#i was so excited when we started with alix/bunnyx

[2manyfandoms2count]

Alix's rom-com night

The June event of the @mlwritersguild was to create bonus content for one of our fics - I decided to seize the opportunity to finally sit down and write one of the bonus scenes of You can count on me (I will be there for you), and to do draw a bit of fanart to go with it (4 panels, including a Marichat piece)! Let me tell you that the Burrow is a pain to draw, but I'm actually quite proud of the result :)

About YCCOM: It's an aged-up, one-sided reveal with "fake" wedding fic, based on Sallteas' art. The fic is 9 chapters and 20k words long. It was written before season 4, so it's no longer canon compliant in terms of who knows who's identities at the beginning.

Synopsis: Ladybug's identity is compromised, and somebody is after her. After a lot of pondering, she and Chat Noir come to the conclusion that her best bet is for her to marry Adrien Agreste. It breaks her heart that she is not marrying Chat Noir, but she knows that she's buying them time to figure out who is behind the anonymous letters she's been receiving, and hopefully to find Hawkmoth. Whatever the situation might be, her wedding day should provide a moment of respite. And maybe it would have, had Chat Noir refrained from coming to visit her just before the ceremony...

About Alix's rom-com night: it's a one shot that's chronologically set before the main fic, but I recommend reading it after reading the latter since it contains spoilers for it. It follows Alix (obviously), and includes Ladybug revealing her identity to Chat Noir and the set up of their "fake wedding" plan.

Hope you enjoy!

---

Alix opened her door and dropped her keys in the bowl as she kicked off her shoes with a satisfied sigh. Home, sweet home.

Her studio apartment wasn’t very big, but then again, she didn’t need a huge surface when she had a whole extension waiting for her just a transformation phrase away. She’d mentally thanked Marinette more than once for choosing her to wield the Rabbit Miraculous, rather than somebody else, just for the savings she made in rent.

She whistled happily as she made her way to her kitchen area, grabbing a bag of popcorn out of a cupboard and shoving it in her microwave.

She deserved the treat. She’d been running around all week, trying to slide letters to her targets without being spotted, spending hours on end to find the perfect stationary, and then staying up at night to get the wording exactly right, a delicate mix of subtlety and threat to elicit some sort of response from them. It had taken a lot of trial and error, especially for Ladybug. Her friend had always been surprisingly oblivious on many fronts, and it seemed that her honeymoon phase with Chat Noir reinforced her optimistic ability to brush ominous details aside. It had taken three letters for her to start freaking out and to promise Tikki she would talk to her partner about them, whereas Hawkmoth had started the analysis phase upon the first one he’d received.

Alix had only been mildly surprised by the identity of their nemesis when she’d decided it was high time she knew who they were facing; it was all too fitting that the man who leached off Paris’ most intense negative emotions should be the most embittered person she knew, and the one who, in retrospect, had been the cause of many an Akuma (she still shuddered at the what-could-have-been of Chat Noir’s akumatisation).

The microwave dinged, bringing her thoughts back to her timeline. She took the bowl out and called for her Kwami.

“Fluff, clockwise! Burrow!”

A white portal appeared in the middle of her living space and she walked through it, emerging in the ovoid room covered in screens. She made her way to the furthest point, hung her umbrella up on the coathanger she kept in there, and grabbed a folding chair. It was a director’s seat which supposedly had belonged to a rising name in the cinema world before their career had been shot down for obscure reasons, but she didn’t really care about its story; she’d bought it for a very low price at a yard sale, and that was all that mattered to her.

“Right, where are you…” She muttered, scrutinising her surroundings, until she found the screen she was looking for.

She unfolded the chair, zoomed in on the empty (for now) rooftop, propped down in her seat and threw a fistful of popcorn into her mouth, waiting for the show to start.

Unsurprisingly, Ladybug was the first to arrive on the scene. She paced around, mumbling to herself as she wrung her hands together. Alix felt a pang of guilt as she watched her rehearse how she would break the news to her partner, but reassured herself that the ordeal would soon be over.

Finally, Chat Noir landed beside Ladybug, and she flung herself at him, holding him so tight he had to untangle himself from her arms to breathe.

“Well, well, well, my Lady, I know I couldn’t make it to patrol last night, but I didn’t think you’d miss me this much,” he chuckled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Alix rolled her eyes at just how lovestruck he looked as he did so. How could her friends be so sappy, and yet still be at square one in terms of knowing who the other was?

Some might have said that it was romantic, that they loved each other regardless of who they were; but those people did not have to deal with the constant end of the world threat.

“What was so important that you couldn’t just text me?”

Ladybug took a deep breath. Her fingers slid along his arms as she relaxed her embrace, taking his hands in hers at the end of the line. “Somebody knows my identity,” she said quietly, looking down. “And I don’t know who they are.”

“What?!” Chat’s voice detonated in the previously peaceful quiet of the evening, making a couple of pigeons take off in a loud flutter of wings.

“I’m so sorry, I must have been careless when I got home one night, they must have seen me, I bet it was last week when I was tired and I-”

“My Lady, no offence, but I don’t care about the when and why, just... are you okay?” He tilted her chin up, gently turning her head to each side, checking for any signs of injury.

She placed her hand on his, making him stop, and gave him a soft, sad smile. “Yes, Chaton. Just a little rattled; you know you were the first person I wanted to reveal my identity to. Not including Bunnyx, although technically I never told her who I am.”

“And technically, I’m still the only person who knows who you are,” Bunnyx smugly commented between two handfuls of popcorn. “Now come on, I want to see how you react when you reveal your identities to each other.”

“How do you know somebody knows, though? And do you have any idea what their intentions are?”

Ladybug’s expression darkened. “I received some letters. They’re not signed, but they’ve got enough butterflies on them to make me think that even if they’re not from the biggest pest in Paris, then they’re probably from somebody who’s up to no good.”

Chat Noir swore under his breath, then regained his countenance. “So, what do we do now? Do you think we can hunt down the bugger?”

“We definitely will, but…” Ladybug bit her lip, and Alix leaned forward in her seat. This had to be it. “Chaton, I think the time has come for me to tell you who I am.”

“YES! Finally!” Alix cheered, almost spilling her popcorn bowl.

“Are you sure, my Lady?” Alix didn’t have to be on site to tell that Chat Noir’s heart was beating faster than usual; the corners of his mouth twitched as he repressed a smile, as though his excitement could make her change her mind.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I really want you to know.” In case something happens to me, Alix was pretty sure her friend had left unsaid.

“Okay, okay.” Chat Noir took a deep breath, buzzing with anticipation, so much so that he apparently missed the whole subtext of her previous words. “Do you want to do this now? And how do you want to do it? Do you want me to close my eyes? Are you going to write it on a piece of paper for me to read? Are you going to detransform? Should-”

“I was thinking the latter, and yes, now,” Ladybug said timidly. “Up to you if you want to look or not.”

“For some reason, I feel like I shouldn’t.” He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles without breaking their eye contact, then took another deep breath and closed his eyes, a blissful smile on his lips. “Ready when you are, my Lady.”

“Ok, here goes.” She let out a shaky breath and called off her transformation. The soft pink glow engulfed her and receded, her suit melting away to reveal her true appearance.

“Wow, Marinette, you actually broke out your favourite dress for this? Glad to see all of this isn’t affecting your ability to think straight.” Alix smirked. If her friend had gone home after a long, stressful work day, and found it in her to change and doll herself up to make a good impression on Chat Noir, things couldn’t be that bad. She had to agree that her dress, simple, white, with little red hearts embroidered on it, was perfect for the occasion, though.

“You can open your eyes now, Chaton.” Marinette gave his hands a squeeze.

Chat Noir obliged, blinking slowly as he took in her appearance, her identity, her. Marinette squirmed under his gaze, his expression not giving away any of his thoughts.

“H-Hi,” she stammered when she couldn’t take it anymore. “I, erm, I guess I should introduce myself? We’ve run into each other before, when we were younger, and even if you actually had lunch with my family that one time, I guess it’s been a while… My name is-”

“Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chat’s smile finally broke free, spread from ear to ear, almost literally illuminating his face. Alix wondered if anything could ever wipe it off. Love and admiration twinkled in his eyes as he picked her up and started spinning her. Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling giddily, before Chat Noir closed the gap between their lips.

Bunnyx modestly looked away, allowing them to have their moment. Her eyes landed on a rerun of Plagg putting an end to the dinosaurs’ reign.

“I should have known that it was you, Princess.” Chat panted slightly as he carefully set Marinette back on the roof. “Everything makes so much more sense now, I-”

“Before you finish that thought, I can’t know your identity.” She placed her index finger on his lips. “Yet, of course.”

“What?” Chat froze, and so did Bunnyx, her hand pausing midway between the popcorn bowl and her mouth. “But why?”

“I don’t know what might happen to me, but I don’t want to put you in any danger.” Marinette cupped his cheek. “And I don’t want to lose my memories of you. Of us.”

“Oh for Kwami’s sake.” Alix rolled her eyes. “Boo!” She threw a fistful of popcorn at the screen as her friend continued to list all the reasons Chat couldn’t reveal his identity.

“My Lady, Marinette, if you’re worried about your safety, maybe we should do something about it. I could move in with you, or in a flat nearby, maybe, stay transformed or wear a mask at all times so you don’t know who I am, we can figure it out… Of course I know you can protect yourself, but I could stand guard while you sleep, or...” Chat raked his hand through his hair as he thought.

“You know I love you, Chaton, and that’s why I can’t let you do that! You can’t live like that, I can’t ask that of you. Not to mention how difficult it would be for me, do you really think I could resist having you so close, and not trying to get a glimpse of who you are?” She joked, trying to diffuse the sudden tension.

“Then we need to get you a bodyguard,” he insisted.

“I thought about it, but… Well, I can’t really afford it, and how could I justify suddenly needing personal security? I’m just a designer, and nothing I’ve ever done has been avant-garde enough that I should be worried about my safety.” She shook her head.

“Damn, I knew I should have targeted Chat Noir,” Alix swore under her breath. “He would’ve had to reveal his identity, and she definitely wouldn’t have been a pushover on her kitty’s protection matter. Come on Adrien, do something.”

She could tell that he was up to something just by looking at him. He’d been silent for a little too long for it to be natural. Cogs turned in his head, making him squint. He let go of her completely and paced around the roof, almost pulling his hair out as he did so. Alix sensed that whatever was on his mind was going to be big. She leaned forwards in anticipation.

Finally, Chat Noir came to a halt in front of Marinette, the fever in his eyes and his dishevelled hair making him look slightly unhinged.

“Buguinette, I think I’ve got a solution,” he whispered.

“You do?” Marinette’s voice was full of hope, although she looked slightly concerned about him.

“You’re probably not going to like it,” he warned her, lifting a finger.

“Beggars can’t be choosers.” She shrugged, taking a step forward.

“Right.” He gave her one last look, an opportunity to stop him before the words tumbled out. She nodded encouragingly. “Okay, here’s the thing. I have it on very good authority that Adrien Agreste is being pressured into getting married by his father.”

“I see Gabriel’s just as delightful as always,” Marinette shook her head.

“Unlike good cheese, he definitely doesn’t get better with time.” Chat smiled bitterly, eyes losing focus a little.

“What’s it got to do with us, though?” Marinette prompted, placing a hand on his arm.

“Oh, Agreste, you absolute genius, I think I know where this is going.” Alix took another handful of popcorn.

“Oh, yes, right.” He cleared his throat. “See, Adrien’s not dating anyone at the moment…” Right, Alix snorted. “And he’s not really planning on starting a relationship with his father breathing down his neck, but, well, he happens to owe me a favour, and I’m sure that he’d be more than happy to put his security detail to good use…”

“So you’re suggesting that I marry Adrien.” Marinette deadpanned.

“Well, er, I actually thought you could just date, but thinking about it… It would be less strange for you to request a bodyguard if your relationship was more serious…” He trailed off.

Alix was impressed by how well he concealed his emotions. His poker face was truly exceptional.

“And you think Adrien would be ready to marry me because of a favour he owes you?” Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips and squinting at him as she tried to pick at his lie.

Alix winced for Chat. Maybe he should have waited a bit before blurting out the (as it turned out) probably only sane option in that situation so he could work out all of the details for himself. Marinette was very good at trying to shake plans to see how solid their foundations were.

“Please. Adrien had a crush on you when you were younger, if anything I could probably smuggle it as another favour, given how perfect the fake scenario would be. Although I guess that since you also liked him… It might just cancel out.” He tapped his lip pensively.

“Adrien had a crush on me?” Marinette frowned. “Oh, you must mean Ladybug. I think Nino mentioned it once.”

“Well, yes, but he also had one on you, Marinette.” Chat stepped forward, mischief twinkling in his eyes as he poked her on the nose.

“Really, now,” she muttered to herself.

“The main reason he didn’t act on it was that he thought you loved somebody else.” Chat smiled ironically.

“Wow, what a pair of idiots.” Marinette chuckled.

“You don’t know the half of it.” He kissed her forehead.

“But you know what?” Marinette didn’t pick up on her partner’s comment. “I’m actually glad we didn’t get together. It probably would have delayed us getting together.” She pressed a peck to his lips. “If we’d gotten together at all in that timeline.” She smirked.

Alix snorted. Out of all the timelines she’d watched unfold in an attempt to keep things in check, there wasn’t a single one where Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Chat Noir, didn’t end up together, and not just because of her interventions to help them, and the rest of the planet, stay alive.

Marinette’s face fell at Chat Noir’s lack of response. Alix knew her friend didn’t particularly believe in soulmates, but she understood that she would have liked a sappy Chat Noir special comment on how he’d told her he’d grow onto her anyway, and that she would have soon discovered that the Agreste boy had nothing on him. She assumed that he was too busy restraining himself from saying the wrong thing.

“Actually… What about us, then?” Marinette cleared her throat and looked up at him, eyes glistening slightly in the half light.

“My Lady… If you really think that you being a divorcée will spur me away…” Chat Noir looked down at their entwined hands, locks of blond hair falling in front of his eyes, concealing his giddy smile from her. You sneaky cat, Alix thought.

Marinette followed his gaze, letting out a long sigh as she watched their hands sway lightly. Alix knew her brain was probably trying to find all the flaws in the plan. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it would be enough for her friend to accept. It was perfect, whether they got their act together and figured everything out before the event, or not.

“Fine,” Marinette finally said with resolve, making Alix mentally thank whoever was out there. “I’ll do it on two conditions.”

“Anything, my love.” Chat let out a sigh of relief.

“Firstly, we’re honest with Adrien from the get go. No lying about anything.” Chat nodded along. “Secondly, we get cracking on finding Hawkmoth, and after we do and the divorce is settled, if we even get that far with Adrien because obviously if everything is settled before the wedding we won’t be going through the whole plan…” Chat smiled fondly as she took a deep breath. “After all that, we are getting married.” She gestured between the both of them.

“My Lady, are you proposing to me right meow?” Chat Noir all but purred.

“I guess so.” Marinette shrugged, a smile and a blush spreading on her cheeks.

“Wow, then, I’m definitely putting Adrien in charge of the proposal planning,” he replied with a smirk.

“Chaton!” She stomped her foot, her mildly amused smile cancelling out her frown.

“What?” He teased her.

“Will you? Marry me?” She held his gaze.

“Do you even have to ask?” He chuckled. “You know, my Lady, I’m pretty sure that, in my head, we’ve been married since that speech you gave on the Eiffel Tower during our very first fight. Well, I’ve been married to you; you do whatever you please.”

“You’re such a dork,” Marinette laughed, brushing her nose against his and throwing her arms around his neck.

“And yet you still love me.” He pulled her closer.

“Unfortunately, I do,” she sighed dramatically before pressing a kiss to his lips.

Alix dismissed the screen. She’d seen what she wanted, and it seemed like a good place to stop; a happy, sappy ending. Also, she’d finished all of her popcorn.

Everything was on track, her friends would start their Hawkmoth hunt, and soon everybody in Paris would be able to live without fear of their own negative emotions.

(Of course, that was the theory; she’d soon find out that she’d underestimated Adrien’s will to organise the perfect wedding for Marinette, and that, my friends, was no small oversight.)

[mcheang]

Can we have a fan-fiction where Bunnyx goes to the past to tell Alix that Lila is lying and that she should investigate the stories Lila tells plz? Also after Alix finds out Lila is a lies Alix switches to team Marinette and Alix and Marinette become really good friends

Time travel doesn’t make sense

Technically I have a similar fic in response to your request. See Justice In Red.

Normally it would be suitable to use the Ladybug episode situation to write your story, but I want something new. So I’m heading for post-Chameleon and post-timetagger. For the record, I claim this as a rough draft because I am not fully sure about this one. It’s new territory. I’m more of a expose-Lila-now kind of girl.

Alix had been so excited. Earlier today at lunch, Lila mentioned she had met Roberto Riva in Italy and he had been kind enough to teach her roller blading. Alix had been green with envy at Lila’s luck.

Luckily, Lila promised that if she should ever meet Roberto again in Italy, she would ask him if he would be willing to give Alix some tips.

Alix was thrilled. She had been having a block thinking up new tricks to perform. Honestly, she never really thought about roller skating as a career but Lila convinced her she should give it a shot. It would mean less time for art club though.

Alix was troubled by that. She wasn’t like Marinette, able to juggle so many responsibilities and hobbies.

When Alix was troubled, she headed to the museum. All those fossils and art sometimes gave her inspiration or new solutions. It was also where she learned of her destiny as Bunnyx. Too cool!

As Alix skated through the halls, she found another skater. A young woman with pink hair and brightly-coloured clothing.

“Hey, mini-me,” future Alix greeted with a chill smile.

“Woah,” Alix stopped. “Hey yourself, myself. Um, what are you doing here? Is there another time-travelling akuma?”

Future Alix smiled and shook her head. “Nope. Not that this isn’t an emergency. You see, I’ve had memories of when I would get visited by my future self. This is one of those days.”

Alix tilted her head. “Why?”

Future Alix towered over mini Alix and clasped her hands together. “Last time I was sent here to stop an akuma. This time, I’m here to save our class’ future.”

“Woah, woah, what?”

Alix stared into her other self’s eyes. They were deeply serious. “Here’s the deal. Lila is a liar.”

Alix almost wanted to ask if Marinette had finally gotten to her (her dislike of Lila was well known but she kept her distance), but then stopped herself.

“Excuse me? But how do you know that?”

“Well, it took time for all puzzle pieces to fit. But Lila’s connections; they are all false. And it’s messing up our future. It kept changing and that alerted me to check the past. Rose got conned to give Lila money meant for charity. It’s only now she realizes that there was no such charity. Same for Ivan and Mylene. Alya’s reputation as a blogger was ruined when Ladybug finally snapped at Lila to stop lying about their so-called friendship. Her chance to be a journalist’s intern was ruined. Lila sabotaged Juleka’s chance to model when they were at the same shoot so she could take her place.”

“Ok, stop. I get it.” Alix was shellshocked. How could Lila do this to them. After all they had done for her. Wait...

“Did Lila also lie about her injuries?” Alix asked hollowly.

Future Alix nodded again, her face darkening. “All so we could carry her lunch and bags for her, so she could skip gym, and pretty much frame Marinette.”

Alix staggered back against the wall. “Oh my gosh. Marinette had been right along. I’m such an idiot. I should have listened to her.”

Future Alix kept quiet. Alix didn’t look up to see her reaction.

“What happened to Marinette?”

Future Alix winked. “I’ve given you enough what if spoilers. But rest assured, Marinette can take care of herself. She’s not alone.”

Alix felt relieved at that. “But what should I do now.”

Future Alix put her arms behind her head and started skating backwards. “I don’t know mini me, what do you think we should do?”

Alix wanted to confront Lila right away, but she knew that didn’t work out for Marinette. No, Alix needed a different tactic. “I need to expose Lila with hard evidence. So she can never get away with deceiving anyone else ever again!”

Future Alix winked, “it’s a good idea. But I say it’s better to keep your enemies close. Even if Lila is exposed, she’ll still find a way to recover and we won’t be so close to her as to find out her plans.”

Alix groaned. “So I have to be a double agent?”

“Nope. You can keep a “friendly” distance from Lila. You just need to remove her influence on our real friends.”

“That’s not as much fun.”

Future Alix shrugged. “I was chosen because I could keep secrets.”

From that day forth, Alix did her best to guide her friends away from Lila’s suggestions. Sure, she gritted her teeth and kept silent throughout Lila’s tall tales.

Her one comfort was Marinette. She understood exactly how Alix was feeling, even if their reasons were different.

Alix nearly punched Adrien for his stupid high road because hello, Lila’s pawns could be akumatized too once she was eventually exposed, with worse consequences.

Adrien had guiltily apologized once Alix downright accused him of being a lousy Friend and a traitor.

He had been willing enough to join their small team to subtly discredit Lila, especially once Alix threatened to disband their friendship.

Alix couldn’t give away her knowledge of knowing Lila was a liar. So she continued to join Lila’s entourage, but kept asking polite questions and requests that deterred Lila.

When Lila tried to accuse Marinette or exclude her, Alix protested, which prompted Alya to join in when she was torn about whether to split events with her 2 friends.

When Lila tried to ingratiate herself with Adrien, Alix finally taught him how to identify sexual harassment and to quit indulging her already!

Adrien even managed to convince Alya to remove her interview since it was endangering Lila’s family.

Even though Marinette and Alya were still BFFs, Alya wasn’t include in the Anti-Lila league. Marinette and Alix had a shared secret and this made them grow closer as friends. Whenever Alya was with Lila, Alix would immediately join Marinette. Whenever Lila appeared, Adrien stuck to Marinette.

Mylene, Ivan and Rose were encouraged to support known charities that were already making headway. They suggested Lila give them her charity email so they can set up communication with the persons in charge. Lila quietly backed out when she realized how well prepared they were against any cons. She made up a lie that it was a previous school fundraising and was temporary.

Adrien promoted Juleka to a new modelling brand. Lila tried to join in but Adrien shut her down.

Together, Marinette, Alix and Adrien were paving the way for a future where the class could pursue their dream jobs without Lila’s hindrance.

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: G

Summary:  An offhand curiosity leads to Ladybug and Chat Noir riding his baton up as high as it can go. Or, as high as it can go before they get distracted. (It's just nerves about the height that has Ladybug's stomach in knots, she swears.) Ladynoir oneshot for @lovesquarefluffweek, dedicated to @rosekasa who made me a ladynoir stan

Word Count: 3511

XXX

Marinette rested her hands on her hips, watching in amusement as her partner finished wedging his staff in the crack in the dilapidated rooftop.

“This is a horrible idea,” she said idly.

His tongue stuck out as he tried wiggling the stick, ensuring that it was secured fast.  “Come on, Bugaboo, none of your ideas have ever been horrible.”

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t her idea. She’d only wondered how far Chat’s baron could extend, if its length was as infinite as her yo-yo’s string.  It was her ridiculous, adrenaline-junkie partner who wanted to ride the baton up as far as it could go.  

Not that it was that dangerous, really.  They’d done it a few times to scout for some akuma or another during attacks.  Besides, it would be nice to see the city from such a height without a threat looming over them—or below them.

“It wasn’t an idea. It was a question,” she still said on principle. “I didn’t think you were actually going to test it.”  

He rested his chin on the top of the baton and grinned.  “How long have you known me? I’m not majoring in Physics for nothing.” 

“You’re not majoring in Physics.”  She leaned in to flick his nose, which only made him grin wider.  “Not for another two months, and not ever if you become a pancake by pulling some stupid stunt before then.”  

“How could I hurt myself?  I’ll have my amazing partner right there to catch me if I fall.”  He winked.

Her stomach twisted like pretzel dough—from nerves about the height, that was all.

“Don’t go treating me like a parachute, kitty.  I’ll be more likely to rip my arm out of its socket if I have to yo-yo us out of this.”  

Or she’d have to use Lucky Charm and hope for an actual parachute, but it probably wouldn’t come to that.  Silly as her kitty could be, he never let her down when it mattered.

“Don’t worry.  I’ll be extra careful, I Pawmise.”  He crossed his heart with one claw, still grinning like he was already on top of the world.  

Ridiculous or not, this idea was worth it just to see him so excited.  He’d been bouncing all night since she’d agreed.  

“You’d better,” she warned, though her voice was warm.  

His grin reached Cheshire proportions as he wrapped one arm securely around the metal staff and extended the other to her.  “One catapult, going up.”

“Oh no.”  She laughed.  “Points for the pun, but please don’t tell me you’re going to launch us.” 

“I already said I’ll be careful.  Don’t tell me the fearless Ladybug is actually scared?”

“Pffff, you wish.  You just want me to hold on tighter.”  Her fingers threaded through his teasingly before slipping out just as he tried to kiss her knuckles.  

His lips pursed in a pout.  “You know me too well, my Lady.  ...But seriously, please hold on. I know you can catch yourself if you have to, but I’d really rather not drop you in the first place.”

“That makes two of us.”

She wrapped one arm around his waist and secured the other at his shoulder.  His feet lifted off the ground to brace against the staff, leaving his thigh as a comfortable seat.  

Enjoying this, huh?  She almost expected him to tease as she snuggled closer—because she did want to be safe.  It was almost disappointing when he neglected to quip though.  Maybe she wasn’t clinging tightly enough after all.

“So high do you think we’ll go?”  He asked, holding her by the waist as she finished getting settled.  “Think we’ll be dodging planes tonight?”

“I doubt it.  Even if we technically could go that high, we shouldn’t.  It’ll be freezing up there.”  

“What, afraid I won’t be able to keep you warm?”  He teased with a gentle nuzzle to the size of her head.

Had it always been this difficult to keep from leaning into his touch?  Not that she couldn’t, but, well—if she gave into his jokes, he’d have no reason to continue.

“Why don’t you just focus on getting us up there at all.”  She kept her voice flat, hiding any trace of that brief thought.

“Whatever you say, Bugaboo.”

For all his earlier joking, their ascent started fairly slow, more like an elevator than a catapult.  It gave her plenty of time to take in the sights below—the warm lights flickering from windows, divided by the dark swath of the Seine.  Streets radiating out from the Arc de Triomphe like spokes on a wheel, cars inching their way down them like little lightningbugs.  And of course, the Eiffel Tower, sparkling in the distance, a homing beacon that never failed to bring a smile to her lips.

Paris.  Their city.

“Pretty amazing, huh,” Chat breathed beside her. With their arms around each other and the glittering lights below, it was easy to pretend they were rulers surveying their kingdom.

...Chat had must have been calling Marinette Princess too much.  Or else his My Lady’s were going to her head.

Royal daydreams or not, though, there was no one she’d rather have beside her—no one else she could have beside her. And not just because it was his baton that held them aloft, his embrace that made her feel as secure as if she stood on solid ground.  She would have been crushed under the weight of her superhero mantle if he weren’t there to share it.  Staring down at just how many people depended on them, it was impossible to forget that.

“Does it ever feel like too much?”  She whispered the doubt that had been nagging at her more and more lately. She tried to stay strong for the team’s morale, but when it was just her partner and the hushed sky, her necessary barriers wore thin.  

“Does what feel like too much?”  He replied just as quietly.  His face turned to hers, emerald irises glinting in the moonlight, closer than she’d prepared herself to handle.

The pretzel twist in her stomach made a reappearance, but she was hardly thinking about the height.

“You know.  All of this.”  She couldn’t let go to gesture to the glowing city beneath them, but he seemed to understand anyway.  “We’re the only ones standing between all of them and two adult supervillains. And even after all these years, we still haven’t found them.”

Her voice cracked a little on that last sentence. The uncomfortable truth they’d been dancing around for the last few months—longer, really, but it became more and more urgent as lycee ended and they prepared to go to University. Most of their team of miraculous wielders (not Chat, of course) would be leaving Paris. This was the last summer they would be together, and the last summer they could be kids, only they hadn’t really been kids for four years now thanks to Hawkmoth and Mayura—

And maybe that was why she agreed to this crazy idea.  Because they were kids, dang it, and she deserved to do something silly and dumb with the one person she trusted more than anyone in the world.  She wanted to spend time with him outside of taking down Hawkmoth’s villain of the day.  She wanted them to just be together.

Wait.  Not together, together—just, like, as friends.  Who could spend time together without wearing magical suits and masks.  She wanted to sew them matching shirts, and text him cat memes at two a.m., and kick his butt at video games.  Which she could do as Marinette, but—she wanted him to know it was her, too.

The sheer force of that longing took her by surprise, and only multiplied her hatred for Hawkmoth a hundredfold.

“Hey, Little Bug,” Chat said softly.  His arm tightening around her dissolved the complicated web of her thoughts.  “We’re going to find him.  And it’s not just us anymore.  Pegasus is analyzing all the data Rena’s collected, remember?  And we’ve got her and Carapace alternating patrols with Ryuuko and Viperion.  We can even call in Queen Bee or Bunnyx or King Monkey if we need to.  We’ve never been closer to taking Hawkmoth down.”

He was right.  They weren’t alone.  They never would’ve survived the combined powers of Hawkmoth and Mayura if it weren’t for their team, especially since sentimonsters started regularly joining the fray two years ago.

Still, there was something about sitting with Chat among the pinprick stars that brought her back to before then.  When it was just the two of them against the world.

Was it weird that she sometimes missed that?

“I know,” she murmured.  Her forehead leaned against his chest, where the steady thump-thump of his heart calmed her own.  “Sorry, Chat.  I shouldn’t worry.”

“I don’t think anyone could stop you from worrying.”  His chin rested on her head, his warmth and familiar scent cocooning her.  Roses and leather and cheese, juxtaposed in a way that was so uniquely him.  “I doubt Paris would still be standing if you didn’t worry.  But it’s going to be okay.  I promise.”

The rational part of her brain wanted to ask how he could say that.  The newspapers cried out against them at every mistake, at every day that drew them closer to the fifth anniversary of Hawkmoth’s appearance.

But the other part of her brain, the part that had worked in tandem with him long enough that trusting him was second nature, calmed at his reassurance.  

“Who knows,” he continued.  “Maybe we’ll kick Hawkmoth’s butt before summer ends, and then we can throw a party before everyone splits for University.  The whole team can show up.  We’ll get Multimouse to bring the pastries.  Carapace can blast us some sick tunes.  I’m sure Queen Bee can get us a venue…”

Marinette giggled at the thought of all the miraculous wielders, unmasked and just hanging out like normal friends, no more worries than what they were going to do in University.  Alix and Kim would probably (definitely) end up in some kind of competition, powered by their miraculouses or not.  Luka would serenade Kagami with his guitar instead of Viperion’s lyre.  Speaking of which, Marinette wondered if Adrien’s brief stint as Aspik would mean he would be there… and how he would get along with Chat Noir.  For some reason, she had a feeling it would be odd to see them together.

Regardless, it was a dream worth fighting for.  A dream worth hoping for.

“I’m sure Multimouse would love that,” she said, hiding her smirk against his collarbone.  By the time such a party could happen, Chat would know the truth about her dual identity, anyway.  “I know I would.”

“There’s only one thing that would make it better.”  Chat’s voice turned teasing.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

He didn’t answer as they passed through a cloud, the dampness much colder and all around wetter than she was prepared for.  She shivered and sneezed, feeling her pigtails cling to the back of her neck.  Chat chuckled and brushed them aside.  His claws lingered for the briefest of moments on the sliver of skin between her suit and hairline.

“A private party,” he said softly.  “Just the two of us, before everyone else.”

She pulled back just enough to see his eyes again, intending to tease him about what kind of party he was asking for—but the sincerity and softness in his features stopped her short.

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah.  So we can… I mean, I know I want…” he swallowed for a moment before quietly finishing, “I want you to be the first one to know who I am.”

They didn’t talk about revealing their identities often—mostly because she made it clear that they couldn’t, and she already thought about it enough without tempting either of them by saying it out loud.  He was Chat Noir, her partner and best friend, no matter who he was under the mask.

But maybe they should talk about it more, if he thought she would want anything else.

“Of course, Kitty.”  Carefully, since they were hundreds of kilometers in the air, she moved the arm at his waist to wrap around the back of his neck instead.  A few of his damp locks tickled her fingers even though the suit.  “I’ve always wanted you to be the first, too.”

His smile could’ve powered the whole city below.  “Then it’s settled. Pegasus finds Hawkbutt next week.  We storm the castle, Queen Bee Venoms him and Mayura, you rip their miraculouses off, we pound it, and we throw the biggest party Paris has ever seen.”

His optimism, if unrealistic, was contagious.  She felt the hope untangling knots in her chest as she laughed again.

“I should’ve left the planning to you, Chaton.  Maybe then we’d have beaten Hawkmoth already.”

“Nah, we all know you’re the brains of the operation, Bugaboo.  I’m just here to look pretty.”  He flipped his soggy hair, and his bangs hit his forehead with a fwap.  

She couldn’t help the laugh that burst from her.  “You’re such a dork.  I love you.”

He froze solid as one of Style Queen’s statues.  She half expected him to turn to gold, for his warmth to bleed out like the color currently draining from her face.

She said— 

She’d said she loved him.  

She’d said she loved him, and the words had come out as easy as breathing, as sure as the pounding of her heart.  How—why?  She didn’t love him, not like that, she couldn’t couldn’t she’d told herself that long ago—

But any denials caught in her lungs, trapped like the dark butterflies snared by her yo-yo.  Only when the words were fully purified were they released again.

“I—I love you,” she whispered.  

She hadn’t meant to say it once, much less twice—but with the repetition the truth of it snapped firmly into place.  She didn’t know when her kitty had snuck past her defenses, slipped past her blinding crush on Adrien, dodged all the logical reasons she had for not falling for him.  

But he had.

She loved Chat Noir.  Of course she did.

“You—but you—is there an akuma?”  He stammered, eyes wide and disbelieving.  She’d been turning down his off-and-on (mostly on) flirting for four years now; of course he wouldn’t assume she was serious.

“No, Kitty.”  Her laugh felt suffocating.  After all this time she’d been trying to confess to Adrien, and now, when her target was her Kitty, her mouth didn’t give her a choice.

Maybe that was for the best.  She would always have a special place in her heart for Adrien, but Chat—Chat was her home.  Her partner, her friend, her everything.  

The twisting in her stomach finally unwound, swelling into something that she could hardly contain.  His face was so close, his lips still parted from the three words she’d dropped on him.  It would be so easy to lean in and kiss the shock from his face, until he melted in her arms, until they both believed this was real.

But Chat had always respected her boundaries, and she would do the same for him.  Besides, what if he didn’t feel the same anymore, if his flirting was just habit?  And she’d just blurted out her feelings before even she realized them—what if she ruined the comfortable companionship they shared?

No.  No, she knew better than that.  Even if he didn’t feel the same, nothing could tear the two of them apart. 

“I know I’m late, but—if you still want me—”

“My Lady.”  She felt more than heard the tremor of emotion in his voice.  “I’ll always want you.  I always have.”

Was this real?  How had she gone from flirting with her partner to baring her heart to him?  The liquid moonlight washed aside her walls. His golden hair was spun silver in its glow, and her hands ran through it involuntarily.  She was lucky Chat had returned his grip to her waist, because otherwise she might have accidentally slipped off him.

As much as his words made her feel like she could fly, it was best not to test that theory.

“Thanks for waiting for me, Chaton.”  She rested her forehead against his, still shaking with the realization and love and longing and—how had she ignored this feeling?  How long had she wanted him to kiss her senseless before her mind would admit it?

It didn’t matter.  She knew now, and the electricity that sparked between them wouldn’t let her forget anytime soon.

“You know I’d wait forever for you.  I love you.”  His breath fanned across her cheeks, soft and hot and everything she hoped his lips would be.  “I love you so so much, Ladybug, I—”

He might be willing to wait forever, but she wasn’t.  Her lips consumed whatever it was he was going to say next— 

And all she knew was that he tasted like coming home.

He matched her passion with a surprising sweetness.  It wasn’t the intense kiss she was expecting, but maybe that was for the best.  He was the only thing keeping them from plummeting to the ground far below, and distracting him probably wasn’t the best idea, but frankly after that first touch of lips she was so gone they could’ve fallen and she wouldn’t have noticed— 

He yelped against her mouth.  Had she done something wrong?  She hadn’t kissed a boy since Luka two years ago, but she couldn’t be that bad— 

Oh.  She hadn’t noticed.

Gravity really wasn’t supposed to be tugging in that direction.  And the wind wasn’t supposed to be blowing up.

And Chat’s baton wasn’t supposed to be slipping through his fingers.

Gah!  She barely had time to think as his arms tightened around her middle so he was hugging her from below.  What was he thinking?  Did he expect to cushion her fall?

Jolting out of oh-my-gosh-I’m-kissing-Chat mode, she threw her yo-yo from her hip and lassoed the still-upright baton.  Only miraculous magic could be holding it steady, especially when she yanked them towards it—

And in a jumble of limbs and string, she promptly tangled them against the metal length.

She heard a sharp crack, followed by a dizzy groan. 

“Chat, oh my gosh, are you okay?” The world was still spinning; she couldn’t turn to see him. Mostly because her back was pressed flush against his chest.

“Purrfectly fine, my Lady.” His laugh sounded near her ear. “I always knew you’d sweep me off my feet.”

She rolled her eyes, unsure if she wanted to laugh or groan.  She was so stupid.  Making out with Chat with nothing but a pole holding them up?  Yes, that sounded like something from her romantic fantasies (which she wasn’t supposed to have with him, but—shh), but she should’ve known better in real life!

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?” She muttered.

He hummed thoughtfully. That sound should not have made her shiver, she was just—it was just cold. Even though his body was hot against her back.

Yeah, she wasn’t kidding anyone.

“I could be purrsuaded to forget,” he said to her surprise.

“Oh, yeah?” 

“Mm-hmm.” His chin rested on her shoulder. “For the low price of fifty more kisses.”

“Fifty?” She choked, face heating. Fifty brushes of his lips on hers, of his laugh filling her lungs— “I—I don’t know. Actually, you’re the one who let go of the staff. I might’ve kissed you first, but you’re the one who should be getting teased.”

“Fair enough. A hundred kisses, then. Fifty for me to forget, and fifty for you to forgive me for dropping you.”

“Bold words from a guy who couldn’t even handle kissing me once.” She would’ve flicked his bell if her arms weren’t trapped over his around her middle.

“Ah, it just means I need more practice!”

She twisted her head just enough to stick her tongue out at him. “You won’t get any practice if you don’t get us down from here.”

“Oh. Uh. About that… I can’t reach the button.” He laughed awkwardly. “You mind untangling us?”

The magical properties of her yo-yo meant she could still retract the string even tangled as it was, but it would take a minute to lasso them back to the baton properly this time.

“Only if you don’t mind falling again.” 

“For you? Never,” he said with a quick kiss to her cheek.

She shook her head.  She refused to be distracted by him this time, even if his smell was everywhere, more dizzying than their brief fall through the clouds.

“You’re such a dork.”

“But you love me,” he practically sang.

Despite the fact that they were hanging in an awkward position hundreds of meters in the air, her nerves vanished completely.

“Yeah, Kitty. I do.”

(That truth was far more important than learning how far Chat’s baton could extend, anyway.)

[And then next week they beat hawkbutt and ship him and nathalie off to jail and everyone in the whole team comforts Adrien and he and marinette live happily ever after with a hamster]

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

The One to Make It Stay Ending Cards (SCBB, ToW, WHM, TRSP, AtLWHitP)

I’ve been thinking lately of how I’d change the ending cards we get at the ending of each episode. I can’t draw though, so take my summaries instead. Some of these will be more specific than others. 

I’m only covering material from Silence Can Be Beautiful up through the end of All the Laughs We Had in the Past, including Paper Sky chapters. Once ABoES is done, I’ll do a separate one for that. Any arc after that will also get its own post. I’m doing this in rough chronological order.

Chameleon/I Can Get Out of This + I Can Get Out of Here

Since this arc of the story is told through Rose’s POV, she's going to be getting a a spot in both of these cards (since I’m ideally seeing this as a two-parter).

This: Focuses of Rose receiving the message from Ali. She’s shocked and outraged. The other half of the card shows Marinette being comforted by Kitty Section (primarily Luka and Juleka).

Here: Kitty Section heading off into the sunset, with Marinette in the middle. Alya walks off with Lila, while Mylene and Alix look on in disappointment.

Silencer/Replay

I don’t imagine that this ending card would need a lot of changes. The only thing that would have to go in this case is Chat Noir, and I would change him to something else, like Marinette’s artwork for Kitty Section, just to foreshadow the change in relationships for the AU. Fitting though, since this episode was what brought this AU to fruition.

Animaestro/Reanimate

By contrast, this ending card would need to change dramatically. Chloe, Adrien and Kagami are all getting cut, since they aren’t the focus here. Instead, we get Jagged meeting Luka and Marinette, and Ivan, Rose and Juleka helping cater the event, all of them wearing their maid (Marinette and Juleka) and butler (Rose, Ivan and Luka) uniforms. Oh, and I guess Thomas Astruc can still stay, but he’ll be in the background somewhere. It’s a statement about him and canon not really being relevant or something.

Oblivio/Remember

Another dramatically different card. Hawkmoth smirking can stay, since it can give off that ominous bit of foreshadowing. However, Luka and Marinette looking at each other happily will replace the kiss between Chat and Ladybug. Alya will look at her tablet excitedly as she shares with Adrien and Nino. Nino looks indifferent while Adrien looks hopeful. 

Puppeteer 2/Don’t Worry, Be Happy

No akumatization this time around, so the Puppeteer is getting cut. This time, we get Ladybug confronting an angry Alya and a saddened Chat. On the other half of the card, there’s Luka and Marinette walking with Manon between the two of them, holding her hands.

Hearing Only Yourself

The first of the interlude chapters, so I get to envision the card from scratch.

Statue Adrien standing in the middle, with Alya and Marinette on either side of him. They have that anime static-like glare going on at eye level as they confront each other. It’s exaggerated because this is Adrien’s POV.

Backwarder/yppaH eB, yrroW t’noD

Alya in a corner, alone and upset about the fight. Marinette happily chatting with Juleka and Rose at the pool, while Marianne reads the letter Fu wrote her. Fu looks contemplative.

Reflekdoll/Don’t Worry, It’s a Great Idea

Well, there’s no kwami swap in this version, so that’s out. Instead, Reflekdoll sits on her throne, watching everything unfold, while Ruby looks on with a regretful expression. Chat has his back turned and Luka looks serious.

Weredad/Don’t Worry, We’ll Figure it Out

On one side of the card is Viperion and Ladybug standing back to back, looking confident and in tune with each other. On the other hand, Luka and Marinette stand facing toward each other, but aren’t looking directly at each other.

Desperada/Don’t Worry, Things Are Working Out

So once again, there’s no Kagami or Adrien in the new version of the card. However, we finally get a kiss from our main couple! That’s taking center stage tbh. Vivica will be a more prominent figure, being escorted back home by Colette and Mirielle, the latter of which looks wary about everything that just unfolded. 

The Evening Mist Melts Away

Luka and Marinette walking toward one side of the card, while Lila looks on with an irritated expression.

The Hour Glass is Drifting Away

Nino staring down at his phone as Ladybug leaves, waiting to send a message to Alya about what he’s just heard.

Stage Fright/Drove Down to the Shoreline

Kitty Section performing on stage, which takes up the middle. On one side, there’s Mirielle looking contemplative, while Stage Fright’s eyes look sharp and irritable.

Beach Bum/Hey Shoreline, Take Me Far Away

Beach Bum relaxing on the beach, while Ladybug, Viperion, Mousketeer and Taureau all stand on top of his sand castle. 

It’s Gonna Feel So Rare

Pretty straightforward - Ladybug leaping into action, but the focus is on Mouseketeer and Taureau Furieux, nervous but excited to help.

I Owe You Every Joy of Love

Alya looking nervous, staring out the window as she prepares herself to talk with Ladybug. Lila on the other side, looking rather pleased with herself, not aware of what is about to happen.

Stormy Weather 2/I Remember When Things Were Easier

The recurring theme of this post is that the tone of most of these cards don’t fit their AU counterparts. And wow, what a stark difference these next few cards will be.

Anyway, Aurore calms herself down with a cup of tea or chatting with some friends. Meanwhile, Chloe watches Ladybug zip off, and is not happy about it. 

When the Dream’s So Real

Jagged with his back to the frame, walking side by side along Penny and Ruby, happily chatting about future plans for his pupils.

Miracle Queen/I Remember All the Second Chances

Marinette crying while Luka holds her. Fu looking worried about everything that’s unfolded. Adrien with his back to the frame, although you can see him touching his lips with his fingers. Chloe also has her back to the frame. Alternatively, it can be Miracle Queen, eyes widened as she realized what she’s done. 

You Smile Like an Angel

Rose and Juleka holding each other while they cry. Tigresse averting her gaze as she’s realized she’s failed her mission.

Feast/I Remember Our Promise

A shot revealing the tattoo created by the ritual. Feline Fatale standing rather meancingly. Adrien with the butterfly outline over his eyes, not quite akumatized yet.

Don’t Step Over My Head

Hawkmoth standing alongside Feline Fatale, who is now in plain view. Half of Adrien is his civilian self, crying out in horror, the other half is Space Patrol, who is wearing his cat-shaped helmet, thus his expression cannot be seen.

Space Patrol/I Remember How Things Used to Be

Space Patrol takes the place of Chat Blanc in the new version of this card, still with that contrast with Hawkmoth, while the supporting heroes stand in for Bunnyx. Lastly, we have Ladybug in her new armor holding hands with Viperion, while Marinette and Luka share a slow dance on the boat.

My World is Wishing Me Asleep

Fitting that Alya’s Interlude is the one to start the arc, and that Adrien’s is the one to close off on it. As such, I think his card should parallel hers. So he looks nervous because now he doesn’t know what to expect going forward. He no longer has Plagg, and doesn’t know what to expect. Meanwhile, Hawkmoth takes Lila’s role, smiling menacingly as things are now going according to plan for him. 

[quicksilversquared]

Stealing from Supervillains Ch 2

S3 Finale AU

In a timeline where Hawkmoth didn’t lose the Miracle Box almost immediately after getting it, Marinette has to get the Miraculous back some other way, even if that means stealing them back one at a time. Her first target is Chloe, Hawkmoth’s one known ally, and failure is not an option. When Hawkmoth brings the Miracle Box along with him- well, Marinette is determined to get all of the Miraculous back, even if she needs to burn down the entire hotel to do it.

Companion story to Luka and the Jewelry Heist

links in the reblog

It didn't take long for them to figure out what they were going to do.

All three of them would grab a Miraculous to use- Alix gravitated straight for the Rabbit, of course, Marinette stuck with the Bee and its yo-yo-like trompo, and after a bit of deliberation (and some apparent surprise that it was even in the Box, which...uh, Marinette wasn't going to look at that too closely at the moment), Adrien went for the Dragon because of its sword and his experience with fencing.

"Can I quick use the bathroom before we go?" Alix asked, raising her hand. "Since we're just going to use the Rabbit to go back in time and get set up in Mr. Agreste's office before he gets back anyway?"

"Go ahead," Marinette assured her. It wouldn't be a bad idea for her to do the same, actually, but mostly so that she could have a moment to talk to Tikki. It wasn't ideal that she was going to be going into the final battle with an unfamiliar Miraculous but, to be fair, if something went sideways she could always just add on her Ladybug transformation on top of the Bee. That would mean that her friends would know her identity, but, well.

She was the Guardian now, no one was going to be taking her Miraculous away. Besides, Hawkmoth's defeat was more important.

"Fantastic!" Flashing Marinette a grin, Alix darted out of the room, heading downstairs. Fluff floated eagerly after her, clearly excited to get to explore a bit.

A minute passed, and Marinette was starting to get jittery. She didn't like just sitting around and waiting and not getting something prepared. After a second, though, a light bulb went off in her head and Marinette stood up. "I'm going to go get some snacks for the kwamis. Alix is going to have to recharge Fluff after we jump back, and if anything drags on longer than we planned..."

"I'll come with!" Adrien volunteered, following Marinette towards her door. "It'll give me something to do, at any rate, beside just wondering what- what's going to happen to me once Father and Nathalie are in jail. Like, I have my aunt and cousin as family, of course, but they don't exactly live nearby and I don't know how much I would want to stay with them."

"We have a guest room," Marinette told Adrien as she pulled open the fridge. She knew that Fluff liked carrots and Pollen was a fan of honey in particular but anything sweet was good, and- well, the kwamis might prefer certain foods but they could eat anything, and so Marinette just had to get stuff that was easy enough to bring along. Outside, another fire truck zipped past. "And I know my parents would be willing to have you, too. They like you a lot."

A smile finally reappeared on Adrien's face. "I like them, too. I'd like that."

"All right, I'm back!" Alix announced, bounding back into the room. "Let's go kick some Hawkbutt-"

"You're doing what now?"

All three teens froze as Mrs. Cheng's voice rang through the room, and then Alix whipped around, wide eyes giving away the fact that she apparently hadn't noticed Marinette's mom following her back to the living room. Pollen and Longg vanished behind Adrien and Marinette, and Fluff followed suit a little too late. Mrs. Cheng's eyes followed the white blur, and then narrowed. "What was that? And why am I smelling smoke? And- oh good, Adrien, you're all right, thank goodness."

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look, and Marinette could feel her heart racing. Her mom wouldn't want them going after Hawkmoth and would call it too dangerous- which, okay, maybe it was a bit dangerous, but they could do it just fine- but they couldn't not go, now that they knew. It would be more dangerous for Adrien to have to go back to his father's house when he had the information that he did. If he got upset by the betrayal again and his father decided to akumatize him...

That would be super dangerous. If Hawkmoth could get any information from an akumatized Adrien, Marinette and her parents- and the Miracle Box- would be at risk.

No, they couldn't do that. Surely, if they told her parents- and there was going to be no lying to get out of this one, her mom was definitely on their tracks- they could understand that, and let the three of them go.

Maybe. Possibly. And that comment about Adrien being all right- well, maybe that meant that they had been allowed and their attack was attracting a bit of attention. There was no other reason why her mom would say that, right?

"We found out that my father is Hawkmoth," Adrien blurted, apparently having come to a similar conclusion. "And we, uh, were going to go confront him."

"With superpowers!" Alix added quickly, pulling Fluff out. "Not, like, as regular people, that would be crazy. And we're going back in time to ambush him before he expects it, and- oh, Marinette already took Mayura down, so it would be three against one. In theory. Unless she's stayed an akuma and somehow un-froze."

Mrs. Cheng had gone pale, managing to make it over to the kitchen table before sinking into a chair. "Your father- Hawkmoth- Marinette did what?"

Alix cringed and mouthed 'sorry' at Marinette.

"Did I hear something about Marinette taking Mayura down?" Mr. Dupain cut in eagerly, appearing around the doorframe, and Marinette narrowly restrained herself from facepalming. Of course her dad would be super-excited about that. "Or did my ears deceive me?"

"And Mr. Agreste is Hawkmoth," Mrs. Cheng said weakly. "And these three want to go attack him."

"Well, they have the Peacock now, don't they?" Mr. Dupain asked, ignoring the look that his wife shot him. "So they have a Miraculous to use-"

A small smile slid onto Adrien's face. "Marinette stole the Bee from Chloe and an entire box of other Miraculous from Hawkmoth, too, so we have a bunch of Miraculous to choose from."

Her parents' gazes immediately shot to Marinette, a combination of horror and glee. Mr. Dupain reacted first.

"Can I come along, too?"

"Tom!"

"Darling, think about it!" Mr. Dupain implored. "If there's more of us, then there's a better chance that we can overpower Hawkmoth safely. And if he's without his backup, then the chances of us succeeding..." He paused, then continued. "And think of how much safer Adrien and Paris will be without Hawkmoth out and about."

Mrs. Cheng wavered. "But Tom, they're kids."

"And you've commented before on how young Ladybug and Chat Noir look," Mr. Dupain reminded her. Mrs. Cheng finally sighed.

"Okay. I'll permit it if we can use a Miraculous as well."

"Marinette, your parents are so cool," Alix said, a wide grin spreading across her face. "C'mon, we can explain the Miraculous we have to you and you can decide what powers you want to have. We could definitely use someone on defense." She paused. "And, uh, is it just me, or am I hearing a lot of sirens nearby?"

  It didn't take long for them to get Marinette's parents set up with Miraculous. Her dad went for the Turtle- "A shield is always a good thing!"- and her mom for the Snake, just in case.

"Having a redo button puts my mind at ease," she told them as they gathered in the middle of Marinette's room, all transformed and ready. Bunnyx was double-checking times so they would arrive while Mr. Agreste and Nathalie were out. "I won't be trigger-happy Marinette, I promise, but if I see any blood..."

Bumblebee nodded. That made her more relaxed, too, since so much of her team was made up of rookies.

With one last check to make sure that everyone knew what their powers were, Bunnyx whisked them into the past. As quietly as possible (and with a little bit of a struggle to get the transformed Mr. Dupain and his shield through Marinette's skylight), they took off through the sky, heading over to the Agreste mansion. They landed on the roof, glancing around for a way in. Mushu spotted an opening first.

"There's a hole in the roof," Mushu announced, waving them over. He peered inside before dropping in. His voice echoed up from inside. "And it's full of butterflies, and-" His voice turned disgusted. "Oh, of course he has spooky mood lighting. Of course he does."

Bunnyx snorted. "Adrien, couldn't you have looked inside before jumping in? Just because Cobra has resets doesn't mean that you can stop thinking before you leap."

"I told you, it's Mushu!"

"And I already told you, you have to think up a name that isn't just a rip-off from a Disney film or I'm just going to call you by your normal name!"

"Kids, let's please just get in before someone spots us," Cobra said with a sigh. Bunnyx sighed back as she hopped down into the lair.

"Okay, wanting to be inspired by famous dragons I get! But why go for Mushu when you have Smaug as a possibility?"

"The color scheme doesn't work!"

"Oh my god, you're such a dweeb. Bumblebee, tell Adrien he's being a dweeb."

Bumblebee couldn't hide her giggle. "I think it's cute- I mean! The name, and the connection, and, uh, the costume is also nice but- um." She cut herself off before she could start flailing too much. They needed to focus. She might not have her spots right now, but she needed to be in superhero mode. She took a deep breath, then continued. "Okay, so when Hawkmoth returns, he'll be coming in from that window, presumably. He'll have Nathalie- and she's been akumatized, but if he comes back fast enough then in theory Sting won't have worn off yet on her, so she'll be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Right," Mushu said right away. "And he'll probably drop in like-" He hopped up on the wall, demonstrating. "So if we stand by the wall here, then Hawkmoth won't be able to see us and he won't have any heads-up about our ambush."

"I feel like I should be concerned about how prepared you two are for this," Cobra said with a sigh, but followed Mushu's instruction. "Just was are they teaching you kids in school these days?"

Bunnyx grinned, even as she found a corner to hide in. "Battle strategy is all the rage in Paris classrooms right now, don'cha know?"

They fell into silence, all waiting anxiously for Hawkmoth's return. Bumblebee flipped open her top, pulling up a live news feed. There would no doubt be a little delay between when the fire started and the news broke out, but there should be something fast enough that they would get a bit of a heads-up-

"Bumblebee, I can see your past selves on my Paris map," Mushu piped up, coming over to stand next to her. "Can you tell by the way they're moving when Hawkmoth would be leaving the hotel?"

"If Bumblebee and Bumblebun are showing up at all, he'll be leaving soon," Bumblebee said at once. "All of that went pretty quickly. I mean, from transformation to grabbing the box to leaving..."

All of them fell quiet, listening anxiously and pressing themselves back against the wall to try to make themselves as hidden as possible. Bumblebee's eyes scanned around the room, trying to figure out if there were any hidden traps or anything else they needed to watch out for. That seemed like a very villain-y thing to do, to have his lair full of traps and other things just in case the superheroes found him. Nothing stuck out, but it was possible that things were just hidden.

She was very, very glad that her mom had picked the Snake. If anything went wrong, they could just reset and Cobra could give them a heads-up on the traps.

"It's been over five minutes," Mushu whispered. He shifted next to Bumblebee, his nerves clearly rising, and she reached out to take his hand. "He probably decided to hide, so that the Sting would wear off and they wouldn't be so obvious coming back. Otherwise they would be back by now- the Grand Paris is literally next door."

Bumblebee nodded. "There's so many people outside the Grand Paris right now, and all the lights there are on. The chance of someone seeing him come back, especially with what's essentially a human-sized board..."

It made sense. Maybe she had been surprised at first, but if Hawkmoth had gone directly home after leaving the hotel, she and Adrien would definitely have heard something on their walk back to her house. After all, Marinette didn't live that far from Adrien, either.

"So we'll have two supervillains to contend with instead of just the one," Tanker filled in. He was still in his action stance, shield out in front of him. "Five against two, not bad!"

"Tom."

They fell into silence again, listening closely. Bumblebee checked the news on her trompo again, watching the live coverage of the Grand Paris fire. It was well under control now, with just a few flickering flames still being stomped out, and Chloe had been rescued from her balcony. She had clearly moved from fury to shock and fear.

Bumblebee tried her best not to smirk. Now Chloe knew that someone out there knew that she had still been using the Bee, and it was only a matter of time before the police found out, too, and Chloe's perfectly perfect world would fall apart.

For Adrien's sake, Bumblebee hoped that Chloe would get the help she needed to be a better person. Marinette had seen a glimmer of hope at one point there, but then Chloe had decided to regress straight back to her old ways. With some actual punishment...

A thud on the roof made all of them startle, and then Hawkmoth was dropping in through the window. Even with the awkward angle and low lighting, Bumblebee could see the stress written across his face.

"The Box and the Bee and the Peacock, all gone," Hawkmoth was muttering as he landed, akuma-Nathalie right on his heels. "At least I thought to bring along a butterfly in case- gah!"

Bunnyx led the attack, followed by Mushu and Tanker. Bumblebee followed, getting her trompo into a yo-yo-like spin. Hawkmoth staggered backwards for a second, taken by surprise, but recovered soon enough, both him and Nathalie recovering fast enough and countering as best they could.

Well. Trying to, at any rate. Hawkmoth had been able to knock Bunnyx aside, which wasn't a surprise considering how much experience (and height) he had on her, but Nathalie had found herself well and truly bowled over by Tanker, thrown to the opposite side of the room. Mushu had stepped into Bunnyx's place, and was holding his own much better, even pushing his father back a little bit.

Hawkmoth ducked a blow and reached for his pocket with his free hand, snarl on his face. "Thieves!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Mushu quipped, dealing another strike. Bumblebee circled around him, looking for a good angle to strike. They were moving too much right now, and she didn't want to accidentally hit Adrien. "Isn't your entire thing trying to steal the Miraculous from Ladybug and Chat No-"

"Missiles in the walls!" Cobra yelped suddenly. "Mushu, fry them!"

"Lightning!"

Bumblebee couldn't help but yelp as all of a sudden, fire filled her vision and the floor buckled as- from what she could gather- dozens and dozens of missiles exploded aimlessly. All seven of them tumbled down, dodging chunks of metal and concrete and wood. Bumblebee kicked into autopilot, kicking off of debris as she turned her downwards tumble into something more controlled. Her parents and Bunnyx weren't faring nearly as well, which wasn't a surprise, akuma-Nathalie seemed too stunned to dodge, and Mushu was still in lightning form, which just left Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth, who hadn't seen active combat nearly as much as Ladybug had. Narrowing her eyes in focus, Bumblebee vaulted over one last twisted chunk of metal as she called for her Sting. Mushu rematerialized on Hawkmoth's other side at just the right time, distracting him, and Bumblebee slammed in for the hit, her aim true.

Success.

"Victory," Mushu announced grimly, snagging the Butterfly off of Hawkmoth's chest and then bouncing back out of range automatically- not that it was necessary, with Hawkmoth immobilized. Behind them, Bunnyx and Cobra were digging Nathalie- who was still akumatized, thankfully, and therefore protected- out from under the debris, with Tanker helping with the larger pieces. "You're finished, Hawkmoth."

"Hell yeah, team!" Bunnyx cheered from where she stood. "Take that, Hawkbutt!"

"I'm calling the police," Tanker called, holding his shell-shield up to his ear. It looked a bit awkward, but he didn't seem to mind too much. "They can take these two off of our hands. And- oh gosh- uh, there's a couple places that have caught on fire. Mushu, those are electrical fires, I think, so we should probably-"

"I know where to find fire extinguishers!" Mushu offered. He pocketed the Butterfly and caught Bumblebee's hand, pulling her along. "D'you think that Ladybug's Cure would fix all this, since Nathalie is technically akumatized right now?"

Bumblebee could only shrug. Honestly, she didn't know. Technically, the akuma had nothing to do with the giant, gaping hole in the Agreste mansion, but the Cure had taken liberties with fixing things before. It was worth a try.

For now, though, they had to put the fires out.

It didn't take long for emergency personnel to arrive, probably because so many had been practically next door at the Grand Paris and the lair's explosion hadn't exactly been subtle. Fire trucks pulled past the gate, rather harried-looking firefighters hopping out with police cars not far behind them. A police helicopter circled above, and beyond all of the emergency personnel, Bumblebee could see reporters pulling up, no doubt itching for their second fire-related story of the evening. They kept their distance for the time being, but no doubt would be pouring in the second that the police gave an all-clear.

"We have two people for you to take, sir," Tanker told the first policeman pleasantly, pushing Nathalie through the rubble in front of him. The stiff form of Mr. Agreste was slung over his shoulder. Behind them, Cobra helpfully contained the fluttering akuma in a jar that she had found, miraculously undamaged among the rubble. "Hawkmoth and Mayura. The Peacock Miraculous was recovered earlier this evening, and we got the Butterfly just now."

"Oh, uh..." The young policeman floundered for a second, clearly thrown by the new superheroes and the information. His hands reached for his belt, automatically pulling the handcuffs off. "R-right, of course. But, ah, I'll need to take statements-"

"Of course." Tanker smiled, clearly not about to give an inch. "Cobra and I can do that. The kids need to go- they've all used their powers, you know how it is. But I can tell you what I know."

Bumblebee nodded when her dad shot a look her way. It was obvious that he wanted Adrien out of the area, before the adrenaline from the fight gave way to realization of the full extent of his father's betrayal and he could actually react to that, or to the also emotional realization that his home was in ruins at the moment, the entire center blasted to bits by the misfiring missiles.

Maybe it could be fixed with a Miraculous Ladybug later, but it had to be a bit of a shock to see the familiar entrance hall to his house in such shape. Bumblebee briefly considered leaving Adrien with Alix once they got back to the house and returning as Ladybug to help with the arrest and see what could be done with the house, but it only took a moment before she decided against it.

Adrien needed his friends right now. With the Butterfly back in safe hands- well, everything else could wait.

 The news of Mr. Agreste's arrest and secret identity as Hawkmoth broke the next morning as the sun rose over Paris. It spread quickly, one news outlet after the updating the breaking story and changing the explosion at the mansion from a general interest piece to a headline. The motives were still unclear (or at least unconfirmed; anyone with a brain could look at Mr. Agreste and then at the case of his missing wife and see that that was a pretty obvious motive) and his secretary had also been taken into custody, confirmed as Mayura.

And, strangest of all, it hadn't been Ladybug and Chat Noir who had brought about his defeat. It was a team of completely new, never-seen-before superheroes, which was causing considerable amounts of confusion, speculation, and even outright alarm.

The Miraculous, of course, had (almost) all been seen before- the Bee and the Snake and the Turtle and the Dragon, and there were a couple people who swore that they had once seen a version of the Rabbit, too, just taller- but the people wielding them were all different.

Were they connected to Ladybug and Chat Noir, or independent operators? Where were the city's superheroes? Were the new superheroes connected to the fire at the Grand Paris? What if these new superheroes weren't actually superheroes and had just stolen the Miraculous for their own means?

Alix snorted at that last bit. As if Marinette would ever used the Miraculous for unsavory reasons. She was far too straight-laced for that. And Adrien- well, he had insisted on coming along to help defeat his father, determined to help right some of his father's wrongs. It would be hard to get much more noble than that, which meant that the speculation in some of the less-reputable tabloids about how much Adrien might know was even more infuriating.

Alix was going to start throwing hands at anyone who suggested that Adrien might have known about his father being Hawkmoth. It was just- it was disgusting. She had to wonder if Adrien would end up revealing exactly how involved he had been with the final battle (the final ambush?), or if he would decide that going in a different direction to thoroughly prove his innocence would be a better idea. It probably depended on what the press was saying about him, and if the journals that the police had found in their overnight search of the mansion about Mr. Agreste's on-the-side activities said anything about who did and didn't know about his identity.

(Alix was also really, really hoping that the journals had some record of who was going to get Miraculous from Hawkmoth. If Adrien and Marinette were right about Lila...well, things like that couldn't just go unpunished.)

(Speaking of which... well, presumably Marinette (or Bumblebee, in case she didn't want to deal with Mr. Bourgeois trying to press charges for arson, because he totally would) would be turning over the footage from Chloe's meeting with Hawkmoth today, and then that could get punished, and Hawkmoth's comments would open the path for the police to search for that second name, if they hadn't already found it.)

The breaking, ever-updating news was the reason- aside from the fact that she wasn't emotionally exhausted like Adrien, or naturally a late sleeper like Marinette- Alix was already up, sitting with her back propped against Marinette's giant stuffed cat and scrolling through her phone, resolutely ignoring the way that the class chat was blowing up. It had been going strong ever since the fire at the Grand Paris, and now- hours and hours later- the messages had piled up like mad.

She had glanced at them briefly, but exited out pretty quickly after she saw Lila trying to claim partial credit for Mr. Agreste's discovery and the formation of the new team of superheroes. At least Alix would be able to catch Adrien and Marinette up to what was being said once they woke up.

With that thought, Alix glanced over to the side. Next to her, Adrien and Marinette were still fast asleep, curled up next to each other in a tangle of blankets. Marinette's bed had been a bit cramped with all three of them sleeping in it- it was clearly meant for one person, not three- but Adrien had clearly needed to be near people and it could have been a little weird if Marinette and Adrien were in a bed together by themselves. Besides, Alix hadn't exactly wanted to leave after the excitement of the previous night, either, and she wanted to be there to help in case Adrien got nightmares or something, which- well, if she was in his position and helped get her dad arrested and blew up half the family home and found out that her dad was Hawkmoth, she would definitely be getting nightmares.

At least Marinette had been the recipient of most of Adrien's thrashing around when he was getting settled. She was way more patient than Alix would have been if she had been the one getting kicked that much, and it was honestly a bit of a wonder that she had been able to drop off at all.

Maybe Marinette had just been too tired to care. After all, while Alix had been involved with the whole Hawkmoth takedown, that had been pretty short compared to Marinette's earlier stakeout in Chloe's room, plus the double dose of excitement with stealing the Miraculous twice over with an assist from the Rabbit. That must have taken a huge amount of focus and on-the-spot planning and confidence that she could do it- and not an ounce of hesitation in her step, or she would have failed.

Alix had expected that Adrien would probably be pretty kickass with a Miraculous even if it was his first time out, thanks to his training, but Marinette had been crazy amazing, taking to it like a natural.

Alix knew that she was going to be a permanent future Miraculous holder with Ladybug and Chat Noir, but she was going to have to petition them to see if Adrien and Marinette could be holders, too. If they had been that good for their first time out, she could only imagine what they might be like with a bit of training.

At that thought, Alix's eyes narrowed, watching as Adrien burrowed deeper into Marinette's embrace, his hair long since mussed out of his normal tamed style and into the messiest of bedheads. Or had it been their first times out? There were too many things that didn't quite sit right with her about their explanations, things that were rushed past and never fully explained or waved off with the world's thinnest excuse.

How both Adrien and Marinette separately found out about Chloe's meeting with Hawkmoth. How they already seemed to know about what Miraculous had what powers, even ones that hadn't ever been used. How they knew about kwami names and- in Marinette's case, with Bumblebun- kwami fusion.

Some things, of course- mostly Marinette's knowledge- could potentially be explained by Pollen telling her things quickly in order to get the Grand Paris Ambush pulled off successfully. But that much information, in as much detail as Marinette clearly knew, wasn't exactly a fast field briefing. Add in the fact that both Adrien and Marinette seemed to automatically know that Alix would go for the Rabbit, when only Ladybug and Chat Noir had been close enough to see and hear everything with Future Bunnyx- and had she ever actually told them what name she wanted to use, or had they just assumed?

Almost subconsciously, Alix's eyes slid down to Adrien's hand, where a silver ring sat on one finger, then up to Marinette's ears, where plain, dark earrings sat. Maybe it was just a coincidence, of course, but Alix knew that Marinette had always rotated her earrings before Ladybug's appearance, either wearing none at all or trying out experimental ones that she had made herself, and that ring looked like it was pretty much the same size and shape as Chat Noir's Miraculous. Add in the fact that neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir had showed up to the final battle, even though their team definitely hadn't been subtle about it with the whole blow-up-half-a-mansion thing, and the fact that both Adrien and Marinette were crazy (or driven) enough to separately come up with the idea to steal the Bee from Chloe, and their curiously timed absences...

Well. It might be a coincidence, but something told Alix that she was probably on the right track.

Smiling to herself, Alix went back to scrolling through her phone. She wasn't going to confront the other two, not right now. Adrien was already reeling from the dual reveal from his father and Nathalie, plus the arrest (and Alix wouldn't be surprised if there was probably more news about his family to come), and Marinette's full energy was focused on helping with that. Alix also wasn't going to breathe a word of this to anyone.

(Unlike Alya, she actually understood the importance of keeping secret identities, and not just her own secret identity.)

Hawkmoth's arrest and his identity reveal was going to be the news of the month, if not the year. Alix was sure that new breaks in the case and speculation about the other superheroes would dominate the headlines for a while, keeping it fresh in the city's mind. Their entire class (minus, of course, the wannabe supervillains) would have to rally around Adrien, she suspected, and make sure that no one bothered him. Alix could arrange that, maybe, and let Marinette focus on helping Adrien heal.

Alix glanced down at her sleeping friends one more time, smiling as she did. They looked so innocent and peaceful right now, not at all like the fierce heroes yesterday who had played such a giant role in taking down two supervillains. They would have to go out again later, no doubt- the police still wanted to talk to all of the superheroes involved in the takedown, and of course Marinette had evidence to turn over (and, if Alix was right about her assumptions, they would have to make appearances as Ladybug and Chat Noir later on)- but for now, she would let them sleep.

After everything, they deserved it.

[a-chlolix-blog]

Bouquet Bond

(Day 6: Roses)

Summary: When things go wrong at a flower shop, Queen and Bunnyx must find a way to somewhat fix a flowery mess.

Note(s): An OC is included; Chloe and Alix are dating, but Chloe doesn’t know that Alix is Bunnyx. The meaning of blue roses are mystery and ambiguity.

OC: Lillian Thorns

Sides of their “Love Square” included: Brief Beenyx (Queen Bee/Bunnyx); Beelix (Alix/Queen Bee)

Alix and Chloe were walking through the streets of Paris with Nathaniel and Marc until the two couples see a new flower shop. “This place is new…” Alix says before they all walk inside and are greeted by a cheerful Flores named Lillian Thorns. “Hello! Welcome to Lovers’ Petals!” She says as she sees the two couples. “Hello Miss,” Alix Nathaniel and Marc say in unison while Chloe was on her phone.

“Let me pick out the types of flowers that best describes your relationships!” Lillian says before she grabs Nathaniel and Marc’s hands, starting with them. “For these two sweet boys… red roses and lilacs! For the love and passion you put into your work, which of you is experiencing first love?” Lila explained which caused Marc to blush and shyly raise his hand.

Lillian then gives the two a bouquet of red roses and lilacs. “They’re so beautiful!” Marc says while he and Nathaniel held their beautiful bouquet. “Thank you Miss,” Nathaniel told Lillian before the Flores notices Chloe and Alix. “Now I must make a bouquet for these two lovely ladies!” Lillian told the two girls before taking a quick look at Chloe and Alix. “This one’s gonna be complicated…” Lillian thought to herself before she goes to the back of the store.

The four were waiting for Lillian for two minutes before Chloe got a text. “I gotta go! Sabrina texted me! There’s new shoes on sell!” Chloe shouts, clearly excited. “Go on, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alix told Chloe, which caused the blonde to quickly kiss her girlfriend on the lips and run out the store. Just as the door clothes, Lillian returns with a bouquet of yellow tulips, red orchids and blue roses. She then notices that Chloe’s good.

“Where’s your date?” she asked Alix. “Something came up, she had to leave,” Alix explained to Lillian which caused the Flores to frown. Alix quickly notices that she’s upset. “Its fine Miss, I’ll take the bouquet to her” Alix says before she starts to reach for the bouquet only for Lillian to keep then it out of her reach. “They’re meant to be given to both of you!” She shouts before the trio noticed an akuma flying into the bouquet.

“We better go!” Nathaniel says before he takes Marc’s hand and runs out of the store with Alix behind them. “I gotta transform!” Alix thought to herself before she makes sure Nathaniel and Marc are out of sight before she goes to hide so she can transform. “Do you think she’s after Chloe?” Fluff asked Alix. “No doubt about it, Fluff clockwise!” Alix says before transforming.

Chloe and Sabrina were leaving the mall when they saw Nathaniel and Marc run right pass them. The two look ahead and sees today’s villain. “I am Queen Thorns! Chloe?! Where are you?!” the villain shouts, not noticing Chloe pulling Sabrina back into the store. “Pollen Buzz On!” Chloe says before she transforms into Queen Bee. “Stay here!” Chloe told Sabrina before she runs into action.

“Queen Bee is here to save the day!” The bee heroine shouts which causes Queen Thorns to notices her. “There you are!” The plant villainess shouts before she starts shooting seeds at Queen Bee. “You abandoned you sweetheart of a girlfriend to witness the bouquet by herself! She must be so heartbroken!” Queen Thorns shouts before finally hitting Queen Bee with the seeds which caused yellow tulips and blue roses to grow around her.

Just as Queen Thorns walks closer to Queen Bee, Bunnyx kicks the villainess away from her and frees Queen Bee from her pretty plant prison. “What took you so long, Hole Hopper?” Queen Bee says before she starts spinning her spinning top, making it into a shield. “The real question is what did you do this time?” Bunnyx sassed back, fully aware of why the villainess was upset.

“I don’t know what her problem is! Let’s just wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir to get here!” Queen Bee says before noticing Bunnyx picking up one of the yellow tulips and blue roses. Chloe then notices and face palms. “That Flores must have gotten akumatized because I left! All this because I didn’t see her bouquet?!” Queen Bee went off which caused Queen Thorns to hit her with more seeds and for more flowers to grow around her.

“Not again!” Queen Bee shouts before Ladybug and Chat Noir shows up. Ladybug quickly releases her from the flowers. “I gotta do something real quick! LB, use Lucky Charm!” Bunnyx says before she uses burrow to leave the scene and transforms back into Alix. “What are you doing?!” Fluff asked Alix. “Hopefully something I won’t regret” Alix told her Kwami.

Alix then runs up to the three heroes. “Alix, are you okay?!” Queen Bee says before she gives Alix a hug. “I know how to defeat her!” Alix says before noticing that Queen Thorns was aiming for Queen Bee once again. She then shoots both of them, causing the girls to be covered in yellow tulips, red orchids and blue roses. “You two look so adorable!!” Queen Thorns squealed before Chat Noir used his Cataclysm on her akumatized item.

Ladybug purifies the butterfly and uses her Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damages. “What happened” Lillian asked before she notices Chloe as Queen Bee and Alix together. “You were akumatized… But everything’s better now!” Ladybug explained to Lillian before leaving with Chat Noir. “Can you tell us what our bouquet means?” Chloe questions Lillian before the woman walks up to the two girls and gives them their bouquet.

“The yellow tulips represent your happiness and cheerfulness, the red orchids represent your passion and desire as well as your strength and courage and finally these blue roses represent the mystery and ambiguity that ties your relationship together.” Lillian explained to the girls which caused them to stare at their bouquet. “The roses are the same color as your eyes!” Queen Bee and Alix say in unison while Lillian just smiled at them.

[jazzymarie1006]

Some Chloé/Alix fanfic Stuff

Thanks for the inspiration @nerdasaurus1200

Other Chlolix Fans I decided to tag: @lesbonamedjo @chataclysmes @jattendschaton @miyotesse @sayyalumut @sergaku @mariathejedi8875 @redtippedfox 

Adrien’s OTP

“I’m just saying Chlo, you and Alix would be really cute together” Adrien said as he and Chloé sat in her bed. “Me and that short skater girl?! Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” Chloé said before eating a piece of her fancy chocolates. “Chloé, you can’t fool me.” Adrien told Chloé before walking up to her and taking a piece of chocolate. “So what if I think she’s not as annoying as the others and actually kind of cute in a cool way?” Chloé said, laying onto her bed. “I can’t tell her that” Chloe tells Adrien while hugging her pillow. “Maybe one day you can” Adrien replies, putting a hand on her shoulder. “She’s got it BAD” Adrien thought to himself as he childhood friend laid in her bed, hiding her blushing face with a pillow.

Saving Each Other

Queen Bee’s swinging through Paris with Alix holding on to her until they get to The Louvre. “Here we are!” Queen Bee said as they landed in front. “Thanks Queenie, but you didn’t have to take me” Alix told Queen Bee. “First off, it’s Queen Bee! Second, Ladybug’s the one who told me to take you home” Queen Bee responded before she looked away and started blushing. “You’re lucky I just don’t call you by your real name and Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t say anything before leaving! You just grabbed me” Alix told Queen Bee. “You should be grateful!” Queen Bee shouted before swinging away. “Never said I wasn’t Bee Girl.” Alix whispered as Queen Bee leaved before going inside. Later that week, Bunnyx was carrying Chloé as she ran from villains that were after her. “Put me down Rabbit! I can take care of myself!” Chloe shouted while holding on to Bunnyx. “I know that! But you don’t need to get hurt before you transform!” Bunnyx replied before finding an empty room and throwing Chloé in it and closing the door. “Thought she’d never put me down!” Chloé says before Pollen flew of her purse. “You like her don’t you, my Queen?” Pollen asked while smirking. “Pollen! Buzz on!” Chloé shouted while blushing even harder.

Their Ice Cream

Marinette Adrien Chloé and Alix were all waiting to get some of Andre Glacier’s Ice Cream. “Why is this taking so long?” Chloe asked getting a bit impatient. “His ice cream is really popular, of course there’s gonna be a line” Marinette told Chloé. “I can’t wait to pick mine!” Alix said, showing her excitement. “Actually Alix, that’s not how it works” Adrien told Alix. “What do you mean?” Alix asked Adrien. “You don’t pick your own flavors, they’re picked for you.” Marinette explained before they realized it was their turn. “Oh Marinette and Adrien! It’s so lovely to see you again! Here you go” Andre said giving them their ice cream. “Who are those two lovely ladies behind you?” Andre asked noticing Chloé and Alix. “They’re friends of ours that haven’t tried your ice cream!” Adrien told Andre before Chloé and Alix walked up to his ice cream crat. “For you, cotton candy for her hair” Andre said to Chloé, giving her the ice cream. “For you, lemon and blueberry swirl for her hair and eyes” Andre said to Alix, giving her the ice cream. “Give them a taste and you’ll both realize” Andre says to both Chloé and Alix. “Realize what?” Alix asked. “You’ll see later on” Andre said before the four of the started to walk off. “This actually tastes pretty good!” Chloé says as she ate her ice cream. “I bet mine is better!” Alix replies as she ate hers. Marinette and Adrien just smiled at the two as they walked.

Playing Hard To Get

“Don’t worry Adrien, I got you!” Ladybug says as she catches Adrien in her arms. “Thanks for the save, My Lady” Adrien said as he put his arms around her neck. Just as they were about to kiss, they hear Chloe shouting. “Don’t you dare even think of trying anything romantic with me!” Chloé shouts at Bunnyx as she was carried by the rabbit-themed heroine. “Whatever, just hold on tight before we go” Bunnyx told Chloé. Adrien then gave Chloé as thumbs up while he was still in Ladybug’s arms. “You’re only taking me home, that’s all!” Chloé said as she started to blush after seeing Adrien’s thumbs up. “Then why are you blushing?” Bunnyx asked while smirking. “Just take me home!” Chloé shouted, hiding her red face with her hands.

Kwami Swap

Lady Noire waited from for Madam Cottontail and Hornet to show up. “I look so much better in this outfit than you!” Madam Cottontail said as she and Hornet jumped across roof tops. “Whatever you say, MC!” Hornet responded before the two landed in front of Lady Noire. “Alright girls, Mister Bug is counting on us!” Lady Noire told them. “So what’s the plan?” Hornet asked the cat heroine. “I go in from the top, you two go in from the back” Lady Noire explained. “No way! No one knows who I am in this outfit! I’m going through the front!” Madam Cottontail says before Hornet uses the spinning top to tie her up. “Go on Lady Noire, we’ll go through the back” Hornet told Lady Noire before she jumped into action. “Can you untie me now?” Madam Cottontail asked Hornet. “Nope” Hornet replied before dragging her to where they needed to be. “she looks so cool!” Madam Cottontail thought to herself as Hornet dragged her off.

Confessions & Kisses

Chloé and Alix were stuck in a room with no way to get out. Their miraculous were taken from them and were being used to fight Ladybug and Chat Noir. “There’s got to be a way out of here!” Alix says while hitting the wall in front of her. “This is all my fault…” Chloé said while hugging her knees to her chest. “Chloé don’t say that, I’m to blame too… we shouldn’t have been arguing with each other in the first place,” Alix says as she walks over to Chloé and puts a hand on her shoulder. Chloé then noticed that Alix’s hand were bruised from hitting the wall. “I’m fine…” Alix told Chloé. Before she could pull her hand away, Chloe places her own hand on top of hers gently. “Chloé?” Alix whispered as Chloe stands up. “In case we don’t make it out of this…” Chloé says as she takes Alix’s other hand, trying not to tear up. “Don’t say that! We’re gonna be fine!” Alix says as Chloé’s eyes start to water. “Let me say that, I’ve always liked you Alix… a lot” Chloé says which surprised Alix. “What?!” Alix responds as she stared wide eyed at Chloé. “Ever since we were younger, I just didn’t know how to tell you how I was feeling! You’re cool, you’re brave, and you’re really tough!” Chloé says before holding one of Alix’s hands with both hands. “I just wanted you to know if something does happen to us!” Chloé said as Alix just stayed quiet. “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way…” Chloé continues before Alix kisses her on the cheek. “I’ve liked you since the whole heroes day situation, I just didn’t know if these feelings were genuine” Alix told Chloé who was just touching the cheek Alix kissed. “I know for a fact they are now!” Alix said before Chloé starts kissing her on the lips, which caused Alix to kiss back. “Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug shouts which caused Chloé and Alix’s prison to disappear and their Miraculous to appear in front of them. The two didn’t notice due to them still kissing. “YES!” Chat Noir shouted which caused Chloé and Alix to pull away, look at Lady and Chat Noir and start blushing.

Their Future Together

“Burnice? Sweetie? Where are you? ” Alix says, playing hide and seek with her youngest daughter. She then looks under the table and shouts, “Found you!” before carefully taking her from under the table. “Aww man!” Burnice said as she hugged her mom. Chloé then walked in the door with their oldest daughter Aziza. “We’re home!” Aziza shouts before Burnice jumps out of Alix’s arms and runs into Chloé’s. “Mama!” Burnice says while hugging Chloé. “Hey mom,” Aziza said before hugging Alix. “How was your day?” Alix asked while hugging Aziza. “Well, mama wouldn’t stop trying to protect me while I was trying to protect her!” Aziza told Alix. “With or without magic powers, I will not let anything happen to my girls!” Chloé says before pulling Aziza and Alix into the hug as well. “Aziza, take your sister upstairs” Alix said before Aziza picks up Burnice and takes her up stairs. “I know something’s bugging you Chlo, out with it” Alix said before she and Chloé sat at their kitchen table. “The last thing I want is Aziza making the same mistakes I made when I started out as a hero” Chloé says before Alix hugs her. “We’ve all made mistakes as heroes, Aziza has to grow into her own hero. Her mistakes will help her become a better one” Alix explained to Chloe before kissing her on the cheek. “Thanks Ally-kins” Chloé says before Pollen and Fluff flew down stairs with Aziza and Burnice running behind them. “I’m the luckiest Mayor Paris has ever had” Chloé said as she and Alix watched their girls play with Pollen and Fluff.

[waltzofthewifi]

Kota Chapter 37: Setting the Stage

Table of Contents | Beginning

Ladybug and Chat Noir had commandeered a classroom for their meeting.

The night before, Ladybug had filled Chat Noir in on the idea, and they had agreed on this meeting. She had invited the currently active heroes, plus Rena Rouge and Viperion, for this stage of planning.

Kota, Viperion, and Chat Noir were all using desks as chairs - Chat Noir had completely claimed the teacher's desk as his spot. Rena Rouge sat in an actual chair, and had opened a screen on her flute to take notes with. Pegasus has grabbed a chair, forgoing the desks completely.

Ladybug cleared off the whiteboard and grabbed herself a marker.

"I bet you all are wondering why I gathered you here today."

"Top ten things I've always wanted to say," Rena Rouge replied.

Ladybug ignored her. "I have decided we need to take more decisive action against Hawkmoth." She wrote on the whiteboard, PLAN TO DEFEAT HAWKMOTH.

"Have you figured out who he is?" Rena Rouge asked.

"Well, no," Ladybug admitted. "I'm still working on that. But once we have that figured out, I have a plan. So, we have four threats when facing Hawkmoth: him, Mayura, an akuma, and an amok." Ladybug wrote those four things on the board.

"What If Hawkmoth pulls another mass akumatization?" Pegasus questioned.

"What happened on heroes day was planned," Ladybug answered. "Hawkmoth would have to specifically akumatize someone with the ability to power him up. Only then can he akumatize more than one person."

"If we catch him by surprise, he won't have a chance," Chat Noir noted.

"Even better," Ladybug said. "Because Hawkmoth skipped the natural progression of the miraculous-"

"Wait, what?" Rena Rouge interrupted.

"The miraculous were designed to gradually make their users more powerful," Ladybug explained. "That's why Fu gave the miraculous to someone our age - because we can grow and become more powerful. While Hawkmoth's age keeps him from having a five-minute timer, it also keeps him from gaining that growth - specifically, extra control and range."

"Like Startrain," Pegasus said. "She wasn't in Paris, and Hawkmoth couldn't control her - her only goal was getting to space, not fighting you."

"Exactly," Ladybug agreed. "Once an akuma is out of range, he can't even recall it."

"Wait so that means-" Viperion started.

"That if we get the akuma far enough away, he can't use it to protect himself!" Rena Rouge finished. "That's brilliant!"

"The only problem is, we also would need to do the same thing to Mayura and her amok," Pegasus said. "And I can only conjure one portal at a time."

"That's where Bunnyx comes in," Chat Noir said.

"Bunnyx can time travel," Ladybug said. "If we can get Mayura to use up her amok, she can send them to two different times. But Mayura's smart, and that could prove difficult. That's why I have another ace up my sleeve - a candidate for the ox miraculous."

"Which gives extra strength," Rena Rouge remembered.

"I'm hoping to recruit him and Souris Rose to help Bunnyx against Mayura," Ladybug said. "As well as Roi Singe."

Pegasus nodded. "If she realizes what's going on before she uses her amok, she could create a sentimonster that could bring her back. Roi Singe's powers would counteract that."

Ladybug wrote Roi Singe under Amok, and Bunnyx, Souris Rose and Ox under Mayura.

"I want Rena, Carapace, Viperion, and Ryuko with me to defeat Hawkmoth," Ladybug said, writing down those names in the Hawkmoth column. "That leaves Queen Bee, Pegasus, and Kota to handle the akuma."

"What about Ibex?" Kota questioned.

"For reasons I can't say, she won't be available," Ladybug replied. "Do you think you three can handle the akuma?"

"Yes," Kota replied confidently.

"Good," Ladybug said. "Now, all we need is a way of figuring out his identity."

.

Lacy had just managed to quiet Orikko when Chloe called her.

"Just got in an argument with my mom," Chloe said. "I - Sabrina and Adrien aren't picking up. I didn't know who else to call."

"Tell me what happened?"

Chloe sniffled and started explaining what happened. The entire time, Lacy felt herself getting angry and angrier.

"Your mom sucks," Lacy summarized.

Chloe blinked. "You're not going to defend her?"

"Uh, no. She sucks. She's a crap mom. And you have every right to be upset by her."

"And that's not all!" Chloe said. "The other day -"

.

Marinette tied her hair back into a single ponytail and slid the extra hair band onto her wrist.

Today was the self defense seminar, and she was excited. Not only was it a way to start preparing for Hawkmoth, but nearly her entire class plus Marc and Kagami had signed up with her.

She, Alya, and Nino all met up at the subway station, running into Rose and Juleka by accident. Mylene, Sabrina, Lacy, and Alix were already at the place - a convention room in a hotel with plenty of space - when they arrived. Nathaniel, Chloe, Marc, Kagami, and Kim all arrived shortly after.

"This will be fun," Kagami said as she stretched.

"Depends on how much exercise we actually have to do," Nathaniel muttered.

Alix rolled her eyes.

The instructor told everyone to pair up. Alya and Nino paired up instantly. Marinette didn't mind - Alya and her might be best friends, but Alya and Nino were superhero partners, and sometimes that won out. Marinette personally loved sparring with Chat Noir.

Mylene asked Alix to partner with her, and Kagami and Kim teamed up, so Lacy and Marinette paired up.

Marinette was surprised at how much Lacy already knew. When she brought it up, Lacy just shrugged.

"My sister made sure I knew how to defend myself," Lacy explained.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Marinette commented.

Lacy spluttered. "Oh, um, half-sister. On my mother's side."

"I didn't know you had family on that side," Marinette said.

"Actually, that side of my family is pretty big," Lacy said. "I have several half-siblings. Most of them live in America though."

"Do they live with your mom?" Marinette asked.

Lacy shook her head. "No. My mother isn't very involved."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Lacy shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

That was probably a lie, but Marinette didn't push.

.

"That was fun," Marinette said, even as she collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. "I learned a lot."

"The instructor had some very good observations about akumas," Tikki added.

"And it was great to do it with so many friends," Marinette continued. "I can't wait to go back to help Alya with her blog post about it."

"It will definitely be an informative video," Tikki agreed.

"She's really been putting a lot of effort into making her blog more reliable, after what happened with Lila," Marinette noted. "I'm glad she's willing to learn from her mistakes."

"It'll help make her a great hero too!" Tikki said. "Those who can learn from their mistakes are some of the greatest allies you can have."

.

Lacy was about to fall asleep when her phone rang. She was exhausted after the self-defense seminar, in a good way, but answered it nonetheless.

She had been expecting Chloe, so she was caught off guard by the English and the British accent.

"You would never believe what happened."

"Sadie?" Lacy asked. "What happened?"

"I might be going to Paris," Sadie answered.

"What? Seriously?"

"Something came up with family," Sadie explained.

"Well, we'll have to meet up then," Lacy said. "I miss you so much!"

"Me too," Sadie agreed.

At first, it seemed too much like a coincidence. The again, Sadie was an Egyptian demigod - no, magician - and a powerful one at that. Maybe the Egyptian society or whatever she was involved with was investigating the magic in Paris.

"I'll text you the address of where I'll be staying," Sadie said. "Hopefully, they speak English there, but I bought a French English dictionary just in case."

"Don't worry, I can help translate," Lacy replied. "I'm pretty much completely fluent."

"Sweet," Sadie said.

Lacy's phone beeped, and she glanced at it to see an akuma alert.

"I have to go," Lacy said. "Talk to you soon?"

"Definitely."

.

Kota was the last one at the akuma, barely arriving in time to attempt to deflect a blast of color aimed at Ladybug.

Her kite did nothing, but the color blast didn't affect her.

Seeing where the blast came from - a scary dragon-looking creature with colorful scales - did have an impact.

Kota cursed. "What is that?"

"Sentimonster."

Kota turned to see Ladybug behind her, looking near tears.

"Are you okay?"

"It effects the emotions of others," Ladybug said.

That was a horrible power to fight, and Kota was glad that she seemed to be immune.

"The amok is on the akuma," Ladybug said. "Can you distract the sentimonster for us, since you seem to be immune?"

Taking on a dragon all by herself did not seem like fun, but she nodded anyways.

Kota took a running start and jumped on the sentimonster's back, grabbing the scales as hand grips. The dragon huffed, trying to twist around to bite her or shake her off, but her climbing experience gave her a strong grip and she stayed on.

The dragon flapped it's wings, launching into the sky, and did a barrel roll. Kota stayed on.

It was almost exhilarating, riding a dragon. The rush of air kept her awake and alert, and the city was pretty from the sky. Plus, her kite would keep her from falling to death. It felt like a magical rollercoaster.

Kota was completely distracting the sentimonster. It's entire focus was on her, and she felt like a powerfully annoying tick on the dragon's back. She wasn't even doing anything but holding on.

The dragon did a loop-de-loop, which was fun, and then disappeared completely, which was not fun.

Kota free fell for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened. Ladybug must have freed the amok, which of course cause the sentimonster to disappear. She twisted, extending her kite, and slowed her fall, hitting the pavement with a roll.

"Enjoy your ride?" Chat Noir asked.

"That was fun! Can I do it again?"

Chat Noir chuckled. Ladybug looked less amused.

.

Lacy was preparing for bed when Ladybug knocked on her window.

She wasn't surprised by the visit - after all, that latest akuma/sentimonster attack had been intense. And it once again brought up the fact that Lacy was immune to some magic.

"How exactly does that work?" Ladybug asked after Lacy forced her into accepting a hot chocolate.

Lacy shrugged. "I'm not sure, exactly. It's not exactly something that gets used a lot."

"Do you know why?"

"It's because of my mom," Lacy replied. She took a deep breath. "Which is something I probably should have told you about a long time ago."

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