#guys act 3 will happen trust me i um asked lightbulb

[yippee-optimistically]

Can you draw Bot and Clover?

i miss them

[angelofthequeers]

Not a Good Look: Chapter 4

@thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @lady-charinette tagged as requested :)

Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 | AO3 link

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

“– wake him up?”

“He needs the sleep, though. That was an enormous shock.”

“Yeah but his bodyguard’s picking him up at eight and he needs time to recover so he can act normal.”

That voice…it’s the voice of an angel. It’s his lady! His princess!

“Maribug…” he croaks around the weight in his chest. The hushed voices around him immediately die.

“W-What?” Maribug’s voice squeaks. Adrien should open his eyes but...it’s peaceful, drifting in this sea of darkness with his lady’s voice nearby. It feels like a pleasant dream after the nastiness of the shock that the voices had been talking about, although what that shock could be, he’s got no clue apart from a niggling little feeling in the corner of his brain.

“Of course she’s you. Of course you’re the most incredible girl, Maribug. Buginette. I like both. Just like Ryuumi. Kagyuuko.” He sighs and prays that this dream of amazing girls who could kick him over the Eiffel Tower never ends. “Girls. Please step on me.”

“Uh, Marinette, what’s he talking about?” says a voice that’s familiar but just evading Adrien’s addled mind.

“N-Nothing! I have no clue! He’s just delicious – uh, delirious!” Maribug babbles in a high voice.

“Really,” the second voice says flatly. “Because it sounds like he’s saying you’re –”

“He’s just delirious, okay?”

Everything after that fades into a buzz of voices and background sounds that brush over him but don’t sink in. He’s not sure how long it is before he’s finally able to open his eyes; it could be minutes, or it could be days. Either way, by the time he groans and cracks his eyes open, the light that meets him is emanating from a lightbulb instead of through the windows across from him, which show the dim skyline of the city outside lit by brilliant orange. How long exactly had he been out?

“Adrien?” says an angel from nearby, and some warm pressure envelops one of his hands. Craning his head brushes his cheek against soft pink fabric, informing him that he’s lying on the chaise in Marinette’s room, and this conclusion is confirmed when his brain focuses enough to inform him that the person kneeling on the ground next to him is Marinette. Kagami’s sitting cross-legged next to her, so close that the outsides of their thighs are touching, and she appears to be the source of the warmth in his hand, since she’s laced their fingers and is resting her head on the edge of the chaise just next to his side. Marinette’s blue eyes crinkle as she reaches over to brush the hair back from his forehead, and for a moment, this is Adrien’s whole world: just the three of them, him and his lady and his heart’s thunderstorm, and he almost forgets why he’s even in this position until someone else speaks.

“It’s around six.” This new speaker is Alya, who’s sitting cross-legged in Marinette’s desk chair and regarding him with the same sympathy as Marinette. “We figured you needed the sleep after that panic attack.”

“Alya!” Nino hisses from the floor next to the chair. Alya shrugs.

“What? He was gonna ask eventually.”

“Panic attack?” Adrien lets out a hoarse laugh. “I haven’t had one of them since…wow, I don’t even remember. Especially not one that bad.”

“Understandable, after what you learned,” Kagami says. She’s still wearing Kaalki’s glasses, and everything pours back into Adrien’s brain in a rush: Nathalie most likely being Mayura, his own father possibly being Hawkmoth and making a deal with Lila using him as collateral – collateral in a supervillain’s terrorist plot –

“Hey. Hey, Adrien.” A warm hand grabs his unclaimed hand and squeezes, while his chest once more begins to tighten. “Five things you can see.”

“Huh?” he rasps.

“Tell me. Five things you can see.”

“Um…” Adrien squints around the room, trying to direct his focus to the task he’s been given instead of the way his chest is clamping down on his lungs. “Your computer. Mannequin. Alya and Nino. Kagami. Uh…you. Your smile.”

Marinette’s soft smile seems to sharpen, drifting more into focus. “Good. Four things you can feel or touch.”

“The – the chaise.” His fingers twitch and brush against soft material. “My shirt.” He flexes his fingers in Kagami’s hand and she pushes right back, counterbalancing and grounding him. “Kagami. And…and you.”

“Good.” Marinette squeezes his other hand, and it’s like she’s breathing new life into him by the touch alone. “Three things you can hear.”

Adrien draws in a deep breath – much easier now that he’s not suffocating – and focuses. “The cars. They’re outside. Um…there’s a dog barking somewhere. And you. Your voice.”

“Almost there. Two things you can smell.”

“Strawberries and vanilla,” are the first words out of Adrien’s mouth in answer to that. While there are other fainter scents around him – fabric, the cool city air fluttering in from the cracked window, cooking food from downstairs – the smell that overwhelms him, that demands his attention, is Marinette. Her forehead creases in response to his words, but she thankfully doesn’t question them.

“And one thing you can taste.”

Instinctively, Adrien raises Marinette’s hand to his mouth and presses his lips to the back of it. “You,” he says, while Marinette’s face flushes as brilliant red as her suit when she’s Ladybug. God, Adrien loves this girl so much. How did he get so lucky that he fell for her twice over?

“Ghat’s tood – that’s good!” Marinette stammers. Kagami lets go of his hand with a small frown, and although Adrien wants nothing more than to erase that look from her face forever, his fuzzy brain can’t quite figure out how to do so, or even much of what’s going on right now. “Better feel a bit?”

“You’re so cute when you stutter,” Adrien’s mouth says without his permission. Marinette’s face turns even redder, darkening to the crimson of Ryuuko’s suit, and it’s that comparison that makes him realise: Kagami’s probably upset that he’d kissed Marinette’s hand like that. Shit. But how does he explain that he doesn’t love her any less? That he naturally gravitated to Marinette because she’s his partner, the one who’s had his back since the very beginning, not because he loves her more or something? The answer is that he can’t; not without exposing his identity, and he’d never betray his lady like that when they’ve agreed on the importance of secret identities, especially since he’d only just found out her identity. God, this is all so confusing. How do people do this feelings thing?

“Um…what do you remember?” Marinette forces out. “Since you got back here?”

Adrien frowns. “Not much. I know you guys comforted me – and you’re all the best friends anyone could have.”

“Damn right,” Alya says, while Nino salutes.

“Anything else?” Marinette’s tone is cautious, like there’s an elephant in the room that she’s stepping around. Adrien squints at her.

“Then I woke up and Alya told me that it was six.”

“Oh,” Nino says. “So, you don’t remember –” He hisses when Alya kicks him in the ribs, though it doesn’t look like there was any force behind it.

“Remember what?” Adrien struggles to sit up, though his body is less like a solid block of concrete thanks to Marinette’s grounding exercise, so it doesn’t take too much effort. “What did I do? Or say?”

Marinette looks over her shoulder at the others and bites her lip. Adrien’s gut lurches.

“Mari,” he says, leaning forward, and she starts at the nickname. “What happened? Did I mess up? Did my father or Nathalie –”

“No, no, nothing like that!” Marinette throws her free hand in the air, then takes a deep breath and looks down at the floor. “Just…Adrien, how did you know I’m – that I’m Ladybug?”

Adrien.exe crashes. Oh. Oh no. When had he let slip? It must have been in the fuzzy grey realm between getting back to Marinette’s room and waking up to a panic attack, because if Alya and Nino and Kagami didn’t know then Marinette wouldn’t have said it in front of them. But how can he give an answer without revealing his own identity?

Bit selfish of you, isn’t it? says a nasty little voice in his head. Worrying about your own identity when you just blew Ladybug’s, especially to the Ladyblogger.

Adrien swallows and then runs his free hand through his hair, which is much more Chat Noir’s messy mop than Adrien Agreste’s perfect style. “Um…your earrings gave it away,” he says slowly. Marinette’s forehead crinkles in that adorable way that it does whenever she’s trying to think of what to do with her Lucky Charm.

“How? They’re not – they’re plain black – I didn’t have my Ladybug transformation –”

“Well, for one, it occurred to me that jewellery doesn’t carry over to our transformations. But if it was a Miraculous?” Adrien leans in closer, holding himself on the chaise so that he doesn’t nose-dive off it, praying that he’s reading this right and he’s not just about to massively screw everything up. “And last time I saw Multimouse, she didn’t have any earrings.”

“…What?” Marinette blinks. “But you’ve never seen Multimouse –”

“Of course I have,” Adrien says. “She found it very sweet that I thought she was Ladybug, and I couldn’t help but trust her with my life as soon as she spoke, even if I didn’t know who she was. I don’t know how I let you trick me like that when I’ve had your back more than anyone else and I know what your brilliant mind’s capable of. It’s always been us two against the world, hasn’t it?”

It’s rather fascinating that Adrien can pinpoint the exact moment when Marinette’s brain crashes and blue screens. First off is the deathly pallor of her face, followed by her mouth falling open and emitting strange, strangled sounds that don’t in any way resemble speech, and then she’s grabbing his hand and yanking it up to eye level, causing Adrien to inevitably face-plant into the ground and hang off the chaise. But even though he can’t see her, he can certainly feel her running her fingers over his silver ring, and he knows very well that she’s aware of what the Black Cat Miraculous looks like after her stint as Lady Noire, even if the ring had looked different for her like her earrings had changed for him.

“Oh my god,” Alya whispers in the background. “No way – it can’t be – I’m such an idiot –”

“Yep,” says Plagg’s familiar voice as Adrien wrestles his other arm to pull himself fully onto the floor without crashing in an undignified heap. Great. The little gremlin’s going to take full advantage of this situation to milk all the admiration he can get to feed his overly large ego. “You’re such dim-witted creatures. Never see what’s right in front of your nose, and I think these two are proving my point.”

“You don’t need to be so mean about it, you stinky sock!” says a high voice that Adrien recognises as Tikki’s. Well, at least she also recognises that the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak.

“What?” Plagg says innocently. “I had higher expectations of Fox Girl there after she figured out Turtle 2.0 was her boyfriend –”

“How do you even know about that?”

“I know things. I’m an all-powerful god –”

“You’re so adorable!” There’s the sound of feet crashing on the floor. When Adrien finally manages to roll onto his back and groan, hoping that he doesn’t look like a total lost cause, he’s greeted with the upside-down sight of Alya cupping Plagg and scratching him behind the ears. Although Plagg’s wearing a look of annoyance, his loud purrs are a clear betrayal of his attempt to be a grumpy little goblin.

“I’m a creature of darkness! I’m the thing you fear in the night! The ancient avatar of destruction and misfortune!” Plagg yowls, but he makes no attempt to escape Alya’s furious scritching. If anything, his purrs grow louder, and Tikki hovers nearby with a particularly smug look on her face. Traitor. Turning his back on Adrien as soon as someone showers him with affection.

“Okay,” Marinette says faintly and helps Adrien sit up and lean against the side of the chaise. “Okay. I think I’m with it now.” Then she jabs him in the chest and immediately transforms from a dazed airhead to a terrifying demon. “Why the hell would you take the Snake? You could’ve said no! I was waiting for you to show up –”

“You said I was perfect for the job!” Adrien’s voice pitches and cracks, betraying him just like Plagg has. “I kind of had a massive crush on you, remember? I wanted to…well, get you to like me, since you didn’t like Chat Noir. And you said you didn’t need Chat –”

“Oh.” Marinette’s fury dies down like an enraged ocean smoothing out into calm ripples. “Oh, kitty. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to imply – well, I was wrong, okay? I meant what I said after Anansi and during our fight against Miracle Queen. You’re irreplaceable and it’s always going to be us against the world no matter what. I was just, um…more than a bit lovestruck with Adrien Agreste. I wanted to make a good impression on you for your first mission.”

“Really?” Kagami says dryly. “Ladybug wanted to make a good impression? I think I was mildly infatuated with you as soon as you saved me when I was Riposte. You made such an impression on me that you made me realise I wasn’t heterosexual.”

“Join the club,” Alya drawls. “I was so gay for her from the moment she saved me from Stoneheart. Well, pan, if you wanna get technical.” She and Kagami exchange knowing smirks.

“Uh, I know it’s not gay for me, but yeah,” Nino says. “I think we’ve all got a little something for Ladybug, dude. Although to be fair, Chat Noir’s just above her on my freebie list, and only half of that’s ‘cause Alya would deck me if I took Ladybug from her.”

“Damn right,” Alya says and rewards him by bending down to kiss the top of his head.

“I know that’s dumb now!” Marinette huffs and crosses her arms. “I’m a teenager in love. Sue me. And I’m going to ignore that all three of you would do me. Well, my superhero self.”

“Nino would do me,” Adrien says smugly because yeah, it’s just a bit of an ego boost that your best friend finds you hot, even if a) he’s taken by the girl of his dreams and b) you’re hoping to be taken by the girl of your dreams.

“Damn right, bro,” Nino says. Adrien grins.

“Bro.”

“Oh. My. God.” Alya throws her free hand in the air but quickly returns to petting Plagg when he hisses at her. “All this time, both my ships have been the same people! Marinette’s into Adrien – Adrien’s into Ladybug – Chat Noir’s into Ladybug too, and Ladybug’s into Adrien – but Marinette and Ladybug are the same people, and so are Adrien and Chat Noir! You’ve liked each other all along! What the hell is wrong with you two?”

Marinette catches Adrien’s eye and chews her bottom lip. His chest spasms, he gasps, and then he’s slumping against the chaise in a fit of laughter so hard that he can barely breathe, and Marinette’s lying across him and laughing just as hard. By the time Adrien finally manages to catch his breath, hiccupping, his eyes are stinging and blurry and Marinette’s face is buried in his chest, dampening his shirt with her own mirthful tears.

“Okay –” Adrien pants and drops a laugh-leaden arm around Marinette’s waist. “Okay – we need to – we need a plan –”

The reminder that his father is very likely Hawkmoth only slightly pops the atmosphere, but the sheer what-the-fuckery of everything that’s just gone on at least keeps everyone smiling. Wiping her cheeks, which are now stained red, Marinette scrambles backwards away from Adrien and then jumps to her feet and promptly face-plants back into the carpet.

“I’m okay!” she cries, leaping up again and stumbling towards her wardrobe. Alya shoots a mystified look at Adrien as Marinette rummages in her wardrobe, but Adrien’s eyes widen in understanding of what’s going on as soon as she emerges with a ladybug-patterned egg box. Alya and Nino and Kagami don’t seem to have a clue what it is, although to be fair, they’d been brainwashed when they’d seen it, so he’s not expecting them to have any memory of it.

“So, bugaboo, hit us with your incredibly convoluted plan,” Adrien says. Marinette pokes her tongue out at him in response.

“This,” she says and presses the top black spot to cause a cavity to open and show the slots of the main seven Miraculouses, while the other spots open to reveal the zodiacs, “is the Miracle Box. It’s where they’re all kept. And since I’m the Guardian now, I can control who gets which Miraculous without having to go to the Guardian every single time I need one.” She pauses and her face clouds over, so Adrien reaches over to squeeze her knee. Although she’s not the only one mourning the loss of Master Fu, she’s definitely taking it harder than Adrien is, since she knew him better and she’s now got all this responsibility on her shoulders.

“Wait, so that’s where you went every time you had to get help?” Alya leans in, eyes gleaming with her signature curiosity, though she makes sure to still keep scritching Plagg. “So. Cool! Uh, what happened to the other Guardian?”

This time, Marinette’s face is so clouded over that even the other three can pick up on it. Alya’s smile fades and she slumps back in the desk chair and mumbles an apology.

“Every time a Guardian passes on the title, they lose their memories,” Adrien says so that Marinette doesn’t have to answer and address something that’s no doubt been haunting her since that battle. “It’s a failsafe to protect the identities of the other holders and the Miraculous knowledge.”

“That’s bullshit!” Nino bursts out. “C’mon, dude! I get not remembering the identities and Miraculous knowledge and stuff, but all their memories? What the hell?”

“Nino’s right,” Kagami says with a terrifying little scowl on her face. “That seems like a very poor reward for that kind of service.”

“We don’t actually know much about it,” Marinette says. “Maybe there are different levels of memory wipe. Maybe Master Fu only knew about that one, since he wasn’t trained properly. We won’t know until we talk to the Order, which I’ve been meaning to do – but not right now.” Her features settle into the same determination of Ladybug in the middle of an akuma battle. “We’ve got a supervillain or two to catch. And here’s the plan.”