#at least she's free of chloe's crap

[dalekofchaos]

My thoughts on the Pricefield break up and why I think it's for the best

Now that the smoke cleared. Here's my take on the break up.

It's realistic. People change and people grow apart. Even Max and Chloe.

However. The reason for the break up they provided is bad writing.

Before I continue, apparently it was revealed that the reason for Chloe's omission was this was originally a Bay centric game only, The decision was a Zak Garriss decision before he left D9 and they refused to course correct to satisfy both endings. And Deck Nine's refusal to keep them together and the reasons why is terrible fucking writing.

"Chloe is a free spirit" and “she can't stay in one place for long”

You're not describing Chloe, you're not even describing Rachel. You're describing Cassidy from LIS 2.

Also. This one bit of Max's journal from the Bae timeline is not only cringe, but completely out of character for both Max and Chloe.

Not in Max's art style. Did they even PLAY LIS1? Max has her own unique art style.

What they chose to put in here is style over substance. Just because you can make hyperrealistic art, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD! Life Is Strange had a unique art style. There's something so charming about it's cartoonish art and has more appeal than the crap we've been spoonfed since D9 got their hands on the franchise.

And another thing is how Chloe talks. Joking about a three way(despite Chloe's a lesbian) it fetishises their sex life, Chloe acting possessive, toxic and joking about murder. You can clearly tell this was written by a man. Chloe has never called Max a bitch. She has never once claimed Max as hers. Not even in a BDSM way. She respects Max too much. Chloe wasn't even that possessive when Max answered Kate's call or told Warren she was on for going ape. "you're mine bitch" hahaha who wrote this shit? Cause that's not Chloe.

Not even when she was with Rachel was she like that. The writers are thinking of Cassidy, not Chloe. Chloe is like me in the sense that she loves deeply the people she's attached to.

Chloe is REALLY attached to the people she loves deeply because of her trauma of being left by the ones she loved.

To me it works because guilt, trauma and what happens after you survive, but your mother doesn't would really fuck a person up. You can try to make the relationship work and you can try to pretend everything is okay. But it's not. People grow up and people change. So realistically I can see Chloe ultimately realizing she can't continue the relationship, maybe Chloe talked to Steph, found out about Steph's mom/Drew and the guilt just consumed her and she just couldn't lie to herself anymore and chose to leave Max. And if we talk realistically, it is very obvious that such a decision as letting an ENTIRE community die, was not going to be a decision that would make a relationship last forever. It is just logic.

And honestly? Max and Chloe learning to survive without each other is a much more compelling story.

Max having to start over in Vermont because she has no one. Bae Max... is left with no one NO ONE, not Kate, not Warren, not Joyce, not even Victoria... and not even Chloe... she's ALONE! Her new life at that university is completely understandable.

But I can also see Max in this timeline coming terms of the guilt of her own decision. If Bay Max still struggles with sacrificing Chloe, I can't imagine the weight of the guilt that Bae Max struggles with. Her decision killed her friends, Joyce and at least 1000 people. Like you can say they are okay with each other, but it's not realistic.

And Chloe learning to live a life without Max, her family or Rachel. Getting her education, getting a job, setting her new life up, living off the grid and learning to cope via therapy and learning to be a better person.

Maybe they get back into contact eventually, try to get back together or at the very least try to be friends or part ways mutually.

I've learned the hard way that those old friendships don't always last. Things change, you drift apart and despite loving each other or things going wrong, you know it always won't work out and that's okay. That's life.

But in my honest petty opinion? This is karma. Before I continue I must preface my statement by saying not all Pricefield shippers, just the toxic ones.

Karma for having a fanbase acting like the biggest bullies in the world. Karma for victim blaming Rachel instead of her groomers. Karma for having a fanbase acting like the biggest whiny self-entitled brats that would make Dudley DUrsley go "wow, maybe 36 presents IS ENOUGH" karma for harassing Warren's voice actor to the point where he didn't appear at the Blackwell reunion nor was he mentioned. Karma for harassing Grahamfield shippers to the point where there is barely any content over the last fucking decade. Karma for flooding the Max/Warren ao3 tag with rape and murder fantasies and calling anyone who dares to like them together r-slurs and f-slurs. Like I'm sorry, I'm not trying to lump the whole fandom together, but when you harass me, my friends and harass Warren's and now Amanda's fucking voice actors over a fictional ship(Max and Chloe would hate these types of fans btw) sorry but not sorry.

You reap what you sow for acting like horrible bullies and believing a capitalistic company gave a shit about core spirit of LIS 1 and Max and Chloe as characters.

and The fact that some of ya'll can’t appreciate Max unless shes with Chloe says more than you could imagine if I'm honest

and at the end of the day, the fandom found more of a problem with Chloe's omission and Pricefield's breakup than Deck Nine cultivated a toxic work environment, rampant sexism, homophobia and transphobia and protected a fucking Nazi. Like how is Max and Chloe's break up MORE OFFENSIVE THAN PROTECTING A FUCKING NAZI???

Okay, rant over, just needed to get that off my chest.

It's clear this was a Max Bay centric game, but they were afraid of the backlash and kept up the suspense for as long as they could, now the cat is out of the bag. What they should have done was say "This is a continuation of the Bay timeline, if this does good we'll do a game about Max and Chloe in the Bae timeline." but they didn't and lied about respecting the endings.

I also feel like Ashly Burch being a SAG-AFTRA VA is mainly why Chloe's not in the game. SE doesn't want to do business with union actors and would rather reuse old voice lines or hire Rihanna than honor any of Ashly's requests.

Also? Max still hasn't learned anything. Max apparently formed another codependent relationship that she couldn't let go to the point where she's fucking up reality by creating yet another parallel world. Even in the bae timeline, Max choosing to use her powers to save someone she grew attached to, something that drove Chloe apart… That's bad writing.

I do think Max having a story to herself centered in the Bay timeline is a good idea, however. Making Max look unrecognizable, erasing Warren, Kate,(I literally just wanted to see Max and Warren Go Ape and Max and Kate having a fucking tea date) Victoria and anyone else from Arcadia Bay, Hannah not convincingly sounding like an older Max, the sterile change in art direction, turning a passion project to just "another franchise" and oh yeah keeping A FUCKING NAZI employed for a franchise that is supposedly a diverse celebration of queer people and POC. Prevents me from enjoying what would be the next chapter in Max's life.

At this point I just want the franchise to crash and burn with Deck Nine and Square Enix's terrible decision making. Not really respecting either ending, erasing the importance of Warren, Kate, Victoria, and Joyce, removing Chloe and not giving us the chance to save Rachel. Just a copy paste of LIS 1 in a more boring whodunit with forced love interests instead of giving us more time with Chloe or Warren. and oh yeah, PROTECTING A FUCKING NAZI!

I hope SE/D9's greed kills the franchise.

[greentrickster]

(Same setting as my previous ML: Paris Special thread, but breaking it into individual posts from now on because that was getting Huge.)

Given that we have secret identities and a very mixed bag of who knows whose within the current group, quick breakdown on that:

Gabriel: everyone knows he's Hesperia - Alya found out on her own, Nino found out via Alya, Adrien and Marinette found out by overhearing him detransform, and Chloe was told out of necessity

Alya and Nino: everyone knows them, as they don't have secret identities

Marinette and Adrien: only they know each others' civilian identities

Chloe: everyone knows because Gabriel brought her to the hideout immediately after the first battle she was in because she needed a place to safely detransform after all that.

Also, none of the kids are thrilled to have Chloe there - Nino, Alya, and Marinette all know her as the school bully and Adrien knows her as the Bourgeois Brat, no one is happy to see her when she first arrives. And for her part Chloe can sense that hostility and sure as heck isn't going to show an inch more weakness than she absolutely has to!

This intent lasts right up until Gabriel teaches her how to free Pollen, Pollen's first words are, "Thank-you, my Queen," and Chloe breaks down crying. Because she's had A Night, on top of having A Month, on top of having A Life, and she's fourteen and she just Can't anymore, okay? Everything's a mess and she's accidentally put herself in a world of fear and danger by trying to get her parents' approval, but also she has this little creature who seems to like her, for no reason that Chloe can figure out, and she just called Chloe her queen and Chloe can't right now, she really can't, what is she supposed to do in this situation, not hug Pollen (as best she can, given the size difference) and cry her eyes out?! That's not how life works.

Which is not to say that Chloe's fixed or knows how to be a good friend or person at this point, but she is open to changing and becoming better. And that's at least partially because, for the first time in her life, she's had someone else whose safety depended on her and whose approval she not only wants but seems to actually get. She's had a whole month of that, which is enough time to get some new routines and patterns started, and as starting places go, she could have way worse.

It's going to be interesting when Chloe eventually starts opening up more about her home life and it becomes easier to see how it's shaped her into the person she is. Because Marinette's own parents aren't physically abusive in this universe or even as bad as the Bourgeois-s, but they're far more strict and cold towards her than in canon. Both she and Chloe are actually very affection-starved and lonely, and acting out as a result, just in different ways due to their different circumstances. Chloe is loud and obnoxious and demands the attention that isn't being given to her, whereas Marinette has retreated into herself in a more quiet, sullen bubble of self-protection (because if she doesn't care, then it won't hurt that they don't care the way she needs them to).

However, Chloe's way more desperate for affection and approval in this setting even than she is in canon, because there at least her father gives a facade of caring when he's really just placating. All of which means that once she gets a source of freely-given (within reason) approval and affection from Pollen and Hesperia, she latches onto it hard and is willing to do a lot to keep ahold of it. Meanwhile Marinette is salty as heck in contrast to her sweet canon counterpart, and she is absolutely down to talk crap about people she dislikes, and Adrien's right there with her, meaning they both do find elements of Chloe's brattiness pretty entertaining when not aimed at them. Which is to say, they're going to get along surprisingly well once they've all had a chance to do some growing and get to know each other better. It's going to take all of Hesperia and Alya's powers of being the voice of reason and good influences to stop those three from going full mean girls on their enemies, just saying.

(Note: Nino gives the impression that he would be a good influence, but he is secretly a calm, quiet agent of chaos and isn't even a little bit above egging the three of them on if he thinks they're being funny or the person they're targeting deserves it. He's a very firmly good-aligned agent of chaos and an excellent friend, and he's good at knowing when the situation requires a serious approach, but still. Chaos.)

In contrast to canon. Chloe and Adrien don't have a history in this world beyond vaguely seeing each other at social events for 'important people,' but Chloe's parents do approve of her making a connection with Adrien Agreste.

Audrey: Oh yes, the Agrestes are a much more feasible level for you to reach for, definitely go spend time with them, Coraline. (Said fully in the mindset that Gabriel and Emilie were just barely important enough to be in on the miraculous secret before Emilie died, and that Gabriel's only dropped in importance since his wife's death.)

Also it gets her out of the hotel and out from under her parents' feet and makes her someone else's problem for awhile. This makes things very exciting for Adrien in regards to having to make sure his relationships with Chloe as himself and as Claw Noir don't overlap.

[disorganizedkitten]

A Study In Friendship Chapter 3

Miraculous Ladybug | 2019 | 1,788 | Ao3 | Prev | Masterlist | Next

Bobbing Along

“Homework is a report on how Charley's view of crime was influenced by what we're given by way of his backstory, and how Nancy's death changed those views, followed by a few paragraphs on how much it can affect someone's views and beliefs once it pertains to them personally.”

The class made various noises of understanding, movement rippling through the room as the students packed up their bags and started conversations up again.

“Alright, where are we meeting for lunch?”

“Cafeteria!”

“Marinette's house!”

“Library!”

“I don’t care,” Marinette shrugged, shouldering her backpack. “Sabrina, do you have a preference?”

Sabrina jumped. Hopefully not visibly. They were asking her opinion again. “I’m good with anywhere you guys want to go.” if it was a trick question, that answer was always pleasing.

“But what do you want? ” Nino stressed.

Oh dear. Why was Nino asking her? Why was he still being friendly? This morning in passing was one thing, but still?

Marinette had to be made of pure sunshine magic if becoming friends with her had started the others giving Sabrina chances overnight.

“Can we go to Marinette’s house? I have a packed  lunch, but I’ve always wanted to see what’s inside the apartment. It looks adorable! Plus I think there should be-” Sabrina paused when she saw the looks the group were giving her. Were those good looks or bad looks? Crap she must have said the wrong thing. How did she forget about trick questions! They had asked her one exactly one minute ago! Oh she had just invited herself and the others over! Bad move! Backtrack! “But we could also do the the Library? That way we’ll have plenty of resources, and-” Still the looks. What about- “And the cafeteria is noisy, but it’s always an option!”

Alya and Marinette turned away, and Sabrina winced. Why did she let her guard drop? She knew better!

“I’m good with either.”

“I still want to go to Marinette’s, but we will probably be more productive in the library.”

“I’m up for hosting.”

“Then it’s settled!” Adrien cheered. “To the bakery!”

Marinette spun back to look at Sabrina. “Does that work?”

Sabrina nodded. “Yes!”

“Come on!” Marinette reached over, holding out a hand. Sabrina tentatively took it, holding her bag firmly in the other.

Alya slipped around the other side of the desk, grabbing Nino’s hand and dragging him around the desk so she could grab Marinette’s free hand too. “Everybody out!”

Nino wrapped his elbow around Adrien’s, dragging him into the weird caterpillar line too.

Sabrina giggled as they twisted to not slam into the doorframe, and maneuvered down the stairs to the ground floor.

“So how far did you three get yesterday?” Marinette asked, planting her feet before Alya and the boys could try to race the crosswalk.

Sabrina cringed. Her group hadn't gotten anything done. Although, considering yesterday's events, that was pretty understandable. Wasn't it?

“Not.” Alya sighed. “Adrien got called home, I was trying to figure out what happened to the Library Akuma - it waited a few hours and then went after Chloe again - and then it was too late to get anything done. I just wish I knew why they laid low for so long. Don’t most akuma not want to play the waiting game?”

“Maybe Hawkmoth was trying for a new strategy!” Marinette’s answer was quick, and too nervous. Why was she nervous? Moreover, why didn’t Alya know the akuma went after Marinette?! As Marinette’s other best friend shouldn’t she- wait a moment. Had that become their BFF secret?! That would be so cool! Sabrina swallowed her smile, but she couldn’t stop the growing euphoria. Of course, it was possible she was reading things wrong, but at least for now she could be happy about it.

She knew the rules to secrets. Kind of.

The light turned green, and the caterpillar group was off again. Through the bakery doors, over to the counter to be greeted by Marinette’s parents. Mme. Cheng was shorter than Marinette, but M. Dupain towered over everyone. If Sabrina hadn’t met them before, she would be probably be intimidated. Then they went behind the counter and up the stairs to the actual apartment. The caterpillar group split as they went through the last doorway.

Best way to travel.

“Alright, do we want to be working from my bedroom or here?”

“Here!” Three voices answered.

“Here,” Sabrina tacked on. While she would love to see Marinette’s bedroom, she was not going to invite herself, and she wanted to explore the main floor for a little bit.

“Alright!”

The other four picked seats, Alya, Nino and Adrien on the floor, while Marinette collapsed onto the couch. “Now: particle physics!! Sabrina, where do you want to sit?”

Sabrina made an 'I don't care’ noise in her throat, moving to sit on the floor beside Marinette.

“What did we decide on as our outline type?” Nino asked, his voice muffled by being in his bag.

Sabrina snorted at the distortion, before quickly schooling herself.

“I don't know, bubble boy. One of us wrote it down somewhere, didn't we? Also, you left your pens clipped to my notebook, if that's what you're looking for.”

“Yes! Thank you Alya!”

“What's your favorite type of report structure?” Marinette asked, pulling Sabrina's attention away from the second group.

“Oh! Slideshows or collages mostly!” Sabrina answered happily. Mixing pictures with text was fun.

****

They had given up on studying an hour in, after getting a good amount done, and started eating lunch. Or, Sabrina and Adrien were eating lunch, Nino was pretending to be asleep, and Marinette and Alya were fencing with carrots.

Sabrina had not known this was a thing.

“En garde!” Marinette threw her hand out, tapping Alya’s wrist with the carrot.

“You say that at the start of fight, not with every third attack,” Adrien muttered around a mouthful. Neither girl paid attention.

The brunette gasped, yanking her hand back. “You dare attack me? Foul knave, I will smite thee back!”

“I don’t think that’s proper olden grammer,” Nino huffed, now laying on the couch.

“Grammar smammar, I’m fighting for my food!”

“You need grammar to fight internet trolls!” Marinette reminded with a scoff. “But you need to watch closer if you want to fight me!” she twisted her wrist, and plunged the carrot into Alya’s stomach.

“Nooooo!!” Alya flopped onto her back, holding the carrot Marinette had poked her with against her tummy like the hilt of a knife. “Betrayal! Killed by my best friend! Tell my sisters… I love them.”

Marinette snorted, pulling the carrot out of Alya's fingers and biting into it. “Oh dear. Looks like I'll have to destroy the evidence.”

Alya made a rasping noise, lifting off the ground slightly before dropping again.

Sabrina watched the two mess around, unsure if she should be jealous or not. Alya had been friends with Marinette for longer, of course they were more comfortable together! And Marinette had to split her time between the four of them somehow.

It was fun, hanging with the group, but it was weird to be neither the focus nor completely forgotten about. Changes.

“A lot to adjust to in a day?” Adrien asked, nudging her with his shoulder. Sabrina jumped at the contact, but nodded. That was a good way to put it.

“A little bit. But I'm really happy to be here!” she assured him quickly, just in case he went looking for subtext.

“It is a really different environment than hanging with Chloe,” Adrien agreed. “I think they love you already though.”

Sabrina snorted. “I think only my Dad loves me. But if they'll put up with me, and if I can keep being best friends with Marinette, that should be fine. Better than fine.”

“Yeah. Marinette's a really good friend.”

“The best.”

Not jealous, Sabrina decided. No, she was content. Happy even. She didn't want this to ever end.

As though she had jinxed it by hoping, a shrill ringing started to echo through the house. Sabrina might have screamed, she definitely jumped and covered her ears.

“Marinette!” Alya called over the din. Why would Marinette be able to help? This sounded like a headache-inducing akuma!

Or one of those alarm tones no one used because they valued their sanity.

“Got it!” Marinette called, and the sound stopped.

“Did you hook it up to the entire house's sound system?” Nino asked, rubbing his ears. Sabrina followed suit, trying to figure out exactly why that happened.

“Pretty close actually,” Marinette admitted. “Well, let's clean up so we can get back in time.”

Between the five of them it only took a few minutes to gather everything up, and then they were ready to head back to school.

“That was some work done,” Marinette smiled, closing the door behind the group. Sabrina was second to last, with the other three leading the way out.

“Yeah. If we're able to get that much done every day, we'll have it completely done by two days before the due date.”

“Is that a plan you're okay with?”

“Of course!” Sabrina assured her. “We're doing it together. I don't care how many times we meet, as long as it's done on time and I'm not doing it alone.”

“If you're sure. Same time tomorrow then?”

“I'd love that!” Sabrina agreed. “Are we still hanging out this afternoon too?”

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t see why not, as long as you still want to. Barring an akuma attack, of course; if another one attacks you should head home, where it’s safer.”

“You got involved in one last night!”

“Exactly why you should stay away.” Marinette said again. “Unless you have to help, but I would feel a lot better if I knew you were safe too. Alya gives me enough heart attacks on her own.”

“I think avoiding akuma should be basic common sense, shouldn’t it?” Sabrina said it to be reassuring, but realized a moment later she just insulted Alya and Marinette. Backtrack! “Not that Alya doesn’t have common sense!”

“She just wants to keep the Ladyblog going. Most of the time she’s a good reporter though, and it is good to see footage and reports of Akuma.”

“That’s why my blog is the best,” Alya winked, holding the classroom door open for the two of them.

Sabrina almost moved to her original seat, but remembered mid-step that she was sitting by Ivan now. Right. She turned down the aisle, and slid into her new seat.

Ivan wasn’t here yet, but he probably would be soon. In the meantime, maybe she could talk to Marinette more! Or-?

“Hey Sabrina!” Rose leaned over the aisle. “When’s your next free period?”

[thetimelordbatgirl]

why is everyone always hyping up Ms. Mendeleev as this amazing teacher who takes no bull when she really isn’t? in evil illustrator, Mendeleev sees Chloe picking on Nathaniel and even physically rips his sketch book out of his hands and embarrasses him in front of everyone. but not only is Mendeleev more focused on him drawing in class, she only scolds Chloe but doesn’t punish her for being disruptive. in Marinette’s flashback, when Marinette arrives to class late looking downtrodden, she yells at her in front of everyone instead of waiting until the end of class to talk to Marinette privately. she doesn’t ask her what’s wrong, she doesn’t shut down Chloe’s offensive comments about “looking more depressed than usual” and “she wants to design clothes but can’t keep hers clean”, and she yells at Marinette for accusing Chloe of putting paint on her seat by stating that she had no basis to do so. this woman sure does yell a lot doesn’t she? Mendeleev has zero empathy for her students and has no business being a teacher. if we’re going to call out Damocles and Bustier, she deserves a call out as well.

Maybe its cause I'm living the Miraculous Free Life right now, but I literally only remember the Nathaniel example in your list there and therefore, I googled to see what you meant with the flashback and after watching the clip....:

I...I don't know why I'm surprised this show keeps making me wonder if they love to torment Marinette, cause its clear they do, but somehow I am still surprised they managed to slip it into flashback that no one was helping Marinette when it came to Chloe clearly going after her, and just....this hits me hard as someone whose bullies did their bullying pretty well to the point teachers assumed I was making it up...like...the fact that Marinette got more yelling at for being late and for accusing Chloe then the zero telling off Chloe got for making those comments about Marinette....

But to answer your question....I can honestly assume its because outside of a few early seasons incidents (Nathaniels and Rose's obviously coming to mind (though she wasn't wrong to point out how dangerous it can be to bring perfumes into a science lab with Rose)), Mendeleev was still the somewhat decent teacher, as Damocles and Bustier have been kinda crap from the start upon looking back and prior to S5 deciding now she'll act like Chloe, whose literally smirking and mocking Marinette as Marinette accuses her and when Mendeleev yells at her, can't be accused like that- she did tell Chloe off at least in early seasons, so she definitely came off as the more just strict and unbiased teacher. Like yeah, it'll be a surprise if this incident from S5 doesn't bring questions to Mendeleev's character salt wise next, but that's the only reason I can assume why you don't see so much salt on Mendeleev and see her be the teacher to call out bullshit a-lot on Bustier and Damocles.

[levishart]

some thoughts of mine on my evolving music taste that i wanted to ramble about

i think ive grown out of liking mitski purely because ive gotten better mentally. or, i feel less alone. i still love her music but it doesnt get me anymore. her music doesn't reach in and stroke the deepest part of me these days. rather, i can't seem to let her in. i think in a way, this shows growth. but in a strange way, i think its a minor set back.

i still need my intake of more somber music, which is why ive shifted to laufey. laufey is more for hopeless romantics, but she has happier music. and even some of her sadder songs have happier beats. its better for me mentally to be listening to more jazzy, popy stuff than gut wrenching heart breaking indie from mitski. laufey gets me though.

yes, im hopelessly in love with a fictional character and he is the one i often think about whilst listening to her songs, but im happier. he keeps me happy. and listening to music that reflects my thoughts and feelings for him helps maintain that feeling of walking on clouds that thinking of him gets me.

listening to mitski was a comfort for the times i felt shackled to the ground, but now that im up above - or at the very least free to go where i want on land, her music is just a reminder of those past times.

i never thought there'd be a time where i would stop liking her music. and that's not necessarily true, i just cant listen to her anymore. not when i have laufey to remind me of all that i have now, no matter how material and delusional it is. mitski used to get me in ways that others never could.

however now that im in a better, or at least happier place, i don't need that. what i need is music that understands where im at now, and laufey fills that role perfectly. ive let go a lot of music that used to define me, because in truth, they never were really me.

mitski, mother mother, mindless self indulgence, tally hall, marina, gorillaz, lemon demon, the living tombstone, the smiths, ricky montgomery, sir chloe, vocaloid in general - don't get me wrong, it's all good music, but listening to them makes me feel like im pretending that im somebody that im not. and i cant stand to listen to them anymore when every part of me is screaming to go elsewhere for my music.

getting into metal has made me so much better as a person, and although it is taking time and i am still new to it, i am so eager to continue this journey of self discovery. ive been gradually getting into nu metal band by band, and im really looking forward to getting into black metal next. those genres just feel like ME and have helped my self expression and confidence loads.

i did this thing to my friends where i made them give me a crap ton of artists on spotify and id listen to all their songs, but i dont even need that anymore. like, it was to help me discover new music, and ill 100% listen to them all eventually, but right now, i want to pursue what makes me the happiest.

anyways, laufey 🔛🔝 and so is metal. stream twist by korn it makes my autism happy. you not rrrh rot dot n dot n dot per rot dot n not n dot per n dot chi cot n dot rrr ah dot dot ki o ma gri a dot dot ers a pa ta ko some play to we a dot think up a bite rah sometimes you might ooh ooh rrrh we thought we might dot be mer hot something what are you ma ah do bro what are mines is dot ooh ooh rot in dot n bite ooh na na er na he woo hoo rah ate no hoo dot er ha ya dot im wer rah

side note the "he" i kept refering to is of course my sexy babe levi ackerman from attack on titan and i actually think he'd quite like SOME metal bands and this isn't self projection because i dont think he'd like everything i like but you can NOT tell me he wouldnt jam out to coming undone okay?? i also 🫶 all aot songs. openings, endings, soundtrack, it makes my chest feel happy. good music.

TLDR; i broke up with mitski and got with laufey but im also banging korn, slipknot, and soad on the side. im also madly in love with levi ackerman and this is all because of him

[angelofthequeers]

Ladybug and Reine Nuit: Chapter 12

Rogercop & Vanisher

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

Although the Sabrina arc is something I came up with, I was at a loss as to how to finish it until I read this post about a potential Sabrina arc. So, I have to credit @miraculouscontent for how Sabrina’s ‘independence arc’ finishes!

(Seriously, check out everything written by MC. They’re amazing)

@miraculousl4dybug @livinthebilife tagged as requested :)

Part 11 | Part 13

The relationship between Chloé and Sabrina is rather strained after Chloé’s stint as Antibug. Although Chloé doesn’t actually remember what she’d done, Sabrina’s clearly been left with vivid memories of being dangled off the top of the Eiffel Tower by her best friend, judging by how she needs a whole week to come back to school and still can’t look Chloé in the eye. It doesn’t help that Chloé has been snappish and short with her ever since that incident.

Things finally reach breaking point between them during Parents’ Career Day. After Marinette trips over the contents of Chloé’s bag and Chloé’s brand-new bracelet goes missing, Chloé immediately accuses Marinette of thieving it while pretending to trip.

“We don’t accuse without proof, Miss Bourgeois!” Officer Roger says when Chloé demands Marinette’s arrest. “Now, everyone, please calm down. Maybe you simply misplaced your bracelet.”

Chloé gives a loud, fake gasp. “You’re calling me a liar? Daddy! Do something!”

“Roger, I demand you search this girl!” André Bourgeois orders. Chloé smirks.

“Please, everybody!” Miss Bustier attempts to play peacemaker but to no avail.

“Need I remind you that as mayor of this city, I am your superior!” André says.

“But sir, it's against the law!” Roger protests. “I can't just go –”

“Alright. Then you're no longer a police officer!”

Roger’s eyes widen. “Mayor, you can't be serious! Over a missing bracelet?”

“This is my daughter's bracelet we're talking about! You're incompetent and you're fired! Get out!”

“Good!” Chloé says as Roger trudges out with his shoulders slumped.

“But – Chloé – you don’t care that my dad just got fired?” Sabrina gasps. Chloé sniffs.

“Why should I? He clearly sucked at his job.”

Sabrina clenches her fists, but Chloé doesn’t notice.

“You should be thanking me, really. Maybe he’ll find a job he can actually do –”

“Shut up!” Sabrina shrieks. Marinette’s stomach jolts at the sight of tears streaming down Sabrina’s cheeks. “Shut up! You – you don’t even care, do you? Do you even care about me?”

“Of course I do,” Chloé says. “You do my homework, you do other things for me…”

“That’s not caring about her,” Marinette says with her hands on her hips. “That’s using her, Chloé.”

“Caring, using, same difference. Without me, she’d have no one! She’d be no one!”

“That’s not true!” Marinette says. But before she can try and defend Sabrina, the other girl runs out of the room, so Marinette settles for shooting a venomous glare at Chloé before sprinting after Sabrina. “Hey! Sabrina! Wait up!”

She finally catches up to Sabrina in the girls’ bathroom, but Sabrina looks anything but happy to see her.

“What?” Sabrina snaps. “I know you hate Chloé. Did you come to take it out on me?”

“Huh? Of course not!” Marinette holds her hands up. “I came to see if I could help make you feel better, Sabrina. What Chloé said was disgusting.”

Sabrina just snorts.

“And what she said wasn’t true,” Marinette says. “You do have other people. You are someone without Chloé.”

“Am I?” Sabrina crosses her arms. “Am I really? My favourite colour is Chloé’s. My favourite food is Chloé’s. My favourite music is Chloé’s. My clothes were picked out by Chloé. Everything I am is Chloé! I don’t even know who I am!”

Marinette doesn’t know what to say to that and it shows; Sabrina gives a cruel little smile and turns away.

“Just leave me alone,” Sabrina says. “Please.”

“Okay,” Marinette says. She pauses in the doorway and turns back. “But you’re not alone, Sabrina. I know you’re not Chloé. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here right now. If you need someone to talk to…”

Sabrina says nothing. Marinette sighs and leaves the bathroom, only to duck back inside at the sight of a massive blue robot man stomping down the hall towards their classroom.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?” Sabrina says. Marinette shushes her.

“Akuma!” Marinette hisses. Sabrina’s eyes widen, and she scrambles over to the door to peer out. She gets a glimpse of the akuma’s face just before he passes the bathroom.

“Dad!” she gasps.

“That’s your dad?” Marinette says. Sabrina nods and backs away from the door. “You should stay here until Ladybug and Reine Nuit take care of him.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Sabrina says when Marinette starts crawling out of the bathroom. “You’re just going to leave me here alone when there’s an akuma?”

Marinette’s about to point out that Sabrina had just told her to get out before she notices the way Sabrina’s face has paled to the colour of chalk and how her breathing has grown shallow. “Is it…you know…the whole thing from…”

Sabrina just nods, her bottom lip wobbling. With a sigh, Marinette pushes the bathroom door shut and crawls over to sit next to Sabrina. What good is it being Ladybug if she leaves people who need her help as Marinette?

“Have you talked to Chloé about it?” Marinette says. “I know she doesn’t remember what she did, but…”

Sabrina shakes her head. “I can’t. I know it wasn’t her, but I – I – I just freeze. All I can see is…Antibug and how much she h-hates me…and I remember the Tower…”

Marinette hesitates, then slides an arm around Sabrina. This seems to be the right thing to do, because Sabrina sniffles and sags against her, head bowed. With all the akumas Marinette has faced, she’s never once stopped to wonder about the aftermath. Why should she have? None of the akumas ever remember what they’ve done. But that doesn’t erase the memories of their victims.

“Why does Chloé hate me?” Sabrina whispers. “I’ve done everything for her. I’ve tried my hardest to be her BFF. She doesn’t even care that she got my dad fired! Now he’s an akuma!”

“Look, I don’t want you to think I’m badmouthing Chloé because I don’t like her,” Marinette says, “but she’s really a nasty brat. She’s made you do all her dirty work. Remember my diary? And the way she talks to you makes me so angry.”

“But she does care!” Sabrina reasons. “She has to! She gives me gifts! She does my hair and nails for me! We…um…we play Ladybug and Reine Nuit together, and she always lets me be Reine Nuit! Mostly because she always wants to be Ladybug, but she could have made me the villain!”

Marinette blinks. Chloé…cosplays Ladybug? Wait, no, this isn’t the time to focus on that. “You can care about someone and still be awful to them,” she says. “Just because Chloé cares about you doesn’t erase the ways she’s been a total cow to you. If she didn’t care deep down then you wouldn’t have stuck around, right?”

Sabrina slowly shakes her head.

“But just because she cares doesn’t mean that you have to put up with it,” Marinette says. “Why are you so determined to defend her?”

“Because…” Sabrina takes a deep, shuddering breath. “I was wrong. I’ve been wrong for years. I’ve always thought that Chloé’s just had a hard life and everyone’s unfairly hard on her, but…what if that’s not true? That means that – that everything I’ve done for her – everyone I’ve taken down for her…it was all a lie!”

Marinette’s brow furrows in sympathy as Sabrina tries to come to grips with her crisis. “You know…Chloé was wrong when she said you’d have no one without her.”

“How?” Sabrina says with a bitter laugh. “She was right. Everyone will just see me as Chloé’s friend. Chloé’s all I’ve had since we were children.” She climbs to her feet shakily and says, “Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Marinette. You’re not as bad as Chloé says you are.”

“Sabrina, wait –”

But Sabrina’s gone. Marinette sighs and opens her purse to let Tikki out.

“That was very good of you to try and comfort her, Marinette,” the kwami says. “I know it can’t have been easy when she’s been Chloé’s best friend all this time.”

“I think that’s changing, though,” Marinette says. “I think she’s finally starting to see that the way Chloé treats her isn’t cool.” She shakes her head. “Right. Akuma! Tikki, spots on!”

.

“You think Sabrina’s finally done with Chloé?” Alya whispers to Marinette the next day in class, after the whole Rogercop debacle. Although Chloé and Sabrina are still sitting together at the front of the class, it’s clear as day that they’re not actually talking to each other; or rather, that Chloé’s not talking to Sabrina, despite Sabrina’s meek attempts to talk to her and at least make peace between them, even if they’re no longer friends. After all, the only reason Roger had gotten his job back was because Ladybug had found the missing bracelet in the mayor’s office and slipped it into Chloé’s bag, otherwise she has no doubt that Roger would still very much be an ex-cop.

“I forgive you for being mean to me after Antiquator and after I was akumatised,” Chloé said loudly, slinging an arm around Ladybug’s shoulders. Well, yippee. At least Ladybug’s earned back her number one fan for “coming to help find her bracelet”.

“Alright, class!” Ms Bustier says. “Into pairs for this task, please! Nathaniel, you can move next to Ivan.”

As Ms Bustier writes their instructions on the board, Marinette ends up zoning out, watching Chloé and Sabrina out of the corner of her eye. Sabrina whispers something to Chloé, who doesn’t so much ignore her as act like there’s not even anyone next to her. Marinette’s fists clench in sympathy for Sabrina. How can Chloé be so – so – awful? Wait. Trick question. She’s Chloé.

“Ms Bustier, I don’t have a partner,” Chloé says loudly. “Can I, like, join another pair?”

“Chloé, that’s not nice to Sabrina,” Ms Bustier chides.

“Who?” Chloé says. “Never heard of anyone by that name.”

“Ms Bustier, I want another partner!” Sabrina says. “Chloé won’t even acknowledge my existence, and I refuse to do all the work by myself!”

“Oh.” Ms Bustier looks very much out of her depth. “Um…if another pair would be happy to trade partners with you two?” She looks around at the class pleadingly. “Anyone?”

Sabrina turns to look at her classmates. But she’s been Chloé’s friend for far too long and so her reputation precedes her; no one speaks up to agree to be her partner. In fact, several people even give her looks that are not outright hostile but very much unwelcoming.

“I – I’m not feeling too well!” Sabrina rushes out of the classroom.

“I’ll go after her, Ms Bustier,” Marinette says, already out of her seat.

“Uh – thank you, Marinette.” Ms Bustier shakes her head at Chloé. “Chloé, that was very nasty of you.”

Marinette misses Chloé’s reply as she shuts the classroom door behind her. Where could Sabrina have gone? The bathroom, maybe? That’s where she’d been when her father had been akumatised. When Marinette gets to the bathroom, though, Sabrina’s not inside. Could she have gone to the nurse’s office?

“Wah!” Marinette tumbles to the floor when something slams into her. Her head whips around, searching for the source, but there’s no one there. Maybe she just imagined it? That theory lasts for the few seconds it takes for the bathroom door to open and close…all by itself. Eyes widening, Marinette darts into a stall and locks it behind her. “Did you see that, Tikki?”

“I did!” Tikki pops out of Marinette’s purse. “Do you think that was Sabrina?”

“It would make sense, wouldn’t it?” Marinette says. “Chloé was treating her like she was invisible –”

“– so now she is!” Tikki finishes. “We have to help her!”

“Right you are.” Marinette sighs. “I should have offered to be her partner in class. Or I should’ve asked Alya to do it, even though I’d be stuck with Chloé.”

“It’s not your fault, Marinette,” Tikki says firmly, kissing Marinette on the forehead. “You’re not a bad person because you were a little selfish one time. Being too selfless can be just as harmful as being too selfish.”

“I guess…” Marinette shakes her head. “I can complain later. Tikki, spots on!”

.

The first indication Alya gets that anything is wrong is when Nino curses.

“Nino, we don’t use that kind of language in this class,” Ms Bustier scolds.

“Sorry, Ms B,” Nino says. “But my tablet moved by itself!”

Alya’s instantly alert. Nino could have just nudged it without realising, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. And since she’s been stuck working with Chloé because of Marinette and Sabrina’s absence, she can’t see Nino around the Chloé.

“Ouch!” Chloé shrieks, whipping around while rubbing her head. Alya stiffens, watching out of the corner of her eye.

“What’s wrong, Chloé?” Ms Bustier says.

“Someone pulled my hair!”

“I didn’t do it,” Mylène says immediately from behind Chloé.

“It wasn’t her!” Chloé snaps. “It – it was some mystical invisible being. Like a leprechaun. Or a unicorn without the horn.”

The class starts laughing at her, but they settle down under Ms Bustier’s gaze. Chloé screeches and falls out of her seat as her purse starts attacking her seemingly out of nowhere, but Alya can’t stick around and enjoy the view.

“Gotta go to the bathroom!” she blurts out, leaping out of her seat and jumping around Chloé. Before she can leave, however, the door bursts open and a familiar yo-yo whips past Alya and grabs Chloé around the waist, yanking her away from the invisible presence.

“Sorry, Ms, but Chloé’s going to have to make up the work,” Ladybug says once she’s got Chloé secure. She turns and bolts down the hallway, and the invisible presence follows, judging by how Adrien’s bag gets knocked over and Alya gets pushed out of the way.

“I really have to go,” Alya says into the tense silence in the classroom. “Um…I’ll keep an eye out for Marinette and Sabrina!” She sprints out of the room before Ms Bustier can tell her to come back, then ducks into the girls’ bathroom.

“I woulda thought you’d love to watch Chloé get beat on,” Plagg says like the little shit he is.

“Trust me, it’s a dream come true,” Alya says. “But I’ve got a moral duty or whatever the comics call it. I’ll just have to laugh on the inside. Plagg, claws out!”

Once she’s Reine Nuit, she heads out to search for Ladybug and Chloé. The akuma must be keeping a low profile, judging by the shock of the students as they see her passing their classrooms.

“Reine Nuit!” calls a voice. A short boy bounces in the doorway of his classroom, eyes shining. “You’re here! Is there an akuma?” Behind him, his classmates try their best to look like they’re focused on their work, but it’s painfully obvious even to the teacher that they’re getting nothing done.

“Uh, yeah,” Reine Nuit says. “An invisible one, by the looks of it.” She snickers at her unintentional joke.

“Cool!” the boy cries. “You’ll protect us, won’t you, Reine Nuit?”

“Sit down, Daniel, and stop making your crush embarrassingly obvious,” calls a girl from inside the room. Daniel’s cheeks flush.

“Don’t worry, Daniel,” Reine Nuit winks. “I’ll keep you safe.” Then she runs off down the hall, preening about how damn cool and slick and superhero-like she just was. “Damn, I was born to do this.”

She finds Ladybug and Chloé in the library, but it looks like the akuma has found them first. Or rather, it doesn’t look like it, since they can’t be seen. What can be seen, however, is all the books that are flying at Ladybug and Chloé from the akuma; and since they’re invisible, it’s impossible to predict where the next attack will come from.

“Ugh, finally!” Chloé complains loudly when she catches sight of Reine Nuit. Naturally, this also alerts the akuma to Reine Nuit’s arrival, and what the cat hero wouldn’t give to be able to slap Chloé without repercussions.

“The akuma is Sabrina!” Ladybug calls, ducking under a table to avoid an entire shelf of books falling on her. Chloé shrieks when an invisible force picks her up, but when Reine Nuit dives towards Chloé, she falls straight through thin air and flat on her face.

“What the heck?” Reine Nuit says. “She’s holding Chloé! I shoulda grabbed her!”

Girlish giggling fills the air. “Vanisher is everywhere,” says a childish voice. “And Vanisher is nowhere. Vanisher is no one.”

“Good job, Chloé,” Reine Nuit snaps, clambering to her feet.

“What did I do?” Chloé says.

“What didn’t you do?”

“Guys!” Ladybug snaps. “We can argue after we take down Vanisher!”

“You can’t touch me,” sings Vanisher. The voice comes from near a bookshelf, but a table metres away goes hurtling at Ladybug.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Ladybug says.

“Unless…she’s got telekinetic powers?” Reine Nuit says. “I mean, it’d explain why we can’t pin her down.”

“Of course!” Ladybug says. “Good thinking, kitty! But how are we supposed to find the akuma if we can’t even see her?”

“Boo!” Vanisher shrieks into Chloé’s ear. Chloé screams and runs, only to trip over a book that appears underfoot out of nowhere. “How does it feel to be the one hurt for once, Chloé Bourgeois?”

“Ladybug, help!” Chloé wails. She’s picked up by Vanisher’s invisible force and slammed back into the ground, then pinned by an overturned table. As much as Reine Nuit loathes Chloé, the other girl’s piercing screams of pain make her stomach churn because no one deserves to have their belly crushed by a large solid object.

“I get that you’re hurting, Vanisher,” Ladybug says. “But this isn’t the answer! Hurting Chloé back makes you just as bad as her!”

Vanisher just giggles. Reine Nuit yelps and throws herself to the ground when a single shelf row tears itself out of the whole bookshelf and comes hurtling at her, ready to decapitate her, but Vanisher then drops the bookshelf itself on her legs. Reine Nuit cries out when her left leg erupts in blinding white-hot pain, and she has to thump her head on the carpet and bite her lip so hard that she draws blood so that she can avoid zoning out from the pain.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug says. From where she’s prone on the floor, Reine Nuit can’t see what Ladybug summons. But when Ladybug says, “Cataclysm the floor when I say so!” Reine Nuit nods and pushes her top half off the ground enough to see the action.

“C-Cataclysm!” she says thickly, keeping her hand off the ground so that she doesn’t ruin it before Ladybug gives her the go-ahead. There’s an explosion of white dust nearby, which reveals the floury outline of Sabrina, and Reine Nuit slams her hand down on the floor in front of her when Ladybug points. Ladybug tosses her yo-yo to create a net over the hole, then sends Vanisher tumbling onto the makeshift net with a hard kick. While Vanisher struggles, Ladybug snatches her glasses and snaps them in half, releasing the akuma and then purifying it.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Reine Nuit groans in sweet relief when the ladybugs heal her leg and remove the bookshelf from on top of her. She jumps to her feet, marvelling at how there’s not a single hint of pain.

“Pound it!” she grins with Ladybug while Vanisher melts back into Sabrina.

“I – what – how did I end up here?” Sabrina gasps, looking around wildly. Her eyes widen when she catches sight of Chloé, and she sniffles and looks away.

“You’re okay now, Sabrina,” Ladybug says, kneeling to rest a comforting hand on Sabrina’s shoulder.

“No, I’m not!” Sabrina shakes her head. “I – Ladybug, I don’t know who I am. No one likes me, and I don’t blame them. Who am I without Chloé?”

“No one, that’s who,” Chloé drawls. Ladybug stiffens.

“Reine Nuit, can you please escort Chloé back to class?” she says tightly. Rolling her eyes, Reine Nuit grabs Chloé by the arm and hauls her out of the library.

“Hey! Ow! Watch my jacket!” Chloé complains as Reine Nuit drags her back to Ms Bustier’s classroom.

“You’re not in any position to make demands, prissy princess,” Reine Nuit growls. She slams the classroom door open and shoves Chloé inside, while their classmates and Ms Bustier stare in shock. “One Chloé Bourgeois, safe and sound.” Unfortunately. “And if any of you judge Sabrina in relation to Chloé after I just got my damn leg nearly broken because Sabrina was that upset, I’m gonna come back and haunt you all.”

She takes off running down the hall back to the girl’s bathroom, nearly crashing into Sabrina on the way.

“Sorry!” Sabrina says when Reine Nuit grabs her to steady her. “I’m sorry!” For some reason, Reine Nuit doubts that she’s apologising for the collision.

“Listen,” Reine Nuit says hurriedly as her ring beeps. “It’s gonna take you some time to figure out who you are without Chloé. But I can tell you that you’re not Chloé and you never have been.”

Sabrina gives her a soft smile. Behind her, Marinette comes skidding into view, panting.

“Sabrina! You’re okay!” Marinette wheezes. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there before you got akumatised!”

“Well, can you can do me a favour and take her back to class?” Reine Nuit says. “I gotta go!”

Once she’s turned back into Alya in the bathroom, she makes her way back to class, where Sabrina is standing next to her old seat and working the point of her shoe into the floor while looking down. Before Alya can say anything, Marinette is by Sabrina’s side and pulling her away from Chloé.

“You don’t have to sit next to Chloé,” Marinette says firmly. She stops next to Nathaniel’s desk. “Nathaniel, can Sabrina sit with you from now on?”

“Um…” Nathaniel stares at Sabrina, who pinkens and looks down again. “I don’t know…”

“Please?” Marinette says. “Just give her a chance? She’s not Chloé’s friend anymore. She’s not Chloé.”

“Hmph!” Chloé huffs. Alya ducks her head to hide her smirk when Nathaniel’s face flushes scarlet at Marinette’s plea.

“I suppose…” he says. Marinette beams and nudges Sabrina.

“See?” she says. Sabrina gives her a quick, hesitant smile and sits down next to Nathaniel, though she’s balanced on the edge of her seat as though ready to spring up at the slightest stimulus.

“Okay…well, now that Sabrina is back, I suppose we can continue the lesson,” Ms Bustier says awkwardly. The chirp in her voice fools no one. “Forget about the pairs. Just…do the work individually.”

“Can we work in pairs if we want to?” Rose says from the back of the class.

“Sure…” Ms Bustier still looks a little dazed. Marinette and Alya immediately gravitate towards each other and push their tablets together.

“Alright,” Alya says. “So, I’m thinking for this one…”

[misha-moose-dean-burger-lover]

outsider pov deancas, 2.4k, based after the good finale. for @bloodsigilsandpie <3

"it's happening."

natasha returns to the kitchen, her otherwise suppressed glee betrayed by the glint in her eyes as she declares to the entire room. "they're on a date."

chloe's the first to react, or rather, the spoons in her hand that promptly drop back into the foam are. "no way."

"way." farah rushes close to natasha, gushing. "did they tell you?"

natasha sniffs, depositing the plates in the sink with her back turned to her eager audience.

"do you think they told me?"

she doesn't wait for an answer, turning around and leaning back against the counter.

"of course they didn't tell me. but i," she smirks. "i could tell."

"oh, you could tell." hutch repeats mockingly, and a few others snicker. "nat, we're talking about the trenchcoat dude who never smiles, and big-car-black-coffee-loyal-to-the-pie guy. no one has ever been able to tell anything with those two. and they don't look anything more than unlikely work friends to me either."

"unlikely work friends don't look at each other like that!" farah chastises immediately.

"fine. unlikely work friends with repressed homosexual urges from the 80's."

"hutch, if you're going to insult my date-dar, do it to my face!" natasha scowls, earning herself another eyeroll and a defensive palms-up gesture from the skeptic sous-chef.

"he literally just did." chloe mutters, ever the devil's advocate, before farah interrupts. she'd always been their resident 'trenchcoat dude who never smiles and big-car-black-coffee-loyal-to-the-pie guy' shipper. there tend to be one of those for all such couples the waitstaff discusses on the regular, really.

"so, how can you tell? what's different?"

"well for one," natasha grins. "trenchcoat dude's not wearing his trenchcoat."

a commotion of gasps come up from arguably most stations of the kitchen — even those who weren't a part of the discussion before.

"is it on the back of his chair? did car-guy help him take it off?" farah instantly pipes up, her eyes wide and hopeful. (hutch and her are the newest waiters, natasha remembers with a midge of distaste. sometimes it's too obvious.)

"no. it's nowhere in sight." she admits, eyebrows raised.

"maybe it ripped." that's hutch.

"maybe he finally realized that thing was doing nothing for him." dallas. everybody knows he's got a thing for trench coat dude though, so nobody bats an eye.

"maybe car-guy told him." chloe shrugs.

"hey, maybe somebody else did." hutch again.

"that's not the point." natasha butts in. "car-guy's better dressed too. i don't know much about old people fashion — chloe, if you don't stop looking at me like that — but i think ascots are supposed to be fancy."

"he wore a what —" several voices echo, and just then, freya enters the kitchen, beaming. (second year at the diner, loads of tattoos, and has a lovely girlfriend at the domino's across the street. natasha likes her.)

"you guys'll never guess what happened."

hutch and dallas sigh in unison, and farah giggles a little. "you won't guess what happened here either!"

"me first. trenchcoat dude and car-guy are on a date."

chloe snorts, picking up two prepared plates of food from one of the side chef's stations, and setting off out the door freya just entered from. important to find a job-gossip balance and all that.

natasha turns to the new informant. "what did you see?"

"car-guy asked trenchcoat what he wanted for dessert." freya beams.

"this just in, men can learn manners." hutch inputs before exiting with his own tray.

"car-guy might always order the pie but it looks mutual!" farah points out indignantly but he's gone already.

nevermind, he'll be back in five.

"and what did trenchcoat say?" natasha asks, ignoring the other two.

"milkshake," freya replies, writing it on a post-it as she says it.

"one shake, two straws." farah gasps. "come on, frey. tell me it was one shake, two straws."

"two shakes, two straws." she scribbles away.

"maybe they're gonna share both." farah quickly supplies.

"nobody does that, farah." dallas retorts, and natasha makes a face at him, not willing to kill the former's hopes just yet. farah tends to get this forlorn look on her face when things go wrong — and it always reminds natasha of her dead cousin.

she clears her throat.

"look, it can be a date without the shared milkshake, people." a few thoughtful sounds come up, the gates swing, and chloe walks back in. "plus, we've still got all the staring, the lingering looks over the menu, the soulful eyefu —"

"but that's everyday, nat." freya sighs.

"it's different today —"

"— you know it isn't —"

"— and i can prove it." natasha finishes, earning herself looks of surprise from almost everyone around. she can, though. the diner's got a valentines discount on milkshakes all month, she can approach them about it. trenchcoat and car-guy don't have to know it's not just for couples. and on the (really, really) offchance that they aren't one, natasha could always just minus the discount from the total anyway and no one would be the wiser.

the idea had just come to her but she was fairly sure she could swing it.

farah had already picked up a tray with two soup bowls and a dish of croutons, but she puts it down, and replaces the to-be-forlornness with excitement. "how?"

"i'll," natasha smirks again. "talk to them."

another round of gasps. in this kitchen, the people were nothing if not dramatic.

this time, freya's the one who asks, "how?"

"well, i haven't waitressed for twelve years just to go about rattling off trade secrets, kids." natasha winks, and a few of them make indignant noises because only about one third of the staff was what could broadly be called new. most of them had been there for years, and were practically a part of her family now. but she picks up her own tray smoothly, conveniently having been slid to her counter just then, and sets off — to an audience of hopeful believers (and dallas)'s matching stares.

(natasha isn't exactly free of the flair for drama she'd just accused everyone in this kitchen of.)

once outside, she makes a beeline for the table her tray is actually for, leaves them it, and quickly heads for the infamous trenchcoat and car-guy table.

this is so going to work.

"so then i cut his —" car-guy stops mid-sentence, spotting her. a part of natasha seethes to know what he 'cut off', but being fodder for the kitchenstaff's are-they-dating games didn't take away their rights to privacy, and she respected those. the car-guy smiles shortly at her. "what's the matter," his eyes flick down to her nametag, flick right back. (definitely a good sign; most men linger.) "natasha?"

she puts on her best smile. "it's about the milkshakes."

"is there a problem?" car-guy eases into a wider smile. "do you not have them, not a single one, and do we have to order pie instead?"

car-guy's partner shakes his head exasperatedly. "dean, i hardly think that's what she'd be here about."

"well, a guy's gotta dream." car-guy — dean — instantly says, and goes back to his burger while trenchcoat speaks up instead.

"what's the matter?"

natasha doesn't let her smile budge. it's a hell of a customer service smile, she's been told. "i actually came here to ask if you would like me to add the date dessert discount on the milkshake. it's an all-february thing. not on all items." she clarifies, a reflexive response for why it hasn't come up before.

genius.

dean looks a little cornered — trenchcoat just looks confused.

"i don't understand." he says, after a moment's pause. "the milkshakes cost less just if dean and i are here on a date...?"

"it's not —" she balks a little at his seriousness. "it's actually not that big of a difference."

"that's...alright." trenchcoat tilts his head, and natasha suddenly realizes she's physically fighting the urge to stare. shit, dallas isn't half-wrong. "but why just milkshakes?"

dean lets out an uncomfortable laugh. "capitalism trying to crap all over the free man's heart and the supremacy of pie not enough reason for ya, cas?"

natasha stifles a smile.

that's actually a good line. maybe car-guy deserves more credit than just loyal-to-the-pie.

trenchcoat — okay, cas, at least while she's out here — still looks a little doubtful (and she has no idea why) but he nods at dean, and then looks up at her and nods again. "add the discount."

natasha has to resist the urge to let her jaw drop.

this entire conversation, she'd practically been sure they were heading towards a rejection of the 'date' clause. and her gut told her they weren't lying either.

well, well. always thrilling to be right.

"and thank you for telling us about it." cas continues, and her practised smile returns immediately. probably a little less obligatory.

"of course."

and dean still looks like he'd rather cut more whatever-he-was-talking-about's off rather than be here right now, so natasha goes to leave. but cas stops her right before she's out of reach.

"excuse me." he's the one smiling this time. "if you're not busy right away, could you tell us what other items are eligible for the february date discount?"

dean facepalms. "come on, dude."

cas gives him a look — and natasha was right, of course she was right, that's not a exasperated 'friend' look. "i'd like to know, dean."

to natasha's knowledge, they've never had trouble paying for anything before (hernandez, she thinks one of their surnames is, she's seen it on a card) but she can't object to 'cas' asking, of course. curiosity is also a well-off man's right.

"why?" dean asks vehemently, before she can start to rattle off the list.

"because," cas answers levelly. actually, he kind of sounds like he's using his dad voice. maybe he is a dad. "i think it's strange that we've never gotten the discount before, while we've been eating lunch here almost this entire month."

it's again hard for natasha to not just stare gapmouthed at them.

"those have been dates." she realizes belatedly and out loud, and receives a weird, distasteful look from dean, and an immediate nod from cas that makes her blurt out, "so this isn't your...first date."

they're dating.

oh, farah was going to lose her mind.

"is that a requisite clause?" cas asks politely, while dean just scrubs his face with a hand.

"no." she tells cas truthfully. "i'm sorry, i just assumed it was. your first, i mean."

"lady, we certainly don't look first date aged to me." dean butts in, not hostile, but like it's something that irks him. "and we've been married four years, so one would desperately hope it's not our first date, y'know."

married.

they're friggin' married.

natasha is an idiot, and her date-dar is probably due for an early retirement.

they've been married for four years.

"i'm...very sorry." she apologizes, mortified. "i had no idea. i —"

"it's fine." this time, dean's smiling, and cas's confused frown is back. it's like they take turns. natasha is almost grateful for it, to be fair, because both those smiles directed at her would've been a helluva lot more distracting. "really doesn't matter. and yeah, sure, add the milkshake discount but don't worry about the list of items." he turns to cas. "just have sam look it up for you when we get home. please."

cas seems to be prepared to acquiesce to that but natasha can't help her own curiosity this time. "is that your son?"

and she's halfway to regretting it the moment she registers having said it, even though thankfully neither of them look too offended. in fact, cas is back to smiling.

"he's dean's brother." cas tells her. "he's the one with jack right now." he pauses. "it's easier because he and eileen live with us."

"yeah, an in-house sitter who doesn't even like going out is really a department we won in." dean grins, solely at cas. as if he's momentarily forgotten all about natasha's presence (that had clearly been making him uncomfortable talking in front of, earlier) in just looking at his husband. natasha sends out a quick pre-prayer for farah. "sucks for eileen though."

"eileen is very happy with your brother, dean." cas chastises, his eyes nothing but affectionate even then, and natasha's head reels with how much she has to tell the waitstaff today.

they're going to friggin' adore her.

"so jack is your son," she confirms, less wary of their reaction to her question now that they looked to have settled into their own silent conversation.

"he's our son, yes." cas replies, simply.

"like, you and him." she flashes a smile at dean.

"us and sam." cas corrects, and dean facepalms again. for her part, natasha can do little more than blink.

"but —"

"it's complicated." dean cuts her off suddenly, and she flinches. he didn't even deny it, just...sidestepped it.

"i — i see." natasha clears her throat, still looking at cas in bewilderment.

cas probably doesn't notice because he's talking to dean again. "it's significantly less complicated than claire's parentage, dean. she has over six parental —"

jesus christ.

"aaand that's enough trivia for date night." dean interrupts loudly again, definitely for the best, because natasha was standing there like a thoughtless statue at this point. his raised voice shakes her out of her reverie, and she vaguely calculates the chances of crashing into a table if she tried to walk away right away.

"i'll," she mumbles instead, drawing in a breath forcefully. "i'll be back with your milkshakes."

"thank you!" cas calls after her as she half wobbles on her heels back to the kitchen.

inside, she puts her empty tray on the metal counter and her hands on both sides of it, bowing her head, and almost immediately ending up surrounded by a plethora of people — most of whom, in normal circumstances, would just have been eavesdropping from their respective stations.

farah's the first to ask, followed by hutch.

"so?"

"what did you find out?"

natasha closes her eyes. "they're married."

this time, the commotion is the largest yet. but she isn't done.

"and every single one of their meals here have been dates." freya pumps her fist, chloe squeezes farah's hand, and dallas tsks under his breath. the 'gallery' watchers appear ready to join in the cheering as well today. but the entire kitchen senses she isn't done yet, and waits fidgetingly for the rest of it.

"and," natasha swallows. "they're almost definitely in a cult."

[ravennm84]

Payback

Hey everyone! I’ve been writing this new story for the past couple of days, and am planning to take a break for a while after this. My husband and I are expecting our first child next week and will be focusing on her. For that reason, I decided to give the class some sugar, as we all need some goodness in the world. I’ll be back when things settle down, but until then, Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!

It was just an average conversation. Alya was sitting at her desk before class with Lila since Marinette was late again. It was very pleasant until the italian girl said something… wrong.

“After I saved Jagged’s kitten from being run over by the plane and he wrote that song about me, we kept in touch.” Lila tittered away, without a care. “He ended up mentioning how he wanted a pair of special glasses for his tour, so I made him those Eiffel Tower glasses that he loves so much. Next thing I know, he’s bragging about me to all his friends and they’re all asking me to make things for them too. I ended up making a website and going by the alias MDC. Isn’t that amazing?”

Alya hadn’t had a chance to answer as Marinette came rushing into the room a second before the bell rang and Mme. Bustier began her lesson. Although whatever the teacher was saying was practically ignored by the majority of the class that had heard Lila’s claim. 

Because they knew.

They had been there when Marinette had made those glasses for Jagged Stone for the work experience day at Chloe’s family hotel. They knew that Marinette went by the acronym MDC for the initials of her name. Max, Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Kim, and Alya had all helped Marinette set up her website and model her designs a couple months ago, while Lila had been traveling… 

She’s a LIAR!! They all thought at once.

During the next break, Alya quickly set up a group chat with everyone but Lila and Marinette.

FoxyJournalist: You all heard that, right? She’s lying about being MDC, but that’s Marinette!

DJTurtle: So not cool, doesn’t she know that we were there? Is this some kind of joke?

MightIllustrator: Don’t think so, she’s still bragging about it back here.

GothicBeauty: @DJTurtle Agreed, not cool.

Rocker’n’Pink: I can’t believe it! I just emailed Prince Ali to see if he knows her, because if Lila’s lying about this…

BigTeddy: …

SmolTeddy: …

TrueBrain: …

Da’Strongest: … Crap

Sk8Grl: … I second that Crap

FoxyJournalist: Emergency meeting at my place tonight! We need to figure all this out!

DJTurtle: Agreed.

TruQueen: We’ll be there too. I don’t like Dupain-Cheng, but I HATE Rossi.

MissRed: I’ll bring snacks.

By the time class started again, everyone had agreed to meet up after school. The hard part, as it turned out, was shaking the liar, who practically latched onto their group and wouldn’t let them be. It was Mylene you finally came up with an idea, mentioning that they were going to the homeless shelter to help feed people and clean the facility. Lila suddenly remembered that she already had plans and couldn’t come help them, before turning to walk home.

Once she was out of earshot, Alix turned to the other girl with a smirk. “Good going, how’d you know that’d work?”

Mylene shrugged. “I was thinking earlier about all the times she talked about charity work but always made excuses to not come with us when we were doing it. I figured she’d do it this time too, and I was right.”

An hour later the entire class; sans Marinette, Lila, and Adrien, who was at a photoshoot, were gathered in the Cesaire apartment. Everyone had their phones or tablets out, looking up everything that Lila had told them since coming to school. And what they found was anything but comforting.

Connection to Jagged Stone due to saving a kitten: lies, according to articles about his one and only pet for the past 17 years, Fang the crocodile.

Connection to Prince Ali via Go-Green charities: lies, according to Prince Ali himself when he responded to Rose’s email, plus he didn’t do green charities, instead focusing on children’s charities.

Secretly dating Adrien: lies, confirmed when Adrien called Nino back during a break and let it slip that Lila was only his friend and that she made him uncomfortable at times because of how clingy she was.

Every single thing they looked up about Lila turned out to be a lie. And although they couldn’t prove it themselves, that likely meant that all of the diseases and injuries that she’d claimed to have were probably fake too. Meaning that they had been buying her lunch and giving her money for charities, and the money was probably going straight into the liar’s pocket.

“By my calculations, when including all the lunches and food we bought for her, money we donated for charities she wasn’t involved in, and tickets for events she attended with us; Lila Rossi has scammed close to €1,000 from our class. All of which we are not likely to get back from her.” Max groused as he typed away on his tablet.

Alix scoffed. “At least all we lost was some money and a bit of our dignity. I’m pretty sure Marinette went through a lot more than us. Heck, that liar tried to convince me last week that Marinette ruined her homework and said ‘if only she understood what it was like for someone to do that to her’ like she was trying to get me to destroy Marinette’s homework as revenge. I didn’t do it, but I let her copy my homework so she wouldn’t lose any points.”

Juleka’s pale complexion went stark white. “She kept telling me how Marinette was only friends with me so she could get close to Luka and make Adrien jealous, and that I was really trusting to let someone like that near my family.”

“When my headphones broke, she told me that she’d seen Marinette messing with them earlier,” Nino told them, his voice laced with guilt as he remembered giving his oldest friend the cold shoulder for days after that.

Alya’s head dropped into her hands as she struggled to hold back tears. “That liar almost had me convinced that Mari was nothing but a jealous bitch who was out to get rid of her since they both had a crush on Adrien. I can’t believe how close I came to buying that bull.”

“And then there’s the expulsion,” Rose added, her voice quivering. “She was accused of stealing, assault, and cheating on that mock exam. Even though Marinette was reinstated, that kind of stuff doesn’t just disappear from someone’s record. What if that keeps her from being accepted into lycee?”

Everyone went pale at that. Although most turned red in the face a moment later from rage for their friend.

“We can’t let her get away with this!” Kim growled as he began pacing the room.

“But is there anything we can really do?” Mylene asked with tears in her eyes.

When the blonde heiress chuckled, sitting off to the side of the room, everyone turned to glare at her, but she wasn’t phased by their looks. “And this is exactly why I decided to come here. None of you have any idea how to deal with someone like Rossi. I, however, have dealt with those types of people multiple times.” The glares ceased, realizing that Chloe was probably right. 

“One of the best ways to get back at her, would be to use her own lies against her. Do it in a way that the only way out of it is to admit that she’s a liar. And while we do that, we completely tear down the empire that fake HBIC is trying to build, maybe get her expelled like she tried to do to Dupain-Cheng.”

The class stared at her in surprise, not expecting the former hero to actually be useful in this situation. But what she said…

Alya shook her head in surprise. “I never thought I’d say this, but it sounds like you’re the best option. Please, tell us your plan.”

The smirk Chloe gave them, almost made them feel sorry for what was about to happen to the liar.

~oOo~

The following morning when Lila came to class, she saw everyone fawning over something on their phones or tablets. Curious, she stepped next to Alya and looked over her shoulder to find that she was looking at the MDC website. 

She smirked for a second before plastering an appreciative, yet shy grin on her face. “I see you found my website, what do you think of my designs?” 

“Gurl, they are gorgeous! I can’t believe you made such intricate clothes and accessories!” Alya gushed as she continued looking through the pictures until she stopped on a design that she had modeled for Marinette, although, like all the other photos, her face wasn’t shown. “And this one here! It’s like a total dedication to Rena Rouge. Make no mistake, Ladybug will always be my favorite, but Rena’s power is really awesome too.”

“I’m glad you like it!” Lila smiled, she was about to go into describing how she was inspired by the design when Alya asked her something surprising.

“Do you think I can have it? Pretty please?”

Lila came up short, not having expected this. “Well, you can just order it from my website-” she began saying, only to stop when Alya’s expression dropped.

“I don’t understand. You always say that if we need anything to just ask you, and you have this dress listed as in stock on your website, it would be nothing for you to just give it to me, right?”

“I-um-”

“And you even told Marinette the other day that if she were a real friend, she wouldn’t mind giving us free pastries whenever we ask, right?”

“R-right! I’m just surprised that you would be so interested in one of my designs. I’ll bring it in tomorrow!”

“Thanks gurl, you're the best.” Alya gushed before giving Lila a hug that actually kind of hurt. 

Hurrying back to her seat, Lila resisted the urge to curse as she got onto the MDC website to order and overnight the dress to her apartment. Luckily, the mail normally arrived before she left for school. And doing this would help her convince everyone she was the designer MDC.

~oOo~

Lila’s newest lie about being MDC wasn’t going as planned. Sure, she got a lot of praise and people wearing her designs, but it was costing her. Every time she brought in an item that she’d had to buy and overnight to her apartment to give to one of her classmates, another would practically demand another item that was listed as available on the MDC website. A hat for Alix, a hoodie for Kim, a shirt for Max, a dress for Rose, it went on and on. And when she tried to say that she couldn’t, they would say how Marinette would never do such a thing and then start to question what she told them. This left her no choice but to buy everything they wanted herself and give to them. 

Sure, it made her lie all the more believable since she was able to deliver the items they asked for, but it was beginning to clear out her savings. At the rate she was going, she was probably MDC’s best customer.

Then came the day when the MDC website began offering custom orders. Alya asked Marinette for a couple sheets of paper from her sketchbook and a pencil before handing it to Lila. “Gurl, I’ve been wanting you to do something custom for me for weeks, but I wasn’t going to ask since you didn’t have it listed on your website and I didn’t want to take advantage of you. But now, I can tell you exactly what I want and I can even record your process for my blog! Isn’t that awesome?”

Lila gripped the pencil until it nearly snapped. She could barely draw stick figures and she was pretty sure Maribrat knew that, not missing the smirk that the goody-two-shoes was sending her direction. “I would but, oww! My arthritis has been acting up all day and I can barely hold a pencil.” She whimpered pathetically as gingerly gripped her left wrist.

“But that shouldn’t be a problem,” Max spoke up smiling kindly at her. “After all, it’s your left wrist that has arthritis and you’re right handed.”

Shut up, you stupid nerd! She thought, struggling to keep the scowl from her face. “You’re right, but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough time to draw something out before class starts.”

“But, Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale have commented on your website how you are really good at doing fast concept drawing for your designs. So, it shouldn’t take you too long to come up with something to start with.” Rose commented, her high voice grating on the liar’s nerves.

She was trying to think of another excuse when Chloe began laughing. “You can all stop the act, I think we’ve played it out long enough.”

To Lila’s surprise, the majority of the class nodded before their eager, friendly faces turned to scowls and angry glares as they looked in her direction. Unsure of what else to do, she started faking tears as she looked around the room. “Why are all of you looking at me like that? I haven’t done anything wrong. Did Marinette say something? You know-”

“Cut the crap, Lila! We did our research weeks ago and figured out you’re nothing but a lying bag of nothing.” Chloe cut her off as she stood from her desk and smiled cruelly at the girl. “You really messed up when you started claiming you were the MDC, the rising star of fashion. Everyone in class knows that’s Marinette.”

Unable to help herself, Lila’s head whipped around in shock to glare at the french-asian girl, sitting shocked, but a little smug at her desk. “Is that what Marinette said? She’s lying!”

Alya scoffed this time. “You know, there may have been a point when we might have believed you, but not this time. We were all there when Mari gave those glasses to Jagged Stone and then had her design his album cover. Max and I helped her set up the MDC website. And Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Kim, Max, and I were the ones that modeled the designs posted on her website.”

Lila glared at her. She knew when the jig was up, and there was no point in wasting her energy on her worthless classmates anymore. Still, she couldn’t help but be angry at them. “Well, you all better have the money to pay me back for all the stuff I bought you! Or else I’ll get all of you in trouble with Mme. Bustier and M. Damocles. If you can’t tell, from the time I got Maribrat expelled, I’ve got them both wrapped around my finger.”

“Actually, you can consider all this repaying us.” Max grinned that annoying, calculating grin at her. “Everything you bought was equal to or of similar value to all the lunches we bought you, tickets for events that we covered, or money we donated to your supposed charities, which I’m 96.8% sure was actually your own bank account.”

She growled at that, about to let out a tirade at all of them when Chloe laughed again, gaining her attention again. “Well, all that was to pay back the class, but you’re still not even with Dupain-Cheng or me. I’m sick of seeing your ugly face and hair-don’t in here every day and decided to do something about it. So, I had Daddy get a hold of the Italian Embassy for a meeting the other day. Imagine how surprised and angry they were when the ambassador’s assistant started talking about how incopitant Ladybug and Chat Noir are, since they couldn’t defeat the akuma that had forced her daughter’s school to close for months.”

Lila’s tan skin paled quickly as her head whipped around the room, looking for an escape, but Ivan and Kim were guarding the door. 

“The woman was even more surprised after mentioning which school it was and Daddy told her how it was my school. Then I mentioned a girl that had been out of school for the time the assistant had mentioned, and that she claimed to be in the kingdom of Achu via Embassy funds. The Ambassador wasn’t too happy about what he was hearing and cut the meeting short. Although I did hear her mention that she was planning to speak with the principal and her daughter’s teacher. Speaking of, I wonder why Mme. Bustier is so late for class?

Seconds later, the door Ivan and Kim had been guarding burst open, revealing a very angry Damocles, Mme. Bustier, and a woman that had a strong resemblance to Lila. Without a single word, the woman stomped forward, grabbed Lila by the arm, and began dragging her out of the room. Lila tried to pull free as she pleaded for her mother to listen, but the woman didn’t say a single word as the door closed behind them, leaving a very upset Mme. Bustier standing at the front of the room.

The news quickly spread around school before lunch how Lila had done, and was likely to be expelled for truancy, bullying, lying to the staff, and trying to get Marinette expelled. If that hadn’t been bad enough, an akuma had come fluttering into the courtyard just as the two Rossi’s had been leaving. Lila had pushed her mother away in an effort to catch the akuma, only for a yo-yo to smack her hand to catch it, snapping two of the liar’s fingers in the process. 

Seeing that, M. Damocles had no choice but to call the police while Ladybug and Chat Noir stood guard over Lila, with Alya recording everything from the moment she’d seen the akuma entering the courtyard. Lila screamed and raged as the police handcuffed her and took her away. Ladybug recommended using a facility outside of Paris, as they had witnessed her willingly going after an akuma.

The class never saw Lila again, although they did hear that she had been deported back to Italy and was dropped in a high security prison’s deepest, darkest hole to be forgotten by the world after being convicted for aiding a terrorist. Granted, none of them had expected that when they had set out to get even with Lila, but after seeing her willingly go after an akuma for revenge, they were glad she was gone.

The class had also profusely apologized to Marinette for not believing her, as well as keeping her in the dark about their plan to expose Lila. Marinette accepted their apology, but admitted that she had been starting to figure it out after Lila kept ordering from her website and her classmates ended up with the ordered items. Then, when she had mentioned her theory to Adrien, he’d shown her the group chat and admitted that the class had planned a way to confront and expose Lila. So, she decided to trust her friends and let their plan play out, using the money Lila had spent to buy more supplies and make matching ‘thank you’ gifts for her friends.

And that’s it! I hope you all enjoyed this bit of class sugar. With all the salt out there, I really needed something sweet and this seemed like a good way to do it!

Taglist:

@2confused-2doanything @7-sage-7 @aadnrsstar @abrx2002 @awkwardromances @bayball @babylovebug18 @botanicalfoxx @back-cats-and-broken-mirrors @caffeinetheory @cheshire5210 @chocolateherringtacofan @city-of-all-tunas @classycollectorreviewworld  @corabeth11 @chocolatechipcookiesandcamembert @darkened-flame @delightfulcookiesrecipespizza @fandom-trapped-03 @ghostmaster @iamblinkmarvelarmy @interobanginyourmom @izang @jesussavedevenme @kazedancer @kitten12113 @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @lilypotter2018 @lunataravler @maskedpainter @ miraculouslydumb @nerd-nowandforever @ola-is-dead @pandacatxd @plushbookworm @plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw @pheonix-biach @raiderofthelostbooks @ramos123 @rowanrouge @rowanyx @ren121 @seesea22 @seraphichana @sashakoi @shypeacekitten @tazer6787 @that-girl-sakea @thecrazyfantrollshasmoved @the-smallest-kittenz @tishwinchesterannabethjackson @t1dwarrior-of-earth @ulmban @with-forward-motion @wonderbat91939 @zoiechance

[liquid-luck-00]

My Life is One Complication After Another 2

Some cursing 🤬

Ao3 *** Previous *** Next

~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay so where were we?" she smiled turning and sitting back down with Fang.

"As Damian had asked are you in reality my biological child," Bruce took back control automatically.

"You can't be serious Brucie!" Jagged went and began to squish Mari's face. "This little ray of sunshine related to your broody majesty. I don't buy it."

"I am not broody Jared." Bruce defended.

"I'll believe that when Ladybug dates Chat Noir." he joked.

"So it is possible" Bruce responded with a straight face.

Now it was Mari's turn to laugh, "Not a chance. Ladybug and Chat Noir dating is as possible as Atlantis resurfacing." she finally stopped laughing. The Wayne's tensed as if they knew more than others about Atlantis. "I honestly don't know if I am your child. I have no objections to taking a paternity test if you want, but I already have parents who love and support me, but I am not opposed to adding to my family though." she again smiled like the sunshine she is.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng What the Hell!?!" Chloe screamed storming into the room.

"What did I do!"

"How are you trending and you never told me" she gave a mock gasp.

However it was not the same for Mari. "I'm what." She opened her phone and sure enough she was trending. "How did this happen?"

She went into the first article she could and backtracked, through the sources and timestamps. Then it all made sense. She was on the Ladyblog, an interview with Lila claiming she was friends with a Wayne. The media then believing her a lost Wayne which explains why she is sitting with the Waynes and them asking about her paternity.

"How did you not know. M."

"All my accounts are private and I've been busy. But this explains the reporters now huh."

"M you are ridiculous, utterly ridiculous" Chloe grumbled. She was now sitting on the armrest Mari was leaning against next to Jagged. "At least tell me you remembered to send the photos and interview." Mari sprung up, Fang having sensed the impending jump. "logged into my laptop" Chloe yelled throwing her key to Mari.

"Meet you at the hospital. 20 minutes. bye" she yelled as she ran down the hall taking the stairs faster.

Chloe and Penny got up followed by Jagged heading to the door.

"Whatcha wait'n for Brucie come on" Jagged called to the billionaire.

Slowly the Waynes stood and followed the others to the hospital, sharing looks and texts the entire time.

True to her word Marinette met with them 20 minutes later on the dot in the hospital.

Both Marinette and Bruce had a blood sample and a mouth swab taken. The doctor then came back an hour later with the results.

"Alright. By the genetic markers that were tested. I can say quite confidently that M. Wayne is the biological father of Mlle. Dupain-Cheng." The doctor handed them a folder. "I'II leave you to process."

Marinette didn't need long to process. In fact her only thought was, Well one more for the list. Everyone in the room was watching her. "Okay" she jumped down from the bench, crap. Forgot about that. Her smile never faltered but her eyes were closed a second too long.

In that second Chloe had taken her purse and was holding up a pair of athletic gloves. “Care to explain!” She held the gloves waving them towards Marinette.

"Um, Well, You see" Marinette started to mumble.

"Why don't you explain in the car" Penny came to her rescue.

"We'll get Pizza and have a Rock' n time" Jagged lightened the mood.

Everyone nodded, walking out Mari kept her hands in her pocket. She was putting on her second pair of gloves, Tikki in her hood, she needed to think and running always helped. Mari was only a few yards away when Chloe noticed, Mari spun to face her when she heard her.

"Red!" Chloe yelled. She noticed how two boys froze, Jason and Tim if she is correct.

"Goldie!" she responded, not missing a beat. She heard Chloe behind her.

"Cat." Penny stated.

"Bird." responded Jagged further confusing the Waynes as they neared the hotel.

Tim was the first who noticed the two girls in front of the hotel. Meaning he was on his phone mapping and timing the route.

"Pizza will be delivered in 10." Mari spoke as the other seven stepped out of the car.

The two girls went ahead of them, but instead of the elevator they took the stairs.

Half way through the second of three pizza did Tim finally speak. "How did you two get back so fast." Tim set down his Pizza as he began to gesture frantically. "There is no way for you guys to have beat as it is a fifteen minute drive and a 30 minute walk, 20 if you run. Wait how did you get there in 20 minutes with a detour." Tim surprisingly still had breath.

"The fastest way from point A to B is not through C." Was Marinette's response as she took a bite. Yet that didn't seem like a sufficient answer as her now brother's eyebrows were still knit in confusion, so she took a breath and said. "Free running, it's a great stress reliever." she finished.

"What did you hit this time?" Jagged gave her a semi serious look.

"I didn't hit anything," a pout on her lips. "The pigeon flew into me."

Dick started laughing "she is definitely yours B, I can say for sure even without that paternity test." Another two hours had passed before she noticed the time and bid everyone goodbye. She gave her number to her father and brothers, Damian begrudgingly because Dick put it in and gave it to Mari.

Her parents had closed early for a date so she was home alone. She went to the couch to sketch a few gift ideas for her newly extended family. She was finishing a semi formal coat with a hidden sling for a katana for Damian. He kept grumbling that if he had it, the way the sword appeared in his akuma form, and she is pretty sure Jason's jokes were more literal by everyone's expressions. When her parents came home.

"Bon soir Maman, Papa," she cheerily greeted them.

"How was your day sweetheart." her Papa smiled kissing the top of her head.

"I met a handful of interesting people." she really didn't know how to broach this subject.

"What's wrong sweetie," her mother must have noticed her be uncomfortable. She sat down next to Mari, and her papa sat across from them.

"Did someone or did these people hurt you." her papa's words began to ring with a hard edge.

"Non, nothing like that. It's just, um," bitting her lip then looking up. "Your not my biological father, are you?"

Her parents froze, and had a silent conversation.

"Marinette, your biological father is an important and busy man. Who has no time for children." Her Maman spoke gently and calmly. "His name is Bruce Wayne."

Okay hold up, she tilted her head empathizing her confusion. "He didn't seem to bad, in fact he has four boys."

"That was who you met today," her papa affirmed, seemingly surprised.

She nodded her head and told them what had occurred today, leaving out the akuma and her free running. When she finished her parents once again held a silent conversation.

"Why don't we invite him over tomorrow for lunch. While you show his boys around." her maman smiled.

"Okay I'll send them a message then." Mari smiled taking out her phone.

Tomorrow will be interesting.

But first she had to survive tonight.

Tonight Ladybug, Todd Tenko, and Emeraude Racer were on patrol. Meaning she had the evening with the Couffaine siblings. Since both were holders it wasn't uncommon for them to swap. Meaning Luka would either be Todd or Viperion, and Juleka could be either Racer or Kitsune.

They each knew what was their designated route, and because of the akuma sent earlier the chance of Hawkmoth striking again was less likely. Each one of the heroes went their separate ways and made their rounds. So when the three heroes went to their rendezvous at Notre Dame's bell tower it ways almost two hour later. However, she noticed she had a tail when she passed the Eiffel tower. So she called Todd and Racer to set an illusion and ambush at the bell tower.

When she stepped on the bell towers stopped in the center and so did her tail with four others, forming a 'v" behind her. Todd's illusion left a Ladybug in the center of the tower while she moved to an ambush point. Four figures swung in and stood at each corner, a Todd Tenko, Emeraude Racer, Honey Bee, and Chat Noir.

"Shouldn't all of you be in Gotham?" Ladybug asked for her.

That seemed to take the vigilantes in her city by surprise.

"We heard about the situation and we just want to help." Nightwing, she is pretty sure, spoke up.

Chat Noir scoffed, "huh as if we would believe that."

"Tt. believe what you want. That is the truth." Robin spoke this time. Interesting.

"Yes after being ignored and called liars for three years really builds trust." Honey Bee's hand curled on her top as she spoke.

Batman seemed like he was going say something, but she jumped down from her perch breaking the Ladybug illusion. As they watched her materialize fifty feet up, followed by Racer and Todd flanking her mere seconds later.

"Todd," her eyes never left the five in front of her as she spoke.

"What!" Red Hood jumped in surprise, "How?"

"Curious. But Todd," this time she turned. "can you drop Mirage." Her teammate nodded and the four illusions disappeared. "Do you need to recharge?"

"Already did LB", he smiled.

"Okay," she pulled out her yoyo, and a box fell out into her hands. "who wants a snack before heading back out."

"Me!" Racer rushed to the box pulling out a strawberry eclair.

It is almost a good thing she always makes eight eclairs for patrol. Seriously she makes two for those on patrol, but after Adrien always left them with one and ate four, did she start bringing more.

Before leaving to do a final sweep of patrol. The three Parisian heroes spoke with the visiting vigilantes.

"We could send them Pinky's way," Ladybug responded to Batman's ask for more information.

"Do you think that's smart?" Todd asked.

"Who is Pinky?" Red Robin stepped into the conversation.

"She is our civilian contact and reserve hero." Racer answered.

"Why isn't she a permeant hero?" Nightwing brought up the question.

"Her identity was compromised but and we aren't sure how many know. So she is kept an back up." she answered.

"Who is she and how do we contact her?" Batman demanded or asked in his case.

"She is Multimouse, her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng." All of them seemed to flinch and paled slightly. "And she'll find you."

The three Parisians stood and left.

Yup, tomorrow is going to be interesting.

Extra:

“So was I supposed to find out the Wayne’s were the Bats on my own or would you have told me?” Mari scolded her boyfriend over video call when she got home from patrol.

“I knew you were smart but less than a day you really are a lucky bug.” He smirked at her.

She crossed her arms and glared at him.

“Okay, okay.” He rose his hands in surrender. “But how did you figure it out anyways?”

“Apart from Tim and Jason flinching when Chloe called me Red, Damian’s katana grumbles and Tt., Jason freaking out because Todd was on patrol with me, and all of them paling at my name. It wasn’t to hard to piece together after that.” She shrugged.

“You know you’re scary sometimes right?” He feigned chills a goofy grin on his face.

“You love me though.” She teased him.

“I know I do but I know to keep in your good graces.” He responded now completely serious. “By the way, why was my idiot in Paris?” '

“I apparently made headlines a a lost Wayne.” She waved. “Which has more truth than the media knows apparently.”

“You’re serious!”

“Turns out your idiot is my adoptive idiot brother.”

“So are you related to Dick or Tim?”

“Try Damian.”

“To Demon Spawn! How?!”

“Bruce is my biological father.”

“The bug is a bat. Great!” he rolled his eyes, “I knew you weren’t normal but this is ridiculous.”

“You aren’t exactly normal yourself.” She replied pointedly.

“Ya but you love me.” His goofy grin was back.

“Yes I do.” She smiled in return.

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @dolphin-ghost @unabashedbookworm @bookgirl14 @laurcad123 @mochegato @vixen-uchiha @jjmjjktth @deathwishy @toodaloo-kangaroo @stackofrandomstuff @megaafangirl @trippingovermyfeet @chocolatecatstheron @nathleigh @nyx-in-line @indecisive-mess-named-me @ichigorose @maribat-is-lifeblood @user00000001

[chocoluckchipz]

A Soulmate for Christmas - 3

< Previous

"Dupain-Cheng. We need to talk."

Marinette stopped breathing, sinking deeper under the desk. 

Chloe groaned and took a few steps away. "Don't make me get down there and drag you out. And next time, make sure you aren't hiding right in front of a mirror. Be thankful I didn't out you to Adrien."

Marinette glared at her reflection peeking out from a corner of the mostly covered mirror she’d failed to notice. 

"I suppose you want my gratitude for your generosity?" she huffed, climbing out of her hiding spot to face her old nemesis.

"I’ll do without, but let’s make one thing clear—I did it for Adrien, not you."

"Oh really? I fail to see how this benefits him since, you know, he wanted to find me."

Chloe smirked and looked Kagami’s way. Marinette followed her gaze, only now noticing how intently Kagami was watching her. 

"So, this is her?"

"Unfortunately."

Matching smirks on their lips, Kagami’s eyes held restrained curiosity. Chloe’s? Disbelief. 

Marinette could feel the weight of their judgement increase with each passing second. She scoffed. This crap was tiring to deal with back in the lycée. Now it wasn’t even worth the fight. "Listen, I doubt either of you want me to come in and mess up whatever thing you three have going on, so how about you tell Adrien you mistook me for someone else, the waitress he spoke to was not Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and we all walk our separate ways?"

Kagami folded her arms over her chest, arching an eyebrow. "What about Adrien?"

"What about him?"

"He’s your soulmate."

"He’s engaged to you."

"Did you hear anything we said here?"

"Didn’t have much of a choice."

"Then, you’re aware that we’re faking it. There is nothing but friendship between us."

"So I’ve heard."

"And you still want to walk away?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She’s always been weird," Chloe snipped. "Adrien deserves better."

Marinette scoffed. "No one deserves a soulmate who humiliates them in front of the whole country."

"You can’t really pick your soulmate, you know," Kagami said. 

"But I can walk away from one who respects neither me nor our bond. Fake or not, he chose to be with you. I’m not going to interfere. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back work." 

Kagami grabbed Marinette’s hand before she could take a step. "You don’t understand. It’s not something he’s doing because he doesn’t respect or want you. Adrien’s practically saving my life with this, risking everything he ever wanted to do so."

Marinette almost laughed. "How is fake dating saving your life, Mlle Tsurugi? Fake dating is for fiction, a good book for a lonely evening or a movie to laugh with friends about. In the real world, in our modern society, it's irrelevant. And especially for someone as powerful and influential as you. You don't need to fake date. You can just say a word and all your problems will float away."

Kagami’s grip on Marinette’s hand tightened as she seethed through her teeth. "You have no idea what you’re talking about."

"Oh, don’t I? I’ve spent enough years in the same class with Chloe to see how people in your circle solve their problems."

"You shouldn’t put everyone in the same basket." Chloe stepped in, wrapping her arm around Kagami’s shoulder. She leaned closer to Kagami, their cheeks starting to glow at the contact, Kagami’s with a bee mark, Chloe’s with a dragon. 

To say Marinette was surprised was an understatement. 

"Just because we live in different circles doesn’t mean our lives are easy or that our problems always go away with a snap of our fingers," Chloe continued. "If you want to think of me like that, fine. Whatever. But not Adrien and certainly not Kagami." 

"I still fail to see the reason why someone would need to fake date." 

Before Chloe could start talking, Kagami cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Marinette, would you mind hearing me out? If you still want to walk away after what I have to tell you, neither of us will stop you."

Perhaps, this was the quickest way to get this over with. Maybe, she was curious herself as to what was going on between the three of them. Whatever it was, Marinette pulled up a chair, sat down and waited.

Kagami settled on a couch while Chloe leaned on its arm. "I was born and raised in Japan in a very conservative family where traditions were the law and whoever broke them was excommunicated forever. When I was fifteen, my mother and I moved to France, and I got to know the more liberal approach to life the French follow. I met Adrien through our parents’ business dealings. We became friends, and for the first time ever, someone could understand me, the life I was living, and the feelings I was suppressing. He wasn’t in any better of a situation at the time, but at least I was allowed to attend a private school. Adrien was kept locked inside his mansion. Later, I met Chloe and discovered the soulmate bond we shared. I was happy for the first time in my life. That is until my mother decided I had to marry one of her business partners’ sons for the sake of the family’s interests."

"A much older male," Chloe scoffed, scratching her nose. "Disgusting."

"Fifteen years older," Kagami confirmed. "And he lives in Japan which meant I would be forced to move back and lose not only my friends but also my soulmate. I would be expected to be an obedient, silent wife for the rest of my life, confined to looking after the house and birthing as many children as my husband wished."

"Ridiculous!" Chloe huffed. "Utterly ridiculous."

Kagami patted Chloe’s hand in a comforting gesture. "Perhaps if I’d never moved to France I would have gone along with her plans without complaining. However, after I had a taste of freedom and saw how happy I can be, I knew I couldn’t give up all of this. Give up Adrien and Chloe. Give up my dreams for the future. So, I panicked and said I was already secretly dating someone and didn’t tell her only because I wanted to make sure it was serious. Mother would’ve never agreed to let me stay if that person wasn’t from her list of approved potential spouses. A list made up of very influential and wealthy people. Adrien was one of them."

"He’s on the list of every Parisian mother." Chloe huffed. "Sucks to be him."

"I couldn’t say Chloe’s name," Kagami continued. "Mother isn't against same-sex relationships, but she considers them just ‘practice’ for the ‘real ones’ because, apparently,  I need a man as a life partner."

"As I said, ridiculous."

"So, I said Adrien’s name, then begged him to play along. We never thought it would get out of our circle. We even developed a plan for how to get me out unscathed and free. Adrien and I were supposed to only play a couple until my birthday in November when I became a legal adult by Japanese law. When that happened, I started transferring my funds to accounts my mother had no access to so I could walk away freely. But that takes time, and two weeks ago she found out and demanded an explanation for the transactions. She threatened to send me back to Japan immediately if she didn’t approve of what I had in mind. The transfers weren’t done yet and she had enough influence to stop it.

"I freaked out again and said Adrien and I were getting married, so I was gathering my personal funds into my own account that I planned to join with my husband’s after the wedding. I told her we were waiting for a special occasion to announce the engagement. She wasn’t buying it. She gave me a week to prove my words. She put a hold on all the transfers until then. It was Adrien who suggested we take it to the media. That way, she wouldn't doubt us, and she’d be somewhat pressured to let me stay in France, at least for the time being. Once the article was out, my mother released the funds, and as of last night, I’m a free woman.

"No one was ever going to announce an engagement. My things are being packed as we speak while my mother and I are out of the house. I won’t be going home with her. I’m moving in with Chloe, and, thanks to Adrien, I’m not doing so without a penny to my name. Adrien never meant to hurt you. He never looked any other woman's way. All he wanted was to help a friend." 

There wasn’t much Marinette could do but remain frozen in her seat, stunned at Kagami’s words. Her defences down, she hated to admit that everything Kagami had said made sense. There was a reason. A reason good enough to justify this whole thing. She couldn't hold this against Adrien. Heck, if any of Marinette’s friends were in Kagami’s shoes, she’d be fake proposing to them too. So, if everything that Kagami had told her was true, then…

"Marinette," Kagami spoke more gently, watching her with a lot less hostility. "For as long as I’ve known Adrien, every summer, every vacation he got, he was travelling to Milan, attending every fashion show and just wandering the streets in hopes of finding you. He painted over and publicly revealed his soulmate mark only because he’s desperate at this point. His father’s been pressuring him to date for publicity for years. He gave him a break when he thought we were a couple, but that ends tonight. And let me tell you, Gabriel Agreste is not the person to care for Adrien’s feelings and desires. He’ll make his life a living hell if Adrien continues to refuse to comply. Please, Marinette. Give him a chance. He deserves it."

"I’m giving him your number as a Christmas present tomorrow," Chloe spoke up. "You have until then to think about it. Let’s go, Kagami. It’s time to set Adrien free and show the world who your soulmate truly is."

"Right." Kagami stood up, giving Marinette one last glance. "The choice is yours, but you’d be a fool to walk away from a man like him. They don’t come as kind, loyal and loving as he is these days."

The door behind the pair closed, leaving only the sound of Marinette’s heart echoing in her ears. She could hardly move. If everything she’d just learned was true, she owed Adrien an apology and, if he wanted one, she owed him a chance. Because while she would definitely want a chance with the man Kagami had just described, she had to wonder if she deserved one at all. 

With a sigh, she stood up and headed back towards the kitchen. 

Later. She’d find him later. First, she had a job to finish and sweets to serve. The rest would have to wait. They’d waited for years. What would be another few hours?

Next >

Read it on A03 FF.net WattPad

Buy the author a Ko-fi for Christmas

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 46

Three akumas, one sentimonster and Mayura in this one chapter! It was a lot but I think I pulled it off. I also feel like I've foreshadowed Lady Blanc quite a bit here and something else :D One person will know exactly what I mean when they read this as this is something we've talked about for ages but I wonder if the rest of you will. We will see but feel free to hit me with your theories. Now there is a number of things that are different from the actual episode and something that appear the same but are not. One those things are Mayura and the sentimonster's appearance. Unlike the episode, Mayura isn't going after Chloe. Her and Hawkmoth were testing the waters so to speak. They wanted to get a rough idea of how Anatis and Lady Noir would defeat a sentimonster to see if it is worth using the peacock miraculous. I always imagined Mayura would be the one to try and tempt miraculous holders to join the bad side because she is way better then Hawkmoth. She's pretty and knows how to booth an ego. Anyway, I hope you guys like this episode! It took a lot to work out how to adapt it and it was very challenging but I'm really happy with how this turned out :D

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

Chapter Forty-Six: Miraculer

"Isn't this great? I have so many views!" Alya grinned, proudly holding up her phone that showed the photo of Anatis and Lady Noir kissing. Marinette felt sick upon seeing it. This morning, Alya had came to the bakery and dragging Marinette to school. They had gotten there so early that only it was only them and Chloe in the classroom. "I have so many more views then before and everyone loves this. Like this comment... 'Anatis and Lady Noir are my otp and I'm so glad my ship is sailing'... isn't it amazing?"

  Alya clearly was happy and proud of the image but not everyone was impressed with it. From what she knew, Nino and Alya weren't exactly on talking terms again. They had briefly made up after the whole Puppeteer incident but right now, they weren't talking. Marinette frowned to herself as she wasn't exactly sure why but she had a feeling it had something to do with that photo. She felt sick every time she saw it. Not because she was kissing Anatis in it. She did not regret it, even if she couldn't remember it as she had been attracted to him from day one. No, she felt sick because Alya had posted it, despite been told to delete it. She couldn't help but feel betrayed. Every time she saw the image, it just reminded her of the betrayal and it wasn't making their job easier. Anatis had been on butterfly watch for the past couple of days since the image had been released. Luckily, he had caught most of them that had even dared to come near her. A couple of them had tried to get her outside of the mask but she had transformed and captured them in jars that Master Fu had provided then brought them to Anatis on their meet ups. They had become few and far between but seeing the image again and the way Alya was so proud of it was making her feel sick and hurt all over again.

  "Alya, Lady Noir and Anatis did-"

  "Marinette, not this again," Alya sighed, interrupting her. "If they didn't want to be photographed then they shouldn't have kissed in front of me. I mean hello I run a blog about them! Of course, I'm gonna take a picture,"

  Marinette had no words for her but she felt like she was gonna be sick. She got up and rushed over out of the room, causing Alya to roll her eyes and mutter something about been dramatic. She ran downstairs and into the girl's bathroom before locking herself in a cubical. Plagg flew out of her purse and gently hugged the side of her head as she curled up on the seat. 

  "I'll keep an eye on for butterflies," He muttered, frowning. He really wanted to cataclysm the crap out of Alya. Hell, he'd get Tikki to use a cure to bring her back, just so he could do it all over again. Marinette sniffed and looked up at him as she wiped away her tears.

  "I'm ok, Plagg... I'm just..." She muttered, looking down. "I don't think Alya meant to be mean but it's just... it hurts... I know that she only post a picture but we told her not to and she didn't even listen... I know I shouldn't be so upset. She's a journalist after all,"

  Plagg snorted at that, making her look up at him.

  "More like a tabloid," He smirked before they heard the door open. He quickly flew into her purse as she tried to wipe away her tears. 

  "Marinette?" Chloe's voice surprised her, causing her to gasp. She heard the heiress' shoes tap on the ground as she walked over to the cubicle that Marinette was in. She heard her sigh before she knocked on the door. "Marinette, come out. I know you're in there,"

She let out a sigh and unlocked the door, making Chloe huff. She had her arms crossed and didn't look too impressed but her expression softened when she noticed Marinette's red eyes. She let out another huff and took something out of her own purse before handing it to Marinette. She blinked and carefully took the handkerchief, looking up at her.

  "Thank you," She whispered, dabbing her eyes. "Don't tell anyone I was crying,"

  "I won't but I'm curious as to why?" She asked, making Marinette sigh. "Marinette?"

  "Um... well... it's kind of weird," She admitted, getting a try me expression from Chloe. She sighed and looked at her. "Lady Noir and Anatis didn't consent to that image and it upsets me that Alya won't take it down,"

  "How do you know that?" She asked, eyeing her up. Marinette blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh my god... you're one of Anatis' spies!"

  "Well... yes but that's not how I know..." She mumbled, making Chloe raise an eyebrow. "I'm also one of Lady Noir's informants and she came to be the night after that image had been posted. She asked if I could talk to her about removing the image since I'm her friend. I did try but Alya refused to take it down,"

  It wasn't a lie. She had asked Alya to take it down, claiming that Lady Noir had asked her but Alya had brushed her off, claiming that was the price of fame. She had reported to Anatis about her reaction later that night as Lady Noir. To say he had not been impressed was an understatement. He had even commented that he was looking into laws regarding photography to find out where they, as public figures, stood and what they could do about it. She was ok with that. They wanted to know where they stood before fully dealing with Alya but she knew that they would. It was a matter of time. 

  "She what?!" Chloe pretty much screeched before storming out. Marinette gasped and quickly followed her as she rushed into the classroom. Most of the students were in now, including Nino and Adrien. Both were happily talking to each other as Chloe slammed the door open. Everyone quieted down as Chloe glared at Alya and Lila. "You!"

  "What?" Alya asked as Chloe glared at her with daggers.

  "How dare you!" She growled, slamming her hands on the table and making everyone jump. A few people were concerned that Chloe was going back to her old way. "How dare you post that photo!"

  "Oh, I see," Alya replied, looking at her calmly. "You're just jealous that I was able to get it,"

  "Jealous?! Me?!" Chloe gasped, shocked. "I'm not jealous! I'm pissed off because you post that photo without their permission!"

  Alya snorted as she looked at Chloe, making the heiress frown.

  "Of course, you're jealous," She replied as if it was a fact. "I mean why wouldn't you be? After all, I'm closer to Anatis and Lady Noir then you are,"

  "How are you closer to them then I am?!" She gasped, annoyed that Alya would even suggest that. She was their friend. She could flag them down at any point. "I'm their friend!"

  "Sure, you are," Alya laughed but then she noticed that Chloe looked serious. "Ok... if you're their 'friend' then answer me this. Why hasn't Anatis given you a miraculous yet? Oh wait... because you stole from him,"

  "At least, I was able to admit my mistake and give back the bee miraculous," Chloe stated, glaring at her. "You don't even realize you're in the wrong,"

  "How am I in the wrong?!" Alya gasped, looking at her. "I have every right to post the photo!"

  "Expect you don't," Chloe smirked as if she had won. Alya glared at her. "Need I remind you that you need permission to post an image of a person or persons when they are the subject which they are in that photo. Oh and you didn't get their permission,"

  "Ok... so I don't have their exact permission to post this but this is proof that they are in love and they didn't exactly say no," She declared, making almost everyone look at her in shock. Nino shook his head in disgust as Adrien frowned deeply. The couples of the class looked pale and a number of them looked angry. "What?"

  "That is so wrong," Rose gasped, looking upset. "Why would you post such an intimate picture?!"

  "Because I'm a blogger who blogs about them and this is the best thing I've ever come across?" She replied, frowning. "Besides, like I said they didn't exactly say no,"

  "Expect they did," Nino stated, making everyone look at him. "Both of them told you to delete it and Anatis warned you that if you posted it, there would be serious repercussions. Not to mention they didn't remember it,"

  "They didn't remember?" Sabrina asked before glancing over at Alya. "You took that while they were under the effects of Oblivio?"

  "Well... I..." She gasped before Adrien looked at her.

  "Did you at least let your followers know that they had no memory?" He asked, crossing his arms. She huffed but didn't answer, causing him to frown deeply. "You did let them know right?"

  "I... I decided to let them make their own assumptions..." She gasped, making everyone gasp. "And they should know I would take a picture. I'm a blogger! It's what I do and they know that!"

  "No, they didn't," Marinette argued, making everyone look at her. "They were under the effect of Obivio, meaning they had no idea that you had a blog or even who you were. They probably didn't even realize they were superheroes at first. They wouldn't have remembered who they were or anything linked into their hero identities. They don't remember the kiss. Lady Noir told me so herself as she came to me to ask you to take it down so I'll tell you again. Take it down!"

  "Why should I?!" She gasped, getting annoyed. "I have every right to put up that photo so stop hating me for it! Anatis and Lady Noir are public figures so I have every right to take the photo!"

  "Alya, calm down," Adrien stated, making her frown and turn to him but she failed to miss a black butterfly fluttering towards her.

  "Calm down?!" She shouted, clutching her phone. "Why should I?! You people are questioning my integrity at journalism!"

  Before anyone could argue, the akuma entered her phone and the purple mask appeared over her face. Adrien shouted for everyone to scram, causing them to rush out. Marinette took her chance to escape and transform, returning as Lady Noir. She jumped down and began to attack Alya, now Lady Wifi as she waited for Anatis to get to there. He arrived, just before Lady Noir got captured and together they made very quick work of Lady Wifi, defeating her in record time. Lady Noir crossed her arms as Anatis released the cure and Lady Wifi turned back into Alya. She blinked and looked up before squealing with excitement and began to live steam.

  "Oh my god! Anatis and Lady Noir!" She gasped, holding up her phone before noticing their expressions. "Is something wrong?"

  "Is something wrong?" Lady Noir repeated in a mocking way, making Alya frown as she glared at her nails. "Oh no... other then the fact that you posted that photo of us kissing without permission!"

  "I-"

  "I don't want to hear your excuses," Anatis stated, narrowing his eyes. "We explicitly told you to delete it and that you didn't have our consent to post it yet you did anyway. You didn't care that we didn't want that posted or that we didn't have our memories. No, all you cared about were the views! You don't see me and Lady Noir as actual people! We're just masks to you but we are real life people, Alya! We have a life beyond this one but you never considered that! You just saw a new scope and you jumped on it without a single care about who you hurt! Well, I hope you're proud of your actions, Miss Cesaire because this is the last time we'll be doing any videos for you,"

  "What?! But-"

  "No buts," Anatis growled as Lady Noir glared at her. Alya gulped. She had seen Anatis' speeches before but she never thought she would get one. "If you're gonna act like a child then we're gonna treat you as such. So until you can prove to us that you are actually worth our time and trust, we will no longer be doing interviews for you. You can start by taking down that photo and explaining to your viewers that we are not a couple and that you took and post that photo out of context. You have one day to do it and if you don't, we will take legal action,"

  "L-Legal action?" She gasped, a little pale. "But... you're public figures..."

  "French Law states that to post a picture online you need the subject's consent regardless of if they are 'public figures' or not. Also you need to ensure that the photo doesn't not contain something that is potentially harmful to the subjects. Given that photo can damage our reputation and could be used by Hawkmoth to exploit what he thinks is a weakness, I'd say that comes under potentially harmful but of course, you didn't think about that," He replied, smiling harshly as she looked devastated. "I warned you, Miss Cesaire but you chose to ignore that. Now you have to deal with the repercussions of your choice. Lady Noir, let's go,"

  "Fine by me," Lady Noir replied, jumping away from the scene. She landed on the roof next to Anatis, who let out a sigh. "You ok?"

  "I'm fine," He replied, turning to her. "Are you ok?"

  "As best as I can be," She muttered, holding her arm a little. "Can you really get legal action?"

  "Yeah, Master Fu helped me research it and he said he can act as a third party to get a good legal defense if we need it..." He replied, making her nod. "Are you ok with that?"

  "I am but... honestly, I don't want it to go to that," She sighed, making him nod. He understood where she was coming from. "I just hope Alya decides to actually listen this time,"

  "Me too, Kitten," He sighed before his earrings beeped. "I better go... meet up later?"

  "Yeah," She nodded, getting a smile off him before he ran off. He stopped before he dived off the building and gave her a wave. She waved back as he dived off the building before leaving the roof. Her transformation dropped and she headed back to the class room, feeling a bit lighter then she had before the fight. 

  ~Later that Night~

  Marinette stretched as she got up from her sewing machine. She folded up her current project before poking Plagg, waking him up. He had been snoozing while she worked but now it was time to meet up with Anatis for patrol. He blinked and yawned as she took out a piece of cheese. Instantly, he flew out and grabbed it off, swallowing it whole.

  "Hmm... yummy..." He grinned, rubbing his belly before flying up to her and landing on top of her head. "Time to meet bug boy then?"

  "Yeah," She nodded as she climbed up to her bed and out of her skylight. "Did you enjoy your nap?"

  "I did," He grinned, flying up. "I had a wonderful dream about cheese,"

  She giggled before holding out her hand.

  "Plagg, claws out," She declared, transforming into Lady Noir before jumping on the edge of her balcony. She smiled a little as she felt the wind in her hair before jumping off the edge. She landed on a flag pole and jumped back up, landing on a rooftop before breaking into a run. She extended her baton and used it to jump across gaps in the roofs before landing on Notre Dame. She put away her baton and walked over to Anatis, who was sat on the edge of the church. She sat down next to him, making him look over and offer a bag.

  "Cookie?" He asked, making her smile and take one before begging to nibbling on it. "I have some good news,"

  "Really?" She asked, looking at him as he put down the bag and took out his yoyo, opening up the Ladyblog before turning it to her. She blinked as she saw a new post named An Apology. "S-She actually took it down?"

  "Yep. I checked through the blogs while I was waiting for you," He replied, making her smile. "The apology isn't exactly what I hoped it would be and it seems that she just took it down to avoid a law suit but it's a start,"

  "Let me guess she claimed not to know that the photo was taken out of context?" She asked, eating her cookie. He chuckled but shook his head.

  "No, she covered that it was taken out of context and was posted without our permission but it was just short and to the point," He explained, making her nod as he closed the yoyo. "But I'm glad never the less... we'll still have people trying to ship us and chances are a number of people have downloaded that picture but now they know the truth about it..."

  "Yeah... I get taking a picture of your favorite couple and maybe I did overact but-"

  "I don't think you did," He replied, making her look over at him as he looked up at the moon. "What she did was wrong and just because she's young doesn't mean her actions should go unpunished. I just hope she learns from this,"

  "Me too," She mumbled, looking down at the cookie. "I'm sorry that you had to be on butterfly watch,"

  "Don't worry about it, kitten," He replied, shrugging. "You've helped keep me calm when I was going through the whole abandoned by Ryuko and Aspik thing so it's only fair I help you with this. Besides, you're my partner and best friend so of course, I'm gonna be on butterfly watch. You're the last person I want to fight as an akuma,"

  "Annie..." She mumbled before hugging him, catching him off guard. He returned the hug, laughing as he heard her purring. She grinned and pulled back. "I'm glad you don't want to fight me,"

  "Of course, I don't. You'd kick my ass," He replied, making her laugh. "We both know you'd be a terrifying akuma. For one thing, you're small and everyone knows small girls are scary girls,"

  "Really?!" She grinned, making him give her a cheek smirk. "Well, maybe I should kick your butt now!"

  "Ooh, is that a challenge, kitty cat?" He asked, making her smirk and nod before she got up. He jumped up as well and walked off to the middle of the roof, clicking his neck. "Are you sure you want to take this on?"

  "Pft, like you scare me," She grinned, circling him. He returned the favor. "Besides, it's been ages since we've sparred. Rules?"

  "Hand to hand only. No powers and no weapons," He replied, unhooking his yoyo. She nodded and placed down her baton. They had sparred with their weapons before but they don't use their powers. That would be too easy. "You sure you don't want to back out? I won't judge,"

  "Aww, is Annie scared he'll get his ass handed to him by a girl?" She teased, making him roll his eyes.

  "I'm not afraid of that... kind of use to it to be honest," He replied, making her giggle before taking a bow. "Shall we dance, my lady?"

  "Bring it, bug boy," She grinned before the two of them charged at each other. They gave it as good as they got, landing in hits and blocking each other but in the end, Lady Noir won. She used her body and height to her advantage and pinned him down with her legs wrapped around his arm, causing him to surrender. She let him go and jumped up, laughing as she did. "And the winner is the cunning and amazing Lady Noir!!"

  "Hey, I didn't do too badly," He protested, making her laugh and turn around as he got up and walked over to her before he ruffled her hair. "I'm glad to see you're feeling happier,"

  "Damn right I am," She grinned, poking his chest playfully. "I just kicked your ass! Hey, I guess you're right. I would be a very scary akuma!"

  "My point exactly," He shrugged before picking up her baton and chucking it to her. She caught it as he picked up his yoyo. "But there is one thing that I'm better at,"

  "Oh yeah? What's that?" She asked, leaning on her baton. He grinned at her in a playful way.

  "I'm faster then you," He grinned before dropping off the edge of the church and swinging off. Lady Noir gasped and jumped after him as they raced toward the Eiffel Tower. 

  ~A Few Days Later~

  Marinette hummed to herself as she walked with a spring in her step. Since Alya had taken down the picture, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She walked into the courtyard and waved to her friends. Luka was stood next to Juleka and Rose while Adrien was stood talking to Kagami and Nino. She walked over and glanced around, noticing Alya wasn't there.

  "Where's Alya?" She asked, getting a sigh of Nino.

  "She went into the classroom with Lila," He replied, making her frown before he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Best to avoid her, dudette. She's still sour about the whole photo incident,"

  "Oh," She mumbled, nodding as the bell rang. Despite been happy that it was over and done with, part of her couldn't but feel like it was her fault. She had been the one to tell Chloe that she didn't have permission. She was the one who questioned Alya's journalism skills. She was the one who lead to her been akumatized. She jumped as she felt Luka placing his hand on her shoulder.

  "It's not your fault that Alya decided to post that photo and evoke the wrath of our heroes," He smiled, making her smile back shyly. She wasn't surprised that he realized she was feeling guilty. "She chose to do that and now she's facing the price,"

  "Yeah..." She mumbled before jumping as the bell rang. Luka chuckled a little, making her pout at him before she decided to gently kiss his cheek, making him blush a little. She giggled and rushed off, waving at him. "See you at lunch, Luka,"

  "Y-Yeah," He gasped, waving before heading to his classroom as Aurore teased him a little. Marinette caught up with the rest of her class and walked in to the class. Alya was sat in her normal seat but Lila was sat next to her. Nino briefly glanced at her but she ignored him, making him sigh and sit down next to Adrien. Marinette decided to sit at the back since Alya would more then likely blame her. She began to walk to the seat as Lila leaned over to Alya.

  "Oh, Alya, I'm so sorry about the photo," She whispered, making Alya frown. "It's such a shame that it had to be taken down,"

  "Yeah... well, it was either that or face a lawsuit from Anatis," She huffed, making Lila gasp.

  "A law suit?" She gasped, making Alya nod. "That's just so awful. I don't understand why they would blame you for this though,"

  "Apparently, it was inappropriate and I didn't have their consent," She sighed, poking her paper with her pen. "So I had to take it down,"

  "I understand... but it's still a shame," Lila nodded, making Alya sigh. "But I guess they aren't ready to go public with their relationship,"

  "What?" Alya gasped, looking at her. Marinette stopped and rolled her eyes. Of course, she would lie about this. In fact, she should have expected it. "What relationship?"

  "Their relationship," Lila replied, making Alya frown. "Anatis and Lady are dating,"

  "But... they said they weren't?" Alya asked, confused but she held her pen to the paper. "Right?"

  "Why do you think they freaked out so much?" Lila replied, making Alya gasp. "They don't want to go public with it,"

  "What?! But everyone would support them!" Alya gasped, making Marinette grip her fist. She walked over, making both Alya look at her. "What?"

  "You don't seriously believe her, do you?" She asked, causing Lila to gasp. "Anatis and Lady Noir are not dating,"

  "Of course, they are," Lila smiled sweetly. "Anatis told me himself but Lady Noir's parents don't approve of him- oops,"

  "You know their identities?!" Alya gasped, looking excited but before she could say anything more, Chloe chuckled, causing her to glare at her. "What's so funny?"

  "Oh, only that the liar is at it again and you're lapping it up," She smirked, making Lila grit her teeth a little bit. "Marinette is right. Anatis isn't dating Lady Noir. They're best friends and have a great dynamic but they are definitely not lovers and nothing you say or do will change that but honestly, Cesaire, I'm amazed that you're still believe Lie-la when everyone knows she's a liar? I mean Anatis himself outed her. It's ridiculous how much faith you have in her. Utterly ridiculous,"

  "Shut up, Chloe!" Alya gasped as Lila sniffed and her eyes began to water. "You're just jealous of Lila because she's hundred times better then you!"

  "Why would I be jealous of that lying vixen?" Chloe asked, making Lila sniff a little more. "For one, Anatis actually acknowledges my existence and two, he knows I'm not a liar,"

  "Lila may have lied in the past but she's been honest with me since then!" Alya argued, making Chloe snort. "And yeah, she is way better then you! She actually cares about her friends and isn't a spoiled, bratty bully like you!"

  "Chloe is not a bully!" Sabrina gasped, jumping to her defense. "She is super kind and-"

  "Sabrina, it's ok," Chloe smiled, making Sabrina look at her with awe before she turned back to Alya. "I may have been a bully but unlike Lila there, I realized my own faults and have been working on them or did you forget that I've pointed that out before. After all, I may not be perfect but at least, I can say I'm not a liar,"

  Alya went to argue but before she could, the akuma alarm went off, causing her to gasp and grab her phone. Marinette frowned deeply as she ran off before following the rest of the class out as par the procedure. As she lived near by, she was able to go home and let her parents know she was safe but as soon as she was upstairs, she climbed out of her skylight and transformed, jumping across the roofs until she saw a pile of dust and smoke. Anatis landed down next to her.

  "The akuma is called Destructor. Similar powers to Destroyer but definitely more powerful," He replied, making her frown before he let out a sigh, causing her to look in the direction that he was looking in. She frowned deeply as she saw Alya on her bike cycling towards the akuma. "And Miss Cesaire is naturally running straight for danger,"

  "Should we get her out of there?" She asked, making him frown as he looked around.

  "She's not in any immediate danger," He replied, noticing she was far from the akuma that seemed to be moving east. "Let's head there and see what we can do,"

  "Sounds like a plan," She nodded, jumping off the building. He followed, swinging across the cityscape. They got there, just as Destructor destroyed another building. Anatis jumped down and threw his yoyo, catching the falling building as Lady Noir got the people underneath it out. With everyone safe, he lowered the bricks before jumping out of the way as Destructor went to attack him. He landed on a lamp post and frowned as another building broke down. Once again, he used his yoyo to stop it from falling on innocent bystanders, allowing Lady Noir to get them out but it left him open for attack. Destructor roared and slammed his hand onto the ground, causing it to shake and crack but he jumped away, scoping up the last bystander as Lady Noir grabbed the other one. They dropped them off before he frowned. 

  "It's almost like a cataclysm," He muttered as he jumped back, making Lady Noir frown. He landed on the police cruiser before throwing up his yoyo. "Lucky charm!"

  He caught the small tea cup as Lady Noir jumping away from Destructor's beam. She managed to jump away from it but it hit a building behind her that began to fall. He threw his yoyo and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her to him and away from the falling debris.

  "Thanks, Annie," She grinned, noticing the lucky charm. "A tea cup?"

  "It's a hint but I think I need to get us some friends," He replied as they jumped out of the way of Destructor's beam. "Keep him busy til I return,"

  "Sure thing," She grinned before jumping back into battle. He jumped off and headed to master Fu's home. He got there in record time and detransformed in the alleyway, giving Tikki a cookie before heading up into the apartment, knocking on the door.

  "Ah, Luka, come in," Master Fu smiled as Luka entered. He closed the door and knelt down on the rug as Master Fu walked over to the gramophone. "I assume the lucky charm lead you here,"

  "Yes, Master," He replied, frowning. "Destructor has a beam that acts like a cataclysm. He's already destroyed a number of buildings and is using it a distraction to try and attack us,"

  "I see," He replied, kneeling down with the miracle box. "Luka Couffaine, you must pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you on this mission. Once the mission is over you will get the miraculous back and return them to me,"

  "I need to distract Destructor but also trap him..." He muttered, glancing at them before he grabbed the fox then looked at Master Fu. "Master, I'll need to borrow Wayzz and the turtle miraculous for this mission,"

  "Of course," He nodded, taking off the bracelet and placing it in his hand. Luka took it and got up, grabbing a couple of boxes from the draw and placing them in. "Good luck, Luka,"

  "Thank you, Master," He smiled, placing them in his pocket before leaving. As soon as he was back in the alleyway, he re-transformed and jumped on the roof. He knew Juleka would be on the boat with Rose but Anarka wasn't in so he headed there first, landing on the deck and going down into the living area. Juleka jumped up in alarm as soon as he walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, ladies but I need Culpeo,"

  "Of course," Juleka mumbled, taking the box that he held out. She opened it and greeted Trixx before putting on the necklace. She transformed, leaving Rose gushing before turning to Anatis. "I take it that this akuma is harder then usual,"

  "Yes," He replied, taking out his yoyo and checking where Lady Noir was. "I need you to head to Arc de Triomphe and meet up with Lady Noir. I have to go find Leatherback. Sorry, Rose but Abeille will be sitting out on this one,"

  "No worries, Anatis," She smiled before giving Juleka a kiss. "You go kick that akuma's butt,"

  "I'll try my best," Juleka muttered before leaving. Anatis gave a nod of Rose, who waved before leaving. He headed straight for Ivan's house, getting there in a short amount of time. He knocked on the window and waited. Within a few seconds, Ivan opened it and let him in.

  "You need help?" He asked, getting a nod of Anatis. He took out the next wooden box and handed it to him. Ivan took it and opened it. He placed the bracelet on and greeted Wayzz before transforming. "Alright, let's go,"

  The two of them jumped into the city and headed to where Culpeo and Lady Noir were. The two were doing their best to kept civilians safe and out of the way but it was hard for two people to do. Destructor fired his beam towards Lady Noir while she was trying to get people to safe but Anatis jumped down and blocked it with his yoyo before Leatherback threw his shield, knocking Destructor back, causing him to growl and fire a beam at him as he caught his shield. He lifted it and blocked it as Anatis and Lady Noir got the rest of the civilians out of the way.

  "Any idea as to where the akuma is?" Anatis asked as Culpeo jumped down and helped them. 

  "We think it's in his helmet," Lady Noir replied as the three of them jumped up, dodging a beam. "But we can't get close to it,"

  "We did notice he seems sensitive to sound though," Culpeo explained, making Anatis look at her. "Officer Roger tried to intervene with his microphone. The sound of it made Destructor roar before he blasted it out of Roger's hands,"

  "That's good to know," He smiled as they landed on a building next to Leatherback. Anatis threw up his yoyo and summoned his lucky charm, which was a rubber duck. He frowned as he caught before jumping out of the way of Destructor's beam. "Leatherback, Lady Noir, can you distract him while I work this out?"

  "Of course," Lady Noir grinned before jumping off the building with Leatherback. The two of them fought against Destructor as Anatis looked around, trying to work out his plan. His luck vision landed on Culpeo before highlighting the Eiffel Tower then the Rubber Duck and finally Leatherback and Lady Noir. He smirked before turning to Culpeo.

  "Kit, I need you to use mirage to make an extremely loud noise," He ordered before whistling and getting the other heroes' attention. He pointed to them then to the Eiffel tower before getting a nod of Lady Noir. He nodded over to Culpeo who played her flute and summoned her mirage, causing a number of car alarms to go off. Destructor screamed and covered his ears, allowing the heroes to retreat to the Eiffel tower, where Anatis located the room where the sound system was. Lady Noir rose an eyebrow. "Leatherback, you'll need to use Shell-ter to protect us when he gets here as he will probably end up destroying the tower,"

  "Ok," Leatherback nodded as Lady Noir looked over the edge. Anatis recorded the sound of the duck squeaking on the sound system and looped it so it would repeat before hooking the duck to his belt.

  "Annie, he's on his way," She declared, making him nod. "And we still don't know where his akuma is,"

  "We'll work on that," He replied, setting up the sound system to repeated play the sound of a rubber duck. The heroes jumped down as Destructor got there. As predicted, Destructor began to destroy the tower in an attempt to destroy the sound of the duck. Leatherback used Shell-ter to protect them from the falling debris, allowing Anatis to watch Destructor as he destroyed everything around him. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed a darkened bracelet around his wrist. "Lady Noir, his bracelet,"

  "I see it," She replied as the tower fell. Leatherback lowered the force field before charging into battle with Anatis and Culpeo. With Destructor focusing on the three other heroes, Lady Noir sneaked up on him. He turned just before she could grab his bracelet and when to punch her but she blocked his arm and threw him over his shoulder, knocking the wind out of him before summoning her cataclysm and tapping the bracelet with her finger. It crumbled and the akuma fluttered out, allowing Anatis to capture it before he threw up the rubber duck and released the cure, fixing everything. His earring gave off their first warning, causing him to turn to Lady Noir who grinned. "You three get going. I'll take care of him,"

  She pointed to the man who was Destructor, getting a grateful smile of Anatis before him, Leatherback and Culpeo jumped off. She smiled, shaking her head a little in amusement before turning to the victim.

  "Lady Noir?" He asked, looking around confused. "What happened?"

  "You were akumatized, sir but don't worry. Everything is ok,"

  ~Meanwhile~

  "Thanks for trusting me, Anatis," Juleka smiled as she gave back the fox miraculous. Anatis placed it in the box before putting it back in his yoyo. "I better get back to Rose but if you ever need my help again,"

  "I'll come and find you," He smiled before giving her a salute and jumping up to the roof where Leatherback was waiting. The two of them made their way to his house before he dropped his transformation and handed back his miraculous. "Thank you for your help, Ivan,"

  "No worries, Anatis," He smiled, clapping hands with the hero. "If you ever need help, you can rely on me,"

  "I'm glad to have such reliable friends," He smiled, making Ivan go a little shy. He did not expect the hero to consider him a friend but he was truly honored. Anatis waved to him before heading back to Master Fu's. He landed in the alleyway and dropped his transformation before heading up into the apartment. Master Fu glanced up from the miracle book as he walked in. "Hi, Master. Doing some translating?"

  "Yes," He nodded as he walked over to the gramophone and unlocked it before taking out the miracle box. "I assume the mission was a success?"

  "Yeah but Destructor was really tough," He replied, placing the miraculous back inside. Master Fu nodded and placed the miracle box back. "Have you learnt anything new?"

  "Ah, not much yet but as soon as I do, I will let you know," He replied, getting a nod of Luka before he bid goodbye. He was tired from Destructor and still had homework to do as well as a patrol later. Master Fu nodded, understanding before he left, heading straight home to do his homework and get some rest before he went on patrol. 

  ~The Next Day~

  "I got some pretty decent footage," Alya grinned as she showed the group her footage of the battle. Rose was gushing about Culpeo, causing Juleka to blush. She was trying not to give away her identity and trying to hide her blush. Luka was also trying not to laugh as if he did, it would give away his identity. Marinette was happily chatting to Mylene and Ivan as Chloe walked over with Sabrina. She stopped in front of Marinette, making her look at her.

  "Marinette... um.... ho-"

  "Hi everyone!" Lila called, interrupting her as she walked over. Both Marinette and Luka rolled their eyes as she walked over. Everyone else pretty much greeted her, expect for Chloe who completely blanked her and began to talk to Marinette. Luka hid a smile as she asked how Lady Noir was doing. However, Lila wasn't done yet. "Oh, are you talking about the heroes? I'm close to them, especially Lady Noir. She's my best friend,"

  "Funny how she's never mentioned you," Marinette deadpanned, crossing her arms as she glared at her. Lila did her fake laugh before flipping her hair.

  "Well, she doesn't know me as Lila obviously," She giggled, making a number of people look at her. Luka frowned deeply as he noticed the fake fox miraculous around her neck. Apparently, Alya noticed too as her eyes wide wide. "Anyway, I can't tell you how I know her obviously but let's just say we're super close,"

  "Yeah right," Luka snorted, making everyone look at him. Lila faked laughed before flicking her hair again.

  "Oh, Luka, you're so funny," She grinned before turning back to Marinette and Chloe. He gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm so amazed by you, Marinette. Been able to talk to your bully and treat her like normal. I just hope she's really changed,"

  "Of course, I have!" Chloe gasped, making Lila look at her and hold up her hands. Marinette gave her a glare, noticing she was inching closer to Luka. She hooked her arm into his and suggested they go study, causing him to nod and happily walk away. Lila wanted to glare daggers at her as the rest went to do their own things before turning back to Chloe.

  "Oh, I didn't mean to offend," She gasped, trying to look like the picture of innocence. "But old habits die hard. I would just hate if you went back to your old ways. I'd have to tell Anatis and he would be so disappointed,"

  "You don't know Anatis," Chloe declared. "Or did you forget that he called you out on that video?"

  "Oh, that was nothing," Lila laughed, shrugging it off. "He was just trying to protect me from Hawkmoth since he was worried about me but we've come up with an arrangement so I can protect myself and of course I have a magical command that summons him to be every time. Would you like to know what it is? I don't mind sharing it with you, Chloe,"

  "I'm not interested," She replied, causing Lila to frown. 

  "Oh but what if there's an akuma?" She gasped, faking concern.

  "I can just alert him with the akuma app,"

  "Oh but that app can be so unreliable," Lila gasped, frowning. "But my magic command works every time but maybe you just don't want to be friends with him. Probably don't want to disappoint him,"

  "Anatis isn't disappointed with me and I can see him anytime I want!" Chloe gasped, causing Lila to chuckle a little. "What?!"

  "Well... I'm not saying you're wrong...." She replied before glancing at Chloe. "But... well, he promised to give you a second chance and yet he really hasn't, has he? So maybe it's better to be safe then sorry right?"

  She stepped forward and whispered in Chloe's ear before she could argue.

  "I promise if you do that and he doesn't come then you'll know that he's not really your friend," She smirked before turning on her heel and walking away. Luka got up and walked over to Chloe, making her look at him.

  "Whatever she said to you, ignore it," He advised, making her frown a little as Marinette joined them. "She's a liar,"

  "Yeah, yeah, I know," She sighed, waving her hand. "Don't worry, Luka. I'm not stupid,"

  "Didn't say you were," He replied, making her nod before the bell went. "We better go to class. See you guys at Lunch,"

  "Bye," Marinette waved as he walked off before letting out a sigh, causing Chloe to laugh. "What?"

  "You have it so bad," She grinned, making Marinette blush and try to argue. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna say anything so let's get to class,"

  "A-Alright," Marinette nodded as the two of them walked off. "Hey, what did you want to ask me?"

  "Oh, I wanted to know how Lady Noir was doing since you actually know her,"

  ~Lunchtime~

  "I think Lila might be Culpeo," Alya gasped as she walked with Marinette, Rose and Juleka to the bakery. Marinette instantly rolled her eyes, making Alya frown. "Come on. She's friends with Anatis and Lady Noir but they don't know her identity and she has a necklace that looks exactly the same as Culpeo's,"

  "Firstly, Anatis called her out for been a liar and secondly, he and Lady Noir are the only ones to keep their miraculous full time," Marinette countered, making Alya frown. "Why would Anatis trust her with a miraculous?"

  "Why wouldn't he?" Alya countered back.

  "Because she's a liar," Marinette replied back, noticing Rose and Juleka were super quiet. "Rose, Juleka, what do you think?"

  "There's no way she's Culpeo," Rose gasped, getting a nod of Juleka.

  "For one, she looks nothing like her but Lila claimed not to be in Paris when Culpeo first appeared and wasn't she akumatized on heroes day?" Juleka pointed out, making Alya frown. She had a very good point. Sabine greeted the girls as they walked into the bakery and brought some food before heading to the park as it was a nice day. The four of them grabbed a seat before beginning to eat their food. Marinette kind of wished Luka could join them but right now, he was in detention for forgetting his homework and the other boys were gaming in the library. Normally, she would join but it was such a nice day so she wanted to sit outside. Luka did promise that he would join them once his detention was done. Luckily, it was only half an hour so he would have an hour and a half left of lunch. Marinette let out a little sigh as she thought about him before noticing August and his mum walking by. He was crying again, wanting a lolly pop and his poor mother was trying her best to get him to calm down as he cried. However, a blue smog suddenly appeared before turning into a lollypop monster. The girls gasped and jumped up before it went to slam it's fist at them. Marinette dived to one side as the other three went the other way. Naturally, Alya began to film, causing Rose and Juleka to try and pull her back. However, the lolly monster turned it's attention to Marinette and stomped towards her. She scrambled to her feet and tried to run, only for her to trip up. The monster went to hit her again but before it could, she was pulled out of the way. Anatis landed on the roof and put her down.

  "Careful, princess," He smiled, making her blush before diving back down and began to fight the monster. She quickly transformed into Lady Noir and jumped down to join him. "Lady Noir... glad you could make it,"

  "Is that an akuma?" She asked, jumping out of the way. "It doesn't look like an akuma,"

  "No, I don't think it is!" He replied, diving and landing a kick to it before back-flipping away. As he did, he noticed the dummy on the ground. He threw his yoyo to capture it but the creature began to defeat it. He summoned his lucky charm, getting a bag of marbles before throwing them on the floor as Lady Noir distracted the lollypop monster. She back-flipped away, causing the monster to follow her and slip on the marbles. Anatis jumped onto it's back and trapped it with his yoyo, causing it to step back. Lady Noir extended her baton and placed it between two trees, allowing Anatis to force it towards there. It tripped and fell forward as he jumped and grabbed the dummy. He broke it and frowned as blue feather escaped instead of an akuma. He caught it in his yoyo and released, grabbing the now purified feather. Lady Noir grabbed her baton and moved over to him as he held it up.

  "A feather?" She asked before gasping. "It's like the one from heroes day,"

  "Yes," He muttered, frowning as he let it go. "An amok... the peacock miraculous user creates them to infect someone in a similar way to akumas but instead of the person been transformed into a super power villain... the emotions instead take a form of their own... a sentimonster... the lolly pop monster must of have been the frustration of a child been denied sweets and that moth we saw on heroes' day... it was the embodiment of Hawkmoth's despair at almost been defeated..."

  "That is worrying," Lady Noir admitted. "But why make a sentimonster on it's own?"

  "I don't know," He admitted, frowning before picking up one of the marbles and throwing it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

  It burst into the cure and fixed everything that the sentimonster had destroyed. He frowned to himself as he looked to the rooftops, wondering if the owner of the peacock miraculous was near by. He frowned deeply as his earrings beeped. 

  ~During the Battle~

  "Chloe, are you ok?" Sabrina asked as they headed up to the roof for lunch. She had been super quiet since Lila had talked to her about the 'secret' command. She frowned as Chloe let out a sigh before she looked at her.

  "Do you think Lila is lying about been friends with Anatis?" She asked, making Sabrina frown a little.

  "Well, he did call her out on her lies as Volpina so I imagine so... but... Alya seems to believe her," She replied, making Chloe frown and look to the city. "Maybe you could ask him yourself,"

  "Yeah... I guess," She muttered, frowning before shaking her head. "Anatis would never be friends with that fox,"

  "That's the spirit," Sabrina smiled, feeling a little annoyed that Lila would suggest that Anatis didn't trust Chloe. Sure, he hadn't given her a miraculous yet but even if he did, she wouldn't be able to tell anyone anyway so for all she knew she did have one but she just couldn't say. Her phone vibrated, causing her to look at it and gasp. "Chloe! Anatis and Lady Noir are fighting a lolly pop monster!"

  "What?!" She gasped, looking at the phone. "That's insane!"

  "Ooh, it makes me want to play as Lady Noir and Anatis! Should I go get the outfits?" She gasped, making Chloe wave her hand a little as she nodded. She was too fixed on the battle. "Yay!"

  Sabrina ran off as Chloe watched the battle. She thought about flagging him down after the battle to ask about Rossi and her second chance but there was a high chance he wouldn't go this way. Her mind drifted back to Lila's command. If she did the dance now, he might come after the battle.

  "No, that would be ridiculous! Utterly rid- hmm..." She hummed, thinking to herself. The chances were Lila was lying but Lila's comments about how he hadn't really gave her a second chance echoed in her mind. Frowning to herself, she glanced around, seeing no one around. She wasn't stupid. She knew Lila was probably lying but a small part of her questioned that. If there was a small chance that it could work then... well, she should try. She lifted her foot up and placed one hand near her stomach and the other over her head. She took a deep breathe before hoping around on the spot. "Anatis, Anatis, Anat-"

  She opened her eyes and saw her butler watching her. Embarrassment flooded through her mind as he rose an eyebrow before he held out a silver plate and presented Mr Cuddly to her.

  "Mademoiselle seemed a little upset earlier," He explained, making her frown deeply. She knew he meant well but his sudden appearance made her feel stupid. 

  "Get lost!" She shouted, making him step back a little at her tone. However, he nodded and left, causing her to take a deep breathe a sigh. It would be worth it if Lila's command worked. Even if it didn't, she would flag down Anatis and prove to Cesaire that she was worth it. Anatis believed in her... right? She frowned as he released the cure but seconds turned to minutes and he didn't turn up, making her gasp and grip the edge of the railing. "That smart Alec was lying again! First she accused me of framing Marinette and now she wormed her way into my mind... but I am worthy of a second chance... aren't I? Anatis wouldn't forget all about me! Right?"

  She felt tears filled her eyes as she took out her picture of her and the two heroes. It hurt her to think that Anatis would ignore her but maybe Rossi and Cesaire was right? Maybe he had given up on her.

  "Of course, he wouldn't Chloe," Sabrina gasped, making her jump and turn around. "Why don't we play-"

  "Play?! With you?!" She gasped, annoyed. "Why would I want to play with you?! You can't give me a second chance or make me a hero! All you do is follow me like a dumb, lost sheep! You're nothing so just leave me alone!"

  Sabrina's eyes filled with tears, causing Chloe to gasp as she realized what she just said. She turned on her heel and rushed out, causing Chloe to gasp.

  "Sabrina!" She called, reaching out to her but she lowered her hand, looking down. She knew Sabrina wouldn't forgive her and neither would Anatis. Cesaire was right. She was a spoiled bully. "I didn't mean it..."

  She looked down as she gripped the photo in her hand. She was a monster and Sabrina deserved better then her. Suddenly, she felt a familiar buzz fill her mind, causing her to gasp in silent horror as Hawkmoth's voice filled her mind.

  "My dear Chloe Bourgeois, this is Hawkmoth," He stated, making her shake as he spoke in her mind. "Embarrassed by your classmates and feeling powerless and abandoned by Anatis? Well, I can empower you for good and all I ask in return is his and Lady Noir's miraculous. What do you say, Empress?"

  "Na... No, Hawkmoth!" She cried out as she gripped her head, surprising him. "A-Anatis hasn't abandoned me! He believes in me and I will not disappoint him again!"

  "But you already have," Hawkmoth laughed as she tried to fight him. "After all, you lashed out at your best friend,"

  "And I regret it!" She gasped, taking a deep breathe. "But I'm still learning and that doesn't mean I'm a bad person! It means I made a mistake but I'm human and I will make it up to her! I will not let you control me! I will never work for you! Ever!"

  She threw the photo aside, feeling the connection disappear as the butterfly left it and flew off. She took a lot of deep breathes before grabbing her photo and logging onto the akuma alert app. Anatis needed to know that an akuma was lost. It would probably go to the nearest person with negative emotions. Her eyes widen as she realized that would be Sabrina. She was upset at the fact that Chloe snapped at her. 

  "Oh no, what have I done?" She gasped, covering her mouth in horror. She had to find Sabrina now.

  ~Back at the Park~

  "Huh?" Anatis muttered as his yoyo buzzed. He took it out and frowned as he saw the notification from the akuma app. He went to open it but before he could, a pale looking girl with bright pink hair landed on top of the carousel. She was wearing a black body suit that covered her neck and torso but cut off half way down her legs. She wore elbow length gloves that started pink and faded into black with a pink outline. Her shoes were similar designed and she had a pink outline on the collar, armholes and lower legs. Her eyes were blue with pink sclera and she wore a black mask with a pink outline. In the center of her body suit was a pink hexagon with a black question mark in the middle. Anatis frowned as Lady Noir went on edge.

  "If you're here for the battle then you're running a bit late," She replied, getting into her fighting stance.

  "Ooh, you're running a bit late... Well, the battle is right now!" She mocked before jumping down before tapping her tonfa against her hand. "You've neglected Chloe for too long, Anatis!"

  "I'm sorry but what?" He asked, clearly confused.

  "I'm sorry what?!" The girl mocked again before looking at him angrily. "Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!"

  Anatis frowned as he heard his earrings beeping before he turned to Lady Noir.

  "Lady Noir, I'm gonna transform back soon," He muttered, getting her to look at him. "I need to go recharge. Are you ok-"

  "Oh, help me, Lady Noir!" The girl mimicked in a mocking way before suddenly charging at him. He jumped back and when to throw his yoyo at her but she ducked and slammed her tonfa into his ribs, knocking him back a little before she jumped back and laughed. Several ladybug themed circles appeared on her suit, making him gasp before she threw up her tonfa. "Lucky charm!"

  Both heroes gasped as she summoned a giant sword and caught it.

  "What have you done?!" Anatis gasped as she laughed before she charged at him. Lady Noir jumped over and blocked it before knocking her back.

  "She's stolen your power!" She explained before giving him a wink. "Get out of her and recharge. I'll keep her busy,"

  "Be careful," He replied, throwing up his yoyo and retreating as Lady Noir smirked and summoned her power. The girl charged at her, ready to cut her in half. She blocked it with her baton but the akuma took the chance to slam her tonfa against her, stealing her power. Lady Noir gasped as her cataclysm disappeared and some of the circles turned green with a paw print before the akuma straightened up, causing the sword to disappear as she made a thoughtful look.

  "What's the phase again?" She asked before smirking darkly towards Lady Noir. "Oh, yeah. Cataclysm!"

  She slammed her tonfa into Lady Noir's ribs, sending her flying into the fence. She smirked and began to stalk over to the weakened hero but before she could, Anatis swung by and scoped Lady Noir, swinging away. She jumped up on the roof and glanced around to look for him but somehow he had disappeared. Frowning to herself, she jumped away to give powers to Chloe.

  ~In the Sewers~

  "Lady Noir?" Anatis gasped, lowering her down to the ground. She carefully opened her eyes and gave him a soft smile before glancing around. 

  "T-The Se-Sewer?" She asked, hissing in pain. He frowned and moved his hand against her ribs, causing her to gasp out in pain. He frowned deeply before scoping her up again. She leaned into him as he walked through the sewers. "W-We need help..."

  "I know," He replied, coming to the area they hid in from Desperada. He kicked open the door and gently laid her down on the bench. "Rest and recharge Plagg. I'm gonna go get help,"

  "O-ok," She gasped as he glanced at her worried. "H-Hey, don't w-worry about me,"

  "I can't help it," He muttered, frowning a little before he gently moved a strand of her hair. "I'll get my power back and then I'll heal you. I promise,"

  "I k-know..." She muttered, making him nod before he jumped up and left the room. She let out a small sigh and coughed a little. "P-Plagg, claws in,"

  She detransformed, causing Plagg to land on her stomach as he gasped in pain. Marinette groaned and held her ribs as she tried to take a breathe. However, the cataclysm had broken her ribs. She was lucky that a lung hadn't been punctured. She was certain that if she hadn't wore her supersuit, the cataclysm would have killed her.

  "S-so that's what it feels like to be cataclysmed..." He gasped before looking up at her. "I swear I won't ever call the dinosaurs wusses again..."

  She laughed but hissed in pain, making him frown.

  "Th-there's cheese in my p-purse," She muttered, making him pull himself over. "E-Eat up... we'll r-rest t-til An-Annie c-comes back,"

  ~Back to Luka~

  Almost as soon as he ran out of the room, his transformation dropped and he caught Tikki as he ran. He gently placed her in his pocket and climbed up the ladder, pushing open the manhole and climbing out. He put it back and ran towards Master Fu's apartment as fast as he could. He ran into the building and up the stairs as fast as he could before bursting through the door, making Master Fu look at him in surprise.

  "Luka?" He asked, a little confused. 

  "Master Fu, we have a troublesome akuma," He gasped, stepping in and closing the door. "She's stolen both of our powers and used Lady Noir's against hers,"

  "Oh no," He gasped, jumping up and rushing over to the gramophone. He took out the box and placed in front of Luka before opening it up. Luka glanced over at the miraculous as he thought about what he needed but his mind kept going back to one conclusion. "Luka Couffaine, you must pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you in this mission. Once the mission is over, you'll get the miraculous back and return them to me,"

  "This akuma has stolen our powers and injured Lady Noir," He muttered, reaching for them before he began to grab all of them. "We're gonna need everyone,"

  "Are you sure?" Master Fu asked, getting a nod of Luka as he got up and grabbed several boxes. He filled them with the miraculi before looking up at him and nodding. "Well, I trust you know what you're doing,"

  "Thank you, Master," He replied as Master Fu took off the turtle bracelet and handed it to him. With all the miraculous on his person, he ran back outside and headed down the alleyway, coming to a manhole. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, he opened the manhole and climbed in. As soon as he was in the sewer, he transformed into Anatis and rushed back to where he left Lady Noir as fast as he could. He came to the door and stopped outside, gently knocking on it. "It's me. I'm back,"

  "H-Hang o-on," She gasped before he saw a green light. The door opened, making him frown as she smiled up at him. She was leaning on her baton and her smile was pain filled. "T-That was quick,"

  "Let's get to the surface," He mumbled. She went to walk forward but hissed from the pain of her broken ribs. Anatis instantly rushed over to her. "Put your arm around my waist and lean on me,"

  "Th-thanks, Annie," She smiled, doing what he told her to. With his help, they headed to the exit. He stopped and looked up before turning to her as she leaned on the wall, breathing in. It hurt just to walk with his help. "I d-don't think I'll b-be able to climb up,"

  "Hang on," He muttered, climbing up and throwing his yoyo to a street light that was directly above the manhole. It wrapped around it, allowing him to climb back down. Lady Noir hobbled over to him. "Ok, hold onto me,"

  She blushed a little as she held onto his shoulders before he wrapped his spare around around her back, securely holding her close to him.

  "Does that feel ok?" He asked, not wanting to hurt her. She nodded and leaned into him as he pulled on the yoyo, causing it to pull them up into the street. She hissed a little bit when they landed, causing him to look at her with concern but she gave him a soft smile. He took out two miracle boxes and gave them to her. "I need you to go and get Aspik and Ryuko,"

  "Su-Sure," She nodded, taking a deep breathe but he gave her a worried expression. "I'll b-be fine,"

  "I'll heal you," He stated again, getting a smile off her. "I promise,"

  "I know," She replied before hobbling off. He gave her one more glance before jumping up and running across the roof, heading to Ivan's house. He jumped and landed on the window seal, looking inside. He frowned as he noticed Ivan wasn't there before thinking. He probably out with Mylene, which might make it a little difficult to collect him but he had a rough idea where they would be. He back-flipped off the window seal and swung off to Place des Vosges. Mylene and Ivan mentioned they would be collecting rubbish that day. He landed on a nearby building and saw Ivan with Mylene. Luckily for him, Ivan said something to her and walked off on his own. He smiled before heading to the alleyway next to the shop he was heading to before whistling, getting Ivan's attention. He looked behind him before rushing into the alleyway, quickly dropping a text to Mylene. 

  "I need Leatherback," Anatis stated, holding out the box. Ivan nodded and took, putting on the bracelet before transforming. "Head to the Grand Paris hotel but just observe what's happening for now,"

  "Alright," He nodded before jumping up and heading that way as Anatis went the other way. He tracked down Juleka and Rose near Andres' ice cream cart. It appeared that they were training, making him smile before he whistled, getting their attention. They rushed over to him, taking the miraculous he held out for them. They took them and transformed into Culpeo and Abeille. The three of them headed to the Grand Paris hotel but as soon as they got there, they saw Lady Noir, Leatherback, Ryuko and Aspik fighting the akuma and another person. Anatis narrowed his eyes as he didn't recognize the other person but she seemed to targeting Lady Noir while the akuma kept the other three heroes busy. He needed to get his power back and interfere with the fight. He glanced around and noticed Chloe hiding from the fight. He tapped the two heroines before pointing to her. They two of them nodded and followed him over to behind Chloe. He glanced over and narrowed his eyes, noticing that the akuma's outfit had the shell-ter symbol as well but neither the dragon or the snake. Aspik was staying back and jumping to avoid been hit but directing Ryuko and Leatherback with his second chance. Lady Noir was battling against the older miraculous holder, making him frown before turning to Abeille and Culpeo. "Abeille, I need you to keep yourself hidden until you see an opening to use venom on the akuma,"

  "What do you want me to do?" Culpeo asked as he grabbed Chloe and pulled her near to them. She gasped and went to say something but he covered her mouth and made a shush sigh with his finger. She nodded, causing him to let go before in a very hushed voice explained to him what had happened. He listened and nodded before turning to Culpeo.

  "I need you to make me into her. Both look and voice," He whispered, pointing to Chloe. "Think you can do that?"

  "I think so," She replied, taking her flute and playing it quieter then normal.The light ball appeared on the end and she directed it towards Anatis. "Mirage,"

  He instantly turned into Chloe and gave her the thumbs as the real Chloe remained hidden with Abeille and Culpeo. The Fake Chloe got up and walked to where the real Chloe previously was. Lady Noir was still fighting against the new comer while Aspik dived out of the way of Miraculer's attack. Leatherback threw his shield knocking her back before she could hit him with her tonfa. Ryuko then dived in, taking her on while Leatherback helped Apsik up. He went to help out Lady Noir but Miraculer threw Ryuko into him. She went to charge towards Aspik but Chloe stepped out.

  "Sabrina, I've changed my mind," She stated, walking over to her. "I do want Anatis' power. Since he hasn't really given me a second chance, I've decided I rather play with you and if he won't give me power... well by rights I should have his,"

  "Ooh!! I'm so happy!!" Miraculer declared, holding up her tonfa. It had a strange glowing ball on the end that resembled the ladybug symbol. "We're gonna have so much fun. Oh, here's Anatis' power,"

  'Chloe' held out both her arms and closed her eyes, ready to embrace her new powers. Miraculer tapped her with the tonfa, causing the illusion to drop and Anatis to smirk as he took out his yoyo and threw it as she stared at him in shock. Culpeo jumped out from behind the brushes with the real Chloe.

  "Thank you, Miraculer," He smirked, throwing the yoyo up again. "I needed that back,"

  "No!" Miraculer shouted, going to hit him again but this time Anatis dodged and kicked her back, allowing Culpeo to charge at her. Ryuko and Leatherback were fighting the new comer who was trying to get at Lady Noir. Narrowing her eyes, she jumped up to the roof before throwing a feather towards Miraculer. Anatis gasped and threw his yoyo, capturing it before it could land in her. The woman, who he now realized was the Peacock holder, narrowed her eyes and jumped over the two other heroes before going for Lady Noir. The two heroes went to stop her but Miraculer threw Culpeo into them and trapping them with Anatis in a shell-ter. The villainess knocked down Lady Noir, despite her best attempt as Anatis charged at Miraculer. She summoned a cataclysm and when to charge at him but he grabbed her and slammed into the wall of the shell-ter, causing her cataclysm charged tonfa to hit it and destroy it. He threw her towards Ryuko who instantly engaged as the peacock holder stepped on Lady Noir's arm. He threw his yoyo and knocked her back into one of the sun chairs before rushing over to Lady Noir, who was laid on the cover of the swimming pool. She was breathing but he could feel that she was severally weakened from her injury. He glanced at her then towards his team. Miraculer was still able to summon lucky charms and was combining them with a cataclysm, keeping his team busy. He frowned deeply as the peacock holder got up and smirked at him.

  "So you're the mysterious holder of the peacock," He stated, glaring at her as she lifted her fan to her face. 

  "I am Mayura-"

  "I don't care what you call yourself or what you have to say,"

  "Oh but you should, Anatis. After all, your team is weak... just look at them," Mayura replied, making him frown and glance at his team but he didn't see weakness. He saw determination. Sure, Miraculer was giving them a hell of a time but they weren't down yet. Not even Lady Noir was. She was hurt and weak but she was using her baton to stand. "You should join me and Hawkmoth. The three of us together would be unstoppable. What do you say, Anatis? Why protect a city who won't even thank you when you can join us and be a god among men,"

  "D-Don't, Annie," Lady Noir gasped, causing Mayura to look at her with a ferocious look. Anatis instantly took a step in front of her in a protective manner.

  "So protective of her," Mayura laughed a little. "Yet it would be so easy for you just to reach and take her miraculous,"

  "I would never do that to her," He replied back, causing her to frown. "Just like I've never join you and Hawkmoth... Oh and my team isn't weak. They're brave and determined, unlike you and Hawkmoth... You're both cowards by the way,"

  "How dare you!" She growled, diving towards him. He blocked her attack with his yoyo but widen his eyes when he suddenly got hit with a terrible feeling. He suddenly felt so weak and tired before he suddenly began to cough like he was sick, causing Mayura to look at him with horror and surprise. Lady Noir gasped and tried to rush over to him as he caught his breathe. Seeing her chance to escape, she jumped off as Anatis straightened up.

  "Ryuko! Aspik! Go after her!" He ordered as Lady Noir checked on him. The two heroes nodded and ran after her. "I'm ok,"

  "A-are you sure?" She asked, frowning. He nodded before throwing his yoyo in the air and summoning his lucky charm, which was rope. He frowned deeply as he looked around. Miraculer went to dive at him with her tonfa charged up again but Lady Noir pushed him out of the way, getting hit with another cataclysm. She went flying across the swimming pool lid, landing on her back. Miraculer smirked and went to attack her again but Leatherback and Culpeo attacked her, stopping her from getting to Lady Noir. Seeing his chance, he glanced around before his luck vision lit up. He gave a nod to Abeille, who gave him a thumbs up before he moved two of the sun chairs and tied to the rope between them. Culpeo and Leatherback destroyed her illusion selves and forced her to back up, causing her to trip over the rope as Abeille waited behind the bushes, quietly summoning her power. Anatis grabbed her arms and pinned her down as Culpeo and Leatherback grabbed her legs but she kicked Culpeo off, followed by Leatherback. She freed herself from Anatis and kicked him into one of the sun chairs before she began to stalk over to him, summoning a lucky charm and charging it with another cataclysm.

  "I'm gonna take your power again and this time it will be painful," She grinned evilly, lifting the tonfa but before she could, Abeille dived at her and slammed her spintop into her back, freezing her at the spot. Anatis got up and walked over to her, taking the tonfa from her. He snapped it in half and dropped it to the ground, freeing the akuma before he took out his yoyo and captured it. He released the purified akuma and walked over to the rope. He picked it up and threw it in the air.

  "Miraculous ladybugs!" He shouted, releasing the cure. It flew straight to Lady Noir and swarmed around her, causing her to gasp and sit up before she flipped up and did a cartwheel. It swarmed around the rest of the affected heroes as she rushed back over and hugged Anatis, causing him to hug back. "I'm glad you're ok,"

  "I feel as good as new, all thanks to you," She grinned, pulling away and lightly punching him in the arm. He grinned before turning to Miraculer, who had turned back to Sabrina. Almost instantly, Chloe rushed over and threw her arms around the smaller girl as she cried.

  "I'm sorry!" She gasped, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I am so sorry, Sabrina! I didn't mean for you to be akumatized!!"

  "Sabrina, do you remember why you were akumatized?" Anatis asked as she hugged Chloe back. Both girls pulled away from each other. Sabrina looked down and went to answer but Chloe stopped her.

  "It was my fault, Anatis," She admitted, causing the other heroes to glance at her. "I... I was upset and I snapped at her... and the akuma that came for her... it.. it was suppose to be for me..."

  "Can you tell me what happened?" He asked as she closed her eyes. She explained that it all really started with Alya and her reaction to the photo. She went into details of how Alya's reaction to her telling her off for posting it resulted in Alya accusing her of been jealous and calling her a thief. She explained that a couple of days later Alya once again had a go at her and calling her jealous again because of her reaction to Lila's lies. At the mention of the liar's name, Anatis groaned. "What did she say this time?"

  "Oh, she was claiming that you and Lady Noir are actually dating and the reason you freaked was because you're not really to go public with your relationship. She said that apparently Lady Noir's parents don't approve of you," She explained, making him groan again as Lady Noir sighed and shook her head. "She also claimed to be your best friend and apparently the reason why you called her on that video was to protect her,"

  "No, it's because she's a liar," He groaned, making everyone nod in agreement. "Anyway, continue,"

  "Anyway, earlier today that liar brought up mine and Marinette's past. As you know, I use to bully her and Lila tried to make people question if I had changed. She had the nerve to turn around and be like oh, I've hoped you changed and when I told her I had, she was like 'old habits die hard' and 'i would hate it if you went back to your old ways'. She insisted that she would have to tell you and you'd be disappointed then when I pointed out that you didn't know her, she brushed it off like it was nothing. She claimed that you were just trying to protect from Hawkmoth and that you had come up with an arrangement so she could protect herself. She even hinted that she was a superhero, claiming to be super close with you and Lady Noir,"

  Lady Noir snorted at that.

  "She then told me that she had a magic command that summons you every time," She mumbled, looking to the floor. "When I told her I wasn't interested and that I would use the app to alert you, she called it unreliable and said that I didn't want to be friends with you and that I'd probably just disappoint you. I argued that you weren't and that I could see you anytime I wanted but she... she then pointed out that I hadn't really been given a second chance by you and then she told me the command, saying that if you didn't come that I would know that you weren't my true friend. The thing is... I know she was lying but what she said... it got to me. I started to think 'what if you were disappointed in me' and I decided I wanted to ask you myself but you were so busy with that lollypop creature and you probably wouldn't have past the hotel so I stupidly did the command, hoping that maybe for once she wasn't lying... of course it didn't work and even though I knew she had been lying, I felt like that maybe they were right and that you had given up on me..."

  She sighed before looking up at him.

  "I then snapped at Sabrina. I had a go at her, asking her why I want to play with her and saying that she couldn't give me a second chance or powers. I called her a dumb, worthless sheep and she ran off crying. I realized what I did and called after her but it was too late. That's when Hawkmoth tried to akumatize me. It was horrible hearing him in my head but I thought him off and send his akuma away but he took advantage of Sabrina because of me! I'm a terrible friend and I failed all of you," Chloe gasped, covering her eyes with her hands as she cried. Sabrina looked at with sympathy but was unsure what to do along with the rest of the heroes. Anatis, however, knelt down in front of Chloe as she cried. The heroes held their breathe as they half expected him to have a go at her but to everyone's surprise, he pulled her into a hug. An expression of shock came across her face before she closed her eyes and hugged back. Gradually, he pulled away, making her blink. "Y-You're aren't mad?"

  "Chloe, I want you to listen to me," He stated, holding her shoulder. "I'm not expecting you to be perfect and change straight away. Changing yourself takes time and it can be exhausting so no I'm not angry at you. I'm not saying what you did was ok either but you clearly regret your actions and feel bad about it. You literally broke down in tears and rushed over to Sabrina once we freed her,"

  "But I snapped at her..." She mumbled, looking down. "I messed up,"

  "Making mistakes is normal," He stated, making her look at him in surprise again. "What happened today is called a relapse and they happen to everyone but the important thing is you learn from your mistakes and for kwami's sake, don't listen to that liar ever. Her words are poison,"

  "B-But I nearly got akumatized..."

  "You resisted. I'm proud of you for that," He smiled before turning to Sabrina. "Are you ok?"

  "I am thanks," She nodded before turning to Chloe and hugging her. "It's ok, Chloe. We're ok I promise,"

  Chloe sniffed and nodded as an echo of beeps got their attention. Anatis moved his hand to his earrings as Ryuko and Aspik landed on the swimming pool cover. He glanced over at them and noticed their sour expressions as Sabrina led Chloe away from the scene, suggesting they get some hot chocolate and have a girly night. The two reptiles walked as Chloe and Sabrina disappeared into the lift. 

  "Anatis, Mayura got away from us," Ryuko stated, bowing her head as Aspik did the same. "We're sorry,"

  "It's fine, Ryuko. You two did your best," He smiled as his earrings beeped again. He turned to Culpeo, Abeille and Leatherback as Lady Noir walked over to Ryuko and Aspik. "Great work everyone but time to go home,"

  "Right," Culpeo nodded as the three of them followed Anatis while the other three jumped off the building. Anatis led them to an alleyway near where everyone had been. Leatherback waited on the rooftop as he hadn't actually used his power while Abeille and Culpeo detransformed, handing over their miraculous. Juleka frowned as she lightly grabbed his arm. "Lila was pretending to be me and Alya lapped up everything she said,"

  "I will definitely be having a word with Alya, Kit," He nodded before ruffing her hair. "Now don't you two have ice cream to get?"

  "Ooh!! Yes!!" Rose gasped, grabbing Juleka's hand and rushing off but not before waving to Anatis. Once they had disappeared, Leatherback landed next to him and called off his transformation.

  "I'm sorry that I disobeyed your orders," He muttered, handing the bracelet back to him. "When I got there, the other three were already fighting against that woman and the akuma and they were losing. If I hadn't-"

  "Ivan, I'm not mad at all," He smiled, placing his arm on his shoulder. "You saw your team mates in trouble and you helped them. I also know that you would only disobey my orders if you had to so don't stress about it ok?"

  "Sure, Anatis," He smiled, nodding. "I better get back to Mylene. I told her my mom asked for my help with something,"

  "Nice cover," He nodded before Ivan jogged off. He placed the miraculous into yoyo and leaned against the wall as his transformation dropped. He caught Tikki and took out a cookie for her. "That was a very tough akuma. Hey, Tikki?"

  "Yes?" She asked, looking up for my cookie.

  "Can the miraculous amplify natural abilities?" He asked, making her look at him. "During the battle, I had a sudden coughing fit when I was near Mayura and I felt so tired, like I was drained..."

  "Are you sick?" Tikki asked, worried. Luka shook his head and smiled, gently stroking her head with his finger.

  "That's the thing, Tikki. I was fine seconds beforehand and after she left..." He muttered, frowning. "I think it was my empathy... it's been getting more powerful recently... that's why I wanted to ask if miraculous can amplify abilities,"

  "Well, the miraculous amplify things such as speed and strength. You're more flexible and practically invincible so it makes sense that if someone like yourself used a miraculous, it would amplify your natural empathy but why did you get sick and tired?"

  "Mayura... something felt wrong..." He muttered, making Tikki frown. "I... I think she's sick, Tikki and it's much more then just a physical sickness... it was like there were cracks on her soul as well... I need to talk to Master Fu about this,"

  "You can ask him about the empathy thing too," She replied, finishing the cookie. He nodded and transformed back before jumping up and heading to Master Fu's. He climbed through the window as Lady Noir placed the dragon and the snake in the miracle box. She looked up at him and smiled as he walked over and took out the other miraculous, placing them back in as Master Fu joined them with some tea. He poured out a cup and handed it to Lady Noir before handing another to Anatis. 

  "I'm glad to see you're ok Lady Noir," He smiled as she slipped her tea. "Quite the tough akuma,"

  "Very," Anatis agreed. "But she wasn't alone,"

  "A sentimonster?" Master Fu asked but Anatis shook his head. "A code purple?"

  "No," He replied, sipping his drink. "Mayura turned up instead,"

  "Mayura... the peacock holder?" Master Fu asked, getting a nod of Anatis. "That is most unusual,"

  "She tried to convince me to join their side," Anatis muttered, making the old man frown. "I said no but something happened that concerns me,"

  "The sudden coughing fit?" Lady Noir asked, getting a nod of Anatis and a confused look from Master Fu. "Annie started to violently cough in the middle of battle like he was seriously ill but what confused me was the look of surprise on Mayura's face,"

  "I saw it too," Anatis nodded, frowning. "It was weird. I felt so drained and tired like I hadn't slept for days... I honestly think she's sick..."

  "Really?" Master Fu frowned, clearly surprised. "What else did you notice?"

  "It wasn't that I noticed," Anatis replied, frowning. "It was more like I felt it. It felt like she was broken. Like she had cracks in her soul and it didn't feel like a natural illness. I don't know why but I feel like it's because of the miraculous. Something is very wrong with it... like it was broken or something. Master? Are you ok?"

  "I... the peacock miraculous was damaged when I lost it but I never told you that..." Master Fu replied, clearly shocked. "How did you know?"

  "Well, as I said... I felt it..." He muttered, making Master Fu frown. "It actually brings me to a question I wanted to ask,"

  "Go on,"

  "If someone's natural ability be amplified by the miraculous?" He asked as Lady Noir slipped her tea. "I asked Tikki but she wasn't sure and suggested I ask you,"

  "Well, I imagine so," Master Fu nodded. "But what kind of ability are you talking about?"

  "Well.. for me... it would be empathy,"

  "You're an empath?" Master Fu asked, getting a nod of Anatis. "Well, I've never came across a miraculous holder who is naturally an empath. Not even the holders of the butterfly and the peacock are that way naturally but I would imagine it would be amplified. Perhaps that is why you were able to feel the damage on the peacock miraculous,"

  "Maybe," Anatis muttered, frowning. It wasn't that he doubted that it was to do with his empathy, it just felt bigger then that. Much bigger. "Well, we should head back. Thank you for your help, Master Fu,"

  "A pleasure as always," Master Fu nodded as him and Lady Noir jumped up. The two of them waved and headed back in the window. Master Fu made a thoughtful look as he placed the turtle bracelet back on, causing Wayzz to manifest. 

  "Are you ok, Master?"

  "Oh, yes I'm fine," He replied, putting the box back into the phonograph. "Wayzz, do you recall the mage who created the miraculous?"

  "Yes, I do,"

  "Wasn't he a very powerful empath?"

  "Oh yes, he was. In fact, that's how he sensed us and came to see. After all, not everyone could see could see Kwamis before he invented the miraculous," Wayzz replied, nodding. "He was such a nice man... anyway why do you ask?"

  "Ah, no reason,"

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 47

[beca-mitchell]

Summary: Beca and Chloe’s friends with benefits situation takes an unexpected turn when they try to get some time alone in the Bellas house. Set during PP2. Written for @bechloe-week!

Word count: 3,110

Notes: cracky fluffy nonsense born out of a dumb tiktok that chloe sent me. unbeta'd.

* * * * *

Read below or on AO3.

This is easy.

It is easy, waking up in Chloe’s arm and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips as to not fully disturb her from her slumber. The more selfish part of Beca, however, kind of wants Chloe to wake up because it makes Beca’s own waking state that much more enjoyable.

(Like sunshine after the storm. Something dumb like that. It’s gross, really.)

Easy is the sharp rap on Chloe’s door letting Chloe know that she’s finally done with that painful mash-up she had been slaving over for The Bellas’ upcoming Kennedy Center performance. The knock that lets Chloe know that she’s free and ready to cash in on a fairly new arrangement—an arrange not of the musical kind.

How it began was surprisingly easy too.

It had started innocently enough—as innocent as friends with benefits can be—just before they had started up school again for the winter semester. Alone in the large, sprawling Bellas house with nothing much to do, fresh off her third break-up (and this time it felt final) with Jesse, Beca had begun to tap (re-tap?) into the long-buried feelings she had harboured for Chloe, though she had framed it as an attraction, pent-up sexual frustration, and lack of satisfaction in her own life in and out of the bedroom.

“Attracted to me?” Chloe chirped, sounding and looking very much like the cat that had gotten the cream. “All this time?” Chloe had said all of this with a smile both sweet and sinful that it should have been illegal. She had also said it so knowingly and yet, incredibly kindly that Beca hadn’t really been embarrassed. Mostly just surprised. A scowl-y kind of surprised.

“No,” Beca had lied and pressed her lips against Chloe’s with reckless abandon.

The words, God, Beca was bad with words, had been painful the next day. Beca’s half-hearted explanation that it felt like a mistake; that Chloe deserved better than somebody who could barely commit to a long-term boyfriend...let alone whatever this was. Is.

Chloe, despite her tired disappointment and hurt written all over her face, had simply brought her sheets back up to her shoulders and looked away in quiet agreement. It had, however, been Chloe’s idea that if they ever found themselves in a similar situation again—where one needed nothing more than release and pleasure—they should rely on each other.

Beca had agreed. Easy, she had thought. Piece of cake.

* * * * *

“Amy’s spending the night at Bumper’s,” Chloe comments casually. Beca startles from where she had been bent over the kitchen counter, intently studying her textbook. “And probably the rest of the week.”

“Oh,” Beca replies, unsure if Chloe wants her to say anything in particular. She watches the back of Chloe’s head as she rummages through the fridge. She likes the way the harsh kitchen light seems to make Chloe’s hair look even prettier even though it always manages to make Beca look like an unwashed zombie. “That’s nice.”

“And Jessica and Ashley are spending the night at their study session.”

“Hm.”

“And Flo’s—” Chloe shuts the door suddenly, spinning to face Beca with an amused expression. “Beca. Do you really not know where I’m going with this?”

Beca’s eyebrows creep up her forehead. “I’m…” She pauses. “I—yes! Okay. Right. Um. Tonight?” she tries awkwardly. “Your room? Or—mine?”

Chloe giggles and rounds the kitchen island so she can spin Beca’s seat. Expertly, Chloe pushes her legs apart and moves to stand in between them, like she absolutely belongs there.

Beca resists the urge to immediately grab Chloe’s hips, interested in where this might go if she resists a little bit longer.

“Your room sounds like a good idea since it’ll be empty. You know I love your bed.”

“My bed’s smaller than yours.”

“Exactly,” Chloe whispers before she leans in all the way to steal a kiss from Beca’s waiting mouth.

It is so incredibly easy to lose herself in Chloe’s touch and her kisses. For a moment, Beca forgets that they are in the middle of a brightly-lit kitchen in the middle of the day and this is still a well-kept secret between them. For whatever reason, she still doesn’t know. All she knows is that she simply needs to have Chloe now—or at least soon, so she appeases herself with the knowledge that she gets to have Chloe tonight and she gets to taste Chloe on her tongue—all of her—and she gets to—

“Hm,” Chloe hums, pulling back. She smiles a wickedly innocent smile and thumbs Beca’s lower lip where a smudge of tinted lipgloss lingers. “Save some for tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too,” Beca echoes faintly as Chloe makes her way out of the kitchen. Beca barely has time to collect herself when the kitchen is suddenly filled with Amy’s raucous laughter and the chatter of Flo, Cynthia-Rose, and Jessica, very much disrupting Beca’s previously-quiet study spot.

Chloe always has the most perfectly imperfect timing. Beca kind of hates her for it.

Kind of.

(It's too easy to just not hate anything Chloe does. Quite the opposite, really.)

* * * * *

Things spiral very quickly in the next hour or so. Jessica and Ashley’s study session is cancelled. Amy and Bumper break up (again). Flo’s night class is cancelled.

“What the fuck,” Beca hisses, cornering Chloe in her ensuite bathroom when she sees Chloe slip in. She shuts the door behind her. “Did you hear all of that? All their crap being cancelled or whatever?”

Chloe pouts at her in the mirror, rinsing her hands under the faucet. “I know.”

Beca grumbles to herself, still thinking of the kiss Chloe had given her just over an hour ago. It had barely been enough to tide her over until the next time she and Chloe manage to wrangle away some time alone.

“You’re so cute when you don’t get your way,” Chloe says happily. She turns, moving to push Beca against the opposite wall. “We’re alone now,” she whispers, suddenly so close to Beca that Beca can count every slight freckle across Chloe’s nose.

“I’m not…” Beca gives up trying to deny anything Chloe says. It’s something she has learned over time. Slowly, she grins, lifting her hands to grab Chloe’s hips and pull her closer so they’re pressed together more intimately. “Hey, look at us…”

“Look at us,” Chloe repeats. She tilts her head forward, nipping sharply at Beca’s lower lip before pausing as if to see if Beca is willing.

Beca tugs at her hips again, leaning towards Chloe’s face again to request another kiss—another firm press of Chloe’s lips against hers. Chloe must have reapplied her lipgloss in the past hour because she tastes sweet again—sweeter than usual—and irresistible as usual. Ever since they began fooling around—ever since their first kiss—Beca has craved more and more of Chloe’s kisses. There is something very intoxicating about the way Chloe kisses her. Chloe’s kisses are simultaneously a gentle caress and a heated embrace all at once.

Chloe’s hand creeps up the back of Beca’s shirt, deftly unhooking her bra when she reaches it, then swiftly, her hand moves around to cup Beca’s breast boldly, slipping under the fabric of the bra. Beca gasps against Chloe’s mouth, only to feel Chloe’s tongue against her lower lip for the briefest of moments before it slips inside her mouth. Chloe’s hand flexes around her breast, palm pressing against her stiff nipple.

“Please,” Beca rasps, tilting her head back against the wall. “I need you.”

“I know,” Chloe coos. She lifts her free hand—the one not actively groping Beca—to grasp Beca’s jaw firmly, but gently. She pulls Beca’s head back towards her own, breath hot against Beca’s mouth as she does so. “How much do you need me right now, Bec?” She says it so conversationally that Beca thinks they really could be talking about a Bellas set or the weather. She says it as if her fingers aren’t currently plucking at her nipple sinfully and her hand isn’t holding Beca’s jaw in place like she knows exactly what devastation she wants to inflict upon Beca at that moment.

“So much,” Beca replies obediently. She shifts, her legs still pressed together uncomfortably. She doesn’t need to check—she knows she’s soaked and ready to go. If she could just—if Chloe could just slip one of her legs between her own…

Chloe brushes her thumb against Beca’s lower lip, eyes darkening when Beca’s tongue flicks out to lick Chloe’s thumb, welcoming her thumb into her mouth. Beca tries not to close her eyes entirely, but the haze of arousal and lust that pass over her overwhelms her for a moment then Chloe’s thumb slips into her mouth entirely.

“You’re so desperate,” Chloe murmurs.

Beca wonders, briefly, what the other Bellas would say if they knew exactly what their co-captains got up to in their free time. If they knew that Chloe knew exactly which buttons to press to make Beca scream. If they knew that Beca knew Chloe’s body intimately and incredibly well—that she had memorized marks on Chloe’s on body more than she had memorized choreography.

“You’ve been teasing me all week,” Beca mumbles. Chloe draws her hand away, eyes lighting in sympathy. It looks real to Beca, but she knows how much Chloe gets off on prolonging Beca’s pleasure. Evil.

“I guess I have. You’re just so—”

“—If you say cute, I will throw myself out the window.”

Chloe smirks, one definitely stolen from Beca’s handbook. “I was going to say…” she trials a finger down Beca’s neck, down her chest, all the way to the button of Beca’s jeans. She pops the button slowly. “Sexy.” Zipper down. Music to Beca’s ears. “Hot.”

“Okay,” Beca agrees, forgetting that she had just been mildly annoyed. Her eyes nearly cross when Chloe pulls down her jeans and underwear in one move and push her legs apart.

“You’re soaked,” Chloe says sympathetically. She flicks out her tongue to swipe some of the wetness streaked between Beca’s thighs. Then again, flicking against Beca’s clit.

“Shh,” Beca urges, hand tangling against Chloe’s hair. She groans, looking down at the top of Chloe’s head as Chloe, to the best of her ability, begins licking and sucking around her aching center. She only grows wetter at the distinct sound of Chloe clearly enjoying herself through quiet moans and whimpers. The very slight sounds travel through Beca distinctly, shooting through her with an intensity she hadn’t imagined before.

“You be quiet,” Chloe instructs, lifting her head briefly.

“Yeah,” Beca agrees, in a normal tone. “Yes,” she moans, uncaring as Chloe lifts one leg over her shoulder to have better access.

Chloe’s hand comes up to smack the side of her thigh. “Beca,” she warns. She glances up again and the sight sends desire rocking through Beca again as she catches the slight glistening across Chloe’s lips and chin.

“Yeah,” Beca croaks. “Sorry, I’ll—” She gasps, a high-pitched sound, when Chloe’s lips wrap around her clit again. She claps a hand over her mouth, head tilting back and hitting the wall again. She can’t feel much other than the press of Chloe’s lips and tongue against her aching cunt. Can’t feel much other than each pass of Chloe’s tongue against her. Can’t feel much other than how she throbs and aches and wants to draw Chloe all the way inside her.

But she can come like this, she tells herself. She can. She will. She hasn’t gotten off in over a week, a difficult feat now that she relies almost entirely on Chloe for her pleasure. Her own hands don’t compare to Chloe’s hands. Or Chloe’s tongue. Or her lips.

A strangled sound escapes Beca’s lips just as she’s on the cusp of the high she desperately seeks. Chloe’s hand creeps across her thigh, as if Chloe is about to bring her hands into the fray. Her fingers. “Yes,” Beca whispers. “Please, please—”

She crashes. Or wait. She doesn’t. She can’t.

The door—there is somebody at the door.

“Hey! I really need to go and the other bathrooms are being used! Are you almost done, Chloe?”

“Fuck,” Beca says loudly. Chloe slaps a hand over her mouth.

“Beca?” Amy’s confused voice sounds through the door. “This is Chloe’s bathroom.”

Chloe scrambles up and away from Beca, swiping the back of her hand against her mouth hastily. “Um…” Her eyes widen, panicked and unsure. “I was just, um. Helping Beca with this…”

Beca quickly pulls up her jeans, wincing at how uncomfortably wet she feels. But that isn’t even the worst part. It’s how dissatisfied she is. How she feels like she’s been literally robbed of what she deserves. Fucking Amy.

“Fuck,” Beca mutters. Raising her voice, she clears her throat. “She was just helping me with this thing...on my back,” she trails off, shrugging at Chloe’s wide-eyed expression. I’m sorry, Chloe mouths.

Chloe hastily moves to wash her hands again as Beca, now presentable, unlocks the door. Amy rushes past them, making a beeline for the toilet. “Thank God!” Amy exclaims, clearly uncaring that both Beca and Chloe are still there.

“Dude, what the fuck! Wait for us to leave!”

“As if you haven’t seen it all before, dear roommate.”

* * * * *

This was supposed to be easy.

Beca tries not to pout—she really does—but Chloe has riled her up over the past two days now and they still haven’t managed to find time alone. When she and Chloe agreed to this whole friends with benefits thing, Beca hadn’t thought there would be so much waiting. She had kind of assumed that whenever either of them needed to scratch their itch, the other would be there (barring personal reasons or timing, obviously), but this is kind of getting ridiculous.

Chloe is holed up in her room, working on a paper. She had effectively banned Beca from her room, citing the need to focus, and had sent Beca to spend time with somebody else, as if Beca was nothing more than a mere child in Chloe’s periphery.

“Chloe kick you out?” Cynthia-Rose asks sagely.

Beca startles, having been too busy staring angrily at the wall behind the television to notice that somebody had sat next to her on the couch. “No, why would she kick me out? I didn’t even see her today. Why? Did she say something to you?”

“She kicked me out too,” C-R says slowly, peering suspiciously at Beca’s face. “Just thought you guys were supposed to be working on our set or something today. But she said she had a paper due.”

“Oh,” Beca murmurs. “Well. Yeah...that’s what happened. Totally.”

“Want to watch a movie?”

Beca shrugs, having given up her hatred of movies a while ago (part of it due to Chloe’s influence and the pleasant activities that usually followed a private movie session in Chloe’s room). “Whatever you want to watch is cool.”

She ends up fiddling with her phone and half-focusing on the movie. To distract herself from the very distinct lack of sex she’s been having, she begins brainstorming songs to mash-up for an upcoming Bellas appearance and performance. If she and Chloe were supposed to be working together on something, she might as well figure out something so it seems like they haven’t just been fucking around.

To save face and all.

Ding!

Beca frowns, seeing a notification come in across the top of her screen. It is an image attachment from Chloe. Without looking at the image preview, Beca taps into the message lazily, wondering what Chloe could possibly say to her after leaving her high and dry.

Beca chokes on air, eyes widening upon seeing the very explicit nude she has just received from Chloe herself. Nothing left to the imagination.

Chloe Beale come here

Right. Okay. Fuck you too, Chloe Beale.

Beca tosses her phone on the couch and all but gets ready to sprint to Chloe’s bedroom. She doubles back however, grabbing her phone, realizing belatedly that maybe the photo isn’t necessarily something that anybody (Amy) needs to find accidentally.

“Fuck,” Beca mutters, nearly tripping up the stairs as she goes. Chloe is only on the second floor, but she has her own separate landing from the other girls, her own private room. Perks of being a super senior. She sheds the hoodie she had been wearing, haphazardly tossing it into a random hamper she passes on the way. She can do her part in speeding up the process.

She is about to shed her shirt entirely when she stumbles, yelping and she tumbles headfirst, slamming her head against the railing and nearly falling back down the stairs.

She drops her phone down the stairs as she does so, cursing all the while as pain rushes through her. Immediately, the sound of footsteps sound from all around her and voices call out, concerned and panicked all at once.

“Beca!” Chloe exclaims, first one on the scene. “Shit, are you okay?”

“Holy crap, what happened?” Flo asks. “Why is your shirt half-off?”

Gentle hands tug her shirt into place. Beca blinks up at the concerned, blurry expressions all around her.

“She should go to the ER,” Cynthia-Rose says, but Beca catches a hint of laughter in her voice. “Whatever she got on her phone sent her running. But clearly she needs to be more careful.”

“I’ll take her to the hospital,” Chloe chimes in. “Stacie? Go get Beca’s phone and her wallet. The rest of you wait in the living room with her while I go get dressed.”

“No,” Beca moans out before she can stop herself. “I’m fine,” she whines. “Get off me.”

“She hit her head,” Chloe says quickly. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. We’ll probably come back late tonight. I don’t know how long this will take.”

“Maybe all night,” Amy suggests helpfully. “We’ll keep an eye on her, captain.”

“Yeah we should probably cycle shifts when they get back...she could have a concussion.”

“Have you ever had a concussion before?”

“Beca, what is your sweater doing in my hamper?”

Beca groans as the Bellas help her down the stairs.

She is never going to have sex again at this rate.

Still.

Her eyes lift as Chloe appears in front of her again, concern written all over her face. She smiles, a tender and kind expression, at Beca before holding out her hand for Beca to take. “Come on,” Chloe whispers.

Maybe this whole part—being cared for by another person—it really isn’t so bad.

fin.

[regrettablewritings]

How They Spend the Quarantine (Tadashi Hamada, Lucifer Morningstar, Dewey Finn, Wade Wilson, Harley Quinn, & Benoit Blanc)

Just a fun (?? is that even responsible to say?) little thing I’ve been thinking about while slogging through this neverending hellscape of an extended lockdown.

Tadashi Hamada

When San Fransokyo was ordered to go into a lockdown, there were mixed feelings.

At first, Tadashi had a hint of optimism that this would mean more time to work on his prospective projects . . . But then he quickly realized that his projects mostly required tools and space offered by the campus. He could technically make do at home, but it wouldn’t quite be the same considering the garage was considered Hiro’s space.

Somberly had to clean out his lab and take whatever he could home.

Cue the rest of the group (sans Fred and Hiro) griping that at least his style of science could travel well enough to be somewhat continued off of university grounds.

Helps do delivery for The Lucky Cat. It helps him get out the house, and it’s simply helpful altogether.

Uses Baymax frequently to make sure everyone down to Mochi is sanitized, and nobody’s running a fever.

Nearly as frequent a sanitizer as Aunt Cass.

He starts most days prepared to be productive, only to stop and poke fun at Hiro, who’s almost always got his eyes trained on a video game.

Tadashi realizes three hours later that he, too, has been playing the game as Player 2.

Learned how to make facial masks with Aunt Cass. He already knew how to sew a little but frankly, making the masks made him realize he could have a new hobby on his hands. He’s currently trying to figure out how to make Mochi a little vest . . .

Lucifer Morningstar

B o r e d. A s. F u c k.

At first, he thinks everyone being forced to go home would work in his favor -- surely some rule-breakers would sneak out and try to bunk up with the Devil, right?

Well . . . Kinda? Once Chloe found out and scolded him about it, the idea died real fast. Plus, he realized he wasn’t quite fond of the possibility of being around someone who could pop up with a disgusting human sickness at any point during their time with him. Smearing their snot all over, coughing into his Egyptian cotton sheets . . . Nope, never mind, he is perfectly content having the penthouse to himself, thank you very much!

Except he’s not.

The poor bastard is going crazy by himself -- he’s just not used to being without some kind of company!

“At least in Hell, you could tell there were people around you based on the screaming!” he’d whine at his phone during his hourly video chat with Chloe.

Oh yes: The video chats. He tries to make them hourly with anyone he can get a hold of (namely, his long-suffering detective) but this clearly never plays out as he would like for it to: If he had it his way, everyone would respond in an instant and let him bounce mainly one-sided conversations off of them -- basically, what he did before all this went down.

What usually winds up happening is he gets hung up on or nobody answers him at all out of sheer annoyance over his clinginess.

Ironically, he’s not exactly crazy about when Amenadiel initiates those “family calls”. He insists it’s healthy and normal for them to do this and even calls Luci out on the hypocrisy, but let’s face it: Lucifer finds it obnoxiously gushy and weird.

He works his way into Linda’s video appointment books to help him cope with his boredom and admitted need for interactions. She doesn’t mind offering him counsel, but once Lucifer starts attempting to butt in during others’ appointment calls, it becomes an issue.

Has, at some point, gotten buzzed down in Lux and streamed himself attempting to pole dance. It drew quite a bit of attention.

He’s managed to gain a bit of a following and some companionship by streaming himself playing piano and singing. It’s not the same thing as having an actual audience, in his opinion, but it will have to do for now.

He’s never been one to binge with regards to TV shows or movies, but after the first week, he decided to binge watch every work action star Wesley Cabot was ever in.

Makes sure his staff still gets paid well. After all, he’s pretty well-off; there’s no need to make an innocent bartender’s life a living hell just because some other rich bastard fucked up, yeah?

Going off this, should he need to order to-go or anything, we already know he tends to tip as handsomely as he looks.

Dewey Finn

Kids were being sent to Horace Green on tuitions worth more than what some people saw in half a year -- of course the school was going to continue classes online!

While technically an afterschool instructor, the program is popular enough for parents to expect it to continue, and for Dewey to be kept on payroll.

Initially, he was pretty smug: He’s one if, if not, the youngest teacher-figure at Horace Green, so surely that means he’s more tech savvy than his older, stiffer coworkers, right? For once, he’s ahead of the curve!

Wrong: Figuring out Zoom was a headache, and then there was the realization of just how dependent his classes were on actual physical presence.

Plus, let’s be real: Dewey’s Internet connection was decent on its own, but craptastic when compared to those of his wealthier students. The lag is strong with this one.

Has definitely accidentally messed up the background on his screen. Somehow wound up with the Beetlejuice background and got so frustrated, he wound up keeping it there for two whole sessions.

In spite of the slight issues regarding lag, they pull through and try to resume lessons as best they can.

Tries to keep optimism by pointing out how this is a new form of entertainment they could be pioneers in.

Some days, it’s just going so wack or everyone’s so bleh that Dewey just assigns for them to watch a music documentary or something.

“Okay, kids, Mr. Finn’s hungover and clearly Summer is the only one who went to bed before 3am. So what I’m gonna have you do is watch . . . Prrrbbbb . . . Amadeus.” “How is Amadeus rock-related?” “It had a rock single, shut up. Anyway, we meet back next class and talk about what we saw, m’kay? M’kay. Over and out.”

Next class, he’s filled with dread as Summer produces an in-depth analysis of the relationship or lack thereof between character and the presence of talent as evidenced by Mozart’s abilities juxtaposed with his immature presentation and -- Dewey just can’t keep up. Sure, Summer, why not?

When he’s not busy teaching, however, he’s using the lockdown to work on some new material. Or just screwing around.

Otherwise, let’s be real, Big Boy’s living the high life in a place of his own: Playing video games (Animal Crossing, recently got back into Team Fortress 2, is trying to finally finish Ocarina of Time); eating a not very great diet; staying up late, napping at weird times; all in the name of quarantine.

If he orders delivery or to-go, he tips the best he can.

Wade Wilson

On one hand, murking never goes on lockdown. But on the other . . . He’s already technically not well, why risk that even with his mutation?

Oh, fuck I just remembered he lives at the X Mansion, never mind turn back turn back oh god give us free --

The situation is tense to say the least. There’s Wade, who’s sensible enough to know why the quarantine is in place . . . and then there’s everyone else, who knows Wade’s full of shit.

And by everyone, I “coincidentally” mean Colossus, Nega Sonic, Yukio, Domino, Cable, and Russ because the already small world of the sequel just got smaller by the fact that everyone is bound to a large but nonetheless single estate whose size has probably decreased from that of the First Class timeline.

You know those videos of the usual Quarantine Characters? Wade is somehow yet still unsurprisingly all of them, save for the frequent sanitizer. He raids the pantry frequently, sleeps at all hours, considers scooting a swivel chair down the halls exercise for the thighs, blasts video games, and so on.

Going back to the sanitizer thing, it’s not that he’s just not exactly known for being tidy. Colossus occasionally does drag him out of bed at a decidedly decent time (read: any time before 11am) to try and get him excited about cleaning up around the mansion, but it rarely ends well. At this point, the safest option is to just remind Wade to wash his hands for 20 seconds as necessary.

Has acquired a Switch and visits everyone’s island, often to bonk them on the head with a net or gift them with weird crap they don’t necessarily want. For the “friends” from Sister Margaret’s, he has somehow acquired their Dodo Codes. Nobody knows how he did this. 

Facetimes Dopinder frequently.

“Precious, you’re the beacon of light in this cold, cruel world.” “I miss you, too, DP --” “Sshshsh! I’m having a moment . . .” *weeps*

On the many occasions he orders delivery, he tips by giving the delivery person something expensive from the mansion that they can sell. Prof. X is loaded, after all. Plus, he more or less isn’t even present in this universe, it’s not like he’s gonna miss anything he can’t see/probably doesn’t even know exists in his house. The problem is, Colossus does exist and does notice and does care when things go missing. Leading to many a delivery person getting caught up in shenanigans at that weird school in the boonies that they either don’t get paid enough to deal with or couldn’t pay to make up.

“Oh, pawn shops are closed?” asks the man who looks like a skinned avocado if avocados had human skin. “Don’t worry, lemme hook you up -- I know some guys --” “DEADPOOOOOLLL!!” roars a Russian accent from inside the house. “WHERE IS THE BRONZE BUST OF THE PROFESSOR!?” The poor delivery person’s eyes widen as they realize that the odd cargo they’ve been presented with apparently holds some value of some kind. But before they can flee, the avocado man blurts, “Shit! Leave the pizza in the bushes, look me up on my Youtube page, byyyeeee!!”

In his defense, Wade does hold up his end of the deal. Much like the Dodo Codes, nobody knows what strings he pulled. They just accept it and move on.

Harley Quinn

Surprisingly compliant.

She’s crazy, not stupid: Staying at home may suck, but what sucks more is making things harder on people who may not fair so well. Besides, she’s spent time in a maximum security prison -- she can handle staying cooped up in her own home. At least home has TV, books, and snacks.

When she hears people are still going out without masks or plotting to have a protest, she strongly considers firing up the old Fun Gun and popping the next sign-carrying Karen she sees with a tit full of cadmium yellow powder.

Seriously, stay the fuck home and fuck up your own hair; this is the perfect time to make mistakes with your looks, it ain’t like you got anywhere to be or anyone to impress.

“STAY THE FUCK HOME, BITCH!” P O W!!! “JUST GO GREY ALREADY, WE ALL KNOW YOUR HAIR AIN’T THAT COLOR ANYMORE, YOU’RE THREE YEARS FROM BEING IN THE GODDAMN AGE-BRACKET!!!” P O W!!!!

Only leaves her new apartment to grab groceries and to take Bruce on a walk. She actually refuses to steal or cause a scene during this shitshow because she may be a bad guy, but she sure ain’t evil.

So far, there haven’t been complaints about the fact that she’s walking a hyena down a public street. Maybe it’s because there’s hardly anyone out? Maybe it’s because Gothamites just can’t be bothered to be fazed by it . . . Or maybe it’s because she made him a little mask for his snout.

“In this house, we wash our hands for at least 20 seconds, kid.”

Lets the forest reclaim the earth, so to speak. She was never really shaving anything for anyone but herself before, but now it just seems especially pointless.

Spends almost every day in a kigurumi. To give her a semblance of routine, she has a pink bear one she calls her “Sunday Suit.” She doesn’t know it’s not Sunday because the days just blur but Cass just doesn’t have the heart to tell her; she seemed so proud of herself . . .

Like everyone else, she’s gotten Animal Crossing. She’s trying to create an all-preppy island with a few exceptions (Astrid = Aesthetic, m’kay?)

Tips nicely when ordering delivery.

Benoit Blanc

As young and spry in nature as the gentleman sleuth would like to think of himself, he would really rather not test the dangers of the situation and go about all foolhardy -- he’s staying home!

In theory, it’s only logical and therefore perfectly fine. But in practice . . . God, he wishes he’d invested more in things to occupy himself with when home.

It wasn’t that Benoit was never home, he just never felt too much of a need to invest in a fancy entertainment center -- the fanciest he ever got was an iHome.

The beginning of the quarantine served as the perfect time for him to read over case files, catch up on paperwork, even catch up on some reading he’d been putting on hold since God knows when due to cases popping up left and right. But that dried up quicker than he’d assumed, and that’s when he was faced with what a man of his mind dreads the most: Boredom.

Finally caved and decided to hook up Amazon Fire.

Expected to use the one-month free trial on Netflix and be just fine but once the lockdown in his area got extended and he realized he wasn’t going to be able to catch up with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend at this rate, he caves even further and buys a subscription.

Fully delights at the influx of platforms uploading Broadway recordings; when The Show Must Go On put on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, followed by The Phantom of The Opera, it was a treat, I tell you!

Sanitizes often, despite hardly ever leaving his house besides to have a smoke or to go grab groceries. Honestly, it’s less about cleaning at this point so much as it is finding something to occupy his focus when he feels there’s nothing else to so.

Takes zinc after every meal to help lessen the intensity of any ailment that might hit him.

Definitely owns a facemask. There’s a good chance it’s from Marta or one of his relatives, and there’s another good chance the pattern is as flamboyant as his clothing. He’s delighted.

Benoit tries not to rely too much on delivery,  as he’d much rather just cook. On the rare occasion where tipping comes up, however, he gives as generously as he can.

Bonus: There’s a slight chance he might have acquired a companion to foster early on in the quarantine. Benoit hadn’t had a pet since childhood, a crime of which he was admittedly melancholic of his own involvement. However, his surprisingly busy lifestyle just wouldn’t suit a four-legged friend, now could it?

Well, now there’s time to. Besides, it would certainly ease the potential feeling of loneliness to have someone or something with whom he could interact with.

Admittedly, when shelters began encouraging people to invest time in taking home a companion, he’d been looking more for a comrade on the canine side of the spectrum -- but darn, if Duke wasn’t a handsome cat.

A lovely grey-and-white cat with eyes that matched his own, Duke has become the one Benoit monologues to (because in all honesty, the man is a performer at heart, in need of an audience to speak his mind to and portray a thought before). Plus, he doesn’t appear to mind it when Benoit finds himself belting out in tone-deaf notes to showtunes while washing the dishes: The mark of a true companion.

At this rate, he’s probably not going to keep fostering Duke when things calm down -- he’s probably going to just straight up adopt him.

Stay safe & healthy!

[tired-college-student-writing]

Tim’s Secret Weapon pt. 10

I’ve been slightly obsessed with @ozmav​ ‘s Damian Wayne/Marinette Dupain-Cheng pairing as of late, and just saw a post that has inspired me more than anything else has in months, so I felt the need to write it

Summary- Tim has always seen the numbers floating above people’s heads, been able to perceive their threat levels with a single glance. After being a hero for so long he thought he was desensitized to seeing high numbers above people’s heads until Damian brings a new friend home. Part 1 Part 9 Part 10(HERE) Part 11 This will probably be the last update for awhile, I start student teaching this coming week and I’m nervous as all hell right now ____________________________________________

“We have so much to do,” Marinette mumbled as she stood, stretching her shoulders out.

“Such as what angel?” 

Adrian raised his hand, “Letting Paris know that there’s more heroes here is probably near the top.” 

“Got it in one Kitty,”  

Kim snorted,  “They might flip out otherwise when they see so many new masks running around and think we have a Scarlet moth incident on our hand.” 

The team groaned out agreements from around Chloe’s room as the Bats looked over them with mild interest. It was closing in on midnight, each of the teens remaining having gotten permission from their parents to stay at the hotel for the night. The Kwamis had taken the plate of cookies, camembert, sugar cubes, sashimi, honey, bananas, and celery Chloe had ordered, and promptly ignored the strange look the room service personnel had given her,  for them to the closed bedroom, excited to have so many of them together and free to talk openly without hiding or disappearing into the hidden dimension of the miraculous box. 

“What’s a Scarlet moth?” Tim asked, trying to remember if he had seen the name anywhere in his research, “Hawkmoth’s apprentice?” 

“Nope,” Chloe groaned, rubbing her eyes with an exhausted air, “It’s when Hawkmoth akumatizes someone, Mayra probably so that their power is to power him up so that he can akumatized multiple people at once. The akumas turn scarlet when he does this so we nickname him Scarlet Moth when he pulls that crap.” 

“First time,” Marinette sighed, “He had someone make an illusion of me akumatized, killing Chat Noir in front of all of Paris. Most of the city was distraught enough to fall prey to the akumas and it took Chat, me and three other temporary heroes to take him out. Since then he’s pulled Scarlet Moth out eight times with various levels of success, and twice they’ve done something similar but with Mayra’s amoks, we call those Crimson Peacock events.”

“It’s a ridiculously long day every time,” Chloe groans, “Akumas usually take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour to fight, Amoks usually take an hour or two,  both will be three to four hours, but crimson Peacock and Scarletmoth? The quickest we’ve taken those out is six hours.” 

The Gotham heroes groaned in sympathy, images Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and the Court of Owls bigger plays flashing through their heads. Telling the citizens that there wasn’t a major issue to deal with would make their jobs easier. 

“What we’re just going to knock on that Ladyblog chick’s window then?”  Jason asked only to see the Paris heroes' faces scrunch up in disgust. 

“No, Never,” Kim spat, “Not in a million years. Not after all the fucking stunts she's pulled.” 

“Language Master Kim,” Alfred chastised with a raised brow, “You can express your distaste for the young woman without resorting to such vulgarity.” 

“Sorry,” Kim blushed sheepishly, “But she really has pulled a lot of things that tick me off, don’t even think I could list them all. Harassing people over not agreeing with her ‘professional’ opinion, taking the side of Lila even over Ladybug telling her, reporting anyone else trying to share miraculous news for not going through her.” 

“Chasing us down when we’re about to change back to harass us about our identity as if we hadn’t already explained to her why we keep them secret,” Alix added with a tired frown, “The amount of times I’ve had to use Burrow just to get one of us away from her is ridiculous.”

 “Dragging her little sisters into the middle of the Akuma attacks for footage,” Adrian hissed, anger causing his eyes to nearly glowing, “I can’t even begin to count every time our jobs were made harder because we had to rescue them…or how many times those little girls got hurt… ” 

 “Not to mention the shipping wars and rumors she starts just for views,” Chloe grumbles, “If I have to hear another take on how I’m either  in love with my superhero self or trying to murder her to take back the bee miraculous, I’m going to gouge my ears out with a rusty spoon.” 

“So yeah,” Marinette concluded, “We don’t interview with Alya anymore. She used to be a really good friend but Lila has spent years twisting her ambitions and changing her into someone toxic.” 

 “Take the Bee miraculous?” Dick asked, dislike for the reporter growing more with every word but decided to take the safe route and change the subject, no need risk akumation, “Why would they think that?” 

Alix snorted, “Oh cause out of everyone in Paris the last person anyone would think to have the bee miraculous is Chloe.”

“Yes,” Max agreed, eyeing the blonde, “I’ve been meaning to ask, how did Marinette decide to give you your miraculous back after the Miraculous Queen incident?”

“Because she only did as we planned,” Adrian said with a slight smirk making the other's jaws drop, “Hawkmoth was already watching her and trying to get her to go dark with the promise of the Bee miraculous he had taken from us.” 

“Chloe actually reached out to me,” Marinette laughed, “Remember when she made that big deal about allowing me to do commissioned work for her that year?”

“Well yeah,” Alix said slowly, “But she does that like once a year… Even when she was at her worst Marinette Originals were hot ticket items.” 

“I was really trying to get into contact with the mangy cat, or at least that’s what I said. I kinda… knew Marinette was Ladybug..” Chloe grumbled, not looking at them.

“WHAT!” The mentioned heroine squeaked, “How on Earth-”

“After getting Pollen,” Chloe cut in, “I realized she bore a striking resemblance to a certain red and black toy I stole from you when Prince Ali visited when showed up Princess Perfume.”

“You knew this whole time?” Adrian asked, “And said nothing even while akumatized?” 

“I mean, duh,” The blonde scoff, “Don’t be ridiculous, I might not have done my homework back then but I’m not an idiot. I just focused on my hate of Ladybug and didn’t think about Marinette at all, he was too giddy to have such a powerful Akuma he didn’t go digging in my head.” 

“So you what,” Alix asked, as Marinette struggled to reboot her mind, pulling the conversation away from chaos “Just let her get akumatized?” 

They nodded, Adrian taking over again, “M’Lady, Chloe and I decided that that could work in our favor and we could just draw him and Mayra out and take back the miraculous they had stolen” 

“Of course,” Marinette sighed, coming out of her stupor, “We weren’t expecting it to be right after such a hard Akuma, or for her powers to be just as devastating. Luckily she gave the miraculous to different users so Hawkmoth was none the wiser about each of your identities. After her staged meltdown at me, Chat went to check on her and offered to let her build a new Bee hero as we had retrieved that miraculous. With a quick illusion from the fox miraculous a month after Abeille hit the scene, we have video evidence of those two making peace with the Bee changing hands, and Chloe wishing Abeille luck even if she could no longer be Queen Bee.” 

“Impressive Strategy,” Kagami hummed, “I believe if Lover Eater and Miraculous Queen hadn’t been such unusually hard foes to fight then you could have won. It was unfortunate that the circumstances were such.” 

“It sounds like you overlooked some variables in your plan,” Bruce hummed, “but overall it sounded like a decent plan for having only been fighting for a little under a half a year at that point if you were expecting the usual level of difficulty with the Akuma before Chloe instead of a much tougher opponent like the one you faced.” 

Marinette smiled, “It was a mess in practice,” She admitted with a small smile, “But it made it clear that even if Chat and I could use multiple miraculous for short periods, we couldn’t continue any longer without help, not to mention the previous guardian was lost.” 

“Lost!” Max yelped, paling drastically, “I was under the impression that the miraculous cure brought back any fatalities that are caused by miraculous related events. How did it fail on the guardian?” 

“Not like that, I’m sure, Master Max,” Alfred broke in, “Duusu explained once that the guardians have a… failsafe, if you will, to prevent the identities of the holders from being found out through them.” 

Marinette nodded, eyes growing distance, “He resigned as he guardian handing it over to me. Doing so the magic of the miraculous wiped their very existence from his memory. He didn’t even know that the turtle bracelet he wore was magical let alone know the secrets the miraculous held any longer.” 

The room grew cold as the teens' faces fell. The Bat’s grimaced as they looked around the room, knowing the uncertainty that was coursing through all of them 

Marinette shook her head, “It doesn’t matter, he’s enjoying life with an old flame he had to abandon to take care of guardian business, but that does bring me to the next thing we have to do.” 

Chloe smirked widely, “Got an extra on you then?” 

“No, We’re just going to loan them for a few minutes” 

“Seeing an Akuma or amok isn’t a skill that is inherent, it’s how so many people don’t realize someone is possessed until they transform,” Adrian explained, “Took us a while to realize why some people could see the butterflies and feathers and others couldn’t.” 

“There are four ways you can see an Akuma that we have observed,” Max took over, “The first is if you are the intended target of the Akuma, next is if you’ve already been akumatized, we all thought that it was just PTSD of being akumatized, but their accuracy was more accurate then simply being observant would allow. Third and… most unsettling is those that parish during an Akuma battle and are brought back by the miraculous cure can view them.” 

Eyes snap to Marinette, who is looking at her hands with a bone-weary sadness that any hero can relate to. 

“You can raise the dead?” Jason asked, a little edge of unease in his voice. The bats knew he was thinking back to his own death, Tim reached out a hand to squeeze his knee. Being brought back to life wasn’t pleasant in their experience. 

“Yes,” She tells them, “All damage is repaired as if it never happened, that includes any death or injury that may happen during the fight. If I’m transformed I can also do some healing but it’s likely to knock me out quicker then I can heal something more serious than a broken rib unless I have an energy source to pull from.” 

“That’s fucked,” 

“Jason!” 

“Nah he’s right,” Marinette brushed off Damien’s growl, “but the last way you can see the akumas is the way we’re sticking with. Using a miraculous and the miraculous ability it possesses.” 

The Bats blinked at them but they glanced over to see the other Parisians already rising to their feet. 

“It’s about time for patrol anyways,” Chloe groaned, “It’s Adrian’s and Kagami’s night,” 

“It’s Friday and we’re already sleeping over,” Marinette hummed, “We could all head over to the training area and get this over with, then let you two go out while we train for a bit. I’m thinking miraculous swap drills.” 

“Should we suit up?” Bruce asked with a raised brow. 

“Would probably be a good idea,” She suggested, “It’s not far from here so no need to use Voyage to get there, we’ll just take the rooftops.” 

____________________________________________

An abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Seine, and the Paris team entered with an air of happiness, as the Bat’s took in the space. Half of the floor empty for sparing, while the other half appeared to be made into an obstacle course.  Old couches and chairs were grouped between the two zones, most likely placed there for breaks in training.   

“Not bad,” Dick commented as he looked around, “So how are we doing this?” 

“I’m keeping the earrings, but you guys will each try one of the other miraculous” 

“I call the Cat!” Jason yelled before Marinette finished, causing Dick to pout.

“No fair! Selina likes me best!”

“No way circus boy!”

“Selina,” Bruce cuts in, “Likes me best, that’s why we’re engaged. These aren’t toys, stop arguing over them.” 

“It’s alright,” Adrian laughed as he removed his ring, “We were the same way when M’lady first suggested training with each other’s miraculous. They can be exciting.”  

Tim was only half listening as around him the Paris team other than Marinette were pulling off their jewelry, numbers draining of color as they dropped down, except for one. 

“Kagami isn’t a true user.” He said offhandedly, as her burgundy refused to falter even as her number dropped to a still formidable 8. 

“What?” 

Longg glared at him, “Even if she was not blessed by my hand, she is still my chosen wielder and no less a worthy opponent for the corrupted holders, do not forget it.” 

“I didn’t mean to offend,” He offered, “Merely observing. Her number didn’t lose its color and dropped down to an 8 instead of a 12.” 

“What is a true user?” Kagami piped in, “and why are you aware of it?” 

“Short answer,” Plagg piped in taking his ring from Adrian, “Reincarnation is real and we blessed souls who are more linked to our aspects then anyone else in the world. Yadda Yadda…” 

Pollen smacked him upside of the head with her comb

“Hey!” 

“Someone had to do it since Tikki isn’t here,” She told him with a slight huff, “You forgot to mention that just because they have been blessed by us doesn’t mean that they’re going to be a good holder, nor does it mean that if they’re not blessed that they’re going to be a poor holder.” 

“Well duh!” He complained, “Kags is one of the best dragons we’ve had in the last millennium, and Mayra sucks at her role! I didn’t think I needed to mention it.” 

“It would probably help if Mayra was a true peacock instead of just a true holder,” Kaalki hummed. 

“Whatevas,” Plagg brushed off floating lazily over to Jason, “I want the zombie anyways.” 

“Rude,” Jason snarked but took the ring gently from the small cat, “How do I do this?” 

“Just put it on and say Plagg Claws Out,” 

Tim raised a brow as his brother put the miraculous on and his 10 bled from it’s usual rust to neon green, “Wait.” 

The room froze. 

Jason raised a brow, “What replacement?” 

“Take the ring off,” 

“Why?” 

“Your number…” He winced, still unused to mentioning the floating digits. 

Jason brushed right by it, “What did it jump up to a 15 like Marigold’s or something?”

“No… Just changed color. I really hope it’s not permanent.” 

Jason slid the ring off and the rust returned allowing the younger man to breathe a sigh of relief. 

“It go back?” Dick asked gently. 

“Yeah, back to the normal rusty red. Looks like the miraculous turn then user’s color to something associated with them,” He breathed, “Good, I was worried I’d be staring at neon green over Jay’s head forever.” 

“Hey!” Plagg snapped, crossing his tiny arms, “What’s wrong with green? It’s always been my color.” 

“It’s also the color of people suffering Larzath sickness,” 

The bats flinched and Jason held the ring with a grimace before slipping it back on, “Let’s get this over with then so I can go back to red, Plagg claws out!” 

The sickly green light overtook him and the number started to climb.

Finally, the number disappeared and Jason was left standing in clothes similar to his normal hero outfit but tweaked.

Everything he wore was now jet black, from his boots to his helmet, with neon green accenting his boots, fingernails that had grown out into long wicked looking claws and eyes. A thick black belt wrapped around his hips and hung behind him, flicking softly on its own accord and on top of his helmet the metal was shaped into delicate-looking cat ears. The silver baton attached to the small of his back, right over his leather jacket

Dick let out a low whistle.

“Impressive,” Damian muttered, “The transformation somehow made you look even stupider than normal, Todd.” 

“Like you can do better,” Jason countered, bouncing on the balls of his feet, “But also, holy shit I feel like I just got pumped full of caffeine and really want to test out what I can do.”  

“Transformation does that,” Kim snickered, “You get used to it after a while, but that’s why we brought you all here instead of letting you transform in the hotel.” 

“Wait until the others transform and we can give them a test run around the warehouse,” Marinette told him, before turning to the other, “Let’s get a move on boys,” 

Tim found himself moving towards Max, who was sliding on an extra set of glasses he had with him, no doubt his original ones.

“May I?” He asked earning a smile from the other boy. 

“Of course,” Max agreed, “Right Kaalki?” 

The tiny horse eyed him, “Famous and world renown in both identities, how could I say no? The transformation phrase is Kaalki, Full Gallop.” 

He nodded, turning to look back at his family. Xuppu while Damian was examining the dragon choker, asking questions of Longg and Kagami. He was surprised to see Bruce accepting the bee miraculous from Chloe however.

“The hair comb?” Dick laughed slightly, “Thought you’d go for the Pocket Watch, B.” 

His father sent him a bland look, “I don’t do blue.” 

The bats all cackled. 

“Super doesn’t have to know,” Dick teased, placing the circlet on his head, 10 glowing and shifting to a soft tan, “we can keep a secret.” 

“I don’t have a single son that I can trust not to tell the Boy Scout I was wearing his color if I took the rabbit,” He spoke evenly attaching the comb to the side of his cowl, his 11 flickering to a golden honey. 

“I’m hurt Father,” Damian said as he Hastened the choker around his throat, his 11 burning to a fiery red, “I would never willing talk to Superman.”

“You’d tell Jon,” 

“I never denied that fact, merely that I wouldn’t tell his father,” The youngest Wayne cheeked earning an eye roll from Bruce.

“Pollen, Buzz on,” 

The Bat suit changed more than jason’s, with the gloves and shin guards now coming to hard points stipped with yellow, and the cape was gone, replaced by large translucent wing fluttering restlessly. His cowl no longer came to the classic bat ear peaks, instead long thin antennae like fixtures replaced them and the white eyes changed to dark green compound eyes. Around his hips were his utility belt usually lay, the same bee themed top that Abeille wore was wrapped. 

“Alright we can all agree that the old man looks stupider then me right?” 

The Paris team eyes blew wide at insulting the Batman to his face but his sons just agreed easily earning an infamous batglare that they simply shrugged off. 

“I will send all of you home and bring Cass and Duke to assist instead,” 

“No you won’t,” Tim mocked as he slide the glasses on, repeating the transformation phrase he was told. Energy spiked within him too an ungodly level and at the same time pain seared through his head, knees buckling almost instantly under the pressure. 

“Are you alright?” Max yelped catching before he crumbled to the floor. 

Blinking rapidly the pain slowly faded to a low pounding right behind his eyes, Tim glanced up and froze. 

Bruce and Dick were on him almost instantly, pulling him to one of the couches to sit down, rapid fire assessment questions about how he was feeling, just like they did any time someone got hurt in field flying at him. Bruce all but pounded into them to never lie to these questions after Dick nearly fell into a coma his first year as Robin. Even when on auto pilot he could tell the truth to them. 

He vaguely heard “Changes in vision?” and simply nodded. 

“What changed, spots? Blurry? Colors weird? tunnel vision?” Bruce questioned softly, sliding the glasses down his nose to look into his eyes, but didn’t remove them.

“They’re gone,” 

“What’s gone?” 

Tim never let his eyes drift from above their heads. 

“The numbers, my numbers are gone.” 

____________________________________________

Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @iggy-of-fans @mewwitch @roseinbloom02 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @mochinek0 @royalchaoticfangirl @09shell-sea09 @mystery-5-5 @derpingrainbow @aloha-posts-stuff @hauntedfreakdeputyhero @maribat-archive @blue-peach14 @kae690 @zazzlejazzle @vincentvangoose @be-happy-every-day-please @xxmadamjinxx @celestiacq @peculiarlylostdreamer @dani-ari @melicmusicmagic @themcclan @nyctamaximoff @nataladriana9 @drama-queen-supreme @miraculousbelladonna @urbanpineapplefarmer @graduatedmelon @lexysama @hecate-hallow @ki117h3dr4g0n @vinerlover @interobanginyourmom @bluefiredemon @imanerddealwith @tinybrie @clumsy-owl-4178 @shizukiryuu @whogavemeaninternet @schrodingers25 @lunar-wolf-warrior @urbanpineapplefarmer @xxmadamjinxx @crazylittlemunchkin @littleredrobinhoodlum​ @rougemme​ @dur55​ @phantommeow12 @kand-roo​ @silvergold-swirl​ @officiallyathiana​ @completelypeccable​ @redhoodsdoll​ @nataladriana9​ @mariae2900​ @northernbluetongue​ @sturchling​ @thesunanditsangel​ @reyna-avila-ramirez-alreanaldo​ @bobothyross @taoiichii​ @magnitude101999​ @magicalfirebird​ @nataladriana9​ @panda3506​ @aquariusrunes​ @woodland-queer @sayarock121​ @mindfulmagics​ @magic-miraculous​ @my-name-is-michell @naoryllis @slytherinqueen2432 @ilovefluffbutsmutisalsogreat @captainartsypants @nanakeid @legendaryneckjudgestudent @smolplantmum @the-real-ginakid @nyaabinch @elmokingkong @gentlemanoftimetravel @whitennerdiest@imbrium-mare @tired-butterfly @corabeth11 @aestheticnpoetic @amirahevens @sassakitty @letterlust

[daisylincs]

WIP Folder Game

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!  ← part of my trick or treat now :D

Thank you so much for the tag, @eowima​​! You know, I think we should officially update you to the role of clairvoyant or something, lmao, because you won’t believe how well this fits into my ~master plan.~ (I’ll explain in a second, lol.) 

But before I start, um... letmeapologiseinadvancefortheshitshowthatisabouttofollow. My WIPs folder is, er, simply put, a mess. Chaos. A nightmare. 

I have an explanation!! I’ve always loved fanfiction and fandoms, and I’ve spent many happy years reading other people’s things - but I’ve never actually been inspired to create something myself. I don’t know, I always had tremendous respect for the creators who were already out there, but I never felt the inclination to join them, you know? 

Then I started watching AoS this lockdown, and... well, let’s just say that everything changed. For the first time ever, I woke up in the middle of the night and I had a fic idea, one that was demanding to be written down if I ever wanted to sleep a wink again.

And the more I got into the fandom, the more the fic ideas kept coming, until there was a point where I couldn’t read or watch anything without thinking, “ooh, AoS AU!!” So... into the WIPs folder it went. And as you can well imagine, there’s a lot there now. Like, a lot. 

Fitzsimmons was the ship that gave me my first fic idea, so of course there’s stuff for them. Then Huntingbird is the ship that actually pulled me completely and wholeheartedly into the fic verse. And then, of course, Staticquake, the ship that actually got me past my but I’m not good enough fears and, er, got me completely obsessed. I am still not over that.

And last but definitely not least - and, actually, you’re to thank for this, Océane, because it’s your fic that got me hooked on these two awkwardorable idiots - my brain decided that, you know what, if I’m going to write now anyway, I want to do Spideychelle.

So that’s the (long) story of me and my chaotic WIPs folder, and now with no further ado, I’m going to jump right in and give you a list of titles. *coughs* I am, however, going to put a cut here, because... well, you’ll see why. *cringes*

Key: 

💜 - Staticquake

💖 - Huntingbird

💚 - Fitzsimmons

🍋 - Dekesy

💗 - Pipsy

🤍 - Dousy

💕 - Skimmons

🧡 - Quakerider

💞 - Simmorse

🤎 - Mackelena

💙 - Platonic/Family Centric

❤️ - Spideychelle 

💘 - Clintasha

* - a series

(Ones with two or more hearts mean that all these ships feature prominently.) 

The List:

💜.  A Hero’s Reward

💜.  and i risk it all for this life we share

💜.  Angsty Post-Hive Recovery Fic

💜. barefoot on the grass, listening to our favourite song

💜. Best Friends But She’s In A Bad Relationship AU

💜. Bittersweet What-If Fic

💜. Blow Us All Away*

💜. Childhood Friends Fic

💜. darling just dive right in

💜. darling just kiss me slow

💜. don’t ask me where i’ve been, or what i’m gonna do (just know that i’m here with you) 

💜. every day in between

💜. Fairytale (Sleeping Beauty) AU

💜. Fake Dating Partyfic

💜. Flower Shop AU

💜. good old shake ‘n bake

💜. Grieving Fic

💜. High School AU Idea

💜. Hive Toilet Fic

💜. Hospital Fluff & Flirting AU

💜. Hotel Room AU

💜. i live for you (soulmates AU)

💜. i never knew you were the someone waiting for me

💜.  i’ll find my way through night and day

💜. just let your heart be free (you’ve got a friend in me)

💜. lights will guide you home

💜. Mission/Partners Fic

💜. Modern Royalty Fic

💜. Musical (West Side Story) AU

💜. Not That Girl Anymore

💜. PDA

💜. Pitch Perfect AU

💜. Post-Hive Pregnancy Fic

💜. put that body on me

💜. Rain Fic

💜. Red Thread

💜. Regency AU: Marriage of Convenience

💜. Regency AU: Arranged Marriage

💜. remember that with every piece of you

💜. Rom-Com AU

💜. Royalty Shenanigans Fic

💜. S3 AU - Daisy, Inhuman Leader

💜. S3 AU - Lincoln With SHIELD All Along

💜. Shake ‘n Bake: A YouTube Romance

💜. Skaters AU

💜. Sky’s the Limit*

💜. Snowed In Fic

💜. so baby i’m alright, with just a kiss goodnight

💜. some dreams do come true

💜. Soul Realm

💜. Soulmark AU

💜. Stardust AU

💜. Stranded-Somewhere-Cold Ficlet

💜. The Daughter of Thunder and Lightning

💜. the earth shook and the sky flashed

💜. took my heart upon a one-way trip

💜. TV Show AU

💜. Ward-Confrontation AU

💜. Watching Hamilton AU

💜. What-Ifs*

💜. you’d be the one i was meant to find

💜💙. Lincoln & The Team Bonding Fic

💜💙. MayLincoln Friendship Fic

💜💙. The Secret Warriors

💚. Academy Era Rom-Com

💚. Ah Crap My Ex Just Walked In AU

💚. Alya Fluff and First Words Fic

💚. Angsty Hair ficlet 

💚. Cute Family Zoo Prompt

💚. lunch break

💚. Second Child Fluff and First Words Fic

💚. Soulmate AU

💚. The Perfect Fairytale*

💚. The Team Ships It

💚💜. Fluffy Best Friends Idea

💚💜. ooh, la la la*

💚💙.  AoS Frozen AU

💚💙. FitzsimmonsSparks Fic 

💚💙. Us Against The World

💚💜💙. AoS Harry Potter AU

💖. Al Birthday Fic 

💖. always the same pattern, love

💖. blonde

💖. meet me half-way

💖. rollercoaster

💖. Soulmate AU

💖. The Blue Door (Notting Hill AU)

💖. the ride

💖. when did it all fall to pieces (can’t we build it back)

💚💖. Best Friends’ Wedding AU

💚💖. The Holiday AU 

💚💜💖💙. No Hive AU

💚💜💖💙. Post-3x10 Who Owes Who Fic

🍋. Angst/Introspection Fic

🍋. Beach Fic

🍋. Coffee Shop AU

🍋. Concert Canon Divergence Fic

🍋. Drunk Kiss Fic

🍋. Mission Kiss Canon Divergence Fic

🍋. Singers AU

💚🍋. Fluff and Teasing Fic

💚🍋. (Not A) Double Date

💗. ’cause you’re out of this world

💗. Coffee Shop/Baristas AU

💗. High School AU/Sleepover Fic

💗. Walls Come Down Fic

🤍. Affectionate Arguments/Take Care Of Yourself Fic

🤍. Danny Boy & Quake*

🤍. getting to know you, getting to know all about you

🤍. T Birthday Fic

🤍💚. Teasing/Introspection Fic    

💞. Birdie Birthday Fic

💞. Bodyguard AU

💞. Roommates/Best Friends AU

💞. you’re just my cup of tea

🧡. Abby Birthday Fic

🧡. it’s a better place since you came along

🧡. Reluctantly Perfect

🧡. Scarlet Birthday Fic

🧡💚. well that works    

💕. Coming Out Fic

💕. S1 Crush Fic

💕. you’ll be my lady

🤎. Childhood Best Friends AU

🤎. Church Camp AU

🤎. Giorgia Birthday Fic

🤎. Soulmates AU

🤎. then through the shadows, your light appears

💚💜💖🤎. Shippy Team Mistletoe Fic

💚💜💖🤎. Shippy Team Snowfic

💚💜💖🤎💙. Soft Family Fic from Chloe Interview

❤️. Ah Crap My Ex Just Walked In AU

❤️. Arranged Marriage AU

❤️. cute clueless moron

❤️. Cute, Dorky Friendship Idea

❤️. Fake Dating Friends to Lovers

❤️. Media Nonsense Fic

❤️. Michelle Jones, Agent of SHIELD

❤️. Michelle Jones, Inhuman

❤️. Océane Birthday Fic

❤️. oh, when you kiss me

❤️. Secret Santa Fic

❤️. Secret Santa Thank-You Ficlet

❤️. Spideychelle Week Day 5 - Roommates AU

❤️. Spideychelle Week Day 6 - Enemies to Lovers

❤️. Spideychelle Week Day 7 - Only One Bed

❤️. Teach Me To Fight, Parker

❤️💚. heads on a science apart

💘. Bobbi Birthday Fic

💘. 5 Times The Avengers Played Matchmaker, and 1 Time It Worked (Sort Of)

💘. Jade Arrow

💘. Natalia

💘. Roommates AU

💙. all the stars in the skye

💙. blue-eyed

💙. FitzDaisy Recovery Fic

💙. Happy Family Holiday Fic

💙. JemmaDaisy Friendship Fic

💙. see the line where the skye meets the sea

💙. Soft-Fluffy Philindaisy Tickle Fic

💙.untitled angst war fic

💜🤍💗🍋🧡💕💙. day’s eye      

(and that’s not even it. I haven’t even made documents for all the birthday fics. *crawls into a hole to die*)

So yeah, I’m completely insane and I’m probably going to be here for the next ten years trying to write all this lot and also I tag @ohwriteiforgot​​, @aleksandrachaev​​, @everythingirl44​​, @que-mint-tea, @anxiouslynumbme, @springmagpies​, @besidemethewholedamntime​, @infinitestarsintheskye​, @libbyweasley​, @a-biochemist-not-a-bird​, @nazezdha321​, @sadtunes​ and @here-for-huntingbird​, if any of you guys want to do this!

[suituuup]

hi, I was wondering where I can find the sequel to 'look at the stars (look how they shine for you)'? I remember reading it on your old tumblr but I couldn't find it on your AO3. It's a beautiful story and I wanna re-read the continuation of this story again.

hello! Yes, that’s because I only published it on tumblr. Managed to find it in my google docs, so here you go :)

part one here

*

“It’s a girl!”

The raw, piercing cry that fills the room following the doctor’s announcement makes Beca’s chest swell with unparalleled awe. She watches in awe as the slimy, unhappy and reddish looking baby is laid upon Chloe’s chest. 

“Oh my god,” Beca’s voice trembles with the emotions lodged in her throat as tears freely run down her face. 

“It’s okay,” Chloe murmurs to their daughter (their daughter. Holy crap.) as she peppers her forehead with gentle kisses. “You’re okay, baby girl.” 

The newborn’s wails subside to small cooing noises, Chloe’s warm skin against her tiny body seemingly reassuring and familiar after her tremendous and emotional arrival into the world. 

Beca leans forward to kiss Chloe’s temple, resting her forehead against the side of her head. “You are incredible. I love you both so much.” 

Chloe twists her head and they share a sweet, lingering kiss. “We love you, too, Mommy.” 

One of the nurses steps up to the other side of the bed once they’ve parted. “Chloe, we have to take her for just a few minutes, okay? We need to weigh and measure her, then give her a clean-up.” 

“O-okay.” Their minutes-old daughter fusses again as soon as she is carried away. “Beca, go with her, I don’t want her to be alone.” 

Beca brushes another kiss to Chloe’s forehead. “We’ll be right back.” 

She takes a few strides to the baby station tucked against the far wall, observing from a few feet away as they weigh, measure and clean-up her daughter before wrapping her in a blanket. She’s carried back into Chloe’s arms and Beca perches herself on the edge of the bed, draping an arm over Chloe’s shoulders as she gazes down at their bundle of joy.

“She’s so beautiful, Chlo,” Beca says softly, brushing her thumb over her daughter’s knuckles. “She has bright blue eyes, the same as yours.” Beca knows a baby’s eyes are likely to change a few shades but she hopes they stay identical to Chloe’s. “Her hair is light red, and she’s got lots of it. And she can’t take your eyes off you,” Beca observes endearingly. “At least she and I have something in common.” 

Chloe grins and leans her head against Beca’s shoulder. “Keep going.” 

“She’s got her hand wrapped around my little finger. Both literally and figuratively.” Beca says with a watery chuckle, followed up by a tiny gasp. “Oh, her eyes are closing. Looks like coming into this world was exhausting.”

Chloe giggles. “Tell me about it.” 

“Hi mommies,” the nurse interrupts gently. “Do you have a name for her?” 

“Avery,” Chloe speaks softly. “Avery June Mitchell.” 

Avery starts to fuss a few seconds later as the nurse fastens a bracelet with her name to her wrist. She helps Chloe present her breast to Avery, who latches on immediately. 

“She’s a trooper,” Beca murmurs with a proud smile, which drops when she catches Chloe’s features crumbling. She pivots to face Chloe, cupping her face tenderly. “Chlo?” 

“I’m okay,” Chloe sniffles, wiping her tears with her free hand before she rests it back over Avery’s tummy. “I’m just so happy.” 

Chloe has always wanted to have kids, but for many years that wish had been suffocated by the fear of not being a good mother because of her handicap. 

“Hey Chlo,” Beca murmurs as they snuggle in bed one week night. “Do you ever think about having a baby?” 

“A baby?” Chloe echoes, craning her neck to glance at Beca. It’s something that Beca had been thinking for a while now, but always figured Chloe would be the one to bring it up. She stares at Beca for a long stretch, her mouth gaping wordlessly. Eventually, she sets her head back down on Beca’s shoulder. “I-I do, it’s just…” She sighs as she fiddles with the hem of Beca’s shirt. “I’m scared. What if I’m not a good mother?” 

Beca brushes a kiss across her hairline. “Because you’re blind?” 

“Well, yeah.” Chloe breathes out. “I can take care of myself now, but another human being? What if I can’t change them properly, or feed them? I won’t be able to see if they’re in danger or… play with them the way a sighted person would.” 

“I get it,” Beca says softly as she draws nonsensical patterns along the base of Chloe’s spine. “But Chlo… look at me,” She reaches out to tilt Chloe’s chin up, tenderly cupping her cheek. While Chloe can’t see the confidence swirling in Beca’s eyes, Beca knows she can hear it in her tone. “That wouldn’t make you a bad mother. Your lack of sight wouldn’t change the fact that you’d love our child unconditionally and that you’d do anything in your power to make them happy. Of course it would be challenging and it might take you a little while to learn the ropes but I’d be there to help, every step of the way. We’’d learn together.” Beca pauses, brushing her thumb over Chloe’s cheekbone. “I know becoming a mother has always been something you wanted and I don’t want your inability to see to make you feel like you can’t.”

Chloe remains silent for a few beats and Beca can almost see the cogs churning in her brain. “Do you want this, too?” She eventually asks, almost timidly. “To have a baby?” 

“Yeah,” Beca confirms without missing a beat, her smile brightening her tone. “I do. I want to start a family with you, Chlo. Not -- maybe not tomorrow but sometimes down the road. I don’t really want to share you with anyone else at the moment.” 

Chloe’s giggle warms Beca from the inside out. “Maybe -- maybe we can start in a year?” 

Beca beams, reaching for Chloe’s hand to press a lingering kiss to her knuckles. “Sounds like a plan.” 

Beca knows what Chloe means; she never thought it possible to feel this unparalleled type of happiness, as though her heart was so full it barely fit inside her chest. “Me, too.” 

The first few days of Avery’s life go smoother than Beca expected. Nurses help them with changing, feeding and sponge-bathing their daughter. Beca is hyper focused through each task, knowing she will in turn be the one to help Chloe once they go home. 

“You got it,” Beca murmurs as she stands beside Chloe while Chloe finishes strapping on Avery’s fresh diaper, impressed with how Chloe picked up the skill much faster than she did. Chloe smiles and grabs the clean onesie draped over her shoulder, studying it with her touch for a handful of seconds to figure out which are the sleeves from the legs. After some fumbling to get the onesie over Avery’s head, the baby starts to show her discontentment by wiggling harder and fussing. 

“Bec,” Chloe requests. 

“Okay, right here,” Beca guides Chloe’s hands a little bit  before letting her do the rest. 

“It’s okay baby girl, almost done,” Chloe’s soft voice captures Avery’s attention while she finishes fastening the onesie snaps. “There we go,” Chloe reaches out, careful to support Avery’s head as she scoops her up to lay upright against her chest. “We did it!” 

As Beca predicted a few years ago, Chloe is an amazing mom. She gets up in the middle of the night to feed Avery and sings her back to sleep, goes to every baby swimming class, takes Avery to the park with her faithful guide dog Joey and reads her bedtime stories in braille. 

As she grows up, Avery knows her Mama’s eyes are “broken” and that she can’t see the way Avery can. She understands that she has to be a little bit more patient when it’s Mama that cooks or dresses her, or that she has to come give her toy to Mama when Mama asks what she’s playing with instead of just holding it up so Mama can feel it with her hands. 

However, she also understands pretty quickly that she can sometimes get away with things she wouldn’t dare try when Mommy is around, like stealing cookies from the stack when she knows she’s not supposed or drawing doodles on the living-room wall. 

“She gets that from you,” Chloe says when Beca slips under the covers after tucking Avery in. “Her mischievousness.” 

Beca chuckles, slipping an arm around her wife’s waist as she spoons her from behind. “I can’t really contradict you there.” 

“She was too quiet, I knew something was up,” Chloe explains. “But then she gave me her crayon when I asked what she was playing with so I believed her when she said she was coloring.” 

“It’s okay, Chlo.” Beca brushes a kiss in the crook of her neck. “We can always frame that part of the wall and pretend it’s an expensive piece of art.” 

Chloe snickers, finger feathering back and forth over Beca’s forearm. “What did she draw anyway?” 

“She said she drew our family. Two tall stick figures holding hands, two shorter ones next to them and a dog. I think it’s her subtle way to let us know she wants a little brother and sister.” 

Chloe turns onto her back. “Yeah?” A smile tugs at her lips. “Do you? Want to have another baby.” 

The thought has crossed Beca’s mind more than once, lately. “Yeah. If you want to, that is. I’m also happy with one.”

Beca squeaks when Chloe pulls her down on top of her, locking her legs around her waist. She brushes her lips across Beca’s. “Let’s make a baby.” 

Beca backs away. “Hold on, you know I’m not equipped, right?” 

Chloe’s giggle fills the room, and it’s still the most beautiful sound Beca’s has ever heard and the grin lighting up her face Beca’s favorite sight in the whole world.