Lady Chance. You are talented enough to overcome this. I’m sure Marianne would be proud of you, even if you don't follow her steps. And you know? There's no need to compete if you don't feel like doing it. Many people just skate for fun or minor competitions. I’m sure the future has good things prepared for you. You just need to keep moving and you’ll find the right path to follow. And whatever you choose to do, we'll be proud of you. The doors to this ice rink are open for you to come whenever you want to"

That's right. She could skate without competitions. She could focus on something else and have skating as a hobby. Maybe she could make a living out of a figure skating outfit designer…

It was settled. She was quitting. And she was telling her parents tonight.

"Thank you, Master. I know what I want to do now" she answered, giving him a heartfelt hug. Fu smiled at her and patted her back a little, happy to see her smile was back on her face and how his granddaughter's tears had finally stopped.

___________________________

Marinette was very nervous when she arrived home. She tried to sneak to her room without being noticed, but her mother had been waiting for her, with a deeply worried expression on her face. Marinette gulped. 'She has probably found out I've been skipping my classes' she thought, but her mother's mind was focused on something else- more serious. Something the girl didn’t expect or could have imagined.

“Marinette. Calm down and listen to me. Are you still friends with Juleka?”

Marinette blinked: that was not the question she expected. She sighed before answering, confused about her mother’s unusual distress.

“Yes, mom. It’s been a long while since we’ve last seen or talked to each other, but she is my friend”. She paused for a second. “Why do you ask? You’re scaring me...”

Sabine Cheng took a deep breath before answering “Marinette… Juleka is at the hospital”.

Marinette’s mother’s grip on her shoulders wasn’t strong enough to keep the girl from jumping in shock, neither stopped her from panicking a second later.

“What!? What happened to her!? Is she ok!?”

“Calm down, Marinette. She’s ok. She just fainted. She…” Sabine paused, hesitating, before continuing with the explanation. “She’s been diagnosed with an eating disorder”

Marinette felt a rush of mixed feelings forming inside of her: but between sadness and worrisome, anger was the first emotion to come out of her body.

“No…! No way! I’m sure it’s all Chloé’s fault! She used to make mean comments about her body since we were little. Her ideas must have grown bigger in Juleka’s mind! Just because she was taller and larger than many of us…! And now Juleka is…! Juleka is…!”

The spiral of emotions she was feeling ended up falling in the form of tears, again, in a crying whimper. Sabine, worried for her daughter, cupped her cheek and let her cry until she calmed down a little. It was not easy for her to wait patiently to ask her what she had really wanted to know after she had heard about Juleka’s condition, but she knew the girl needed to let it out, even if it hurt her to see her daughter crying like that. It almost felt like there was something more behind the salty water spilling from her eyes, but she remained silent until her sobbing sounds ended, being engulfed by the silence of the living room. When the wait finally was over, Sabine Cheng spoke again, looking straight to her eyes.

“Marinette, I need to ask you something. And please, be honest with me" Marinette gulped and nervously nodded. "Are you eating properly? You’re not throwing it out, aren’t you? I know you’ve always been thin, but I can’t help it but worry about you… You know how common eating disorders are in figure skating… And with what happened to Juleka and how discouraged you look recently…”

Marinette tensed at her mother’s question, more offended than shocked. “Of course not, maman! I’m properly eating what you put on my plate! I would never waste what it takes you so much work. I’m grateful I always have freshly baked bread on my plate”

Marinette’s mother relaxed at her daughter's answer, hugging her.

“Good. That’s good. I’m so glad. So relieved. Thank you, Marinette”. She spoke again after breaking the hug. “I think you should pay Juleka a visit. Here’s the room number and the hospital address. You should be there for her”

“Thank you for telling me, maman. I’ll visit her tomorrow morning”, the girl said, grabbing the paper with Juleka’s hospital contact from her mother’s hand.

“Good girl. I’m proud of you”

“Thank you, maman…” the twin-tailed girl managed to answer, feeling both happy and nauseous for the trust in her mother’s eyes. The thought of seeing disappointment on her parents' face terrified her.

‘No… I definitely can’t tell my parents yet…’ she thought.

_______________________

When Marinette arrived at Juleka's hospital room, she wasn't alone. The door was partially opened and she saw a blue-haired boy standing beside her. As soon as she knocked on the door, the boy noticed her and approached, with an interrogative and sad expression on his face. He was handsome despite his sad expression, Marinette thought, distracted for a second.

"I- I'm- Juleka...?" She managed to say, and the boy just nodded.

“Juleka, you have a visitor. I’ll let you two talk privately" he said, turning his head to the girl in the bed. "Thank you for coming,” he solemnly told Marinette before leaving the room.

“Thank you” she said when getting inside, without looking at him.

It had been a while since Marinette had talked to Juleka. It had been more difficult to keep in touch after she switched to pairs skating some years ago, even if they still exchanged messages and hung out together sometimes.

“Juleka, how are you? I heard you fainted and…” Her feet moved slowly towards her friend as she greeted her, but she gasped when she saw her figure: she couldn't be healthy looking the way she did.

“Marinette. Thanks for coming” Juleka weakly smiled.

“Juleka, look at you! You look so skinny! You have to eat! You shouldn’t listen to what people or magazines say, it’s dangerous! You need to be healthy.”

“I am healthy" she assured her, but Marinette's worried eyes made her admit her problem. "But… you’re right. There’s no need for me to keep throwing out my food. I’m retiring from figure skating”

"What?" Marinette gasped, and Juleka reaffirmed her words with a nod. “Oh no, Juleka! I know you loved it… I’m so sorry for you…” The baker's daughter sympathized.

“It’s Ok, Marinette. Thank you… I’m actually more worried about my brother. We were a team and now his dream is crushed because of me… He can’t compete without a partner and… I’ve wasted everything…”

“Oh, Juleka…”, she warmly hugged her friend.

Not wanting to talk more about her eating disorder, Juleka asked Marinette a question.

“What about you, Marinette? How are things going? Are you getting closer to your dream? You were always first place no matter what! I bet you’ve been improving and setting even higher scores by now. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could even land a triple axel!”

“I can land it, actually! It’s just… for some reason I can’t seem to land any of my jumps lately during competitions… I keep failing over and over… and then there’s Chloé and Lila… You know… I’m thinking of quitting…” she said in a sigh.

“Oh no, Marinette! You can’t quit! You are the most skilled and talented skater I’ve ever seen. Your scores as a child were in another league! You are bound to make history in figure skating, I know you do. You can’t quit!”

“It’s not a matter of skill anymore, Juleka… It’s a matter of results and wasted effort. I just… I can’t do it anymore. I can’t keep my parents overworking to pay for my skating classes with me failing every single jump in competition. I can’t look at their disappointed looks every time I fail their expectations. And Lila’s bullying only keeps escalating while my coach never believes anything I say… I’m not motivated anymore. I don’t have the strength to keep trying...”

Marinette looked devastated as she spoke. Quitting figure skating couldn't make her happy. Juleka knew she would be feeling even worse than herself. She didn't like to see her friend like that.

“Are you sure, Marinette? Because I think it’s a waste. You could win an Olympic gold medal if you aimed for it. It’s just… so frustrating…”

“Juleka…”

After a long silence, Juleka set her determination and faced a surprised Marinette with a serious look on her eyes.

“No. Marinette, I can’t let you quit like that! Look at me. I’ve been forced to quit because of my condition. I wanted to keep skating! I didn’t want to stop! And yet… you say you want to quit. My brother says he wants to quit. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? You have no consideration for me or for yourselves!" She yelled and then paused to take a deep breath. "Marinette, look at my face and tell me again you want to quit! Can you do it?”

“I-... I want to… " Marinette paused, unable to lie. "I want to keep skating!" She finally admitted. "But I can’t anymore, Juleka! I’ve tried to endure it, I’ve tried so hard! And yet… Nothing! It’s just useless. What’s the point when I’m starting to feel that skating is not fun anymore?”

“Oh no, Marinette, you can’t say that! You can’t give up your dream so easily. Who was that skater you admired? Your grandmother? Miss Lenoir? You dreamed of being like her someday! Graceful, elegant yet strong; sliding on the ice like if you were an angel coming from heaven, announcing salvation to all the graceful public crying tears of joy at your beautiful movements. I know you can do it, Marinette. You just need something or someone to…" Juleka paused for a moment. "Wait, I… I have an idea. Why don’t you try pairs skating for a while?”

Marinette was taken aback at her friend's suggestion.

“What? What are you talking about? I told you I want to… to quit…”

“No. Listen to me. You just need to try it out. You try, and I won’t oppose you quitting if you decide to do so after you’ve tried it out.”

“What’s the deal…?”, Marinette said, unconvinced.

“I want you to take my place. I want you and my brother to help each other recover your motivation, your goals, your dreams. We just got a decent score for international competitions and I… I messed up. He did his best and improved a lot. He could score high, to the top maybe, with the right partner… and I think you’re a better fit partner than I could ever be” she said in a weak sigh.

“But- I don’t even know your brother. And I’ve never done pair skating before! And most importantly- there’s no way I could fill in your place! Nobody can! I'm sure you’re important for your brother, and he doesn’t even know me! He won’t want me to pair with him anyway” Marinette protested.

“That’s my part. I’ll convince him to give you a chance. So I need you to give pairs skating a chance, too. You both still have a second chance in figure skating. And I bet you can reach the top in a few years'', Juleka smiled. Her eyes showed conviction in her words, but Marinette had doubts.

“Are you sure he-?” she started, but Juleka cut her, knowing how the question ended.

“I’m sure. Just give it a try. For me. For our friendship. I want you to skate on my behalf. Please... I’m begging you, Marinette. Just one week. One more chance. I’m sure you won’t regret it. No, I promise you won’t”

“Ok, Juleka… I’ll do it. Just one try. No more. I’m quitting if I can’t keep it up. Or if your brother doesn’t like me…”

“He’ll like you. He just needs to meet you.” she smiled in reassurance and Marinette hugged her.

Marinette, noticing the time, broke the hug and spoke again. "I have to go now, but I’ll come again next week. Get well soon, please”

“Thank you, Marinette. For coming and for accepting my selfish request. I’ll send you a message later.”

“Of course, you are still my dear friend, Juleka. Get well soon, ok?”

“I’ll try… Thank you for coming”, she answered, waving her goodbye. ‘Now I need to convince Luka…' she thought, eyeing her friend crossing through the door.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Bound, Part 2

First Part

Bound Masterlist

Note: This fic was previously called I Feel You. Changed the name to better fit the tone. Sorry for any confusion<3!

Marinette almost always awoke with a jolt of adrenaline.

Sometimes, she would get lucky and wake up at around eight in the morning. Unfortunately, this was almost never the case. For the most part, she would be forced awake at five or six.

Which, honestly, wasn't too bad. Whether her soulmate was having nightmares or was just scared to sleep, Marinette didn’t know, but the apparent difference in time zones meant that it wasn’t even as bad as it could have been for her.

Still, it wasn’t fun to always wake up before the sun had so much as shown its unfortunately sunglasses-less face. Even on the occasional nights where she wasn’t shooting out of bed, fear clawing at her throat like tiny nails digging into her skin, she still found her eyes cracking open way earlier than was strictly necessary. Her parents said that human bodies can get used to doing things at certain times, which was why waking up at three every morning wasn’t that bad for them, but that hadn’t soothed her at all. This was dumb!

(Don’t tell her parents she had used the d-word. She was a big girl now, five whole years old, but her parents disagreed so she wasn’t allowed to use any big girl words.)

Marinette glared at the pink ceiling of her room. Not because she disliked pink – it was her favorite color! – but because the fact that she could process the fact that her ceiling was pink meant that she was not getting back to sleep anytime soon.

She huffed and turned onto her side in her blankets to glare at her alarm clock, which deserved it only marginally more because it told her that it was only four.

She carefully slipped out of bed, short legs stretching until her feet could reach the cold wood floors of her bedroom, and then she started downstairs. Her parents were up and, since she was already awake, she might as well help them.

~

Tim shot up in bed, tears of frustration threatening to join the normal anxiety tears that came with his near-nightly nightmares.

He sniffled and rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the warmth spilling down his cheeks, but every time he closed his eyes images flickered behind his eyelids. Bodies bent at unnatural angles, blood slowly seeping from their heads, eyes glassy…

A sob scratched at his throat as he desperately held it back, hands grabbing at the skin of his neck as if he could will the scream back down into his lungs if he just pressed down hard enough.

Not that it would have mattered if he had made a sound. No one else was home, since it was far too early for his nanny to be there. His parents were away for work again, and he knew that work was important – that they needed money, or else they couldn’t afford the school that had the lowest kidnapping and murder rates of any other in Gotham, or state of the art security system that made it so Tim never had to wonder what would happen if someone tried to rob them, or even this big house of theirs far away from the chaos of Gotham proper. This was all necessary for his safety, so why did he have to be so ungrateful about it?

His hands trembled. He had to clench his hands until his dull nails made tiny crescents in his palms to make them stop.

The house was too big in his opinion, it made him feel even smaller than normal because his voice echoed down every hall whenever he did more than whisper and all of the empty rooms just reminded him of all the people that weren’t there –.

His hands lit up with pain and he flinched, uncurling his fists to look at them. The skin wasn’t quite peeling like it had the one time he had burned his hand on the bulb of a lamp that had been left on for too long, but it was still that ugly shade of red and he could feel the faint, lingering warmth. Not quite painful like the initial burn, but definitely still uncomfortable.

He sighed and rested his head in his still-stinging hands. Everything felt heavy. His eyelids drooped from years worth of exhaustion, his head tipped forward as if trying to force him to fall over and get knocked unconscious (not like he was going to sleep any other way at this point), and his chest felt…

Well, heavy was definitely the word for it.

He felt pain bloom across his hands again and picked up his head so he could squint at them. It wasn’t terrible pain, more like a mild stinging – a body doing its best to tell someone not to strain themself right after a minor injury… but his soulmate ignored it. They were doing something, the ghostly pain rolled across his palms methodically, but he couldn’t imagine what it was.

… but, he had to admit, his soulmate had the right idea. Doing something when you were already stuck awake was definitely better than just sitting in bed being sad.

Tim slipped out from under his blankets and started out the door.

He didn’t quite know what he was doing, his feet seemed to know better than he did. Cold toes pressed against even colder tiles and he wished he had thought to find socks.

But then he found himself at the door to his father’s study.

Tim squinted at the doorknob. It was above his head, but not as far above his head as it used to be. He could reach it with ease.

The question wasn’t whether he could open the door but, rather, should he?

It wouldn’t matter, he supposed. His parents weren’t home – wouldn’t be for a while. They would never know.

Because they were out doing archaeology. It wasn’t their job, Tim was pretty sure, because his mother always complained when Tim so much as touched her dresses for fear of him smearing something on the expensive fabric, and archaeology was all about digging (which they had to get dirty doing, Tim got dirty when he so much as sat in the grass for too long)... so, he had to assume that they did archaeology to pass the time between meetings. Which means that they liked it, right? That it was something they enjoyed?

He swung the door open and marched right inside, off towards the bookshelves piled high with dusty old books that Tim didn’t care about but his parents sure did.

And, if he acted more like his parents, maybe they would stay longer… right? They stayed out doing archaeology, maybe they would stay with him longer if they could talk to him about it – or, if he was lucky, maybe they would even take him to do archaeology with them!

Right?

He pulled down the first book he saw and started reading.

~

Marinette’s first few weeks at school had gone well. No, great! She had made friends with a boy named Nino because their seats had ended up being next to each other (their teacher had done seat assignments by first name). She would give him some of her food – her dad always gave her way too much when he got to pack her lunch – and he would let her watch over his shoulder while he played video games on his phone.

Nino wasn’t particularly talkative a lot of the time, he was kind of quiet and shy, but that was okay! Marinette was able to talk enough for the both of them!

They got along great!

So, why, why wasn’t he helping her?

It had started with a skinned knee. Not hers, for once, but her soulmate’s. And it wasn’t like skinned knees were all that uncommon, especially not for someone who tripped over their own feet around three times a day, but her soulmate wasn’t clumsy. She was completely taken off-guard by the jolt of pain that came with her knee scraping against nonexistent ground.

So, she made a quiet noise of surprise in the back of her throat, trying to push back the tears that prickled at the corners of her eyes.

Nino looked over briefly. The classroom wasn’t particularly quiet, but it was enough so that she wasn’t surprised he had heard. “You okay?”

She drew her knee to her chest.

“I’m fine,” she said, nodding firmly.

But he didn’t look quite satisfied by this answer, so she continued on to make what might have been one of the biggest mistakes of her life:

“I think my soulmate fell or something.”

A mostly unassuming sentence on its own, but it had gotten the attention of her classmates… or, at least, it had caught the attention of one Chloe Bourgeois. Which meant it would soon get the attention of all of their classmates, whether they wanted to listen or not.

“A soulmate, Dupain-Cheng?”

She nodded, smiling. “Yeah. Usually I’m the one giving all the pain, nice to know they’re still alive and receiving it,” she joked.

(As if she was the one monopolizing the bond, with how often her soulmate woke her up she might as well trip on purpose a few times to even things out.)

“Of all people, you have a soulmate?” Chloe continued and, this time, Marinette caught on to the skepticism in her classmate’s voice.

She frowned. “Yeah.”

“Please. If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.”

Marinette pretended to scratch her head to avoid the stares and snickers of her classmates. She briefly cut her gaze to Nino for help.

“Mari…” Nino started.

He glanced around nervously. The moment he had started speaking, every eye in the classroom found its way to him. His face flushed red before quickly draining of color. He pressed his lips together thinly.

Chloe drummed her fingers on the table, her press on nails clinking. “Well?” She prompted.

He glanced between Marinette and the class and then back to Marinette again.

Then Nino ducked his head and pulled his hat down low over his eyes. “I mean… it is kind of rare,” he said, noncommittal.

Marinette grimaced and let her hair fall in her face, her cheeks burning. Her eyes started to well with tears but, when Chloe laughed at her for being embarrassed about being caught out for lying, she couldn’t just tell her that it was because her soulmate was currently washing off their knee and it hurt. Defending herself at this exact moment would just look like her doubling down on a lie to anyone watching. And that would be actually embarrassing.

So, she stayed silent.

Speaking of staying silent, why hadn’t Nino helped her? He knew she wasn’t one to lie, why would he just let this happen?

She tried to catch his eye, but he was determined not to look up from his math homework.

So he knew that it was wrong of him (he hated math and would normally take any distraction offered) and had still done it?

She sunk into the collar of her shirt, her face reddening further. She must have overestimated how much Nino cared about her. After all, a friend would have said something. He hadn’t, therefore he must not be her friend.

She shifted away from him, to the other side of the table, and buried her face in the book that was supposed to be teaching her how to count.

Marinette was surrounded by people, and yet she had never felt so alone.

~

Across the world, Tim Drake is curled in on himself. The sting of disinfectant is almost more painful as the scrape itself had been, and yet that isn’t really why his eyes are brimming with tears.

No, it’s because his nanny was the one to deal with his scrape. He looked up at the kind eyes of an aging woman he wasn’t related to that was more openly caring than his actual parents – but only because she was getting paid… and wondered if he was really that unlovable.

He had to be, right? Otherwise he wouldn’t be so alone.

~~~~~

Next part

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Demon Alya AU: Lila the Possessor

Marinette could feel the blood draining from her face. She'd expected to see almost anything when she'd decided to follow Lila, from her weaving her next lie to a clandestine meeting with Hawkmoth himself. The girl casually talking to a burning portal in midair was so far outside expectations that Marinette was having trouble reorienting herself. "You would not believe the level of goody-goody nonsense I have to put up with over here. It frankly makes me want to puke. Fortunately most of them are as gullible as they come, so I'll eventually be able to collect their souls no problem. It'll make a nice power boost for myself while I'm tracking down Hawkmoth to claim both his soul and his Miraculous. Make sure to keep up the ritual sacrifices and everything going strong, because some of my bosses are coming later this week and we want to impress them. I'll stop by later after I've checked in with 'mommy dearest'. Ta-ta." Marinette realized she needed to hide just a second too late. "Well, well," Lila grinned just a little too wide for Marinette's comfort level. "Look who just saw more than they were supposed to." "You-you..." "Yes, me, me. What of it?" "I-You-Ladybug and Chat Noir will stop you!" Marinette finally got out. To her astonishment, Lila actually laughed at that. "Those two imbeciles don't even know I exist, and it wouldn't matter if they did." She stepped up and leaned so far into Marinette's personal space that the girl had to take a step back. "I'm inviolate. The daughter of an Italian diplomat. Those two nitwits would never start an international incident. They're too noble for that." "I... I doubt you're really the diplomat's daughter," Marinette said with a confidence she didn't feel. She should have hidden. Or transformed. Being transformed right now would be really nice, but she didn't dare do it in front of Lila unless there was no other option. "Aren't you clever?" Lila simpered. "I'm not Ambassador Rossi's daughter... but I am wearing her." "Um... what...?" Marinette squeaked. "You see, there was this little Italian girl crying in the park one day a few months ago, moaning about how hard it was to make friends. How her mother kept moving and she kept having to start over from scratch and boo-hoo all the kids at her school wouldn't be her friends. And then you know what happened?" "W-what?" "She foolishly said she'd sell her soul if she could only make friends easier. I mean, what was I supposed to do with an opening like that? So I told her I could help her get friends if she wanted. She was so stupidly happy that she said she'd do anything right then and there." "W-what did you do?" "What did I do? I plunged my hand into her chest and ripped her soul out right then and there! The look on her face was priceless! 'Oh, don't worry,' I told her. 'I'll be sure you have plenty of "friends" to fawn all over you or at least me.' and then I possessed her body!" "What d-did you do with h-her then?" "Oh, I keep her around. Let her watch how well I'm fulfilling my end of our bargain. She's so ungrateful, though, always moaning about how I should stop lying and manipulating people because that's 'not what friends do'. It's so pathetic it's hilarious!" "Ladybug and Chat Noir will stop you," Marinette tried to rally herself. "I'll help them." Lila laughed like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "Oh, I hope you try! Wouldn't that be a sight! Poor Marinette has a psychotic break from stress and accuses a classmate of being a demon! No one would believe you! They'll throw you in the nuthouse and I'll just take all your classmates souls anyway. Maybe I'll have them be human sacrifices too..." "Don't you dare!" Marinette snarled. She didn't care if Lila was really a demon from Hell, no one threatened her friends! "Temper, temper..." Lila sneered. "But you know, maybe you could get someone to believe you. Which would mean that 'Lila' has outlived her usefulness. I'd have to abandon her, maybe get my cult to carve her up to throw off suspicion, and find a new gullible sap to

inhabit." Lila's expression turned extremely dark and taunting. "As a matter of fact, I've had my eye on dear sweet Adrien for a while." "No..." "Yes...! Such a perfect host. Rich... famous... connected... An overprotective father who neglects him constantly, leaving a son starved for affection and attention. I could probably get him to sell his soul just by promising to get his father to pay attention to him. And you know... If you helped me, I could be persuaded to ensure 'Adrien' would be your boyfriend afterwards..." "Never!" Lila actually seemed a bit surprised by how firm her denial was. "Well, suit yourself. It's not like you can do anything to me anyway. Even if you killed this body, I'd just find a new one and then you'd never see me coming. See you around, Marinette." Marinette managed to wait three minutes after Lila turned the corner before allowing her legs to give out from under her. "Tikki..." "She's gone," Tikki said, looking uncharacteristically solemn. "Now that I know what she is, I can sense her presence easily." "How... how do we deal with something like that?" "Oh, Marinette," Tikki said gently, "what forces do you think the Miraculous were created to combat in the first place? The day we can't handle one little upstart demon is the day we retire." "Oh god, that poor girl... Lila..." "There are ways to get her soul back to her body, even if it's been taken to Hell," Tikki said. "They're some of the few rituals the Order of Guardians allowed us kwami to learn." "Okay... okay... we'll still need to get... er... 'Lila' out of... um... Lila's... body... geez that sounds weird to say..." "There are ways to do that too. Your cleansing powers could manage it, but for the best results..." "You'll need the cleansing powers of Destruction." Marinette and Tikki both looked to see Plagg, looking so thunderously irate that Marinette had to double-check that he wasn't actively using Cataclysm. "To think," Plagg said with the care and deliberation of someone who knew if they exerted any less self control they would lose any semblance of control over their temper, "that there was a possessor demon so brazen as to be on the same continent - the same city - as my kitten. And I managed to miss it for this long... I'm losing my touch. Well, now that I know she exists, there's nowhere for her to hide. I'll be teaching my kitten the more advanced uses of his powers immediately. Clearly I've been lax in his training. Well, no more. It's time to remind those spirits who would steal and inhabit the bodies of others exactly why those who wear the Ring of the Black Cat are the most feared exorcists in history." -----

Chat Noir eventually learns the tricks and when he and Ladybug face off against 'Lila', he shocks 'Lila' when he proves intent on Cataclysming her directly, but she feels confident that would only dust her 'meat suit'. She has just enough time to scream in terror when it proves to do the opposite, dusting the possessing spirit and leaving the body intact.

Ladybug does the ritual to return the real Lila's soul to her body and the girl has to spend a month in therapy before she can go out in public from the trauma.

The class welcomes her with open arms, and a hug (and secret blessing) from Rose does more good for her than the month of therapy.

The demon 'Lila's' cult seems to have vanished off the face of the earth and when asked about them, Alya and Juleka just kind of whistle innocently.

The real Lila goes on to become friends with everyone in class and eventually this traumatic chapter in her life becomes almost like a bad dream.

----- Oh, hey, you can have your Lila hate sink and your Lila redemption!

----

----

Nice!

[aliensunflower-fics]

Marinette’s Big Fall: An angsty Prompt

[ I have had not one. Not two. But THREE anonymous asks for some Miraculous ladybug angst with a pinch of salt SO here you go. Also because people keep asking me if they can make fics from my prompts I will just put here that YES you can I will love you if you do, please just tag me so I can squeal. I always love fan-art and I always love fics based off my ideas just go nuts guys. ]

If you asked the students of Bustier’s classroom what happened that sunny tuesday at 1:36pm they would all tell you it was an accident. None of them had meant for anything to happen and none of them had so much as laid a finger on the dark haired girl. It was just an accident that was all, but still their faces would lose blood and they would shake as they remembered the sight of Marinette Dupain-Cheng laying still as a stone at the bottom of the stairs. If you asked them to start at the beginning they would take a shaky breath and start their tale at the first warning bell of the school day, before Marinette had arrived and when Lila Rossi did.

The italian had for months been telling them of Marinette’s misdeeds and though many were proven to be false it seemed like not a day went by where Lila didn’t have some new to say about the bakers daughter. That days newest tale was about how Marinette had ruined Lila’s photoshoot at the park with Adrien. It was suppose to be a romantic shoot for valentines day and Marinette had arrived at the park where it was taking place with little Manon. Lila claimed that Marinette bribed the child into pushing Lila into the fountain during the shoot thus ruining the whole thing and making her look bad in front of the employer. Now hearing this story the students of Bustier’s class felt mixed Marinette was prone to fits of jealousy but would she really bring a child into it? Some were angry at Marinette for her repeated felonies some were unsure and one other a certain Adrien Agreste still had no idea what everyone meant about Marinette being jealous and while he knew that Lila had ended up in the water and that it was Manon who did it... He also knew for a fact that Marinette was in no way involved.

The debate over Marinette’s innocence would last until the young designer arrived then the class would fall into steely silence all fuming and grumbling trying to justify the Marinette they knew and loved with the jealous green eyed monster Lila suffered under. As they day wore on Alya always the seeker of truth began badgering Marinette trying to get to the bottom of the whole affair, and while Marinette admitted to being at the park and admitted to babysitting Manon and yes she even confirmed that Lila wound up in the fountain she claimed no responsibility arguing that little Manon had just wanted a hug from Adrien and had accidentally shoved the italian. This information spurred only new arguments though they happened without Marinette’s knowledge in back and forth messages when the teachers back was turned. Lila meanwhile continued to weave her web sending her own messages to the class with new accusations and ‘evidence’ something had to give as the tensions rose and at exactly 1:00 when Mme. Bustier stepped out something did give indeed.

No one really remembers the argument only who was leading it. Alya was a good person a bit too trusting and maybe a bit too gullible and brash but she always protected the weak and thats why Marinette loved her. The problem was right now Alya thought the one who needed that protection was one Lila Rossi. Marinette did her best to diffuse the situation she argued that it was a child’s mistake that Lila should let it go. Alya argued that Marinette always had issues with jealousy and that she needed to fess up and apologize. Marinette would no apologize for something she didn’t do and so the argument continued, classmates joined in things got more and more heated in the spur of the moment with everyone yelling and Lila sobbing Alya snapped and said two things she never should have. One she told Marinette they were no longer friends unless Marinette stopped being jealous. And two, she revealed just why Marinette was ‘jealous’ her crush on Adrien Agreste. The moment the words left her mouth Alya was hit with regret, the moment she saw embarrassment in her friends face and tears hot and fresh welling in her eyes she was hit with shame. No one spoke as the bakers daughter let out a choked sob but suprising them all it wasn’t an accusation of anger at Alya for outing her secret that left the dark haired girls lips it was a quiet shaky and broken:

“W-Were not friends a-anymore?” Followed by yet another choked and heartbroken sob.

Before Alya or anyone could answer the girl bolted for the door shaking with sobs. Everyone stood shocked still for a moment before Adrien bolted up and rushed after the girl the rest of the class followed. But they never reached Marinette in time. In her distressed state the pigtailed girl had tried to make a break for home but she was clumsy and clumsier still when upset so when she rushed down the stair she tripped and everyone could only watch in silent horror as the bakers daughter only managed to let out a gasp before her body slammed into the hard concrete. When the students of Bustier’s recalled everything later they would note with some shock that it was Chloe who moved first yelling out Marinette’s name, not her last name no, just her name as she rushed down the stairs and to the dark haired girls side. She noted the young girl wasn’t responding and quickly snapped for Sabrina to phone an ambulance while she continued to monitor Marinette. No one else would move, Alya would cry silently and in horror as Chloe called out to Marinette and checked her pulse, Nino would clutch his hat and stare mouth agape as Marinette lay like a lifeless corpse, Adrien Agreste would fall to his knees at the top of that stairs his eyes like saucers as he tried to comprehend what had happened. And Lila Rossi? She would feel every bit of blood in her body turn into ice as guilt gripped onto her and told her that this, all of this was because of HER.

Everything that happened next was a blur, the ambulance arrived Marinette was driven away with Chloe of all people. The police arrived, Bustier and Damocles felt there sweat turn cold as they were questioned, the other students of the school would stand around murmuring and pointing at the Akuma Class Rose would hear the kinder people ask what happened in hushed tone, Juleka would hear the crueler people say that the Akuma class had tried to kill the one person they couldn’t akumatize. Soon enough parents arrived and dragged away their children Kim and Alix would notice the small patch of blood on the concrete where Marinette landed, they would later puke thinking about it, but they told no one of what they had seen.

Meanwhile on the way to the hospital Tikki was in a panic, her dearest chosen her most precious and rare creation soul was BROKEN so many bones and bits of her body were mangled beyond repair... Well beyond NORMAL repair but Tikki was a god, a sentimental god at that and she would not let heaven or hell get in the way of her helping Marinette survive no matter the cause. And so sitting silently, hidden in the girls hair out of sight of the paramedic and Chloe who was telling them all she knew of Marinette’s medical background Tikki used her magic to mend all she could, she would make sure that her sweet precious Marinette would be alright but while she mended the broken body Tikki knew that there would be a price to pay. Magic always came with a price. In the past when she’d used her magic to heal holders this way some had lost their eyesight, others their voices, some would lose a limb, Tikki had no idea that cost Marinette would pay but she knew whatever it was her precious little bug would be alright.

And she was. The doctors were shocked to find that while Marinette had a broken leg and two broken ribs, some deep cuts that would never fully heal, and some awful bruising that would leave the girl sore for who knows how long she was in fact just fine. There was no internal bleeding, and no serious brain trauma, and somehow she’d be just fine to walk when her leg healed up. Sabine and Tom cried tears of joy at the news and stayed by the young girls side. Tikki was also pleased with the news from her hidden spot where she lay utterly exhausted. She knew still that their would be a price to pay but at least Marinette was alive and well. The bakers daughter did not wake up until early the next day and when she did she was mobbed by her parents. She smiled at their concern and when the doctor came in to greet her he decided to check her memory.

“Standard procedure.” He said. “It’s not unusual for there to be some minor memory loss surrounding the incident itself were just going to check.”

And so the questions began. They started with things like her birthday, and her parents names and ages, then they moved on to recent events, so far no problems. Finally they asked about the day itself and the ‘incident’ in questions Marinette opened her mouth to answer then paused thoughtfully. She couldn’t remember. Not unusual assured the doctor, and then he returned to asking other questions probing gently to ensure everything was alright, and it seemed to be up until the doctor asked a simple question.

“What’s your best friends name? And can you describe them.”

Marinette froze and stayed silent. Tikki suddenly felt a strange twist in her tummy. Sabine and Tom looked at their daughter uncertainly. Finally after a long pause. Marinette spoke with a strained laugh.

“I uhh dont remember having one sir.” Sabine felt her stomach suddenly drop, hidden away behind a plant Tikki felt the same thing.

Concerned by the answer the doctor probed more with Tom and Sabine joining in. The answers were startling. Marinette Dupain-Cheng had forgotten every single person that was present when she fell down the stairs. She could recall other students at the school and her teacher, but all the students of her own class? She could not recall their names or their faces. When her parents asked about a specific memory the first time Nino and Marinette met and became friends. Marinette’s eyes lit up. She remembered the event, she remembered someone being bullied and helping them and then they became friends. Her parents were hopeful and the doctor calmly asked Marinette to tell them who the bully was and who the person being bullied was. At that all Marinette did was frown and hold her head. She could remember the incident but... The faces of the bully and the one being bullied were blacked out she had no idea who they were. They tried asking her if she knew the bullied boys favorite things, she had no idea, his name? Nothing. Favorite color? Nope. It was odd extremely so and the only theory the doctor could offer was trauma based memory lose triggered by stress and the possible incident surrounding her accident.

Later when her parents left and it was safe. Tikki emerged and was overjoyed to learn that Marinette remembered her and being ladybug. Tikki was a bit worried about the holes in her dear chosens memories but she knew that this was the price Marinette had payed. She got to keep her life and all her limbs and eyes but she had lost something precious, her friends, they were now black holes burned into faded memories. And it extended into her superhero life. Marinette knew Rena Rouge she could remember her powers and her skill, but when Tikki asked who she was Marinette could only frown and hold her head as it throbbed. Alya, Nino, everyone even Adrien were gone, Marinette had the memories but no faces, no names, no attachment she had lost her friends. Tikki felt guilty of course and told Marinette as much but the young girl just kissed her Kwami’s head and confidently said that they would figure it out.

It had been a week sense Marinette’s big fall. And the students of Bustier’s class sat restless in their seats. None of them had been able to check up on Marinette as her parents had forbidden visitors and the bakers themselves were illusive now a days as they kept close to the hospital keeping their daughter company. All anyone knew was that Marinette was alive, and while that was great news it wasn’t enough. And to make matters perhaps more odd then Marinette’s disappearance was the complete inactivity by Hawkmoth. It was as if he was busy dealing with something else. Like maybe his teenage son who had been expressing all of his teenage rebellion and angst in a concentrated dose ever sense a certain bakers daughter had fallen down the stairs. Adrien was indeed the most miserable about the whole situation, he’d given up on bathing, moped all day, snapped at Lila for even opening her mouth, and was refusing to care for himself or attend any and all photoshoots and extra curricular activities. Adrien’s rebellion was causing big problems for Gabriel’s business and he was stuck rushing about trying to re-organize events and juggle his son who had become terrifyingly good at escaping the house to go to school no matter what kind of locks were installed.

As the day wore on for Bustier’s students ignored the looks given to them by the other students in the school. More then a few of them blamed them squarely for what had happened to Marinette while others shot them looks of sympathy or concern. The class as a whole looked like they were from a bad zombie movie, but the one who looked perhaps the worse of them all was Lila Rossi, while some would try and argue its because of how bad she felt for poor Marinette others would recognize that she seemed paranoid and on edge with her eyes darting about and how quick she was to defend herself against even the smallest assumed accusation against her. Finally lunch rolled around and like the mob of zombies they were the students of Bustier’s class walked mindlessly to the cafeteria that is until one of them spotted a familiar looking girl though her hair was no longer in pigtails and her clothing had changed it was undoubtedly her! The class rushed forward with a surge catching the attention of the whole school who watched the exchange curiously. Apologies were hurled out questions were yelled and poor Marinette looked overwhelmed silence only came when Sabine stepped forward with a warning look though there was an odd glint of pity and sadness in her eyes. Finally it was Alya who broke the silence.

“Marinette! We are SO sorry, please can you find it in your heart to forgive us?” The Ladybloger was holding back tears and no one had heard her voice that shaky before. After a long pause Marinette spoke.

“U-Umm... Hey listen I dont... Really know what your apologizing for... And uh I dont really know who you are but... Umm sure of course I forgive you! You seem very nice?”

The crowd was stunned. Marinette had no idea who ALYA was? Her best friend? The girl she’d fought with last? Sensing the tension in the room Tom gently guided Marinette away shooting Sabine an odd look. Both parents had hoped that seeing her old school would jolt Marinette’s memory but it seemed that even her best friends face wasn’t enough to bring back what had been lost. As Tom helped Marinette climb the stairs with her cast. Sabine took a deep breath and proceeded to explain what she could. That Marinette had lost... Some memories, specifically relating to people who had been around during her accident... She didn’t remember any of them and no one not even the doctors or Tikki herself could change that. As Sabine apologized for what must surely be a shock she excused herself to follow her daughter and husband to the principles office so they could discuss the situation.

For the students of the akuma class life felt like it had been turned sideways. Lila who had been consumed by guilt had begun to hyperventilate. Alya felt slapped and raw her best friend had no idea who she was and the last thing she had done before Marinette forgot all about her was denounce their friendship. For Kim and Nino their were tears and disbelief the girl that they had known sense childhood had no idea who they were and regarded them like any stranger on the side of the road. For Chloe there was the oddest feeling of heartbreak, now she would never know if Marinette could truly forgive her, because the Marinette to whom she’d been so cruel was all but gone. But it was perhaps Adrien who was hit the hardest, Adrien who had learned that Marinette liked him the day of the accident, Adrien who had watched her fall, who had not rushed to check on her, Adrien who had felt torn by guilt confused about his feelings, Adrien who felt like the world had lost the sun with Marinette gone, Adrien who had wanted Marinette to come back so he could see she was okay and ask her on the date she deserved, and now Adrien who meant nothing to her because she had no idea who he was.

As for the rest of the students of Dupont? Well many of them were overjoyed to know Marinette remembered them at least but they felt pity for the akuma class but many others wondered what the future held. Would Marinette’s old friends try and rekindle their friendships? Would they bring photos and music and videos to try and bring back the girls memories? Or would new friends take the place of the old and forgotten? Would Adrien continue down his path of rebellion fighting for a place in Marinette’s heart once more, or would he return to being a docile lamb under his fathers thumb his heart and mind numb due to the shock of it all. Would Lila Rossi return to her old ways? Would she crack under the feelings of guilt and shame? Or would she go mad and attack Marinette. How many people would forever flinch and rush to offer Marinette help whenever she so much as when near a flight of stairs? Would it be possible to anyone to reclaim Marinette’s lost memories or would new ones need to be made? No one knew. But they did know for certain that things would be different from now on.

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[bugabisous]

Chameleon - Adrien Sugar

Yes. You read that right. I’m writing Adrien sugar related to the episode that gave birth to, like, 80% of the fandom salt. I’ll keep this short and to the point, mostly because I believe I don’t need to talk too much to get my point across.

I’ll put everything under the cut to avoid cluttering dashboards. Below the cut you’ll find: Reasons why Adrien’s advice wasn’t as misguided as salters some people make it out to be:

First of all we gotta remember that, prior to Chameleon, our Resident Liar hadn’t done anything too dangerous (that they know of). So, from Adrien’s POV she’s just a girl who’s lying to get attention and make friends. He doesn’t see her as malicious. Remember that he never saw Liela steal his book and throw it away. We saw it, and Marinette saw it, but Adrien did not.

Even so, he’s still not comfortable around her. He gives her the benefit of the doubt, that’s all.

See? He’s not exactly happy or comfortable around her. He’s just not vocal about her being a liar like Marinette is.

You know what else Adrien has no idea happened?

This. Marinette never mentioned the fact that Liela had threatened her in the bathroom to anyone, not even Adrien. I am positive that if he knew this, he would stepped in from this moment.

He still believes she’s doing this in a misguided attempt to fit in, considering that he tells her in this episode: “I’m not judging you, Liela, but instead of making friends you’re going to turn everyone against you. You can tell me if there’s something bothering you. I can help. But you need to be honest with me.”

So, now that we know what is Adrien’s understanding of the situation, it’s easier to see why he gave the advice he gave. Because, see, if Liela truly was only lying for attention and not to hurt others, then calling her out would indeed only make her lash out and it wouldn’t be necessary because he believes that once she fits in with the class and feels accepted she’ll stop. Naive? Yes. But he’s not wrong. Lots of kids lie to try to fit in a stop doing so once they make friends, and they even come clean most of the times. Adrien has no way of knowing that Miss Liar over here is not one of these cases, because he doesn’t have the same knowledge that Marinette or the audience have.

This line is often misinterpreted. It was always very clear to me that he meant is as, “As long as you and I both know she’s lying, we can always be there for each other.” - Which Ladybug the episode proved.

Before diving into that episode, though, I gotta talk about Oni-chan. Because it’s in Oni-chan that Liela shows her malicious side to Adrien. He sees her lying to manipulate her way into his house (”You didn’t ask nicely, you lied, Liela,”).

Even Plagg asks him, “Why are you so nice to that girl? She lies with every breath and snoops through your drawers as soon as your back’s turned.”

And his reply is, still, “Perhaps she’s just looking to be a little less lonely.”

That’s his fatal flaw when it comes to Liela. He still wants to see the best in her. But that will stop soon, because...

He sees how she asks about Kagami and then inmediately after forces him to take this picture:

which she sends to everyone, resulting in Kagami’s second akumatization. 

Oni-chan: I’ll protect you from Liela.

Adrien: She’s not dangerous. She just craves attention.

Oh, sweet Adrien, she craves attention alright. But she is dangerous. You’ll realize.

“You just wanted me to leave Ladybug alone with the villain? You hate Ladybug… that much? (…) What you just did is really terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

That’s his wake up call. Liela’s lies are dangerous.

“Keep an eye on Lila. She’s as sly as a fox.”

Now, the end of the episode. Adrien is understandably mad at Liela because Nathalie and Gorilla got in trouble because of her. 

“Lila, you can always count on me. But not if you hurt the people I love.”

Now. This is Adrien’s warning. And having Adrien’s warning in mind, we can go into Ladybug, the episode.

It’s fair to assume that Liela didn’t try anything serious against Marinette between the events of Oni-Chan and Ladybug. Why? Because she was planning her master plan, of course, that she was about to execute.

We all know how it goes, Marinette answered everything correctly, Liela planted the answers in her backpack, Alya mentions that Marinette always scores high in Miss Bustier’s tests, etc.

Liela inserts herself in the conversation, taunting Marinette and making her look as if she’s the one with an unreasonable vendetta against her and not the other way around, probably so the class doesn’t rally behind Marinette in support. But there’s someone that knows what kind of person Miss Lying Liar Who Lies is. That person is Adrien.

Who, in a very polite manner, redirects the conversation away from the Liela-Marinette showdown and into the thing that matters: Marinette is not a cheat. Everyone agrees with him and starts supporting Marinette. 

Then we have the whole thing with the stairs and the leg and we jump into the stealing accusation. Where, again, it’s made clear that Marinette understood what a lot of the fandom failed to understand: That Adrien is there to support her.

She directly addresses him looking for support. She knows he’ll have her back. And he does, he glares at Liela and decides to intervene. The fact that he’s silenced by an incompetent principal isn’t his fault, he has spoken out in Marinette’s defense twice already - to authority figures. We know how much Adrien respects authority figures. But he still spoke up to defend her.

We don’t see Adrien’s reaction to Marinette nearly being akumatized. But what we know is that following the events of the day, after the fight with HM and Mayura is over, he basically makes a deal with the devil to get Marinette back in school.

I don’t think Adrien has ever been or sounded angrier that he did at that moment. He warned Liela once already [that she shouldn’t hurt the people he loves], and now she has to either get Marinette back in school or she’s going to officially make an enemy out of him.

All of this just amounts to one thing: His advice during Chameleon wasn’t just advice, it was a promise that he backed up with his actions later on. It was basically the civilian equivalent of:

“It’s you and me against the world, my lady.”

Bug out!