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illustraice · 5 years ago

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lead me out (on the moonlight floor)

rating: T word count: 7526 multiple chapters: 1/?

[ read on AO3 <3 ]

Chloe Bourgeois’ Capri Sun has a sheen to it. It probably reflects light on some poor freshman kid trying to navigate the hallways filtered with the fall breeze and the faint scent of student panic. She stays seated between the legs of the unbothered figure behind her and thinks that getting to class in time is, like, overrated and Alya Cesaire’s arms have to be comfortably occupied, thank you very much. If she had any time, Marinette would think it was moderately cute and a true testament to battling against The Wall of Heterosexuality, but because she doesn’t have any time between pushing her way through The Wave of Student Flesh and desperately clinging to her multiple binders, she starts to think it’s a bit of an inconvenience.

The Cesaire-Bourgeois Package Deal block a generous portion of the stair path; if the freshmen had any opposition to Françoise Dupont University’s ‘It’ Couple’s (of 5 months and 16 days, Chloe had announced in a lecture once) location of choice, they didn’t comment. Marinette scans the frantic narrow hallway and appraises her options; she’d very much like to get to Economics on time but there’s probably bad, weirdly homophobic, undertones to telling the Package Deal to please, get off the stairs and get to class. The two are glued to their spot, class time a weak thing to nudge their unwavering dedication to listen to whatever pop-indie playlist Cesaire has curated on her phone as they share the singular string of earpods. Marinette shuts her eyes for a few seconds, wishing Nino were here to pick up her courage off the ground to hand back to her so she can say something to the two about not blocking the stair path and making out in the next 5--or maybe 2?--minutes.

A trio of younger students scampers to the stairs, too careful to not bother the couple like if they were to make contact with even an inch of Cesaire’s varsity jacket, they would suffer a force of an electrical shock or something equally dangerous to the medical bill. Marinette wills herself to roll her eyes, hopes that whatever exasperation she has rolled with it. She’s near the duo enough to share a few words (maybe testimonies from other students about how much they want to get to class on time?), and slowly inhales preparing to speak when a smooth voice calls out behind her.

“Can you two get any more cliche?”

Somehow, through the blaring indie mess of a song--Hozier? A band Marinette doesn’t know?--Alya acknowledges the comment and offers a smile in the direction of the voice.

“Relaxation is key, Agreste.” she hums lazily. Between the confines of Alya’s arms, her girlfriend grunts intelligently.

By the time Marinette realises her conversational sacrifice is better off unrealised and makes her way farther up the stairs hurriedly, Chloe has put her earbud to the side and points a meticulously manicured finger accusingly.

“Find true love before you judge true love.” she preaches.

“What is that? Aristotle?” Adrien quips. “I think true love can find a way to stop blocking the stairs and scaring the freshmen.”

Chloe scrunches her nose. “Find true love on your own first to prove it.”

Adrien sighs and for the short time being, curses his previous determination 5 months ago to force his best friends on a date. Instead of resulting in moderate disaster material he’d hoped would happen to use as some kind of funny leverage they could all laugh at one day, they’d turn out to be ridiculously compatible despite their exteriors and made out after a mere 45 minutes of the date. They’d laugh in the face of his ulterior motives, howling at him when he’d found them in each other's arms sickeningly in love later. He’d yelled profanities that it wasn’t fair that it actually worked (“It was supposed to be a joke! God, come on!”) as they snickered, all three clustered on his bedroom floor drinking his dad’s whiskey from the inviting and playfully restricted liquor cabinet (they’d been careful to pick an unenticing bottle stored all the way back). But truthfully he was happy for them, earnestly and annoyingly so.

Even so, their habits needed to die; like getting caught in embarrassing places making out or purposefully making out in front of teachers with Homophobic Tendencies (Adrien was more than supportive of that one but he’d also run several arguments on why it may risk them not graduating. Alya had just shrugged and said yolo) and now, blocking crucial stairways in their ferocious display of PDA. He quickly glances up above the stairs and thinks about telepathically apologizing to everyone who has had to wade their way through the duo. A figure with pitch black hair almost stumbles up in a hurry. Adrien wonders how he could send along the message that he grants them a pass to yell at his friends as a sincere apology.

“Can you two just get up and go to class.” he finalises. He looks down at Chloe’s cheer uniform and muses to himself that the near neon yellow in it is the colour of Chloe’s life.

Students still scatter around the area but they’re beginning to disappear to their classes. He makes way for a row of students running to the stairs and they thank him, eyes wild communicating some kind of cryptic message he thinks he can decipher as ‘save us’. He takes several steps up and flicks at Alya’s bun, strays of her hair bouncing. She doesn’t protest and instead takes some form of an effort to take his advice but it’s quickly halted by a suave kiss to her lips.

‘5 more minutes.’ Alya’s lips barely mutter against her girlfriend’s. The proposed time frame seems to be unnegotiated.

Adrien jerks his head up to the ceiling and groans.

When three chattering students noisily stumble their way through her Economics class, Marinette takes no note of it. She’s a little too caught up in what pretentious shade of red the bodice of the dress she desperately trying--failing?--to design in her Studio Arts class is supposed to be so that it passes off as something Dior would create. A deep, lusting flame colour or perhaps, maroon? Maybe? Frighteningly so? She flicks her head up momentarily to glance at a wave of varsity jackets and a singular cheer uniform. The chatter of the room increases exponentially. Alya Cesaire makes a joke or two to the professor that somehow saves her and her friends’ asses. The professor rolls their eyes but they turn kind and indifferently forgiving like they always are to Cesaire’s charm. A row of girls in front of Marinette swoon a little and it takes a moment for her to realise it’s directed at Adrien Agreste’s smooth greeting, the smile on his face so easy it reminds Marinette of toothpaste commercials. Chloe takes a claim beside Alya’s seat, a Capri Sun in hand and a look of undiluted boredom in another. She crosses her legs, pouts a little at her girlfriend, a form of formally beckoning her over to sit down already.

Seats are taken. Because Marinette has a brain and two whole eyes, it has always registered to her that the three are easy--a pleasure perhaps--to look at. Agreste’s a model even; his status of that is as clear as day as it is as cemented on the school’s Wikipedia and his flashy Instagram bio. But the force of all three was indeed a ridiculously attractive sight and Marinette would take her time to appreciate it all (really, she would!) if the stress of completing her portfolio hadn’t kept her occupied every ticking minute of her time in school.

She sighs and eases her eyes on Adrien Agreste who practically swaggers his way to his seat, playfully bickering with Chloe the whole time without either caring for volume much to the class’ entertainment. His soft, somewhat curled, bundle of hair practically bounces like it just has its own individualistic way with gravity. A hand tucked in his varsity jacket pocket and another loosely on the strap of his bag, he laughs at one thing or another said by Alya and Marinette thinks it’s a nice sound. A casually beautiful entity, she concludes.

Marinette’s eyes wander aimlessly at the board but she feels a pair of eyes on her anyway. Adrien’s eyebrows furrow for a moment, a hint of recognition on his eyes as he takes the steps above like he’s willing a vision to be painted in his head. Before she can look to him, his head turns away and he quips at whatever incoming remark from Chloe he had his way. Huh.

By the time the chatter dies down enough, Marinette has already decided the brief moment had been a mere daydream, a wander of aimless eyes at her in coincidence just like her own. She picks up her pen and writes her notes, stifling a yawn. Maroon, she thinks, is an easier colour.

Chloe’s bedroom floor looks a little like what Adrien envisions as an entire Sephora store. He’s not all that sure what that actually looks like but between Chloe yelling out to find fifteen different shades of lipstick and Alya lazily stacking more than forty eyeshadows on each other in some cosmetic version of Jenga, he thinks he’s right. His wooden chopsticks point to the takeaway stir fry in his hand and he’s debating whether to try out that powder thing, see if it does something or other. The view beyond Chloe’s perfectly oversized balcony is easy to look at, sunset views and all, and he thinks he’d like it a lot if he could stay there instead of the proposed agenda of the upcoming night.

Alya is sprawled out in her girlfriend’s bed, amusing herself with a meme or two on her phone. That doesn’t really satisfy Chloe who whines a little when she steps out of her closet, a yellow high neck dress tight on her waist. Adrien scrunches his nose and thinks the other dress--whatever he remembers of it--was probably better.

“Why don’t I look hot?” Chloe mourns. She slumps on a chair nearby, glum and decidedly not hot.

“I liked the other dress better.” Adrien offers, staring at the ceiling. He doesn’t think he likes the stir fry either. God, they should’ve just gotten pizza but Adrien’s stomach had made some last minute ditch to stir fry just as they entered the pizza shop and he should’ve listened to Alya saying his stomach is probably making a mistake but it just seemed so good of an idea at the time.

Alya glances up from her phone and makes some kind of protesting sound. “You always look hot babe!”

“Yes, true.” Chloe agrees momentarily, ‘But I don’t look hot in any dresses tonight.”

“Just don’t wear a dress.” Adrien offers again. They should really be taking his advice, he thinks. He knows he’s not paying that much attention but they should!

“Adrien, get up,” Chloe says.

“No.”

Alya looks at him from the bed, targets his face to throw a pillow. It lands on the desired location perfectly and he thinks it’s probably a warning. “What are you not hungry for?” he hears Alya ask.

He shoves the pillow away, eyes still greeting the ceiling. “The stir fry is not good.”

“You know, where was this energy an hour ego before you dragged us to an extra twenty minute walk to get it?”

“I’d really like my stomach’s intuition not be insulted during these trying times.”

Chloe scoffs, “Yeah, yeah. But really, what’s wrong?”

Her voice had shifted to the softer tone Adrien knows she categorises as the tone only given when Chloe’s actually worried. Adrien almost thinks about lying, then thinks better of it. Chloe and Alya could probably perfectly retrace every single step he's taken in his life. It’s useless and his stir fry has probably gone cold. He sits up this time, the warmth of the carpet off his back. He contemplates first and realises he does not want to ruin the night, not even for himself.

“Don’t worry,” he says finally, quietly. Quiet enough for it to be a clear lie.

Alya and Chloe exchange looks. A brief silence passes, the type Adrien knows is a mutual agreement between all three to wait. It doesn’t have to be said now, the silence says. A beat later, Chloe continues mourning her temporary lack of hotness, whining to herself again as she re-enters the closet. Alya maintains her lazy protests against the statement, grabbing the stir fry away from Adrien for herself (“God, it doesn’t even taste that bad.”). Adrien grins, wills himself to look forward to his own party, thinking it’s better that way.

Marinette stares almost menacingly at the computer screen. Photoshop and her design glare back at her like it’s a contest that it’s winning. It’s only a sketch but Marinette starting to think that if she stares at it long enough, the dress itself will appear magically before her, having chosen for itself confidently what colour it’d like its own bodice to be.

Instead, it only leads to her wondering if her eyes are actually threatening to bulge out.

“Why are you having a staring contest with your own computer?”

Marinette doesn’t turn around. Nino’s voice is not enough to keep her from trying this whole make-the-dress-magically-appear concept she’s got going on. He will not distract her from this goal. He places a plate with pepperoni pizza on her desk, a likely and tempting distraction. She takes it anyway.

“Is maroon, like, a good colour?” she asks, taking a bite. Nino lands himself on her bed, his headphones dangling on his neck the way it’s practically glued to him. He chews a bit of his pizza in some kind of contemplation before he answers.

“Depends who’s asking.”

“The bodice of my design is asking.”

“Then no,” he answers.

Marinette does not like this answer. But she’s pretty sure she doesn’t like any of the answers. She’s also sure Nino’s just talking out of his ass, but she appreciates the input.

“Man, have you even went out of your room since school?” he asks. It’s a genuine question, Marinette knows there’s no trace of judgement on his lips. But she’s also feeling a little jaded from the hours she’s spent on the design like it’s her lifeline enough that she musters some kind of look of feigned offense.

“I take that as a no,” he says.

Instead of answering, Marinette dumps her face flat softly against the desk. She realises all too quickly that this action in of itself is an answer.

“Okay.” Nino pulls himself up swiftly, hands clasped together the way it always is when he has a plan, “You look like you’re in the middle of a mid-life crisis at 21 and it’s just way too early for that. Get up, get dressed, put your hair up or whatever. We’re going to a party.”

Marinette grumbles. The idea, like every Nino idea, is perfectly acceptable, logical and has more than enough, the right intentions. It’s the execution, Marinette knows, that falters. Like how in kindergarten, he’d tell his best friend as their mothers shopped in IKEA that it was cool--yes, very cool!--to play hide and seek beyond the safety of the children’s play area, hiding away from the watch of the employees. It was practically genius to 6-year-old Marinette. Running away from boring IKEA-themed adults? Acceptable! Hide-and-Seek, the most thrilling game of century in a big area with lots of spaces to hide? Logical! Marinette and Nino had been bored out of their minds, un-enticed by the disgrace of a ball pit? The right intentions! It had been 15 IKEA employees yelling out the two children’s names for an hour later as they giggled away that had caused the fiasco to turn out to seem like Not Such a Genius Idea. The aftermath of their mothers’ disapproving faces had been another reminder.

‘Nino.” Marinette begins, “There’s a pros and cons list already made for that idea and I hate to tell you this, but there’s not a lot of pros.”

Nino considers this for a moment like he hasn’t already made up his mind. “There’s not a lot of cons either.”

The list is empty, Marinette says in their comfortable silence. Just like my head right now.

“Stop this.” Nino urges, “You need to get out. My best friend needs to come to this stupid rich kid party with me, eat a bunch of rich kid snacks and drink rich kids’ booze and live in the moment instead of looking like she’s about to go MMA on her computer”

Marinette doesn’t hate the idea of a party. She isn’t even opposed to them at all. Even art kids like her need their fair share of big gulps of gross alcohol and badly executed dances. But she also knows the only party of actual prominence tonight is Adrien Agreste’s, the golden boy of the Golden Trio. She thinks she might not like to throw up in his mansion or take up any form of social interaction when the exciting topic of Maroon vs. Not Maroon is the only thing on her mind.

In the time she took to contemplate this, Nina had dug out a pair of her black jeans and a halter top. He throws the clothing at her and she knows he has hit his target when she feels the material on the back of her head.

Marinette sighs the heaviest of sighs and Nino rolls his eyes. “Mari, you’re not dying.”

“Sure am.”

Like some kind of protest, he blasts some random 90s hit over the speakers from his phone. Marinette looks up, eyes already hazy and takes another bite of the pizza. Sixpence None the Richer blares like it’s trying to actually etch itself to Marinette’s ears. Nino joins in the verse but he’s kind of shrieking the way Marinette knows he does when he’s purposely trying to piss off the Choir teachers. Marinette stifles a laugh, then immediately groans.

God, rich booze really better be good.

His party is Very Good, Adrien intelligently evaluates this to himself. He’s in the middle of the dancefloor that’s really just his oversized living room, red solo cup to his lips. He’s not exactly sure what he’s drinking but he is sure it’s primarily responsible for the bubble of misplaced happiness to his body. He’s just a little hazy and deliriously warm and what the fuck is he drinking again? He dances between great friends, good friends, friends and not-friends-but-will-be-friends. Many eyes light up to his face in recognition, he happily recalls. The joys of being the host, he sighs in what he hopes is content.

The mansion is packed the way Adrien likes it when it’s a party--his party. It’s to blare out the loneliness inside these walls, the thought trespasses his mind. He frowns at it and systematically tucks it away in the space of gulping down all of his whatever-it-is drink and chatting to whoever is on his right. The wide-eyed girl smiles at him, polite and yet eager. He recognises her as part of Chloe’s cheer squad and she looks quite pretty tucking her hair behind her ears. Yes, very pretty! Is that pink eyeshadow on her? Adrien thinks it might be purple. They talk for a spare few minutes, slowing their movements a little. Adrien’s not entirely following whatever it is they’re supposed to be talking about it, but he knows he’s flashing his Good Smile and she’s flashing her Good Smile. And they look very nice, even! Yes! Wait, he halts, wait what?

“Agreste, you dumbass.” Adrien registers the voice as one Alya Cesaire but he’s not as quick to register the pull from the back of his jacket.

He’s dragged without grace across the other side of the room where the bar is set up, the crowd had parted like the knowing red sea with people laughing at his demise. Adrien’s arms flail in some kind of attempt to pull away from Alya’s force but he quickly becomes aware it makes him look like he’s drowning horizontally on dry land.

“Hang on there Adrien!” he hears Rose squeak but he can tell she’s grinning.

When Alya arrives at her destination, he finds Chloe perched on the barstool, chuckling at him. “What are you doing flirting with one of my girls?”

He feels a little caught in some kind of invisible lie. “Am not!”

Unfortunately, his voice squeaks the way it always does when he’s in a (drunk!) childish fit of defense. His knees wobble and Adrien wonders when jelly became a substitute for his knees? Did he authorise that? Alya and Chloe’s laughs almost thunder throughout the room, probably threatening to break walls.

“You sound like a 3-year-old caught in a lie.” Chloe snorts. Almost as if embracing this proposed age, Adrien pouts and sticks out his tongue. It’s stained red from his whatever-it-is drink. Has he been drinking wine? God, what is he? Above thirty?

“Yeah, yeah. Not all of us wanna make out with our true love every 5 minutes.” he places his cup to the bar, motioning for the bartender to refill a drink. The man raises an eyebrow, asking what he’d like before Adrien says whatever is alright. In fact, he has been drinking whatever the whole night so he might as well continue. “Not all of us have found it either.”

“Don’t be so poetic in your own party.” Alya feigns disgust, “Call Aristotle or whatever. Make him do the labour. Your stuff is terrible.

“My stuff,” Adrien tries not to slur, “is very, very, very good.”

“He sounds very convincing.” Juleka nods as she approaches. She takes a sip of her drink and in an act Adrien can only recall as an angelic move, she places a hand on his shoulder to stop him from the very bad consequences of his Knee Wobbling Fiasco. “Hold on there, buddy. The night has barely started.”

“You’d think Adrien would make it as a good act for the Debate Club?” Rose giggles beside her.

Chloe smirks, ‘You should register him now whilst he thinks his material is very, very, very good.”

The warm round of laughter from the circle erupts from this and Adrien delivers several glares to Chloe that they both know are just empty threats. He likes that everyone is having a good time, likes the obnoxious blare of music over the speakers and the familiar touch of everyone around the room he’s known.

“Adrien!” a voice bellows from the crowd. Adrien’s reflexes are painfully slow thanks to his whatever booze but he turns his head to spot the familiar figure, headphones on his neck. Nino always makes it easy to recognise Nino that way.

“My man!” Adrien drunkenly skips towards Nino, lunges his body weight at him. Nino somehow manages to handle the force of his bear hug and laughs, his body vibrating with it.

“How have you been?”

Adrien does not answer this question. Instead, he cries, “Nino, what the hell! Where have you been, man! It’s been, like, days! Without you, man! Without you!”

The group behind them laugh at Adrien’s speech, but Adrien is having trouble comprehending why. It’s been 2 days without his good friend! 2 whole days! He hopes the misery seeps out of him so they can understand his pain. 2 whole days!

“Okay, I don’t know what you’re drinking but it’s either that good, or you’ve overestimated how much you can handle. Again.” Nino grins, tries to position Adrien to stand. Adrien falls back to his arms like his body is lifeless. Was it? It sorta felt like it was.

“I am very good.” Adrien announces. He’s not sure who at.

“Don’t listen to his dumb ass.” Chloe laughs, “Have a seat with us, Lahiffe.”

She motions at an open seat near the bar. Nino smiles but his eyes flicker back to the crowd. He glances to Adrien, pulls a look like he’s going to say something mildly serious.

Nino slows his speech as if to consider Adrien’s quickly deteriorating brain cells. Adrien’s honestly grateful for it. ‘Hey, I’ve actually got a friend I’ve dragged along I’d like you guys to meet. Hope you don’t mind the plus-one, Adrien.”

No, Adrien doesn’t mind at all! Absolutely not! He wishes he could say something intelligent like ‘Of course I don’t mind! I’m happy for my huge ass hollow mansion to be filled up to suppress a bad ache of my loneliness!’. Or maybe he shouldn’t. So Adrien just shakes his head violently.

Nino smiles as if it completes his resolve. He leans Adrien’s body back to Juleka’s sturdy arms.

“Great. I’ll be back!” he wades his way into the crowd, the heap of bodies like some kind of transcendent disco-themed sea. Adrien takes a sip of his new--and hopefully improved?--whatever-it-is drink, hates it, then takes another sip.

Marinette remembers the order. Stay here for a sec, Nino had said, I need to talk to someone. What she’s not as diligent about is following through with it. Like a bad juxtaposition, she thinks, sipping through this party’s Rich Beer in her hand. It’s warm and fuzzy despite the unorthodox taste it leaves, maybe that’s the intended effect of Rich Kid Expensive Beer? But anyway, this bad juxtaposition weighs in on her. She’s hit with a weird pang of guilt over Not Following through with Nino’s orders. It’s not Acceptable (she’s broken an order), nor Logical (why is she wandering around in the gigantic space of this mansion where she can easily get lost amongst its weird sea of too many bathrooms?), nor does it have good intentions (she’s only helplessly so interested in the paintings surrounding the quieter hallways in this half drunken state).

Well, it’s not bad intentions, she debates, but it’s not Great Intentions. Marinette settles to herself that it’s Marinette Intentions, like that’ll help her explain this very reason of wandering around so clearly tomorrow. Nino will probably say something like what the fuck and then he’ll Not Get Mad at her because he knows pretty paintings are pretty paintings and anyway, why the fuck does Adrien Agreste have so many paintings? He doesn’t even paint! Never even been to a Studio Arts class! Never even suffered over Colour Theory or Composition or bad oil paint stains that go on perfectly good shirts that never come off even after, like, years of the laundry! Never even contemplated the deep distinction between maroon and not maroon! Marinette huffs and she thinks it’s one of her angry huffs.

Marinette thinks she’s okay with maybe swimming back into the sea of bodies, finding a pretty thing to flirt with and make out with for no particular reason for the night before she’ll slink back home. She’ll call an Uber and drunkenly recall the events to an indifferent and kind therapist of an Uber driver. She thinks it’s okay, yes it’s okay. She looks sufficient tonight, her lips are very glossy, very kissable, very capable of speaking to her future Uber driver. Her eyelids are heaped with a mauve shade, and Nino’s choice combination of clothing turned out well because he’s spent 19 years enough with her to recall whatever she says is ugly and not ugly.

But Marinette stares a little listlessly at the near blank hallways of the mansion. It nearly amazes her that despite it feeling like the world’s population was at Agreste’ front door, his mansion still seemed to have room. She waits for the wave of resolution to settle to her body, ending at the tips of her toes as to signal her feet to start moving in the desired direction. But it never does. Marinette sips the weird beer and takes this as a sign to stay in the dim of the hallways. Her eyes linger back on the painting in front of her, encased in a golden frame like it was a cliche. The acrylic sea stares back at her like the challenge her computer screen had once presented only a few hours ago.

Okay, Adrien Agreste’s house paintings, two can play that game.

Adrien’s footsteps carry the weight of the world. He’s pretty sure that’s not how gravity is supposed to feel like but in this state, he doesn’t really think physics is a concept he can grasp altogether. He had thought mindless dancing would ease his mind, make his body feel light as he tiptoes through the crowd. He sways along with the heat of bodies and he thinks maybe next time he’d like to hire a live weatherman in one of these parties to announce the approximate amount of degrees which he thinks right about now is nearing a million?

He’s dizzy, blissed-out like it hasn’t only been two hours into the party. His mouth feels like it’s on fire and drier than a desert at the same time. He’d chat to anyone who’d even so much as give him half a second of eye contact. He compliments something of anyone’s outfit and they’d say something like great party or Adrien get some damn water and then he’d flash his big megawatt smile reserved for nights like this or in daylight walking in the halls of the university like he’s shooting a never-ending commercial. If Chloe and Alya were concerned, they’d decided to voice their concerns for a later date and let him have his drunken fun.

For some ungodly reason, his mind rewinds to today’s events. Find true love to judge true love. Chloe’s voice strikes thunders in the thick of his cluttered haze. He grimaces, a little fondly. It’s one of those lines Chloe says without any real depth to it but he’s pretty sure the true love part has some weight on her part. Adrien sweats a little (or a lot?), thinks about Kagami for what feels like only a quarter of a second and then suddenly, several million years. He hadn’t let the ground beneath them turn solid, she hadn’t done the same either. So they’d just float in midair, aware they had nothing to land back on just like how he wants to feel weightless in this bulk of a crowd.

He’d kiss her once, in something like one of these parties. She’d return the favour back and it’d seem like such a comfortable tangle of lips at the time. His hand on her hip seemed fair, chivalrous, one of those moments of obvious destiny like how princes in Disney movies had no hesitation once they’d found their princesses. Once their lips parted, it was only then that he could hear the good-natured rumble of cheers surrounding them. Chloe had rolled her eyes, muttered something like I can’t believe you took that long, Adrien and Adrien had agreed on the statement. He’d grin so wide, the muscles on his mouth were a little tired of him. But Kagami’s eyes had been wide and curious and her teeth showed in her loosened smile so Adrien concluded that it had been so very worth it.

But then Kagami had sat down on his couch weeks later, shifting like she was not so sure of the space. As if the air inside was slightly suffocating despite the huge expanse of his second living room. Before her lips had open to speak, her eyes had already performed flutters of apology. Adrien thinks its almost pity but he’d shoved that feeling deep into the back of his mind before it could pose itself as a hazard to his psyche. She says what Adrien recalls as a blur of words. Sentences Adrien had heard loud and clear because Kagami’s voice was fit for presidential speeches or whatever, but were awfully disjointed like an awkward farrago. She hadn’t been sure, hadn’t thought it out, didn’t think it could work out in the midst of their schedules and oh Adrien, it’s not your fault but mine.

Adrien hadn’t processed anything, instead, he’d just theorised that the walls inside had somehow shrunk to the size of his body, squeezing the air out of his lungs. But he’d say things like it’s okay (it wasn’t), he’d thought the same (he hadn’t) and that he hopes they’d remain good friends. They did, in fact, remain good friends. Threateningly so. Then before he could blink twice, she’d jetted off to some lucrative fencing championship for the next 6 months like her life had been strictly scheduled to break his heart for one minute and be whisked away the next. The news of the breakup had circled ruthlessly throughout the entire student body within a matter of hours and Chloe had taken it upon herself to act as his publicist, telling everyone to leave him alone and yes, he’s going through a breakup-themed Spotify playlist, yes, he’d really like his privacy respected at the moment and no Nathaniel, he can’t share his Spotify playlist publicly go make your own

Alya, Chloe and him had raided the liquor cabinet that night like they would die the next day. Alya had ordered an obscene amount of pizza and Chinese takeaway. He wasn’t sure what the end goal was but between giant gulps of noodles, ice cream and diet coke (kind of disgusting), he concluded his friends had hoped he could also gulp away the sadness along with it. Well, he succeeded nonetheless. The next day he’d skipped along a path after classes, looked up to fervour of the orange-tinted sky and hadn’t thought back to Kagami’s eyes like he had been doing for weeks.

Kagami had been stored in the attic of Adrien’s mind, dusted and intentionally forgotten for some nice 4 months. But now she’s being unceremoniously summoned from the attic, in the midst of his dance floor and onto the pits of his mind’s living room. He holds a breath, a little more than worried that if he thinks about her any longer, she might also physically manifest in his actual living room which he honestly doesn’t think is a very good idea at the moment because he might involuntarily throw up on her.

Adrien thinks he can hear Alya’s voice faintly calling his name which is a miracle amongst the thunder of Ariana Grande over the speakers and fifty billion voices all at once. Without much thought to it, his lips linger back to his drink. The liquid burns down his throat like its matching the heat of the room. Ah yes, a billion degrees and perhaps more. He’d like to not think about Kagami at the moment, or any moments really. But once she’s out Adrien’s psychological attic, he finds it hard to stuff her back somewhere else. So he ignores Alya’s siren calls, twists his body the opposite direction and allows his feet to lead him to the better comforts of his bedroom. He stumbles on his way and knows he looks a bit like an idiot but he thinks his destination will make it worth it. Yes, well, it has to.

This room was too big. Much, much too big. Marinette doesn’t like being all too judgemental of anything. She likes to think that’s a result of her and Nino’s friendship and how Nino's face doesn’t really alter to the news of Marinette not sleeping for 48 hours doing designs. Instead, he’ll do something like quietly pull a blanket to her soulless body sprawled on her couch and confiscate the coffee away for three days. She likes to return the favour of understanding, not just to Nino but everyone else. But this room, she thinks, is far beyond the reach of her understanding. Marinette stares at the glass chandelier perched along with the high ceiling and doesn’t think she’d like to calculate if it alone could pay her entire school tuition.

She’d wandered aimlessly throughout the endless hallways, the voices of the crowd echoing behind her now mere whispers in the face of her indifference. She blames the alcohol but then again, she always does and really that wasn’t fair to the paintings which were the real cause of her spiralling away. If Marinette were sober, she thinks she might not enter strangers’ bedroom and judge them for their ridiculous size. But she wasn’t and now she freely saunters around like this room and her are more than familiar with each other. The king-sized bed, she notes, looks like something straight from a home decor magazine. Office space is set up opposite to the bed and it must undeniably have been occupying someone’s stress because papers cover the whole of the area without arrangement. Marinette can hear the faint boom of Top 40 music from outside and she thinks the sound resonates with the thunder of ocean tides crashing and falling much like the rise and fall of her own breath when she spots the easel perched near the bedroom balcony. Curious, Marinette strides like her body is actually co-operating with her. Placing her bottle on a table nearby, she inspects like she’s meant to be doing it.

The canvas is blank but the supplies were neatly arranged along the table. The space feels frozen in time, like someone had paused just as they were to begin and never quite gotten to resume. Clumsily left on the paint tray are different shades of oil paints, untouched and lonely. Cleaned brushes are nearby like they’re new and upon closer inspection, Marinette realises they are. Marinette inhales, breaths in the familiar scent of turpentine she’d recognised from years of sitting in a Studio Arts classroom next to Nathaniel. She’s no painter, not like she was before, but she’s more than proficient in traditional painting because of the required classes. Marinette sits on the stool and feels invited in it despite the clear lack of welcome of the entire room.

And because of the sudden invitation, in some swift movement she doesn’t at all recall, she picks up a brush, ruthlessly dabs it into the bright flush of a red and smears it across it the innocent canvas without regal.

“Fuck.” she says out loud as soon as the paint meets the canvas. Oh shit.

Oh shit, shit, shit. The mournful scarlet streak is right in front of her, bright as day in evidence and though its a colour, Marinette can’t help but think it’s screaming. The panic bubbles like champagne in her stomach but suddenly, just as champagne does, it settles into a fuzzy ease. Marinette laughs loud to herself. Fuck it.

Marinette ditches her reflex to set the brush down and instead dabs a little of the red back into the canvas, marks the colour again in another direction like it has a purpose. The more the hair of the brush streaks the colour along, the more the colour sings to Marinette’s face instead of its shrill screech. Over time, the colours bloom until Marinette hears the canvas perform a complete melody enough that it rivals the roar of waves outside.

The thud is enough to knock Marinette out of her paint splatter of a state, she turns her head to the direction of the door and hears a muffle or two of a deep voice. The panic settles back into her body and unfortunately, she realises, it’s panic alone and there’s no champagne mixed in. Several thuds ensue by the time Marinette has scrambled to her feet; brush, paint and melody are long forgotten as she drops it to the table.

An escape route, yes, she needs an escape route. Yes, now. What about her drink? Oh God, her booze. Marinette furrows an eyebrow, seizes her bottle from the table and mindlessly gulps down the rest of the bottle’s content. Yes! Beer! Alcohol! Wait? No! She doesn’t have time for this shit! Marinette looks again to the enormous chandelier, sincerely wishing the billion carat diamond form of it all would just fall on her head, knocking her out. Instead, she scans the ground, grimaces as she ducks down low undignified and crawls to the bottom of the Instyle-looking king-sized bed. She’s thinking if the chandelier does actually plan on killing her, the bed might just be her salvation.

The door opens wide and the volume from outside adjusts to something loud and obnoxious. Marinette spots the Nike shoes thudding its way across the room and simultaneously calculates the price of the medical bill she’ll have to face if her heart doesn’t stop drumming violently against her chest. The figure paces around the room like it’s just as curious as she once was. A moment passes before the sound of the creak from the bottom of the bed rings in Marinette’s ears as the person lands on top. Her throat threatens to squeak out a sound in surprise before she suppresses it.

Marinette thinks if she wasn’t the one in her position, she might find all of this awfully funny. But because she’s the one in her position, Marinette eyes the opened door. She wonders if maybe, just maybe, she could just crawl, go into some kind of lizard mode that her 3-year-old self had prepared her for anyway. The fact that she’s drunk is making the plan sound a lot like a Nino Plan and the fact that it sounds like a Nino Plan has Marinette itching to execute it as not badly as possible. She waits for a prolonged five minutes before she dares to move a muscle. Four minutes later, she hears the faint sound of snoring and is fucking grateful for it.

She executes the plan, wills herself to crawl her way through the spotless carpet in silence. Arms extending out as she slithers her way, the noise outside gets louder with every inch closer to the door. By the time she reaches it, her body moves at the pace of a ghost as she heaves herself up in excruciating slow motion. Marinette doesn’t take a chance, doesn’t turn her head in the case she might make some unintended noise. Instead, she takes a slow breath in, treads lightly back outside and hears the echo of the waves from the narrow hallways.

Nino reprimands her in the Uber. He also kind of does it in the dancefloor when he’d found her and nearly knocked several bottles over as he trudged his way over her drunken ass screaming the lyrics to Selena Gomez. He’d said something like what the fuck Marinette and she’d wailed out the second verse of Selena Gomez’ song in response. It’s a bad Selena Gomez themed haze from then on and Marinette does not remember anything beyond the audible thump of her own body in the back of the Uber whilst she makes out Nino apologising profusely to the driver. She bawls a little at this.

“No!” she hiccups, once or twice, “Wheeeere are we goiiiing?”

Nino turns his head from the passenger seat and Marinette thinks he’s going to say something disapproving again but he just chuckles. “We’re going home.”

Marinette thinks she does not like to be laughed at. “Nooooooo.”

God! She hadn’t even been kissed! Hadn’t even made out with anyone! Marinette places a light finger to her lips and mourns the lack of a kiss to her lips. That was so illegal! “I am very kissable!”

Nino just laughs again, “Find anyone to be very kissable with?”

Marinette narrows her eyebrows. Huh. Did she? She doesn’t recall a single kissable lip on her. A goddamned shame. God, what had she been doing? She was very kissable, damnit! What the hell was she doing not being kissed?

Marinette’s mind wanders to important things like puff pastries and croissants. She was over this night, she hadn’t been kissed and if she had been, it must've have been so bland her mind just threw the damn memory away. So Marinette hums a tune in blissful peace, wonders what she might do tomorrow about her maroon vs. re-

“Stop the car, I’m going to throw up.” Marinette chokes out. From the rearview mirror, the Uber driver just sort of sighs like he might throw up too.

The flash of red lingers its way back into Marinette’s mind at the speed of lightning or thunder or motorcycles or something dangerous and clearly over the speed limit. A Lamborghini probably. The blank canvas and how not very blank it was in its state in Adrien Agreste’s house. In the midst of her alcohol scented mist, the image of the painting taunts her. The hour of painting had seemed so far away like it was months ago and oh God, Marinette was going to go to prison for trespassing or something. She’ll go to prison and wear a bad shade of orange like it’s some kind of sick punishment for the array of colours she’d slashed mercilessly across the canvas.

“Oh my god.” she whispers to herself. “Shit.”

The car reluctantly stops near the side of the road. Marinette yanks open the car door, ducks her head down low and does, indeed, throw up.

#miraculous ladybug #adrienette #cholya #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #mlb #ml fic #illuarts #hey !! i wrote after like not writing for 239483 years #i'll continue this probs #cholya...........yah #illuwrites #man nino is done with everyone's shit

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lovysmtalks · 4 years ago

Text

Fallen for the wrong you

(Based on this idea)

Even from when Marinette was a child she liked being more boyish- in her mind clothes have no gender and will never have.

But the world thought differently

Her father didn't like her for that

And neither did the people around her

Nino who was a childhood friend of hers always said that she should be more feminine.

She laughed it off as being a joke but when he didn't laugh with her she just stopped talking about it.

✎

She was 14, after she had one of the girls in her class confess her love for her, she realized that she was bisexual.

She started dating Lila, a popular girl in her school.

But once Lila visited her house, it was like hell was brought on her head.

Lila stated ranting about how she should dress like a lady and be more girly, and she should stop talking like a boy and talk more softly and be more demure.

(while Marinette literally had to go to therapist because she wasn't exactly talking and didn't talk to anyone for 4 years)

Marinette with a heavy heart took her advice and stepped out of her comfort zone by asking her parents to help her be more girly.

For the next few months Marinette observed Lila's personality traits and tried to recreate them as much as she could.

The soft and stutter voice

The soft smile

The pink dresses and short skirts

✎

After 2 years, Marinette was now known as a bubbly and shy person. Dont get me wrong, Mari observed how Lila was flirting with other guys and started ranting about anything the short girl did wrong.

But Marinette observed something else too

People were really kind to her,

The teachers complimented her on the dresses that she wore

The people in school talked to her more

For fucks sake, even her dad talked to her more.

That kinda her the poor girl, but now she was finally accepted, right?

✎

Last year of lycée...

Year with a lot of exams and brought by excitment of starting a new chapter in your life.

Lila broke up with Marinette at the end of last year, turned out she was just confused and never actually liked Mari.

The girl was really hurt it.

But her dad said suck it and be a man.

(Ironic because he treated her badly when she was more boyish)

✎

When she started college, she met Adrien

A son of a big designer in Paris.

He befriended her, and they spent alot of time together

She started to fall for him and she tried to confess...

but then when they opened up more to each other, it turned out that he was an incel that believed a woman belongs in the kitchen and is basically a sex toy and a baby maker

Mari started to distance herself from him, and made a note in her mind that said "I hate men and I'm shit scared of them, never fall for anyone and dont get in relationships or anything more then hookups."

✎

Last year of college.

Marinette meet Chloe Bourgeois.

The two girls because friends fast due to both of them having similar childhoods and interests.

Chloe helped Mari open more and teched her to not give a shit about anyone or anything

✎

After collage, Mari and Chloe opened their own company

Even tho it was hard at the start.

They started with nothing else then a little help from Mari's uncle, Jagged, and Chloe's mom, Audrey.

It was hard, with most of the industry being controlled by selfish rich men

But they did it

They made it to the top

After 2 years of trying, they finally made it up there

After many ups and downs, they finally did it.

Both girls were know for being the most kind people in the industry.

And they planned to keep that face on as long as they could.

After all, people dont like it when girls are rough and 'mean'

✎

Damian lost a bet.

That was what started the hell hole

Dick and him made a bet and he lost it? The world must have come to an end.

*Flashback*

"Ok little D, you must stop being in your room all the times, dont you have friends to hang out with?" Asked Dick

Damian stares at him for a second

"Jon is on a mission with his family, did you forgot?" He said

"Yea but that doesn't mean you just stop going outside." Dick said seriously.

Damian wasn't the type to have many friends or go out a lot, everyone knew it, but now Richard was just being an asshole for reminding him that.

"Look, why don't you get a job? You will have to take father's place one day and you dont even know anything about what he does." Dick said

"Of course I know what he does, I..he..uhm" Damian was at a loss of words

'Am I really that ignorant?' He thought

"Look, why dont you two have a bet, if Dick over here wins, you will get a job, if Damian wins, Dick will leave you alone forever and never bring it up again." Jason said

Damian looked at his two older brothers

"I'm in." Dick said

After some seconds

"I'm in as well" Damian murmured

The bet was who can capture the next villain to appear faster.

Dick was faster with only some minutes, meaning that Damian lost.

*Flashback ends*

He was now standing infront of the building of a company he had no idea of. And he was very lost.

✎

Once Damian stepped through the door, he was pushed by someone, making them both fall on the floor

"I'm so sorry, are you ok?" Asked the soft voice of the person who pushed him

"Yea I am alright" he said

He opened his eyes to see a short girl giving him a hand to get up

They made eye contact

Damian's breath cut short

After some seconds, the girl heard her phone ring

"Oh hell, Chloe must be waiting. I'm sorry I have to go" she said as she started to run

Damian didn't have time to ask any questions as she ran fast, very fast to the lift.

The guy linked repeatedly as he looked after her, a small smile forming on his lips.

✎

It's been 6 months since Marinette bumped into Damian.

The two of them got closer and they became friends... until the 4th month

That's when Damian confessed his crush on her.

She told him she felt the same.

And they started dating, and neither of them could be happier

✎

It was a late night after a celebration party

Both of them got drunk

When they got to the hotel, they started heavily making out, with no care into the world

Clothes started to come off as they moved to the bedroom

They got to the bedroom with him being in his bottoms and her being in only her shirt

They threw themselves into the bed

Damian slowly started to take off her shirt

But when his hand touches her skin

He felt something weird on her waist

Damian stopped the kiss so both of them could breathe

Once the dizziness from the kiss stopped his eyes went on her waist

His brain took a screenshot

He saw alot of tattos on her torso

Marinette looked up at him

Her eyebrows narrowed searching for his gaze. Once she found it, her mind panicked.

She pushed him off the bed and got up, searching for her clothes

Until Damian woke up from his shocked state, she was already gone out of the door.

He got up to look after her but once he was in the hallway, there was no sight of her anymore.

✎

*Some days after the break*

"Are you sure this is alright?" Marinette asked Chloe, who was sitting at her office.

"Babe, he lied to us about who he was and then got close to you, most probably to use it against you, you know how men are, they are all the same, plus, you can give the job to someone who actually needs it" Chloe said as she threw a paper on the desk.

Marinette looked at the paper, it was a dismissal paper.

2 days ago the girls found out who he really was.

The son of a rich competitor. Bruce Wayne to be more specific

Both Mari and Chloe know how the Waynes are.

They are cold, and mysterious.

Marinette was having second thoughts about this, but she couldn't risk her name being stepped on, not after working so much to get where she was.

The girl started to think if their relationship even was a relationship, they both were lying to each other.

She knew he wont accept her as she is, and now after learning who he really was, there was no doubts that it was real, and he probably didn't care, like everyone (besides Chloe) in her life.

"Hi Sam, call Damian in Mari's office please." Chloe said to the secretary.

Marinette got behind Chloe and tried to ignore what was gonna happen

After some minutes, there was knock on the door

"Come in'' said Chloe trying to hide the rage in her voice

In the door stood tall no one other then Damian Wash- I mean Wayne.

"You called me Chloe?" he asked

Damian looked behind the blonde girl to see his girlfriend (?) Turned with her back and looking at the window

"Its Miss Bourgeois to you." She said in a icy voice.

Damian opened his mouth in surprise

"And yes, I called you, please sign this" the blonde says pointing at the paper infront of her

Damian hesitantly got closer to the desk to read the paper

"A dismissal paper? What's this about?" He asks confused as he looks at Mari again

"Dont play dumb Washington." Chloe said, putting anger on the word 'Washington'

Damian looks at the girl shocked, his eyes winded

"Marinette, if this is about that night I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" the man was stopped by Chloe

"Dont you dare try to talk with her after you lied about everything Wayne." The blonde said loudly.

Damian let out a sort breath while he still looked at Marinette.

"This is a misunderstanding, I didn't lie to you guys, let me expl-" he was once again stopped by Chloe slamming the desk

"ENOUGH WAYNE, just sign this and were done."

Damian's eyes didn't leave Marinette

"Angel, please let me explain." He pleated

Marinette's head turned a little to the side

"We're over." She whispered, with a hint of sadness in her voice

Damian's eyes winded more

He looks at the paper and gets the pen in his hand

He took one more look at Mari

And he signed it.

"You are free to leave" Chloe said while turned to Marinette

And he did leave.

✎

After he was gone, Mari broke down in Chloe's arms as the blonde girl was stroking her back slowly

"I'm sorry sugar, I promise I won't let anyone hurt you anymore" Chloe whispered in Marinette's ear

✎

*at the Wayne mansion*

Damian's slammed the door closed as he entered the mansion, gathering the attention of his brothers and father

"Hey demon spawn, how was work?" Asked Jason as Damian walked past him

"Lilttle D, is everything alright? You seem down" Dick said

Damian stopped.

"I got fired" he says while his voice cracked a little

Bruce's eyes winded

"Son, I know you liked the job, but it's not that big of a deal, you can work with Tim" he suggested

Damian was looking at the floor

"And my girlfriend broke up with me" he whispered

"YOUR WHAT?" says Tim as he spilled his coffee

"Since when did you had a girlfriend Damian?" Asks Bruce

"Since 2 months ago" he whispers again

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jason asked

"BECAUSE I KNEW YOU WOULD HAVE RUINED IT FOR ME." He screams

The family was stunned

"Master Damian, no need to yell, why dont you vent to us? You're very stressed, I can tell." Alfred says

And he did, he told them all about Marinette, all the dates, all the laughs and smiles they shared together, he even told them about what happened that night

"So you're telling me, you got fired because of some tattos?" Jason asked

"No, I got fired because they found out I was a Wayne" Damian says roughly

"How did they not know?" Bruce says

"They dont look into competitors families, it's a bad habit that both of them have" The young Wayne said

"So for 6 months nobody told them who you were?" Tim asks

"No, because we weren't seen in public, I tried to be as careful as I could so no one would know " Damian sighed

"Well fuck, you fucked up big time, but that's not exactly a reason for her to fire you, not a good one at least" Dick said

Damian shrugs

"Wait, I think I know how to resolve this" Tim says

"What do you mean, Tim?" Asked Jason as Tim put his laptop on the coffee table

Tim started aggressively typing on the keyboard

"We now have a charity event to go to" he smirked

✎

"I'm not sure what to think about this Chloe."said the dark haired girl

"We're going to leave when you want sugar, but we need to attempt at the event" Chloe said as she was looking through Marinette's closet

Since Damian left, he was all Mari could have think

about.

She was distracted, hurt, confused, maybe even kinda mad at herself

"Aha, found it, look Mari! You would look so pretty in it. Plus it brings your tattoos at life" says Chloe while holding a suit in her hand.

Marinette promised herself that she would finally show the world that she wasn't the soft girl she always pictured herself as

She knows her parents would be watching the event, and she wanted revenge on her father for the years of therapy that she needed to get because of him and every man that did her bad, every man that said she couldn't open a business because she was a woman.

So she put on the suit, and left with Chloe who was holding her hand protectively.

✎

Once the two girls exited the car, flash lights were all over their faces

They somehow got into the building

Chloe went to get to get them both something to drink, leaving Mari behind.

The girl looked around the big room, her mind being concentrated at one of the paintings.

Suddenly someone was dragging her out of the room

"WHAT THE HELL, LET ME GO!'' she yells to death ears

She continued to struggle but nothing moved out of the person's grip

They got into a dark room, Mari could hear the door lock, she closed her eyes, scared of what was gonna happened.

She heard the light turn on.

"Will you now let me explain" said a familiar voice

She opened her eyes in surprise

"Damian? What the fuck is wrong with you, have you gone nuts?" She said angrily to him

"You didn't let me explain myself, so I had to do something about it, I cant just go on with my life because I know you didn't know what actually is going on." Damian says trying to make his voice as soft as he could, so he wouldn't scare her away

Marinette remains silent, sign for him to start speaking.

"I didn't mean to lie to you, but have you seen how you reacted when you found out who I was? You started to treat me differently." He whispered

Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but she decided to remain silent

"I didn't lie when I said I love you, god I still fucking do, but I had no idea how to tell you" he sighed

Marinette sighed a deep heavy

"If we start to confess things, I also have something to say" she says

Damian's eyebrows narrowed

"I'm not this bubbly shy girl, I am not the sunshine I make myself look like" she says

"Oh." He said

"I never was and I will never be, I print myself as that because people would treat me differently if they knew the real me" she sighed

Damian took a step towards her

He kissed her forehead softly, then her lips aggressively

"Then show me the real you"

(Marinette's tattos/suit and Chloe's dress)

#maribat #ml x dc #marinette deserves better #marinette dupain cheng #mlb au #maridami #marinette x damian #my fic #damimari #angst to fluff #daminette fluff #daminette

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apricotgojo · 4 years ago

Note

yo.. I saw the request that you posted today? IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD WHAT THE HELL? and I looked for the prompt and ended up finding it , Can you do a part 2 where the news reporter lady gets akumatized again finds the video that she was looking for? where y/n's crazy mafia father threatens to kill her now abusive ex boyfriend because he cheated on her but she was so blindly loyal and didn't want anybody to find out? like because that would be embarrassing but instead y/n didn't know (1)

HELLO! so I didn’t really understand the request well but i wrote this out and i’m planning on making another part related to this! so here it is! thank you for this request im so happy that you liked the first one. Speaking of which, if you haven’t read the first one here it is! Part One

The other part will be posted soon ;))

Strawberries, sunshine and Adrien Agreste on a red picnic blanket.

Life is so serene, so perfect at this moment. Especially with the blond resting his head on your lap as you run your fingers through his soft blond locks. He hummed and smiled softly. You noticed his cheeks were tinted red because of the time he spent in the sunshine. He’s gorgeous.

You pick up a strawberry from the plate and pop it in your mouth, the sweet juice bursting and dripping from the corner of your lips. Before you could react you felt a hand move to your face and wipe the substance with the thumb. You look down and see Adrien looking at you, his green eyes glistening and full of life. You couldn’t help but move down and kiss him softly on the lips. It was a slow, tender kiss which you didn’t want to pull away from but you did in order to catch your breath.

“Ma Belle,” Adrien whispers, moving a lock of your hair behind your ear. “How do you feel about coming to a film festival with me tonight?” “Film festival? You need to elaborate on that babe.” You say quirking your eyebrow up. You’ve never been to a film festival before, you didn’t even know what happened there. Fuck, you’ve never even been to a movie theatre before because you basically have a whole private theatre in your house.

He furrows his eyebrows at you and chuckles. “Basically once a year the students organise a film festival on school campus. Students get to show their own short films and projects that they’ve done while we sit on the grass with snacks and drinks. It’s really fun.” He explains.

It really seemed like fun but you end up looking down. You knew that after last time’s event some people still thought of you as a bitch. People still whispered behind your back and they still judged you. Other than that reason, your father was coming home tonight from Madrid and you were going to ask Adrien to come with you to meet him for the first time.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want you come?” He asks you and you look at him, a slight frown on his face. “Alya is going to present her film today and I told her we’d come..” He continues and looks to the side.

“No, no I do !” You say quickly and sigh, “My dad is coming tonight and I was going to ask you to meet him.” You say, averting your eyes to the side.

You feel him stiffen up. “Oh.” He says.

“But I can tell him that we can meet for brunch tomorrow instead.” You say and hold his hand. “I know you’re nervous about meeting him but I just want my two favorite boys to finally meet.” You say and give him a small smile.

He softly chuckles and grabs your hand, kissing it. “Of course mon ange.”

You giggle and hug him. It made you happy that he was willing to come. He knew it would make you happy.

“What should I wear for the festival? I don’t want to be under-dressed.” You say suddenly pulling away, already thinking about the outfits you want to wear.

“I think I’d worry about you being over dressed instead.” He laughs a little bit and you playfully hit him on the shoulder.

“Nadja, if you don’t get me any scoop on them by tonight you’re fired.”

“Fired?!” Najda exclaims getting out of her chair. She watches as her boss raises a questioning eyebrow at her and she clears her throat.

“But madam, I can’t-“

“By tonight Nadja.” Her boss urges sternly, causing the red-head to gulp.

She nods slowly and keeps her head down as she walks out of the office.

Rage started eating her up from the inside. She needed to do something. Anything.

“Hey girl!” Alya closes you in a tight hug and hands you a red solo cup filled with juice which was already spiked with some type of liquor.

“Hey Alya.” You smile at her and give each other a friendly kiss on the cheek. “Are you nervous?” You ask her.

“No..” She scoffs and suddenly downs her drink, laughing nervously. “Okay maybe just a little bit.” She says quietly and it causes you to laugh.

“I’m sure that your film is amazing.” You reassure her.

“Thank you.” She says warmly. She looks you up and down. “You always love dressing up dont you?” She raises an eyebrow at you.

“I told her that it’s going to be causal.” Adrien sighs and you roll your eyes playfully.

“This is as casual as I can get.” You state and arrange the beret on your head, smiling proudly.

The two laugh and you feel Adrien kiss your cheek and sliding his arm around your shoulder.

“Marinette and Nino saved you guys a place up front, I’ll be joining you guys a little later.” She explains and nods over to where Marinette and Nino were sitting. You see them waving at you guys.

“Okay we’ll see you later then.” Adrien says and you both start walking away from her.

There they were, the whispers, the eyes all on you as you walk past the people. Adrien felt it too, you knew he did, that’s why his grip on you was tighter but it was also somewhat comforting.

“Allô!” Marinette says and giggles while she hugs you both. You could tell that she’s already had a few too many to drink You all sit down and start talking about what’s going to happen tonight, what films are expected to show and what you thought Alyas film is going to consist of.

You sip your drink slowly. This shit was strong but you didn’t mind it.

“Alya’s film is going to be the best.” Nino says proudly and confidently. “She’s been working super hard on it non-stop.”

You smiled at him. The way he talked about her with his adoring eyes - you could just tell that what they had was real. It reminded you of You and Adrien. Maybe you two weren’t there yet but the way he looks at you was the same.

“Luka’s coming later because he got held up at his gig.” Marinette groans and sprawls herself out on the blanket, her phone resting on her chest.

“are you and Luka getting serious?” Adrien asks, grinning at her.

She hums and nods. “I really like him.”

“I’m happy for you Marinette, you guys look really cute together.” You say and she sits up quickly.

“You think?” She asks, batting her eyelashes at you. You nod, grinning. “yay!” She exclaims and hugs you unexpectedly.

“Okay I think that Mari has had enough of this.” Nino says and takes away her drink, chuckling.

The atmosphere was amazing. People drinking, laughing and chatting all around you guys.

Everything died down when the screen in front of you turned on and everyone started cheering.

Alya quickly joined you guys and you all greeted her again quietly as you clapped for opening of the first film.

It was a love story between an alien and a human which formed because of their mutual love of French toast. Weird ass story-line but it was beautifully filmed for some reason. You could tell it was amateur but the shots and the beauty of the movie as the human and the alien shared their first bite of French toast really immersed you into it.

“those berries look so good im going to bust a nut.” You hear Nino whisper and Alya hushes him, earning a snicker from Adrien.

“I wish someone would eat me like that French toast.” Marinette blurts out and you clasp a hand over your mouth trying not to laugh.

As the film showed the ending credits the creator got up from where he was sitting and everyone cheered, whistled and clapped for him.

“Isn’t it Alyas turn now?” Adrien asks and Alya nodded taking a deep breath in.

Nino squeezed her hand and kissed her cheek. “Everyone’s going to love it babe.”

Everyone got quiet as it started.

Two people were sitting on the roof,

“It’s the end of the world isn’t it?” the character says and before the other person could respond, the screen went pitch black.

Everyone started whispering to each other in confusion and you looked over at Alya as she furrowed her eyebrows.

The screen turned on again but it was a different setting.

Two men were now sitting at a large table, one with a cigar between his lips and the other in front of him. Both of them were wearing a suit.

“Mother fucker.” The man says as he lights his cigar.

“What the fuck? This isn’t what I filmed.” You heard Alya whisper.

You were confused as to what was happening but you were too focused on the film in front of you. The man with the cigar came into view even more. He looked famillar.

“You can’t kill him.” The other man says.

“he cheated on her, Johnny!” the guy with the cigar shouts and hits his hand on the table.

Wait. Holy shit, that was your dad.

“He cheated on her and she still went back to him.” He blows out smoke and looks to the side. Disgust evident on his face. “I thought I raised her better than that, I guess she’s stupid just like her mother.”

A picture of you on his desk was shown in view.

You were visibly shaking, your mouth dry. You heard people around you ask you questions but you couldn’t hear anything. You couldn’t even react.

Your father pulls out a gun and clicks it. “I’m killing that bastard tonight, pay off a few people to make it seem like a car accident and we’re going to Paris. Just her and me. I’ve got too many problems with my junkie wife and I don’t want an ignorant daughter too.”

Tears stream down your face. It wasn’t a car accident. Your father killed him. That’s how Trevor died. Trevor cheated on you with one of your best friends back In New York but you never left him because you never wanted people to find out that someone cheated on you, you had too much pride for that.

You get up from where you were sitting and run away, ignoring the murmurs of people and gasps as the film continued. You felt like you were going to throw up, you felt like everything around you has been all a big fat lie. You heard Adrien call out your name but you kept running away until you froze when you heard a familiar evil laugh.

You turn around and see the villain from last time again. but this time it she was holding your father In her arms while he’s passed out.

“Finally! I got it!”

People started to scream and you simply fell down to your knees. Too weak to move. Too weak to do anything.

Your heart was shattered.

Flashbacks come back to you at Trevors funeral. You were sobbing as you watched them bringing out his casket. Little did you know that your own father was the reason for his death.

You were broken.

#chat noir #mlb #chat noir x reader #adrien agreste #adrien agreste x reader #miraculous ladybug

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princess-of-the-corner · 3 years ago

Note

Been a while since we saw a How Valid is Your Akuma update. I think we've had a few additions since then.

Okay I forget what I've done before so I'm just gonna go over all of Season 4:

Truth: Valid

Luka knows that Marinette is hiding things and skipping out on dates. And even when confronted, she admits to lying but refuses to tell him what it is. Understandably frustrating and heartbreaking.

Lies: Valid

Kagami knows that Adrien is hiding things and skipping out on dates. And even when confronted, he continues to deny everything. Understandably frustrating and heartbreaking.

Mr Pigeon 6972: Valid

Bob Roth is a fucking trainwreck asshole and yells at the pigeon man. Fuck him.

Gang Of Secrets: Valid

The Girlsquad knows that Marinette is falling apart, but isn't telling them anything. They had to hear about her breakup from Luka. And when they try to help, she tells them to fuck off and that she doesn't want to be friends.

Ouch.

Furious Fu: Valid

If I was a very forgetful old man and some monk looking motherfucker beats up me and my wife and steals my cane, I'd want to throw hands too!

Sole Crusher: Valid

Yeah. Zoé is having a Bad Time™

Queen Banana: ...........

I have no idea. On one hand, Chloé is kind of being a jerk and taking over. On the other hand, going behind her back to make a different movie without her is kind of a dick move. It might be a 'brought this on your own damn self' since she was the one fucking around in the first place, but this wasn't about anyone confronting her on it they just straight up stole her funding and made their own movie.

Mega Leech: You brought this on your own damn self

I mean honestly how bac can he possibly be?

Guiltrrip: Valid

If ANYONE tries to say this wasn't valid I will throw hands!!!!!

Crocoduel: Valid/Valid but a bit much

TBH, Jagged and Anarka really need to sort some shit out, but I feel like at least Anarka has a right to be furious while Jagged is trying his best to make up for everything.

Optigami: ...........

Audrey was the Akuma in this and I REALLY don't want to call her Valid, but.... Senti!Alec roasting her is kind of a valid reason to be upset.

No Akuma in Sentibubbler!

Glaciator 2: Bruh what the fuck

Man is pissed his ship isn't sailing.

My brain is blanking but there wasn't an Akuma in Hack-San, right?

Rocketeer: Valid

While Nino is ultimately wrong, thinking that someone you trusted is trying to seduce your girlfriend(and possibly succeeding) is painful.

Wishmaker: Valid

Honestly? Realizing you've failed so hard to achieve a dream hits hard.

I totally forgot all of Simpleman so no comment.

Dearest Family: Valid

This is a clusterfuck and tbh everyone's upset. Go for it.

Ephemeral: Valid

MOM HOLY FUCK

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sixtyeightdays · 4 years ago

Text

Only you, Marinette. Only you.

in which marinette lifts thors hammer with no knowledge of how great it is to wield mjolnir 😔✋🏻

kind of crappy but thats okay

Normally, when Tony Stark's name was brought up, the following words would be either 'Avengers', 'Iron Man', or something along the lines of cool and amazing.

But this time, as Tony Stark's name fluttered through the compound of College Francois Dupont, the following words were 'Why her', 'What happened', and'Marinette Dupain-Cheng'.

See, throughout Lila's entire reign at Francois Dupont, unknowingly to the Italian, a certain bluenette had been giving her and all of her classmates choices.

Lila chose to ignore Marinette's warning.

Alya chose to believe Lila and cut off all ties with Marinette.

Nino chose to follow Alya and ignore Marinette.

Adrien chose to remain quiet for fear of Lila getting akumatised.

The class chose to believe Lila, drinking up her lies and claimed connections to celebrities that'll 'boost their careers in the future'.

Now, Marinette wasn't normally one to show off her connections to the world, unlike Lila, who lied about celebrities with every breath she took.

No, Marinette preferred not to mention her celebrity contacts.

However, this time, she had thrown all caution out the window and texted him.

mari <3

cant wait to see all of you soon!

do you think you can pick me up at my school drop off point after i end school instead of the bakery next week?

the one and only

sure thing, mari

everyone misses you too and they cant wait to see you again

any reasons why the sudden change though

mari <3

no reason

It was a week before he arrived. A week full of taunts and bullying from the people who used to be her friends.

But the day had come, and Marinette was about to leave this place for the summer, and was finally going to be where she wanted to be again.

It was the last period, and Marinette, having finished her work already, started on a new design. She had just finished it when the door crashed open, making Mlle. Bustier and the class jump.

The shock turned into exciting adoration, however, as standing there in all his glory were the Avengers.

Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Thor, and of course, Tony Stark. Pepper was also there, trailing behind with Natasha who were muttering about how dramatic the boys were.

Alya immediately jumped to her feet, fumbling for her phone that she held with shaking hands, and started a livestream.

'Hi everyone! It's your Ladyblogger here, and today the Avengers came to visit! Oh, I bet Lila got them to come, she is Tony Stark's goddaughter after all.'

No one noticed Marinette snort into her palm.

Max gaped at his idol in the doorway, his glasses sliding off his face in his shock before he hastily placed them in it's proper position.

Thor ignored the reporter, making his way to the back of the class where Mari sat, placing his hammer on top of Mari's sketchbook, much to her chagrin.

The devious smile the god gave her confirmed that he did it on purpose, and Mari smacked him in the arm and glared at him.

'Was it really necessary to break down the door?' She deadpanned, unimpressed.

Alya gasped. 'Marinette! Don't be so rude to the Avengers! They're here for Lila, not you.'

Thor frowned in confusion. 'Who is this.. Lila you speak of?'

Alya gasped again. 'She's Tony Stark's goddaughter!' She frowned at the god disapprovingly.

'She spends her summers there, how could you not recognise her?' The Italian in question was sinking into her seat, regretting the lie she told.

Tony clicked his tongue.

'I have a goddaughter, yes, but it isn't this Lila girl. I have never heard of a Lila. No, I'm here for Marinette, my actual goddaughter.' He shot a pointed look to Alya at the last bit, before he and everyone else walked over to Mari.

Pepper passed by Alya and handed out two stacks of papers.

Alya cautiously picked it up and Pepper said, 'These are lawsuits for both you and Lila. It is for defamation and slander of different celebrities, as well as spreading false information.'

Alya gaped at the blonde as she made her way up the stairs to where Mari and everyone else was before turning to Lila with a glare.

'Were you lying the whole time?'

The class erupted in shouts at the girl, until she broke and called out that Adrien had known, but didn't say anything.

'It was for the best! Her lies weren't hurting anyone!'

'I didn't submit my music portfolio because Lila said she'd guaranteed me a spot.' Nino uttered quietly, realising that he had lost a chance to have his big break.

Mylene looked gobsmacked. 'I passed up the offer of meeting Alexander Hamilton because Lila said she'd get him to meet me for free.'

One by one, the students began listing everything they missed out because of Lila's lies, from Alix not being able to be in the X-Games like she was promised, to Kim, who had quit his swim team because Lila told him she'd get Michael Phelps to train him personally.

Adrien cracked and admitted that yes, he was wrong, but Marinette knew too!

The class suddenly remembered Marinette.

Marinette, who had been telling them all along that Lila was lying.

Marinette, who they had bullied because they thought she was jealous.

Marinette, who was scolding Tony Stark right now, wait what?

Sure enough, the bluenette was reprimanding the billionaire, who's head was hanging low like a kicked puppy, with Natasha smirking in the corner.

'I told you to come after school! There's still 15 minutes before school ends, Uncle Tony, you couldn't wait another 20 minutes?'

He hung his head and Steve snickered, until Marinette turned to him.

'Why did you let him come so early? I thought you were the responsible one.' She pinched the bridge of her nose.

The class took advantage of the momentary silence to swarm Marinette, until the Avengers glared at them and they backed away slightly.

'Girl, we're so sorry for believing that liar! Will you forgive us? We'll be best friends again.' Alya looked excited, a gleam in her eye.

'Do you think you can get me an interview with Tony Stark?'

Marinette looked at her in disbelief.

'So you want to be my friend again, just because I'm Tony's goddaughter.' Pepper and Natasha looked furious as well, while Tony eyed his goddaughter's class.

Steve placed a hand on Marinette's shoulder.

'Besides, Marinette already has a best friend.'

Alya spluttered. 'Who?'

A swarm of black and blue flew into the room and crashed into Marinette, causing her to fall back into her seat.

'Peter!' She laughed. 'MJ! Ned! Great to see you guys too!'

Peter smiled gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek, while MJ gave her a hug and Ned fistbumped her.

'Oh! That reminds me, MJ, I'm done with the design for the dress you wanted! Let me show you!' Mari looked around for her sketchbook before noticing it under Thor's hammer.

Thor, noticing this, moved his hand forwards to pick up the hammer, but his jaw dropped as Marinette easily picked up the hammer with one hand, holding it up while she moved the sketchbook underneath it away before placing it back on the table.

She flipped through the pages of it, not noticing the shocked looks on her classmates and family's faces, and the pale face of Lila. She had become enemies with a girl who could lift Thor's hammer!

Alya, who was still live streaming, looked like a fish, and her hands, which were still raises in the position of recording, trembled.

Marinette let out a small 'aha!' when she found the page she was looking for, and looked up to see her friend's shocked face.

She frowned. 'Do you not like it?'

Adrien, still rather astonished, spluttered out. 'Marinette.. you just lifted Thor's hanmer!'

At the sound of his name, the god snapped out of his stupor, and lifting his hammer, he pointed at the bluenette. 'She is worthy! I must take her to Asgard with me!'

Marinette cocked her head. 'It's just a hammer and it wasn't even that heavy. Now you big babies, let's go back to New York!'

She grabbed MJ's hand before picking up her bag and running out, she and MJ excitedly chattering about the dress, Marinette having not understood the implications of lifting Thor's hammer, and MJ, who had seen weirder things in her life.

The Avengers, Ned and Peter blinked before filing out of the room slowly, following the excited bluenette and brunette.A certain blonde god staring at nothing in particular.

'She doesn't know what lifting my hammer means?' He snorted. 'Only you, Marinette. Only you.'

well yeah there isnt exactly a ship for this but i wanted to write something where mari lifts thors hammer bc i dont see enough of those

mj and peter are together, in case u didnt know

kind of lost interest in the end but thats okay lmao so the endings kinda crappy but i think weve established that i cant write for shit

thank u for coming to my tedtalk ok byee

#mlb x mcu #tony is maris godfather #lila salt #alya salt #adrien salt #class salt #in which mari lifts thors hammer bc shes totally worthy #but in which mari also doesnt know the big deal about the hammer #yeet

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thatasianstereotype · 4 years ago

Text

Shit. I Got To Deal With This Bitch (Again).

The third installment of my Adrien x Damian AU.

First: Fuck. I’m Gay.

Second: Damn, You’re Looking Fine.

Well, would you look at that? I’m not dead after all. And this took a while to put together understatement of the fucking century. The reason is because life is a busy little shit the English language will not cooperate. I’m thinking of a scene I want to write and somehow words are lost in translating that into the computer and I end up with a white blank screen in the end.

But moving on to the fic. At first, I was going to have the whole Gabriel-being-put-in-jail and former-friends-thing put as an aftermath because I really wanted to write Marinette and Adrien meeting the Waynes. But I decided to make the aftermath a full-blown fic from @michaelshadow7779′s ideas and extend the trilogy into a four-part series.

This part will be focused on what happened to Liar-la, Ms. Bustier’s class trying to gain back their friendship with Marinette and Adrien, and Gabriel getting a special visit from both Robin and Ladybug.

Again, this is a crack writing where creative liberties were definitely taken.

Lila Rossi is a fucking bitch and everyone —Like everyone this time— knew it.

Her reputation was now in shambles (she’s now known as that pathological liar or that lying bitch) and Ms. Bustier’s class could only stare at her with hatred and anger —feelings that were once directed at Marinette.

No one entertained her lies anymore. No one really hung out with her anymore. She sat at the back of the class, staring daggers at both Adrien and Marinette all day (just wishing for an akuma that will never appear).

Unfortunately for her, Lila couldn’t transfer out of class and with only 2 more months of the school year left, she couldn’t transfer out of school so she was stuck dealing with the consequences of her actions: being a fucking social outcast.

Because the class was not at all happy with their supposed friend. Tensions ran high during school. Things took a turn for the worse when Ms. Bustier tried to “fix” things in her own way, mentioning how the only reason Lila lied was because of her “disease” and the girl simply wanted to make friends.

Needless to say, the class did not appreciate their teacher making them out to be fools all this time.

It was Alya who ripped her a new one. Césaire definitely has a set of lungs on her. And Adrien would be lying if he didn’t say how utterly satisfying it was to watch.

Karma was a bitch.

Payback was a bitch.

And Adrien was fucking living in the aftermath. He wondered if it was mean (probably but he didn’t care) that he wished he had popcorn right now.

All in all, life returned back to normal.

Well, kind of.

Unfortunately, with the 2 months left in the school year, Ms. Bustier couldn’t exactly be let go because apparently Mr. Damocles didn’t want to deal with the whole paperwork, trying to find a new teacher to replace her, and dealing with the so-called Akuma class.

That fucker.

So essentially, he left her at the mercy of her unhappy class, saying she will be let go at the end of the school year.

Ms. Bustier was unhappy with the arrangement. The class was unhappy with it too. Probably even more so. Since they still got to deal with Rossi’s bitch ass on a daily basis.

The remaining 2 months of school were spent in a passive-aggressive war. Teacher vs. Students. Where technically the teacher should be respected and they should learn from her but the class was unleashing their collective pettiness.

And Caline Bustier was fucking done with this job. She wanted to go back in time to when she thought being a teacher was a good idea and shake her past self silly. At this point, she was just counting the days until she can leave for good.

“Kim. That’s the third time you slept in class this week. If you don’t pay attention, you won’t pass the test next week.”

“Hold up. I got to ask the certified pathological liar where I put all the fucks I give.”

“Ok. Don’t forget to ask Marinette if you can actually trust her answer.”

It was glorious.

Adrien and Marinette were definitely enjoying the show.

Marinette put down her sketchbook and stared at Damian for a minute. “You’ve been here for a month and a half already. Are you still doing business for your dad?”

Damian Wayne became a common sight around Françoise Dupont High School and can usually be seen around Adrien and Marinette. After a week of constantly seeing him hang around lunch or in after school activities/clubs, seeing a Wayne soon lost its novelty and people accepted it as the new norm.

“I’m already done with what I need to do at WE’s Paris branch.” He casually plucked flowers from the ground to make a crown for his mon amour who was happily chatting with Luka and Kagami.

“So why are you still here? Don’t you have your own education to finish?”

“My schooling is of no concern. I already earned my diploma a few months ago. It was not at all difficult when I’m already light years ahead of my peers in regards to the dismal educational system my Father forced me to attend."

She raised an unamused eyebrow. “Uh huh. And your family isn’t worried at all about you, a minor, being in a foreign country all by yourself?”

“They know I’m here. I already informed Father that I will be extending my stay here.”

“And he just accepted it? Just like that?”

"I’m responsible enough to handle myself. I surely do not need Batman watching over me. And you don’t need to worry at all. I’ve been away from home for far longer.”

“You’re completely missing the point.”

“On the contrary, I thought I answered the question perfectly.”

When they weren’t playing a petty war with Bustier, the class was trying to get back into Marinette and Adrien’s good graces by inviting them to everything and trying to include the pair in their lives again. They wanted to be friends with their Everyday Ladybug and Sunshine Child again.

“Want to do homework together?”

“How about a study session?”

“We’re having a sleepover at Juleka’s place, Marinette. We can talk about each other’s love lives like the good old times.”

“Wanna see the new movie that came out, Adrien? I’ll even pay for your favorite snacks.”

“Come on you two. Let’s hang out in the park. We can get Andre’s ice cream too. It’ll be fun.”

Spoiler alert: It don’t work. At all.

“Hey Marinette, Adrien! Why don’t you sit with us today?” Alya eagerly waved at them from where she was sitting with Nino.

It was a part of a long list of efforts that the class is trying to include the pair in. And it would be nice if it was just to be nice and friendly, you know. Adrien wasn’t going to be outright mean to them even though they fucking deserve it after how they treated the beautiful and kind goddess that was Marinette because Mari asked him to “Play nice, kitty”.

But the class kept trying to slide the whole Liar-la thing under the rug as if it was nothing. As if they didn’t shit all over their good name for a two-faced bitch. As if they had no part in making them feel like outcasts just weeks before. As if they didn’t called them hateful names or gave them scornful glares.

And that’s just fucking wrong. Because it wasn’t nothing. And they weren’t good pals anymore. So stop fucking acting like it.

Adrien was so done with his former friends/classmates. Marinette even more so.

Because apparently, saying “Yeah, We want nothing to do with you anymore.” is not fucking clear enough that the pair wanted nothing to do with their former friends.

Like what the actual fuck.

Luckily, Mari can sense her kitty’s bad mood and quickly laid a hand on his arm and led them to their seats in the middle row since Liar-la took the back and they will be damned if they sit next to her.

Alya was utterly aghast. She and the others were trying their best to have things be back to where they were before. Doesn’t Marinette and Adrien want things to be like they were before? When everyone was friends and they were making happy memories together?

Why won’t they accept their olive branch? They’ll be friends again and everything will be okay just like it was before Lila came.

Let it be known that Alya Césaire was not a patient person. Like at all.

She was fuming (like you could see the smoke coming out of her ears) as she walked up to Marinette’s desk, just bursting at the seams with frustration. “I don’t get it. Why are you so cosy with Adrien instead of us? Did you forget he supported Lila too?

“That was—” Marinette spoke up in defense of her everything-that-actually-matters brother.

But Alya ignored her and bulldozed right over, slamming her hands down on her desk. “Yeah. He changed his mind later on but the point still stands that he was on Lila’s side just like us so why are you willing to be friends with him but not me and Nino? We were best buds.”

“Adrien was friends with Lila unwillingly, unlike you guys. His douchebag of a father wanted him to play nice with that harlot for some reason and he had to go along with it or risk being pulled out of school.”

Alya rolled her eyes (She literally rolled her eyes at that) before crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Please. That’s probably a pretty little excuse he gave you be on your good side again. We all know Gabriel will never actually do it.”

“Are you perhaps referring to the man who rejected the idea of a birthday part for his own son or makes Adrien attend constant photo shoots and a crazy schedule to follow that makes it hard for him to hang out with his friends regularly. That Gabriel?”

At that, Alya faltered a bit as she uncrossed her arms.

“Look, Alya. I’m fine with being friendly classmates but I’m not going to be your friend again.”

And Alya —who wanted things to just be okay again and wanted to go back to being Marinette’s best friend, who was tired of days trying to put so much effort into being Marinette’s best gal again only to be rejected every single time— just let whatever came into her mind to slip out of her mouth. She didn’t watch what she said next and in doing so burnt the last bridge she ever had to Marinette.

“Maybe Lila was actually right for once when she said the only reason you’re close to Adrien was to use him to get ahead in the fashion industry.”

Oh shit.

She really done did it now.

It was at this point that Marinette’s infinite patience and kindness snapped. Adrien scooted his chair back a bit to get out of the crossfire. He’s a dumbass kitty but he still has self-preservation.

The grip on her pencil tightened as her eyes narrowed and grew darker, her voice ice cold.

“You were the one who decided we were done being friends, Césaire.”

Alya was taken aback, frozen at the biting harshness Marinette directed at her. Whatever comeback she had died in her throat.

Mari let out a deep breath and her voice was back to neutral. “Look. Maybe someday in the future we can be friends again. But not right now. Please respect my decision.”

And that was the end of that.

Well kind of.

Because the ice queen treatment didn’t deter her at all. Alya still persistently tried to get Marinette to be friends with her again until Nino pulled her away and forced her to stop it with her ridiculous antics which aren’t working.

The rest of their former friends now classmates got the message and left the pair alone. They were friendly and cordial with each other as common courtesy dictate but they had no interaction beyond that. They were nowhere near as close as they once were before Liar-la happened.

Anyway, school went back to normal. Well as normal as it could be with all the recent changes.

Nothing was as it was before.

And Marinette and Adrien were fine with that.

Mari was hanging out with Aurore and Mireille for the afternoon so Damian and Adrien had Mari’s room all to themselves. They were currently playing video games.

And although the Wayne boy was the perfect gentleman who doesn’t let his hormones rule over common courtesy and a proper courtship, Plagg was there to supervise the lovebirds (with a boatload of cheese to keep him company of course).

He likes to think of himself as laid back and chill who cares deeply about his kittens. And Adrien is a pure innocent little bean.

Don’t get him wrong. He does like Wayne as a person. The kid’s attitude and personality is a fun riot to witness. But the major plus is how it is beyond obvious Wayne adores and cares greatly about Adrien. He is a good boyfriend to his chaotic gay sunshine baby.

But after all the shit and drama that went down with his scumbag of a dad, Plagg was just feeling a tad protective of his kitty.

Just a tad.

They have been dating for close to a month now. He wonders if they are going to do a one-month anniversary. Is that excessive? Or was that normal? But Adrien still can’t get over how he landed such a hot and amazing guy as a beau.

If only he could go back in time to visit his insecure and confused little self and reassure him that they had game all along.

“Fuck. I lost.”

Dami smirked. “That makes it 7 to 5 in my favor.”

“I don’t care if you’re drop dead gorgeous. I’ll beat your pretty face in the next round.”

Hot-And-Sexy had an amused grin on his face. “I love you too, babe.”

Marinete and Damian are finally making a plan to get Hawk Moth to answer for his crimes. Needless to say, they have their differences on how to handle Gabriel Agreste.

“I vote to have Hawk Moth taste my blade.”

“We’re not killing Adrien’s dad no matter how much he deserves it.”

“I can get away with it.”

“So can I. But murder is still illegal.”

Naturally, discussing how to confront Gabriel and coming with a good solid plan that satisfies both teenagers took some time.

Adrien entered Mari’s room, humming a bit as he carried a tray filled with homemade snacks. He perked up seeing his two favorite people in the world getting along so well.

“Hey guys! What are you up to?”

Damian and Marinette glanced at each other for a split second. They didn’t want their Chaton to worry about Hawk Moth so they didn’t share any specifics.

It was Dami who spoke up. “We are discussing the legalities of assassination.”

Mari facepalmed.

Luckily, Adrien was a pure oblivious child. “That’s nice, babe.”

With all the strange things he’s seen (namely, the Miraculous and getting powers from tiny little talking animals), Gabriel will like to say he shouldn’t be surprised.

But he was.

Luckily, he had enough self-control to not show his surprise in an obvious way, just a raised eyebrow towards the two superheroes standing in the middle of his office.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mademoiselle Ladybug and Monsieur Robin?” Pleasant and neutral.

Ladybug he can kind of understand her presence. He is a supervillain after all. Wait. Maybe ex-supervillain now. Because he hasn’t been doing villain things for a while now since he misplaced Nooroo’s brooch and couldn’t find it no matter how many boxes of unsold Miraculous replicas he went through. And he went through a lot (that is not an understatement). Amazing how much free time he has when he isn’t stalking on the watch for negative feelings.

But what was Robin doing here? He wasn’t aware the Gotham sidekick was in Paris in the first place.

“We are aware of your alter ego, Hawk Moth.”

He sighed internally. This wasn’t going to end well. But he hasn’t gotten this far by bowing down easily.

“Just because I am a genius recluse does not mean I have supervillain tendencies.”

Ladybug was unimpressed as she crossed her arms and stare at him with a deadpan look. “But you do have supervillain tendencies. I have yours and Nathalie’s miraculous who told us all about your plans.”

Huh, no wonder he couldn’t find them.

But anyway, the gig was up. Nooroo and Duusu were very emotional blabbermouths. The main reason why he couldn’t let them out of his sight —besides needing them to transform into bad guys of course.

“Then you know I had a good reason why I became Hawk Moth.”

“To bring your wife back. Yes, I am aware of your ‘master’ plan.”

Maybe he can appeal to their sympathy. After all, heroes got to have empathy, right? “It was for Adrien’s sake to have his family back together.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

Because next thing he knew he had a razor sharp sword against his neck. He didn’t even see Robin move.

“Do not speak of his name, you traitor scum.” The Gotham hero growled. “How dare you preach about your son’s happiness when you are the one who have been neglecting him for the past years. Do not say you care for the boy when you never once showed an ounce of love towards him.”

Why is Robin so protective towards Adrien? Do they know each other well?

But Gabriel’s questions were immediately banished to the back of his mind. Because right now, he was righteously fearing for his life. Prison sounded better than death. He glanced towards Ladybug. He knew she, at least, wouldn’t let him die. She was the picture perfect hero after all.

Who was facepalming at the situation. “For the last time, we are not killing Agreste.”

Unfortunately, Robin did not remove the sword. “And as I keep saying, no one will have to know.”

“I will. I am literally standing right here as a witness.”

“You may look away if you are squeamish.”

“...That’s not the problem.” It was time for Ladybug to pull out the big guns. “And if you go through with this, you will make your boyfriend cry and he will no longer want to date you.”

It took a few seconds but Robin eventually lowered the sword and addressed Gabriel. “Do not presume that because you have no received death today that you do not deserve it. The only reason why your guts have not decorated this room is because I do not wish to make my mon amour shed tears for such a despicable man.”

Ladybug spoke up next. “We are going to report you to the authorities. Robin and I have enough evidence to put you away for life.”

To live for another day, Gabriel makes the smart choice of quickly surrendering right then and there.

“Mon amour, I come bearing both good and bad news.”

Adrien looked at Dami confused. “Okay? What’s the bad news?”

“Your sister have unfortunately stopped my attempt to slay your wicked father.”

Aww.

Adrien’s squishy little heart filled with endearing fondness at how much Hot-And-Sexy cared about him.

“Killing my father isn’t worth going to jail, Dami. I’m sure you can pull off orange but Mari will probably bar me from ever visiting you to teach you a lesson.”

He considered that for a moment. “That is true. Marinette is a frightening terror.”

“She’s the greatest thing to happen to me.”Adrien swooned at his goddess before remembering his boyfriend was with him. “You’re a very close second.”

But Dami was smiling fondly. “I know. I knew what I was getting into when I asked you out. I will never get in the way between your sibling bond.”

Aww.

He could feel his squishy little heart almost explode from all this sugary cuteness from his vain and egotistical Adonis.

“You’re adorable. So what’s the good news you have for me?”

“Marinette and I have finally dealt with your father. He will answer for his crimes in front of the Parisian authorities and you will not deal with the repercussions of being related to someone as vile as he.”

“Does this mean I don’t have to legally change my name to Dupain-Cheng after all?”

“You’re already one. Not sharing their name does not make you any less of one.”

Adrien beamed, smiling brighter than any sun. He loved being part of the Dupain-Cheng family and it was nice to be acknowledged as one of them.

“Of course. Being a Wayne is an honor too.” Damian said casually as if he was simply talking about the weather. Only the twitch of his fingers belied his nervousness.

Adrien interlocked their fingers together. “You have to buy me a pretty ring first, Mr. Hot-And-Sexy.”

The next week was kind of crazy to say the least.

Gabriel Agreste was outed as Hawk Moth and Natalie as Mayura to the public. They were promptly put in jail.

For all their contingency plans, Marinette and Damian had nothing to worry about after all. Adrien being a literal sunshine and Paris’ darling model was what saved him from being a pariah and outcast. The public knew that Adrien was the victim here and not part of Hawk Moth’s plans at all (Be serious. Can you imagine Sunshine child actually having an evil streak in him? No? That’s right. Because it is impossible). People were more sympathetic about Adrien having such a douchebag as a father than the possibility that he was evil like said douchebag.

After that whole drama mess, Ladybug and Chat Noir announced their retirement to Paris’ dismay. But eh. Without akumas running around, they can leave Paris’ future to the police (since it’s you know, their job to keep the peace and not teenagers who is still winging it as they kick ass).

Marinette and Adrien just wanted to focus on their future without any other crazy shenanigans.

He already said it before. But it still bears repeating.

Lila Rossi is a bitch.

The only thing Gabriel did right was throw her under the bus when he was caught. He told the police and superheroes how Lila helped him cause akumas with her lies and manipulation. Who knew her destroyed reputation could plummet even further? Understandably, her mother was not at all pleased with her daughter’s antics.

For being a terrorist and an indecent person, Lila was immediately arrested and deported to Italy (and that’s the last they ever heard of her thank everything Mari thinks is holy).

With the whole Hawkmoth thing out of the way and he didn’t have to worry about his shitty dad ever again, Adrien can now focus on his biggest challenge yet.

School will be over in a few days and summer will be here. Which means: It’s time to finally meet the Waynes.

Oh fuck. He was going to meet the Batfam.

And even though Dami assured him that his family will like him, he was still nervous.

Fuck that. He was absolutely 100% freaking out!

Thank goodness Mari was coming along for the ride.

Taglist:

@iglowinggemma28

#ml x dc #ml salt #ml salt fic #lila rossi salt #alya cesaire salt #bustier salt #gaydrien #adrien is a hot mess #adrien agreste x damian wayne #adridami #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #bamf marinette #a 3.7K fic people #crack writing

452 notes · View notes

anjuschiffer · 4 years ago

Text

Amira Wayne - Chapter 19

There’s no way I’m going to keep dragging out this chapter... so here’s the next chapter! Enjoy :3

Chapter 19: Discovery

P.Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life @toodaloo-kangaroo @elijahcrevan @vixen-uchiha @nathleigh

Tag: @we-want-mini-mini @ramos123 @bluesimani @redscarlet95 @greatcatblaze @promiswords @fantasiame @corabeth11 @anonymously-odd @alexandriamw @officiallydarkgeek @galla02006 @maleive07

Special thanks to @m3owww for helping me with translations!

MASTERLIST | FIRST | PREV | AO3

The dreaded school bell rang, signaling everyone that school was over.

Despite Christmas being right around the corner, no one was in the Christmas spirit. After all, how could they after what happened?

“Adrien, Sabrina.” Miss Bustier brought to attention, watching as the two glared at Lila as she walked out the classroom with a few of the girls of the class.

Lila shrunk into herself, a single tear making its way into her eye as she felt Adrien’s eyes burn at the back of her head.

“Yes, Mlle Bustier?” Adrien asked once he saw Lila out of vision, noticing that Nino was waiting for him right outside the classroom. Ever since that day, the trio of friends traveled in a pack, leaving no one by themselves.

“I was wondering if you could take some classwork and some break work to Chloe, seeing as the two of you are close friends.” Bustier handed a few papers to Adrien, Adrien gently placing them inside his bag. “And Sabrina. How is Marinette?” She dared to ask after handing Sabrina a large manila envelope.

With Chloé not being in school, Sabrina had to step up as Vice President and do the Class President’s job of dropping off homework to those who missed class.

Mlle Bustier didn’t expect for Sabrina to scowl, an expression she never saw on the girl ever since she first started teaching her seven years ago.

“Mlle Bustier, shouldn’t you have already made a home visit by now? Actually, in this type of situation, you should’ve done a home visit the day after the incident. But you didn’t. It’s been two week since then.” Sabrina recalled, taking the manila envelope and walking out of the class, waiting next to Nino.

Adrien didn’t miss the way their teacher shrunk into herself, before attempting to bounce back up.

“I’ll try and make a visit later on today. Ever since the incident, the school-“

“Sabrina has a point, Mlle Bustier. With all due respect, I think you should’ve already visited Marinette and have checked for yourself how she’s doing. After all, that’s part of your job.” Adrien bluntly stated. “And a piece of advice? I know you’re trying to act as if all of this isn’t bothering you, but I suggest you stop acting as if nothing happened. Yes, the akuma happened two week ago, but everyone is still recovering from it.

After all, those memories don’t disappear no matter how long ago it happened. So if you would excuse me, I have some dear friends to visit.”

��

It’s been two weeks since the Banshee incident...that’s 14 days since both Marinette and Chloé haven’t been at school...and 14 days without a single akuma attack, the longest period of rest the team had ever had since given their miraculouses.

When Chat Noir raced to initiate Plan B with Ryuuko and Osprey, they were halted due to someone else beating them to the Eiffel Tower.

A guy their age had been the one to get rid of the akuma that had been controlling Marinette and not only that. He had also used Ladybird’s power to reverse the aftermath of the battle and bring back Marinette.

While from a distance he could easily be mistaken for Ladybird, up front, you could tell it wasn’t her.

Said one-time vigilante cradled Marinette in his arms, something that broke Chat upon seeing how shaken she was about the whole thing.

Usually all of those affected by Hawkmoth’s manipulation wouldn’t remember a single thing about their akumatization...but Chat knew…

Something caused her to remember every single detail.

“Who-” Chat Noir started, only for the ‘new’ Ladybug to cut him off.

“Ladybird was the one who told me to finish the job for her. She too had been affected by Banshee’s powers before she was even able to transform. She also told me to relay you a message. Do not worry about her identity being exposed, for she was wearing a mask before giving me her miraculous.” The guy didn’t take off the miraculous, making Chat wonder what exactly was going on.

Where was Ladybird? “Ladybird?” Crap, he said that outloud. “Don’t worry too much about her. She’ll be back the next time the Ladybug miraculous is in use.” Lifting Marinette with ease, Chat wondered if that was because of the magic or because he was able to easily do so himself. “Meanwhile, I’ll take her home. Want to lead the way, or?”

“I’ll lead.” Chat solemnly said. “Just make sure you don’t drop her.”

“Roger that.”

After dropping Marinette to her home, Chat never saw that guy again. Not like he had all the time to mull over him.

He had to ensure Chloe and Lila’s safety as well, although he didn’t want to do so for the latter.

He first met up with Gris, who had moved Lila inside the Montparnasse Tower. While she wasn’t psychically hurt, mentally, she was greatly injured.

Chat explained to her of the next step they were going to take next, explaining how she will have to go to mandatory therapy sessions to ensure her well-being, how he will be escorting her to each one personally so that she doesn’t try and worm herself out of them when she said she didn’t need it.

“You may think we’re only doing this out of duty, which you’re not wrong, but it is also something Ladybird herself wanted to incorporate in Paris. Something about the lack of a rehab system in Paris.” Chat answered when Lila asked why he was bothering to make sure she was fine. “Also something about preventing a second ‘G.’”

After setting up the next therapy sessions with Lila, Chat and Gris headed over to where Ryuuko and Carapace were dealing with Chloe’s rattled behavior.

“She’s inconsolable.” Ryuuko said when Chat asked why Carapace had a shield around him and Chloe. “She tried to run off multiple times, but we always managed to keep her contained.”

“Let me get someone who can help us.” Chat left the group, dropping his transformation in a safe area before returning as Adrien. “Chloe!”

At the call of her name, Chloe stopped clawing her way from the force field Carapace had placed up, looking over to Adrien.

She threw herself at him and started to cry into his shoulder, crying how she saw her parents abandon her, how her friends also abandoned her. How she witnessed her best friend’s deaths, Adrien not noticing the way the team stiffed upon hearing their civilian names being said.

Before spiraling into more crying, Chloé mentioned being a failure of a friend, as she couldn’t stop Marinette from becoming an akuma.

Adrien didn’t once let go of Chloe, telling the team his gratitude for helping her.

He guided her to her home, wondering where things were going to play out now that the team took the largest blow yet in their fight against Hawkmoth.

But for now, he knew he had to stay by Chloe’s side.

---

As Sabrina sat on a kitchen stool, she scrunched up the manila envelope in her hand as her thoughts went back to what caused Marinette to lash out the way she did and caused her to turn into Banshee.

If only Lila didn’t lie about knowing him. If she didn’t lie about him, then her friends wouldn’t be-

“-Sabrina. Sabrina dear, are you alright?” Sabine asked, worried.

“Mlle Cheng! I’m sorry! I got lost in my thoughts and-”

“It’s alright. I’m guessing that’s for Marinette?” Sabine gestured towards the envelope in her hand.

“Yes. They’re homework assignments and a few notes from Mlle Bustier.” Sabrina said, handing them over to Sabine. “Oh! Here are my notes for her. She’d probably find these more useful than-”

A scream pierced the kitchen air, Sabrina watching as Selina appeared out of nowhere and rushed up the stairs with two other women right behind her, Sabine quickly grabbing her phone and dialing a number. “Mlle Cheng, what is going-”

“I’m sorry about this Sabrina, but you’ll have to leave. Now.”

Without another word, Sabrina nodded, grabbing her bag and started to head downstairs when she spotted M.Wayne go upstairs, two others right behind him…

Was that Oliver Queen?!

Sabrina watched as the trio walked right into the Dupain-Cheng home, wondering what M.Wayne, M.Queen and the other man were doing there.

What is going on?

Selina sat on the chaise lounge, Amira letting out shuddering breaths as she laid against her chest.

When Selina had heard Amira’s screams, she felt her heart stop for the umpteenth time that day.

Ever since that day, ever since the day of the appearance of Banshee, Amira had restless nights, recurring nightmares throughout the day and refusing to see anyone except for Selina and her two therapists.

“Poor pumpkin.” Harley sympathized, draping a blanket over Amira and Selina. “She shouldn’t have to go through all this. She’s just a kid.”

“To think you’re stupid boyfriend-” Ivy started, making sure that the daisies scattered around the room were doing all right...until Harley jabbed Ivy at her side.

“Pammy,” she gestured to a silent Selina, “sure, Brucie had some fault to this, but it wasn’t-”

“I know, I know.” Ivy sighed, spraying some water on the daisies. “The tiny magically butterfly-”

“Listen, I didn’t convince Bruce to let you two out of Arkham so that the two of you would shit on the man I’m about to marry and what’s he done.” Selina sighed. “I’m sorry, Ivy. It’s just- Bruce could’ve prevented all this if-”

“Of course he could’ve! If he weren’t such an idiot!” Ivy growled. “Selina, seriously? What do you see in-”

“Pammy, Pammy! Remember? Magical butterflies? Get mad and they’ll come for ya.” Harley reminded Ivy, placing her hands on Ivy’s shoulders. “How about we take a stroll and enjoy the sun a bit, eh? After all Brucie did promise us that he’d-”

“Alright. But just until I calm down, alright? And then back to our hotel, okay? Not fond of the fact of being mind controlled by a stupid butterfly man. Haven’t been there and don’t plan on-”

“Then we better get going Red!” Harley grinned, guiding Ivy to the hatch before stopping to turn to Selina. “Selina. Everything is going to be alright. and if you need us to talk some sense into that boy of yours, Ivy and I have your back.”

With that, the two were gone, leaving Selina alone.

Selina pushed a few strands away from Amira's face, placing them behind her ear. Because Amira always kept a straight face and would directly tell you her opinions, that led many to think she was mature for her age. But they were wrong about that.

She was still a child…

A creak at the floor snapped Selina from her thoughts, watching as Bruce peaked into the room.

“How is she doing?” Bruce asked, eyeing the bean bag and bringing it close to where Selina was. He tucked away a loose hair strand from Amira’s face, watching as she flinched from his touch.

He watched as his daughter turned away from him and snuggled closer against Selina.

“Not any better since that day. Even Harley is having trouble getting through to her. Doesn’t help that Amira knows her background with the Joker. Doesn’t trust Harley one bit.” Selina looked over at Bruce before breaking the silence. “You can’t keep in doing this to her Bruce.”

“Selina, she’s my child. My daughter. My one and only daughter.” Bruce reasoned.

“Bruce. She’s 13. Turning 14 in half a year. She’s not the tiny girl who-“

“I know.” Bruce quietly said, dropping onto the bean bag. “I know Selina, but even so, I can’t help but keep treating her as one.” Bruce places his hand over hers. “You’ve seen first hand the cruelty of Gotham. No one is safe from it, not even Batman. Bruce Wayne? He’s been a target countless times.

I’ve been held at gunpoint, kidnapped, taken as a hostage, mugged so many times I’ve lost count. To top it off, I’ve been stabbed once when Amira was just a toddler and on the brink of death.

Can you imagine what would happen if word got out that I have a daughter?”

“You’re worrying too much Bruce. And if you’re worried about her safety, you can just-“

“I should’ve worded that better. What would happen if word got out that I have a biological daughter?”

Selina remained quiet. “The media and people alike swarmed Dick when word got out I adopted him years ago. It’s only gotten worse for him now that he’s 18. Families sending invitations to dinner, some asking for some meetings to see me over how WE should merge with theirs...Dick even gets gifts sent to his apartment, which thankfully he tells the delivery man to always send back or use it for themselves. Marriage is the last thing that should be in his mind.

Right now he’s worried about Slade who made an appearance again at Gotham. We aren’t truly sure why he is here, but perhaps he’s back to trying to “claim” Dick as his successor. He’s been at it the moment he found out we got rid of the Court’s eyes on Dick.”

Selina didn’t know what to say, after all, she was there when it happened.

“When word got out that Jason has also been adopted, do you know how many attempted kidnaps were stopped? How many people who he trusted before stabbed him in the back to try and get some ransom off a planned kidnapping?

And then there’s Tim. There’s rumors already floating of how he will be the newest addition to the family. The walls have ears and I’ve already heard the upper ring of idiots planning on a way to get a hold of Tim.

Not only will Tim be part of Wayne Manor, but he is also still a Drake. Can you imagine the golddigger's imagination growing wild at the thought of Tim having both family’s wealth once he’s older?”

Bruce dug his face into his hands. “Selina, these are happening to my kids, my kids who aren’t biologically mine. So what awaits for the one who is biologically mine? Will it be just as terrifying as the dangers my other kids face, or will it be worse?

I don't want her to be thrown into that kind of life. Not her. I just...I just want her to be able to live her life as a proper child. Without the limelight, without the multiple targets that would arise to her back when-”

“So you believe that keeping her hidden was the best thing to do.” Selina concluded.

“She’s safe inside.”

“But is she happy?” Selina watched as Bruce tensed up at those words. “Bruce, look at her.” He did. “Do you call this happiness?

She took upon a mantle so that she can get your attention, your acknowledgement of her existence. Why? Why does she have to prove this to you? Her father? A father who claims that he adores and loves her to pieces? Do you want to know why?”

Bruce remained silent. “Your love for her caused you to deprive her of the same love you claim to have on her. Your ambition to keep her safe caused you to stray from her, causing her to stay at a large mansion occupied with two people: herself and Alfred.

How was she supposed to see your love for her when you spent the entire day at work and then dived into vigilantism in the night?”

Selina carefully slipped Amira off her, allowing herself to sit properly on the chaise lounge. “You made things worse once when you dismissed her approaches to you, dismissing her from joining training, letting her-”

“I let her join-”

“You let her train when you realized she was opening up to her brothers, not before then. I get it, you wanted them to get along, but not letting her join from the get go wasn’t the decision you should’ve made. You should have-”

“She wasn’t ready.”

“How would you know that before even letting her have a go at it? She already knew the basics-”

“Knowing the basics won’t do you much and you know that Selina, better than anyone else. She didn’t have Dick’s flexibility and precision, Jason’s strength and quick thinking. She only knew the basics and that’s it. If I had allowed her-

“Mu’quin?” Amira groggily asked, turning to look at Bruce and Selina with glassy eyes. She missed the gaped mouth from her father and Selina’s wide eyes.

When did she know Mandarin? “Mu’quin?” Amira asked again once she pulled herself closer to Selina, laying her head on her lap. “Ma’ma, don’t...go.” Amira slurred as she went back to sleep, never seeing the look on Selina’s face.

Bruce watched as Selina fought back tears, her hand placed over her mouth as she let out a shuddering breath. She kept blinking in hopes of getting rid of the tears, but her efforts were in vain.

Tears slid down Selina’s face as she stroked Amira’s hair, watching as she comfortably rested.

Bruce continued to watch the interaction between Selina and his daughter, happy to see how close the two have gotten despite the short time spent with one another…

“Selina.” Bruce looked at his soon-to-be-wife, holding her hand in his own. “I’ve made a decision. I’m staying in Paris.”

—

“It got quiet.” Oliver obviously stated. “ Think-”

“I don’t even want to know about what happened in there.” Barry cut off, running a hand through his hair.

“Everything good?” Oliver asked, noticing Barry’s unusual quietness. “Another meta-”

“Ever since the incident, Wally hasn’t been...himself.” Barry confessed. “He’s refused to take time off missions, constantly finding something to do. When it isn’t that, he’s always here, staying by -”

The apartment door cracked open, causing Barry to shut his mouth and for Oliver to turn to see who just entered.

“Well, speak of the devil.” Oliver muttered. “Wally, what brings you here?”

“I came to visit a friend, although the question stands. What brings you to Paris?”

“He’s here with me.” Bruce informed, Wally snapping his head to the man. “I asked him-“

Wally uppercutted Bruce the moment he stepped off the stairs that led to Amira’s bedroom. Bruce stumbles back as the pain spreads around his face.

“It’s all your fault!” Wally screamed, about to punch him again, only for Barry to hold him back. “It’s all your fault that Amira is like this!”

“Woah, Wally, calm-” Barry tried to speak, only to turn to Oliver for help. With a nod, Oliver began to search for a tranquilizer on him.

“Calm down?” Wally screamed. “Barry, he’s the reason why Amira got akumatized!” Wally snarled, trying to pry himself from Barry’s grasp. “If only he had let Amira say goodbye to her brother, to give Jason a proper goodbye! If only! But you didn’t.” A dry laugh escaped him. “No, instead, you sent her here, with her bottled up emotions...here! An ocean away from her family, her friends! People who cared about her!”

Bruce remained silent, Oliver watching the revelation with wide eyes. “Did you know how worried I was about her when I heard she was no longer a moment away but now an ocean away? Amira, being sent away like she was some kind of- some kind of, ARGH!” Wally yelled, not noticing how Barry had already let go of him.

Instead, Barry let him empty out his heart. After all, he needed it, just like how Bruce needed to listen to the consequences of his actions. “That day she was brought to HQ against her will, when she connected the fact that Kid Flash was me, she threw herself at me. At first I thought it was because we hadn’t seen each other in a while, that she was relieved to see me. But no, it was more than that.

She cried. And let me tell you something, she rarely cries.” Wally told Bruce, feeling his fists starting to hurt. “She always has a stoic face on, always having her guard up in public in case others want to try and make a fool of her. A mechanism she always has on to fool everyone, even herself.

So can you imagine the feeling I felt when I saw her crying not only in front of me, but also in front of Superman? In a place she wasn’t familiar with?”

Oliver watched as Bruce shrunk into himself a bit. “She was hurting Bruce. Not only because of Jason’s death, not only because she didn’t have someone to lean on, but because of you.

You keep pushing her away, telling her ‘no’ to anything she could come up with to try and stay by your side. How do I know this? Because when we were younger, Dick always told me how he felt guilty for being the one to worsen your relationship with her. He always blamed himself for everything wrong that went between you and her.” Bruce’s eyes widened. “Didn’t know, did you, Great Detective?

If you didn’t know that about Dick, then what about Amira? While you believed to have been protecting her by pushing her away from anything related to vigilantism, she ended up misinterpreting your good intentions. Every time you told her ‘no,’ do you know how she saw it? What she ended up thinking in her mind?

That being your blood child wasn’t enough to get your love. That she had to do something to prove herself worthy of your attention, even a crumb. So if anyone’s to blame for the current situation, it’s you.”

Wally let out a huff, feeling his chest thousands of times lighter. “If only you gave her the love she deserves, the life she was meant to live, then none of this would’ve happened. Hope you’re glad with the way things turned out.” Wally huffed, grabbing his bags. “When I come back tomorrow, I better not see your face unless it’s an apology to Amira.”

A laugh escaped him. “Then again, it would take more than an apology to fix this bullshit.”

With that, Wally left the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Oliver and Barry didn’t budge, instead, the two men stood there, not knowing what to do when they saw their friend with a hung head.

“Hey, Bruce, you-”

“First Harley, then Selina and now Wally.” Bruce listed. “How was I the only one-”

“Love is blind.” Oliver spoke, finally finding the energy to approach Bruce. “Even parental. All you can do now is move forward.”

Bruce could only nod.

“However, this doesn’t mean you’re off the hook Bruce.” Oliver crossed his arms. “How the hell did you manage to hide your daughter’s existence for the past…” Oliver trailed.

“13 years,” Barry filled in, “she’s turning 14 in July.”

—

Amira let out a sigh the moment she woke up, rolling to her side, away from the afternoon light…

She quickly picked up her phone, noticing that it was already the next day. She placed it back down, wondering how she slept through most of the day. Then again, it was silent in the apartment for once…

Silence...she probably alone...or so she thought.

“Amira.” She flinched, sitting up to prevent another disadvantage. “Amira, how are you?” Slowly, Amira turned her attention to her father. She looked away, hating that tears started to pool in her eyes. “Amira.”

When was the last time she ever heard her name spoken so softly by her father?

“You were right, you know.” She whispered, sitting up. “As you always are. After all, you are the greatest detective in Gotham...and possibly the world, because yes, I know of the countless times you’ve helped the Justice League solve a case they were stumped on. It’s all Wally would talk about sometimes.”

“Amira.” Bruce was about to get closer, but stood by the bed when he watched her curl into herself, her body tensing. “I...I was actually...wrong.” That caught her attention, Bruce watching her loosen her body a bit.

“You? Wrong? Since when?”

“All this time, I thought I could keep you safe if I kept you hidden from the world and yet, it still managed to find you. Or rather, you managed to find it.” Amira watched as her father finally decided to sit at the edge of her bed, the mattress sinking under him. “You managed to prove me wrong, not only once, but multiple times.

The first time was when you accepted Jason into the family. Then when you finally pushed aside your grudge and accepted Dick into the family. When you accepted him as Robin. Then after his death, you managed to accept his death and move on from it. To be honest, I envied how easily it looked.”

“Even though it wasn’t. I’m still trying to move from it, even now.” Amira added meekly.

“Then when you came to Paris and continued to move forward. You took up a mantle without a doubt and went with it. You’ve saved countless lives, protected an entire city...all without me. Without my help or intervention.”

Bruce finally decided to sit down once he saw the opportunity. “You see Amira, I never thought you were ready to become a vigilante, to fight against the cruelty of the world, to live in it and yet...you proved me wrong. You’ve shown me that you were already ready to live in this society riddled with obstacles. You showed me that you were capable of adjusting to whatever was thrown your way...of acting accordingly to society.

You’ve shown me that you’re no longer the tiny, defenseless infant brought to our home all those years ago. You’re no longer the waddling toddler who had to be spoon fed and changed, having to be supervised 24/7 or else you would fall and earn a new scrape. You’re no longer the girl who struggled to reach the edge of the Batcomputer’s chair nor the girl who couldn’t swing a proper hit.” Bruce wiped away a tear that slid down Amira’s face. “You’re now my pride and joy, a young lady who can easily defend those around-”

“I can’t!” Amira confessed, wondering if her father’s hand had always been this warm...this caring. She pushed it away. “You’re wrong! I can’t defend myself, I can’t defend those-”

“Yes…yes, you can…” Bruce tried to assure, but it made Amira panic even more. “You have a team, don’t you? A wonderful team at that.”

“Didn’t you see what happened to me? I allowed myself to get akumatized. I-I failed.”

“Amira, you didn’t, you couldn’t-”

“I knew what Hawkmoth was capable of and yet I allowed myself to-”

“Amira,” Bruce called to attention. “This wasn’t your fault.” That shuts her up.

“It wasn’t?” She scoffed. “Who let their emotions get the best of them? Who let themselves get a lie get under her skin? Who let themselves get akumatized so that they could get revenge on that little-I am the leader!

I should’ve known better than to let him take advantage of me! But what did I do?

I let him.

I let him use me, manipulate me, manipulate my emotions, my anger to his benefit. I let him get the better of me and he got what he wanted. He got the strongest akuma he had ever wanted.

He destroyed my team’s confidence, our strength.” Bruce watched as his daughter stayed quiet, looking down at her hands with disgust. “All it took was one slip up...and that’s probably why you’ve been here all this time, isn’t it? You stayed so that you could take me back to Gotham, isn’t that right?”

Bruce remained silent. “Well, isn’t it?”

“No.” Bruce didn’t miss a moment. “After seeing how well you’ve been handling this situation, of how proud I am of you finding your suspect on your own, I’ve decided to stay. I’m going to help you take down Hawkmoth, Amira.

Even if it’s the last thing you want from me.”

Amira watched as her father left, watching as she was left alone once again.

Tikki flew out from her hiding spot, quickly pressing herself against Amira’s face.

“Are you okay?” Tikki asked. Amira didn’t respond. “Amira, we need to talk.”

“That we do.” Amira looked at Tikki with glazed eyes. “Tikki. Spots on.” Heading to her skylight, Amira hesitated to open it.

How will the Parisians react to seeing Ladybird again?

That didn’t matter. After all, this will be the last time any of them will see her.

—

A knock came from the door, Chloé not budging from her place in her bed. Then her phone buzzed, but it went ignored.

She was surrounded by post-it notes and papers, Ladybird’s pictures mixed with class notes and online articles trying to find who it was behind the black mask.

She kept sitting as the door opened, Chloé not lifting her eyes once, listening as footsteps approached her.

“So, what did Mlle Bustier say this time?” Chloé asked, picking up an article that analyzed Ladybird’s appearance based on people who’ve seen her after she would detransform. They only got one of the details right. She did indeed have green eyes.

“What she said last time: an excuse for not coming. Now I see how easily it was for you to push her around.” Adrien yelped when Chloé threw a pillow at him. “Hey! I’m only the-“

“I’m not like that anymore.” Chloé muttered, jotting down something on her phone. “I’ve changed.” She hated it when people said she ‘hasn’t changed in the slightest,’ that she was still the same old Chloe.

“I know.”

“I’m changing. And for the better!” She quickly added afterwards, remembering her last therapy session she had just two days ago. Gris had dropped her off, but Chat stubbornly made it his duty to wait for her and drop her off. She thanked him when he dropped her off and bid her a good night.

“I know.” The two friends sat in silence, Adrien watching as Chloé kept lifting papers and setting them down. A vast difference to the Chloe who didn’t move a muscle a day after the akuma attack. The Chloe who would wake up nightmare after nightmare, begging those around her to come back. “When do you plan on visiting-“

“I...I don’t know.” Chloé breathlessly said, Adrien regretting asking her when he saw her hands shake. It would always happen no matter where she was. As long as Chloe remembered the events of that attack, it would happen without question. “Every...every time I gather the courage to see her, I see her.” Adrien watched as Chloe’s eyes began to cloud. “I see Marinette, I see her glaring at me, looking at me in disgust. Just like how my mother would look at me whenever I would...I would try to get her attention.”

Chloé trailed off, shrinking into herself. “She would then pick me apart, telling me every visible flaw she could see before turning around and leaving me. Just like-“

“But you know she would-“

“I know she would never! But seeing that, seeing her walk away from me so easily, without turning back, without shedding a single tear,” Chloé let out a sniffle. “It hurt. And what’s even worse, Sabrina and you would follow her. You guys would walk away from me and leave me.

You guys left me...without a second thought...”

“Chloé, you know we would never do-“ Adrien said with a hug.

“I know.” Chloé sunk further into the gesture. “I know you guys wouldn’t. But I can’t help but-“

“It will never happen.” Adrien promised. “We won’t allow that to happen. Ever.” Chloé would only him as Adrien rubbed circles on her back, the two continuing to sit in silence. “You know…” a hum. “What if we threw a Christmas party?”

“A Christmas party?” Chloe asked for clarification, already planning for it. “That...that would be...nice.”

“Exactly!” Adrien smiled, now holding Chloe’s hands. “It can just be us! And of course, Nino, Sabrina and Marinette! Just us and that's it. A party amongst friends!” He watched as Chloe’s lips turned upwards. She was on board. “So? What you think?”

“Let’s do it.” Chloe said with a smile, getting off from her bed. “I could use the change of pace.”

“Okay then! Want to make the invitations or plan out the-”

“Why would we need invi-” Chloe started, only to stare at Adrien with wide eyes. “No way.” Adrien simply grinned.

Once Adrien had left, telling Chloe his plan, Chloe started to clean up her bed, throwing discarded plans into her trash bin while she took a pile of post-it notes to another part of her room. Or more specifically, her closet.

She picked up a control, the back panel of her wardrobe opened up, exposing an all-points bulletin, photos of Ladybird scattered around the wall, red threads crossing each other. Notes and pieces of news articles were firmly placed alongside the photos, a few of them crossed out or labeled ‘debunked’.

Chloe placed a photo of Bruce Wayne near the index card where the name ‘Amira’ was written. Unlike the other photo Chloe had of Bruce, this one showed him entering the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. It was from earlier today. And unlike the other photo Chloe got from the media, this photo was taken by Sabrina.

Whether this was the first time he’s been there or not, one question remained.

“Why exactly are you here, Bruce Wayne? Are you the reason why Ladybird has not been appearing for the past two weeks?”

Days went by when Adrien decided to visit Marinette again, surprised to see the Dupain-Cheng residency filled to the brim with...strangers.

“Adrien. What brings you here?” Selina snapped him from his trance, not blaming the kid for gaping at the sight of the apartment.

Dick came unannounced to visit Amira for the upmteenth time that week, this time bringing Kor’i and Roy along. They were busy chatting with a disinterested Amira. Bruce was trying to scold Dick for it, to let Amira settle for the evening, but with Wally just a few feet away, it wasn’t exactly easy. Barry, Oliver and Dinah were chatting away with Ivy and Harley, the adults not giving a care in the world about releasing information about their other ‘job.’

“I came by to see Marinette.” Adrien quietly said, his eyes catching how Marinette perked at the sound of her name and how Wally turned to him as well. “But it seems like now’s a bad time. I could-”

“Nonsense, come in. Ignore the others. Marinette could use an excuse right about now.” Selina pulled him in, closing the door behind him. Adrien watched as Marinette weaved her way towards Adrien, Wally right behind her. He watched as the trio they left behind either smirked or smiled.

“Adrien. You literally texted me just an hour ago.” Marinette brought up. “You could’ve-”

“Are you doing anything for Christmas?” Adrien asked, earning a tilt of a head from Marinette and quirked brows from Wally before his eyes studied him. Adrien felt a shiver down his spine. “I just wanted to invite you to a Christmas party, of course! It’s just going to be us and a few friends! Your friend could come as well, if he wants to!” Adrien quickly added.

Ever since he met Wally, something about him threw Adrien off. At first, he thought it was because he was Marinette’s friend from the States. Wally himself had said he was on Winter Break and decided to spend it with Marinette so that they could catch up...until the attack happened. So Adrien brushed his worry as just a concerned friend thing. But ever since Bruce came into the picture, Wally had gone...aggressive.

“I…” Marinette started, looking over to Selina. “Can I think over it?” Marinette asked, Adrien noticing Wally gave Marinette’s hand a squeeze. “If that isn’t too much to ask.” Adrien smiled.

“You got two days to think about it. Use all the time you need!” Adrien chirped, waving goodbye to everyone before leaving the apartment.

“Are you sure about this Amira?” Wally asked her, Amira noticing his concern. “You don’t have to force yourself to-”

“I’m not forcing myself.” Amira confessed. “I...I do need time to think about it though. I don’t want to make any mistakes while choosing their gifts.”

“You’re getting one for me too, right?” Dick asked, Amira turning to see her brother by her side.

“I’m not going to if you continue to pester me about it.” That earned a dramatic gasp from Dick.

“My own sister!”

While Wally smiled at seeing Amira starting to act like herself again, he couldn’t help but continue to stay on high alert.

Ever since the akuma attack, something has been off and he didn’t know why.

Seems like only time will tell.

Two days came sooner than wanted, Amira standing outside the bakery bundled up with Wally by her side, the snow welcoming them.

While her father didn’t want her to go, nonetheless with Wally, Selina managed to convince Bruce to go back to Gotham, telling him that Gotham was never uneventful during Christmas Eve nor the day after. Begrudgingly, Bruce went, dragging Dick, Ivy and Harley back with him.

Selina assured Amira that she had nothing to worry about, to go to the party and have fun.

“Are you sure you want me to go ahead?” Wally asked, managing to maintain the stack of gifts in his arms balanced. “I can just zoom there, drop off the gifts and then walk you-”

“Wally. I’m going to be okay.” Amira assured him. “I just want to walk there by myself. Think about a few things before facing...everyone.” Wally’s mouth formed a thin line.

“Amira, you don’t-”

“I’m not forcing myself.” She cut him off. “I do want to see my friends again...after all, it’s been almost three week since I’ve seen any of them.” Wally sighed in defeat, bouncing the gifts before taking a step forward.

“Fine. But seriously. If you end up not wanting to go, just call me or text me. I’ll be here in a heartbeat and keep you company back home.”

“I know you would.” She watched as Wally began to walk away. “Wally.” He stopped, watching as Amira skipped towards him.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you, for always being by my side.” Amira said with a smile, placing a knitted hat on him. “An early Christmas gift...for you.”

Feeling the tips of his ear begin to burn, Wally turned away from her.

“Thanks...I’ll see you there, okay?”

“Yup.” Amira watched as Wally walked towards the Agreste manor, letting her smile drop.

She walked towards the park nearby, listening as her foot crunched the snow beneath her. She continued to walk, going as far as reaching the carousel in the middle of the park. The carousel was perfectly still, it’s lights lowly dimmed, allowing Amira to see the untouched snow surrounding it. She looked behind herself to see that the only tracks in the snow were her own...so then...why was she still able to hear the snow crunch?

“Amira.” Amira regretted not keeping a weapon on her, cursing herself for going soft. “Amira.” The voice said again, Amira picking the voice coming from her right. But no one was there, not even a pair of footsteps. But this voice...it sounded the same as the time she was- “Amira.”

Swiveling so that she was now facing the path that led to the park entrance, Amira locked eyes with a woman she swore she never saw before...and yet…

She seemed familiar. Amira felt like she had seen this woman before, an odd memory flashing before her eyes as she remembered having once seen this woman. But where?

“Why do you know my name?” Amira asked, her mind running through different plans in her head on a way to escape and tell Wally or Selina about her dilemma.

“It’s been so long, Amira.” The woman said, approaching Amira, not making a sound as she made footprints in the snow. How Amira hated that the woman ignored her question, but it intrigued her to know that they did indeed meet once before. But then the questions still remained. Who was she? And how did she know her name? “The last time we saw each other, you were just a child, an infant. Barely able to walk, even babble.”

Amira watched as the woman got closer to her, now circling her. “You were such a quiet baby, never fussed about anything.” Amira watched as the woman placed her hands on either side of her face, her brown eyes analyzing her. “Now look at you, all grown up. Just how many milestones have I missed?”

“You still haven’t answered my question. Who are you?”

“I thought you would’ve already had your answer by now.” The woman said, letting go of Amira only to pull her into a tight hug. “I’m your mother, Amira. My name is Talia Al Ghul...and I’m your mu’quin.”

Just as Amira was about to ask if she was Talia, she felt herself limp and soon, she saw black.

Wally stood at the entrance of the Agreste manor, tapping his foot as he checked his phone for the umpteenth time. Something was wrong.

“What’s taking her so long? It’s literally just a few blocks from-”

“Is Mlle Dupain-Cheng still not here?” It took everything in Wally to not immediately turn around and glare at the man. While the man did take the time to greet him, there was no way Wally was going to buy his act, especially when Gabriel looked like he had seen death and just got back.

“I’m going to go look for her.” Wally muttered, quickly putting back his coat and hat and going out to look for Amira.

Going back to where they saw each other just minutes ago, Wally noticed that her footsteps lead straight to the park, deciding to follow them. But when he got to the end and noticed that the footprints didn’t continue to anywhere, Wally panicked. Using Speedforce, he quickly zoomed around the park, looking for any trace of Amira, but found none.

“Where did you go?” Wally asked no one, feeling his head begin to hurt, finding it harder to breathe. His head began to ring and then it happened. He saw Amira reaching out for him before being dragged away.

It was happening again…

He couldn’t protect Amira… he failed her yet again.

A scream pierced that Christmas Eve’s cold air, the scream carrying out to Christmas Day itself.

What a wonderful gift to start Christmas Day.

#maribat #amira wayne

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flufflepuffle296 · 4 years ago

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“Chloe xxx”

I really want Chloé to get another redemption arc, but not because she wants to be Queen Bee again or prove herself to anyone-but because she wants to prove to herself that she can be as awesome as she wants. Also sorry but I rambled here.

I don’t even want it to start because of something big like being rejected or glares from classmates, it could just be she’s chilling in her room and she notices her butler flinching when she calls his name, or she’s watching a show and she wants to be just as cool as the main character, or even just looking around the class and just thinking “why not?”

She then starts calling her butler’s name a little sweeter, takes Sabrina out for coffee at her favourite café this time, pushes Alya’s bag towards her when it falls off the bench. She anonymously donates money to varying charities and doesn’t tell anyone about it. She feels warm when she does it-she doesn’t know why but it almost feels kind of nice. She begins working a shift or two here and there at the hotel. She smiles at Mylene when she walks in (even if she considers that outfit a crime against fashion), and returns pens when she borrows them. Nino loses a USB and Chloé helps in the search party for it (though does it secretly at break and lunch).

Becoming nice to Marinette is harder though. She decides however, that if she wants to be an ok person, she has to give everyone a chance, so buys a yard or two of a nice fabric the girl’s been eyeing for weeks, and posts it with a note signed “-C xxx”. It kind of feels a little nice when Marinette walks in in a pale pink beaded dress that isn’t totally horrible Chloé supposes.

She later realises that saying sorry is another thing she can do to become a better person, and she always kind of wanted to but was too prideful to do so-but no more! She apologises to butler Jean, saying that she’s sorry for screaming at him, firing him, everything.

She then apologises to Sabrina, for treating her as a slave and asking if she wanted to go to that film she’s been rambling about, since they always go for her choice. She also takes all of her homework back that Sabrina was doing for her, and starts working really hard on it.

She goes to the bakery later that week, and orders a large slice of cake, reasoning that she can’t be nice to others if she’s not being nice to herself, therefore she needs this chocolate cake. She then asks Sabine if she can go up to talk to Marinette, who is rather skeptical of her and only allows her in the dining room. She apologises for bullying her all those years, and hands her an envelope signed “-C xxx”. Marinette opens it, to find it full of cash that’s tied in small bundles with labels on.

“Homework soaked-age 7” €3

“Sketchbook ruined-age 10”. €18

“Teacher’s present destroyed-age 14”. €16

Everything she’s physically destroyed or ruined is accounted for and compensated. She then apologises for all the verbal abuse and mean comments, before asking for a truce. Marinette accepts, and points out that since they have a truce, she is obliged to inform Chloé that she has buttercream on her face.

A week later she gets all her homework back: B+, B, A-, B-, A+.

Not her usual report of full marks, but she’ll take it.

She starts working every night at the hotel, from 6pm till 10pm. She refuses to look it though-she is Chloé Bourgeois after all. Her uniform is spotless, her makeup is now impeccable (blue eyeshadow with pale lips? What was she thinking?), and she never has a hair out of place. She begins living on coffee-these grades aren’t going to raise themselves after all -and constantly has an energy drink in her bottle (not that the class is allowed to know that).

Grades: B+, A-, A, B, A+

Getting better...

Once in class, Rose slammed her head on the table (delicately? She somehow slammed her head DELICATELY?), and weeped that she didn’t understand the material. Chloé scribbled an explanation on a sheet of paper, and after class slipped it in Rose’s bag.

The next day, an akuma strikes near the school. They can’t leave because some kids live far away, and Bustier isn’t taking initiative and the class rep is no where to be found. Chloé bites her lip, before standing on the desk and clapping her hands. Once she has the class’ attention, she gives out instructions.

“KIM, IVAN! Grab heavy objects and block the doors. JULEKA, NINO, NATHANAEL! You can lock the windows since you’re the tallest. EVERYONE ELSE! Clear books away and any other things that could cause bruising if knocked over, put bags away, and hide under the desks and benches!”

Everyone stares at her.

“NOW!”

Everyone scrambled to their duties, before hiding under the desks, holding their heads like Chloé instructed.

Grades: A, A-, A+, B+, A+

Nearly there...

She informs her father that she’ll be leaving for a week next month, and tells Bustier and Damocles. She books a plane ticket to New York with her money from working, as well as a hotel room. She packs her bags and leaves, giving her dad a kiss and a hug beforehand and promising that she’ll be safe. She boards her plane and then hauls her bags up to her room, before making a call.

“Who is this?”

“Your daughter, Chloé.”

“I DON’T-oh you. Why have you called me I’m in the middle of working-shouldn’t you be at pre-K?”

“I’m 15 and French ma-but anyway, is it possible if you could promote Marinette’s website-MDC-in return I’ll work for you for free.”

“Oh yes Marinette-the exceptional one. How long will you work?”

“I’m only here a week-I’ll become your assistant even! I know you hate Stephanie.”

“...Fine. I’ll drop her into conversation at an interview if you’re only here a week. Now do not call me unless it’s an emergency. You start tomorrow-8am, sharp, in a fashionable outfit-or you’re fired.”

Chloé smiles as the line goes dead. Her mother may be a dragon, but Chloé can respect that she helps those she cares about.

Even if it isn’t her...

The next day she arrives at the office at 7:45, in a white suit with gold jewellery. Audrey nods, before sending her out with rapid instructions for coffee. Chloé takes her order to the café she requested, and starts reading it out to the barister, only for him to pale and interrupt her halfway through.

“Oh God-you’re ordering for Audrey aren’t you? Oh Lord-HEY AARON! STYLE QUEEN ORDER NO. 37! QUICK!”

The other worker, Aaron, goes white, before flipping every machine on and opening every can he can find in preparation.

“You must be her new assistant-good luck with her, the last one would come in to order her coffee and then sit in the corner and cry so much we set up her own space-look!” The first one says, pointing out to a comfy area of bean bags and pillows.

Chloé cringed. “Nah, worse. I’m her daughter, if you can even call me that, that’s interning for her in exchange for a favour.”

The barister pitied her. “Yikes.”

Chloé takes the coffee being thrusted at her and nods at the two, before sprinting back to the office.

After that week of hell, she still refuses to wear anything other than heels and designer clothes, and her hotel room is immaculate. She packs the night before, and sets off back to Paris in the morning.

MDC takes off after the Style Queen reccommended it briefly in an interview, and Chloé starts helping Marinette manage and organise commission dates and social media, eventually becoming her PR person/caffeination.

She starts working not only her 6pm-10pm shifts, but also a few shifts from 4am-7am a few times a week. She does her homework at lunch and as soon as she gets back from school, even doing it during akuma attacks. She gets through a concealer a week for her bags, and sleeps all weekend.

Grades: A+, A+, A+, A+, A+.

Perfect.

...Or not...

She realises that she can’t maintain this. She can’t survive on 3 hours sleep and an unholy amount of caffeine. She cuts back on her shifts, doing 4 a week at most, and only does homework for a maximum of 2 hours a day. She starts, meditation and yoga, trying to keep her mind peaceful. She still donates to charities, and goes out with Sabrina and shops.

Grades: A, A, A, A, A.

Still pretty good, and she’s happy this time!

She begins doing things more for herself. She’s always wanted to learn Spanish after all. She hires a tutor, and starts working extremely hard to become as fluent as possible by the end of her education.

She learns conversational Spanish in about 6 months of semi-intensive learning, and decides to do something else as well. She starts learning Mandarin with Marinette, and struggles slightly more than she did with Spanish, but she’s still progressing.

She realises that she has a knack for learning languages, and picks more up more easily after she starts learning Spanish, Mandarin and later Portuguese.

One day when she’s out she comes across a homeless man, and offers him some money and brings him a hot meal. She sees others around him in the same situation, and does the same for them.

She then volunteers at the local soup kitchen, feeding hundreds of people on weekends and washing up afterwards. She connects with the homeless and a few refugees, and starts learning Arabic from one of the regulars, in return slipping her a few Euros (basically she gives her €250 every week).

She takes a shift at the bakery, manning the counter and becoming fast friends with Marinette as they practise their Mandarin on one another.

Grades: A+, A+, A+, A+, A+

AND SHE’S HAPPY!!!

She eventually starts applying for universities, listing her abilities and experiences.

• A+ Student

• Volunteer

• Interned for Audrey Bourgeois

• Works at Boulangerie Patisserie

• Works at Le Grand Paris

• Fluent in Spanish, English and Mandarin, knows conversational Arabic and Portuguese, learning Polish.

The more she writes and thinks about the past 4 years, the more she comes to the realisation of

“Holy shit, I’m awesome. I’m an ok person. I’m a good person in fact. I’ve done good things. I’ve made a good impact on society. I did it. I DID IT!!! And I’m going to keep doing it-after all, I’m awesome and people rely on me, plus it makes me feel good. I’m no longer a spoilt 14 year old. I can be good. I am good. I am a good person.”

#mlb #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #chloe sugar #chloe redemption #chloe bourgeois #chloe deserves better #ml chloe #miraculous chloe #ml #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #bustiers class #style queen #audrey bourgeois

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purrincess-chat · 4 years ago

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Cat’s Not-All-Encompassing Character Ranking

Okay, so I have to admit that I omitted a lot of characters I don't have strong opinions on. Most of them were one-off akumas, so don't get your panties in a twist, your faves are probably still on here (and ranked lower than you think).

As a preface again, these are just my personal opinions. They can't hurt you. You can still like characters more or less than me. And I don't care how you feel about them. This list is for me. And the person that asked for it. So shut up. Go make your own rank list if you’re so butthurt.

We're going in reverse order this time, starting from the bottom:

84. Gabriel Agreste- I mean, is anyone surprised? I am not private about how I think Gabriel should go to jail. Or fall off a cliff. Or be erased from existence. Rip to those that like him, but I’m different.

83. Thomas Astruc- Honestly, he’s down here on principle. Self-inserts are generally a no-no, and I just laugh every time I see him on screen because he really put himself in this show and said boohoo no one appreciates me XD

82. Bob Roth- I feel like this one should also be obvious. He’s just a dick. Terrible human. I give him 0 stars.

81. Tomoe Tsurugi- We all collectively hate her, right? It’s not just me?

80. Su Han- This mans has small peepee energy. And he bad mouthed Fu, so get FUCKED, my dude.

79. Rolland Dupain- Listen, I get it, he liked Marinette in the end, but I could do without the racism.

78. Nathalie Sancoeur- My opinion of Nathalie took a nosedive after the s2 finale. I just do not care that she is in love with her boss. Don’t care that she’s dying. Just do not have it in me.

77. XY- Justin Bieber ass wannabe.

76. Nora Cesiare- I didn’t care for Nora. I know Thomas loves her, but the overbearing sibling trope is tired.

75. Anarka Couffaine- I underestimated how much I don’t really like her. Like, it’s not full-on hate, but I just do not care for her.

74. Otis Cesaire- Got akumatized because a kid said he could outrun a panther. I’m still not over it, Otis.

73. Andre Bourgeois- No love for the crooked mayor. I hope your wife divorces you.

72. Alec Cataldi- The real villain of Stormy Weather. Like fr why is he such an asshole?

71. Roger Raincomprix- Is Officer Roger just doing his best? Sometimes. But like sometimes this mans just needs to take a chill pill.

70. M. D'Argencourt- Please get out of the 1600s

69. Ella/Etta- These two are basically the same character, and I am indifferent to both of them.

68. KnightOwl/Barbara- Listen, I would have liked you more if you were less controlling.

67. Majestia- Same as above, but like I guess I like you more

66. Theo- *Mean Girls principal voice* Stay away from underaged girls!

65. Andre the ice cream man- I just want a scoop of chocolate, Andre. Is that too much to ask??

64. Amelie Graham de Vanily- We haven’t seen much of her, but she seems like a snake bitch.

63. M. Kubdel- I mean, if my son wanted to resurrect an ancient mummy and believed in aliens, I’d give the family heirloom to my daughter too.

62. Jalil Kubdel- Lolol, buddy, pal, dude, my guy. Chill.

61. Vincent (Adrien's photographer)- Head empty. Mom’s spaghetti. Idk he’s alright.

60. Manon- I don’t hate Manon. She just gets on my nerves every time she talks.

59. M. Ramier- This mans got akumatized a billion times because he gets emotional about pigeons. I mean, honestly mood.

58. Mme. Mendeleiev- She doesn’t put up with Chloe’s shit, and we respect her for this.

57. Baby August- Someone just give this mans some food. He’s a growing boy.

56. Santa Claus- If I were Santa, I too would list Ladybug as the best kid in the world.

55. Art Teacher- He doesn’t even have a name, but I vibe with him. He seems like he likes to paint scenes of nature with his pet squirrels.

54. Prince Ali- Lil mans just wanted to have a good time. I can respect that.

53. Duusu- Duusu, I get that your Miraculous was broken, but get with the program, girl. You is a hostage.

52. Other Kwamis- Idk, all the ones we haven’t seen as much. I don’t have real opinions on them yet. Just neutral.

51. Sass- He gives me dad vibes.

50. M. Damocles- You go, you funky owl man

49. Jean (Chloe's Butler)- He deserves a raise. What is your name, sir? We may never know.

48. Mireille Caquet- She’s pretty cute. No complaints.

47. Aurore Beaureal- Baby’s first akuma. I love her design. She’s a cutie.

46. Claudie Kante (Max’s mom)- This womans just wanted to go to space and live her dream. We stan a hardworking queen.

45. Hot Dog Dan- I like him more than Andre the ice cream fraud. Sure, my hotdog might turn me purple, but if I ask for chili on it, I bet he’d oblige.

44. Nadja Chamack- I mean, she’s doing her best.

43. Audrey Bourgeois- So, as I said in the episode ranking, I have a love-hate relationship with Audrey. She’s the worst, but that’s why I love her. I love her ironically. Like, yeah she’s atrocious, but I just want to watch her burn the world.

42. Luka Couffaine- Directly in the middle, like he’s always been.

41. Nathaniel Kurtzberg- My opinion of Nath improved after Reverser surprisingly. I ship it.

40. Chris Lahiffe- I like Chris better than Ella/Etta. He’s just a little mans out here living life wanting to grow up. Don’t believe it, Chris. Stay little forever. Being an adult suuuuucks.

39. Fang the Crocodile- The goodest boy.

38. Nooroo- I just want to give him a hug.

37. Mlle. Bustier- She’s doing her best, but I mean, when ya whole class keeps getting turned into supervillains, I’m surprised she’s not an alcoholic.

36. Penny Rolling- I just like her. I think she’s neat.

35. Ondine- Mermaid queen! She’s so sweet, and I love her with Kim. I hope we see more of her in the future.

34. Marc Anciel- Marc is a little cutie bean. Idc if he’s based off one of Thomas’s irl friends. He can stay.

33. Wayzz- He loves Master Fu so much I cry.

32. Felix Graham de Vanily- I know everyone hates canon Felix, but tbh he exudes massive chaotic neutral gremlin energy, and I actually kinda vibe with that. And he pisses with his uncle which is a whole ass mood.

31. Tikki- Tikki is very cute, but bby please work on the preaching. You don’t always know what’s right, babe.

30. Sabrina Raincomprix- Sabrina deserves better. I hope we see good things happen for her.

29. Lila Rossi- Surprised? I actually like Lila. The first fic I ever wrote for this fandom was a Lila redemption. I think she is a good antagonist and foil to Marinette. I absolutely want to see her get dunked on in canon, but that doesn’t mean I hate her.

28. Wayhem- I don’t know why, but Wayhem makes me laugh. I love him XD

27. Uncle Cheng- He’s just a good mans with a birb who wants to make you tasty food. What’s not to like?

26. Trixx- Trixx shot up after GoS. Chaotic bean make Eiffel Tower go bendy

25. Jess- She’s pretty cool. She’s a vibe.

24. Aeon- The cutest bean!!! She saw Adrien and Marinette and said yep. Those two are meant to be together. Jess, we gotta make it happen.

23. Ivan Bruel- Ivan is such a gentle bean. We love him.

22. Mylene Haprele- Smol

21. Fei Wu- I still have not watched the Shanghai special with subs, but I liked her.

20. Gina Dupain- The grandma I aspire to be.

19. Marianne Lenoir- I love her. She is good. She and Fu are so cute. And she seems like she would have kicked le ass back in the day. (and even now)

18. Rose Lavillant- I am so excited for Pigella!! Rose is too cute. We love her.

17. Gorilla- aka Adrien’s real dad. If the series doesn’t end with Gabriel getting yeeted into the stratosphere and Gorilla adopting Adrien, I don’t want it.

16. Clara Nightingale- She’s in love with Marinette. You can’t change my mind. 16 is also how old I hc her to be, so don’t nobody come for me.

15. Tom Dupain- Most. Supportive. Dad. Soft bean. Just wants to make you fresh bread.

14. Sabine Cheng- Good mom vibes. We love to see her.

13. Juleka Couffaine- Shy goth bean. Just wants to have her picture taken. Definitely a lesbian. We stan.

12. Nino Lahiffe- The goodest boy. He’s just out here doing his best, loving his friends.

11. Chloe Bourgeois- Chloe is another one I have a love-hate relationship with. Her brattiness is funny to me. We had high hopes for her. Honestly, she ranks this high because I like to play with her in fic.

10. Max Kante- He smol and smort. And I adore his friendship with Kim and the fact that he made an AI himself at 14. What a legend.

9. Alya Cesaire- Rip to Alya salters, but I’m different. Outside of Chameleon, Alya is fine. She’s a supportive bff. All yall people that are mad she doesn’t kiss Marinette’s ass all the time need to go out and make real friends. I said what I said.

8. Alix Kubdel- I love Alix. I love how she is always so done with all the lovey-dovey bullshit. She is tiny queen, and Bunnix, while OP af, is still super cool. We love to see her.

7. Kagami Tsurugi- I will fight anyone who shits on Kagami. She has done nothing wrong, you guys are just haters. All she did was exist, and yall said, wow what a toxic bitch?? Disgraceful.

6. Jagged Stone- We are going to ignore the deadbeat dad trope that canon thrust upon him. He is a Marinette stan, and we love that.

5. Kim Le Chien- I really love Kim, you guys. Does that surprise you? Listen, my favorite male character types are sweet beans and himbos. Kim is both of these.

4. Master Fu- If you didn’t pick up on how much I love Fu from the episodes ranking, then idk what to tell you. I want him to be my grandpa. I would trust this mans with my life. He did his best. You paint those pictures, you funky little man. I love you.

3. Plagg- My galaxy trash man. Love him. 10/10 chefs kisses all around.

2. Adrien Agreste- The biggest Marinette stan there is. I just want him to kiss her on the face. And marry her. Idk, I just think that would be neat if he could do that. I just want good things for them.

1. Marinette Dupain-Cheng- Honestly, are you surprised? I have always been and always will be a Marinette stan. If you expected anyone else to be in this spot, then clown suit rentals are off to the left.

#cat speaks #cat spoils #character ranking #okay fr tho dont ever ask me for anything ever again #take your complaints to your dashboard button and off my blog #idc if you dont like my ranks #theyre not for you #heck off

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quickspinner · 4 years ago

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Plausible Deniability

Written for the LBSC sprint fic challenge. If you’d like to join in follow @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers for more information!

Challenge rules:

Pick a prompt and write for that prompt in up to three 15 minute sprints. No writing outside the sprints until you have completed all three! After the 3 sprints are complete, you have 24 hours to edit (which can include some new writing to smooth transitions, etc). After those 24 hours, post what you’ve got! More information on the challenge here!

Prompt: “I love you.” “Tell me that when you’re sober.”

Soooooo technically this is a fail as far as the challenge is concerned, because I only got the bare bones of it down during the allotted sprints and then I nearly doubled the length in “editing.” But, a failed challenge still means a completed fic, so yay for that.

“She’s trouble in a tank top pretty little time bomb, blowing up, take you down,” Luka sang loudly, causing heads to turn towards them on the street. Marinette hushed him, and he obligingly dropped to a hum.

Marinette gritted her teeth, adjusted Luka’s arm over her shoulders, and reminded herself that she had signed up for this. Had, in fact, assured Luka over and over that she didn’t mind and that he deserved to relax and celebrate, and just drink your shots, already, Luka I’ll make sure you get home safe. All of Luka’s friends were ecstatic for him and everyone wanted to buy him a drink, so Marinette had stood her self-appointed duty, making sure he had enough water and pacing things out so that when he staggered out of the bar at the end of the night, leaning heavily on her, he was still moving mostly under his own power, though he was certainly feeling no pain.

Drunk Luka was chatty, though, and all the thoughts that normally stayed in his head seemed to just pour out of his mouth at random (along with, apparently, every song he’d ever heard or written).

“Snakebite heart, and a bubblegum smile,” he sang, fortunately at a more reasonable volume this time.

“You’re so ridiculous,” Marinette grumbled, but there was fondness in it.

“You’re the best,” he giggled. “I love you.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Tell me that when you’re sober.”

“I did,” Luka snorted, and then laughed his drunk laugh again. “You avoided me for weeks.”

Marinette winced and bit her lip. She hadn’t been thinking about it when she said it. It was a reflexive response at this point, something she said to all her babbling drunk friends when she saw them home at the end of the night (Nino in particular was an ‘I love you, man!’ kind of drunk). She was used to this role, though it was the first time she’d done it for Luka. It hadn’t occurred to her until just then that her usual quip might hit a little differently with him.

“Ma’nette.” Luka leaned on her more heavily and nuzzled at her temple—sort of. Really he more just bonked their heads together. “S’okay. Don’t get all moody. S’funny.”

“It’s not funny,” Marinette sighed.

“Everything’s funny,” Luka grinned, and then started laughing again. Marinette just shook her head, and settled his arm a little more comfortably over her shoulders. “Sides. I’m drunk. I can say whatever I want and we can just laugh it off in the morning. You don't even have to run away this time.” He leaned his head on hers, which tilted the rest of his body towards her, and she staggered slightly under his weight. “You’re so beautiful. Just...all the time. Fuckin’ gorgeous, you know that?”

Marinette blushed hotly. “You’re drunk,” she muttered.

“Yep,” he grinned, and then added, “Drunk but not a liar.” He kissed the top of her head before straightening. Sort of. He took some of his weight off her, at least.

Luka sighed dreamily. “S’been years since then, right? An’ the first time was years before that.” He laughed. “God, I was such a dramatic little shit. Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody. You must have thought I was so stupid.”

“I thought it was beautiful,” Marinette replied quietly.

Luka’s arm tightened around her shoulder, pulling her against his side in a hug. “Aw, you’re so sweet. You’ve always been great that way. You get me, even when I’m dumb.”

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled, bumping him with her hip. “But come on, Luka, you got over all that a long time ago.”

Luka started to laugh so hard he nearly toppled over, and Marinette had to plant her feet and put all her weight into keeping him upright. When she did get him back onto his feet he was wiping away tears.

“I am drunk as hell,” he chuckled, pulling his arm away.

“You really are,” Marinette agreed with a sigh.

He faced her, one hand curling behind her head. Marinette started slightly, out of surprise rather than fear, as he leaned toward her, his eyes unnaturally bright and liquor heavy on his breath. “I’m so drunk can tell you that I never got over you. That I’m still stupid in love with you and nobody ever makes me feel the way you do. You’re one in a million, Marinette. There’ll never be another girl as fascinating and brilliant and creative as you. I knew you were special from the second we met.” He grinned, one thumb gliding over her lower lip a little more roughly than he probably meant to. “And your lips make me think like a pervert. Also your ass is really cute.” He doubled over, giggling, his hands falling away from her as he started walking again. “You ever think about my ass?” he asked, rhetorically it seemed as without waiting for a reply, he tipped his head back and looked up at the sky. “Ugh, fuckin’ city lights. I miss the stars on the boat.” He started singing again, but casually, as if to himself, instead of belting it to the sky. “She’s outta control, so beautiful. I’ve been waiting so long, but she’ll never know…”

Marinette suddenly felt like she was reeling as much as Luka. She felt hot and cold all at once. She’d had no—

Well. That wasn’t true. She had had an idea that he still felt that way, but she didn’t trust her own judgement, not after years and years of reading into things and making mountains out of molehills, and their friendship was so perfect, so precious, she hadn’t wanted to make things weird. But all this time...oh, Luka...

Luka’s lopsided path was taking him a little close to the street, so Marinette jogged a bit to catch up with his long legs, and slipped back under his arm.

“There you are,” he sighed happily, leaning on her again. “I’m so glad you came back.”

“Don’t I always?” she said, a little breathless from the revelation.

“Eventually,” he agreed. “Thank fuck for that. Don’t know what I’d do if I scared you off for good.”

Marinette sighed, and put her arm around his waist. “Come on. Let’s just get you home.”

If she was quiet on the metro, he didn’t seem to notice, filling the silence with idle chatter and random drunken observations that earned them some amused glances from their fellow subway patrons. Marinette didn’t really pay attention, except to push him away when he buried his nose in the crook of her neck and murmured about how good she smelled. Not that she minded, exactly, but she was still processing his drunken declarations and it was hard to think properly with her really attractive friend-and-maybe-more snuggling up on her. Luka had always craved touch (although not usually like that) and it didn’t really rattle her anymore, she just...really needed to think, and it was hard to do that when she was really kind of feeling like—

“Our stop,” Luka muttered, and it embarrassed her that he was the one to notice. The fact that she was more distracted than he was drunk should have been disturbing. Luka sighed as she helped him get up, and leaned on her a little more heavily. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Tired.”

“I bet,” Marinette said, squeezing his waist lightly. “We’re almost there.” His chatter subsided into slightly off-key humming on the way up to his apartment, and she could see that now that the hilarity was fading, Luka was struggling to stay awake. He couldn’t even manage to stick on one song, humming in increasingly broken snippets.

“All right,” she said, when they finally made it into his apartment. “Bed for you.”

“Bed sounds nice,” Luka agreed, as Marinette opened the door to his bedroom.

“I think you can make it from here,” Marinette said, slipping out from under his arm.

“Thanks, Nette,” he said, smiling down at her, and as she looked up at him her heartbeat quickened. She felt the flush in her cheeks, and looked away quickly, unconsciously licking her lips, before her eyes darted back to his again.

Unfortunately for her, even drunk off his ass, he could read her like a book.

“Are you gonna kiss me, Marinette?” Luka asked, leaning over her with one elbow on the doorway. “Cause I’m not opposed but like, I had plans for your birthday and they’ll be ruined if you’re avoiding me, so if you do you gotta cap your running away at three...no...wait, how many weeks?” He blinked, looking confused. “What day is it?”

Marinette swallowed hard, flooded with shame, her eyes stinging. Luka’s gaze snapped back to her, losing some of that vague expression.

“Aw, Mari, don’t cry,” he sighed, his hands coming up to cup her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. ‘M so sorry. I’m such an idiot, you were never supposed to cry because of me.” He sighed, letting his forehead fall to rest against hers. “Sober me is gonna kick my own ass tomorrow for making you cry.”

Marinette closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. She’d never wanted to kiss him so badly, but it would be wrong while he was like this, and he’d trusted her to get him home safely. Luka would never take advantage of her this way and she wouldn’t do it to him, either.

Instead she leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Luka relaxed into the hug, folding his arms around her and squeezing so tight it made her gasp. He moved to bury his face in her shoulder. “Love you,” he sighed.

“Luka,” she whispered, and he grunted. “Tell me all that when you’re sober, okay? All the stuff you said to me tonight. Tell me again when you’re sober. Tomorrow, okay?” He grunted again, though she really wasn’t sure if he was hearing her.

She gently pushed him back, and then took his face in her hands, and kissed his forehead tenderly. “Now go to bed. I’ll be on the couch if you need anything.”

She knew he was already half asleep, because he didn’t protest her sleeping on the couch. He let her nudge him around, and took the three steps to his bed, and collapsed onto it.

Marinette sighed, and followed him for just a moment to pull his shoes off and cover him with a blanket. He was snoring before she even closed his door.

***

You know just what to say Shit that scares me

He noticed the music first, before he was even fully awake.

I should just walk away but I can’t move my feet The more that I know you the more that I want to

He knew that song.

He knew a lot of songs, really, but more importantly, he knew that voice.

Something inside me’s changed I was so much younger yesterday

The piping voice fell into place right about when he woke up enough to remember the night before. Luka groaned and pulled his covers over his head, wishing he could just curl up and die. He really did want to go back in time and kick drunk Luka’s ass. What had he been thinking, getting that drunk and letting Marinette bring him home alone?

He was thinking that she’d put him in a taxi and send him off, naturally. Because he’d already been a couple drinks in, which was why he’d been hesitating over having more to begin with, and when Marinette had told him to enjoy himself and she’d make sure he got home safe, his logic brain had ceded control to his wishful thinking brain, or something. Because he’d just sold three songs to one of the biggest artists in the country and his name was going to be on the album sleeve and the check had been more money than he’d ever seen in his life and when everyone told him he deserved to celebrate, he kinda wanted to believe them. In his right mind he would have known that Marinette would never just shove him into a cab. Dumbass, he chided himself.

Even beneath the blanket, he could smell food, his stomach equal parts queasy and interested, and Luka knew he couldn’t hide here forever. He had to man up and face the music. Literally, apparently.

Luka sat up slowly, pushing his blanket off, and then opted for honorable procrastination in the form of dragging himself into his bathroom to shower and brush his teeth. If he was going to have to grovel and find a way to pretend he hadn’t meant all those things his dumb drunk ass said last night, he at least wanted the small dignity of smelling decent. He owed Marinette big time after this. It was probably thanks to her pushing water and food on him all night that he didn’t feel worse than he did. He paused on the way to swallow the pills and down the glass of water Marinette had left on his nightstand. It didn’t help his stomach but his head didn’t hurt as much by the time he was out of the shower.

Luka debated putting on real clothes but opted for sweatpants and an ancient t-shirt. It wasn’t like Marinette hadn’t seen him looking worse.

Finally he took a deep breath and made his way out to the living room. He could see Marinette in his little kitchen, the counter piled with food and ingredients. Luka winced; she must have gotten up earlier and gone shopping. There was no way he had this much, or this kind, of food on hand.

Her phone was on the counter, the music—his music—blaring through the bluetooth speakers he’d long ago given her access to.

“I didn’t know that I was starving till I tasted you,” she sang, bobbing slightly as she transferred food to the plates she had ready. “Don’t need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo…”

Luka couldn’t help a smile. He’d covered and recorded the song for her birthday, teasingly telling her he that couldn’t stand to listen to the original anymore, but that was a lie. Luka had wide-ranging music taste and could appreciate even things he wouldn’t necessarily seek out on his own. Mostly, he just wanted to sing it for her. He’d recognized her singing it when he woke up; either she had it on repeat or her playlist had cycled in the time it took him to get cleaned up.

“By the way, by the way, you do things to my boooodEEEEK!” Marinette gasped and dropped the plate she was holding. Luka watched calmly as the shatter-resistant dish (that he’d bought on purpose because a surprising number of people he loved had a tendency to break things) cracked into several large shards. “Damn it, Luka,” she sighed, looking at the mess. “You startled me.”

“Sorry. I’ll get it,” he said quickly, moving to pick up the pieces. His head reeled when he bent over though, sending him to his knees, and Marinette shoved him back as she crouched down instead.

“No, I got it,” she murmured, not looking him in the eye, and Luka bit the inside of his cheek, feeling a flush of shame. He pulled his hands back and leaned back, intending to sit on his heels but falling back on his ass instead. Folding his legs under him like he meant to do that, he raked both hands through his hair and sighed.

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered, as Marinette cleaned up the mess. “About last night. So, so sorry, Marinette, I was petty, and mean, and I said a bunch of really unnecessary things, and I swear I don’t—”

“Stop,” Marinette ordered, dumping the broken plate in the trash, along with the remains of the omelet that had been on it. Luka winced and shut his mouth and his eyes, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

Small, warm hands pushed his away and slender but strong fingers began massaging his temples and forehead. He leaned into her touch with a little moan.

“How do you feel?” Marinette asked gently.

Luka gave a lopsided smile, eyes still closed. “Like I don’t deserve this. It sure feels good though.”

Marinette sighed, her breath wafting over his face. “Can you eat?”

“A Marinette hangover special?” Luka’s grin widened. “Definitely. If there’s any left.”

“There is,” Marinette told him, amusement in her voice. “I always make plenty. Sorry about the dish though.” Her fingers slid down to gently cup his face. Luka opened his eyes, to find he was looking into hers. Her beautiful, stunning eyes that still took his breath even after all these years. They looked red-rimmed and tired, though, and a stab of guilt went through him.

Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head, get you outta my head

Luka cringed at his own voice coming from the speakers. “Did you have to keep that one?” he asked plaintively. “I made you a better one.”

“I know,” Marinette giggled. “But I like this one. It’s the first one you made for me.”

“The quality is shit,” Luka grunted. He’d recorded it on his phone on the boat, on his acoustic back when they were teenagers. The boat hull gave it a weird hollow sound, and in a couple of places he’d gotten too loud and blown out the mic so that it sounded all staticy, and the p’s popped awfully, and he didn’t even know how she could stand to listen to that song because the whole reason he’d made her the cover was because she was playing the song nonstop as she mourned her breakup with—and he’d wanted to do something, anything to help—

Marinette’s lips pressed to the wrinkle in his forehead, snapping him out of his thoughts. “It has sentimental value. Go sit at the table, I’ll bring out the food.”

Luka got up off the floor, swaying only slightly, and dragged himself to his small table. Marinette brought him a loaded plate, bacon piled beside the spinach omelet, sliced banana arranged on the other side. Luka avoided the bacon for the moment, going after the banana first, and then nibbling cautiously at the omelet. Marinette slid a plate of avocado toast and sliced french bread drizzled with honey over to him, and he ate a slice of each obediently.

“Why is this so good when I feel so crappy?” he muttered.

"Science,” Marinette informed him, and he cracked a smile.

“You didn’t have to stay,” Luka said after a moment. “Not that I don’t appreciate this, but…well. You didn’t have to.”

Marinette glanced up at him and then seemed to consider her words for a moment. “I guess I was hoping...maybe you had some things to tell me this morning.”

His fork froze halfway to his mouth as he stared at her, remembering the way she’d held him last night. What’s she’d said in his ear as he nearly dozed off on her.

Tell me that again when you’re sober .

She held his gaze, taking a deliberately dainty bite of honey-drizzled bread, her tongue darting out to lick a stray drop off her lip. Luka swallowed, wondering wildly if she would taste like honey if he kissed her.

“M-maybe I do,” he mumbled, and then took a too large bite of omelet. He stared at his plate as he chewed, not even tasting it as his body went cold and then hot and a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him that he didn’t think had anything to do with the hangover. He was suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

He glanced up to see Marinette still watching him.

“Well,” she said, blushing and looking down at her own plate with a self-deprecating smile that he found much too adorable. “I promise if you do, I won’t run away this time.”

There was a beat of silence as he stared at her and she stared at her plate, and then he mumbled, “Good to know,” and took another bite, trying not to smile too broadly while inside he was screaming like a teenage girl.

Fiction Master Post

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#quickspins #lbsc sprint fic challenge #lukanette #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #luka couffaine #marinette dupain-cheng #drunka #drunken confessions #promptfic #miraculousladybug #miraculous ladybug #quicksprints

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feminaexlux · 4 years ago

Text

One Last Night in the Life of...

Hello folks this is your pilot speaking, please buckle up for some classic fxl Sexy Awkward coming your way!

Explicit!

Dedicated to @bloody-no-kissu, @chromemist for belated birthdays…

AO3 Linky here

⁂

Marinette had argued and eventually won the fight over paying for the smoothies. Luka had felt bad for “ruining” things, but she felt bad for having pushed him into the “date” with Adrien in the first place. She got to the counter to pay and the cashier working there leaned in close. “Hey,” she said. “Your girlfriend’s super cute!”

It felt weird to be complimented when she wasn’t in her own body. “Oh? Thanks? But we’re not going out.”

The other cashier elbowed the first one and said “See? I said she was out of his league.”

“What?!” Marinette yelled out loud. “No I–she’s not?”

“Hmm, I’m glad you’re optimistic!” the first cashier laughed, handing Marinette the two smoothies she ordered.

What the hell, Marinette thought. People were thinking Luka was… what… not handsome enough? He totally was! He… totally was. Maybe not the Adrien Agreste conventional sort of handsome but… What made him attractive was more that he was a freaking Saint and helped out everyone regardless of their circumstances. God, she thought back to when she was 14 and a stumbling mess over a crush that had been, in retrospect, severely crippling to Marinette’s self-esteem.

Luka never made fun of her for that. He'd… actively helped her try to find her own happiness.

And here, again, Luka had been given a bum deal and still stepped up to the task. He was too good for Marinette, honestly. She placed the smoothies down at a table Luka was waiting at. He’d been staring out the window at something.

“I really didn’t know Adrien and Kagami were dating,” Marinette said. “I know he said I got them dating but… all I did was… distract everyone so they could ditch Chloe’s parties together,” she sighed.

“Oh? Hmm. Yeah, I don’t think anyone knew about them. I asked Juleka since she got modeling gigs with Adrien sometimes. She said she had no idea.”

“I guess they had to keep it on the down low,” Marinette shrugged, taking a sip of her smoothie. She’d gotten blended strawberries. Usually she had… passion-fruit, but it seemed a little too sour for her today. She had gotten a blueberry mix for Luka. “It's… I’m not too surprised with what happened. I just wanted to say that… I’m not devastated or anything.”

Luka looked at her, staring at her with her own eyes. It was strange to see them looking so… confused and pained simultaneously. “Let’s take these back to the dorm.”

⁂

They chatted lightly on the way back to Marinette’s dorm, mostly about how difficult it was for Marinette to wrap her head around sound engineering and how Luka basically had no idea what was happening in her fashion courses. A few eyebrows were raised when “Marinette” brought back a boy to her personal room but no one had stopped them. They both stepped into the tiny space, and after the door closed behind them Luka asked “Can you help me take everything off? I have no idea how you ladies handle these things by yourselves.”

“It’s definitely easier having someone else help you take your clothes off,” Marinette laughed.

They both paused, replaying back what they had just said.

“I can try–” “I mean that–”

“I just wanted to–” “No no, I know how–”

“I already know what I look like undressed, Luka, let me get this,” Marinette said, half yelling in a slight panic with Luka’s voice. She reached over and unhooked the collar fasten, hastily pulling the back zipper down. “And I guess now you know too, right?” she laughed nervously.

Luka flushed instantly. “I'll… I’ll be right back,” he said shakily, gripping parts of the cute pink cocktail dress Marinette had chosen for the date. He stepped behind Marinette’s changing screen and shucked off the dress, throwing it over the top edge.

He’d seen her undressed, yep. He wasn’t going to go multiple days without a shower. He’d tried his best to not think about it but after two full days of still being Marinette he felt kinda grimy and figured she’d understand the necessity. Especially since there was that date with Adrien. He kept his eyes to the ceiling most of the time but nearly died from shock when he looked down to towel off and discovered The Heart.

What body hair she had down there had been kept neat and trim, probably… waxed actually, except for a patch that was in the unmistakable shape of a heart.

Luka felt like he might have violated some unspoken contract that they weren’t going to judge each other’s body choices. He was judging right then, and he found himself having many, many emotions over it. Some amusement, some “this seems so Marinette”, some wistfulness over not being the lucky asshole who would have discovered it under more natural circumstances.

He also found himself being incredibly turned on.

Now that he knew it was there he couldn’t help himself imagining a giggly Marinette laying back on her bed, her biting her lip in anticipation as… someone… slowly slid her panties off her and uncovered the surprise. God how he wished that’d been him. But it hadn’t, he discovered it the wrong way, he was going to respect Marinette’s choices and her privacy by never mentioning it and… never thinking about it again.

Or desperately try to not think about it anyway.

He shook his head and put on some relatively comfortable clothes. This wasn’t the thing to focus on right now. “Marinette” just had a somewhat boring date with an Adrien Agreste who turned out to not only be more oblivious than Luka had initially thought, but also had already been dating someone else. It didn’t sound like Adrien was going to jump ship to get with Marinette.

And Marinette was probably trying her hardest to not break down in front of Luka. She’d loved Adrien for years. And Luka had slammed that door shut on her unintentionally. So he had to man up and take the L, let himself take the blame, let Marinette work through whatever she needed to while being present to listen if she wanted him around. Not that he could really go anywhere else since she suggested going back to her dorm and this was where “Marinette” was supposed to sleep for the night.

He walked back out and found Marinette laying back in her bed (in his body, that was still going to be weird) rolling her… his eyes at her phone. “Do… you wanna talk about what happened?” Luka asked.

⁂

“I don’t really have more to say,” Marinette shrugged. “I’m glad it’s over?”

Luka blinked back at her, somewhat doubtful. “I thought you’d be… well, it was Adrien and I thought you were still… after him?”

Marinette looked down at her phone and the explosion of texts and voicemails she had. Many of them had been from Adrien, in various flavors of “I’m so sorry”, the last text of which she had replied “I accept your apology but I don’t want to talk right now.” A few had been from Nino, also various flavors of “I’m so sorry dude” (she gave the same reply), from Alya going “Holy shit Luka actually did this for you?” (“yep talk later”), and two from Kagami that were practically essays of how she was punishing herself for not explaining more clearly to Adrien, but that she had also assumed Marinette had been over Adrien for a while. The second text said Kagami would continue to punish herself for making the assumption, that she had severely damaged their friendship, and that she would do her best to restore Marinette’s trust (Marinette’s amused reply was “kags ilu talk later”).

Marinette would deal with all of that later. Right now, she just wanted to relax. With Luka. As if I’d done the hard part, she mentally berated herself.

“The funny thing is,” Marinette started softly. “I know I was in the Friendzone and have been for a while. What I finally realized a while back is that I put Adrien in the Boyfriend-Zone, and… that wasn’t really fair to him, you know? He has his own choices to make and… I wasn’t one of them.” She sighed. “I wish I could have realized it sooner and moved on, but I guess there had been a tiny part of me that still jumped at the chance to see what… what things would be like if he saw me any differently.

"So when… today happened it was just… it felt to me like the one last chance where I could finally get some answers. Or closure, anyway.” Marinette looked back up to Luka, who had been standing stock still. She peeked down at the hands and saw that they were trembling. “And I got both, thanks to you,” Marinette smiled.

“Not sure you should be thanking me for anything just yet,” Luka said. “I had kinda yelled at Adrien on the way out. He’s going to think that was you.”

“I know,” Marinette laughed. “I don’t think anything you said was wrong, though. Except for the part where I was in love with Adrien for ages. It lasted like 2 years, tops, and that first year was so cringey. And if Nino had to remind Adrien to think about me it kinda says more about how much we’ve drifted apart over time. So really, you said to Adrien what I’d been thinking myself. I’m just not brave enough to say it like you did.”

Luka pulled out her desk chair and plopped down. “Okay. Alright. That does make me feel better,” he sighed in relief.

“Luka, why are you so worried for me?”

He sat up a little straighter. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Marinette sat up and leaned forward, reaching out to take Luka's… her hands and Luka closed… her eyes. “Dingo told you, didn’t he?”

Marinette laughed a little. “Yeah. I heard from him.”

“Sorry. I’m really trying to not mess up your–”

“Luka, am I important to you?”

He opened her eyes and shut up for a moment, surprised. “Of course you are.”

“Then don’t apologize. I’ve seen the way you’re trying to… make things easy on me. I basically put you on a train wreck today and you’re still being selfless and worrying about me. My hands will be fine, I want to make you feel better. Is there anything I can do for you?”

He laughed, taking in a deep breath. “Don’t think there’s anything I need. Except for getting my own body back.”

“Then what do you want?”

He shut up again. “I don't…” he trailed off. He shrugged. “I want you to be happy, Marinette.”

“Alright, done. Is there anything else?”

“‘Done’?”

“In spite of this… akuma nonsense… I think I’m happy just being here with you.”

⁂

Luka wasn’t sure how to parse that… and maybe he shouldn’t read much into it. But he still felt some heat on his face.

“Huh,” Marinette commented. “Am I really that obvious when I blush?”

He laughed. “Yeah, a bit.”

She leaned back while still holding on, pulling Luka and the chair closer to the bed, the wheels of the desk chair squeaking lightly as they rolled. “Come relax on the bed. It feels like a laying in bed kinda day.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Most of the day’s over, you know that?”

“Even better,” Marinette laughed. “It’s just… you know. It's… I’m just thinking…” she sighed. “It’s weird. What do you think we’ll do if we’re stuck this way?”

“I have no idea,” he said, moving to the bed and leaning back toward the foot of the bed, away from Marinette. “I’m barely holding together as it is,” he sighed.

“Is it hard being me?”

He considered. “Yeah, kind of. I think it’d be hard to be anyone but me. What about you? Was it hard pretending to be me?”

Marinette giggled. “I got a lot of pointers from Juleka and Dingo. Really the hardest part was figuring out what to do about erections,” she laughed, then stopped and looked wide eyed, propping herself up her… his elbows. “OH I DIDN’T GET OUTSIDE HELP FOR THAT! Just! Just wanted to clarify!”

Luka choked on air, flushing again. He coughed, pulling up Marinette’s shirt by the collar over his… her head to hide his… her face. Well shit, what was he going to say to that? Oh that’s normal you kinda have to… touch it until it goes away? But… the idea that it’d been Marinette touching him, well, that set off a new wave of really intense feelings and he was glad he kept his… her face hidden.

“Pfft, Luka are you embarrassed?”

“Completely. Give me a minute,” he sighed. After a bit he set her shirt back down. “Yeah, I didn’t warn you about that, I guess,” he said, still flushed. “That… must have been weird for you,” he said carefully, remembering how foreign and mind-blowing the concept was when he was still going through puberty.

“Yeah,” Marinette laughed. “I mean, it’s natural. Bodies are bodies, right? I was just kinda… surprised in the morning, that’s all.” She cleared her throat, also getting a little red. “Sorry,” she sighed. “I guess I should have… asked for permission? To… um. Deal with that?”

He laughed. “I… God, I don’t even know. You can do whatever you want with…” he gestured at his body. Don’t think about it, don’t think about how she touched you.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Have you been doing 'whatever you want’ with…” she gestured at him.

He choked again. “No! No, I haven’t done… no, and I won’t,” he said quickly.

“That seems a little unfair,” she smirked. “If you’re telling me I can do what I want, why shouldn’t you do what you want?”

⁂

What the hell was she saying? God, Marinette, why are you being so weird right now? she asked herself.

Well. Part of it was… an odd sort of tension snap after that date with Adrien. And she did feel more relaxed than she’d been for years, being able to finally let go of an old obsession. When she got the closure she needed, she didn’t realize it’d come with a sense of elation at having a clean slate for the first time in half a decade.

Even if the universe closed a door on her, she felt like she’d been given freedom. Now she didn’t have to worry about how things could have been. She didn’t have to keep pining away in silence. She didn’t have to watch everything she did around Adrien. She didn’t have to… be someone else entirely just to be able to talk to him.

She regretted that she had put everyone else aside for that silly crush.

And now without Adrien as a distraction, there’d been someone else nearby who made her feel… really good… for just being herself. And she was here with him. There was just the minor inconvenience that they’d switched bodies.

“I’m sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?” Marinette asked worriedly. “It just struck me as… how many people have an opportunity like this? To really experience another life outside of their own? A completely different body? Don’t you want to… explore that?”

What the hell am I saying?

Luka snorted, still red. “You’re kind of amazing, you know that? You’re dealing with this a lot better than I am.” He sighed, putting himself against the wall. He cleared his throat. “I never really thought about it until now. I don’t want to… mess up anything.”

“What if I helped?” Marinette blurted out, sitting up all the way. What the hell am I saying? “I mean, I know how my body works. I could help you… explore whatever you want to? I… I think it might be an interesting experience!”

He took a deep breath, still blushing, but something about his raised eyebrow said his curiosity was piqued. “Are you suggesting that you… touch me while I’m in here?” He pointed at her body.

“Y-yeah, it’s that… if I can teach at least one guy to handle me properly I’d want it to be you!” Oh hell, I just said that, she thought at herself. She opened her mouth to try to take it back, then closed it again, stopping herself. It’d been a conditioned reflex to try to take back the things she said, but she didn’t want to this time.

“Could… you… explain that?” Luka asked slowly, his eyes open wide.

“Okay, so,” she started, trying to sort her thoughts. “I’m finally not hung up over Adrien for the first time in a long time, and it’s in part thanks to you, and I was just thinking well if we’re stuck in these bodies we might as well know how they work? And maybe Ladybug and Chat Noir will figure it out and fix things for us but I also was thinking I want to know more about… what feels good for you and I also want… you to know what feels good for me… if you want that… because I-I… I'm…” She breathed. One last hurdle. “I’ve had feelings for you for a while… And I know this is like horrible timing but… maybe… this might be an opportunity where we could try something? A-and learn more about each other? Together? If you want?”

Here’s to hoping I didn’t get this wrong… she thought. On some level Luka had always been clear about his feelings toward her. He’d even liked her when she was throwing herself at Adrien. But… since she took this long, maybe he’d moved on. At least with the rush of relief sweeping over her with the Adrien Feels all over and done, she might not feel this particular sting so badly if Luka was… was going to turn her down.

No, no, she definitely would so she really hoped he wouldn’t.

“Wow,” he breathed out, shaking his head in disbelief. Her heart stalled. “I… really wish I was back in my own body right now.” He sat up and turned toward her. “This is… a little difficult to say when I’m looking at myself, but… Yeah. Alright.” He looked up at her. “Thing is, once we switch back I’m going to want to use all I’ve learned with you. Probably every day if I get a chance to.”

Her heart fluttered back online double-time. “That’s a naughty way of asking me to be your girlfriend.”

“You started it.”

“True,” she laughed. “Okay. Yes, Luka Couffaine, I’d love to be your girlfriend. Once I get back to being an actual girl again.”

He grinned. “Then I’m all yours. So, what do you want to show me?”

⁂

He ended up on her lap, sitting back against her (his) chest. “Th-this is how I usually um… start things,” she said shakily. She had first laughed over the fact that Luka had ended up wearing a sports bra because putting on a normal bra was too “difficult”, but then she got a little more nervous as he took off the shirt and sweatpants he had thrown on after they came back to her dorm.

He hadn’t really wanted to raid through her intimates drawer for anything other than what was necessary. There was just too much of a possibility that he’d discover something even more racy than The Heart.

He had stripped down to her underwear, feeling somewhat less self-conscious than he’d expected. She was going to show him what she wanted to show him of her own body, and somehow that was enough to let him forget whatever discomfort he had for a little while.

“I'm… I’m thinking that it m-might be easier to imagine… just imagine that you’re um… inside my head with me? S-so like it’s virtual reality. Except… you’ll feel everything too.” She was really nervous.

“We can stop at any time,” Luka said, to alleviate any tension. It’d be a little disappointing but he cared about Marinette more than he cared about… a lot of things.

Marinette pressed her… his face into his… her own neck and smiled. Marinette’s body was apparently pretty sensitive in that particular area because it felt way more ticklish than he thought it would have on his own body. Maybe? It wasn’t as if he had anyone put their lips on him like she just did… Maybe she’d be the one to discover that with him. “Hmm,” she said, “I’ll keep that in mind. You let me know when you want to stop too, okay? Wanna keep going?”

“Yeah, to both,” he answered. She laughed against his neck and he felt shivers run down his spine.

Marinette’s body was really sensitive. Good to know.

Marinette traced with her… his fingers down over his… her breasts and stomach, barely touching anything. Fingertips ghosted down thighs and back up to the panties, lazily following around opposite sides of the hem until the fingers met at the convergence point. Then she pressed a middle finger to the slit, rubbing up and down. Luka had no idea how to process this, but it was very… intense.

“What are you feeling?” she asked.

“Hard to describe,” he answered eventually. It was fascinating to feel… whatever it was. There was an insistent signal that something pleasant is happening but otherwise Luka just noticed Marinette’s body was… reactive. He finally started noticing that he was feeling hot.

And wet. Well now, that was… new… ish.

Marinette pulled aside the panties a little bit. And holy shit Luka jumped when Marinette touched the clit directly. “Are you alright?” she asked, stopping in place.

“It… feels pretty good,” Luka said, Marinette’s voice coming across higher pitched and a little breathy. Damn, if it hadn’t been Luka saying it, it would have been hot as hell to hear. “I’m alright,” he said, laughing a little. He said that a bit early, perhaps, because Marinette put her fingertip inside him. That felt… completely and utterly new. He let out a very Marinette sounding squeak. “I’m okay!” he assured her when she stopped in place again.

“I’ll keep going,” Marinette said, her… no, his? voice sounding low and a little excited.

If… if Marinette was getting excited this was going to be a hell of a ride for Luka. She pumped her finger back in Luka and he still had no idea how to process everything. All of the sensations were rushing in, very foreign but… Marinette knew what she was doing. Even if she’d been using another person’s fingers, she knew exactly which spots to hit and exactly how hard to hit them. And she’d gone all in. “Mari–!” Wait, wait, wait. That sounded EXTREMELY wrong coming from her own voice.

Marinette laughed. “Remember,” she whispered against his neck. “Just pretend you’re me.” She just kept going and Luka’s mind was more or less melting away. She reached under the sports bra to pull it up and squeezed a breast. It felt nice, but it wasn't… it wasn’t as intense as Luka had thought it’d be?

Until she pinched a nipple. “Holy…” Luka breathed. He didn’t notice it but he’d been breathing harder and faster. Marinette did something with her fingers and rubbed up against the clit and in that moment all of the nerves in the body Luka was in lit up and threatened to overwhelm him.

“Mmm, yeah, it feels good, doesn’t it?” Marinette whispered, using his voice so goddamn effectively. It’d been smooth and husky in equal parts, and for some reason it… it actually was kind of sexy. Holy crap he couldn’t think his own voice was sexy, could he? Well fuck, he was being fingerfucked by himself so why the hell not. She circled her finger inside, slipping in another digit to spread… spread her body wider. “Tell me, does it feel good?”

“Y… yeah,” Luka laughed. It wasn’t bad, it certainly wasn’t even just good, it’d been so different but it also felt kind of amazing.

“Sometimes I imagine… someone like you doing this to me, you know?” She said that so simply, like it hadn’t been enough that she was inside him. “I came so hard when I thought of you,” she admitted.

Well shit, how was he going to recover from that? “You thought of me?” he asked dumbly. Shit, it felt like he was close.

“I did, and I came while calling out your name,” she continued, turning what was left of his consciousness into soup. He was imagining her and him in exactly this situation, except back in their own bodies, and her body pressing up against his hand and her voice screaming out his name while she came on him.

And then he came.

It was… a different sort of coming than he was used to. Instead of the release crashing like a wave after it had crested to a high point, it felt more like… a boil. Little bursts of sensation and… it kept getting more and more… something. His… no, her body was in a sort of vibrato, rapidly flickering between too much and need more.

Holy shit, he thought. Apparently the sensation continued through for a while, following Marinette's… his finger’s movements. “Aah,” he breathed out. Or at least, he thought he’d been quiet. Turned out not quite, 'cause Marinette slowed down and stopped. He still felt the sensation of coming, just less amplified. Her body was still… tensing and the signals from down there were still pulsing but starting to taper off. “That… was something,” he laughed.

⁂

“Mmm,” she hummed against his neck. “Did you like it?”

“It was… yeah, pretty nice,” Luka said with a little hitch in his voice as he spoke. She noticed that he’d still been squeezing his hand into tight fists as she had been working him, but the fingers unfurled after he came. That was a good sign, he was relaxed. She drew out her hand from him and licked the fingers clean as he watched. It was an idle thought: if her juices tasted different from his perspective. The answer was not really. He let out a sigh. “God, I wanna taste you,” he said breathlessly.

She giggled a little. “Why don’t you, then?”

He turned and blinked back her own blue eyes at her, wide and dazed. “Uh, I…” He shifted a little in her lap and stopped moving, freezing abruptly. It took a moment for her to realize why.

She’d gotten hard. God that was so weird to realize.

She was pretty sure she’d gotten turned on when she was imagining him… in pretty much this same situation except with the two of them back in their own bodies. It was pretty bold of her to admit out loud that she’d gotten off to imagining him fucking her in her solo play… But she’d been feeling pretty emboldened in spite of, or most likely because of how bizarre the whole situation was.

She wasn’t in her own body. She didn’t have to think about anything the same way.

“Did you get turned on watching… me?” Luka asked, slightly amused.

“I got turned on imagining us,” she admitted.

He pulled his head back a bit in surprise, but nodded. He shifted again turning to sit sideways across her lap. Then he unzipped her jeans. “Let me take care of this,” he said, a smirk on his face. “As payback.” She let out a very un-Luka squeak as he pulled her out of the front opening of his boxers. He licked her fingers and wrapped them around his cock, squeezing and pulling up and rubbing a thumb over the tip.

And just as suddenly Marinette felt a rush of sensation.

It wasn’t even something that she could name, but all of a sudden she had gone from 0 (okay probably 20) to 80% done with just that… “Ohhh my god,” she breathed out. “Is… is this how it is for men?”

Luka chuckled and continued… palming her? Whatever it was he was doing, she should probably etch that into her memory. For “payback”. There was squeezing and stroking, fingers rubbing the underside and just barely skimming over the flared ridge. He took her thumb and pressed lightly into the very tip, spreading the slick drop over the increasingly sensitive head and sending Marinette so much closer to that 100%.

It didn’t take long to send her over that peak with the way he was using her hands. Marinette groaned and felt Luka’s body strain like a plucked string. Some part of her consciousness appreciated the delicious sound of Luka’s voice reverberating through her. She’d be able to do that to him from her own body someday.

She heard Luka laughing with her voice and after a few seconds of heavy breathing she peeked from half-lidded and suddenly very heavy eyelids. She… felt relaxed, a little bit tired. Hah, men, she thought.

⁂

There was a strange buzzing in the back of his mind and Luka could swear he heard some distant raucous laughter. He felt a weird pulling tension in his brain and had in his vision what seemed like an afterimage of… some outline of a neon yellow star?

He looked up and saw Marinette staring back at him in shock.

Oh.

This was… right. At least, this was how it was supposed to be.

He was in Marinette’s room and…

Apparently back in his own body?

And Marinette was still holding his dick.

“Uh,” he laughed, embarrassed. “I… don’t know what happened but…” He nervously shifted back and noticed his cum was on Marinette’s hands because of course he hadn’t thought about cleanup at the time like a dipshit.

“We’re back to normal?” Marinette asked, noticing the sticky mess on her hands.

He tucked himself back into his boxers and sat up straighter. “Sorry,” he muttered, the heat on his face continuing to build as she got up and rinsed her hands at her sink.

Marinette turned back around and bit her bottom lip while she dried her hands on a towel. “How… how did we… W-was it because we had–”

Luka coughed, cleared his throat and shrugged an “iunno”, suddenly unable to bear with the fact that they’d done what they’d just done. And gotten snapped back to their own bodies because of it? Holy fuck if that’d been the reason they got swapped back that’d be the most ridiculous fucking akuma. What even was the Lucky Charm trigger, their staggered orgasms? Did that even make sense? He shook his head and tried to look anywhere but at Marinette.

He heard Marinette giggling and he looked back sheepishly with a lopsided smile. She walked back across the tiny space and sat on his lap, resting her arms around his shoulders. “We’re back to normal,” she trailed off, a light blush on her cheeks. “Aaand we've… learned a few things,” she continued. Luka just nodded and wondered what was going through her thoughts. “Didn’t you say you’d use what you learned when we switched back?”

Oh.

Well then.

⁂

“Asterr, fade out!” Brielle wheezed through her laughter. There was a golden flash and a starfish kwami popped back into view, giggling along with Brielle.

“That was unexpected!” Asterr giggled, covering her mouth with her fins as the laughter took over again.

“Holy shit I didn’t expect them to go that far,” Brielle kept laughing. “Three days of nothing and all of a sudden they dove straight into that! Has that happened before?!”

“Star-Crossed is a tricky power and sometimes unpredictable, so I hadn’t seen something like this before!” the kwami said. “It depends on which two you switch! Why did you choose them, Bri?”

Brielle shrugged. “One, it’s hilarious. Two, they’re both shy as fuck except for the fucking apparently. Three, I knew they’d be okay, more or less. And four, it all worked out. Luka’s been stoic and accepting but I sure as hell can’t stand to see another year of that kicked puppy face when he thinks no one’s looking.”

“You’re a good friend, Bri,” Asterr giggled.

“I sure am.”

⁂

Thanks to @verfound for letting me borrow Brielle as well lol

#fxl fic #lukanette endgame #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #rating e #body swap au #lukanette #endgame lukanette

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salthaven · 5 years ago

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An Odd Day for a Normal Girl

@soap-lady I’m not quite sure I did this right, and I wrote this in an odd haze of ‘what’s the most ridiculous way Marinette could end up dating her crush, who is also a superhero, to the point where she questions life’ and this mess of like 3k words appeared so...here we go? Thanks for the prompt, haha!

An Odd Day for a Normal Girl

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a normal girl with a normal life. She goes to school with her best friend who’s a model, she designs for superstars, and she’s head over heels for one half of the Parisian superhero duo that saves the city on a weekly basis. Just like any average girl.

Okay, so maybe that’s not quite normal. Maybe Marinette should explain a bit. Maybe…

So basically, there’s this crazy guy named Hawkmoth. He wants the Miraculous- those are magical pieces of jewelry, no she’s not crazy- of the Ladybug and Black Cat. Those two are in use, being held and wielded by Scarlet Lord and Chat Noir, two heroes who protect civilians from danger and stop the Akuma- Hawkmoth’s monster villain guys- from destroying everything. Understood? Great.

So Marinette may or may not have a crush on Scarlet Lord, but she has good reasons! The reasons: He’s kind, polite, charming. (Not to mention he’s literally saved her life over twenty times by now.) So maybe she’s a bit of a damsel in distress, she can’t help how she turns to mush when he looks at her! And God forbid if he protects her, her brain practically shuts off from the overheating of her face. She’s lucky that she doesn’t know the boy behind the mask, she’d die on the spot from embarrassment!

(It doesn’t help that all of her friends encourage her feelings. Even Félix, her normally calm- albeit rather easily flustered- friend when it comes to matters of the heart, encourages her ‘pursuit’, as he calls it.)

Speaking of the blond, Félix is the cousin of Marinette’s best friend- Adrien Agreste. Local heartthrob and Paris’s sunshine child, Adrien is the poster child of the perfect son. He’s smart, fluent in multiple languages, great at fencing, and has a natural knack for physics. He’s a model, with good looks and a father who is a king of fashion. He’s the stereotypical rich kid- until people look away. Then he’s punning away, sneaking off in little acts of rebellion to hide in Marinette’s house where they play Ultimate Mecha Strike and eat pastries until their fingers are sore and their stomachs are full.

Oh, and what’s more? Adrien is Chat Noir, holder of the Black Cat Miraculous. His ‘kwami’, as he calls it, accidentally outed himself when Marinette brought up cheese pastries for the first time.

Of course, this naturally means he’s become Marinette’s wingman, determined to get his best friend together with his partner in crime- er, uncrime? Partner in defeating crime? Marinette isn’t good at making up names...but she is good at designing.

Which brings up the last thing. Marinette wants to be a designer, that much everyone knows. She’s done work for Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and a few others by now. She’s been praised by Audrey Bourgeois and Gabriel Agreste...and she works under Félix’s mother, Amelie, as an intern.

(She’s still not convinced that Félix didn’t pull a few strings. ‘A keen eye for talent’, sure. Marinette is still grateful and honored, of course.)

So yeah. A normal life, right?

But that’s enough about Marinette. For now, she needs to get to school. If she’s late,

Félix and Adrien will make fun of her for the rest of the day. “She can already hear Félix’s exasperated, “How can you even do this? You live right across the street!” paired with Adrien’s giggles.)

Luckily, Marinette gets to class a few minutes before the bell, giving her time to sit in her spot behind Adrien and pull out her stuff. Félix is already in his spot beside her, reading his book. He looks up at her with a small smile and approving nod before turning back to his reading. Marinette doesn’t try bugging him, she knows just how much the blond likes his quiet time before class starts.

The other blond, however, does not want quiet in the morning, and is quick to turn around in his spot to beam up at her, accidentally knocking Nino a bit with his sudden turn.

“Marinette!” Adrien cheers. “How have you been? How was your night? Anything interesting? Ooh, did you start working on that new design you were telling me about?” He’s practically bouncing in excitement, and Marinette can’t help but giggle as she nods.

“I’ve been good, my night was good, and yes. I’ve started gathering all of the fabrics that I’ll need for my Scarlet Lord design. I think I’m going to make it the dress, rather than the suit.”

Félix’s head jerks up at Marinette’s words. “You’re making a Scarlet Lord themed dress?”

“Yeah?”

Félix’s face turns oddly red as he nods stiffly. “I see. Tell me how it goes?”

“Sure?” Marinette blinks, confused by the sudden awkwardness in Félix’s posture, the stiffness that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Thank you,” he says, and then turns back to his book.

Odd.

“Anyways,” Adrien sighs out after a moment, cutting through the silence, “I still think you should make a Chat Noir design.

Marinette snorts. “Okay, Adrien. Maybe I’ll make a skirt one day?”

“Or a hoodie!” Adrien leans further over his chair, eyes bright. “You could give it little cat ears.”

“Absolutely not,” Marinette says teasingly.

“Why not?”

“Simple. I’m not a furry like Chat Noir is.”

Adrien sputters, face pink. “Chat Noir is not a furry.”

“He wears cat ears. And a tail.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“Adrien,” Félix interrupts, setting his book back down. “He wears a bell.”

Marinette laughs at the wounded expression on Adrien’s face. “See? Félix gets it.”

“W-well, Scarlet Lord is a buggy, so-”

“A what?”” Félix cuts Adrien off again, nose curled in disgust.

“A buggy. You know, the insect version of a furry. Even weirder,” Adrien sniffs with disdain. “And you guys think Chat Noir is weird.”

“Scarlet Lord is not a buggy!” Marinette says with a huff. “He doesn’t wear fake antennas or anything! The guy doesn’t even have wings.”

Adrien smirks. “Marinette, you’re even weirder than Chat Noir or Scarlet Lord.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you have the biggest crush on a buggy.”

Marinette feels like her face is up in flames as she tries to respond. She’s too busy sputtering to see how Félix blushes and looks away.

Luckily for Marinette, the Akuma alarm goes off. (Okay, maybe that isn’t something to feel lucky about, but Marinette lives in an odd world!) With the alarm, Adrien jolts in his seat, quickly dashing out of the room with a rushed excuse of, “Gotta go bathroom bye!”

Marinette snorts, missing how Félix slips out right behind his cousin as she turns to face the class.

“Where’s the Akuma?” She asks Alya, who’s already pulling up the news. The aspiring journalist always seems to know what’s up, and clears her throat after a few seconds.

“Heading this way. Another love Akuma, apparently he got rejected and doesn’t want anyone else to feel the same. Name is Bleeding Heart.” Alya’s eyes widen. “Oh shit! Guys, he’s outside the school.”

Marinette gulps, hearing the sudden loud and heavy footsteps that only an Akuma can have. In a flash, she’s jumping up. “Everyone, we need to move,” she urges, but it’s too late. Suddenly, the door is being slammed open, and the class gasps.

Bleeding Heart smiles, and Marinette shivers at the pure glee on his face that contrasts with the dark blue tear tracks that fall down his face. He turns his head slowly, eyeing everyone in the room before chuckling.

“Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match,” he mutters to himself, then nods. “Of course! For you, I’ll find the perfect pairings. After all, nobody should ever feel how I have.” Nodding once more, the man lifts both of his hands, forms finger guns, and ‘fires’. Suddenly, red strings shoot from the tips of his fingers, one latching onto Max, the other hitting Alix. Bleeding Heart snaps his fingers, and the ends remove themselves from their fingers and fly to their other half, tying together in a heart-shaped knot.

Marinette feels her eyes widen as Alix and Max turn to each other with love-stricken smiles.

“Alix,” Max says, stepping closer, the string retracting with every move. “I know there is a ninety nine point nine percent chance that I feel this way due to Bleeding Heart’s attack, but the point zero one percent moves me to confess that I have fallen in love with you.”

Alix blushes, moving closer as well. “I love you too, nerd.” They’re right in front of each other, and then they’re leaning in and-

Marinette looks away as Bleeding Heart fires again, quickly latching Sabrina and Kim together.

“Brains and brawns, a perfect pair!” Bleeding Heart cheers as he snaps his fingers. Then he turns again, and his grin turns into a beam. “Oh, look at you two! You’ve already found your match, how sweet!”

Marinette spares a glance back, and sees how Rose cowers behind Juleka, the goth holding a protective stance in front of the blonde. Both blush, but neither correct the Akuma. Which is smart, because he quickly moves on to find a new target.

His eyes lock onto her, and Marinette tenses.

“Little dear, you’re so lonely! We simply must find you somebody to call your other half! Let’s see, who might it be?”

“I believe you should let her choose for herself,” Scarlet Lord’s voice rings clear through the air, and Marinette feels her heartbeat racing as he steps closer.

“You!” Bleeding Heart cheers. “You must be her other half!” He raises his fingers, and Marinette feels her eyes widen.

“Don’t waste your time, they’re already an item,” Chat Noir says cheekily as he tosses his baton at the Akuma.

“They are?” Bleeding Heart asks, eyes showing distrust and hope all at once.

Marinette freezes, mouth open but no response coming out. Part of her screams to say yes, because they can’t risk her being attached to Scarlet Lord. He’d be slowed down in battle by their string, and if he was forced to love her, that’d be a distraction. And yet another part of her yells no, because it feels selfish to force Scarlet Lord to pretend, to play into a false relationship with her. Because it wouldn’t feel fake, even just for the few minutes, for her. Marinette knows her feelings, knows she’d-

“We are,” Scarlet Lord says calmly. “And I don’t appreciate you threatening my dear.”

Marinette feels her face heat up at the gasps around the room, and shrinks in on herself.

“How precious,” Bleeding Heart cooes. “What a shame that I have to take your Miraculous now.” Then he leaps at Scarlet Lord, hand outstretched. Luckily, Scarlet Lord is as quick as he is smart, and jumps out of reach, swinging his yoyo to knock the window open before pulling Marinette to his side.

“Let’s go, love,” Scarlet Lord says, and then he’s racing to the window and leaping out, pulling them away from danger. The wind races through Marinette’s ears as the classroom becomes farther and farther away, and Bleeding Heart becomes a spec chasing after them, Chat Noir behind him, trying to distract the Akuma.

When they’ve gained enough distance, Scarlet sets her down. It’s only now that Marinette sees how red faced the hero is.

She has no doubt that her face is matching.

“Thank you,” Marinette breathes out. Scarlet, somehow, turns even redder.

“Of course. I couldn’t let you get hurt, my dear,” Scarlet says softly, and then he looks away. “Your...friend was live streaming, wasn’t she?”

Marinette blinks, then gasps. “Alya? Oh, oh no…” Knowing the journalist, Alya had likely started recording the moment Bleeding Heart entered the room...meaning the whole city would soon know of Marinette and Scarlet Lord’s ‘relationship’. “She probably was.”

Scarlet nods. “I see.”

“I’m sure that we can explain what happened later!” Marinette says quickly, although her heart squeezes. She tries to push away the odd hopefulness in her heart as she continues. “They’d understand! I mean, we haven’t been seen together in public often-”

“I’ve saved you at least twenty times by now, my dear,” Scarlet Lord corrects. “And you’ve helped me in battles with my Lucky Charm-” a flash of light, and a tube of spotted lipstick falls from the sky, “multiple times. Oh, shit.” Scarlet Lord glares at the object in his hand as if it offended him, then sighs. “I have a feeling that if we try to explain it away, the people of Paris will only believe I am trying to protect you from harm.”

Marinette frowns, eyes scanning the city. (It’s to watch for danger, she tells herself, not because she’s too scared to look into Scarlet Lord’s eyes and see annoyance or, worse, indifference.) “I suppose you’re right. So...what should we do?”

“Well, we can always pretend to be dating,” Scarlet Lord suggests. “And after a few weeks, if you’d like, we can break it off. Say that it was too dangerous, that it’s too risky to try.”

“Right. You’re right, it’d be stupid to continue,” Marinette agrees, and a little bit of her heart cracks.

“I’m sorry,” Scarlet whispers, so soft that Marinette almost misses it. “I know this must be...upsetting.”

Marinette forces herself to laugh, blinking away tears that spring forth as she thinks of the irony in her life, that she’d be stuck fake dating her crush, and accidentally rejected without ever confessing. “Why would it be upsetting?” Marinete asks, facing him with a forced grin. “I mean, who else gets to claim they’re dating the Scarlet Lord?” She looks away, the grin falling. “Let’s...let’s go defeat the Akuma. Maybe he’ll...maybe he’ll be distracted if he sees us acting like a couple?”

“Of course,” Scarlet Lord agrees, and then, as if in a story, his yoyo begins to ring. He answers it, Chat’s face filling the screen.

“Hey, are you two done talking or whatever?” Chat asks, leaping behind a building before glancing away. “Because Bleeding Heart is getting real pissed that I won’t stand still long enough for him to pair me up with anyone, and I don’t exactly have someone to claim as my secret girlfriend right now!” The words pierce Marinette’s heart, and she shifts uncomfortably as Scarlet Lord sighs.

“We’re on our way. Where are you, Chat Noir?”

“I’m on the- oh shoot!” Chat jumps out of the way as a red string flies past him. “Gotta go, check my location, bye!”

The call ends.

“Let’s get to the fight,” Scarlet says lightly, and then he pulls her to his side once more before swinging off…

Bleeding Heart is easy to deal with. Sure, Scarlet ends up having to run off and detransform right after they get there (thanks again, Lucky Charm), but when he comes back he’s fierce and fast, taking the Akuma down with ease. The moment Miraculous Ladybug is cast, Marinette finds herself backing away from the fight. Of course, life isn’t quite so easy.

“Miss!” A reporter cries out, darting over to her. “How does it feel to be dating one of the heroes of Paris?”

A second man shoves a microphone in her face, adding on, “How long have you been dating? How did he ask you out? Is it hard to date when one half hides behind a mask?”

“Do you know his identity?” A third person questions, more following suit, and Marinette feels herself freezing once more.

But then Scarlet lays a hand on her shoulder protectively, and Marinette leans into his hold. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interrogate my dear,” he says, voice icier than she’s ever heard, and the reporters freeze. “Our love life is private, and the details are for the two of us to know.” He glares at the reporters, then turns to Marinette. “Would you like me to drop you off at home, love?”

Marinette blushes scarlet, shaking her head slowly. “I, I should head back to class.”

“Of course. Allow me to be of service.” With a soft smile, he lifts her up gently before heading off.

Marinette tries to ignore how her heart sings while her stomach drops. It’s all too much.

He reaches the school too fast and yet all too slow, and sets her down as gently as possible, making sure that she regains her footing on the ground before letting go of her completely. Marinette backs up, trying to head back to class, to pretend that this day hasn’t been mortifying and painful, that she won’t cry from embarrassment and heartbreak later on.

“Thanks,” Marinette says, then rushes inside. She misses the look of longing on her hero’s face.

It’s worse at school, with her classmates over the moon by the sudden news.

“I thought you just had a crush on him!” Alya exclaims. “I had no clue you were dating!”

“We wanted privacy,” Marinette forces the words out, trying not to find joy. She’s disgusting, leeching happiness out of this mess, isn’t she?

Adrien smiles apologetically, and Marinette sighs. She can’t blame him, he was just trying to help. She smiles back as best as she can, and he seems to slump in relief. Then class resumes, and Marinette uses the last of her willpower to focus on the lesson and ignore the looks she’s getting from her classmates.

She misses the way Félix watches her, eyes soft and searching for the right answer. She just keeps her eyes on the board...

-----

Marinette sighs as she curls up deeper into her blankets, eating cookies as she tries to ignore the day’s events. But how can she? How can she, when her crush is being thrown into her face in the worst sense of irony to possibly exist? The world must hate her, if it’s playing with her head so cruelly.

A knock sounds through her balcony door. Huffing, Marinette rolls over in her bed. “Go away, Chat! I don’t want to talk right now.” She may have forgiven him for causing this mess, but she can’t just-

Another knock, this one louder. Eyes narrowing, Marinette shoves the blanket off and stands up. Pushing on the trapdoor, Marinette says, “Chat, I’m serious! I really don’t want to talk about this whole mess! Can’t you just-” Scarlet Lord’s eyes meet hers, and Marinette stumbles, barely catching herself. “Leave?”

Scarlet Lord smiles, albeit rather awkwardly, and holds out a hand to her. She takes it numbly, face heating up. “I figured that you’d like to talk about all of this. Unless you’d prefer that I leave you alone for now?”

Marinette lets go of his hand and leans against the railing, inwardly cursing her increasingly red face. “No! No. We can talk right now.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, eyes searching for any signs of doubt. “You seemed rather against the idea, although you did seem to assume I was Chat Noir...why is that?”

“Oh!” Marinette looks away, missing how his eyes follow hers. “Chat comes around a lot.”

“Does he?” His voice isn’t quite so soft now, almost… jealous? No, there’s no way. He’s probably just upset that Chat is wasting his time with supposedly random civilians...even if Marinette is their most common ally.

“Yeah. He, uh, he called me the little sister he never had,” Marinette says with a small laugh. “It’s odd, calling a superhero a sibling, but I guess I’ll be claiming I’m dating you, so it’s not that odd now?” Marinette sighs, wistful. “I never thought I’d end up fake dating someone.”

“Neither did I,” Scarlet admits. “But I’d like to talk about that.”

Marinette nods. “Right, of course.” She shifts, glances to him, then glances away once more. “I thought we figured it out back on the roof though? A,” she swallows, “a few weeks, then we’ll call it off publicly. Right?”

“Right,” his voice seems strained, probably from the tangible awkwardness Marinette is radiating. “I’d like to apologize. For all of this. I don’t know what Chat Noir was thinking when he suggested that.”

“He was trying to keep you safe,” Marinette says, pretending that she doesn’t know Chat’s real motive- being her wingman. “If you didn’t agree, Bleeding Heart would have tried to connect us together. You would’ve been stuck to me, and I would only slow you down.”

“I’m sure we’d find a way to beat him. Two heads are better than one, aren’t they?” Scarlet chuckles, then sighs. “No matter the reason, I am sorry that all of this has happened.”

“I get it,” Marinette blurts out, ignoring how his words stab through her heart. “Don’t wanna be stuck with the clumsy girl who always ends up stuck in battles, yeah? It makes sense, I understand completely. I should be the one apologizing.”

“Marinette,” Scarlet says, hand reaching out and grabbing her shoulder, turning her gently until she’s facing him. “I’m only apologizing because you’re in danger now. I would hate to be the reason you get hurt. You’re important to me, do you know that?”

Marinette blinks. “I am?”

He smiles. “It’s hard to see a pretty, talented girl and not fall for her.”

Alright, it’s official. Marinette has to be dreaming, or she’s stuck in some kind of story. There’s no way- what kind of- wha-

“Me?!” Marinette gets out, voice high and face burning.

Scarlet Lord nods, hand slipping down from her shoulder to take her hand instead. “My dear, I’m not blind, nor am I a fool. I know that Chat Noir has been trying to set us up...and I wouldn’t be against it.” He squeezes her hand, and Marinette’s heart jumps. “You’re a wonderful girl, Marinette. But…”

“But it’s dangerous. Because I’m a civilian, and you’re a superhero,” Marinette says, and Scarlet Lord nods. “So that’s it.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“Huh?”

Scarlet smirks, and oh mon Dieu Marinette is a goner. “Picture this. The next few weeks, we try to work things out in public. We make a big show of it, we’re not comfortable with all eyes on us. We break it off, deciding that it’s best to end things before the public becomes worse.” He chuckles. “And as the public tries to focus on the sudden breakup, they’ll become distracted when they see me flirting with a new teammate that I’m bringing in soon, and I’ll earn her love and we’ll make it very public. Since she has a Miraculous and a secret identity, everything will be alright.”

“I see…” Marinette swallows, unsure where the conversation is going. “And who...who’s the new hero?”

“Well, my dear,” Scarlet Lord says, and then he’s holding out a foxtail necklace, “if you’d truly like to try giving this bug a chance, then the new hero is you.”

-----

Marinette is a normal girl with a normal life. She goes to school with her best friend, who is a model and a superhero, she designs for celebrities, and she’s dating one half of the original superhero duo. Oh, and she’s now a superhero herself, but that’s just an average day in the life of Marinette “Kitsune” Dupain-Cheng’s life.

#ml fic #felinette #idek man i just vibed

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deathbymeow · 3 years ago

Text

First Encounter

Adrien stood in the foyer of the penthouse apartment. His limbs frozen as he saw her for the first time in three years. He couldn’t turn back now but he didn’t know how to move forwards either.

She’d been the only thing driving him forward, the only thing keeping him sane until he could return but he hadn’t expected his body to fail him like this.

Marinette moved in time with the music. Her dark hair flowed over her bare shoulders spilling down her back. The slip dress she wore moved hypnotically against her skin as her bare feet travelled over the timber floor. She hadn’t seen him, and he still wasn’t sure if he wanted her too.

Before he could decide, Luka walked into view and headed straight towards Marinette. Luka grabbed her waist and turned her around to face him. Words were exchanged between them before Marinette wrapped her hands around Luka’s neck and pulled him down. As she kissed him a wave of nausea hit Adrien and the reality of his absence hit him like a tonne of bricks.

It had been three years since he’d been shipped off to New York. Adrien had tried to rebel against the dictatorship that was Gabriel Agreste, but after 29 people including some of his classmates and Marinette’s father had died in a fatal akuma attack, there was no reasoning with him.

Adrien was barely seventeen, in his last years of schooling before he went to collage. He could have ran, hell he wanted to but he’d been riddled with guilt so he went not knowing when he would return.

Adrien knew what it felt like to be isolated after living with his cold father for years but living with his Aunt and cousin Felix had been a whole new kind of torture. He’d been closely watched and always had his bodyguard with him.

Chloe had been the only one allowed to visit him and only because of the family connection. With her mother living in New York, she visited often. Chloe constantly lectured him about coming home. Even the fact that his passport was hidden from him didn’t stop her suggesting that she could sneak him out of the country on her private jet. Communication with his other friends had been heavily monitored but Chloe would always return home with dozens of letters he’d written to Marinette. The information to sensitive and private to run the risk of anyone else’s eyes.

Adrien had just turned twenty giving him access to his trust fund that held a sizable amount from his years of modelling as well as his Mothers inheritance. Gabriel and his Aunt had lost their power over him. He demanded his passport back with threats he’d take the matter to the embassy and press charges.

Adrien only wished he’d done it sooner. Chloe had been right he was avoiding his responsibility’s back in Paris. He still hadn’t come to terms with the guilt, but he knew he couldn’t go on without seeing her. He was willing to do whatever it took to win her heart back. So, Adrien let Chloe organize all the details of his flight and before he knew it he was finally home.

Now standing in Chloe’s apartment he was a ball of nerves. The girl in front of him no longer looked like the girl he’d left behind. Her cute piggy tails had been abandoned long ago. Now her hair tumbled halfway down her back, her long bangs fell in her eyes and framed her pretty face as she kissed Luka.

“Hey bro, there you are. I thought we were going to meet in the lobby?” Nino said as he caught sight of what held Adrien’s attention. “Oh man, dude, I’m sorry he wasn’t meant to be here tonight.”

Adrien shook his head and turned to leave. He knew there was history between Marinette and Luka, but no one had informed him that they were still a thing. His chest hurt and the air in the room suddenly seemed to dissolve.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why did he ever think he still had a chance with her. He wanted to leave but Nino grabbed his arm and dragged him down a hallway and out onto a balcony.

“Adrien, I’m so sorry you had to see that dude.” Nino shook his head and leaned on the railing watching Adrien closely.

“Shit Nino, why didn’t you tell me instead of letting me hope I still had a chance?” Adrien was still struggling to breath. He grabbed onto the railing and lowered his head hoping to steady his trembling hands and ease the twisted feeling in his gut.

“It’s not what you think Adrien. I mean, I know it looks bad and yeah it’s no secret that Luka loves her, but she refuses to commit to him or anything for that matter.” Alya appeared in the doorway and headed straight for Adrien. “Marinette isn’t the same girl anymore. She struggles to let any of us in.”

“Hey, Alya.” Adrien turned around and hugged her.

“Hey Sunshine, it won’t be easy, but she needs you.” Alya said ruffling his blonde hair.

“Alya, she never wrote back. I… I tried to explain everything. Hell, I even told her multiple times just how much I loved her, but I never heard from her. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, do you really think I still have a chance?”

“Do you still love her?” Alya asked leaning against Nino.

“More than I thought possible.” Adrien looked away at the distant lights. He thought over time his feeling may have dulled but instead they’d only intensified to the point he felt like he’d left a piece of his heart and soul in Paris.

“Then fight for her. Even if that means you have to fight her until she lets her defences down.” Alya said firmly.

“Alya’s right dude, she would never admit it, but she’s been lost without you.” Nino added.

“You guys are forgetting something though. The akuma attack that killed her pappa it was, it is my fault. She has every right to hate me.” Adrien inhaled and held it hoping to stop the tears that wanted to escape.

“Adrien, no. Just no. It’s Hawkmoth’s fault. We were just kids trying our hardest against a madman.” Alya grabbed his arms and gave him a light shake. “She needs you, whether she knows it or not.”

“Al has a point dude. You need to go talk to her.”

“Nino wait.” Adrien shook his head and grabbed his best friend’s arm. “I’m not ready.”

“Bro you got this, you just need a little push.” Before Adrien could say anything else Alya and Nino disappeared inside leaving him alone on the balcony.

“Kid he’s right. It’s been long enough. How many times do I have to tell you, she doesn’t blame you.” Plagg flew out of his jacket pocket and floated in front of his face, crossing his little paws as he went.

“Plagg, you don’t know that for sure.” Adrien looked over the edge again as his mind travailed back to that night.

When all the dust cleared, and they realised what couldn’t be fixed with the miraculous cure, Ladybug fell apart. With no lucky charm to fix the damage there were bodies’ left everywhere. The battle had been intense, and all the miraculous holders had been in play. A devastated Chat had carried the inconsolable Ladybug into an abandon building with Rena, Caprice, Viperion and Queen Bee. Everyone heard their miraculous beeping, but no one could move. When the beeping stopped Adrien had been left cradling a sobbing Marinette while their friends looked on.

It killed him to leave Ladybug alone to face Hawkmoth and Marinette alone to grieve but she’d refused to see him. There were no goodbyes and no closure to the reality of their civilian identity’s. Something he’d tried to address in his letters.

Ladybug had the help of the other miraculous holders after he left, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed that her fight had become almost ruthless. Her new super suit looked like it belonged out of the video game, Assassin’s creed. She no longer smiled, and Adrien could clearly see what others might miss. Her eyes showed the internal battle and pain she wouldn’t let go of. A silent rage like an electrical storm without the thunder to warn you of the danger.

……….

Marinette knew he was back. She also didn’t know if she was ready to confront her once school crush and silly pun throwing partner who happened to be the same blonde-haired green-eyed boy she loved.

To many emotions swirled around her head and heart when it came to him. She was furious and hurt that he left her to pick up all the pieces after her life fell apart. She didn’t know if she hated him or loved him so much it hurt just thinking about him. When anyone mentioned Adrien or his alter ego she would snarl a warning to stop.

Marinette downed another drink before kicking her shoes off and letting the music control her body. It was easy to get lost in the music with the alcohol coursing through her system. She was vaguely aware of Chloe telling her she’d already drunk too much, but she chose to ignore her.

She hated what she was doing to her mum and friends, but it was easier to be numb than to feel it all. Most days she woke up feeling like she was drowning. Night after night the nightmares plagued her dreams. If she was lucky enough sometimes the alcohol managed to dull the pain and help her sleep.

Her other escape was Luka. She loved him but refused to admit it. Even with his love it wasn’t enough to mask her feelings towards the green-eyed traitor. How could she fully be Luka’s when her body and soul ached for someone else?

Hands grabbed her waist and when she opened her eyes she was looking into the aqua eyes of Luka. He looked pissed at her and for a moment she wondered why.

“Marinette, what the hell. I’ve been messaging you all week. When you didn’t come home your mamma was worried. She doesn’t deserve that. I don’t either.” He said over the music.

“Lu, you worry too much. It’s only been three days.” She ran her finger down his nose and leaned back against his hands, letting him hold her weight. “I just needed to clear my head schools been kicking my ass and I had deadlines.” Marinette reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling him down, her lips crashed against his and she felt him relax against her. She let his tongue into her mouth as his hands slid down her back and rested on her hips.

Luka pulled away first breathing heavy. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into Chloe’s spare room and ravish her body, but he knew what she was doing. Adrien was something she refused to talk about, and Chat Noir was no different. She would do anything to change the subject but now he was back it was only a matter of time before she had to face everything she’d tried so hard to forget.

Luka was terrified he was going to lose what little of her he had. He loved her so much it hurt sometimes but she was hurting too, and it killed him. He’d do anything to fix her. Even if it meant letting her go. It may kill him in the process but the time he had with her was better than nothing at all and if that’s all he could have then so be it.

“You can’t keep ignoring it Marinette. You won’t talk to me about it. About any of it. Maybe it’s him you need to heal that broken heart of yours.” He kissed her forehead, turned around and left. Trying his hardest to ignore her calling his name.

“Lu stop talking shit. Luka, get back here.” She yelled throwing her hands up and stomping her bare foot against the cold floor.

“Mari, what’s going on?” Alya gently took Marinette’s hand and turned her around to face her.

“It’s nothing. I just need another drink Al.” Marinette tried to walk back over to the bar in the corner where Chloe was sitting filing her nails and chatting to Tikki, Trixx and Pollen.

“Ah, I don’t think so missy. You’ve had enough tonight. I think you need some fresh air.” She tugged on her hand and led her to the balcony.

“Alya what are you doing, it’s cold out there.” Marinette complained as she tried to dig her heals in but Alya had the upper hand thanks to her sober state.

“Cold air will do you good girl. Now stop complaining.” Once outside Alya took a step back inside the door. “I’m sorry but you need to deal with your shit.” She said as she closed and locked the door.

“Alya, what the hell! You’re crazy, let me in?” Marinette yelled as she banged on the door.

“Marinette?”

Marinette stood still as the smooth voice washed over her, leaving her skin tingling like she’d just been zapped. She rested her face against the cold glass and shut her eyes.

“I can’t do this.” She whispered.

“My Lady, please turn around.” He begged.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore.” Her temper flared at her old nickname and she spun around; her eyes blazed into his. “You left… You left me. I needed you and you left.” She held her head high, but her voice wavered as she struggled to keep it together.

“I know. I… I failed you. I…” He stuttered as her blue eyes bore into his soul.

“Tikki.” Marinette called as she felt the panic wash over her like hot ice.

“Wait, Marinette please” He took a step towards her.

Marinette backed away as Tikki flew through the glass.

“Marinette is everything okay?” Tikki asked as she noticed Adrien. “Oh, Adrien.”

“Tikki…” Marinette’s voice was barely a whisper now as she shut her eyes tight. The panic was tightening around her heart and squeezing her lungs making it impossibly hard to breath.

“Please Marinette we need to talk…”

“Spots on.”

Pink light washed over Marinette and by the time it had dissipated Ladybug had replaced her.

………….

Adrien knew it was never going to be an easy reunion. The nerd in him couldn’t help but dream about her running into his arms and confessing her undying love for him before kissing him senseless. The realist in him knew that wouldn’t be the case, but he hadn’t prepared himself for the reality of her not even wanting to look at him let alone talk to him. The panic in her eyes had been real. Was she afraid of him? Was it pure hatred?

Now standing before him Ladybug looked every bit the assassin bug the media had dubbed her new look. She no longer adored the cute spotted mask instead the lower part of her face was covered by a black vail, with her fierce blue eyes blazing underneath the black hood that covered her braided hair.

The hood attached to a sheer black kimono, pulled tight by a black leather corset that laced up the back with red ribbon. The ribbon tales were long and seemed to fly behind her of their own accord. The asymmetrical hem of the kimono exposed the hip of her right leg and ended in a sharp point on her left knee. Without her black tights the kimono wouldn’t have covered much. Her right thigh had three deadly looking blades held in place with three red belt like bands. Delicate red stitching adorned the cuffs of the lose sleeves and flowed down the asymmetrical hem.

Up close Adrien realised that the stitching was symbols of an ancient text. The text seemed to glow, illuminating her silhouette against the dark night sky of Paris. He took a step towards her with his hands up in surrender but before he could get any closer, she leapt over the edge and swung into the darkness. The glow of the stitching leaving a red trail in her wake.

Adrien stood frozen watching her disappear into the night.

“Snap out of it kid. Go after her.” Plagg flew in front of his face and waved his little paws around as he floated upside down.

“You’re right, Plagg claws out.”

A flash of green washed over Adrien as he jumped off the balcony. He felt the rush of the miraculous magic flow through his veins for the first time in years. He’d missed his alter ego and his body reacted as if catapulting through the air was second nature to him. He landed hard on a roof top and ran on all fours, letting his limbs stretch as he leapt to the next building.

He was catching up to the red glow and a surge of adrenaline shot through his system driving him forwards. Before long he could make out her form. She was heading to the Eiffel tower. It surprised him that she’d head there. The two had spent many nights together watching Paris from above.

He reached the tower and landed on their old perch. He was sure this is where he last saw her but there was no sight of her. Chat shook his head and was about to head to the top for a better look when something slammed into his back. The weight pinned him to the ground, he instinctively knew who it was. All his senses were tingling, and it got worse as he felt her hot breath in his ear.

“You shouldn’t have followed me.”

Chat’s heart was racing. He wanted to see her. To feel her touch. To hear her voice even if it was only to yell at him. Hot tears fell from his closed eyes and he forced himself to breath.

“I’d rather die than lose you again.” He hadn’t anticipated saying it with such force and neither had Ladybug.

Chat felt her weight shift slightly and before he knew what he was doing he had her pined on her back. He held her hands above her head with one hand and cradled her head with the other. Her blue eyes reflected the stairs above and his heart clenched when he noticed tears wetting her long lashes. Her bottom lip trembled as she started to lose control of her emotions.

“I’m sorry princess. I’m sorry for everything. For taking your pappa away. For leaving you to deal with it. For not saying goodbye. For not telling you how much I love you. Every part of you. Not just Ladybug but Marinette.” He choked out as tears streamed down his face and landed on hers.

“I don’t blame you if you can’t forgive me, god knows I haven’t. I just want a chance to show you how much you mean to me. We could have a new beginning, forget about Hawkmoth and move away. We could go anywhere you want. I know you’re tired so let somebody else take over.” Chat begged as he let go of her hands to wipe his tear-stained face.

Ladybug hadn’t taken her eyes off his. He meant every word he’d said but he hadn’t meant to say it all like that and definitely not all at once.

In one swift movement she unclipped her vail and grabbed his face. Before he could react, her lips crashed into his with such force it hurt. Chat recovered quickly and he melted into the kiss. It was everything he’s dreamed of and more. Her lips sent shockwaves through his system and a low rumble escaped the back of his throat. She bit his lip hard and he moaned allowing her tongue into his mouth. He hadn’t experienced passion like this before. His whole body tingled where hers touched his and he felt as if he might self-combust at any moment.

At some point they had moved and now Ladybug was on top of Chat. She abruptly ended the kiss and straight away Chat missed her lips against his. She pushed the hair out of his eyes and sighed.

“We can’t have a new beginning Chat. The only thing I can focus on is the ending. His ending. I’m going to make him suffer for everything he stole from me. I won’t take you down that road with me. You still have a chance.” And with that she took off into the night sky leaving Chat behind.

Chat tried to get up, but he tripped on his tail that had conveniently tangled around his legs and he fell to his knees. By the time he’d untangled himself she was gone. He looked over the city, their city, and he made a silent promise to himself. He was going to save her from herself. He would make up for everything he’d done even if it took the rest of his life, they would get their new beginning.

Part 2

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfiction #ml fanfic #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #adrien agreste #aged up #post reveal #sad past #angst #emotional rollercoaster

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justknitstuff · 5 years ago

Text

Interview Of A Lifetime

Alya salt, Lila salt. “Innocent” Ladybug starting shit. Some redemption.Beware.

^^^

Today had been a pretty good day, according to Alya. Her test grades were good, she’d had a fun lunchtime with Nino, and they’d been given a new project that was right up her alley. Interviewing someone! True it had to be someone important to you. And when Lila had said she’d interview her best friend Ladybug, Alya had vocalized her wish that she too could interview the superhero. But she couldn’t just ask her as a favor for being Rena Rouge, right?

A tapping at her window brought Alya out of her thoughts. Turning away from her computer and towards the window she saw a familiar spotted figure dangling from her window. Quickly Alya jumped up out of her chair and threw open her window. Ladybug smiled as she perched more comfortably on the sill.

“Ladybug! I didn’t hear any warnings, is there an akuma? Do you need Rena Rouge?”

Ladybug shook her head, still smiling gently. “No it’s actually quiet tonight. I came here to see you. May I come in?”

Pure joy flooded through Alya as she stepped back, allowing the superhero to enter. “Of course!” She gestured to the chair she had just abandoned. Ladybug sat in the chair while Alya took the the edge of her bed, practically vibrating with energy. “So not that this isn’t totally cool, but what are you doing here?”

“A friend told me that you had a project for your class, you have to interview someone important to you. They said you wished you could interview me. So, here I am!” Ladybug smiled again.

“Wait, Lila was actually able to tell you that?” Alya asked, shock in her voice because while she really cared about Lila, the Italian girl rarely was able to come through with hey promises to introduce her various celebrity friends. All of them had such busy schedules it was a wonder they had time to hang out with her.

Ladybug’s smile dampened as confusion set in. “Lila?” She questioned. “I think I remember her… Wasn’t she akumatized into Volpina and Chameleon?”

A feeling of doubt began to form in the pit of Alya’s stomach. Ladybug was just messing with her, right? “No, Lila… Your best friend? You hang out with her and save her all the time?”

“What?’ Ladybug asked, more confusion lacing though her voice. “No, I was talking about your friend, Marinette? Her family owns that amazing bakery.”

Momentarily forgetting about Lila, Alya jumped on that fact. “Wait you know their bakery?”

“Oh of course! Everyone knows about it!” Ladybug looked around the room briefly before lowering beer voice while leaning towards Alya. “Don’t tell anyone this please, but I go there often as a civilian. They have the best pastries ever! I overhead Marinette talking to her father about their projects, and she happened to mention your wish while I was there.”

Alya’s eyes widened as a little feeling niggled in the back of her brain. It wouldn’t leave her alone though, so being the blunt reporter she was, voiced it. “But what about Lila? She’s your friend! She told us all, so it must be true, right?”

Ladybug’s face fell, her blue eyes dimming behind the mask. Quietly but with resolution, she answered in a way that set Alya’s mind reeling. “No, Alya. She’s not my friend. I don’t know her outside of her akumatizations.”

“But…” Alya began, but the superhero put up a hand to stop her.

“Look Alya. I like you. And as a civilian I would be honored to have you as a friend.” A mixture of pride and dread swirled in Alya’s stomach. “But I can’t have any friends as Ladybug. It’s too dangerous. Hawkmoth could use you as bait. It’s already dangerous whenever I bring you Trixx. I would never forgive myself if my friendship to anyone put them in danger. I would never announce if I had any friends, and I would hope that if I did, those friends would be smart enough not to go bragging about it for their own safety.”

“But Lila… She doesn’t lie.. She would never lie to me! I’m her friend!”

Ladybug sighed as she watched Alya’s face fall even further. She leaned forward, and scooted the chair closer to Alya. she placed her gloved hands over the other girls shaking ones.

“Alya. I trust you. I trust you with a Miraculous and with my life, and the lives of everyone in Paris. Do you trust me?’

Alya’s eyes widened in shock again, turning her hands over and clasping Ladybug’s in a tight grip. She smiled a wobbly smile, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Of course I do girl! I know you would never lie to anyone. But, why would Lila lie about that?”

Ladybug shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure Alya. Has she said anything else?”

Alya sat back, letting go of Ladybug’s hands and began cataloging the things Lila had told them. “She’s traveled all over the world. She’s on various charity boards. She said Jagged Stone wrote her a song even!”

“Wait…a thirty year old man wrote a song about a fourteen year old girl?”

“Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds creepy.” Alya conceded. If that got around, that could potentially end Jagged’s career. Now that she thought about from Ladybug’s view point, it did sound suspicious. Everyone knew Jagged Stone was eccentric, but would even he go that far? “Um.. She also works closely with Prince Ali…”

Ladybug’s face scrunched up, looking like she was trying to place the name. With how many people she’s saved though, it’s a wonder she could even remember her own! “Wasn’t he the one I saved from your friend Rose when she was akumatized?”

Alya started dumbfounded at Ladybug. ’That’s right! Rose knows him!‘ “Why didn’t I think of that earlier?” Alya cried, fisting her hair.“I should have asked Rose!”

“You didn’t fact check anything she was claiming?” Ladybug asked. “Alya, you’re a reporter. And most importantly, you're my favorite reporter. I trust you to fact check everything you put on the Ladyblog. Why wouldn’t you do that with everything?”

But Alya wasn’t really listening anymore. She was beginning to panic. If Lila lied about it all, then that meant that Marinette was right. Alya was ruining heyy friendship because she wanted to believe in Lila’s stories. They were amazing! Just listening to all the things she did made Alya feel a little more special, because she was friends with this amazing person. This person who was making her alienate the first amazing person Alya had ever met. Their everyday Ladybug. Alya looked up at the real Ladybug, her eyes swimming with the tears that were gathering fast.

“Ladybug, what have I done?” She whispered, horror dawning on her face. Before Ladybug could respond though Alya leapt off her bed and pulled up the Ladyblog. “I put up an interview with Lila about you and her. Please tell me you read it and everything’s correct?” In a last ditch effort to right her now topsy turvy world, she pulled up the interview and grabbed the rolling chair Ladybug was sitting on. She wheeled the superhero over and placed her in front of the computer.

“Whaa!” Ladybug squealed, flinging out her arms in order to balance herself as she was spun and pushed. “Alya you did what?” She asked, turning to the computer to begin reading.

Cold dread washed over Alya as the minutes ticked on, with each time Ladybug pointed out every lie. What had she done? Why did Lila lie? What had she done to Marinette?

At the end, Ladybug turned to Alya and stood up from the chair. “I’m so sorry Alya, but everything she said was untrue.”

“Why though?” Alya whispered, brokenhearted.

“I don’t know. I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. For now though, I can say you should take that down. Look…” Ladybug averted her eyes. “This isn’t how I was planning this night to go. I still want to help you with your project, but you seem very shocked. We’re can pick this up another night.”

Alya merely nodded, now focused on deleting any trace of Lila from the Ladyblog. The feelings of dread now morphed into anger.

“Are you going to be okay tonight? Or do you want me to stick around? I don’t want to see you akumatized because of me… If never forgive myself.” Ladybug finished quietly. That snapped Alya out of her rage induced focus. Sometimes it was so easy to forget and lose yourself in your feelings. Alya took a deep breath and calmed her racing heart.

“No, Ladybug, I’ll be fine. I’m not gonna let her be the reason you have to fight me. I won’t let Hawkmoth use this against me.” She turned and grabbed up the superhero in a fierce hug. Ladybug eep'ed in surprise, but returned the hug. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t try to ask you first about what she was saying. I blindly believed her.”

Ladybug patted her back in a comforting manner. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

’Marinette.’ Alya thought.

“Your readers are going to wonder why you took that down. I think they deserve an explanation and apology.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll get on that tonight.” Alya sighed deeply and let go of Ladybug. “If your offer still stands, can we pick this up tomorrow night? I have someone else more important to apologize to right now.”

Ladybug smiled brightly. “Of course! I’ll come by about the same time, as long as there’s no attacks.”

Alya nodded and told her goodnight, turning to pick up her phone and text her hopefully still best friend.

She missed the triumphant smile that stretched across Ladybug’s face as she tossed her yoyo out the window.

^^^^

A little rushed. I’m sorry for any typos or grammer errors. I also feel like the transition into “oh shit what did I do” could’ve been smoother…but it’s Migraine o’clock, sooooo…

#miraculous ladybug #alya cesaire #alya salt #lila salt #knit writes

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