#kagami is prepared to attack him with whatever she has

[personinthepalace]

Kagami attacking Felix - Miraculous Ladybug S5

[thr-333]

Just Another Class Trip :)  Part 3

You know getting dragged through a multi billion dollar corporations building to try and avoid your illegitimate father, a normal monday for most I’m sure.

First< Previous >Next

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It’s official, I hate Adrien

Marinette groans, having been practically dragged out of bed for breakfast. Adrien was wisely backed up as far as he could in the elevator. She yawns, making it loud as possible and looking Adrien right in the eye.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have stayed out so late,” Tikki giggles, hidden in her scarf.

Yeah it turns out that ‘just need to help out one person’ turned into a it is now 3am and I am halfway across the city beating up a gang.

“At least the box was safe,” Marinette whispers back, she had crashed in Adrien's room, no matter how mad Lila would be, or because of it who knows.

And indeed Lila was mad. The second they step foot into the hotel restaurant the entire class turns to stare at them. Crowded around a smug looking Lila with tears rolling down her cheeks. Marinette just turns a sharp left to the coffee. It isn’t until she has downed half a cup and refilled it that she tries to look for her friends.

Chloe looks just as dead as her, so she sits next to her. Let the morning people talk, they were ready to pass out together.

“Kagami?”

“Yep, Adrien?”

“Yep,”

“Morning people,” They both sneer.

“Were you planning on sleeping all morning?” Kagami asks, eating breakfast like a normal person, what a jerk.

“Were you planning on watching me all morning?” Chloe half heartedly retorts.

“You are adorable when you’re sleeping,”

“Fuck you, I’m adorable all the time,”

“Chlo, language, please,” Marinette implores, nursing her giant cup.

“Shut up Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe snaps, face planting back into the table.

“She’s not that cute actually,” Kagami whispers to Adrien, “Wore a face mask she got green all over the bed,”

“I’ll get green all over you,” Chloe mumbles absentmindedly.

"Marinette,"

"Ah the storm is coming,took them long enough" She takes a gulp of burning coffee, "Yes Alya?"

"You cant just say that to a person," Alya tries to explain, as if talking down to a child, "Lila was up all night crying,"

"She probably just put on a recording and went soundly to sleep," Chloe scoffs, sleepily looking up from the table.

"I was with her all night!" Alya turns to Chloe, seething rage coming to the surface.

"Thats some impressive endurance," Marinette mutters, downing more coffee.

"You think she's been practicing?" Chloe smirks.

"This isn't-"

"Make sure she get's plenty of water," Marinette turns away, hoping the conversation would be over.

"Marinette!" Alya looks down at her the way Marinette often looks at her, the look at a dear friend who changed, "Can't you see you're hurting Lila?"

"Can't you see she's hurting me?" She covers that honestly by gulping down more coffee, she has not had enough for this conversation.

"You used to be so nice Marinette," Alya dodges the question, pointing to Chloe and Kagami instead, "Then you started spending time with these two, and, and you changed!"

"Believe what you want Alya," Marinette motions for her friends to stay calm, "But they stand by me when no one else will, especially you,"

"Thats because!- Marinette if you had just gotten to know Lila instead of being jealous this would have never happened," Alya looks down at her sadly, Marinette was sure Paris would have been up in flames somehow if she had ever trusted Lila, "If you just didn't spend time around these bullies everything could be the same, you wouldn't have become a bully too,"

"So what?" She spits bitterly, looking over at the table watching them, Lila looking disgruntled it wasn't an all out fight, "If I got up and joined that table right now, would everything go back to the way it was?"

"... No,"

Marinette’s pocket buzzes in a familiar sequence. Akuma alert.

"Ok then, not much point in arguing about it, I'm going to stay with my friends, the ones I can actually trust," Marinette quickly shuts down Alya's protest, "Now go get Lila some water,"

Alya walks off back to the table, everyone crowding around her. Marinette waits for the door to be clear, she has to leave before Alya finishes or the whole class will be breathing down her neck.

“Forgot something in my room,” Marinette slings on her back pack, “Be back soon,”

She was not back soon, she was not back soon at all. Luckily she should only be three minutes late for the bus-and nope they left, great. She’ll just have to catch up with the tour later.

Well, I had stuff to do anyways

She talks with the receptionist; her assistant should have sent her a prepared motorcycle to the hotel the day before. It’s a quick drive to the location she had selected specifically to be close to the hotel.

She puts on a simple domino mask before entering the building, she didn’t want anyone to leak her identity after all. Walking in she’s glad to see everything is not in disarray.

“MDC,” Her assistant, Liam walks up to her.

Liam was someone she met through Penny. He’s older than her and also acted as her guardian on most of her trips as MDC. He does know her civilian identity, which she trusted him completely to keep. She likes him because-

“Is that mine?” She snatches the cup of coffee as he passes it to her.

“Figured you needed it,” Liam smiles, wincing as she downs the burning liquid, it's fine she has a strong healing factor, “You said your bag was stolen? This should replace it, it’s most of what you had plus more,”

He rolls forward a pre packed suitcase.

“I would die without,” Marinette says in all seriousness, “So what's the damage?”

“No major problems so far, the security we hired is enough to scare away the smaller thugs,” Liam nods to some security personnel guarding each door, “They won't be enough if any super villains try to attack the actual show,”

“Mm, give them instructions on the night of the show they are only allowed to intercept small time, anything bigger they are not allowed to engage,” Marinette studies the room, there's great places to hide, friend or foe, “If they see anything they are simply to report it directly to me,”

“They can’t engage?” Liam looks around, trying to see what she is.

“They won't be able to stop them anyway, and there is no reason for them to die,”

“If you say so,” Liam leads her through the room where lights are being set up and walls are being painted, “So what's the plan if we do get attacked?”

“I’m sure Batman is going to have his eye on any big events,” Marinette approves of the color of the back wall, it looking even better in person, “Besides I’m planning on trying to intercept before any violence,”

“In other words you're going to make my job a lot more stressful,” Liam sighs, making a note or rather on his tablet.

“Not if I can help it,”

“You can’t,” Liam sighs again at her grin, “Didn’t you have a tour with your class today?”

“They left me,” Liam seems equally unsurprised, “But I should probably head for Wayne tower anyway,”

“Don’t get into trouble,”

“I never get into trouble,” Marinette smirks from the door, “Trouble drags me into it kicking and screaming,”

“More like keen and skipping,” Liam closes the door in her face.

Marinette strolls into the Wayne tower an hour late with Starbucks, she sees is her class, being a nuisance arguing with a tour guide.

“You cannot just leave a student alone in Gotham,” The tour guide all but yells at Madame Bustier.

“Marinette is very responsible, she can handle herself,” Madame Bustier more defends herself than Marinette.

“I don’t care how responsible your student is, that won't stop them from getting shot!” This time he does yell, “You need to go back and pray to god she’s alright and hasn't gotten lost for some murder to find!”

Alright time to break the tension

“Hey, what did I miss?” Marinette asks casually, Already sipping at her straw when all eyes turn to her.

“Marinette! How did you get here?” Madame bustier demands.

“I-”

“I think you mean ‘are you alright, I’m so sorry for leaving you behind,” The tour guide glowers, apparently threatening enough that Madame Bustier actually repeats him.

“I’m fine, I borrowed a bike from my friend in Gotham,”

“You don’t have a licence in Gotham,” Lila sneers triumphantly.

Oh look who actually did some research, how much digging did you do when I learnt how to ride a motorcycle

“I didn’t say it was a motorcycle,” That shut’s Lila up, “But yeah it is a motorcycle,

Worth it for that face

“Also I got my licence approved in America before I came,”

So worth that face

Lila opens her mouth, better than the flood gates, when the tour guide interrupts.

“Now that everyone is here,” He sends a smile to Marinette and a glare to Madame Bustier somehow at the same time, she gets the tinglily feeling of  miraculous holder, or maybe its just the caffeine, “We can start, my name is Dick I will be your tour guide today.

They follow Dick through the tour Marinette's group right behind Dick. She scribbled designs and took notes as he talked, asking her own questions. This got her dubbed Dicks favourite, and easy title to gain as the rest of the class lagged behind. Most were listening to Lila, only Max and Alix were straining to hear Dick over the chatter. Marinette would occasionally pick up a mention of the Wayne's and knew it wasn't related to the tour. She'd have to guess Lila was lying about either dating someone or saving their life, or because it's Lila probably both. A gutsy move in the Wayne tower she had to admit. Marinette could tell Dick was listening and would probably have that rumour make it back to the Wayne's themselves. Would the wrath of some of the richest and most powerful people be enough to stop her? not likely.

They split up for lunch at the cafeteria in the building. She saw the coffee machine and was about to make a bee line to it when Kagami pulled her back to eat some 'real food' whatever that is. She makes a break for it after eating the so called 'real food', right before the tour was about to restart. She reaches it as a familiar figure is also waiting.

"Hi Tim," She greets, getting him to actually jump, "You work here?"

"Hi! um-yeah," He looks over to her, "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" She takes the biggest travel cup they have available.

"Sn-nothing," Tim still looks uneasy, then his eyes lock onto the cup, "tired?"

"Was up till three am last night, plus jet lag?" She yawns, "Yeah I'm tired,"

"Then you'll want to put that cup back,"

"Hm why?"

he gets her answer when Tim ducks down, opening a hidden cupboard full of travel cups at least twice the size of her current one,

"Tim I love you," She fills up the giant cup, "You're my favourite person in Gotham as of right now,"

"Not Dick?"

"Eh, his puns are lacklustre," She shrugs, Tim spits out his drink, "You know Dick?"

"Yep, give him a hard time for me!" Tim calls over his shoulder, walking away.

"You got it!" She hurries in the opposite direction, late for the tour once again.

“Did you get another coffee?” Dick asks as they enter the PR department.

“They were serving them at lunch,” Marinette could almost laugh at how quickly he had begun to fret over her during the tour.

“I know, that was my brothers idea, or rather demand,” Dick sighs, someone else approaching the group to direct the tour.

“Your brother works here?”

“Sure does,”

“But you don’t”

This makes Dick pause, looking down at her as she sips at the coffee.

“What?”

“I mean you don’t work this job at least,” She shrugs, it wasn't hard to figure out.

“Why's that?”

“You seem uncomfortable, your charismatic but still lack the smoothness of a rehearsed tour, plus you seem offended that they are in the back chatting,” Marinette nods towards Lila and her posse, “Regular tour guides would be used to that,”

“You found me out,” Dick chuckles, “I’m just taking over for today,”

“Well I think you picked a bad class to do that for,” She looks over at most her class ignoring the speaker trying to get their attention.

“I think I picked the right one,” Dick says cryptically, then walks off to help herd the class.

“Alright you have to give me the recipe,” Marinette overhears from a nearby desk.

Someone is sitting on it eating a cookie, while the other taps away at her computer.

“Sorry no can do,” She shrugs, “I don’t know it,”

“How can you not know it, you baked them right?” He asks, trying to steal another one and getting his hand slapped away.

“Nope, new vigilante came in, beat up someone robbing my house and baked me cookies,”

“This is Gotham so I believe the first two,” He looks between her and the container, “But cookies?”

“They also gave me free therapy,” She shrugs, before tapping on the container,“And do you really believe I could make these?”

“Touche,” He smirks leaning back on the desk, “So who’s the new guy? With the Batclan?”

“No they said they were just passing through,” She doesn't look up from her computer, focusing intently on the screen, “Names Starling,”

“Never heard of them,”

“Neither, and I tried looking them up,” She sighs, pushing back from the computer in defeat, “Found someone, but it’s not them, actually couldn't find anything on them,”

“Weird,” He gets up from the desk, “Can’t imagine Batman is going to take kindly to a new vigilante running around,”

“Unless he adopts them,”

“That… yeah he probably will,”

"Oh no-CLAIRE" The speaker trying to wrangle her class stops, "We have a problem!"

"Sorry to cut this short," Claire doesn't look sorry at all, "Seems we have important matters to tend to,"

She follows Dick out of the department, ushering her class as she goes. Claire looks over at her like she has two heads, a mixture of impressed and pity, and perhaps a bit of jealously.

They get to go further up the building, to the higher floors. They reach a space that is mostly meeting rooms. He class decide to take advantage of Dick declaring they are completely sound proof, or maybe they took it as a challenge. Marinette is walking past a hall when someone leaning against the wall catches her eye.

“Auntie Selina?!”

They look around, only spotting Marinette seconds before they collide into a hug, she feels the tingling buzz of a true holder.

“Mari!” Selina picks her up and spins her around, no different from when she was five, “Oh, my love it’s so good to see you, when did you arrive in Gotham?”

Marinette watches as her smile morphs into horror.

“Wait, what are you doing in Gotham!?”

“It’s a class trip and- hey where are we going?” Her Auntie grabs her arm pulling her down the hall.

“Marinette!” Dick calls, walking around the corner, Selina makes a sharp turn down another corridor, “Wait!”

Selina is two steps away from running as she pulls Marinette through the maze of hallways.

“Auntie where are we going?”

“Down here,” She opens the door leading to a staircase, too narrow to be a fire exit.

“That’s not really what I was asking,”

Selina inputs a key code, the door swinging open as she is pulled into the room.

“Wait!” She gets pulled through another door just as quick “Was that wall full of weapons?”

“Just a picture sweetie,” She says sweetly, “Down these stairs,”

“Aunt Selina what are we running from?” They are running now, floor after floor.

“We’re not running from anything sweetie,” Selina speeds up, “I just wanted to show you a cool spot in Gotham,”

“Right,” Marinette raises an eyebrow, “I was actually with the class so maybe we could go later?”

“It closes in five minutes,”

“Like you wouldn’t just break in if we were going somewhere,”

“I promise I will take you somewhere nice,” She smiles back at Marinette, they reach the end of the stairs, coming to a garage of sorts, “If you promise to hurry up,”

“Sure-” She does a double take, of the room, “Hold up are those costumes?”

“Collectors stuff, you know,” They are surrounded by bat themed... everything, “Rich people,”

“Right and how do you know this?”

“I-” She hesitates, eyes drifting, “Hey look, the exit!”

They all out sprint towards the exit. Selina reaches out to open the door a second after it swings open.

“Selina,” The man smiles at Selina as she runs into him.

“Hey Bruce,” Selina jumps back, trying to hide Marinette behind her.

“Where are you going?” Bruce looks behind her at Marinette, who gives a little wave.

“Out! Got to hurry!” She grabs Marinette's arm again, trying to pull her around Bruce.

“Is something wrong?” Bruce grabs Selina's shoulders to keep her still and looking at him.

“Nope nothings wrong,” She wriggles out of his grasp, trying again to pull Marinette away.

“Ok then,” Bruce still looks worried but turns to Marinette instead, “Hello I’m Bruce Wayne, Selina finance,”

“YOU’RE HER WHAT!?”

“Snitch,” He Auntie spits out venomously.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” Marinette asks her with the biggest grin.

“Surprise,” Selina gives half heated jazz hands.

“Wait! Whens the wedding? Do You have a dress? I’ll make one!” She deicides, brining out her sketchbook, drawing different designs, “What's the theme? Never mind tell me on the way to the fabric store, I’ll sketch up some designs,”

“Darling, please-” Selina is now getting pulled along.

“Oh! I’ll call Papa! I’m sure he’ll want to make your cake! We have to hurry, come on lets go!” They're already out the door, Marinette waves turning back to Bruce, “Nice meeting you!”

“What just happened?” Bruce asks Dick as he runs up next to him.

“She kidnapped one of the students on tour,”

“Who is now making her wedding dress,” Bruce nods, not understanding anything

“Did I miss something?”

I think we all did

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

Taglist:

@smolplantmum @flufflepuffle296 @dawnwave16  @caffeinetheory   @g-arya   @Maribat-2k20   @ladybug-182    @Actual-disaster-human    @fusser90   @messrs-weasley   @soap-lady  @paintedhope7   @zeneralla    @mochegato     @random-nerd-3 @clumsy-owl-4178  @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen   @too0bsessedformyowngood @certifiedbidisaster  @Purplegeekypanda @awkward0ghostfan @theymakeupfairies @tikki-marinette @insane-fangirl-of-everything @elmokingkong @inarachi02 @slytherinhquinn @moongoddesskiana @dast218 @buginetye @redscarlet95

[feminaexlux]

All That Matters (Pt 1: I Got Chills)

Happy Valentine’s Day! This is my @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers exchange fic for @nobodyfamousposts. Find this on AO3 here!

Summary: What if Miracle Queen happened 6 months later in the dead of winter?

Part 1 of 3, probably.

⁂

"Ladybug?"

"Yeah, Chat?"

"I have a girlfriend."

"Oh! That's wonderful, congratulations!"

Chat Noir looked… confused, which was odd given the news that Ladybug just got. "I thought you'd be jealous," Chat said eventually. Part of him sounded chagrined, but another part of him sounded a little relieved.

Ladybug tilted her head. "Why would I be jealous? I'm happy for you!"

"Thanks," Chat said with a small smile. "It's new for me, you know? I've never done this before. I feel like I'm going to mess something up."

Ladybug laughed. "You're a good guy, Chat. I think all relationships are going to be hard and there will always be ups and downs. But I think you'll be fine if you work together on the problems." Ladybug then had a concern. "You're not dating her as Chat are you?"

"Pfft, no, no my Lady, the real me is doing that part," Chat laughed.

"Okay, good. Remember you can't reveal your identity to anyone."

"I know, my Lady, I know." Chat sighed. "I wish I could, sometimes. It sucks having to leave her without a good explanation, you know?"

Ladybug paused and considered. "Can I ask how you deal with that?"

"Luckily for me, my fath-- uh, family has a pretty tight leash on this cat. I say that they need me and… she understands." Chat leaned forward and pulled up his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. "She's… sad whenever that happens so I try to make it up to her."

Ladybug laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "That's good. It sounds like the sooner we can take down Hawkmoth, the better."

Chat turned to her and nodded. "Yeah. Agreed."

Ladybug took her hand off his shoulder and rested it back on the roof of the building they were on. They had done some patrols and met back up again to report nothing out of the ordinary. They sat together watching the sunset as they did on the good days.

It was partly cloudy and chilly in the early days of winter. The freezing cold hadn't yet settled in but Ladybug knew it was coming in soon. She'd noticed in the previous winter that part of her felt sluggish and her body felt more lethargic in general, even in her powered up super suit. Tikki had said something about how ladybugs didn't do well in winter, and maybe that was why? Okay, sure. Ladybug didn't want to be any sort of liability to Chat or to the city of Paris when it got cold so she was able to convince Master Fu to lend out the other Miraculous on a semi-permanent basis.

Rena Rouge and Carapace were more than recurring heroes now. Ladybug had entrusted the Miraculous to Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe after they promised to protect their identities, each other, the city of Paris, and to not misuse the Miraculous powers for personal gain. She’d done the same for Pegasus, Ryuuko, and Viperion. Ladybug didn’t know who King Monkey was so she had enlisted Fu’s help in tracking him down.

Queen Bee was… on an as-needed basis. Chloe Bourgeois was still an unknown. She had her moments of true selflessness but they'd been rare and unpredictable and that wasn't an ally Ladybug or Chat Noir could trust. They tried explaining that to Chloe once, but it ended when the mayor's daughter threw them out in a fit of tears. They still gave her another chance but the last time Queen Bee was used was with HeartHunter and Ryuuko had to bail them all out when Queen Bee stopped listening to them.

It wasn't going well.

"How are you doing, 'Bug?"

Ladybug snapped out of her thoughts and turned to face Chat. "I'm… okay. It's starting to get cold."

"Maybe you need to find yourself a boyfriend and get some warm snuggles," Chat grinned. "What about that boy you love?"

Ladybug closed her eyes. "He's found someone else," Ladybug said softly. She had a small smile on her face, remembering how it felt to see Adrien and Kagami together. Kagami fit in to his life so seamlessly and Adrien looked happier than Marinette had ever seen.

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Ladybug sighed, looking back out at the sunset. "I think he's happier now." And now Marinette wasn't feeling like the universe kept pushing back. It hurt a little bit to know nothing was going right with Adrien and there wasn't anything she could do to change it. She finally made the decision to stop feeling hurt all the time and allowed herself to let him go. "And I think I'm happier too."

"Okay," Chat smiled, sighing in relief. "That's great to hear. I'm sorry it didn't work out but I'm glad that you're happier. A happy Ladybug is always good news."

"And a happy Chat Noir is always good news as well," Ladybug giggled. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Of course. You're my best friend, Ladybug. I want to tell you everything, but…"

"You shouldn't tell me. It's to protect us," Ladybug stressed. "But… you know you're my best friend too."

⁂

One good thing about no longer obsessing over Adrien was that Marinette had less to worry about. The GirlSquad was no longer a pain in the proverbial butt about getting her to ask him out either. Instead Alya had fixed her sights on improving the LadyBlog and tracking down interviews with the other semi-permanent heroes, though (for obvious reasons) she had way more articles about Rena Rouge than any of the other Miraculous holders. It didn't seem like it was for personal gain as Alya had styled the interviews as asking the heroes advice to inform all of her blog readers how to defend against or prepare for akumas, so Marinette decided she'd let that pass for the greater good.

The only thing that felt a little weird about the GirlSquad sometimes was that Juleka seemed like she kept wanting to talk with Marinette and then backing out at the last second. That probably meant Juleka still felt confused about Marinette dating her brother.

Marinette knew it looked kinda bad to date someone else soon(?) after giving up on Adrien, especially since Adrien started dating Kagami(!), but it just happened so… naturally. Marinette had been the one to keep visiting Luka at the Liberty. Luka had kept inviting her to watch movies with him. They'd just felt like having lunch together often. After months of not-dating Marinette had finally asked, flustered and tripping over her words, if they actually were. Or… If he had wanted to.

"If you want to, I'm game," Luka had said casually, but Marinette had seen the faintest blush on him.

They had both been surprised when she said "Yes."

Their relationship was nice and easy. They had taken it slow. Most of their "dates" were just hanging out, low key chilling around each other, listening to music or working on Lycée homework. He would lend an ear to whatever she wanted to talk about and offered his thoughts and commentary. She'd given him small gifts here and there. They'd gone out ice skating and met up with other friends a few times. She had been worried that she'd been a pretty boring girlfriend overall but he said "If you wanna be here with me and I wanna be here with you, that's all that matters."

Whenever she and Luka were together during an akuma attack Luka did have the penchant for staying with her for as long as possible. He did eventually give an excuse of having to check up on Juleka or his mom and left Marinette to run out as Viperion… and then she would transform into Ladybug and follow after him. If anyone caught on that Ladybug always came in right after Viperion, the other heroes were smart enough to not comment on it. Nor comment on how they always left at the same time. Luka had, after sprinting back to her, breathlessly apologized the first few times for leaving her but Marinette had said it was so brave of him to look out for his family's safety and that'd been enough. Marinette did have to admit to herself that dating another superhero was actually pretty convenient. Chat would never let that go if he found out.

On the bad days it'd been so good to melt into his hugs when she felt the weight of the world press down harder on her. He'd been the calm in her life she so desperately wanted. It hit her like a ton of bricks just how much she needed him when he got taken from her.

⁂

Marinette and Luka were hanging out at Place des Vosges having coffee together after defeating yet another akuma. It had gotten much easier dealing with Hawkmoth most of the other heroes helping out, and the fight was over in practically no time at all. Just when everything calmed down again she and Luka heard screaming nearby and saw people running away from… a swarm of wasps?

They got up and started running, but they were too slow and the wasps were catching up. "Aw crap," Luka yelled. "Marinette watch out!" Luka pulled her into his arms and shielded her from them, getting stung in the process.

"Luka!" Marinette felt his arms drop from her shoulders and she looked up to see his face devoid of any emotion. His eyes turned a weird shade of yellow and he wasn't responding to her shaking him. "Luka!" For one tiny moment he blinked and looked down at her with concern, then his face went slack again. "Oh no, what happened to you?" He turned away from her and started walking off. "H-hey! No! Don't go!" She took his hand and tried to pull him into the bakery but he resisted and kept walking. Another swarm of wasps was closing in on her and Marinette cried out in frustration, letting Luka slip out of her grasp.

Wasps… wasps? Was this Chloe?! Oh no, Marinette thought, turning on her heels to sprint toward the Seine. She transformed while diving in, making sure to use her aqua powerup. She plunged into the river and then looked back up to see the swarm hovering above the water and eventually disperse away. She pulled out her yoyo and slid the cover up, checking if any of the other Miraculous holders were active.

Oh no. None of the other heroes were showing up on her communicator. At least not yet. Oh no. Ladybug let the communicator close and swam in circles, wondering just how she'd be able to handle this on her own if she had to. Suddenly she got a ping and Ladybug whipped out her yoyo, franticly checking which of her allies was nearby. Oh thank goodness Chat Noir was alright. Okay. She swam to meet him as he was heading in her direction and they met up halfway. "Chat! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm definitely glad to see you, 'Bug!"

"Th-this is… this is Queen Wasp again, isn't it?" Ladybug fretted and pulled her hair in a mix of frustration and guilt. "I… I thought…"

"We beat her before and we can do it again," Chat said, squeezing her shoulder with his hand. "And… and I have this, if we need it," he said somewhat sheepishly, pulling out what looked like a necklace. It was a choker… a very familiar choker. One she had given to Kagami Tsurugi to keep for the time being. What was Chat doing with the Dragon Miraculous? "I… found this near… a girl after she got stung by one of the wasps."

Ladybug blinked at the choker a few times. All she could think of was the dread she felt when the wasps were after her and Luka. What had Chat Noir gone through? And he had been conveniently nearby Kagami and the Dragon Miraculous and recognized it fast enough to grab it? "We might be able to use this." Ladybug closed Chat's hand over the choker. "You keep this for now, let's make a plan. None of the other heroes show up as active on my locator yet--" As soon as she said it she got a series of pings on her yoyo that indicated that most of the other Miraculous holders were becoming active, all but Ryuuko, and all at the same time and location.

Even Viperion showed up on her locator… she knew that Luka had been taken. Which could only mean…

"This is bad news." Ladybug bit at her bottom lip. "I personally saw that… one of the holders got stung. This means they've captured everyone else with a Miraculous and we're on our own. We'll have to use the Dragon and get any edge we can." Chat nodded at Ladybug and she sighed. "This is going to be tricky. We need to take Viperion out first."

"How are we going to do that?"

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other in silence for a bit. "We have to split up and you have to use the Dragon Miraculous. You can't be caught by the wasps or Pegasus if you're in Wind form and I don't think it's safe to do a frontal assault with Viperion working against us."

"And what about you? What are you going to do?"

"I'm… going to use the Mouse. They can't capture all of me that way… hopefully."

Chat looked pained. "This sounds dangerous, 'Bug."

"Do you have another idea?" Chat shook his head. "Then let's do this for now. We'll have to play this by ear." Ladybug called her Lucky Charm and got a scarf, now waterlogged with Seine water (ew). "A scarf? What the heck am I supposed to do with a scarf?!"

⁂

To be continued (insert Jojo music here)

Actually j/k it's right here

[currentfandomkick]

Marinette did not sign up for this part 8

first part here previous part here ao3 here

update at last!

--

Marinette almost screamed when she saw the knitting needles on her balcony. It wasn’t even her birthday yet. Was he around? Taunting her?

School wasn’t helping. She kept her eyes on the windows.

It didn’t help her team was scanning the area constantly… and she was certain that Kagami somehow got out of school as she could spot Ryuuko before school even started, and her shadow had’t moved often.

Alya, Nino and Adrien weren’t leaving her side. Kim had taken to joining them (and with him, Max and Alix) with Kim determined to get Marinette to wear one of his hoodies since “you look cold.”

She knew that was code. ‘Let me help.’ She wasn’t sure this was something safe for them to help with.

“Thanks but I’m good!” was highly ineffective.

Before lunch Kim had his hoodie on her. It made it harder to find her with the change from her usual outfits once Adrien and Alix stole her hairbands.

They were doing a plain sight disguise. She knew it.

Going to Alix’s after school helped a bit with that.

She still felt eyes on her. She couldn’t tell who’s.

Alix was the one to break out the guardian translations with her dad. The Kubdels knew more than most of her team—time travel side effects after all. It was a big part of why she could trust them in the first place: Alix wanted to help and her father knew there would be a Ladybug in Paris before giving Alix the family heirloom. When Marinette saw it after studying the miraculous for a bit and asking Fu if there could be two rabbit miraculouses… it lead to Fu merging the two (from two separate timelines).

In the one Mr. Kubdel was from, a girl named Bridgette took up the role of Ladybug and was followed around by a questionable Black Cat. Mr. Kubdel’s grandfather prevented that timeline from happening—changing key events and all—but was prepared for the chances another rabbit would be needed. His son was not a good fit… (poor research, questionable retention, and overall bad at delicate work) meanwhile Alix had street art done quickly and intricately, fast reflexes, and adored learning history to the point some topics had been re-written in the curriculum for “the complete BS this hack is pushing” and “obvious refusal to stick to the facts” among other objections with heavily cited and sourced works to back up her claims. To a truly terrifying degree.

Its also why once they were out of sight, Alix and Mr. Kubdel and her escaped to one of the secret passaged kept off the current schematics for Miraculous related reasons (escape without being seen leaving) and Alix brought them into her burrow sans ‘time windows’ for her peace of mind.

“What do you want us to do Ladybug?” Bunnix asked.

That was the question…

They tracked that the issue began with what let Robin identify her in the first place. The most likely culprit was the flaming akuma… if Alix went as Bunnix and helped Ladybug catch the butterfly or got it someone else, then Robin would never have identified her, and their current situation wouldn’t be happening.

She wouldn’t be hunted by the Ghosts of Gotham.

But then… her team wouldn’t exist, not as it does.

Chat wouldn’t know who she is.

She wouldn’t exist.

She… she wasn’t willing to give that up.

“We’re not undoing the past.”

Bunnix nodded, gliding around the empty space.

Mr. Kubdel opened and closed his mouth before finally offering his own suggestion. “Perhaps, we could capture them.”

Marinette ran over that option. It wasn’t bad. Not by a long shot… but the capture would deprive Gotham of its vigilantes…

“We only keep Robin, any others captured are cut loose as soon as possible and removed.”

“But Robin is the one that knows your identity,” Bunnix reminded her.

“The others probably figured it out already. But that’s not why we’re keeping him.”

Mr. Kubdel gestured for her to clue them in.

“Remember what the Aesir and Vanir did to end their dispute?”

Mr. Kubdel searched his memories until it hit him. “Ah. That.”

Marinette nodded. “Add in a game of chase, move to the home turf, and we have our plan.”

“And you’re bait?” Bunnix checked, no longer moving about as she absorbed the plan.

--

If you were a civilian in Paris, you might catch sight of what must be someone’s idea of a joke. As not only were there Big Justice Members running around with your local heroes—who up until this point had only worked with one other group (Quantics) who were Europe-based.

But seeing some guy in black with a bluebird on his chest go head to head with Rena, Miss Sting and a very pissed off Monkey King and Pegasus (since when does he get mad like that? Kid looks like he’s going to end Bluebird) was not a sight you were able to process at the moment. Wonder Woman joining the group was the cherry on top. and Carapace was moving civilians out of the way and sometimes caging them all in Shelter.

You also catch an enraged Chat Noir and Ryuuko tearing after some fashion disaster in a cape down the street. A cape for godsake. In broad daylight. Green Lantern was flying after them, and since when does Chat’s suit… move? Like, you’re pretty sure that’s not normal… at all.

Ryuuko and Fashion Disaster (FD for short) are sword fighting. Chat is attacking FD at any opening. Viperion is with them, sometimes shouting directions. Green Lantern seems to be keeping the fight from spilling over.

A check on the Miraculous News App shows pics of Fashion Disaster trying to get too close to the baker’s daughter. You know, the one that kind of slips the heroes snacks and is seen with Chat randomly at her balcony? The one you’re 30% sure he’s crushing on and in some war with Ryuuko for the heart of. Why else would the two be seen so often around it?—Akuma school is across the street.

You blink a few times when you realize that baker’s daughter is visibly scared of FD (and you’d be too if a random Mask with a sword showed up) and apparently had Bunnix with her at the time to help move faster.

That meant whatever happened in another time had to be bad…

Bunnix mentioned that in the world where she went Princess Justice there wasn’t much to stop her…

You can see why the team is a tad… okay, really overzealous. You’re pretty sure Chat tried to cataclysm FD after Ryuuko sent him flying with the air attack.

You manage to get a better view (For the People! and not to mock the villain later—no siree!) of the Bluebird fight. Dude gets taken down by a combination of things in short sucession—Monkey King landing a hit with his power, Wonder Woman’s lasso (through a portal—good on you Pegasus!) that he got pulled through, a flute to the head by Best Girl Rena, and paralyzed by your favorite striped heroine.

The take down shocked FD and Green Lantern caged the guy (teen? Kid? They look small.) and moved them over by Wonder Woman and her group, some of whom dispersed to recharge.

Never claim Bruce is not a dedicated parent. The best? He hopes not. The worst? He has met Stephanie’s parents, and he is far from them. And Cas’s. And he knows he’s not as bad as Rah’s. He is dedicated (and a serial adopters, but shhh). How does he know this?

He managed to reactivate his kid’s trackers and noted where they intersected and looked into properties, deeds, and children in the school across from the bakery Stephanie and Cass had taken to camping out in when not at their hotel rooms. So far, he narrowed down his daughter to three possible candidates—Mireille Caquet, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Laura Pretre. The only three girls in the age range he suspects Ladybug is in (he paid attention to the early videos and crossed her references, videogames and knowledge of the teens’ involved (re: knowing their names before the class became an akuma gold mine).  They are also the only three from his candidate pool who were adopted or single mother of the right age to have caught his younger self’s attention—a few interviews of the heroes let slip that Ladybug’s parents and her team’s parents are unaware of what they do, and her vicious support for child support and adoptive parents in a few akuma instances gave credit to her belonging to one of those two groups.

It was between Marinette and Laura in his opinion—they both ran a fashion boutique online. Mireille was a model the two shared, but still a possibility.

Jason was helped him narrow it down—a consolation for being stuck in bed and not allowed on patrol for the night. Apparently he was also trying to call off the identity search in-person to prevent any accidental identity reveals and prevent further stressing of “Lady Bat”.

Bruce may have smiled at the nickname. He doubted his daughter would appreciate it, but nicknames had a strange habit of sticking if Jason gave it… for better or worse in Tim’s case. (He was glad that Replacement was replaced with Tiny Tim, Timbo and Timmy).

He also noted that the girls were intent on Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth… and had a strange obsession with his relationship to Mayura given their search histories. Tim was still deciding between designers, and he did note that Marinette ranked highly on there… which was both a relief and terrifying.

That meant everyone but his daughter’s “business conduct supervisor” (Adrien Agreste, only son of Gabriel Agreste, primary candidate as Hawkmoth) had been akumatized and someone she had to personally fight while they hurled who knew what at her. He doubted it was good for her mental health. (Not that he has much room to talk, but still.)

Damian and Dick were refusing to respond to his messages, and likely engaged in something.

Until Green Lantern lit up his screen with a pained look. “Bats, this is not what I meant by get your house in order.”

The view panned to Nightwing and Robin currently held by a very pissed off Wonder Woman. With Chat Noir glaring at Robin, something off with his suit.

Batman sighed deeply. “I told you those two weren’t responding since Robin returned with Red Hood last night.”

Green Lantern looked at someone off screen, clearly taking commands from them.

“Uh, yeah… We’re having Supergirl get the other three back Stateside. Miss Sting and Chat want to interrogate these two since Robin was caught around a civilian they keep an eye on.”

Batman could hear what wasn’t being said. Robin went to talk to Ladybug’s civilian identity and it blew up in his face.

“… are any of you allowed to be present to monitor the interrogation?”

He doubted the teens would get violent. (he hoped) but there were too many unknowns.

A hiss from Chat Noir ended his ‘not likely to get violent’ train of thought. His one of his sons was caught stalking their leader, who he has previously tried to kill, and another aimed a gun at a member of their team. Violence was on the table.

And he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“Ladybug will choose who comes.”

Robin looked up at him from the background. “Permission to ask Father a question?”

There was a moment when everyone turned to the figure off screen, likely Miss Sting given Ladybug’s refusal to be in the Justice League’s presence.

Robin turned back to the screen, Hal moving closer to give him a better view of Robin. HE was largely unbruised on his face and his breathing was even. Positive indicators.

“Am I allowed to unmask?”

Batman froze. Jason looked up from his spot. He could feel Babs choking on something in shock.

Hal and Diana reacted somehow, but they weren’t in screen.

He meant to do this far later. When she adjusted. To her alone, and later let her team know. ease them into it—there was no knowing one of their identities without knowing the rest. Not with how Ladybug’s mind worked. And he doubted she kept many secrets from her team.

“…I am not opposed to it. Preferably keep it to those you trust with that knowledge alone.”

Robin nodded. “Understood Father.”

--

When Ladybug showed up, she could feel everyone’s eyes on her. She ignored it as best she could, especially the silent Nightwing and Robin… possible assassins. Sent by her biological father who never even met her. it was going to be a long plan execution (and gods, she still needed to double check on the Hawkmoth as Gabriel theory and work out how to remove him from the company without screwing over a decent chunk of the fashion industry workers from design, store front to manufacturers and suppliers. And emotional whiplash of Hawkmoth trying to kill his own son twice. And the times he tried to manipulate her into Princess Justice and have it Stick in the timeline).

All it took was one look at Pegasus. One look and she blocked all the other issues swimming in her mind.

“Ah, we’re going there then… It’s a good thing Cowboy is resting for the moment…” Pegasus shook his head. “Voyage!”

Ladybug looked them over.

“Chat, Miss Sting, Rena, and Pegasus, I need you with me. The rest of you, patrol or return to civilian life until I return. If you come across an akuma, jar them. Contact us if you need a fix only.”

Carapace nodded, looking over at Kim and Alix. “We won’t let you down.”

Ladybug nodded, her eyes narrowing at the two League members present. She was still debating contacting the ‘only in an emergency do you contact this rogue branch’ group… they were once lead by a Chat Noir candidate, or still were… she wasn’t clear on that detail. What she did know is they went by League of Shadows in the book, but it was noted they favored violent forms of destruction, and she wasn’t sure if they needed that method… didn’t want them to need it either.

But the book stated the Amazons were loyal to Ladybugs. “Wonder Woman, please ensure the Bats are out of my city before we return.”

“Of course Ladybug.”

She turned to the Green Lantern. A shakier alliance with the lanterns historically, but also known to tell the Ghosts of Gotham off, and so far he’s shown a high favor of her team’s stance over his technical ally’s. Perhaps a personal grudge, or maybe the Justice League operated more like Gabriel’s company—a chain of command, specific roles somewhat dependent on each other, and no one had to like one another…

Wonder Woman was better to ensure the Bats left.

Green Lantern was the one holding Robin in his ring. And his “Core” as the book said, was most responsive to Ladybug who didn’t hesitate to protect others and themselves at once. That they showed a level of comradery during times when the Order followed philosophies that could be linked the idea of “personal and individual impact upon others with one’s actions and choice” was the exact wording.

She hoped she was doing this right.

“Green Lantern, if you would be so kind as to come with us and bring Murder Robin? You are free to roam once we get there, but don’t try to locate where on earth we are then. It’s the one place Hawkmoth hasn’t been able to reach, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Green Lantern and Robin both agreed readily.

Nightwing looked like he really wanted to argue. A lot.

Wonder Woman somehow kept him from speaking as they left.

Marinette could finally breath when they entered the Temple. She wasn’t able to bring back the Guardians. She could bring back their scrolls, the library, the training rooms. It also meant they were far from Paris, from Hawkmoth’s reach, and that now the real plan had to be put in action… how to keep the bats out of Paris and her secret identity a secret. (Hawkmoth could wait. She needed time to work that out, and once she was sure, once the nagging doubt and what ifs stopped plaguing her… then she’d look for that solution… maybe Adrien could inherit early or they could arrange for his father to be caught committing tax fraud or something after getting Nooroo and Duusuu? Anything to ensure he was punished for his actions and that Adrien isn’t caught in the crossfire. She can’t lose the literal other half of her soul. She just. Can’t.)

Ladybug paused when she looked over Chat. His suit was… moving. Shadows were moving on his suit. That. That can’t be good.

“Chat, bring Murder Robin somewhere he can’t find a weapon, Miss Sting, make sure no one attacks anyone in any way, am I clear?”

Miss Sting gave a curt Nod while Chat hissed, but relented easily enough.

Green Lantern put a hand on her shoulder while Pegasus ran off to the library, likely to check up on his own additions to the place… bringing it into the twenty-first century was not easy.

“Going to check-in with what’s going on with your Cat?”

Ladybug glanced at him. “He’s my partner.”

“Pretty sure that’s what a Black cat is for a Ladybug,” Green Lantern said.

Ladybug didn’t respond, moving away from him and Rena to message Alix to find out what shadows have to do with the Black Cat… and if she needs to worry about a second Atlantis event.

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

so things are happening because Mari is Smart Strategist, Protect Mari Squad is a force to be reckoned with (teen superheros love local baker daughter that gives them food and lets them hang out), Kubdels Know Their Timelines (Sort of) and Wonder Woman and Hal know better than pissing of a Ladybug while Bruce is off Suffering and Putting Shit Together.

and yeah, Damian is both the one who started this, and the one that Marinette wants to confront, (plus respects her secret ID rights unlike Certain Bats who made it a competition) so he gets First Meet rights in the way None Of Them Wanted.

anyone who wants to add to the madness, feel free to comment possible things and i'll see what sticks and doesn't.

fight scenes are Not My Best so i tried where I could (Sorry to batfam fans who wanted Dick to be Badass. he's up against Diana and four miraculous members directly PLUS carapace 'i am locking you into this space now' shelter? he's good but its Wonder Woman and five demi-god level heroes raised on adapt and overcome heroing. long battle but he was going to lose.) Damian's fight is left up to interpretation but Team-Work makes the Dream Work for this story.

@heldtogetherbysafetypins @laurcad123 @raisuke06 @chaosace@jeminiikrystal @toodaloo-kangaroo @kris-pines04 @bisha43rbs @izang

[quijotine]

come get ya miraculous juice

If your thirst for lukanette and slow burn adrinette cannot possibly wait for season 4, Chapter 10 of The Wall Between Us is up on AO3! 

Or read in Tumblr below the cut

Chapter 10

“Aw, come on Luka, don’t be like this,” Albin said, swinging an arm around his neck.

“I’m not being like anything,” Luka protested as he and his group of friends made their way out of the metro station and towards Place de la Concorde. “I’m just saying I don’t feel like coming to a demonstration.”

“So, what would you rather be doing today instead, hm? Stay locked up in your room like an emo kid? Besides, the weather is great today and you know Margot will hang us by our heads if we don’t show up.”

Luka sighed and remitted to walk along, which pleased Albin.

Luka’s friends had been very adamant on helping him out of the house as often as possible since his breakup with Marinette. They knew that, left to his own devices, Luka would close up and keep to himself. He wasn’t the kind of guy that readily shared when something bothered him, he was more the type that had to be squeezed like an orange for him to share his mind when he was feeling low. However, this was not the reason why Luka had put up more of a fight than it was usually his style. It had been almost a week since the breakup and he had managed to keep out of trouble with Hawkmoth, but he attributed his success to a lot of calm evenings and just processing everything his own way.

As much as he supported the cause and his friend Margot, he could see how participating in a demonstration could get him riled up, especially if some asshole showed up. And he’d attended enough demonstrations during his lifetime to know that there was always some asshole showing up.

The trio of boys made their way to the organizers’ tent, where Margo kept busy readying cardboard signs. Without as much as a quick glance upwards and a smile, she said, “Oh good, you’re here. Help me with these, please. Paint is on the table over there.” She handed a couple of cardboard pieces to each of the boys and left them to their own devices.

Luka wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with these. His creativity didn’t exactly lie in the visual department. That was always more a thing for...

He shook his head and proceeded to grab some random paint and brushes for Albin, Noe, and himself. As he turned around, he accidentally knocked a container of black paint on the person behind him waiting their turn.

“What the heck! Watch it!” the girl exclaimed.

“Shit,” he hissed. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Let me help you clean-- Kagami?”

It took him a couple seconds to recognize who she was. It had been almost a year since he had last seen her. There was an air to her that made it evident she had changed a lot during that time, but it was also obvious in her appearance. She had cut her hair shorter than before and she had now several piercings on her ears. She seemed to have also shed her preppy outfits in favor of high-waisted mom jeans and a black crop top. Besides her appearance, Luka could  just tell this was the type of girl who wouldn’t take crap from anyone, even more than before. It was a bit… daunting. He did always wonder how someone as intimidatingly sure of herself ended up with someone like Adrien.

“Luka,” she said deadpan.

“You... look very different.”

She gave him a dirty look. “Really? You come to a feminist demonstration and the first thing you do is comment on my appearance?”

Luka blushed with embarrassment. “No, no, no! Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! You just-- in general. You look different in general.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Thanks for ruining my pants, by the way. They weren't my favorite or anything,” she said sarcastically, then stopped, looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Marinette, anyway? Maybe she knows some way to take the stain off.”

Luka clutched his painting utensils and gulped. He had tried to steer away from the subject as much as possible to reduce his risk of getting akumatized, but he supposed there wasn’t much of a way to evade it right now.

“We, uh... we broke up a few days ago.”

“Oh.” Kagami perked up, suddenly aware how her question might have been a little insensitive. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah.”

“Not that it’s my business, but how are you doing? After your akumatization and so on?”

“I didn’t get akumatized,” he said, suddenly defensive, as an urge to get back to his friends built up.

“Really?” Kagami said, a bit surprised.

“Yes, really.”

“I always had the impression you were super into her,” she commented, but mostly to herself.

“I am--I was,” he said, getting angry.

“I got akumatized into this nightmarish monster when Adrien and I broke up and it turned out it didn’t take me so much to get over him.”

“That has absolutely nothing to do with it,” he retorted, evidently irked.

“No, no. Of course not,” she hurried to say, realizing she had unintentionally pushed his buttons. “I just meant to say props to you. Lesser people get akumatized for the weather or something like that. Sorry for the stupid comparison.

“Sure. Whatever…”

“... Anyway,” Kagami said, sighing. “I guess we’ve made this sufficiently awkward, right? So, I’ll get going.”

Luka marched back to his friends and unceremoniously dumped the materials at the center of their little circle as tried to calm himself down.

He tried to focus on getting something into his sign but the fact he was stuck doing something Marinette usually loved to do was not helping in the slightest.

He breathed heavily, his eyes prickling him as hot, angry tears pooled and then fell onto the cardboard.

“I need some fresh air,” he announced to his friends, who had noticed his mood but had not said anything yet and watched as he stormed outside.

He paced around, taking deep breaths. The anxiety of not being able to calm down mixed with the fear of getting akumatized, was like kindling soaked in gasoline being thrown into a starting fire. And, as wildfires do, it burst out of control.

Luka gasped for air and then, with horror saw as the black butterfly approached him. He sprinted back to the tent where his friends were but by the time he got there, the butterfly had already lodged in the paintbrush he was holding.

The voice of his friends urging him not to give into the spell was faint and distant in his ears, but enough to keep him steady.

The first thing he noticed is that this akumatization felt different. He's was still aware of everything. He hadn’t been completely akumatized yet. Hawkmoth held him in his petrifying grasp but stalled, as if deciding what to turn him into.

Suddenly, his grave voice echoed inside his head.

“What is it that you want, Luka Couffaine?”

“Get out of my head,” Luka hissed, focusing as hard as he could on not thinking of anything that would reveal the secrets he knew.

Hawkmoth laughed. “But you called me here. Your emotions... I can tell you’re a soul in pain. You lost something. I can relate to that pain.” Luka felt how Hawkmoth snaked through his thoughts, looking for something to convince him. A flash of a thought, and Hawkmoth knew he was hiding something.

“GET OUT!” he screamed in his head.

He laughed again. “Oh? And what secrets might you be keeping? Hm?”

Luka winced, straining to keep thinking of random things: music, the weather, that weird bench at school that wobbles when he sits and how he hates it. Anything.

“I can help you recover what you lost...” he whispered softly. “Your girlfriend… Don’t you want her back? What is her name? I can help you. I promise I won’t hurt her.”

He felt himself slipping, turning.

“No!” he said, reverting back into his human form. “Let me go!”

“Maybe what you want is revenge on him? The reason she abandoned you? You’re not worthy like him, are you? That’s why she left you… But I can make you worthy… Wouldn't you want to be in his place, hm? Wouldn’t everything be better with that pesky boy of the way?”

Again, Luka felt himself morph and forced himself to think of other things. He tried reciting stupid facts he knew about ship maintenance.

“Get out of my head!” he exclaimed, sounding much weaker.

“Your power of will is very commendable,” Hawkmoth said. “But if I’m overstaying my welcome all you need to do is tell me what you want.”

“N-no!” Luka said, straining and screaming. “GET OUT!”

“If you--”

Suddenly the contact broke, and he collapsed onto the ground. The world went dark.

When Luka regained consciousness, he did so with a jolt. He was surrounded by his friends, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and surprisingly enough, Kagami.

He had an ungodly headache and realized blood had dried on his upper lip. His nose must have bled.

“Give him some space,” Ladybug ordered the crowd, seeing as Luka was struggling to gather his bearings. He didn’t know what particular panic to tackle first.

“What happened?” he asked, noticing they were not under the tent anymore and the gathering crowd that was preparing for the demonstration had dissipated.

“You got akumatized,” Ladybug explained, a bit surprised she had to fill him in on that particular point.

“Or rather, were about to akumatized,” Chat Noir said, trying to help his confused expression.

“You kept changing into different things. Like, you were getting akumatized on and off again,” Albin explained. “It was pretty scary.”

He turned to Ladybug with horror realizing what that meant. “You need to take me out of here,” he urged.

“Please!”

“Just take it easy for a second, okay?” Ladybug said, trying her best not to share Luka’s worry. “We’ll take you home in a minute.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir had not been present for most of the incident, so they stayed to talk to the people that had seen the attack, mainly Luka’s friends and Kagami.

Chat Noir was the one to interview them while Ladybug found some water for Luka to drink. Once everyone had calmed down and gave Chat Noir their testimony, they took Luka away to a secluded place to talk. It was the abandoned industrial section where Chat usually led Akumas.

“He knows,” he said, with absolute terror in his voice, Luka said pacing around, trying his best to contain his tears. “He knows that I know something! He saw that I was hiding something. I’m so sorry, Ladybug. I tried but he--he was in my mind and saw--.” His voice broke down.

For a reason unknown to Chat, Ladybug suddenly assumed the same urgency as Luka.

“Did he see?” she asked as Luka cried. “Luka, did he see?”

“See what?” Chat Noir asked, with escalating worry. “What is going on?”

“He didn’t. That’s why I kept changing, he tried to convince me several times,” said Luka. “But he knows that I’m keeping a secret.”

Ladybug covered her mouth with her hands.

“Would somebody please just care to explain what is going on?” Chat demanded.

“You didn’t tell him?” Luka said with disbelief.

“Luka, I need you to tell me exactly everything you remember. What happened?” Ladybug said, ignoring the question.

“Nothing. He just… he figured that I… lost someone. And he was trying to get me to tell him who it was, and to convince me to try to get them back, or to get revenge. I managed to focus my thoughts, but what if he tries again,” Luka said fearfully. “You were right,” he sobbed. “I shouldn’t have—I should’ve just looked away that day! I wish I never knew about this.”

Despite Chat’s presence, Ladybug could only comfort Luka with a hug, not knowing what else to do. Chat, on the other hand, seemed to have put two and two together. Luka knew Marinette’s identity.

“Oh my god…” Chat muttered with disbelief as he leaned against the metal sliding door of one of the warehouse buildings and fell to the floor. He grabbed chunks of his hair just to process what all of this meant, what to feel first. His father was only an akumatization away from figuring out Marinette.

“Luka, I promise you I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? We will come up with a plan, Chat Noir and me. But for now, I need to you to lay as low as possible. We cannot be seen together anymore. At all. If Hawkmoth is the person Chat and I suspect he is, he could be very close to finding out who I am if he makes the connection that we were together. Erase everything. Everything we ever posted on our social media, messages, calls, anything that might be public evidence. Try to have Juleka do the same.”

Luka contemplated the prospect for a moment. Ladybug knew she was thinking exactly the same thing as him: how devastating it will be to have to pretend that nothing ever happened. To actively destroy their memories together.

“Okay,” he said after a while. “And what if I get akumatized again? I don’t think I’ll be able to hold him off for any longer than I did today.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ladybug said. “That’s for us to figure out. Your only task is to pretend like you don’t know us, for your own sake.”

They sent Luka back home on a cab that Marinette called through her burner phone, leaving a heavy sense of danger looming between Chat and Ladybug. He was still on his spot on the ground, with his head on his hands as he supported his arms on his knees.

Ladybug sighed and slid down to sit next to him.

“You told him?”

“I’ve only ever told Alya. He found out by accident,” she said, already defensive and prepared for the argument that was bubbling up between them. “He also knows who you are.”

Chat’s stomach dropped. “Come again?”

“He was hiding in the same alley you transformed in one day.”

Chat let out a heavy sigh and swore loudly.

“You knew about this and you didn’t think to tell me?” he asked Ladybug.

Ladybug was in complete silence. She didn’t know what to say. “I—“

“You what?” Chat demanded.

“I— I meant to tell you next time we met,” she said. “I didn’t think—“

“You didn’t think to tell me that the boyfriend you just broke up with and was very much at risk of being akumatized knows who we are?” he exclaimed with frustration.

“I just—“ Ladybug tried to come up with an explanation, but the words kept getting stuck on her throat. Chat was right to be mad. She should have told him as soon as she found out. But everything had been so much, with him disappearing and Luka suddenly breaking up with her that, in a moment of weakness, him knowing her identity had been the least of her worries.

“What were you thinking?” Chat demanded. “Ladybug, I told you I’m close to the Agreste family!”

“I’m sorry!” she yelled. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think—I was… I was so distracted by everything going on that I never thought… I meant to tell you! But then all this stupid teenage drama got in the way! He broke up with me literally the day after you and I talked. That’s when he told me. I meant to tell you Chat Noir, I swear. I just...” she sighed. “I’m so stupid!”

She knocked the back of her head on the metal wall that they were leaning against. “This was the kind of mistake I wanted to evade by telling someone! And it still happened… No matter what I do, nothing ever seems to be enough.”

She was angry at herself, at the situation, at the fact that no matter how hard she tried, she was still not a good enough Guardian.

“We still have time to fix this,” he said, a lot calmer and even with hints of reassurance in his voice. “We need to use our upper hand before Hawkmoth gets a chance to get his,” said Chat. “I can get a hold of his personal calendar. We can attack when he least expects it.”

“How are you going to do that, Chat? Let me go with you,” Ladybug said, worried.

Chat shook his head. “I’ll do it as a civilian.”

“The more reason!”

“No, Ladybug. If anything goes wrong and he sees you there, he’ll be able to figure everything out. Trust me. I promise I will be careful.”

“But--”

“Marinette, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you,” Chat Noir said, his voice cracking and evidencing the whirlwind of emotions he had been trying to hide from her. “Please, just let me do this. Please, my lady.”

“Okay,” she said quietly. “But promise me you’ll be careful. And you’ll tell me when you do it. Please, promise me you’ll tell me.”

“I will.”

The clicking of Natalie’s heels as she entered the office disturbed the soft classical music playing in the background.

“Here’s the schedule for tomorrow, sir,” she said, placing a thin stack of papers on Gabriel’s desk. “Your flight to Helsinki is expected to arrive at nine a.m. and your first meeting is at ten, as you requested.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Natalie,” Gabriel said, without taking his sight off his screen.

Natalie nodded, heading to her desk.

“One more thing while I am absent, Natalie.”

“Yes, sir?”

Gabriel zoomed into the picture of the article he had been reading. The photographer had managed to capture the teenager he had akumatized looking urgently at Ladybug, who seemed to reciprocate his concern.

“Make sure to find out everything you can about this... Luka Couffaine.”

[akimmito]

Heroes are made by the path they choose

Chapter 1 | AO3 | Next

________________________

Chapter 2

Marinette is justly mad, she curses the assassin who stole the miraculous butterfly and how much the world seems to hate her. The Akuma attacks just in HER show and HER models. Who does he think he's? The worst thing is that the Akuma fashion sense is still disastrous and a pain in the eyes, she is not going to allow this to continue.

She takes Damian by the arm and pulls him away of the place to find a private and safe place away from the Akuma. Damian looks angrily at the temporary villain who has just gutted the poor girl in the delicate black silk gown with intricate silver and gold embroidery; a bloody scene, not that it affects him too much, even though it's been a year since he last saw a similar scene. That thing just ruined his mother's job.

"Damian, notify the Akuma to the MT". She indicates when they are in a quieter place. Plagg dramatically steps out of the clutch and looks at them both, not content to get back into action, but it must be done. Damian looks at her expectantly at any other indication and she notices it. "It's still unwise for Tunin to come out, Thuban made his debut too recently and it would be suspicious for both teams to have a kid."

"Okay, mother." It's not that he's happy with his adoptive mother's decision, but he can understand her reasoning. Thuban had his first patrol two nights ago and it would be too eye-catching, because, for some reason, Paris finds it entertaining to constantly talk about his vigilantes and the miraculous team that had been inactive for seven years… until today.

He's beginning to detest Paris and his need to make a spectacle of it all. They are heroes, not movie stars. It's not the only thing that bothers he, but he can keep it to himself.

"Plagg, it's time to work."

"I hope you will give me a lot of cheese after this." He complains dramatically, facing his chosen one. The deal was simple, there was no one capable of using the Miraculous Black Cat within the MT and it's much easier to bond with Tikki than with Plagg, so Marinette made the executive decision to give up being Ladybug for Kagami and she became LadyNoir permanently, it was the best course of action they could take.

"I know. Plagg, transform me!"Soon, her old pink dress is swallowed by the green light of transformation and the cat's black costume covers her, slightly different from the first costume; the long braid always grazes her ankles, but her outfit is more armored than before, the toxic green of her eyes almost seem to shine. She smiles at her son and leaves.

Damian watches her walk away towards the Akuma and he decides to get out of there, it will not be a hindrance for his mother or for any of the team that attends the fight. As he walks away towards the group of people seeking refuge from the attack, he sees how Jade Shield, Rakkīgāru and Lady Abeilla arrive. He believes that the four of them will do the job much faster. They are the most capable of all and it's not that he think the others are incompetent (maybe a little), but they really are the most prepared for this first Akuma and the return to action.

He hardly learns that the Akuma's name is Revanger. He already knew that Akuma's names were rare and some ridiculous (almost as much as his clothes), but, like all of Paris, he expected something different. Just as the villain was a fluorescent orange "make me bleed my eyes", his mother must be suffering in that battle.

And as he thought, ten minutes after the arrival of the three heroes, the Akuma is purified and the cure is launched, but although everything has returned to the original state, Damian doesn't miss the general atmosphere. Everything feels so dark and heavy, a shadow has fallen in Paris.

The news of the return of the miraculous butterfly spreads like wildfire.

He's heading home alone, the event seems to have lost importance. It annoys him that his mother's work has been affected by the attack, but he knows that she will recover... she's frustratingly optimistic and, above all, very creative. She has demonstrated it many times.

That night, in the apartment, Damian watches the news with Marinette. The presenter speaks as if she is notifying that the entire city has been sentenced to the electric chair, which could be true if the possibilities are taken into account that this new villain could be the same murderer of Nathalie Sancoeur.

Marinette doesn't even want to think about it, but it's her job, her duty to Paris.

Announcement is also given of the launch of the new application for Akuma, Alerte Monarch, created by the company KanTech in collaboration with the heroes and the MT, designed not only to offer Akuma locations, shelters, safe routes, relocation assistance in other cities (if required for health, maternity or psychological problems that could make them an easy victim) and physical training, also a comment area, chat rooms and a section for publications so that the population can share their own advice and experiences personal.

Damian knows the application in great detail, he was able to see the plans and codes first hand because it is directly connected to the MT's mother computer, although it is not that the public should know that information. Max did a great job and kept improving his over the past year, waiting for the villain.

But most importantly, from tomorrow, the MT will take a new case.

Track down the miraculous butterfly.

________________________

Paris Fashion Gazzete @PFashionGazzete

Paris Fashion Week welcomes its second day with an Akuma! How has Marie Lenoir taken it when her show is interrupted by a fluorescent orange villain who disembowels her models? Look it here!

[Attached Link]

#FashionParis #Akuma #NouveauHawkmoth #ChauchemarParis

Héros parisiens @MTHeroes

The Miraculous Team returns! Do we have a hero renewal? They are great!

#HeroesComeBack

Marie L. @MarieLenoir

I'll find this new Hawkmoth (or whatever it's called) and hit him in the face, it's a promise.

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

Hawkmoth (old or new) always has the talent to ruin my day. I hate you, fall into a burning well and die.

#Akuma #FuckYouHawkmoth

Damian @DamianLenoir

@BourgeoisQueen I can prepare the burning pit if someone agrees to throw he there.

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

@DamianLenori Perfect.

Alix @LostHeroBunnix

@BourgeoisQueen @DamianLenoir  I offer to throw it into the burning pit.

Max K. @MaxKan_Tech

@BourgeoisQueen @DamianLenoir  @LostHeroBunnix Don't kill.

Epic Kim @Epic_originalChampion

@MaxKan_Tech Calm down, Batman xD

[monkeebratz]

Bio!Dad Bruce - Summer Begins

Initial idea | How it Happened | Addition by iggy-of-fans | Reply to iggy’s Addition | Summer Begins (you are here) | Summer Part 2 | Supers Meet | Scarecrow Interlude 

Going with the nice, Sabine-and-Tom-send-Marinette-to-Gotham-during-the-summer version, Marinette goes to visit Bruce and Alfred in Gotham during the summer. Its honestly kinda a clusterfuck, since you have the Miraculous Team being told she’ll be out of town and coming back as needed using the horse miraculous. (Her notification for the akuma alerts is the alt. Ladybug intro at full volume. Same for the hero discord they made pre-hawkmoth defeat. Adrian set it to that right before she left. Marinette’s going to kill him next time she sees him.) 

(also the miraculous team consists of Abeelle (Chloe), Viperion (Luka), Chat Noir (Adrian), and Himeryu (Kagami). Please forgive my horrible mangling of French and Japanese but Chloe and Kagami got to keep their miraculous with a costume and name change. Everybody knows each others identities and support Marinette going to Gotham after Hawkmoths defeat. They’re hoping she’ll be able to have a break. She absolutely doesn’t.) 

Anyway. Bruce and Alfred sit the boys down and tell them that another of Bruce’s children will be coming to stay with them over the summer. She’s had a rough time in Paris and she’s coming to have a break. Damien is threatened by the idea that Bruce has a younger, blood child, and is not excited about having a civilian in the house while they do hero work. Jason makes jokes about how of course Bruce has a hidden child in France, that’s just par for the course at this point. Tim’s pretty excited? more family! Dick, on the other hand, is all about it. He’s so ready. 

(Again, forgive me, i’m not familiar with most of the robin’s but I’ll do my best.) 

(Jason: Wait. You have more children? Where the fuck have you been hiding them?  Alfred: Marinette lives in Paris with her mother and father. Tim: OH my god. Is she an assassin too by any chance? Is she going to murder us with an Eiffel Tower charm?  Damien: Oh, shut up, Drake. Dick: We’re all going to die, holy shit. That or she’ll be like. Sweeter than sugar. Bruce: -DEEP SIGH- Boys. Please.) 

Alfred makes it clear that they’re not to interrogate Marinette and make her feel uncomfortable. She’s been having a rough time at school and in the city in general and she doesn’t need all the boys getting on her case. Its still a lot, though. Four brothers she hadn’t really interacted with beyond what Bruce and Alfred have told them, and she’s pretty proficient with English but having 3-4 native speakers all talking over each other while you’re trying to figure out what’s going on is Stressful As Hell. Bruce is tired. There’s many jokes about how Bruce’s bio children are a little devil and a little angel. 

The first week is a crazy adjustment period. The first few days are just the Wayne’s going about their routine and Marientte getting used to everything. Mostly the fact that the Wayne’s live in a mansion and she knew Bruce was rich and ran a company but its different knowing and seeing that first hand. Bruce offers to take Marinette shopping or to Wayne Enterprises but she declines, saying she’ll go out once she’s more settled. There’s lots of her being on the phone with the Super Squad bc she’s super anxious about being in the house with near strangers and in a new city and with all the Miraculi she hasn’t given out yet. 

Because yeah, did I mention that she’s the Official Guardian now? And has all the Miraculi hidden in a box in a box. Like. She made a box for the Miraculous Box similar to her diary box. And you know that Damien. Suspicious, assassin-trained, Damien. Went to snoop through her room. And got his hand caught in the box. Kaalki sees this and warns Marinette, who’s probably chilling out in the library, and rushes up. There’s yelling. Yelling that brings Alfred and Jason and possibly Dick up to see the youngest of them screaming at each other in French and Marinette is in the middle of a panic attack and Damien’s pride is hurting that he got caught and couldn’t get out. Alfred breaks it up and brings the boys back downstairs an when he tries to comfort Marinette, he comes back to a locked door and Marinette being comforted by the kwami’s. He assume’s she’s just on the phone with people tho. There’s panic with the Super Squad about someone trying to steal the miraculi and everyone promptly plans to come to Gotham. Without telling Marinette. 

Its all around a rough time.

The next day, Bruce tries to sooth all the ruffled feathers and they take a family trip out to the city. Shows Marinette all the interesting stuff around Gotham, the old buildings and historic district and lots of Wayne buildings and such. They stop at the city gardens and Marinette just lays in the flowers and tries to calm down. Damien makes a comment and oh wow, look at that. You somehow got an incredibly staining flower on your suit. Such. A. Shame. 

How do Damien and Marinette make up, you ask? But kicking the shit out of each other under the guise of training, of course. Because, lets be real, nobody ever expects Marinette to be a fighter. The Wayne’s all train, of course, and Bruce and Alfred know that Sabine taught their girl some things. But she can hold her own against all the boys. All of them. Hell, she can hold her own against Bruce. Against Damien. They’re all frankly shocked and slightly terrified bc uh? Where did you learn this? How? Why? 

Meanwhile, Damien and Marinette are still yelling in French and basically tearing the training room you know the Wayne’s have apart as they jump around and use the room to their advantage. But its cathartic. Because Damien doesn’t want this newcomer to hurt his family and he’s used to high level threats and even family can be a threat. Especially family, honestly. And he’d do whatever it took to keep his family safe, despite his piss poor attitude about everything. And Marinette? Marinette still has such a weight on her shoulders, she took over a duty she wasn’t truly prepared for, and she’s terrified about what will happen if she fails, even if everyone keeps telling her she’s won. Because lets face it, evil never really dies and she has to be above it all and always on top of her game. And she doesn’t really know the Wayne’s, not like her family back in Paris, and she wants to be close, but it scares the shit out of her. She’s always messed everything up, what happens if she messes this up too?

... Basically this fight ends up with a big heart to heart and they call a truce while the rest of the family stands there confused and a little terrified. Bruce. Bruce what is wrong with your bio!children? BRUCE. 

Alfred has a sinking suspicion about what’s going on here though, but keeps it to himself. 

(Next in, Multimouse meets Batman and the Birds. Also a partial identity reveil. Family bonding. Y’know. The usual. Also the Super Squad kidnaps their leader and the Wayne’s promptly panic. Again.) 

(Also just a reminder, guys, if you’d like to be added to the tag list, please send me an ask!) 

[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]

[ronninoir]

Can I Steal You For A Second? CH27

Summary: Adrien is forced to participate in a new dating show, but becomes more excited when Ladybug says she’ll participate as her civilian self.

AKA: AU where Adrien doesn’t know Marinette, the superheroes are 22 and Gabriel is mean and ruthless but not Hawkmoth.

Read on AO3

Start from the beginning Chp 1 on AO3

Chapter 27

Marinette was exhausted when she got back to the mansion. Chat had wanted to wait until their next patrol to chat with Tikki and Plagg about these new powers, and she had only agreed because she couldn’t un-see the brokenness in Chat’s eyes after he almost destroyed Montparnasse Tower. She knew he needed some time to come to terms with it all.

Marinette ate a quick lunch before taking a power nap before Lucie came home. No matter what happens in the evening part of their date, Marinette knew that Lucie would need someone to talk to about the akuma attack, and who better to do so than the Paris native, who just happened to be an expert on akumas. 

Not too long after dinner, Lucie came back, rose in hand, and thoroughly shaken up. Before someone could even ask her how it was, Lucie burst into tears, and the girls quickly pulled her to a couch, supplied her with a glass of water, and let her cry it out a bit before they started asking questions.

“It was horrible!” Lucie said eventually, after almost 15 minutes of crying. “He never came back. He went into the popcorn to gather more people and send them to the roof, to safety, but he didn’t come back until after all the popcorn disappeared and these magical ladybugs fixed everything.” She sniffed some more and took a sip of water before continuing. “I was so worried about him, and I was powerless to do anything about it.”

Marinette felt her heart tighten a little at the thought. She was suddenly very grateful that she had the ability to do something about it, even if she couldn’t express that to the girls. There had been a handful of times throughout the years that something had happened to Chat Noir because of an akuma, and the only thing that had gotten her through was the realization that in order for Chat to be okay, she would just need to use her Ladybug fix. The idea of not having that... it hurt too much to think about.

All of the girls (except Lila) seemed to have similar thoughts, and they all just sat with Lucie on the couch until she started to feel better. One by one, the girls started trickling off to bed, until it was only Lucie and Marinette left on the couch. Marinette had been whispering stories of other akumas she’s witnessed throughout the years, some funny, and others that scared her and made her worry about her safety. Lucie listened intently, and seemed comforted that she wasn’t the only girl in the mansion to have experienced a number of akumas.

“When I attended school in Paris, I would only ever see a couple of akumas, usually on the news that night, but sometimes, they would cross their way into my part of town.” Lucie whispered, after one particular story sparked a memory in Lucie. “I remember how scared I was, but I’ve never been more terrified than I was today.”

Marinette paused, considering what she was saying. “Maybe today was worse because someone you care about was directly involved in the threat,” Marinette whispered, almost hoping beyond hope that Lucie would deny that was true.

Instead, she broke down crying again, and Marinette held her closer. “I think I love him,” she whispered into Marinette’s shoulder, and Marinette had to resist the urge to pull away. She knew this would happen. She fully understood that some of these girls would have strong feelings for Adrien, but it still hurt, a lot, to hear Lucie say those words.

She remembered the way that Adrien treated Juliette earlier this week and how that had made her feel as well. She knew in her heart of hearts that Adrien was just playacting, going along with all these other relationships for the cameras, but a tiny voice in her mind was still whispering, Maybe he doesn’t love you as much as he used to.

Marinette took a deep breath and stood up from the couch, pulling Lucie with her. “Come on, it’s time for you to go to bed. You’ve had a long day, and the best way to get over an akuma attack is to sleep.” Lucie nodded silently and let Marinette drag her to her room.

Marinette was just about to shut her bedroom door, when a gentle hand grabbed her wrist. “I’m sorry if what I said made you uncomfortable,” Lucie said in a voice that was sad yet strong. “I just don’t want to hide my feelings anymore for the sake of not hurting my friends.” Lucie paused once more, but didn’t let go of Marinette’s wrist. When Marinette met her eyes, they were steady. “Thank you for the kind words, they meant a lot.” Then she let go of Marinette’s hand and shut the door softly.

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

When Marinette woke up Wednesday morning, she was still a little shell-shocked from the day before. Not only had she battled a 12-year-old determined to fill all of Paris with popcorn, she discovered that she wasn’t the only girl in the house in love with Adrien.

As she got dressed for yet another date card, she tried not to think about what Lucie had said. Lucie had never seemed like the kind of girl to see the others as competition, unlike Lila who seemed to think that even the cameramen where her competition. Marinette didn’t know how this would change her relationship with Lucie, but she knew that any conversation that stemmed around Adrien will become a lot more uncomfortable.

Marinette found Juliette in the Date Card Room, and was assaulted with a whispered comment as soon as she sat down on the couch. “The meeting is happening tonight. Sasha’s getting restless, so no matter who goes on the one-on-one, when they come back we are having this meeting.” Marinette nodded indiscreetly before turning her attention to the rest of the room.

Lila was ignorantly sitting at the edge of the couch, completely unaware that everyone would know her secret tonight, and that there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

There was a knock at the door, and Lila slowly made her way to answer it. She wasn’t very enthusiastic when she read, “Sasha,” and told her that, “It says you’ll be ‘touching the clouds’ whatever the hell that means,” before throwing the card on the table and storming away. No one else moved, except for the crew people, who quickly broke set, some of the camera men and producers chasing after Lila, probably for an interview. One producer told Sasha she had an hour to get ready before the van would come.

When the coast was clear and everyone but the girls had left, Juliette stood up to address the group. “Okay, it’s happening tonight. No matter how late it is when Sasha comes back to the mansion, we will meet in the designated bathroom, you all know the one, and we will discuss the pressing matter at hand. Please be on the lookout, don’t be late, and whatever you do, please don’t let Lila find out anything.” At that, everyone broke up and went their separate ways. Lucie followed Sasha to her room to help her get ready, Kagami went off to do whatever she did during the day (probably stab stuff with that sword thing she has), and Juliette sat back down on the couch next to Marinette.

“What do you even think this could be about?” Marinette asked in a mix between a whisper and a normal voice, to which Juliette just shook her head. 

“She won’t even tell me a small bit about what this is about. She just needs to hurry home tonight so that way I can be put out of my misery and finally learn some juicy dirt on Lila.”

Marinette couldn’t help but agree.

The day passed by quickly enough and before she knew it, they were all waiting in the living room after dinner for Sasha to come back from her date. They heard the front door open, but it was way too early for Sasha to be coming back. Marinette exchanged a confused look with Juliette before a producer came into view. He nodded at the gathered girls in lieu of a hello, before he grabbed Sasha’s suitcase from the hall and rolled it out the door.

Marinette didn’t understand what had just happened, but Juliette seemed to get to the conclusion faster. She was on her feet and out the door before Marinette even tried to stand up from the couch. Juliette returned a minute later, red in the face and very clearly mad.

“She’s gone. Adrien fucking Agreste sent her home before she could spill on Lila.” Then she stormed up to her room, and the whole house heard her door slam.

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

 Juliette was still mad the next morning. They didn’t know what was going on, but they had been told that a crew was coming to film, so they needed to look presentable and in the Date Card room by 9.

Once the five of them were seated, a brisk knock was heard on the door, before the creak of the hinges and footsteps walking towards them. Marinette didn’t know what to expect, but she was still surprised to see Chris Harrison when he crossed into the room.

“Good morning ladies,” he gave them all a nice smile, and for some reason, Marinette began to feel nervous. “As you may have noticed, this week has gone a little bit differently than the others. Adrien feels as though he has a good idea of who he wants to take into Hometowns next week, and with that being said, he doesn’t want to put you all through a formal cocktail party and rose ceremony. So, later this afternoon, the three of you who do not have a rose at this current moment, Kagami, Lila, and Marinette, you will be meeting with Adrien for a three-on-one where one of you will not return to the mansion. Good luck preparing today ladies, and I’ll see you all soon.” Then Chris turned around, and walked out of the door that he came through.

Everyone sat there, slightly stunned, processing what they were just told. It was a short moment before Lila broke the silence, “Great, I don’t get to spend quality time with Adrien, but instead I get to hang out with Ms. Goody-Goody, and Ms. Man over here.” Then with a hair flip and an eye roll she was out of the room. 

Marinette turned to Juliette, “Am I the goody-goody or the man?” Juliette just let out a laugh, all of her anger suddenly dissipating, and frustratingly didn’t answer her. Instead, she dragged Marinette off to her room to pack and pick an outfit.

By four o’clock, the three of them were on a van, not talking as they traveled to an unknown location to meet up with Adrien. Marinette was slightly excited that she got to see Adrien at all, but was still unhappy that she had to share the time with the stoic Kagami and the bitch. The only bright point of the ride was that Lila didn’t say anything either. 

She knew that one of the three of them would be going home, and she was hoping it would be Lila, but she had a sinking suspicion that her Ladybug luck wouldn’t carry her through that hope this evening.

The van stopped and let them out at a beautiful park. There were a couple of picnic blankets set up and some fancy pastries and finger foods scattered around the area. There were also a couple of different sitting spots set up far enough away from the picnic area that a private conversation could be had, while still being in eyesight. While looking at the picnic, Marinette was reminded of the beautiful picnic that Plagg and Tikki had set up for her and Adrien after they completed their Task. The memory made her smile dreamily, which elicited a crude look from Lila as they sat down at this picnic.

After a beat, Adrien walked up through the trees and smiled at the girls. “Welcome to my picnic!” He announced with too much enthusiasm. He sat down and began to dig in, trying very hard to make small talk with the three of them. Marinette tried very hard to make this less uncomfortable for Adrien, but with the two roses looming next to him on the picnic blanket, it was hard to keep the other two girls engaged for long. Thankfully, the looks that Adrien kept giving her made her smile and laugh and understand how grateful he was for her company.

Finally, he turned to Lila, and asked to speak with her alone. She, of course, agreed and then it was just Kagami and Marinette sitting around the picnic blankets.

They were silent for a couple of minutes, before Kagami turned to her, and regarded her as if she was at a business meeting and Marinette was just a document to be discussed. “Does he always look at you like that?”

Marinette blanched, not sure of even how to answer that. “Like what?” 

“Like you’re having a conversation with your eyes.”

Marinette blushed, slightly embarrassed that someone had noticed their looks. But before she could answer, Kagami spoke again.

“I’ve seen it, you know,” She paused, studying a patch of grass next to her. “You have a lot of conversations like that. Your relationship with him is much deeper than anyone else’s in the house.” She said this as if it was a fact, not something to be debated.

“I don’t know about that...” Marinette started but Kagami cut her off.

“Please don’t lie to me,” She said stiffly. She paused once more before asking, “Do you love him?”

Marinette paused, remembering what it was like to hear Lucie say those words the other night after the akuma. So instead of answering she asked, “Do you really want to know?”

“I would not have asked if I didn’t want an answer.” She sounded so much older and wiser when she said it, that Marinette didn’t deny her the truth.

“I do.”

Kagami nodded and turned away towards where Lila and Adrien were sitting, indicating the end of their conversation.

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

Adrien just wanted this whole week to be over. Nothing about it was good, especially sitting here with Lila just letting her aggressively flirt with him. If he actually had a choice in this matter, his convo with Lila would be done already. It was clear he wasn’t getting any of the genuine Lila he saw last week, and he just wanted to move on and talk to anyone else.

Marinette was the essence of beauty sitting at that picnic, and he wondered if she also remembered a similar picnic on a rooftop where she told him she loved him for the first time. 

And then there was Kagami. Kagami was a very good friend who he didn’t want to say goodbye to tonight. He was tempted to get rid of Lila now and just keep Kagami around for a little longer, just for the companionship. But, he knew his Father would be very upset if Lila didn’t make it to the next round, especially if Marinette did. The best way to get him to accept Marinette’s presence was to keep his top choice Lucie around, as well as the “all too important” Lila. With them both going to hometowns, his Father would be less upset that Marinette was as well.

Almost as if she could read his mind, Marinette locked eyes with him from across the park. He smiled at her and slowly stood, taking Lila with him. He walked her back to the blankets (with her stroking his arm the whole way), and detached himself to steal away Marinette.

“Marinette, can I steal you for a second?” She gave him a dazzling smile that melted his insides before taking his arm and walking to a different spot in the clearing. This one was perched right underneath a tree decorated with fairy lights, that made the whole area seem more romantic in the sinking sun. 

“Hey,” she started, as a nervous smile creeped up on her face.

“Hey,” he responded, his mind suddenly blank of anything intelligent he could have actually said in response.

“I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve been able to talk,” She said, leaning slightly closer to him to where the whole of her right side was touching his left. He literally loved the way that she fit into him, the way the touch of her skin against his made the spot tingle and made it hard to focus on anything else happening in that moment.

“I know,” he lamely responded, his brain trying very hard to come up with something intelligent to say. “But being away from you has made me realize something,” he blurted, and almost hit himself once the words were out. He wished he could take them back, as it almost seemed a little too personal for the cameras to hear too. 

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him and he saw a slight smirk form on her lips, “Oh really? And what is that?” 

He didn’t want to respond, but he couldn’t leave her, or the cameras, without an answer. “Just that I don’t like it when I don’t get to see you. I miss you too much.” 

The blush that graced her cheeks made his cheesy line worth it. He leaned in close, hoping he could snag a kiss before the blush faded from her cheeks, but she met his eyes and whispered instead, “I discovered something too this week.”

He pulled back slightly, so he could see her whole face. It was his turn to arch an eyebrow, but genuine curiosity filled his face rather than a knowing smirk. “And what was that?” he said, mimicking her tone from earlier.

She let out a small laugh before becoming serious once more. “It happened when Lucie was telling us about the akuma attack, and how it felt when you bravely dove into the popcorn to save others, even though you couldn’t find your way back to her.” Adrien was slightly taken back by her words, especially considering she was the only one who knew what Adrien was actually doing during the akuma attack. Before Adrien could say anything, she continued, “She was describing how hopeless she felt standing on the rooftop knowing you were out there being heroic but not with her, and it made me wonder what it would have been like if I was on that date instead of Lucie.”

It would have been easier to sneak away, for sure. Adrien thought, but didn’t dare interrupt. He had a feeling something big was coming and he didn’t want to spoil it.

“I realized that I don’t think I would have handled that situation like Lucie. I would have been a wreck, and probably would have ventured out into the chaos to find you, just to make sure you were okay. I realized that even if it meant putting myself in danger, I’d take that risk, just to keep you safe. Adrien,” she took a deep, shaky breath, the tears that had gathered in her eyes, threatening to fall down her face, “I love you.” Marinette paused a beat as one rebellious tear slipped down her cheek. Adrien instinctively reached out and wiped it away, though his hand lingered on her cheek. She leaned into his touch and met his gaze once more. “I know that you may not be there with me just yet, and I understand, you still have so many options here. I just wanted you to know, that’s all.”

Adrien slid his fingers into her hair and pulled her into a kiss. It started out simple, but deepened the longer they held it. Adrien always knew that Marinette would be there for him, no matter what form of herself she was, but it still felt good to hear her say it in front of the cameras.

He yearned to say it back. To show her that he cared as much and that he needed her even more than she probably needed him. That was obvious during that akuma fight when he almost broke Montparnasse Tower. Ladybug’s words were the only things that allowed him to sleep that night when the nightmares of the building crumbling kept him awake. But, it wasn’t time yet. The producers, as well as his Father, would skin him alive if he said it to one girl with other girls still options on the show. Especially with meeting the parents next week.

When they broke apart, the smile on Adrien’s face wasn’t faked, not like when he had to kiss the other girls. “Thank you for telling me, that really means a lot.” He stood up, abruptly, a crazy idea popping into his head. “Wait here, will you?” She nodded though her eyes gave away her confusion. He turned on his heel and tried not to run back to the picnic spot. Lila had sat up straighter and began fiddling with her hair when he got nearer, and Kagami just watched him, studying his every movement.

“Excuse me ladies,” he said gently as he picked up one of the roses from the plate that had been strategically placed in the middle of the blankets. He then turned back towards Marinette, the rose hidden behind him as he walked back to join his princess.

She still looked slightly confused, but when he sat down next to her once more and pulled out the rose, her eyes got wide and her smile grew. He knew that she walked into their three-on-one knowing that she’d get a rose, but she did a wonderful job of acting surprised every time he gave her one.

“Marinette, will you accept this rose?”

She took the rose as he held it out for her, and leaned in for another kiss. This one was shorter, but when they broke apart, she whispered, “Always.”

He helped her up, and looped his arm around her waist. They began walking in the opposite direction of the other girls, but Marinette either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She just seemed content to be in his arms. He walked her all the way to the road, where a black SUV was waiting to take her back to the mansion. As he reached to open the door for her, she turned and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon,” she whispered and he grinned as he kissed her cheek back. She climbed into the car and he slowly closed the door, the smile never leaving his face.

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

 The walk back to the picnic was longer and sadder without Marinette by his side, as if her presence made everything in his life brighter and more colorful. He walked back up to the two gathered girls, and noticed that Lila was hopefully watching where Marinette had disappeared to. 

“Where did she go?” Lila asked, the excitement in her voice poorly hidden. He felt himself sigh internally. Lila’s nice act lasted less than a week, and he was saddened that she had to remain in the competition. Before Adrien could respond, Lila noticed Adrien’s empty hands, and slumped slightly, letting out a grumpy “Oh.”

Adrien ignored this, and turned his attention towards Kagami. “Kagami, can I steal you for a second?” She gave a curt nod, as usual, and followed him to the same spot where he took Lila. She sat on the bench stiffly, and right as Adrien opened his mouth to speak, Kagami had beat him to it.

“I have something I need to say, and I need you to not talk, but to listen.” Adrien nodded, curious as to what she had to say. “I’ve been watching you. I’ve noticed how you interact with all of the girls, and there is one girl that you treat differently than all the rest.”

Adrien didn’t know where she was going with this, but he didn’t dare to speak. 

“You...” she paused, as if trying to find the right words, or picking them carefully, “care for Marinette more than you do the others. I’ve noticed your wordless conversations, the way you naturally lean into her, the way your face lights up when you’re in the same room together.” Kagami paused, and Adrien was still processing what she had just said to notice. He never thought anyone would pick up on those things, especially one of the other contestants. “I value our friendship, Adrien, and I would like for it to continue,” Kagami continued, and Adrien forced himself to fully focus on her words. “but I cannot allow someone who is clearly in love with another to meet my Mother.”

She said it so matter of factly, that it took Adrien a moment to realize that she was breaking up with him.

“If you could please show me to my car, I’ll have my things picked up and I’ll be on my way.”

Adrien knew better than to ignore a command like that and quickly stood and walked her towards the road where another SUV was waiting. He had expected Kagami to get right into the car, but instead she lingered. “Just make sure you keep her happy, she’s a genuinely good person who deserves that much.” Kagami turned and put her hand on the door handle and opened the door, wide enough for Adrien to see all the way through it. “If you ever need another fencing partner, my foil could use someone new to give an ass whooping to.” Adrien laughed at that as Kagami climbed into the car and Adrien watched her disappear into the night.

~

~

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[fridayfirefly]

Warm Smiles and Open Hearts Chapter One

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | AO3

Written for Day One of Marigami Week: Kwami Swap

@marigami-week

Kagami had mixed feelings about being Ladybug. On one hand, Kagami loved every moment spent as Ladybug. The freedom was absolutely exhilarating. On the other hand, she hadn't even wanted to move to Paris in the first place, much less become its protector. Kyoto, Japan was her home and had been for all sixteen years of her life, until Kagami and her Mother moved after her Mother's divorce. Her Mother got custody of Kagami, and her Father got to keep the house, the only place Kagami had ever called home. Now Kagami and her Mother lived in an apartment in Paris. When she wasn't working on her lessons, Kagami left the house pretending to be getting to know the city. In a way, it was true. Thanks to her duties as Ladybug, Kagami knew the city like the back of her hand.

Kagami hadn't yet started public school, as her Mother agreed to let her finish her current semester through cyber school. Once winter break was over, though, she would be going to Françoise Dupont High School. From the school's website, it seemed like a nice enough institution, but Kagami knew better. Françoise Dupont High School had the highest number of akumas of all of the Parisian public schools. At least twice a week, Kagami and her partner, Chat Noir, were called by Principal Damocles to stop an akuma. Frankly, it was exhausting, but at least Kagami now knew the route to school very well.

"What do we know so far?" asked Kagami as soon as she landed beside her partner. She watched as Chloé Bourgeoise, the number one cause of akumas in Françoise Dupont, got chased around the library by a giant purple hairdryer.

Chat was hidden in the shadows, perched on a bookshelf above the library, scoping out the akuma. "Nathaniel Kurtzberg, from Mlle. Bustier's class. Chloé Bourgeoise revealed his crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng to his entire class - including Marinette - which caused his akumatization. His power is in his drawings, and the akuma is likely in his pen. He wants revenge against Chloé, though his idea of revenge is currently nonviolent."

"His crush on Mlle. Dupain-Cheng may complicate our plans, we'll have to monitor her closely," said Kagami. "Now let's go stop him before he turns to violence as a part of his revenge scheme."

The duo attacked the hairdryer, trying to shut it down, but it dissolved into particles as soon as they took it out of commission.

"You might have broken one of my weapons, but I can certainly make more. I am Evillustrator, and no one can stop me." Evillustrator drew a swarm of bees that attacked Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Chat, you go left, I'll go right."

Despite their best efforts, the fight against Evillustrator was going nowhere - anytime they cornered him, he just drew himself a way out. Anytime they managed to get close to him, he trapped them behind walls of glass or sent another opponent after them for them to defeat. "This isn't going to work," Kagami said. The way things were going, they would never be able to get the pen away from Evillustrator. "Fall back, and we'll come up with a better plan."

The duo let Evillustrator slip away, choosing instead to regroup and make a plan. After some quick deliberation, they decided to split up. Chat went to guard Chloé, while Kagami was tasked with guarding Marinette. No matter which girl Evillustrator decided to target first, neither girl would be left unprotected.

Kagami got there too late. By the time she landed in front of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie, she could already see Evillustrator through the window, talking to Marinette. Kagami was preparing a plan to storm the building when Evillustrator left through the window. Kagami yo-yoed up to the balcony and knocked on the trapdoor. A moment later, the door opened up just a crack.

"Nathaniel? Are you back again?" Marinette's worried voice spoke through the crack.

"It's Ladybug, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng."

"Ladybug!" The door swung all the way open, as Marinette beckoned Kagami to come down the ladder. "Come down to my room and we can talk. I just spoke to Nathaniel - I mean, Evillustrator - and I have some information that might help you in defeating his akuma."

"What did Evillustrator say to you?" Kagami asked as soon as she and Marinette were both seated.

"He asked me out on a date. I agreed to go, but only if he stopped harassing Chloé. Now, you and Chat Noir can focus on just defeating him, instead of having to split your attention."

"Thank you, Marinette. That was very considerate of you," said Kagami, surprised at Marinette's actions. Even in a situation in which her life was potentially in danger, Marinette put the needs of Chloé Bourgeoise, the biggest bully in her school, in front of her own needs.

"It's no problem." Marinette shrugged. "I figure, I should do whatever I can to help you two. You save Paris day after day, so making a few sacrifices is the least I can do."

"As long as you keep yourself safe too. Now, why don't you tell me the details of this date, so that Chat and I can prepare."

Hours later, as the last rays of light were fading from the sky, Ladybug and Chat Noir lurked in the shadows on the rooftops. Marinette had already been informed of the plan - all she had to do was get the drawing pen away from Evillustrator, as that was the object that the akuma possessed.

They watched Evillustrator spend hours setting the scene for his date, from procuring the boat to drawing the decorations the adorned it. It would've made for a cute date, if you overlooked the fact that Marinette only agreed to it to stop Evillustrator from becoming violent.

Marinette walked up to the boat. “Happy birthday,” she said.

“Marinette!” Evillustrator cheered, and with a tap to his tablet, the boat got moving.

Ladybug and Chat Noir leaped from rooftop to rooftop, trying their best to stay in the shadows as they waited for Marinette to get possession of the pen.

“You're so talented!” Marinette said, get eyes trained on the tablet. “I just don't understand why you want to use your power to hurt people.”

“Not all people. Just Chloé. And I'm never doing that again. After all, you were true to your promise, so I'll be true to mine.”

Kagami let out a slight sigh of relief. Nonviolent akumas were always easier to deal with then the violent ones.

“I actually draw a little too. I’m a designer, so I’m best at drawing clothes. I'm not as good as you are, of course.”

“I'm sure you're a wonderful artist.”

“Well, can I draw you something special for your birthday? I was going to make you a present, but I didn’t have enough time to finish it, and I didn’t want to be late for our date.”

“That would be amazing.” The moment that Evillustrator handed Marinette the pen, Chat Noir and Ladybug attacked.

”Marinette, give me my pencil back. I need to draw something, now!” Evillustrator snarled, lunging at Marinette.

“No, I'm keeping it!” Her voice held a tinge of fear. “Ladybug, take it!”

While Chat Noir kept Evillustrator’s attention, Kagami swung in, grabbed the pen, and snapped it. As the butterfly tried to flutter away, Kagami caught it with her yo-yo and purified it.

“Huh? Where am I?” Nathaniel asked.

“You’ve been akumatized,” Kagami told him.

At that moment, Nathaniel noticed Marinette. His face went white. “I’m so sorry that I dragged you into this, Marinette. I was just so mad when Chloé revealed my crush... and I guess I just wanted to spend time more with you.”

Marinette smiled back at him. “It’s okay Nathaniel. I forgive you.”

“Do- Do you think we could still be friends,” Nathaniel asked tentatively.

“Of course.”

“It’s getting pretty late.” Kagami hated to interrupt, but she and Chat had been working non-stop for the last five hours. They needed a break. “I’ll escort Marinette home. Chat, could you take Nathaniel home.”

“Sure thing, Ladybug. See you tomorrow.”

Kagami contemplated using her yo-yo to get Marinette home faster, but she wasn’t quite ready to part from the dark-haired girl. “Let’s go Marinette."

The walk home was peaceful. Kagami and Marinette talked for a bit, but eventually, both girls fell into a comfortable silence.

"Goodnight, Marinette," said Kagami once they reached Marinette's house.

"Goodnight, Ladybug. Thanks for everything."

Kagami went home after that, but Marinette's smile was the only thought on her mind as she tried to fall asleep. And then the next night. And the next. And the next.

After a week, Kagami gave up trying to her Marinette out of her head. That night, Kagami decided to visit Marinette. Her excuse was that she just wanted to make sure that Marinette was okay (after all, being pseudo-kidnapped by an akuma was no laughing matter) but Kagami knew that the real reason was that she wanted to get to know Marinette. She wanted to get to know the selfless girl who was willing to put herself in danger just to help Chloé Bourgeoise, the girl who was willing to put her own life on the line to make life easier for Paris's superheroes.

"Ladybug? What are you doing here?" Despite the chilliness of the late December air, Marinette was making good use of her balcony, wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of tea in her hands.

"I came to make sure you were alright. You had a pretty stressful day last week."

"It wasn't the best day of my life," Marinette admitted, "But I'm doing alright. Things are still a little awkward around Nathaniel, but for the most part, nothing has changed."

"That's good." Kagami shuffled her feet awkwardly. Her one excuse to see Marinette had run out, but she didn't want to leave just yet.

"Can I get you something to drink? I make a really good cup of tea."

"I- Sure."

Marinette disappeared down the trapdoor. Kagami looked around the balcony, taking it all in. The fairy lights, strung up on any surface Marinette could place them on, the dozens and dozens of potted plants scattered about, the pink and black polka-dotted chaise lounge. It looked warm and cozy and exactly like Marinette.

"Here you go." Marinette handed Kagami a warm mug filled with warm liquid. "It's vanilla mint."

Kagami took a sip and let out an appreciative noise. "It's very good."

"Told you so," Marinette smiled.

Kagami laughed softly. Marinette's smile was like a dream come true, like a warm cup of tea on a cold night, like winning a fencing tournament and knowing that Mother would be proud of her. For once, Paris felt like home.

[myownworldstayout]

New Friends Ch. 11

Ch.1 / Ch.10 / Ch.12

(Time skip! And Felix getting infinitely sick of all the bullcrap. aren’t we all?)

“See you later, Mama and Papa!” Marinette waved as she passed her parents in the kitchen. 

“Bye, Sweetie!”

“Have a good day!”

Marinette smiled brightly, stepping outside and preparing herself for another day of school.

“Morning Marinette. You look refreshed.” Luka greeted with a warm smile.

“Hey, Luka! I feel refreshed. Thanks for walking me to school.”

It’d been a few weeks since the group decided to form a “buddy system” for Marinette to make sure Adrien couldn’t ambush her. She’d gotten used to the routine almost immediately. Luka had the first shift. Felix had most of the day since they shared the same classes. Aurore or Kagami would take her home depending on whose schedule matched up with hers.

“It’s no problem. I enjoy talking with you.” Luka waved off the comment, gaining a giggle from Marinette.

“Same here.” 

-

Once the two got to school, they met up with the rest of the group at the front.

“Morning Mari! Hi Luka!” Aurore greeted brightly.

Marinette smiled. “Morning Aurore.”

“Looks like you got a good night’s sleep.” Wayhem noted with a humorous smile.

“For once.” She chuckled, playfully rolling her eyes.

“Glad to know you’re feeling better.” Kagami commented. 

“We should go inside now. Class is about to start.” Felix spoke up in his usual, flat tone.

The group gave a few grumbles and sighs, but they agreed nonetheless. 

“Alright, Felix. I pass the angel onto you. Take good care of her.” Luka joked, patting her shoulder. 

Marinette flushed a delightful pink, even more so when Felix’s lips twitched into a smile as he said, “Don’t worry. I will.”

The friends laughed at the exchange, before heading into the school building. After doing so, they dispersed to their respective classes, Felix and Marinette going to Mlle. Bustier’s class and Luka and the others going to Ms. Mendeleiev’s.

~~~~~

“Morning, Marinette.” Agreste greeted as the two walked through the door. 

Felix sent him a glare, moving between Agreste and Marinette while they passed. The group had agreed they wouldn’t let Agreste even talk to Marinette until he exposed Rossi. That was a promise he was all too happy to keep.

He saw Marinette give him a glance of concern out of the corner of his eye, then down to Agreste’s direction, though she couldn’t really see him since Felix made sure to block her view of the blonde. 

Agreste frowned, watching them take their seats in the back. The idiot probably didn’t have a clue why they’d been ignoring the class for weeks. The rest hadn’t even seemed to pick up on that little fact that they were giving them the silent treatment. 

Cessaire and Lahiffe noticed the short interaction, though.

“Hey, what was that?” Cessaire snapped, turning to the pair.

Marinette tensed when the supposed journalist confronted them, but she remained silent, sitting down and taking out her tablet.

Felix glared down at Cessaire, also not saying anything. She wasn’t worth the effort, in his opinion. Besides, Marinette still had some sort of attachment to them even after everything that’s happened. The last thing he wanted to do was make her more upset.

Cessaire gaped, probably more towards Marinette ignoring her than Felix’s glare. Then she let out a huff and stood.

“What is your guys’ problem today!” She yelled, slamming her hand on the table.

“Alya, come on-” Lahiffe tried to play peacemaker, but Cessaire cut him off.

“NO, Nino! Marinette’s been picking on Lila ever since she got here! Her tactics have become worse and worse and now she won’t even talk to us?! Like it’s somehow our fault?! That’s ridiculous!” She ranted, causing Marinette to flinch slightly.

It seemed Felix was the only one who noticed this, either that or no one else cared. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

“What makes you think she’s been picking on Rossi?” He cut in sharply, getting Cessaire and some of the other students’ attention.

Felix tried to be good, he really did. However, people’s stupidity can be too much for him sometimes.

“What do you mean? Like, Everything that she’s done in the past two months?” Cessaire retorted as if it was obvious.

Two months. Felix thought, hands clenching into fists. This has been going on for two months now.

How could they be so blind? Marinette said Cessaire was supposed to be her best friend. So how could she cast Marinette aside so casually?

Marinette never told them how long Rossi had been there. She just said “a while”. He’d been with her for the second month, making sure the situation didn’t escalate any further. In a way, it worked. Rossi didn’t go any farther in her lies than when he got there. Unfortunately, the class was still just as against Marinette as the day he got there. He hated to think of how isolated she must have felt before she found Couffaine and the others.

Why was the class so set on condemning her?

Whatever the reason or excuse, Felix was certain the class didn’t deserve Marinette as much as Marinette didn’t deserve this treatment.

“And what, pray tell, has she done over the last two months?” Felix challenged.

Cessaire gave an incredulous scoff. “What hasn’t she done? First of all, she broke Lila’s phone just a few weeks ago-” 

“Let’s start there.” Felix interrupted. “Do you have any proof?”

Cessaire faltered. Agreste looked up with wide eyes.

“Proof of what?”

“That she broke the phone.”

“Lila’s phone was broken, and she said Marinette broke the phone.” Cessaire furrowed her eyebrows as she spoke.

“In other words, you don’t have any proof.” 

“Wha-”

“Just because someone said something happened, doesn’t mean it did happen. If you’re willing to believe such outlandish claims because a single girl said it was true, then you’re a worse journalist than I thought.” 

Yes, Marinette had told him much about her classmates, just before getting the same sad expression she had now. It helped to know which buttons to push to get underneath the class’ skin, the same thing they’d done to Marinette for a full two months.

As expected, anger flashed across Cessaire’s features. “That is not the same thing-”

“Isn’t it? You’re taking one person’s word over another’s. Have you ever seen Marinette actively try to harm Lila or do anything else to hurt her?” 

Cessaire, though upset, paused to think about it. Felix watched as she searched through her memories, knowing full well she wouldn’t find anything. 

“I-” She stopped, putting a finger to her lips and a hand on her hip as she thought about it. 

“Of course you can’t.” Felix stated flatly. “She never did.” 

He could see the dots connecting in her mind, but before she could fully come to a conclusion, Mlle. Bustier walked into the room.

“Is everything alright?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, seeing Cessaire out of her seat and the rest of the class quietly yet intently watching her.

Felix sighed, simply turning to take out his tablet and his textbook.

Cessaire sat down, muttering an apology and opening her textbook.

With that, the class began.

~~~~~~

Alya tapped her pen against her desk, racking her brain for that evidence Felix mentioned earlier.

There had to be something right? There’s no way Marinette would do all of that stuff with only Lila as a witness. Of course, everyone saw her challenge Lila’s stories, but Lila seemed to be the only one to actually see Marinette attack her.

Or attack anyone for that matter.

Alya shook the thought from her mind. 

Lila wouldn’t lie to everyone. She wasn’t that kind of person. Alya was certain other students had seen something, they just didn’t say anything since Lila was already bringing it up. 

Speaking of which, wasn’t  Lila always the one bringing it up?

“Alya, pay attention please.” Mlle. Bustier requested, taking Alya from her thoughts.

“What’s up? You seem distracted.” Lila whispered. She had come in with Mlle. Bustier right after the fight. So it made sense she didn’t know.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Felix just said some weird things.” Alya brushed it off, sparing a glance to the back.

Felix was reading his textbook along with Mlle. Bustier, while Marinette scribbled down notes on her tablet.

Alya furrowed her eyebrows at the sight. Over the past two months Marinette’s gotten progressively more and more like Chloe, specifically towards Lila. Alya tried to help and talk to Marinette about it, but she just got upset and shut her out. Then Felix came along and made it worse.

He was cold, rude, and over all a jerk in general. Why Marinette would even talk to him in the first place was beyond her, let alone befriending him.

However, looking at them now she had to admit, Marinette and Felix looked.. Normal together.

Marinette appeared to be her cheery, sweet, usual self. The person Alya met at the beginning of the school year. 

Felix looked more open and relaxed. His shoulders were sagging slightly in comfort and he was actually leaning more towards Marinette instead of  sitting on the edge of the seat on the other side. If Alya hadn’t known better, she would have thought she saw him smile when Mlle. Bustier suddenly called on Marinette, causing the ravenette to stutter out an answer.

“What did he say?” Lila asked, raising an eyebrow as she glanced to the back as well. 

Alya turned back to Lila with an unsure expression. “Well.. he said we have no proof that Marinette’s been picking on you.” 

Lila clicked her tongue, a hint of something flashing across her face.

Agitation? No, that couldn’t be it.

“Of course we have proof, I saw her do all of it.” Lila replied like it was obvious. 

Alya nodded. “Right, right, I know.”

It was foolish, Alya thought, actually taking Felix’s words seriously. He made it quite clear he didn’t like Lila, just like Marinette had. She assumed that was the reason they got along so nicely. Felix just wanted to believe Marinette was right.

Alya smiled.

Lila wouldn’t lie to them.

~~~~~~~

Marinette was torn.

She knew ignoring the class was going to be hard, especially towards Alya and Adrien. She didn’t expect Alya to explode over it, though. Nor did she expect Felix to step up against Lila again.

Don’t get her wrong! She was glad Felix had her back. It just saddened her to see Alya so set in her opinion of Lila.

Marinette could practically see the gears turning in her head when Felix told her they had no proof. Her journalist instincts were kicking in and Marinette held her breath, not daring to interrupt the thought process.

Unfortunately, Mlle. Bustier walked in at that moment, losing any hope Marinette had of getting her friend back.

Although she claimed she was over it, pain was inevitable when your former best friend kept stubbornly choosing their own interests over you.

“Are you coming?” A voice inquired from the doorway of the now empty classroom. 

Marinette looked up at the expectant Felix. They were meeting up at the library today for a small study session. She had almost forgotten due to the mess that morning.

“Ah. yes, sorry.” Marinette apologized, brushing her hair behind her ears and grabbing her backpack.

Felix didn’t respond at first, watching her hop down the steps towards him.

“It’s gonna be alright.” He then said. 

Marinette hummed questioningly, looking up at him.

“I know it’s upsetting, your friends turning on you, but it will pass.” His voice was logical, yet sincere. It was kind.

Marinette gave a small, somewhat sad smile. “I sure hope so.”

Felix nodded, turning to exit the classroom. “Besides, now you have us.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the statement. He was right. She had new friends now.

Marinette’s smile brightened.

She had real friends now.

~~~~~

Adrien sulked down the school steps. After class, he tried to find Marinette multiple times to hang out with her or just talk, but each time she was swept away by Felix and the others before she could respond. Just like it’d been for the past three weeks. What’s worse is that Marinette seemed completely content the whole day despite this. She didn’t show any trace of remorse towards being taken from her friends.

He could tell Alya was peeved about it as well, and Nino was worried. Why wouldn’t Marinette just talk to them?

Adrien noticed Felix briskly walk past him. Seeing him alone was a rarity now, contrary to their childhood days.

“Felix!” He called out to the blonde.

Felix visibly stiffened, pausing on the last step but not turning around.

“Where’s Marinette? She’s normally with you.” Adrien asked, hoping to catch her before she left somehow.

Felix looked at him then, his gaze less than friendly. “That’s really none of your business, now, is it?” 

Adrien blinked, not sure whether to be shocked or angry.

He chose angry.

“Of course it’s my business! She’s my friend!” He yelled, his grip tightening around the strap of his bag.

Felix scoffed. “Some friend you are. You won’t even stand up for her against a Liar and a cheat.”

Adrien huffed, about ready to tear his hair out in frustration. How many times had they been over this now?

“It would be pointless to tell them! It would only make someone get akumatized!” 

Felix stared silently for a moment, then clicked his tongue. “Let me be explicitly clear.”  his glare frosted over. “If you want to be friends with Marinette, you need to expose Lila.” 

Adrien groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Exposing someone doesn’t make them good. Like I said before, it would only make Lila get akumatized and cause more problems.”

“So you would sacrifice Marinette. To appease a bully. You are truly a garbage human being. A coward.”

The words might have stung had they not shocked Adrien so much.

“That’s isn’t what I-!”

Felix held up a hand, silencing him. “Save it. Her emotional investment on you is wasted.”

His cousin turned around and walked away, not saying another word. Not giving Adrien the chance to.

Tag list: @unabashedbookworm @bluerosette23 @minightrose@kuroko26@im-here-for-the-content @angstyrastuff @clumsy-owl-4178 @fanboy7794@choaticneturcl @bigcheeseyboi @burntnugget-tae @ayuchan07@honorisfortheweak @knightrose15 @mjisntme@rhub4rb @simplythebestbug@wilhelmares@zebrabaker@dargeon-lissa @kristycocopop @alumneia @kaydenth3gayden @thornangelic727 @flirtshobi @whatamessofwords @miraculousl4dybug @orrabbit

[angelofthequeers]

Minty Fresh, Strawberry Sweet, Cinnamon Spice: chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

I ended up splitting this chapter, so the next one will be the last one and it’ll have all the Adrigaminette conclusion sweetness XD

@trainflavor tagged as requested :)

Chapter 2 | Chapter 4 | AO3 link

As she emerges from the subway station, Ladybug swings in a wide arc to check for Hawkmoth and Mayura and to make sure that they see her and aren’t focused on Tempress. They’re still behind the same chimney and don’t seem to have realised that she knows about them as they turn to watch her, which gives Tempress the perfect opening to slip out of the station and take in the scene before her.

“What even is wrong with Hawkmoth?” Tempress says loudly, unsheathing her sword. “Who the hell is this two-faced thing supposed to be? Voldemort?”

“Nice one, dragon girl!” Chat Noir calls down to her with a grin. Tempress rolls her eyes and bats away a beam from Heart Hunter with her sword.

“That’s Tempress to you, alley cat!” she says. Cerana lands next to her and deflects Heart Hunter’s next attack with her trompo, then exchanges a look with Tempress, and an unspoken understanding seems to click into place between them.

“Pleasure to meet you, Tempress,” Cerana says. “My name is Cerana.”

While everyone’s attention is focused on the fight, Ladybug slips into a nearby alleyway so that she can pull the Fox out of her yo-yo and slip the necklace around her neck. With a deep breath, she says, “Tikki, Trixx, unify!” and the red of her suit turns orange under the black spots, while a white patch forms on her torso and a flute forms on her back to accompany her yo-yo.

Okay. Time to focus. Although it’ll take more out of her to channel both the Ladybug and Fox powers, as opposed to just creating a simple illusion, it’s necessary to deceive Hawkmoth and Mayura. An illusion by itself won’t be enough, since Hawkmoth and Mayura will be able to sense its lack of emotions and realise that it’s fake, but with a touch of Ladybug’s creation, she should be able to create just enough to fool Hawkmoth and Mayura. After steeling herself, she slips her flute off her back and plays a short tune.

“Lucky Mirage!” Ladyfox whispers, and her body fills with warmth as the power of the Ladybug and Fox surges through her and focuses on the point where she’s summoning her illusion. Before her eyes, another Ladybug forms with Chloé and Kagami, and under her mental instruction, illusion Chloé runs out of the alleyway.

“But that’s my Miraculous!” illusion Chloé cries, pointing at Cerana. Tempress’ eyes bulge and she opens her mouth, no doubt to ask what the hell’s going on, but then Heart Hunter shoots at her and she yelps and bats the pink beam away with her sword.

“Are you an idiot?” Illusion Kagami sprints out after illusion Chloé and grabs her by the arm, and although illusion Cerana’s eyes widen, she’s a lot better than Tempress at concealing her confusion and surprise at seeing her civilian self. “Do you want to get hit by the akuma?”

Illusion Chloé scoffs and flips her hair. “I told you, Tsurugi, Heart Hunter doesn’t want moi. I don’t have any love for Mummy and Daddy to eat!”

“Only a truly spoilt little brat could have a heart that black!” Audrey’s face says. Then Heart Hunter flips to reveal André’s face.

“But the girl next to her!” André says. “The love for her special ones pouring from her! Scrumptious!”

The next few seconds seem to happen in slow motion. Right as Heart Hunter’s preparing to fire at illusion Kagami, they’re engulfed in a purple-black mass and separate into André and Audrey, who scream as they plummet to the ground, while the white butterfly flutters off and another evilised one emerges from behind the chimney heading towards illusion Chloé. While Chat Noir and Tempress bound up to catch André and Audrey, Ladyfox’s head starts to spin from the pressure of having to look out for three Ladybug-enhanced illusions and pull this gamble off, all while doubly transformed. But she shakes her head to clear the dizziness, takes a deep breath, then tosses her yo-yo out to catch the akuma, timing it so that illusion Ladybug comes leaping from the rooftops behind Ladyfox at the correct angle.

“What are you two doing?” illusion Ladybug snaps as she scoops up illusion Chloé and illusion Kagami and throws them over her shoulders. “I told you, you can’t ever be Queen Bee and Ryuuko again, since your identities are known!”

Tempress’ eyes widen, and she whips her head around to stare at Cerana, who gives her an impassive look until she looks away.

“I wasn’t trying to become Ryuuko again,” illusion Kagami says. “I was trying to keep this ungrateful brat from running into danger and getting attacked.”

“Excuse me?” illusion Chloé huffs. Illusion Kagami shrugs.

“Well, you were nearly akumatised, so I don’t see how I’m wrong,” she says.

“Enough!” Illusion Ladybug looks at Chat Noir and says, “I’ll leave them somewhere safe and then use my Miraculous Ladybug, just in case Hawkmoth has something else up his sleeve.”

“Hawkmoth!” Chat Noir whirls to look at where the akuma had come from and then takes off bounding in that direction before illusion Ladybug can call him back. Tempress and Cerana make to follow him, but illusion Ladybug looks at them and shakes her head.

“Ladybug’s waiting for you in that alley,” she says, nodding back at where Ladyfox is hidden, speaking softly enough that a bickering André and Audrey don’t hear as they storm off.

“What the heck is even going on?” Tempress splutters. Illusion Ladybug just shakes her head and leaps off with illusion Chloé and illusion Kagami. Ladyfox waits until the illusion’s down the subway station stairs and is out of sight, just case there are any cameras nearby, before swiping the air with her flute.

“Reality!” she murmurs, and the warm connection to the illusions in the station dissipates. Then she throws her yo-yo into the air and says, “Miraculous Ladybug!” to send her healing ladybug swarm zooming around Paris, repairing the damage done by Heart Hunter. A second later, Tempress and Cerana slip into the alleyway, and their eyes widen at the sight of her.

“You’re not Ladybug.” Cerana unslings her trompo and steps in front of Cerana, whirling it slowly. “Who are you?”

“Right, so you and Kagami were in two places at once for no reason,” Ladyfox drawls. “Tikki, Trixx, divide!” In a small burst of orange light, Ladyfox’s transformation melts away to leave her as plain Ladybug, with Trixx hovering by her side. She smiles at Trixx in gratitude, then takes the Fox necklace off and stores it back in its box.

“You can use two?” Tempress’ eyes bulge. “Since when?”

“Theoretically, you can use them all,” Ladybug says as her earrings beep. “But the more you use, the more chance there is of losing your mind. I had to trick Hawkmoth and Mayura into thinking that Chloé and Kagami weren’t superheroes any longer while also being able to deal with any tricks they might throw. And I needed my Ladybug power to enhance the illusions, otherwise Hawkmoth and Mayura would’ve known that they were fakes when they didn’t feel any emotions. The fact that he deakumatised Chloé’s parents when he saw my illusion of her…he had to have something planned. I just don’t know what.”

“You’re so smart, Ladybug!” Tempress blurts out. “Uh…how do I detransform? I’m guessing I don’t say storm off or whatever.”

“A Dragon is far more cultured than that,” Cerana snorts. “Buzz off.”

Tempress’ scowl just widens at Cerana nailing the detransformation phrase and turning back into Kagami in a flash of golden light. Ladybug decides to take pity on her, if only because she’s literally just had her Redemption Epiphany™ and encouraging her to backslide into bitchiness is probably not the best idea right now.

“It’s “open skies”,” Ladybug says. Tempress sniffs.

“No need to be so complicated,” she says. “Open skies.”

For a moment, girls and kwamis stare at each other; Chloé and Pollen, Kagami and Longg. Before any of them can say anything, a flash of black lands between them and straightens up, bottom lip stuck out.

“I’m sorry, milady,” Chat Noir says. “I lost track of them. I nearly had them, I swear!”

“Chat. Hey.” Ladybug squeezes his shoulder. “It’s okay. They’re pretty slippery. And anyway, we’re the ones who won today. We stopped whatever plan they had and convinced them that Chloé and Kagami are retired.”

Chat Noir frowns at Chloé and Kagami, who are still regarding their former kwamis. “How did you do it, bugaboo? I always knew you were extraordinary, but nothing like that!”

“No need for flattery,” Ladybug says with an impish wink. “I just got a little help from Ladyfox.”

“Lady…fox? You merged them?” Chat Noir beams. Before he can say anything more, her earrings beep again, and he grimaces. “Can I talk to you quickly? Before you go? It’s important.”

“Of course, kitty.” Ladybug accepts the Bee comb and Dragon choker from Kagami and Chloé and returns them to their boxes while Kagami and Chloé slip out of the alleyway and head in opposite directions. When it’s just her and Chat Noir, she offers him a quick smile, encouraging him to go ahead and speak.

“I know you’ve turned me down over and over, Ladybug,” Chat Noir says. Ladybug opens her mouth, to reflexively let him down gently once again, but he shakes his head and so she remains silent, waiting for what comes next. “And I just…I like someone else. Another two girls.”

“Kitty, that’s great!” Ladybug nudges him with a smile. “Go for it!”

“I just need a favour from you,” Chat Noir says. “Part of me still love you. Part of me will always love you, I think.”

“That doesn’t mean it can’t be platonic,” Ladybug says softly.

“Yeah, I know. I guess I just…need you to look me in the eye and tell me once and for all that we can’t be a thing. Because I want to be with these girls, but it’s not fair if I’m still pining after you. And I know you shouldn’t have to do this just for me to get the message but…please, milady.”

“Why would that work now, as opposed to any other time?” Ladybug says. It’s not that she’s not going to do it. She just needs to understand where Chat Noir’s head is at, since he’s been pursuing her for so long.

“Because every other time, I didn’t want to believe it,” Chat Noir says, looking at the ground. “And I’m so, so sorry, Ladybug. I should’ve respected the first time you said no instead of keeping it up and acting like I could wear you down. I realise that now. But this time…well, I really like both these girls, and I want to be with them without hurting them, and the only way I can do that is to accept that I’ve got no chance whatsoever with you and make myself move on. I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to feel obligated to –”

“Hey. No. Don’t apologise.” Ladybug reaches out to lift Chat Noir’s chin, ignoring the two-minute warning beep of her earrings, and she smiles softly at the uncertain flicker of light in his green cat eyes. “I’m sorry, Chat Noir, but I can’t love you romantically. I don’t love you like that. But you’ll always, always be one of my best friends. You’re irreplaceable, you know that? Even if you feel like you’re useless because I can finish things off by myself, you need to know that I couldn’t do this without you by my side. You’re the one who keeps Ladybug going. You’re the reason I didn’t quit on my first day. Got that, kitty?”

Chat Noir grins, a toothy little thing, and he nods and throws his arms around Ladybug. “Thanks, Ladybug. I needed that. And I hope you get this other guy that you’re into. He must be real special if he caught your heart.”

“Thanks, Chat,” Ladybug murmurs. She jumps when her earrings give their one-minute warning, and that’s Chat Noir’s cue to back away and shoot her finger guns.

“Well, milady, I’m off to get myself two really cool girlfriends,” he says. “And hopefully get them each other too, ‘cause I know one’s into the other and the other said she could possibly fall for the first over time.”

Ladybug snorts because wow, if that doesn’t sound like her situation with Kagami, she doesn’t know what does. What kind of shenanigans is Chat Noir getting himself into? She waves as he bounds away, and then she whispers, “Spots off,” and her transformation dissolves in a flash of pink light.

“Wow,” Marinette says as she emerges from the alleyway and sets off for the park to return the Miraculouses. “Who would’ve thought that Chat Noir’s love life was just as complicated as mine?”

“Yes,” Tikki says in an oddly flat voice, “who would have thought?”

[ghostlyhamburger]

Miraculous: Tales of Captain Turtle and Honeybee : Riposte

Rating: E

Read from beginning

Read current chapter on Ao3

Adrien still kept up with some of the activities his father had scheduled for him. Fencing, for example. He genuinely liked that one, and figured it was good to keep his skills sharp between akumas.

Also, Adrien 2 deserved a break. Master Fu claimed the double didn’t have free will and didn’t mind doing everything Adrien was supposed to do, but that just didn’t sit right with him. Everyone deserved some free time.

He was surprised and delighted when he arrived at fencing practice to see a bunch of new potential students—including Marinette.

“H-hey,” he greeted her with a smile. “I didn’t know you liked fencing.”

She shrugged. “I figured with all the akumas, it might be good to know some sort of fighting. If this doesn’t pan out, I’m going to learn kickboxing.”

“Well, good luck,” he said. “D’Argencourt can be kind of picky about who he lets in, but I’ll try to make you look good.” He gave her a sly wink before pulling down his mask.

But as they prepared to face off, the doors to the courtyard burst open. A figure in red entered, carrying their own epee.

“I demand to be allowed into this fencing academy,” they announced.

Monsieur D’Argencourt scoffed. “Demand? All right—if you can beat my best student. Adrien!”

Adrien had to tear his gaze away from the practicing Marinette to pay attention. He walked over to the teacher’s side.

“Now,” D’Argencourt said. “Pret—allez!”

Adrien focused on his match with the newcomer, dodging their quick attacks and doing his best to find an opening in their tight defenses. The match quickly left the courtyard, the two fighters heading up the stairs as the crowd around them followed.

His opponent landed a touch on him just at the same time he made contact. They turned to their audience—Marinette was the only one who appeared to have seen their final blows.

“Who won?” the stranger demanded.

“I—I don’t know!” she cried. “Um, I think—Adrien?”

“Ah-ha!” D’Argencourt cried, catching up with the fencers. “And that means you, insolent newcomer, are not welcome in this fencing academy!”

The fencer groaned in defeat, and threw her epee and mask to the ground, revealing a rather pretty girl with stark Asian features and a look of annoyance on her face. She stalked out of the courtyard.

Marinette grabbed the items the girl left behind and ran after her. “Wait! You forgot these!”

The girl stopped outside, just before getting into a car. She turned and said, with acid in her voice, “You—”

Her face suddenly softened as the words died on her lips. Marinette couldn’t help but notice that as her eyes widened, they were a really pretty deep brown. And the girl was—so pretty. “Y-your stuff,” she said, holding out the mask and the epee.

“Thank you,” the girl replied, taking them from her hands. “I am—sorry that I was angry.”

“I might have been wrong,” Marinette explained sheepishly. “I’m new to fencing. I’m sure Adrien would give you another match, he’s a nice guy like that.”

The girl’s lips curled up into a smile, but her eyes stayed hard. “I appreciate that. But I don’t get second chances.” She tossed her equipment into the car before abruptly turning and getting in herself.

Marinette sighed. She wished she could help the girl, but she wasn’t sure there was anything she could do. Poor, pretty girl.

She gritted her teeth and reminded herself that she had a boyfriend that she loved very much—and that would be arriving soon, as she saw a black butterfly flitting towards the girl’s car.

**

Adrien was in the locker room, just finished changing after fencing, when his locker was sliced in half.

He glanced up to see a girl clad in all silver standing on the banks of lockers, her arm turned into a sword that was pointed directly at him. “A rematch!” she cried. “Right now—to the death!”

A purple butterfly glowed over her face, but she just shook her head and scoffed in response to whatever Hawkmoth had said.

Adrien grabbed his epee, immediately shifting into a guarding stance. All he had to do was hold off the akuma long enough to find a place to hide, then he could transform and purify her.

Honeybee’s trompo suddenly whizzed past his face, the string catching the akuma’s sword and drawing her attention. “Come on, fight me instead!” she cried. “Want to prove you’re the best? Ignore him, fight a superhero!”

Adrien grinned, proud of his partner for stepping up, but also—had she ever held a sword before? She picked up a nearby discarded blade and held it upside down, basically answering his question.

He tightened his grip on his epee and ran towards the two, darting in front of Honeybee to block a particularly nasty blow from the akuma. He hissed in pain as his ankle twisted in a very wrong way, but he managed to save his partner.

Next thing he knew, he was in Honeybee’s arms as she swung away from the akuma, a determined look on her face. “I need to find you somewhere to hide,” she muttered. “She’s targeting you.”

She brought him to the roof of a tall building and set him down in the scaffolding beneath a billboard.

“Are you going to be okay?” Adrien asked.

She flashed him a smile. “I’ll be fine. Cap should be here soon.” With that, she jumped away, leaving Adrien alone.

As soon as he could, he transformed into Captain Turtle, but found that his ankle still hurt when he put weight on it. Not as bad, but—he’d have to be careful. He ran with a bit of a limp after Honeybee, heading back to the school to catch up with the akuma.

He found Honeybee and the akuma on the rooftops nearby. The akuma was easily overpowering her, forcing her back to where she’d left him. He threw his shield at her sword, knocking it aside but not breaking it.

She turned her attentions towards him, but with only a sword to block her blows, he was forced to retreat, trying not to limp as he accidentally led her back to “Adrien’s” hiding spot.

The akuma let out a loud cry of frustration and slashed her sword, crumbling the billboard and scaffolding beneath. Captain was wide-eyed, suddenly thankful he wasn’t there anymore, but Honeybee—she let out a strangled gasp, her hands covering her mouth as she looked on, horrified.

“Where’s Adrien?” the akuma cried, leveling her sword back at Honeybee.

Before Captain Turtle could do anything in response, Honeybee shrieked, “He’s dead! You just killed him!” She threw her trompo, not even aiming, just in anger, and added in a sour voice, “Good luck getting your rematch now.”

The akuma stood there, a blank look on her face as the purple butterfly mask appeared on her face again. She suddenly screamed in pain, holding her normal hand to her head as she fell to her knees. Then, suddenly, black bubbles covered her body and transformed her back to the girl from the fencing academy, a black butterfly flapping away.

Captain threw his shield to catch the akuma and purify it before setting everything back to normal. The billboard and scaffolding beneath were rebuilt.

“I’ll go see if Adrien’s okay,” he said quickly. “Can you take care of her?”

She nodded, moving to kneel at the girl’s side.

Captain returned to the billboard before dropping his transformation and walking out in the open on the roof. There was a door that would lead down to the street, so he figured it would be better if Honeybee saw him as Adrien before he left. It would probably make her feel better.

Soon, Honeybee came by, carrying the girl in her arms, holding her close. She gently set down the girl and said, “You two need to talk, and I need to get moving. Adrien, I’m glad you’re okay—where did Cap go?”

“He had to run off,” Adrien said quickly. “His, uh, bracelet was beeping.”

She nodded. “Will you two make it home okay?”

“We should be fine,” the girl said. “Thank you, Honeybee.”

The heroine’s cheeks dusted pink before she nodded and threw her trompo to swing away.

“Adrien,” the girl said. “I apologize. I was…not myself when I hurt you.”

He gave her a smile. “It’s all right. And I’m open to a rematch sometime, if you want. You’re a great fencer.”

“Thank you,” she said, her expression softening, though she didn’t exactly smile. She held out her hand abruptly. “My name is Kagami. I’m new to the city. I’m sorry for not introducing myself earlier.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kagami. So, what do you think of Paris?”

“It’s a beautiful city,” she replied. “Especially the heroes. Do you know much about Honeybee?”

“Um, a little? Not more than anyone else.”

“Is she seeing anyone?”

Adrien couldn’t help but smile at the girl, looking so hopeful. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know if she’s interested. Heroes aren’t really supposed to date civilians, right?” he said, the pot speaking to the kettle.

The girl snorted derisively. “Maybe not in Paris. I hope I can see her around again…”

“You probably will,” he said. “But in the meantime, mind if I walk you home? I know what it’s like to be the new kid, and now that you’re not trying to kill me—want to be friends?”

“I would like that.”

Buy me a coffee?

[niyes-lahiffe]

Soapy Decks and Flying Underwear

IT’S BAAAACK!!

Ao3

1 | 2

Chapter 3: Markets Hate Pirates

Ok, Nino knew he had just claimed to his entire crew that he would immediately sail to the destination the map led them to, but he realized the longer he looked at it, the less sense it made. Of course he was still beaming as bright as the sun itself, but he went downstairs to see if he could have any better luck in a slightly different environment.

He had been down there for quite a while when he started hearing thumps on the wooden floor above, followed by muffled cheering. His crewmates were certainly having the time of their lives with their excessive celebrating, and their happiness only rekindled the giddy feeling the captain had in his chest. His smile turned into a grin when the trapdoor opened and his best friend came down the steps.

“You should come up and celebrate with us, Nino!” Adrien offered as he took his place before the captain. “Can’t you look away from that map for one second, man?”

“But-“

“No buts, sir, a break will definitely be good for you.” Adrien winked at him, pulling out his sword and using the tip of it to gently lower the map from the captain’s hands. “Kim and Luka are wrestling right now and it’s quite hilarious.”

Nino snickered. “And Luka isn’t a pile of pulp yet?”

“Nope! He’s handling it surprisingly well.” The co-captain leaned against a barrel and his smile turned into a perplexed frown when he looked inside it. “Yo, Cap?”

“What is it, dude?”

“We’re out of oranges.”

Nino stood up abruptly, half-exaggerated, and hissed, “We’re what?”

“Truly unfortunate,” Adrien played along while scratching his chin. “Looks like we’re gonna have to restock.”

Nino placed his fingers to his chin in thought. “Actually, it really has been a while.” He laughed slightly. “We’ve been so caught up in everything that we’ve failed to realize we’re nearly out of everything.”

“It’ll be a good break for you, too,” his best friend agreed. “Wanna give the decks a good clean as I steer us to the market?”

“Ooooh you know I do!”

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

“Wow, nice parry!” Alya complimented her crewmate as she deftly dodged another one of the attacks from his wooden blunted sword.

“Thanks!” Nathaniel responded happily, proud to be complimented by his captain.

His succession threw him off, however, and he was distracted enough that he was unable to defend himself in time when Alya suddenly dropped to a squat and kicked at his legs, knocking him off balance. He grunted when he fell to the floor and frowned when the tip of Alya’s fake sword pointed at his throat.

“Don’t forget to be prepared for anything, though,” she smirked. Nathaniel huffed but graciously accepted her extended hand to help him back up.

“One day I’ll be as good as you,” he said, patting himself to rid of the dust.

“Maybe,” she teased. Alya glanced around at the rest of her crewmates to observe their fighting tactics, pleased with what she saw. Kagami and Max were definitely her best fighters, and seeing them duel was something else. Everyone else of course battled to the best of their ability, and she was indeed impressed, but it was almost entrancing to watch her two most skilled battlers duel.

“Yo, Captain!” A voice sounded from above, knocking her from her trance. Alya looked up to see Alix poking her head out from her post. When she noticed she had the captain’s attention, she called, “We’re about to pass a local market; wanna stop for a little bit to restock and check out their wares?”

Alya walked to the edge of her ship and looked out to see land up ahead. She nodded and turned back to her lookout. “Sure! Probably is a good idea before we head out to find the Jade Turtle.”

“You got it, Cap!”

Marinette appeared beside Alya and gave the captain her wooden sword. “I can steer us there real quick, if you’d like!”

“Sounds good to me, girl.” Alya smiled as Marinette saluted playfully and went on her way to the steering wheel.  

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

The moment the boat was parked at a nearby dock, Kim nearly bolted off before Nino was able to get a firm grip of his shoulder. His crewmate looked back at him, perplexed if not a tad miffed.

Nino smirked at him. "I get that you're excited, Kim, but I need you on boat duty, remember?"

"WHAT?!"

"I can't have anyone stealing this boat or anything inside while we're at the market," the captain explained as he folded his arms. He winked and continued before Kim could open his mouth to protest. "You should consider yourself lucky, since I can only rely on someone I know will truly take good care of this ship."

Kim was obviously flustered by the compliment but was still ornery as he folded his arms and turned away.

"Dooon't worry, Kim, you won't be here all day," Nino snickered, and Kim visibly perked. "I'll have Luka take your place after half the day has passed."

Next to him, Luka froze and said, "Wait, what?"

Nino nodded.

"Why can't Luka and I switch spots so I can go now?" Kim objected.

"Kim, you're great but I don't trust you to remember to come back when you should." Adrien and Luka both had a small coughing fit as they laughed while Kim merely smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Eh, you're right," the lookout finally gave in. "You can count on me, Cap."

"Knew I could," Nino grinned, punching the other pirate playfully in the shoulder before he and the rest of his crew marched off the deck and into the already bustling streets of the marketplace.

As much as Nino loved sailing the seas on his beloved vessel, he always forgot how much he loved exploring bits of the land, too. The welcoming sights and smells drew him in and soon he was lost in the crowd. Adrien still tagged along with him, as he usually did, but Nino quickly lost the rest of his crew, though had full confidence that they would return to his boat by the end of the day.

Now, he had time to enjoy this.

Merchants left and right were yelling encouragingly about their wares to the wandering potential customers, the smell of freshly cooked bread and meat filled the air, children were playing game after game, and the streets bustled with energy as everyone moved back and forth between booths.

Nino and Adrien wandered between booths themselves, gawking at the beautiful jewelry that was far too expensive, and laughing at ones that were in odd shapes. A nearby commotion grabbed both of their attentions, and they both knew one of the ornery voices well.

"HEY! How dare you; I had my eye on that comb!" Chloe suddenly barked at the beautiful young woman standing next to her, who seemed to have just purchased an item: a golden, bee-shaped comb, and Chloe apparently wanted it desperately. The other girl may have been pretty, but despite her adorable freckles, bright blue eyes and bobbed haircut, her glare was nearly sharp enough to slice Chloe to pieces, not to mention the sword on her back undoubtedly would do that if the conversation got any more heated.

"Really? Well, I believe I just bought it first. Good luck next time, and good day." Before the other pirate could wander away, Chloe protested loudly and cut into her path, not allowing her to leave. Adrien leaped forward and grabbed Chloe as her sudden rival finally reached for the sword on her back, and Nino noticed a dark-skinned pirate do the same to the other woman with a, "Whoa whoa whoa, Kagami."

"Chloe, please," Adrien begged, pulling his snarling friend closer to him. "I'm sure we can negotiate. Nicely."

Chloe groaned, "Ugh...fine." She took a deep breath. "Can I have the comb." Adrien poked her harshly in the side and she grunted in pain and annoyance. "Please."

Kagami gave her a long, hard look, before finally replying, "What's in it for me?"

"Alright, I've got money." Chloe reached into her satchel and pulled out a wad of cash, leaning forward to give it to the other pirate. "Here."

"Wait." Kagami ignored the money and reached for Chloe's hand, staring intently at the jewelry on her fingers. "I'll give you the comb for this ring."

"Wait, seriously? I'll have you know this ring is very impor-OW!" She growled at Adrien, who had poked her once again. "Fine, FINE. Take the stupid ring!" The blonde pirate pulled the ring off her finger and Kagami gladly gave her the comb for it. Then, they both turned without saying a word and walked off.

Adrien and Nino nodded at each other, satisfied with the exchange as well. Chloe was definitely a lot of work, but Nino was extremely grateful she had a soft spot for Adrien.

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

"Oh WOW!"

Alya and Marinette stared in surprise at the tiny pirate with short, blond hair and the brightest blue eyes either had ever seen that had approached them.

“Your necklace is so pretty!” she continued, and she blushed when she looked up and noticed their confused yet amused expressions. “OH my bad; I should probably introduce myself.” She giggled. “My name’s Rose!”

Smiling, Alya nodded at her, saying, “Nice to meet you, Rose, I’m-“

“Totally rocking that necklace!!” Rose threw her arms toward her chest giddily as she admired the piece of jewelry. She nearly squealed when she noticed Trixx sitting next to Alya, and she leaned towards the fox excitedly. “Oh my goodness, you have a pet fox, too?! That’s amazing!” Rose reached her arm forward to give Trixx a pat.

Alya lifted a finger quickly. “OH, uh, better be careful, he tends to bite those he doesn’t-“

Trixx accepted Rose’s hand happily and even nuzzled into her arm.

“-know…” Alya lowered her finger as Marinette stared at the smaller pirate in surprise.

Alix suddenly appeared by her crewmates, laughing at the scene before her.

“Oh, Alix, good to see you!” Alya exclaimed. “I’m putting you on fox duty.”

Alix’s smile vanished and her eyes turned incredulous. “WHAT? No way, first boat duty, now this? I’d rather lick a toad!”

As if on command, Trixx, after Rose had said a sweet goodbye, wandered up to Alix and happily wagged his tail at her.

Alya bumped Alix’s shoulder with her own, wiggling her eyebrows. “C’mon, girl, I know you love it.”

“Fine, whatever…” Alix grumbled, though her small smile did not go unnoticed. “Come on, Trixx.” She took off, no doubt intending to cause some more mischief, and the fox followed suit.

“Yo, Rose!” A timid voice from behind sounded. Alya and Marinette turned to see a tall pirate with purple highlights holding up some sort of pink jewel. The girl she called for perked. “Come look at this.”

“Ooooh, coming!” Rose turned back to her new acquaintances and in one breath she said, “It was wonderful to meet you and your fox and I hope you have a good rest of your day, bye!” With that, she took off, leaving a smiling Marinette and Alya to shake their heads fondly.

“That has got to be the most adorable pirate I’ve ever met,” Marinette quipped.

“Speaking of adorable…” Alya felt a smirk steadily growing, peering at her best friend mischievously. “Maybe coming here if the perfect chance to find a cute man for you!”

Marinette’s cheeks turned bright red and she stiffened. “WHAT?”

“Girl, you’re always complaining about being single! Now’s your chance!” as Marinette became a blubbering mess, Alya took a second to look around. “Look, there’s a cute one right there!” she pointed towards a tall, good-looking man with long, blonde hair a few yards away, happily  chatting with a darker-skinned friend of his.

The only response Marinette was able to make was a mortified garble, and Alya turned to find her friend’s face buried in her hands.

The captain took Marinette’s hands and lowered them, and when she looked up with uncertainty, Alya winked cheekily. “You’ll thank me later.” Without any further warning, She grabbed Marinette’s arm and threw her at the boy.

Much to Alya’s delight, Marinette stumbled right into him. Clearly surprised, he placed his hands on her elbows for support and gave the girl a peculiar look.

“I’M-You’re- PRETTY! I-I mean uh! I’m pretty sorry! I’m just...super clumsy…ha…” Marinette managed to stutter out.

The boy blinked a few times before he smiled like the sun. “Oh, it’s no worries at all, m’lady!” He bowed and kissed her hand, giving her a wink when he looked back up.

Marinette looked like she was about to explode.

Alya stood next to the other boy this flirt was talking with before and said, “Wow, I almost regret doing that.”

“Dude…Adrien’s a hopeless sap but I’ve never seen him that romantic before.” The pirate beside her shook his head while laughing softly. “Boy’s suddenly got it bad.”

“So does Marinette.” Though her face was still redder than a cherry, Marinette was clearly very happy with Adrien’s actions and she was giggling up a storm. “I feel SICK.”

“Maybe we should leave them to themselves for a bit,” the other boy suggested. She nodded and together they turned and pushed themselves through crowds a ways away. When they decided to stop in a fairly secluded area, accompanied by a few chairs and booths that weren’t as popular as the others, he turned to Alya and looked her up and down with a small smile. “Name’s Nino, by the way.” He held out his hand.

“Alya,” she replied, giving him a smirk of her own and her hand to shake firmly. She glanced at his back at said, “Is that a mandolin I see, pretty boy?”

“It is indeed.” Nino pulled the instrument off his back and gave it a few playful plucks. “Why are you interested in this?”

“I just want to see how good you are with music,” Alya said. She pulled her own lute from her pouch pocket and twirled it between her fingers, giving her new companion a wink.

His golden eyes grew challenging. “I’ll only show you my… incredible skills if you show me yours.”

She threw him a look just as determined. “But of course!”

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

To say Kim was ecstatic to finally be off boat duty was an understatement. The moment Luka arrived to swap places, Kim nearly created smoke behind with how quickly he dashed off, but it made his crewmate laugh hysterically nonetheless.

Nino and Alya both watched as Kim ran up to a booth selling bread. The look-out grabbed an entire loaf and nearly shoved the whole thing into his mouth, but Chloe snatched it from his hands before he could do so and whacked it upon the top of his head.

"Kim, you brute!" she scolded. "You know you need to pay for that!"

Nino was nearly beaming with sudden pride.

"But I'm a pirate!" The captain nearly laughed at Kim's sudden puppy dog pout.

"That is no excuse. You have money in that wallet and I know it."

A short, pink-haired spunky-looking pirate walked by Kim and waved his beloved wallet in the air. "Yeah, there's tons of money in this. Better keep a close eye on it so no one, say... snatches it." Her smug smile and Kim's dumbfounded face and intense patting of his rear to make sure his wallet was actually gone made Nino snort. Beside him Alya snickered, as well.

"Wh-HEY! You get back here, you punk!" And just like that, they both were gone in a flash.

Nino thought he might've seen something orange chase after them, as well, but the moment he blinked his eyes and squinted to make sure, it was gone.

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

As the sky began to turn a brilliant shade of pink and orange, Alya playfully bumped shoulders with her companion as she put her instrument away, and he soon followed suit.

"Thanks for the fun time," he chided. "We were so good that that one couple gave us a tip!"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Ivan and Mylene give tips to just about anyone." She looked back at him. "But still, I clearly was better than you."

He faked a pout. There was just something about this woman that really brought out his competitive side. "I'd beg to differ."

Alya scoffed at him. "If you keep talking, you'll be begging, alright."  As Nino blinked a few times at her, she began to walk away, clearly putting a significant sway in her hips as she went. "My companions and I have an important journey to prepare for."

She stopped in her tracks and turned her head with a small smile. "Hopefully, our paths will cross again."

Nino nodded in agreement and made sure to add a quick wink before she looked away. She simply laughed at him as she continued her jaunt away, and Nino caught himself smiling brightly.

Wait.

Was that a fox that just leaped onto her shoulders?

Nino quickly rubbed his eyes and leaned forward to get a better look, but Alya was long lost in the sudden crowd.

What was he doing? He couldn't keep his mind occupied on that. His crew had a mission to fulfill. Nino headed back to his boat, the excitement about what was to come already invigorating his entire spirit. This was finally something the Coral Crew couldn't butt their nosy lives into. This was finally something only he and his crew would enjoy.

[kuroko26]

Kagaminette fic part 2

This is basically a whimsical, somewhat silly sequel of a kagaminette fic in an "Oni-chan AU" created by @gale-of-the-nomads that I wrote.

Had this on the making since May but I was a tad stuck....

Anyway, I hope you enjoy

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

Part 2: let's get some ice cream

Another day started for Kagami Tsurugi. Just yesterday, she made the resolution of winning the love of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a classmate of her fencing partner and fellow student, Adrien Agreste. At first, she didn't have a positive opinion of the younger girl because she appeared to be stringing Adrien along but it was all a misunderstanding and once that was cleared and they actually interacted one on one, Kagami was completely stricken by Cupid's arrow. She fell in love with Marinette!

That being said, she was not blind to the blue haired girl's infatuation to her rival. After all, they knew each other for a considerable period of time and she could understand what Marinette sees in him...at least until recent events.

When it seemed an opportunity has arisen, it all ended with her getting akumatized once more out of anger for the sadness her hime was feeling thanks to that liar's machinations.

Ladybug saved her once more and even listened to her venting about the circumstances that led to her akumatization.

She wasn't sure if she actually told the superheroine about her crush on the blue eyed girl and she hoped she didn't as it was something to be known on her own terms…

The decision was made: she would invite Marinette to eat ice cream with her and start to bond with her as the first step to winning her heart.

'what if she doesn't return your feelings?' an ugly voice in her head asked prompting the fencer to reply with certain force:

"Then I'll accept it and be the pillar she needs in the present. Also, don't think you can deter me from trying you unexpected insecure unconscious!"

Along that "voice", came those weird dreams revolving around her desire to ask Marinette out for ice cream. Scenarios like but not limited to: being in her Oni-Chan form and carrying Marinette on her shoulder to eat ice cream, her dueling Adrien and stabbing him (non fatally of course) and carrying Marinette on her shoulder off to eat ice cream and last but not least bizarre, Kagami arriving to the school entrance in a motorcycle (which she wanted to have in the future), dressed in a tokofukku and asking Marinette on a date while Korpiklaani (one of her secret guilty pleasures) played on the background.

"Why in the world would I, of all people, go to school dressed as some lowly bousouzoku!?"

This last thought crossed as she tried to meditate to calm her mind and prepare for today's school day before she was called for breakfast, which just happened as soon as she finished that train of thought.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Breakfast went okay without a problem as Kagami ate quietly while putting all her thoughts into accomplishing today's mission.

"Mother I'm finished so I'll be going to school. Will I see you for lunch?"

"Of course. I'll tell you if some eventuality occurs; now be safe and have a productive day"

Tomoe sensed something was a bit off with her daughter and while she expected for daughter to be able to sort whatever issue she was dealing with if possible but if not, she also expected, more like hoped, that Kagami would come to her.

Xxxxxxx

Morning went without problems of any kind in Kagami's class and went lunch time finally came, two things happened before she could even reach Marinette:

1) Marinette wasn't at the cafeteria when she got there

2) She received a message saying the driver, Takeo, was already here to take her to have lunch with her mother and she knew better than making her wait

Lunch was mainly peaceful and amicable though inside the fencer's mind all she could think of is to fulfill her little quest even if things were starting to look a tad difficult.

"Kagami is something the matter? You seem rather hiperfocused today"

"It's nothing I can't handle mother. I'm returning to school now. I'll see you at home at night"

As Kagami was about to cross the door, Tomoe said the words that would make her usually cool demeanor falter.

"Good luck with that "Hime" person by the way"

"D'oh!" Kagami reflexively said while recoiling her body a bit. She thought it was all kept in her mind but she didn't realize she was muttering it all and her mother picked it up.

"Do not "D'oh!" Young lady, it's unbecoming of a Tsurugi now go before your Hime gets away" finished the Tsurugi matriarch with a hint of a teasing smirk.

Kagami opted for a quick exit before she would feel even more embarrassment.

"I told you she could swing both ways mistress" said the butler that was picking things up from the table.

"And I don't mind provided is someone worthy of my daughter and our lineage"

Xxxxxxxxxx

School was done for the day and she didn't have fencing practice. Nothing was going to stop her this time.

Not even a conniving person standing outside the door of Marinette's classroom.

"Kagami! Is good to see you! Are you looking for someone? Adrien had to go to a photoshoot with his father if that's who you are looking for"

"Rossi... I'm not looking for Adrien on this occasion and about who I'm looking for... I'd rather keep it to myself" said the fencer promptly while entering the classroom in search of her person of interest, who sadly, wasn't in the classroom anymore and unfortunately; a pest that didn't want to go apparently.

"You know, since I've started to bond more with Adrien and Mr. Agreste, I thought we could do the same. For example, I could help you avoid the wrong people to associate with like Ma-"

"I'm stopping you right here. Gossip and badmouthing will not get you anywhere with me. Regardless of my friendship with Agreste, unless you actually stop perpetuating a stereotype, I'd rather keep my distance" the fencer interrupted Lila and left her behind and angry that her scheme hadn't worked.

Of course she was going to slander Marinette and she would be damned of she fell for such petty tactic, not when she had important things to do.

She didn't have to look further because Marinette was a few steps before her and it seems that she was looking for her as well.

"Hi Kagami. Aurore told you were looking for me...is something the matter?"

"There's nothing wrong Marinette" Kagami didn't like how tired and defensive the younger girl sounded and looked. She definitely had to do something about it.

"I've been wondering if you would like to eat ice cream with me this afternoon? I wanted to know how were you feeling after the last time we talked...if you're actually busy then there's no problem, we can do it on another occasion"

"Actually, I'm free this afternoon so I accept your invitation Kagami. Do you know Andre?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Since Kagami hadn't visited Andre's ice cream stand before, Marinette guided them both said place. They didn't said a word to each other, neither knowing how to start a conversation at the moment but both had to admit the silence was comfortable enough in their mutual company.

One look at them and Andre managed to make a special ice cream for the two of them. It had blueberry, blackberry and cranberry with a bit of chocolate sauce and a cherry on top; a ladybug themed ice cream? Kagami inferred and Marinette had the same opinion until a few scoops later she had this little revelation:

"Is this ice cream Kagami themed!?"

She had heard many stories about how Andre had a good eye for potential couples as her parents loved to claim in their engagement story and it's true that Kagami cared about her more than she thought possible but still, love was a bit of a sore issue given the one person she was fully in love with, had let her down many times in the past weeks. She honestly didn't know what to think or feel.

"So after the last incident, how have you been? Have you gotten enough sleep? Are you eating well?" Marinette inquired, making Kagami swoon internally but she was more interested in how the blue eyed girl was doing.

"I have been fine thanks for asking. But I'm more interested in how have you been. I heard you're having a hard time as of late"

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, the blunette started retelling how her problems with Lila started from the Tinnitus to a moment during a class intermission where Lila bragged about how one of her family members owned a successful chain of bakeries and while she had heard so many good about my family's business, she couldn't help but to think that they were lacking in quality.

"Lacking! And then she goes and talks big about the supposed pastries she can make while low key insulting my family's business and ability and when I understandably get mad, let it know and I get labeled as the bad guy because I supposedly attacked poor Lila when she was just trying to give me "constructive criticism"!

I'm starting to think that so many akumatizations are starting to affect their IQ… *takes a deep breath* then, I get another sermon from Adrien about the high road and all of that crap…. I shouldn't have said that about him but his advice is not helping me at all... it's like everyone but me gets their feelings protected and well, is making me reconsider a lot of things in my life"

Pausing for a moment, Marinette realized that Kagami was holding her closer while rubbing her back tenderly. She hadn't feel the warmth of another person aside from her owns parents in a long time that she almost forgot what it felt like and she was enjoying every moment of it, even putting her head on the fencer's shoulder.

"Thank you. I've been on my own during this for a long time that it's always good to have someone in my corner if you get what I mean"

"I completely understand. Marinette, I know we didn't start on the best terms thanks to my assumptions but I now know that I was wrong; I admire not only the way you put all you've got into your passions but your integrity even if you can be impulsive and a bit insecure so I would like to be there for you if you'll let me”

Kagami put as much as sincerity in her words to convey her feelings and good intentions to her love interested and actually succeeded because Marinette's face lightened so to speak.

"Thank you Kagami. This means a lot to me...would you like to exchange phone numbers and e-mails? I would love to keep contact with you, maybe hang out together in the future...but it's okay if you-"

"I would be honored, Marinette. Of course you can have my number and e-mail" the fencer replied while internally celebrating she had made considerable progress in a day with Marinette.

After finishing the ice cream, Kagami followed Marinette to the bakery to wait for the chauffeur to pick the fencer up. They spent the time in idle chatting and when the time came for Kagami to go back home, the blunette have her a packet of cookies as thanks for the nice time they just had.

She treasured the gesture and present so much that she kept the little box, taking good care of it  and using it to store pencils, pens, erasers and such.

Perhaps next time they could have lunch together.

--------

And that's it! Hope you liked it or at least entertained you. I made a lot of references to some post about Kagami carrying Marinette to eat ice cream from other blogs like @nobodyfamousposts , @gale-of-the-nomads or @lenoreofraven (I think)

@beebeebombam , I used your fanart to create a scene so to speak; just to let you know

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

Nice Guy Adrien the Musical Outline: ACT I

Please note that I’m going to using the word “show”, but if it were up to me, the way that this would be structured would be over the course of a few episodes, probably closer to the finale. Admittedly, it’d be kind of weird to change up the show to suddenly start including musical numbers, but this is an AU, so I can do what I want. :P

*”World According to Chris” was originally planned to be a Chloe number but an anon suggested that it be a Lila number instead. Since she already had “Bop to the Top” in this act, and Lila needed a “haha I’m dating Adrien now” number, I decided to give it to her.

@lenoreofraven​

The show opens with Marinette scrambling to get to school It’s going to be a rather busy day, and it’s off to a not-so promising start. First, she slept through her alarm, again, after spending most of her night fighting an akuma and then having to finish a major assignment for class that day. Then, she barely remembered the meeting meant for student reps later that day about the school dance and the catering that had to be hired. As she runs over to her class, she just barely manages to give a passing wave to Kagami and Felix, heading to their own classroom, and Luka, who is walking over to his own school, not too far from Francois-Dupont. When she enters the class, Lila is of course the center of attention again, while everyone eyes Marinette warily. The story of Il Malocchio has been told by this point, and with the number of unfortunate incidents happening to her, people are starting to put some stock in the idea that Marinette is actually cursed. With that in mind, Lila decides today is the day to strike. She sets up the tone of a conversation that involves Marinette and various other members of the class, that allows her to naturally mention Marinette’s crush on Adrien, just as he enters the class. Marinette finds it difficult to backtrack and has to come clean. Later, during lunch, he pulls her aside and turns her down. The rest of the day isn’t much easier. She’s barely able to focus during student rep activities, even with Alya at her side, and just as she’s about to head home, an akuma attacks. It’s evening when we find Dragonbug going after an akumatized Mirielle Cauquet. (Going Through the Motions)

Back at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien laments his lack of freedom and loneliness, as his father once again bails on dinner plans, after telling him that he’s expected for another big modelling shoot, and then a major dinner party for a charity event. He also gives himself a moment or two to lament how he had to turn down his friend at school. All of that is forgotten when he sees Dragonbug flying across town, fighting an akuma. Ecstatic, he transforms into Chat Noir and announces how he can’t wait for a night of mischief and romance. (Macavity Part 1)

Just as Chat Noir arrives, Dragonbug manages to defeat the akuma. After helping Mirielle out, Dragonbug retreats somewhere to transform back, and Chat pursues her, finally finding out her identity. There’s an awkward silence as it begins to hit Marinette. On top of everything else she’s had to deal with, she’s now had her identity compromised. Realizing it’s not fair to her, Chat drops his transformation and suggests that now that everything has been revealed, they can start dating. Marinette is dumbfounded. He just turned her down this morning, but now he wants to date? Oh. She realizes it’s because she’s Ladybug. Adrien asks her what the problem is, and soon, all sorts of things start spilling from Marinette’s mouth. How he’s disrespected her saying no in the past. How he’s made Chloe and Lila more of a priority over her. How he’s flirted with other girls. Just because they have feelings for each other doesn’t mean that they’re right for each other or would make a good couple. She insists that they should remain friends for now. (FRIENDS)

Adrien, of course, doesn’t like this answer. After she leaves and goes home to get some rest, he starts sending her texts. “Can’t we talk it out?” “Are you sure it’s not just cuz you had a bad day?” etc, etc. He also texts Alya about the situation, and she’s immediately on board to get Adrinette to happen. The next day at school, Alya drags Marinette away toward the girl group and asks her why she turned Adrien down when they were this close to becoming a couple. Marinette, trying to keep the details vague, says that she learned something about Adrien that made her think that they’d be better off staying friends. Alya is under the impression that Marinette is just scared to take the next step. The other members of the girl group chime in and give their opinions on the matter. However, Marinette is not swayed and goes to class. Alya lets Adrien know that she’s failed to convince Marinette. “Don’t worry” he texts her “I’ll think of something.” (Marry the Mole)

Marinette decides to go home for lunch and escape all of the drama. She waves hello and goodbye to Luka, Kagami and Felix, all gathered in the courtyard to go to lunch. They are confused as she walks away, shoulders hunched and clearly looking down. While Luka texts her, Felix and Kagami point out how stressed out Marinette has been lately, and how it feels like she’s pushing them away. Someone needs to talk to her and see how things are going. Felix admits it’s not his forte, so it’s between Luka and Kagami. (How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?) 

We cut to Chloe and Sabrina eating lunch at the hotel. A perfectly well-balanced meal has been prepared for the bee heroine. Chloe has been working very hard in every aspect of her civilian life to prepare herself to take action as Queen Bee again, and that includes her diet. And generally staying out of drama, like the stuff happening with Dupain-Cheng, Rossi and Adrikins. “How ridiculous,” she retorts as she takes a sip of her tea. She has to admit, it’s somewhat fascinating, but Queen Bee can’t go around provoking more akumas by sticking her nose into other people’s business. Sabrina and Jean both praise Chloe for being so considerate, and say that Ladybug would be so proud. However, it’s not enough for Chloe, so she makes sure she has Jean prepare her obstacle course for later. After all, a hero has to stay in tip-top shape. (Bop to the Top) 

Marinette comes back from lunch, contemplating something she learned from her mother, when she sees the attention has settled back on Lila. This time, she reveals that she and Adrien are officially dating. Marinette doesn’t believe it, but everyone else says it’s the truth, and that she really shouldn’t be jealous. As they all go back to class, Lila manages to get Marinette alone and breaks it to her that her “goody two-shoes act” wasn’t enough to win over Adrien, and now she has no one else left. The real world favors people like Lila, who do whatever it takes to get what they want, especially if it’s mean and nasty. Even Adrien couldn’t help but be won over by her. (World According to Chris) 

The rest of the day passes by in a blur, as Marinette can’t help but try to escape and have her meltdown somewhere private. It feels like some plot Hawkmoth has cooked up to get her akumatized. What if he’s figured out who she is? Tikki tries her hardest to calm Marinette down, but it’s only thanks to intervention from Luka, Kagami and Felix that she manages to avoid getting akumatized. Luka deduces that something really bad is going on, and plays a little something to calm her down. Kagami gently asks Marinette why she decided to skip out on lunch. Marinette, without giving away too much, reveals some of the stuff regarding Adrien and Lila. With break coming up, and a possible trip to China, she’s hoping that things will look up, but she’s not even sure if she can go. With some convincing, the trio get her to consider going. However, she has to make a stop to Fu and make some arrangements. (Are You Satisfied?) 

Chat arrives at the location for patrol, expecting to meet Ladybug and get her reaction to him dating Lila. However, he comes face to face with Ryuko instead. She explains that she will be filling in for Ladybug while she takes something of a break. Chat pouts. Why hadn’t he been told about this sooner? Ryuko reveals that she just found out about it today. Chat makes some sort of comment to raise Ryuko’s suspicions. Chat continues to make comments to put Ryuko off, and she has just as many venomous retorts in kind. Optionally, Viperion might also appear to play peacekeeper and keep the two from going completely at each other’s throats. (I Don’t Like You) 

Returning home from patrol, Adrien sighs, and looks out over the city. For the entirety of break, Marinette is going to be out of the city, and in an entirely different timezone! As he laments how much he already misses her, we cut to Kagami also looking out over the city. The longer she stares out, the quicker she is to come to a realization - Adrien and Chat Noir are the same! Is it possible then that Marinette is actually Ladybug? That would explain a lot, especially as to why she’s been so stressed lately. However, Kagami can’t risk letting anyone knowing this information, lest Hawkmoth figure it out and target friends and loved ones. Furthermore, she’ll have to monitor the situation much more closely when Marinette returns home from China and Ladybug reclaims her earrings. (Think of Me)