#marinette i adore you but god get yourself together

[trainsinanime]

The Movie - The Bad Parts

Based on discussions with @emsylcatac earlier today, let's talk about Miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir - The Movie (also known as Miraculous Awakening), and specifically what sucks about it. I want to clarify that this post is meant to be unfair on purpose. It's all about complaining because complaining is fun! Overall I think the movie was perfectly fine, I had fun and I recommend watching it on a big screen because it is really pretty. This post is full of spoilers, and I'll put it in the queue for the 29th so people who watch on Netflix can see it then.

Let's get to it. There are a number of different directions from which you can criticise the movie. Too many fart jokes. Too many Volkswagen cars. Not enough metro trains. Uninspired songs. I'd like to pull it back a step, though, and ask fundamentally: What was the movie trying to do, you know, as a story? Because I don't think it knows.

About something

The movie has set itself a fairly difficult task, trying to fit a monster-of-the-week show into a single cohesive narrative. This isn't impossible, other superhero movies from Marvel and sometimes Sony and even the odd DC one do that all the time. They do that by finding a core story to tell about the people involved. Tony Stark goes from war profiteer to taking responsibility. Shang-Chi fled his father and must now face him. Jessica Jones faces her trauma. Kamala Khan must figure out who she wants to become and what it means to be a hero. Hawkeye must shoot an arrow out of a bow. Stuff like that.

As a show, Miraculous Ladybug doesn't really have that. Marinette isn't standing on the wrong side of a central dramatic argument and must learn to find and believe the correct answer. Her only real problem is that she isn't kissing Adrien right now. Similar things go for Adrien, who has plot attached to him, but not really any arc beyond going from not kissing Marinette to kissing Marinette. And that's perfectly fine for a show like that, there are plenty of arcs for each individual episode. And sometimes you don't even need that and can just save yourself with twenty minutes of being fun.

The movie is exactly like the show in this regard, and in my opinion, that's a mistake. Marinette is clumsy and afraid of being awesome, but that is just basic hero's journey stuff, that isn't a real character arc. Adrien doesn't have an arc at all. So really, there is nothing here, no theme, no arc. Stuff just happens. The stuff that happens is very adorable in my opinion, but most of it doesn't mean anything.

And really, that seems to be the main point of the movie: Have adorable stuff happen. There are a lot of great trailer moments, but then if you see how they fit together in the movie, well, they mostly don't. There are some cute Adrinette scenes, but they are just here to be cute, they don't actually matter. There's some excellent Ladynoir banter, but it doesn't actually change anything or tell us anything about the characters, it's just here.

The movie certainly pretends that there's an arc here. Marinette gets an "I want" song that tells us she's unhappy about being clumsy, and she'd like to design clothes. We have a bit of a hero's journey. We have a tiny bit of a conflict when Chat Noir is in love with Ladybug, but she can't be in love with him because she's in love with Adrien, and he reacts poorly to that (oh god, are we going to get Adrien discourse again? Please, anything but that!). We defeat the villain, and Marinette learns the "Miraculous Ladybug" healing power. It feels like an arc, but the things don't connect to each other in any thematic way.

And sure, the movie pretends there is a theme here, which is "we're stronger together". Except being together is not really that relevant for the conclusion, and besides, nobody ever said they weren't stronger together.

Weirdly enough, there is one character who gets an arc, which is Gabriel, who realises his mistakes when he sees that Chat Noir is his son. That's nice but comes a bit out of nowhere. And the way Adrien forgives him that easily also feels unearned to me. If you go strictly by which character learned the most and changed the most, you could technically argue that this is Gabriel's story more than anyone, which is just silly.

So it all feels a bit lifeless. Many subplots start and stop at random, and many scenes in between the trailer moments feel too short and lifeless.

The Changes

The other thing that feels weird is all the ways that the lore was changed. I'm totally okay with changing the lore to fit into the movie, but so many of the choices just feel less interesting.

Most crucially, when Marinette falls in love with Adrien in the show, it's the culmination of a mini-arc in which she was wrong about him, and he was bad at social interaction, which they resolve with a ritual umbrella exchange. That is really meaningful. In the movie, Marinette falls in love with Adrien because he's handsome and he asks her if she's alright after she drops some books. That's less interesting.

A smaller detail, but in my opinion even more important, are the Akuma villains. There's no doubt that the gargoyle looks great… but it's a random person who we don't know. We certainly didn't know Ivan that well at the end of season 1 either, but we had at least some connection to him. Most importantly, Marinette had a connection to him, and so her fear for this guy she knows felt real and important. That's gone here. Same for the other villains. They're all just some guys Hawkmoth found somewhere. They don't matter to us or to the heroes, they're just around. In their fight for great visuals, they made the story less interesting.

There are plenty of other examples where the show weirdly forgoes personal moments. The Adrinette montage, for example, is sweet, but it passes by way too quickly. And it's not like the movie didn't have the time, I mean, have you seen these fart jokes?

When it comes to the superhero fights, I am mostly stumped. The movie invented completely new rules, but these rules are for the most part not better or worse, just different. It feels like they feared they'd infringe someone's copyright, but doesn't Zag own the copyright? I think the lack of insane plans prompted by a lucky charm was a bit sad, but I wouldn't call it a dealbreaker.

The Music

I think the songs were alright, I'm just mentioning them here because I know others hated them. My main issue with them is that they felt so unmotivated. It felt like someone had said, "this is where a Disney movie would have a song, so we'll put one here as well".

The Ending

Cutting there? Come on. Not gonna lie, that part got a big groan at my cinema.

The Nachos

Mine didn't taste that great.

In Conclusion

I really should have written this Sunday or Saturday when my memory was still fresh. But I think you get the gist of it. It was a fun experience, but I think it squandered most of its opportunities. There were fun moments, but the connection between them wasn't really there. Most importantly, the movie just didn't really have any story to tell other than "that Ladybug one". But while that is a fine story to have as the premise of a show, it doesn't really work well for a single movie.

[the-phoenix-heart]

How would you sort the cast from Miraculous Ladybug ?

(I was gonna hold off on posting this until I was absolutely certain about the sorting, because sorting this show is like pulling teeth. But then last night I had a dream about Lila trying to ruin Marinette’s birthday with the usual lesbian subtext you would expect from two girls who hate each other and when I woke I had this second ask in my inbox so I figure the universe is tryna tell me something)

This is a hard one. There are some things we have to consider with Miraculous Ladybug. (warning this gets long)

1. It’s inconsistent with its characters on a good day. 

2. The creators are very much pushing an unhealthy-keep the peace and be nice to everyone including bullies and toxic people because they are people to-Badger primary narrative.

3. While it’s not unhealthy like the primary, the show also pushes a Badger secondary narrative. They like their Badger secondaries and what show wants to teach is that Pure Badgers are the best sorting possible. 

So it becomes hard to see what is an actual character moment, and what’s the creators using a character as a mouthpiece. Marinette gets fucked over by this because the show deliberately has her do things wrong so they can enforce lessons. This is especially hard with Adrien because he is the show’s golden boy favorite which means he does everything right and almost always spouts out the lesson of the day. It’s safe to say that if Marinette and Adrien aren’t already Badgers they have badger primary models. Adrien because showrunners, Marinette because Adrien’s peddling it to her.

(I wanna make it very clear that I’m not insulting Badger primaries in this post, but unhealthy Badger primaries where bad people get away with bad things just because they are people)

So MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG/LADYBUG...I think she’s a burnt Bird. She can’t be naturally a Badger because she has to constantly be told by people to act like a Badger. Give Chloe a million chances even if she bullied you for years and is horrible to everyone around her and has no desire to change. Don’t expose Lila for being a liar who gives out false promises and also wants to destroy Ladybug and teams up with Hawkmoth. 

It also explains her unhealthy Snake primary she has for Adrien. A lot of the time her motivation, her why, will be because Adrien! Why does she get Adrien to come with them on the trip to New York? Because if not he’ll be left alone with Lila and she’s jealous! And also I guess because Adrien should get to do fun things. Why did she choose Adrien to be Aspik? Because she’s in love with him and he’s perfect! But that’s not her, it doesn’t work for her. Part of that is the world telling her if she ever tries to pursue Adrien it’ll backfire in her face, but also it’s not natural for her. She fell for Adrien and because her primary is burnt she placed meaning in him, building a Snake primary for him-and then a drowned Badger primary model once he started lecturing her about it. 

And yes I do think her Badger primary model is drowned. She gives her all to everything, and is always convinced that doing anything seemingly selfish is bad (which is weird because the narrative also has Alya constantly trying to convince her to be selfish and date Adrien). She won’t let herself confess to Adrien because that will literally lead to the end of the world. She also gives up trying to pursue Adrien because she wants him to be happy with Kagami. She gives up a job opportunity to help save Paris (which was the right choice but doesn’t disprove my point). She is told by Mme. Bustier that she has to be an example and that she has to stay calm and keep the peace and give everything for other people. She is slowly over the series starting to drown. 

Now admittedly she could be a burnt Lion originally, we don’t ever see her before her burning. But, the reason why I say Bird is because she seems more eager for people to tell her what is right and what is wrong. What is true? Burnt Lions, I can say from experience, don’t like as much to be told what is right and wrong. They want to know of course, but there will be a part of them that is unhappy and when they are told by other people they’ll be more sad about it if it doesn’t gel with their gut. It’ll just be another reason why they’re wrong and they’ll stay burnt longer. On the other hand, Marinette is eager to be told what is true from people, she wants to know and when people tell her she takes it in and immediately follows it. I say she’s a burnt bird because she doesn’t trust herself to make the right decision unless it’s black and white, akuma v. hero. The snap judgements she makes are because she’s burnt and therefore she flounders when unable to ask what she should do and just does because if she thinks she’ll come to the wrong decision. So impulsive decision time. (Miraculous Ladybug is a really depressing show if you think of Marinette as a real person)

Or she’s a burnt Lion and I just went on a tangent for no reason. 

 Now you’d think think that sorting out her secondary would be easier, but NO. The only thing easy about her secondary is that she is definitely not a Lion secondary. 

Now she definitely has a two models. One of her models is a Badger obviously. She takes on projects and works herself to death. She also takes on a caring role usually and works as a leader. She manages to charm people almost instantly and then she has them on her side for basically forever. I only say this is a model because her plans never really include other people or calling in favors. 

But now I have to decided if she is a rapid fire Bird or a Snake originally and which one is her model. I wanna say that she’s a Snake originally. Her plans are usually incredibly under the fly. She’ll just look around the area, see what she has to work with, and then immediately have the plan. It’s not usually based off of prior knowledge (although that happens a fair amount to). She also does things like steal phones and bicycles a fair amount (classic Snake traits) and has on more than one occasion lied her way out of a situation. 

Now her Bird model is not unimportant. I say she isn’t originally a bird because she never has a back up plan. Plan A fails and she has to freak out for a bit before she makes a new plan on the fly. Her bird model is something she used to play with before she became a hero I think. She gained many skills in the art world-especially fashion-, baking, gaming, etc. just for the fun of it. Then she became a hero and used that planning skill to good work. How do I defeat the akuma and convince Chat Noir that I’m not Marinette? Obviously I’ll shrink myself down into many versions of me wearing all the miraculouses so I can climb in the kwamis’ mouths, take Chat Noir’s ring from him, get sucked into the kwami pack so I can break it from the inside with the Cat miraculous, then I’ll make an illusion of me as Ladybug getting the akuma and me as Multimouse taking off my miraculous because I’m just such a goof and then when Chat leaves I’ll capture the real akuma and transform back. 

Compare that to Chat’s plan of, say the school is a elementary school. 

But honestly it could go either way.

Adrien is much easier to sort compared to Marinette’s spastic characterization.

ADRIEN AGRESTE/CHAT NOIR has a strong Badger primary model, which is hilarious because he sucks at it. The boy is actually a Snake primary just like his father (he ALSO has an unhealthy primary but we’ll get to that). Lila lying to his class-his community-and giving them empty promises? He doesn’t care, he wants to keep the peace! He’s gonna be nice to her and try to sway her the side of good from the sidelines-wait what’s this? Lila made his friend Kagami jealous which caused her to be akumatized and also tried to get Ladybug killed? What an outrage! He’s not gonna try to be friends with her anymore! Wait, Lila got Marinette expelled through bullshit?! How dare she! Now he’s going to force her to take it all back so Marinette can be happy!

He doesn’t get upset when his community is threatened, he only gets mad when his people are threatened. In Chat Blanc he is forced to choose between killing his father or killing Ladybug (who is his girlfriend because it’s another timeline), which is a classic Snake problem. Chat doesn’t think about how if he kills his father instead he’ll save all of Paris, he just can’t decide and ends up destroying the world with his indecision. “Our love [destroyed the world]” he says to Ladybug. That’s very Snake primary and seems to me like an unhealthy Snake primary. His dream is to move away to an island alone with Ladybug, which says something about the differences between them. Marinette’s dream is have a large family with Adrien. 

His secondary is harder because I can’t tell if he has a Badger secondary or a Lion secondary. The thing is the way the shows treats the different identities is that Ladybug and Adrien are the masks for Marinette and Chat (I did not do this for Marinette though). That means that a more accurate reading for Adrien’s sorting should theoretically be looking at Chat. Chat definitely has a Lion secondary. His first instinct is always attack first attack attack attack. Most of the time the reason the battle drags on is because Chat is jumping in too soon. When he doesn’t jump in it’s because he’s pissed at Ladybug for rejecting him. Also, the one time we see him do a plan, the plan is dress up in a makeshift suit and attack the enemy. 

But he definitely has a Badger secondary model. How will he make Lila stop antagonizing Marinette? He’ll act like he’s her friend and let her model with him. How does he try to impress his father, by taking a bunch of classes and modelling for him. It’s a model though, one I think he built after his mother “disappeared” to try and cheer up his father. 

I know you probably wanted more so rapid fire:

ALYA CESAIRE is a Lion primary who makes impulsive decisions and only doesn’t when the plot needs her to. She’s got an immature Bird secondary as well, immature as in she gains a piece of information and her Lion primary then makes her go crazy over it. 

CHLOE BOURGEOIS is snake primary who cares about herself and those closest to her until she doesn’t, and a Lion secondary who charges in because she’s stupid with a shitty Snake secondary model she adopted from her parents.

GABRIEL AGRESTE/HAWKMOTH is a Snake primary who cares only about his wife, sometimes Natalie, and sometimes Adrien. Also a Bird secondary who makes big elaborate plans that always fail.

NATALIE SANCOEUR/MAYURA is a Snake primary who does things for Adrien and Gabriel because she loves them, and another Bird secondary who has a very nice skillset and and helps Gabriel with his plans. She does also have a Badger secondary because she works very hard and uses herself as a weapon, but it’s not her go to. 

(yes I know I didn’t sort Nino or Lila, but Nino is practically a non-character and Lila might have a Lion primary and I don’t wanna have to put much more thought into this post. Maybe later)

so...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug - Burnt Bird primary (maybe burnt Lion) with a drowned Badger model and an unhealthy Snake model for Adrien/Snake secondary with a Bird model (possibly switched) and a (possibly unhealthy) Badger model

Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir - Snake primary/Lion Secondary, double Badger model

Alya Cesaire - Lion primary/immature Bird secondary

Gabriel Agreste/Hawkmoth - Snake primary/Bird secondary

Natalie Sancoeur/Mayura - Snake primary/Bird secondary, Badger secondary model

Chloe Bourgeois - Snake primary/Lion secondary

[mysticraven20]

@adrinetteapril

Destiny - Chapter 5

[Prompt 15: Fairy Lights]

Adrien was late. Not 'out of control, call out the police’ late, just late enough that he felt horrendous about it. Even though he hadn’t had any lessons that morning he’d decided to go visit the local library and check out their anime comics. Four hours later and here he was rushing to get to Marinette’s.

Since moving into his dorm, and had become ‘Mr Independent’, he had given up the privilege of having his own driver on hand. A big mistake at times like this.

He ran up the staircase praying to the forces above that he didn’t smell like a wet dog by the time he reached Marinette’s apartment, slowing to a walk once he was on her level and giving his armpit a quick sniff - not too bad. He found Marinette’s door and tentatively knocked … once, twice, three times. Oh, God! Was that too eager? Do people knock three times? Maybe he should have stopped at two? Marinette was funny though so perhaps he should have knocked a little tune? It was going so wrong already.

He began to panic as he stood waiting for Marinette to open up. His weight shifted from foot to foot and he could feel the tremor in his hands, he was a nervous wreck and didn’t understand why?

He’d purchased a special bottle of wine on his way to her place, something for them to drink alongside their M&M’s. He’d even asked the woman at the store which would be best, after all this was the first time he was buying a bottle himself, and he wanted it to be right. Usually he’d receive wine as a gift from a client, or his father would give him one to whatever social event he was attending. Though this bottle wasn’t a thousand euros, it still had really good reviews from the lady in the shop.

He went to step away before turning back and reaching again. She wouldn’t ignore him for being a little late, would she? After all, Marinette wasn’t like that. At least he didn’t think she was. Though from the messages they’d exchanged after she’d finished her shift yesterday, his little tip wasn’t overly appreciated. Instead she’d berated him and told him the money would go on their night out together, and there wasn’t a chance in hell of her spending it on herself. Who was he to argue with such a head strong lady?

A loud bang shattered the silence in the hallway and he realised it had come from the other side of the door, Adrien winced at the squeal that preceded it, that must have hurt. He stepped up to the door only for it to open with enough force it could have been thrown off the hinges. He was impressed that someone of her size held such strength.

“Hi,” her smile was forced, and by the looks of it she was in the middle of something. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun, strands trying their hardest to escape, and something (which he thought might be guacamole) was spread up her face. She looked crazy and adorable at the same time.

“Hey yourself, you’ve got something Marinette,” he watched her eyes open as he stretched forward, his thumb brushing over her chin and coming into contact with the green blob, “right there.” He pulled his thumb away and twisted it, allowing her to see what he’d just scraped off her face.

Her cheeks flamed a wonderful red and he couldn’t help but laugh. She was undeniably the cutest girl he’d ever met and he wondered if he played it right she would be open to dating him. They’d known each other for a fair few weeks now, and she seemed to like speaking to him, they texted multiple times a day, so maybe, if he could find the courage he could ask her out.

She stretched forward holding a napkin she’d extracted from her pocket, before wiping the green gunk from his finger and directing him into her apartment.

“This is for you.” He handed over the bottle of wine and she made an impressed sound.

“This is posh! Can’t say I’ve ever had it, but I can say I’ve always wanted to try.” She took the bottle out of his hands and then waved him to follow her through into the ‘room’. She had a studio apartment which was probably only two thirds of the size of his bedroom back at the mansion. The kitchenette was to the left with a small breakfast bar against the wall, complete with two high stool seats, then there was a bed and a couch squeezed into the tiny living space. She had a television, a sewing desk, and a gaming console in front of the sofa, and many, many, many strings of fairy lights hanging over her bed. It was like walking into Narnia.

There were also two doors which he guessed led to the bathroom and closet.

“This is very …” he didn’t know how to complete that sentence. This is very nice? This is very cluttered? This is very small? “This is very you.” He wanted to pat himself on the back, that was a good answer even if he said so himself.

“Just say it,” she laughed, “I know you want to. It’s very cluttered, but that’s me.”

He laughed along with her. “Well, it looks lovely, especially the fairy lights, it’s like being in a Christmas Tree.”

She snorted, moving her way to her kitchenette and pulling out two glasses. “You want some of this wine? I’ve placed the M&M’s in different bowls and they’re on the coffee table. Feel free to help yourself.”

He moved towards the sofa and sat down, only then realising how small it was and how much space he took up on the cushions. Once Marinette had joined him this was going to be extremely close. Too close for comfort really. This wasn’t a date, she wasn’t his girlfriend, he needed to make sure there were clear boundaries. They were just friends and although he could most certainly see her as more, that wouldn’t happen if he was there crushing her up against the side of the sofa, especially as the sweaty smell from his excursion up the staircase suddenly seemed to be intensifying.

He shuffled over, moving as close to the arm rest as possible, and that’s when it happened.

Adrien would never come right out and say that he had bad luck, but time and time again the world disagreed with him, and today was one of those days. The sofa was obviously cheap, maybe an IKEA ‘under one hundred euro’ affair, because as his weight fully placed itself on the side, the sofa tipped.

In slow motion Adrien watched the opposite end launch into the sky as his butt hit the armrest which continued down to the floor, and the fairy lights shook before tumbling down on top of his head. The only blessing was that the M&M’s remained firmly in their bowls and on the top of the table.

A buzzing rang in his ears, and he knew it was the sound of his blood rushing past. That was quite an adrenaline kick.

He looked up and noticed Marinette morphing from a suppressed smile to a full on belly laugh, causing her to put the full wine glasses back on the counter so she could hold her stomach.

“Adrien!” She howled, looking at her friend on the floor now decorated like a young pageant girl.

He watched her laugh, his own following shortly as he looked around the room. The sofa still had one end in the air and he was tangled in a web of electrics, whilst being firmly placed on the ground.

“How the hell am I going to get up?”

They looked at each other, turned their heads to the sofa in the sky and then burst out laughing again. Oh dear Lord!

“I think, if I move under it …” Marinette walked over and stretched up in the air only to be a good foot away from touching the sofa. “I can’t reach it!” They started to laugh again, Adrien wiping the tears from under his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Marinette.” He said through breathes. He really needed to try and control himself.

“Don’t worry about it,” she pulled her sweater over the heel of her hand and wiped it under her eyes. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do. You’re going to stand up really slowly, controlling the sofa with your butt, and I’ll catch it as it falls back down. Okay?”

Adrien nodded, then snorted, then coughed and then snorted again. If he was trying to woo her he was failing big time. “You ready?” He asked, her nod and snort agreement for him to move.

Her arms were stretched above her head, and Adrien slowly pushed himself to standing, grateful for the hours and hours spent in the gym and working on his quads and glutes.

“Keep going, I’ve got it.”

He turned his head to Marinette and found that was the biggest mistake he could have made. Her jumper had rode up leaving a slither of bare skin on show as she stretched on her tippy toes to hold the sofa. His end was currently being weighed down by his squat which unfortunately went bye bye as soon as he saw a tiny piece of bare Marinette.

The sofa began to speed up, Adrien launching himself at Marinette to protect her from the impending hit. Grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into his body, the sofa slammed down onto the floor with such force a boat load of M&M’s jumped ship from their bowls.

He cradled her head into his chest, his other hand supporting her lower back, both breathing deeply and hearts beating erratically.

“Are you okay?” He whispered, not wanting to let go of her just yet.

“I am, but I'm not too sure about my sofa.” He let go of her and turned to look at the offending object only to see the side which had hit the floor had completely collapsed. “Oh well,” she said softly, “at least I have a funny story about it.” She giggled.

“I’m so sorry Marinette, please let me fix it, or at least buy you a new one.”

“Don’t be silly,” she waved him off and headed back to the counter to grab their wine glasses. “Fixing it will give me something to do this weekend. I like fixing things, it gives me a chance to be creative.” He still couldn’t help but cringe. “But -” she continued, “you can put my fairy lights back up please. That way we can sit on my bed and watch a movie.”

“Sit on your bed?” he squeaked, moving over to the lights and picking them up, trying to figure out where to place them. As he viewed the different areas of the wall he spotted the little hooks he was sure they were slung over.

“Why not? You can see the television from there and it’s comfortable. Well that is unless you want to break in my bed as well.” Her face suddenly turned red, and it took him a few moments to place what she said.

“Break … in … your …”

“No, no, no, no, no! No! I didn’t, I mean, I don’t know … not yet anyway. I mean not ever, well maybe not never ever, but for now no!”

He raised one eyebrow, marvelling at the flush on her face again. God she was pretty when she was embarrassed.

“Well,” he said, hooking the lights back up into place. “At least it’s never ever … that would be a bummer if it was.” He finished putting the lights up and dropped her a wink.

“M&M’s.” She shouted, putting the wine glasses on a bedside table before going to grab the treats, her legs twisted around each other and almost sent her spiralling to the ground. “And - um - Spider-Man!” She continued moving to grab everything she needed before bouncing up onto the bed and moving over so he could settle next to her. Her smell was divine and he could feel the warmth coming from her small frame, just wishing he could encompass it and hug her into his body.

“I can’t wait.” He smiled, grabbing his first ever peanut M&M and popping it into his mouth.

[mochegato]

I Can’t Fight This Feeling

Chapter 3

Chapter 1     Chapter 2

He just came here for a fucking break.  Somewhere none of the people he normally works with would be caught dead.  Which is the only reason he was in an art museum right now.  Because Black Mask aside, none of Gotham’s rogues or henchmen had the slightest interest in art and Black Mask would never deign to be in the presence of Gotham’s unwashed masses.

So here, this place, it was a safe haven.  A relaxing place.  A place where he could let his mind wander and his guard down, as much as you could anywhere in Gotham.  It had absolutely nothing to do with the painting of a dark haired, blue eyed woman glancing hopefully into the distance that he had been staring at for the last hour, the same painting he ended up in front of every time he visited.

But his peaceful reprieve was being intruded upon.  He couldn’t see the person, but he could feel their eyes boring into him.  They’ve been on him for at least the last ten minutes.  That meant it was more than just someone who wanted to hit on him. They would have made their move already. He would give them five more minutes to move on before he acted, but he could feel his rage rising with each passing second.  

After another five minutes, he rounded on them, ready to threaten them until they regretted even breathing in the same building as him.  “What are you fucking…” he hissed out, but his anger dissipated when he was met with the same blue eyes that had consumed his mind for the last hour. Or rather, if he were being honest, for the last three years.  “…looking… at.”

“Oh, sorry,” her eyes widened in surprise before she looked away awkwardly. “That must have seemed so creepy. It’s just… you look so familiar?  I could swear I know you from somewhere.” Her eyes returned to his, searching them for familiarity.

He stared at her wide eyed.  She couldn’t be here.  Why would she be here… in Gotham.  She didn’t belong in Gotham.  She was supposed to stay in Paris where it was safe, now that Hawkmoth was gone and the League couldn’t track her, where she could stay innocent.  “Marinette,” he breathed out.  

She gave him a brilliant smile and let out a relieved breath.  “Oh good.  You do know me.”  She laughed nervously.  “I’ve never remembered anyone from that time before.  And it has to be from that time, right?  Otherwise I’d remember how I know you.”

“What are you doing here?”  He continued to stare at her still in a haze.  She had somehow gotten even more beautiful in the last few years, her eyes brighter.  God, they had always been mesmerizing, but now they were positively hypnotic.  Maybe that had more to do with getting away from the Hawkmoth situation, being free again, not bogged down by the responsibility of protecting millions of people as a child, being in a whole new time in her life.  He was so lost in thought, it took a second for her words to register.  “What do you mean ‘that time’?”

“I was looking for a little design inspiration.”  Her voice was unsteady, slightly shaking.  She tapped her fingers together nervously.  “I have, um… a commission I need to figure out and homework and I have no idea what to do for the homework.  The direction was so vague or maybe it wasn’t and it’s just me.  It’s just not something that registers with me, you know.”  Her voice became stronger as she babbled.  “Like, I can design a thousand dresses based on a flower, or the rain, or a building, but design based on a heart?  I can’t do it.  Ask for something based on a star?  I got it. A circle?  Hundreds of designs.  A square?  Got that too. Even a triangle would be fun.  But a heart?  So cliché.”

“I meant,” he interrupted harsher than he intended to.  He let his voice soften.  “What are you doing in Gotham?”

“Oh!” Her eyes widened in surprise and embarrassment.  “I go to school here.  My best friend and I moved here last year for school.  I go for design.  He wants to be a teacher.”

“In Gotham?” he asked incredulously.  “Of all the places you could have gone, why Gotham?”

She tilted her head to the side in consideration, weighing her words carefully. It was the first time since they started talking that her body seemed to relax.  He studied her body language a bit more.  No, not relax, slump.  Her shoulders slumped as she thought of the reason that brought her here.  “Because Gotham doesn’t judge,” she answered quietly. “Because you can just disappear in Gotham.  No matter your past, as long as you aren’t actively trying to hurt them, nobody cares. There’s no hostile looks, no glares, no thinly veiled insults or completely unveiled insults.  You can just be.”

Jason’s heart clenched and his anger started to build.  He took a step closer to her.  “Why was that important to you?  Who was looking at you like that?”  He kept his voice even and calm, but he was sure his eyes were starting to show hues of green edging in.

She shook her head and looked down.  “Not me.  My best friend.  He tried moving to London and New York, but it just… seemed to follow him everywhere he went.  I mean he still had all his friends but… they started getting into trouble too because they were getting into fights defending him and… yeah.  So we applied to transfer here and both got accepted to our different schools.”

He nodded in understanding.  That seemed like something she would do; uproot her entire life for a friend.  “Gotham is good like that.  They let you rebuild yourself.  We’ve seen too much pain to judge too much.”  He looked away for a few seconds before he realized something.  “You never answered the second question.  What did you mean ‘that time’?”

“Oh… um…” she looked away awkwardly again and shuffled her feet a few times. “I have amnesia?  I lost a few years of my life a few years ago.”

“Amnesia?”

“Yeah, it was super weird.  I wasn’t even in an accident.  No physical injuries.  Just memory loss.”  She was rubbing the back of her neck and looking up at him sideways as she spoke.

He stared at her for a few more seconds.  That made no sense.  Why would she lose her memories like that?  The League could have done something, he supposed.  But if the League had been involved, she’d be dead. So it must be something else, something related to the miraculous was most likely.  A few years ago would put it right around when Hawkmoth was caught and Ladybug and the other miraculous heroes disappeared.

His eyes flicked to her ears.  She wasn’t wearing earrings.  She wasn’t wearing her miraculous.  He reached up toward her ears where they should be, but realized a few centimeters from her what he was doing and pulled back his hand like he’d been stung.  She lost being a hero.  Could the miraculous really do that?  Remove any parts of a memory that related to the miraculous?

“Um, speaking of losing things.  I don’t remember your name,” she prodded shyly.

“Jason.  Jason Todd,” he answered, still somewhat in a daze, still focused on her ears.  

She smiled at the answer, but her lips quickly turned down into a slight frown. The shift caused his hear to stutter. Why was she frowning?  Did his name bring back who he was?  No, that couldn’t be it.  She never knew his name.  So why the frown?  Did she… had she heard of him?  Was she disappointed in him?  Was she scared of him?  Was she aghast at the approach he took to cleaning up Gotham?

The thought pressed against his chest like a vice.  Every decision he’d made since he left her in that park had been touched by her.  Would she approve?  Would she understand?  It didn’t change how he acted… usually.  He still did what he needed to do, what needed to be done.  But the thought was still there.  Would she think he was the evil villain he tried so hard to be?  He knew she would be disappointed, but seeing it reflected on her face was something else.  He steeled himself and rolled his shoulders in false nonchalance. He gave her a forcefully charming smile. “What’s the matter, don’t like the name?”

She quirked her head to the side as she watched him.  Jason braced himself for whatever her next words were going to be. They had to be how disappointed she was in him, right?  Disappointed in what he became.  “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just disappointed.”  

Jason drew in a breath.  There it was. The reaction he was expecting. Even though he knew it was coming it still hurt more than he thought it would.  Why was he letting this person he didn’t even know affect him, damn it! She didn’t even know him.  She had no right!  He tried to meet her eyes so he could deliver a devastating glare, but she was staring ahead blankly.  His eyes softened involuntarily.  That’s why it hurt.  Because she was the best person he’d met, the most forgiving, and if even she thought he was disappointing, he must really be.

“I don’t remember your name,” she continued, oblivious to his reaction.  She looked back up at him with an adorable pout on her soft, pink lips.  “I was so excited that seeing you sparked something.  I guess I was hoping your name might help recover more memories. But my head, you know?”  She tapped her head with her knuckles gently.

Jason gaped at her.  She was disappointed in herself?  Not him? “No!” he cried louder than he meant to, he just couldn’t let her think this was her fault when it had to be some kind of magic.  “You never… you didn’t know my name.  And, I’ve known lots of people with amnesia.  Living in Gotham, people get their heads rattled or hit frequently. Memories are hard.  They don’t come back the way you would think they do. Sometimes they don’t ever come back at all.”

She scrunched her face in confusion.  Her lips turned down sadly.  “But… you knew my name.  And I remember you.”

Jason opened his mouth to try some kind of explanation.  He snapped his mouth shut.  What could he say?  How was he supposed to explain how he knew her?  This is where his years of training in bullshit and condescension would come in handy.  Except he didn’t want to be condescending with her, so just bullshit then.  He sighed heavily.  But he didn’t want to lie to her either, not to her.  She was the one good thing he’d done since the Pits. Helping her was his one saving grace.  “We… we weren’t friends.  We weren’t close.  I honestly have no idea why you would remember me.  I wasn’t a good person.  You knew that.”

She stared at him in surprise.  Her brows furrowed in thought, but she stayed quiet as if waiting for him to elaborate. He opened his mouth again, but snapped it shut again quickly when the sound of gunfire echoed through the museum. Jason’s head immediately snapped to the sound and he moved before he realized it to put himself between Marinette and the doorway.

Marinette sighed at the shots.  Jason whipped around to look at her.  A sigh is definitely not the response he was expecting.  It was not the normal response.  That was much closer to an emotionally damaged response, a tired of life response, a response he had tried to save her from having.  Granted his reaction wasn’t normal either, but he knew why he reacted the way he did.

She shrugged.  “The Walker Emerald,” she explained.  “It’s in the Ancient Art exhibit.”  When he still looked confused, she continued.  “It’s an Incan artifact.  They used emeralds in some of their works.  The Walker Emerald is the largest emerald they’ve found in excavations.  It’s held in place by a solid gold setting.  It’s huge.  They named it for the archaeologist that discovered it.  What bullshit is that?” she grumbled, seeming more upset by that than the gunfire.  “I stayed away from here for weeks after they opened the exhibit because I figured this would happen.  But I thought it would have happened earlier. Guess they were waiting for people to put their guard down and it worked.  I did.”

Jason moved to the doorway and peeked around the corner.  “But why now?  Why during the day when there would be people here?”

“Because security at night is a lot worse for it,” Marinette said as she peeked out next to him.  He grabbed her and pulled her back into the room behind him.  “Just my luck they would do it when I finally visited again.”  She tried to move to the doorway again but Jason pulled her back again with a scowl, moving them further from the door.  She really had no self-preservation instincts.  She rolled her eyes, but didn’t fight him, instead slumping into his side to wait for everything to blow over.  “If you remember me, then you probably already know how bad my luck is.”

He barked out a laugh at the irony.  He stopped immediately when they heard more gunfire and someone behind them call out. Marinette peeked past him again.  She cursed quietly and took off running.  Jason cursed loudly and ran to the doorway just in time to see Marinette slide into the feet of one of the goons, knocking him off his feet and into the goon next to him, knocking him down as well. Before the second guy landed, she’d jumped back up and swept a little boy who had been in their path off his feet. Fuck!  She was still acting like a hero, but without the suit or magic to help her.  

He groaned to himself.  Bad luck his ass.  That was either extreme skill or luck… or both.  But considering she hadn’t thought to follow it up by making sure they couldn’t follow her, if it was skill, it was subconscious remnants of her time as a hero, not something she could pull on at will.  And she probably hadn’t intentionally trained to be able to defend herself, because she didn’t remember being a hero, so why would she.  Which meant she had no self-preservation skills.  She was acting purely on her emotions.  She was going to get herself killed with her good heart. Where was her friend who came here with her?  Why weren’t they protecting her?  Somebody had to, since she clearly wasn’t going to do it herself.

He moved before he thought too hard about it.  The goons were already standing up, guns out and cocked, and had their eyes trained on the statue’s pedestal she was hiding behind.  He punched one in the temple, knocking him out immediately, and grabbed the gun from his hand as he fell.  He pointed the gun at the goon and was about to pull the trigger when he heard the gasp behind him.  He heard Marinette quickly fussing over the kid and telling him not to look. He groaned silently and tightened his grip on the gun.  He couldn’t kill him in front of the kid… or Marinette.  

He motioned to the gun in the goon’s hand and held his hand out.  “You know who I am, yeah?”  The goon nodded slowly.  “Give me your gun and get the fuck out of here and I won’t come after you.”  The goon dropped his gun and backed away, never turning his back on Jason until he was out of the room and rapid footfalls could be heard.

Jason took a breath and slowly let it out to calm himself before moving to Marinette’s truly terrible hiding spot.  He silently reached out for her hand to help her stand and escorted her and the kid back into the room they had been in.  The kid immediately perked up and reached out for a woman in the corner with two other kids.  She thanked Marinette and him with tears running down her face, clutching to the boy like a lifeline before bringing him back to the other two kids and holding them all the same way.

Jason yanked Marinette into his chest and wrapped his arms around her.  He watched the door for any indication they were going to send more goons after them.  After a few seconds he pulled away just enough to look at her.  “Stop doing that!” he whisper yelled.  He pulled them into the corner where they were at least partially hidden by marble statues.  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“You ran after me,” she pointed out with a roll of her eyes.  “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I… you…” he scowled at her.  He opened his mouth to lecture her more articulately, but snapped it shut again. “Let’s get you somewhere safer,” he gritted out.

She shook her head.  “I’m not leaving them and I already feel safe.  I feel safe with you.  I trust you.”  Jason scoffed at her.  How was she still alive?  Why was her friend not watching her at all times if she was this trusting and bad at judging people?  “I remember you.  You’re the only thing I’ve remembered.  That must mean you were important to me.  You wouldn’t have been important unless you did something I thought was significant. So that means I thought I could trust you.  And I trust myself that I can trust you.”  She smiled confidently at him.

Jason groaned and motioned to himself.  “Do I look like someone you can trust?” he exclaimed as loudly as he felt he could safely.  He may not be in his Red Hood suit right then, but he was definitely dressed in mob boss chic, designed to emanate a powerful asshole vibe and cultivate fear and respect.  

She kept her eyes focused entirely on his, not bothering to take in his carefully crafted vibe. Just staring at his eyes, staring into his soul, and seeking out that part of him that he thought had died years ago. That part the League had trained out of him.  The part the Joker had beaten out of him.  “Yes,” she said immediately and confidently.

He stared at her blankly.  Why would she trust him?  He was untrustworthy.  He was a killer.  He was brutal.  He had cultivated that reputation.  It was well deserved.  Hell, he’d attacked her.  And yet here she was, looking up at him with those big, bright, trusting, blue eyes.  “Okay.” He swallowed hard.  Those blue eyes were more deadly than half the rogues in Gotham.  Those blue eyes could get him to do things nobody else had ever been able to.  

It only took half an hour for the police to clear the museum and let them back out on the street, likely because some of them had been in on the heist in the first place.  It felt strange and unsettling to wait for the police instead of acting.  His skin itched to act in a way other than decking the officer that had been staring at him with distain since he came to tell them they could leave.

He escorted Marinette and the small family to the sidewalk outside and stuck next to them to make sure the police didn’t harass them.  He was determinedly not looking at Marinette, but he could feel her staring at him again.  When he finally looked over at her, he lost his breath for a second.  She was staring at him with such adoration and respect, his lungs couldn’t function correctly.  Jason frowned.  “You've got to stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I'm a hero,” he groused.  “I don’t deserve it.  I haven’t earned it.  I’m not a hero.”

Marinette blinked at him a few times and cocked her head to the side curiously.  She smiled sweetly at him.  It seemed vastly out of place considering the situation they were in and yet perfectly in place on her lips.  “You’re that kid’s hero.  And that mom’s… and mine.”

Jason stared back at her breathlessly.  “Look… you don’t remember me.  If you did…  I’m… It’s dangerous to be around me.  I’m dangerous to be around.  You shouldn't be seen with me. It's dangerous for you to even talk to me.”  She smiled softly at him.  “And why are you smiling?  I just told you to go away.”

Her smile got brighter his indignation.  “Because if you were as evil as you seem so intent on convincing me you are, you wouldn't care.  But you do, so you're not.  So I was right.”

“Pixie, you have no idea how hard I worked on my reputation, what I’ve done to deserve it.”

Marinette nodded in faux seriousness.  “Right.  Terrible person that almost died protecting a kid he never met and would do it again in a heartbeat and stayed with us to make sure we were safe.”

“Who intimidated the henchmen out of harming us, because they knew what I could do, because they knew I’m not a good guy.”

Marinette laughed.  She had the audacity to laugh at him.  He was one of the leading crime bosses in the city.  “Oh yeah, okay, Wreck it Ralph.  Whatever you say.  I bet you jaywalk and everything.”

“I do!” he exclaimed throwing his arms out in exasperation.  “I’m going to do it again when I leave here.”  She laughed harder at him.  He stopped and thought about what he just said.  “No.  I mean…”

“Truly terrifying,” she agreed, cutting off his objections, still mocking his seriousness.

Jason hung his head in defeat.  His head snapped up when he heard the batmobile arrive. “And you are safe now.  But, I have to go.”  His eyes stayed on the batmobile, analyzing the threat to him.

“Now?”

He looked back at her with a wry smile.  “Batman and I don’t get along so well.  That should tell you something.”

“It tells me even heroes make mistakes,” she said defiantly.

Jason let out a long suffering sigh, but nodded. “Stay safe, Marinette.”

“Will I see you again?”  Her eyes were brimming with hope, but her voice was fragile.  She tucked a piece of her hair that had come undone while they were escaping behind her ear. Jason’s eyes traced her hand as it moved.  

He hated to kill that in her, but he couldn’t allow her to be in his life.  He couldn’t bring her down like that.  He couldn’t see her again and he couldn’t lie to her.  He opened his mouth to answer her, but got a reprieve. “Marinette!”  She hadn’t bothered to look at the source of the call, keeping her eyes on Jason.  But, the eye contact was broken when she was tackled by a blonde man.  “I came as soon as I saw!  Are you okay?”

Jason disappeared into the crowd before she recovered from the onslaught.  No matter what she believed, he wasn’t good and he wouldn’t be good for her.  He vowed to himself that he wouldn’t look for her. He wouldn’t follow her.  He wouldn’t give any rogues or henchmen in Gotham any indication that she was special to him.  He would protect her in any way that didn’t make her a target.  He gave one last look over his shoulder just catching a last glimpse of her searching the crowd.  He turned away and continued forward.

Chapter 4

Tags:

@jasonette-july-event @jayjayspixiepop @aespades @how-to-function-properly @pawsitivelymiraculous @maribatserver

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Ch. 18: Girl’s Night (Heroes/Villains)

AO3

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First

Teleporting back into her room in Gotham, Marinette flops onto her bed. Passing Kaalki sugar cubes and Tikki a cookie, she suppresses the urge to scream into her pillow. She was sick and tired of Hawkmoth. Sick and tired of being the one who has to fix everything. She just wanted one week with no Hawkmoth, no akuma attacks. But no. Of course not. Of course he just had to send out a stupid akuma every single day. Because why not. How’re people supposed to know he’s still being the main villain of Paris if he takes a freaking day off? Once she finds out who he is, she’s going to punch him in his stupid face. A knock on her door pulls her from her plotting ways to get back at Hawkmoth. 

“Come in.” She sighs, sitting up and forcing a tired smile on her face. 

“Marinette, your father wanted-” Selina starts, pausing as she looks her over. “Come on kitten, we’re having a girls day.” She says. Marinette raises an eyebrow. Sure she’d met Selina before, but they hadn’t really hung out yet. 

“What?” She asks. 

“You look exhausted and angry, sweetheart. Spending too much time with these boys isn’t going to help. So you’re gonna grab anything you need for an overnight trip and we’re going to go watch movies and eat junk food til we’re sick.” Selina instructs. Marinette grins, jumping up and shoving stuff into her backpack. She puts Kaalki’s glasses into her purse and lets her and Tikki fly in before she turns to Selina. 

“Ready!” She says, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. It’d been ages since she’d had a girls day with anyone. She was so ready to just take a break and be silly. 

“Well come on then. Harley and Ivy are going to adore you.” Selina says, slinging her arm around Marinette’s shoulders. Somehow, they manage to not see anyone on the way to Selina’s car. Which is weird, but it is a weekday so everyone probably had something to do besides sit around the manor. Pulling away from the manor, Selina flips on the radio, the new Jagged Stone song blasting full volume.

“Nice taste in music.” Marinette says with a wide grin. Selina smirks. 

“I have to like the man at least a little, his designer is one of my kids after all.” She says. Marinette smiles, a warm feeling flooding through her. Selina didn’t have to accept her with open arms, she didn’t have to treat her like she was her own daughter. But she did, and Marinette was so thankful for that. Thankful that even so far away from her Maman, she still had a Mom there for her. The two nod along to the music, scream singing the chorus together as the car pulls to a stop in front of an apartment building. Marinette glances at the building, suddenly nervous. Would Harley and Ivy like her? Or would they just tolerate her for Selina. 

“Don’t make yourself nervous, sweetheart. Harley and Ivy are two of the sweetest people I know. They’re gonna love you.” Selina says reassuringly, reaching over and squeezing Marinette’s shoulder. Marinette lets out a breath before nodding. 

“Okay, let’s go.” She says, grabbing her bag and jumping out of the car. She follows closely behind Selina, not wanting to give anyone the chance to get between them. You could never be too careful in Gotham. They walk into the building and go straight into the elevator, Selina pushing the button and leaning up against the wall while they wait. Marinette bounces on the balls of her feet, excitement and nerves bundling together. The second the elevator stops, Marinette’s out, following Selina down the hall. She pulls out a key, winking at Marinette before turning and unlocking the door. 

“Honey, I’m home!” She calls, and Marinette’s jaw drops. The apartment was quite literally covered in plants and vines. They were beautiful. She grins as one of the vines near her leans towards her, a small flower blooming at the end of it. 

“And who did you bring with you?” A tall woman with red hair asks, walking into the room. The designer inside of Marinette instantly has a million questions about the woman’s outfit. It seemed to be made entirely of plants, but she could also tell that they were still alive. She had no idea how the woman had managed that, but she guessed that it was something that couldn’t be replicated for someone else. 

“I’m Marinette. Nice to meet you!” She says with a wide smile. The woman, who Marinette assumes is Ivy, grins back. 

“Nice to meet you, Flower. I see you’ve already made a friend.” She says, gesturing to the vine which was now wrapped around Marinette’s wrist. Marinette giggles. 

“Well, I was hoping they liked me and that’s what this was. I have a garden back in Paris, and I’d hate to find out plants actually hate me.” She says. Ivy shakes her head. 

“No worries there. They adore you, it’s a little odd if I’m honest.” Ivy says, dodging Selina who tries to flick her. 

“Did I hear Selina?” Another voice asks, a short blonde woman walking into the room. Her hair was short and choppy, the small pigtails at the top of her head dyed pink. Marinette grinned at the woman’s outfit- a Gotham Amusement Pier t-shirt, Batman pajama pants, and hot pink fuzzy socks. She wondered if her dad knows that Harley Quinn has Batman pj pants….probably not. 

“Yes, with a guest.” Selina says, plopping onto the couch and gesturing over to Marinette, who was still standing by her new vine friend. 

“Hi! I’m Marinette, it’s nice to meet you.” She says, smiling and waving with her free hand. Ivy whispers something and the vine squeezes a bit before letting go, letting her move away from the door. 

“Well aren’t ya just the cutest!” Harley squeals, running forward and giving her a big hug. “Didjya finally join your boytoy’s adopting habits?” Harley adds, still clutching onto Marinette. Selina snorts. 

“No, he beat me to her. But she’s definitely mine, too.” She says, making Marinette’s face turn red. Harley coos at her, ruffling her hair before stepping back. 

“So what brings ya here? Get annoyed with Bats already?” Harley asks. Marinette blinks in shock. Harley knows? She thinks about it for a minute, and realizes it just makes sense. They’d been fighting long enough and then he started his relationship with Selina, who was one of Harley’s best friends. It just made sense that Harley (who was extremely smart) would put two and two together. 

“No, just thought that Mari could use a girl’s day. She’s been stuck with just the boys for over a week.” Selina explains. Harley gasps. 

“The horror!” She says, making Marinette giggle. “Come on pumpkin, I’ve got the comfiest jammies ever. Oooo, and we can paint our nails! Ivy, find the movies, Selina, you’re on snacks. This is gonna be so much fun!” Harley orders, grabbing Marinette’s hand and tugging her along to one of the bedrooms, Selina’s laugh echoing throughout the apartment. 

“I did bring pjs, ma’am.” Marinette says, once Harley stops tugging her and starts searching through a drawer. 

“Bet that can’t be comfier than the ones I’ve got for ya! And call me Harley kiddo, or Auntie Harley if ya wanna.” She says, looking up from the drawer to smile widely. She looks back and cheers in victory, pulling out a pair of bright red pajama pants. Marinette snorts when she notices the logo all over the pants. 

“Really?” She asks, giggling. Harley smirks. 

“We’ll have to take a picture of us and send it to your old man. Really get ‘im riled up.” She says. Marinette nods excitedly, taking the Robin pants from Harley. This was gonna be awesome. 

---

Bruce sighs, looking at the news report from Paris from earlier. The damned butterflies were hard to track. He was used to figuring out problems quickly, and this one was taking too long for comfort. It wouldn’t bother him as much if it was anywhere else, but it was directly impacting his daughter. She was being hurt daily, and she’d even died and now she was plagued with nightmares. All because of a man with some magic jewelry. God, he hated magic. A knock on the study door stirs him from his thoughts. 

“Come in.” He says.

“Hey B, have you seen Mari? I was gonna ask her if she wanted to go get ice cream with me and Little D.” Dick asks, leaning against the door frame, Damian standing next to him with his arms crossed.

“Not since breakfast. There was another akuma attack earlier, but it wasn’t a bad one. She wasn’t injured.” He says, remembering the completely strange battle from earlier. It was some man with pigeons, and apparently this was the 34th time the man had been akumatized over pigeons. 

“Did you not check her room after the battle?” Damian asks, eyebrow quirked. Bruce sighs. 

“It was the pigeon one again. I assumed that she’d want to take a nap, if anything. She still hasn’t been sleeping well. Tim said she’s awake every morning when he comes up for coffee, whether it’s three or five, she’s up.” Bruce explains, frowning at the thought of his youngest daughter’s sleep habits. He certainly didn’t need another sleep deprived coffee addict like Tim. It wasn’t healthy. 

“Well I already checked her room. She wasn’t there.” Dick says, and Bruce frowns, pulling out his phone to send a text to Tim and call Jason. One of them had to have seen her. She never left the house without telling one of the family, unless it was for a battle. 

“What.” Jason says gruffly, Bruce is just grateful he answered. Up until a couple of months ago, Jason would have rather thrown his phone in the river than answer one of Bruce’s calls. 

“Have you seen Marinette?” He asks, getting straight to the point.

“No? Why? What’s wrong?” Jason asks, and Bruce hears shuffling as Jason rushes around wherever it is he is. 

“Nothing. I’ll call you back.” He says, hanging up. He glances down at his texts and notices Tim hasn’t seen her either. He frowns, but doesn’t panic yet. Pulling out his computer, he pulls up the tracker that was on each of his children’s phones. He scans the map, frowning when he sees that her phone is still in the manor. In her room. He stands and swiftly moves past his sons to get to his daughter’s room. He knocks, waiting for an answer. None. 

“Marinette?” He calls, knocking again. “I’m opening the door.” He warns, pushing it open. He frowns at the empty room, nothing appearing out of place. 

“Do you think she had to pop back to Paris for something?” Dick asks, coming up behind him. Bruce shakes his head. 

“No, she would have told us. Suit up, she has to be somewhere in-” He stops as his phone chimes. He looks at it and feels all of the tension leave his shoulders. 

Took our youngest daughter for a girl’s day, back tomorrow XO. Of course Selina had her. 

“She’s with the Sirens. She’ll be back tomorrow.” Bruce says, suppressing a smile at the annoyed look on his youngest’s face. She was safe, and that’s what matters. Even if he was certain he’d have to listen to Damian complain for the entirety of patrol. 

---

“Make all the boy moose go WAAAAAAAAA!” Harley says with the movie, laughing loudly. Marinette chuckles, passing Tikki a cookie in her purse before sticking another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. 

“I still like the first one more.” Selina says, taking a sip of her wine. Harley sticks her tongue out at her before turning her attention back to the movie. 

“Do you think Mia is secretly a superhero?” Marinette asks, frowning in thought. 

“What on earth are you talking about?” Ivy asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Even Harley pauses the movie to turn and stare at her. 

“Stan Lee.” Marinette says with a shrug. 

“Is that s’posed to mean something to me, kid? Cause I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” Harley says, obviously confused. Marinette huffs. 

“Stan Lee makes a cameo in this movie. And Stan Lee is the creator of Marvel, right? He’s made a cameo in like, every single Marvel movie. So is Mia secretly a superhero? Is that why he’s in the movie?” Marinette rambles, almost flinging ice cream at Selina as she gestures crazily. 

“Sweetie, how much sleep have you had in the past three days?” Selina asks after a few moments of silence. 

“Not important. Is Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, Princess of Genovia, also a superhero? Does she secretly work for SHIELD? Or is she more like Iron Man, like a freelance superhero? Was she a hero in San Francisco too? Or did she take over a hero's mantle when she moved to Genovia? Cause she was really clumsy in the first movie and also super awkward, but now she’s less clumsy and she seems to be more put together, but are heroes really put together? I don’t think so. I think sometimes heroes pretend that they’re put together to make everyone else feel better when in all reality they’re seconds away from a breakdown themselves. Is Stan Lee coming to recruit her for SHIELD? Is that why he’s in Genovia? Does SHIELD have any jurisdiction there? Is there a Genovian branch of SHIELD?” Marinette rambles, suddenly stuck on the topic. Seriously, why is Stan Lee in Princess Diaries 2 if Mia isn’t a hero? Why would he-

“Kitten, take a breath.” Selina says, her hands on Marinette���s shoulders helping her to ground herself. Marinette takes in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She blinks a few times, instantly feeling bad. 

“I’m so sorry.” She says, frowning. 

“What for?” Harley asks, looking confused. 

“For ruining girl’s night.” She says quietly. Selina pulls her into a tight hug and Marinette sinks into it. 

“Sweetheart, you didn’t ruin anything. I don’t know everything that’s going on. But what I do know, is that you rambling out a conspiracy theory about the movie we’re watching is not ruining girl’s night. Trust me. One time, we invited your brother Dick, and he ate all of the cookies by himself.” Selina says, Marinette snorts. Of course he did. “Now that’s a way to ruin girl’s night.” She adds, squeezing her once more before leaning back.

“Let's watch something that we can just get lost in and not have to think at all.” Ivy suggests, looking through the stack of dvd’s. Marinette glances over, eyes instantly catching one of her favorite movies. 

“Legally Blonde?” She suggests, Harley squeals. 

“That’s it, you’re officially ours. Brucie can fight me.” She says, putting in the dvd. Marinette laughs, laying her head on Selina’s shoulder, grabbing a handful of popcorn. She could get used to nights like these.

Next Chapter

Bonus chapter: Harley Vs Bruce

Drawing of Harley and Mari’s pajamas

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82 

[justcourttee]

Hi I love your fics and maribat. Tall Girl (Netflix) reminds me a lot about Timari. So maybe to something with that. (With Mari thinking that Tim's confessions were all jokes and wanting Ardien who was roped into dating lila and it's the class making fun of mari.)

Oh goodness, this took ages and I both apologize and hope it's what you were looking for! 24 pages and over ten thousand words! For reference, that's 20% of my first multi-part Maribat piece!

Average

In a world where everyone is looking for extraordinary, how do you survive when you’re just average?

I’ve spent my whole life mulling over the thought, trying to find a way to be extraordinary, trying to find a way to be noticed, and constantly failing.

It wasn’t like it was from a lack of effort, I really did give my all to everything I tried, it was just, there was always someone better.

Specifically, one insufferable bitch named Lila Rossi.

Now I know what you’re thinking, ‘Marinette, it’s not fair to call Lila a bitch just because she was better than you,’ and if it were a normal rivalry, I could agree with you. But you simply don’t know Lila Rossi.

Lila has been a thorn in my side since we met on the soccer field at just ten years old. I accidentally bumped into her sending us both tumbling to the ground and she took that personally. Slapping my hand away, she bawled the worst fake tears I had seen in my ten short years until the coach benched me. Can you imagine the embarrassment of being benched in elementary school soccer?

Ever since that day, anytime we were placed together it always ended in disaster, especially for me.

Now, as much as I would love to on about how awful the sausage-haired brat is, I’m sure that’s not what you came here for. So let me break it down for you. If you are looking for your typical girl meets boy, they fall in love and live happily after, you should scroll now. It’s only fair to warn you. After all, I don’t want you to be disappointed when we reach the ending. I’ll give you a second.

Still here?

Well, hold on tight. Because the story I am about to tell you isn’t much to just anyone, but it’s everything to me and my average life.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It all started on a Tuesday in August when he arrived.

Adrien Agreste.

“Class, I want you to welcome our exchange student, Adrien Agreste! He’s here all the way from Paris, France, and will be finishing the year with us. Adrien, why don’t you tell the class something about yourself?”

I couldn’t even focus on the words that escaped from his precious lips. His voice was so silky, like softened butter on one of Papa’s fresh muffins. Everything about him screamed perfect from his thoughtfully placed hair to his shining green eyes. He was simply-

“-Earth to Mari! You could at least try to hide your drool.”

My eyes snapped shut as I took a deep breath.

“Tim, I am not drooling. And you know I hate it when you whisper in my ear! It tickles!”

Tim rolled his eyes as he sat backward, his eyes narrowing to where Adrien stood in the front of the room, a pristine white smile earning giggles from every female in the class.

“I don’t like him. Something seems off about him. He’s too-too-”

“Perfect?” I chuckled to myself as the heat rose to Tim’s cheeks, his eyebrows settling into their usual aggravated pose. “I don’t know what has your panties in such a twist Wayne, but shouldn’t we try to get to know him first? I think he seems nice.”

Tim huffed under his breath, his cheeks filling with air. It was hard for me to contain my giggles as he mumbled to himself, his pout deepening.

Tim Drake-Wayne. He is my absolute, undeniable, unshakeable best friend. We met back when my parents decided to drag me halfway across the world for a change of pace. I was in the fifth grade when a young irritable boy with a coffee addiction wandered into the bakery alone, demanding a double shot of espresso to deal with the day.

After several visits, we became closer and closer until we were inseparable. Tim’s been through a lot. He was emotionally abused by his parents, forced to mature too quickly. We had just entered the eighth grade when those same parents died and he was adopted by the town’s billionaire, Bruce Wayne. I was sure I would never see him again, but after much convincing (bugging), Bruce decided public school was best for Tim so that he wouldn’t be isolated again.

I adore Tim with my whole heart, really, but there is one thing he does that I absolutely despise.

“After school today, let me take you to the new coffee shop that just opened! It’ll be just like a date.” His wink only strengthened my urge to knock him flat.

“First of all, quit joking about my lack of a love life. I don’t need a pity date from you. Second, how do you switch so easily from grueling to jokes? Don’t you get whiplash or something?”

It’s a daily occurrence. I mention someone I like or that someone is cute and immediately Tim jokes about how it would just be easier if I dated him instead. It’s the only thing he does that has ever truly gotten on my nerves.

My gaze returned to the front of the classroom where Adrien had settled into his new seat. Even the back of his head had every hair perfectly placed. How did he even begin to manage that? I wasn’t sure how long I had stared, but before I knew it the bell had sounded and I was whisked away by Tim before I could even say hi.

The same pattern repeated itself every day for weeks.

Every time I would work up the courage to say something to him, Tim drug me away as fast as he could manage. Although, I can’t place the entire blame on Tim. There was one other factor, one factor worse than Tim.

Lila Rossi.

As student body president, she vowed that it was her duty to show Adrien around the school and around town. I spent every night scrolling through dozens of snapchats and instagram stories filled with her hanging off of his arm.

Even if I could escape Tim’s grasps, there was no way she would let me get in a ten-foot radius of him.

At least, that was what I thought. There was one time during the day that Adrien had a moment to himself. Fifth period when the music room was abandoned and most took off for their internships or club activities.

I discovered him by accident, truly. My club had let out early for the day and while most people would take off to head home or to one of Gotham’s more popular afternoon hangouts, I wanted to wait for Tim.

It was never my plan to corner him, but as I flung open the music room’s door without a second thought, my eyes met startled green and my heart dropped to my stomach.

“I’m so sorry! Usually, the music room is empty right now and I thought I could find some peace, and I didn’t know you were in here and oh my god I’m such a dork.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth before I could spiral any further, his widening eyes sending my heart deeper. This was it. I finally had a chance to introduce myself and I wasted it. If there was any way I could just slink away, crawl into a six-foot hole, and simply wither away in misery, I would take it without hesitation.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll just head out no-” I could feel the heat rising to my face as the most precious sound I ever had the pleasure of experiencing erupted from him. His laugh could literally cure cancer, I was sure of it.

“No, no, you’re fine! Marinette, right?” He knew my name? Adrien Agreste, the most perfect man in the world, no, in the universe, knew who I was?

I could barely find the strength to nod, the heat in my cheeks becoming unbearable. He offered a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck in such a gentle and shy manner. It was too effective. There was no way I wasn’t going to pass out before Tim got out of his AV club.

“I’m sorry, I also didn’t realize that anyone used this room besides me. I’ve spent the past few weeks in here while everyone was in their clubs.”

“You didn’t want to join anything?” Was my voice always this high? I couldn’t remember. To be honest, I was still in a daze from his precious laugh.

“It wasn’t that! It’s just, there’s nothing here that really interests me. I prefer classical things, like the piano and musicals and French theater. Nothing that interests normal kids our age.”

French theater? I knew some from the days I spent with my Grandfather in Paris. He was a sucker for classical things as well.

“I don’t think that those are weird interests. I mean, I prefer to design as my hobby, but I’ve spent quite a few hours watching French musicals with my papy. I am very knowledgable if I do say so myself.”

Adrien’s smile was blinding as he slid over on the piano bench, offering the spot beside him. My heart had finally returned to normal, but just one small motion had sent it into a flurry as it desperately tried to escape my chest.

“Let’s make a bet Marinette.” I found myself nodding before he even finished his sentence, his infectious smile starting to pull a smile of my own. “If you can guess the song and musical, you can ask for anything you want from me.”

“And if I get it wrong?” I was so sure the air was thinner beside him, the glint in his eyes drawing my breath away.

“Then I can ask you for anything I want, deal?” I hesitated for a moment, unable to comprehend that he would even want anything from me to begin with, but seconds later my head began to move, my breathing scarce.

I closed my eyes as his fingers hit the first notes, a beautiful melody following. The song was so familiar, so simple, but it was so hard to focus with him so close by. All too soon, the echoes of the final note rang through the room until a deafening silence settled atop of it.

“So, any guesses?”

I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth, a name settling in the forefront of my mind.

“It’s definitely Sur Deux Notes, but for some reason, I can’t remember the musical”

My eyes flickered open as I resisted the urge to jolt backward. His face was mere centimeters away, everything about him urging me to lean forward, to give in.

“A true tragedy Miss Marinette,” a finger popped up to bop my nose before he slid off the bench, offering his hand to help me stand. “You got it half right! It’s from the musical Les Chansons d'Amour. Which means-”

His pauce was dramatic as I stood, his grip on my hand loose.

“I win! Therefore, I get to ask you for anything correct? That was the deal?” His smirk was so playful, it almost felt dangerous. “So, Ma Dame, what are your plans this weekend?”

“Nothing!” That was definitely too quick, do I look desperate? Honestly, if it meant staring at that smile for a second more, I found myself caring less and less.

“Then, how about I help you refresh your musical knowledge? I believe I can get ahold of a copy of the original Les Chansons d’Amour by Saturday.”

This was a date, right? I wasn’t dreaming, the red throbbing spot on my arm pretty much guaranteed it. Somewhere along the line, I must have nodded, and as he gently released my hand turning to grab his bag, all the warmth left with him. Already, I found myself longing for his touch again.

“I hate to ask, but can you meet me at Wayne Manor? I’m sure Mounseir Bruce would allow me to borrow a car, but I am not quite comfortable asking him for something like that.”

“Sure-” I felt the gears turning in my head until the final one clicked into place. “I’m sorry, did you say Wayne Manor? As in Bruce Thomas Wayne? Gotham’s Favorite Billionaire?”

“Ah yes,” his hand moved to the back of his neck, a sheepish smile replacing his confident one from moments before. “It’s a bit embarrassing, but he was the only one my father would let me stay with. I couldn’t even apply for housing because he already had it set up. Does that make you feel awkward?”

“Oh no, of course not! I’m well acquainted with the Waynes! In fact, there is one that I forgot I was supposed to meet today. Can I give you my number really quick?”

As I handed him his phone and we bid goodbye, I couldn’t even begin to relish in the high I was feeling. No. The only thing I could focus on was how to murder one little Wayne boy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Marinette, c’mon! It’s not that serious. So what if I didn’t tell you that Adrien was staying here?”

I tapped my pencil against my forehead, trying to ignore the pestering fly beside me.

The minute I had stepped out of the music room a couple of days before, I encountered two of the biggest thorns in my life. Tim paling at the sight of my rage and one insufferable bitch wearing the ugliest scowl. He ran from me then, he ignored my texts and calls, and I’m assuming once Adrien mentioned our date to Bruce, he decided there was no more avoiding it.

“Besides, he sounds pretty cheap if he’s making you meet him at Bruce’s house. Watching musicals? Like with your grandfather? Is he ancient or something?”

I gritted my teeth, trying to maintain the silence. There were so many things I wanted to say to him at the moment, but seeing him squirm was the best revenge. Tim loved silence unless it was purposely directed at him. His brothers taught me that years ago.

The bell sounded through the room and I quickly darted out before he could attempt another backhanded apology.

These were the days that I missed my Paris friends. Besides Tim, I was utterly alone. I mean, I technically could hang out with Tim’s siblings, but then I’d still have to see him. There was one person that lived outside the Wayne household, yet I wasn’t sure if I was ready to cross that line yet.

I walked home alone again.

Realistically speaking, I needed to at least work up the patience to face him before Saturday. It was almost a guarantee that he would be there. It wasn’t like he would go out on the weekends. But with only two days just seemed too soon.

I had barely walked into the bakery when my mother excitedly waved me down the landline in hand.

“Marinette! A boy from your school is on the line!”

I raised an eyebrow as I accepted the phone, waving her off. There was only one boy that knew the landline number and that was Tim, but if he were on the phone, she would’ve said so.

“Hello?”

The silence was deafening. For a moment, I was sure they had hung up and was about to follow suit when a soft voice sent chills down my spine.

“Marinette? It’s Adrien. I hope I’m not bothering you.”

My breath caught in my throat. Did he ask Tim for my number? But he has my cell? It didn’t matter how he got it or why he was using it, I just needed to respond.

“No-” I cleared my throat trying to find my real voice because it certainly wasn’t how I just spoke. “No, it’s not a bother at all.”

“Great, so, I heard from Lila that there was a homecoming dance coming up. I haven’t been to one before, but I was wondering if I could go with you?”

“Of course I would love-” My heart sank before I could finish my sentence. Laughter cut me off, two distinct laughs that I could pick out from anywhere. “Don’t you ever get tired Lila!”

“Oh my god, you were so excited huh? Pretty pathetic that you think he would fall for you after one conversation Mari dear.”

I didn’t even know how to respond. She wasn’t wrong. We shared one song and haven’t even gone on one date yet, why would I even believe this for one moment?

“Yo Mari, what’s good xinh đẹp?” I felt my hand rising to massage my temples before I could even find the strength to respond.

“Kim, were you trying to call her beautiful, or do you just suck that much at your grandmother’s native language?”

Muffled arguing continued for a few minutes, a few too many for me to question why I still hadn’t hung up. There was a concerning shriek before silence followed.

“I’m surprised you’re still here dumbinette, do you like being degraded by me?” Her laughter sounded like nails on a chalkboard and I could feel the tightness in my chest rising to my throat. “I just wanted to call to make one thing clear. Stay away from Adrien Agreste. I set my sights on him the minute he walked through those doors back in August and I don’t want you to think for even a second in that pitiful brain of yours that you even have a chance, okay?”

I wanted to argue, I wanted to rub it in her face that I had a date this Saturday, one I didn’t have to force upon him like she had the past few weeks. But the tightness had settled, crushing my windpipes. My hand inched down from my temple to my eyes where they were met with a warm wet tear.

“Mmkay, that was all babe! See you at school, hugs and kisses! Mwah!”

The phone stayed pressed to my ear for too long, the dial tone mocking my existence.

It was just two more days till my date, but I felt less confident as the days passed. A single thought passed through my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. No matter how I felt, I couldn’t cave in and call Tim. Yeah, that’s right, I was still mad at him. But was I really?

I was so sure that I was pissed beyond belief when I had to hear from Adrien that he was staying with him, but that wasn’t something that was completely out of my mind. Tim had done worse things than withhold information about someone I thought was cute.

Slowly, I lowered the phone, my fingers absentmindedly dialing his number, pausing as my finger lingered over call.

No, not tonight. I cleared out the screen before dropping it on the bakery counter, waving off my mother’s concerned look. Nobody could ruin the fact that I had a date on Saturday. Not even my own self-destructive tendencies. Adrien asked me out. He asked me out. That was a fact and no matter what Lila or Tim thought or did, it couldn’t shake that undeniable fact.

There were two days. Plenty of enough time to finish the dress I had been fiddling with the past two weeks. I will show up to this date with my head held high and my hopes higher

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Oh! Marinette what a fun surprise! You look beautiful!”

I inhaled sharply, ignoring the urge to smack the grin right off of Tim’s face.

“Timothy. Is Adrien home?” His smile faltered for a moment as he stepped out of the way, inviting me inside.

“Is this your new project? You were working on it for so long. It looks stunning!” He stumbled over his meaningless compliments as he led me to the entertainment room, my silence too much for him to bear.

“You don’t have to escort me, Timothy. I have been here a million and one times.”

I reached past Tim to open the doors, ignoring the fact that he refused to move. There was a strong temptation to just slam the door a little harder so that it would reach his nose, but a set of startling green eyes eased the feeling.

“Marinette! Oh mon Dieu, Tim was supposed to let me know when the doorbell rang so that I could greet you. I’m so sorry, I swear I really am a proper gentleman.”

“It’s okay Adrien! Really! I should’ve texted you that I arrived. I’m just so used to letting myself in.”

His smile was full of relief as it sent my heart into a flurry. Was it really possible to sit close to this man without combusting?

“Please, join me! I just figured out how to set everything up.”

Adrien motioned to the seat beside him and as I slid into the couch, I was fully aware of his arm resting behind my head. It felt nearly impossible to focus on the movie in this position. As he pressed play, my eyes glanced between him and the screen, unsure which was more deserving of my attention.

“So my friends, what are we watching?” Adrien’s arm flinched, his elbow knocking the back of my head as we both jumped from the couch.

“Tim, what are you doing here? I thought you weren’t a fan of French musicals?”

Adrien was putting it nicely, something I could admire him for since my thoughts were definitely straying to a much more violent response. Tim took a handful of popcorn, shoving it into his mouth as he slipped into the spot I had been sitting moments before.

“I usually don’t, but I figured I should get to know you both a little better and your culture of course. Don’t mind me, you won’t hear another peep.” He mockingly zipped his lips closed, his sickeningly sweet smile not quite reaching his devilish eyes.

Adrien glanced at me as if he were unsure to argue or not. I suppose he decided it wasn’t quite was worth it as he moved to sit back down, his smile shaky.

With as much might as I could muster, I shimmied in between the two guys, putting as much distance between Tim and me as I could. I felt his glare burning holes into the side of my head, but there was no way I was going to let him ruin my perfect first date with the perfect guy.

Adrien restarted the movie and for exactly five minutes, Tim kept his promise.

“Can we at least turn on the subtitles? My french is a little rusty.”

I gritted my teeth as Adrien nodded, the screen changing to fit in the white words.

“God that’s tiny, is there any way to make them larger?”

“Uhm, I’m not very sure? It took a while to figure out the controls.” A fist shot past my face, spreading in wait. Adrien looked wary as he placed the remote into Tim’s outstretched hand.

“This should do.” What was once manageable small words were now purple and taking up a third of the screen. I could feel Adrien tense up beside me, but he refused to argue.

We continued on like this for the duration of the movie. Tim would find something new to complain about making our date feel less and less romantic and more like amicable divorcees taking their child out.

“Wow, what a beautiful movie!” Tim dabbed at nonexistent tears, his smile irritating me half to death. “What’s next guys?”

“I, uhm, actually have to head back. After all, I told Maman I wouldn’t be out late.”

“Let me walk you home!” The silence was deafening as both boys traded glances with one another, daring the other to speak again.

“Enough Tim! This was my date tonight with Adrien, not you! Quit acting like some jealous boyfriend!” Both sets of eyes turned toward me, one set glowing, the other dull.

Tim closed his slack jaw before he gathered his trash, mumbling under his breath as he left.

I took a minute, watching the door to ensure he wouldn’t turn back with some dumb retort like he always did, but instead, it remained shut. I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder, urging me forward.

“I’ll walk you home Marinette.” I managed a nod as I let Adrien lead me out of the room and out of the manor.

We walked in silence for a while, his gentle touch both calming and warm in the cool October air.

“Marinette, I’m sorry. That wasn’t exactly how I planned for our first date to go. I’m not sure what was up with Tim.”

My laugh was curt as I slowed my pace, the bakery coming into view far too quickly.

“Tim is just lonely. I know that, yet I’ve been ignoring him some time for petty reasons. He just,” I paused, steps away from the windows to avoid any unwanted audiences, “he just can take the jokes too far sometimes and I can’t handle that.”

Adrien nodded as if he sort of understood what I meant, his eyes glancing to the building beside us.

“Is this your house? Do you live above the bakery?”

“Uh, yeah. There’s an apartment above with a side entrance. So I suppose, this would be my stop.” His chuckle echoed as he moved his hand from my back to brushing against my own hanging hand.

“Well, it certainly wasn’t how I imagined it would go, but can I at least end it how I planned?”

My heart was certainly ready to burst as he gently turned me until our noses were mere centimeters apart. He seemed to be waiting, his lips parted ever so slightly. This was my chance, and yet I was too mesmerized by how close he was. Could I at least nod?

Perhaps I did. The confirmation he waited for set him in motion as he closed to the slight distance between us. His lips were warm and soft and I felt as if I could melt into the sidewalk, as happy as could be.

It almost felt life ending when he finally pulled back, his smile sending my head spinning.

“I’ll see you Monday, Marinette. Goodnight.” He lifted my hand, placing a small peck against my knuckles before releasing it, turning to leave me dumbfounded in front of my own house. My eyes trailed after him, only allowing me to step toward my own home once he was just out of sight.

There was literally nothing that could ruin the high that I was on during that very moment. If only I had known what was waiting for me as I turned the knob.

“Welcome home hunny! Look who decided to stop by to see you!”

The color drained from my face as the snarky smile set off every alarm in my mind.

“Long time, no see Dupain-Cheng. I thought the first thing you would do when I got here was come and see me, but I guess that was too much to hope for now wasn’t it.”

“Chloe, you know you’ve been busy, so why are you acting like it’s all my fault?”

Her heavy, dramatic sigh reminded me exactly why I hadn’t reached out. Chloe is one my best friends besides Tim, but she can be a bit much sometimes. Imagine being so average that even when you stand next to a pillar, you make the pillar look more outstanding. Got that picture? Now imagine little old average me standing next to a three times Miss Junior World Wide pageant winner.

See? A bit much for my mental health to hang out in public with her.

“C’mon now, you know that’s not the only thing stopping you from calling. Your mother told me you had a date tonight. You finally give that Wayne boy a chance?”

I rolled my eyes as I slid into the chair across from her, the weight of the night finally hitting.

“You and I both know he’s just messing with me, mocking me if you will.” Chloe shared a look with my mother, both sighing. I knew what they were thinking, but they didn’t know Tim. He was always like that, always will be. “Besides, there was a transfer student. From Paris to be exact.”

I knew I had captured her attention as she leaned forward, her fingers intertwining before resting on the table.

“Maybe you know him. From what I gathered, he and his family are Paris elites. Adrien Agreste-”

“Mhmm, girl, drop him now.”

I paused as I waited to see if she would elaborate, but instead, she just sat back in her chair as if already bored with the conversation.

“Why should I? He’s so handsome and so sweet and we both share similarities. He’s so perfect Chloe.”

“Yeah, no.” She glanced over her pristine nails as if looking for a crack in the polish to punish. “He is a daddy’s boy and you are not his father’s type. His father will insist he marry someone that would be good for business and I’m sorry but you’re not that Marinette.”

“Marriage?” I could feel myself burning red at the implication. “We only went on one date, Chloe!”

“And it should stay that way. Trust me, he and his family are nothing but trouble for you. You should ask out Tim instead.”

“Are you done?” Chloe sighed before nodding, letting her hand fall to hit the table with an exaggerated smack. “I know that he is out of my league. Trust me, for someone so perfect like him, he needs perfect to match. In fact, I was planning on calling you soon anyway, but since you’re here..”

I trailed off, waiting for her to draw her own conclusion.

“Marinette, nobody is perfect. Stop putting him on a pedestal before you hurt yourself.”

If I weren’t mistaken, I would almost think she was concerned for me, but that just wasn’t Chloe’s style.

“So can you do it or not?”

Her sigh was long and drawn out, ending in a slight nod.

“Let’s get to it. We have a lot of work to do before Monday rolls around.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You know, I had always wondered how Lila felt walking into school every day knowing that every set of eyes was pinned to her.

Now I knew.

It was revolting. How could she walk so confidently knowing that everyone was gaping at her, certainly waiting for her to mess up? At least, that’s how it felt as people didn’t even bother to hide their broken necks as I whisked past them.

It would be a lie if I didn’t disclose that I practically dove into the safety of my homeroom before I fell into a full-blown panic attack.

“Marinette?” I stiffened as I peaked up at the boy standing in front of my desk. It had been two whole days and Tim hadn’t even messaged me, yet here he was, his mouth hanging as low as everyone else’s. “Are you wearing make-up?”

I nodded as he slipped into his usual seat, his expression shifting from surprise to one of suspicion.

“This has Chloe’s handiwork all over it. Did she stop your house or something this morning?”

“She’s staying for the next couple of weeks to avoid that shady hotel on fifth that her mom booked for her.”

Tim nodded with understanding, but not another word was spoken. It almost felt like a dagger to my heart. Where was the Tim I knew with the backhanded compliments and joke dates? Surely if a makeover couldn’t get a reaction from him, what was I expecting from Adrien?

I let out a sigh as I fell forward, my forehead resting on the cool desk. Where was Adrien anyways? He was always ten minutes early for every class. This was so unlike him.

“Oh my god! There you are Mariboo!” A shiver traveled down my spine jolting me up in my seat. There was only one person with an annoying shrill in their voice that could outmatch Chloe’s.

“Lila? You’re not even in this class. What do you want?”

Her laugh felt like listening to a cat using the blackboard as its new scratching post. I couldn’t help but flinch as she placed a perfectly manicured hand on my shoulder.

“You’re so mean Mariboo! I was coming to make sure that we were still on for lunch today! Adrikins had a photoshoot this morning but he wanted to invite all of us to eat with him on his break!”

Her enthusiasm was sickening.

“But Lila, you don’t like me-”

“Don’t like you? Babe! What is with you today? If my boyfriend asks me to bring you to lunch then that’s all I need to confirm our sisterhood.” Boyfriend. Boyfriend. I couldn’t be bothered to hide my shock as Lila’s fake smile shifted to show her more sinister and true smirk. “Yeah, Boyfriend. We went to dinner last night and he asked me there! So romantic huh? Anyways, I trust I’ll see you later then huh? Okay then! Hugs and Kisses, byee!!”

My eyes narrowed as they shifted to where Tim sat beside me, feigning ignorant to the interaction. Was this his retaliation for what I had blurted out on Saturday? I only called it how I saw it and it was Tim’s fault for pushing me that far! He was being childish at this point.

“Do you think she’s lying about Adrien asking her out?” The silence was deafening as Tim slowly lowered his forehead to the desk, his eyes shut tightly as if trying to imagine he was anywhere else than right beside me. Regardless, I tried to continue. “It has to be a lie, right? I mean Adrien said he liked me, not her! We even kissed.”

Tim’s body stiffened beside me. Of course, that would get a rise out of him, he was always overprotective about those kinds of things. Alas, my excitement was dulled as he returned to his relaxed state once more, his silence continued.

Whatever. I don’t need Tim. I can figure this out for myself. All I had to do was wait till lunch.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Oh my! You actually came! How exciting.” Lila’s smile was dripping with false elation, a hint of thrill dancing in her eyes as if she couldn’t wait for the drama to unfold in front of her. “Aidrikins, look who it is!”

Adrien wouldn’t even meet my eyes, his arm dangling lifelessly from Lila’s shoulders. If I had to guess, he wanted to be anywhere else at that moment. The thought leaked its way into a small smile.

“Why don’t you take a seat Mariboo? I have someone who wanted to talk to you. Someone who loved your little-” she paused, her nose scrunching up as she searched for the right word,”-transformation?”

I didn’t even have time to question her before I was thrown off balance, an arm forcing me into the chair at the table.

“‘Sup girl? You’re looking fine today.” Instant dread flooded my soul as I was squeezed into a damp t-shirt that I could only assume was sweat-drenched. “You don’t mind if I slide in beside you eh?”

“Kim-Get. Your. Arm. Off. Me. Now.”

“Woah, woah, c’mon little lady. Don’t be like that! You know I’ve always had a soft spot for you Marinette.”

Lila’s smile was infuriating as she watched as Kim pushed me into the open seat, his arm heavy on my shoulders.

“What is the meaning of this Lila?” Her eyes feigned innocence as she cocked her head to the side, her fingers tapping the table.

“Whatever do you mean Marinette? I’m just trying to help you get over your heart break now that Adrikins has chosen me to be his girlfriend. You know the old saying; ‘the best way to get over one is to get under another’.”

I could barely stand to let her finish before I pushed Kim away, taking off ducking so that he couldn’t reach out again. Why did I think for even a second that this would turn out okay? Did I expect Adrien to wrap me up in his warm arms and tell me she was just a joke? How stupid of me.

“Marinette?” I slowed down long enough to catch Tim’s worried gaze, the strength in my legs finally giving out as I slumped to the ground. “Marinette! What happened?”

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t seem to find my voice. I reached up absentmindely to where the warmth in my cheeks sat, recoiling at the dampness I found. Had I started crying? When did that happen?

“Here, take this.” I didn’t even bother to look up as the weight of Tim’s jacket slipped over my shoulders. He gently helped me to my feet, pulling me toward the door that led to the courtyard, a bench in view. “Can you make it to our spot?”

My voice still seemed to fail me, a nod was all I could manage. It was enough for Tim who seemed to understand. The moment the back of my knees hit the cool wood, I buckled. Tim crouched in front of me, reaching out hesitantly to brush some of the leftover tears lingering on my cheek.

“Is this because of Adrien?” The air left my lungs, my body going rigid. “This is what I was worried about Mari. He seems perfect, but the jerk was torn between you or popularity. Anyone who can’t see the right choice there isn’t deserving of you.”

“Torn between me and popularity?” My voice was hoarse, it sounded unfamiliar.

“Yeah. He had the audacity to ask for my advice as to whether or not it was worth it to date you or have friends. Can you believe that? As if Lila’s little group will still want him after his newness has worn off.”

“And what did you tell him?” Tim stiffened as he shifted his eyes away from mine. “Tim, what was your advice to him?”

“He told me to drop you because you only saw your old life in me and that you weren’t as invested in this as I was.” My body felt as stiff as Tim’s looked as we both glanced to where he stood, breathless and red, his own eyes tinging pink as if he were holding back tears himself.

“Stop.” Tim’s voice was a whisper, his hand retracting from where it had been resting on my cheek. Adrien took a step forward, holding his head higher as he looked down on the two of us.

“He told me that you always had short-lived crushes and that you longed for your old life often. So much so that when I showed up, you were more fascinated by what I could offer over who I was.”

“That’s not what I said-”

“It’s exactly what you told me! So imagine my surprise when she showed up at lunch today looking like I had pulled the rug out from under her feet. Marinette, this isn’t what I meant to happen. I like you, alot. And if you like me too, I’d want to give this a shot, truly.”

My brain felt as if it were short-circuiting. Tim had done many things in the past to thwart my crushes but he’d never put me in a situation that would hurt me. Never. Yet, when my eyes met Adrien’s, something sincere stirred, pulling at my heart.

“Tim?” His eyes shifted to mine, tears brimming at the edge threatening to spill at any moment. Was this really the face of a selfish man sabotaging me? “I want to hear it from you, Tim. What was your advice to Adrien?”

“Marinette, I already told you-” Adrien fell silent at the sight of my palm, urging him to stop. It wasn’t a lack of trust in him, it was the fact that I felt too much trust for Tim. I just knew he couldn’t, he wouldn’t, he-

“That’s more or less what I told him,” he was barely audible but I heard every word clearly as they pierced my chest. “But Marinette, I couldn’t watch him string you along anymore. You don’t know the conversations he has at night with Lila, you don’t know-”

I couldn’t imagine the face I was making right now. I couldn’t even begin to fathom a face to make in the first place. Nothing out of Tim’s mouth was making sense. Adrien was telling the truth? Tim really said that about me?

“Marinette, please listen-” my hand moved before I could think, smacking Tim’s as it attempted to rest itself back on my cheek.

“Tim.” He seemed to understand as he stood, taking a step back from where I sat. “Tim, just,-I-”

I didn’t even know what to say. Why did it hurt so bad? What was this gut-wrenching feeling? It wasn’t like this was the first time Tim had sabotaged a crush. But wasn’t it the first that he had gone this far? The first he had said such awful things to me? Right?

“I think you should leave Wayne.” There was a tense moment where the air stood still and the two boys in front of me stared each other down, daring the other to speak again. It was Tim who would inevitably give in, stepping back toward the school building without a glance back. And for some reason, that hurt most of all.

His face, what face was he making right now as he walked away? It’s the only thing I can think about, it’s monopolizing my thoughts. Tim, Tim, Tim-

“Hey, hey, don’t cry. It’s okay.” Adrien pulled me forward until I was pressed into his chest, the dampness of my cheeks finally hitting. When did the tears start? Why did they start? “Marinette, I don’t know what Tim has said about me, but I really do have feelings for you. I never once faltered when it came to that. Is there any way you could give me a second chance?”

His heart was pounding. Was he nervous? I could hear the words coming out of his mouth, but I couldn’t process the meaning behind them. Was he asking me out?

“A second chance? Aren’t you dating Lila?”

“I am, but I’m not. I-I don’t care for her as I do you. It was just that Tim told me you weren’t interested and she has been asking me for weeks now. I’m sorry. I know this doesn’t look good on my part, but I swear Marinette. If you tell me right now that you will accept my request, then I’ll leave her. It’s you that I want Marinette. So what do you say?”

“I-I don’t know what to say. I mean, Adrien it was one date. Are you sure you want to throw away your relationship on one date?”

Adrien pulled back, his eyes shining as elegantly as the first time I saw them.

“I’m sure Marinette. I would be willing to bet anything on you.” Hesitantly, he reached forward, wiping the tear stains from my face, his hand remaining on my cheek. “May I?”

I couldn’t process just what he was asking, my mind still boggled with thoughts of Tim retreating. I could feel my face being pulled forward ever so slowly, his nose nearly tickling my own. Was this okay? Was it okay to allow him to steal yet another kiss? Was Tim right? Did I truly care about Adrien or was he just another crush? He paused, his lips mere centimeters from mine.

“Is this okay Marinette?”

No, Tim was wrong. Adrien was wonderful and caring and I actually liked him. This was something I decided for myself regardless of Tim’s opinions. It was my turn to close the distance between us. His lips were soft and delicate, almost hesitant as he returned the kiss. As he pulled away, my head felt dazed. It was different from the melting sensation I had felt before. This one was gentle, like a promise sealed between the two of us. It was comforting.

"Come with me Saturday,” my voice felt foreign as it slipped out of my mouth, unsure of where this surge of courage came from. “My friend has a fashion show and while it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, I’m sure it would be much better with you there.”

“If it’s with you, I’m sure it will be a blast. I’d love to come, Marinette.”

There was a pause as I registered his words in my head.

“So, like a date..right?”

Adrien’s laugh bellowed through the courtyard as he stood, offering his hand to help me stand as well.

“Exactly like a date.” He pulled my hand forward until his lips brushed over my knuckles, his warmth lingering even after he released his grip. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to take care of a certain someone before I can officially call you mine.”

Adrien offered a small wave before turning to jog back inside.

I remained standing, my eyes following his retreating figure. He left through the same door that Tim had, reminding me once again, that I also had someone I should take care of. But was that the case? Tim never explained himself, just upped and left after Adrien suggested he should.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t trust Adrien and what he said, it just felt wrong to watch Tim leave me, to leave my side without a word.

Maybe we both just needed some space. After all, I had no idea what I would do, what I would say if I saw him right now. I would just wait until after Saturday, after my date, after a perfect night out.

Yeah, that would be the best time.

I reached into my pocket, my fingers already dialing before my phone was even in view.

“What do you want Dupain-Cheng? Aren’t you still in class?”

“Well, hello to you too Chloe. I’m doing fine thanks for asking.” There was a deep sigh that resonated through my phone as if she was deciding if I were worth her time. Supposing I was, she clicked her tongue waiting for me to continue. “Adrien agreed to come with me to that show you’re walking in on Saturday.”

“And why would he do that?”

“I would like to assume it’s because he likes me and wants to spend time with me, but that’s just a guess. Who knows for sure?”

Chloe tsked and the line went dead before I could even say another word. I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips. At least the one thing I could count on was for Chloe to remain constant.

Never mind anything else that occurred, the only thing I had to concentrate on was my date. Forget Tim, forget Lila. I had a perfect date on Saturday and that was the only thing that mattered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“So, enjoying your backstage luxury? Honestly, you’re drooling as if you haven’t eaten in days looking at all these up-and-coming designers.”

I unconsciously wiped the drool that had seeped at the corner of my mouth as I turned in circles taking in the landscape. It wasn’t much. A bunch of thrown-together counter space and curtain dividers, but the hope and exhaustion on everyone’s face as their hard work finally came to light was what made it so fascinating for me..

“I can’t help it, Chloe. I know I told Adrien that it wouldn’t be that exciting, but to be honest, it’s so gratifying watching them. Maybe I’ll take my hobby seriously and find myself here one day. You’ll wear my designs, right Chloe?”

“Mm, you’ll have to prove to me that your designs are worth my time.” She stuck out her tongue, her eyes taunting me to retaliate. “Besides, I know this is all just a deflection Dupain-Cheng. You’re avoiding the original question I asked when you first got here.”

My body stiffened slightly as I shifted my gaze to a nearby model having their make-up fixed. Anywhere but Chloe was a good place to look seeing as the burning sensation in my skull indicated that she was most likely throwing her killer glare in my direction.

“I told you, Chloe, he said he would meet me here and he just hasn’t texted me yet.”

“That sounds like a load of bullshit to me, but whateves.” It was odd that he hadn’t called me or even shot a single text. We were supposed to meet up an hour ago but after thirty minutes of waiting and three missed calls from Chloe, I decided I would wait inside for him to contact me. “The show will be starting soon so you should try and find a decent seat. Maybe lover boy can find the guts to show up before I walk.”

I nodded before edging my way to the curtain separating the audience from the models. Peeking through, my eyes scanned for a certain blonde but alas, he still wasn’t here. I excused myself to the nearest row with two seats left, placing my purse and jacket into the empty one in hopes Adrien would fill it soon.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the announcer jumped on stage, his enthusiastic voice failing to capture my full attention. When Chloe would ask me later if I liked the show, I couldn’t even begin to tell her what she modeled. My thoughts were elsewhere, wondering just why he never even read a single text.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I got my answer just hours after returning from Chloe’s show. In reality, I hadn’t moved from my bed, not particularly sad, just mentally exhausted. It was only after I had finally decided to brush it off as a dead battery or some freak accident, I received a text from someone I never imagined.

“Hey xinh đẹp, I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from, but I just couldn’t let this slide.”

Kim had attached a video, nearly a minute long. My heart jumped as I saw the screen frozen on Adrien’s face surrounded by dozens of people, Lila hanging right off of his arm. Was this why he was late? Did he go to break up with Lila? It would explain why he couldn’t answer me.

With a shaky breath, I pressed play, my heart threatening to drop at any moment.

“The fuck is this?”

“Tim?” His name almost sounded foreign in my mouth. What was Tim doing at Lila’s party?

“Leave it be Wayne.”

“Yeah Timmyboo, just leave it be.” Lila giggled as she brought Adrien’s face to hers, leaving small sloppy kisses all over his face. It almost made me sick to my stomach. That looked nothing close to breaking up.

“You told her that you were leaving this bitch! You lied to Marinette.”

“Oh c’mon Tim. Marinette’s nice and all, but her crush on me was overbearing and what was it going to give me in return? Huh?”

“She would’ve given you the world if you asked! How can you not realize that? When Marinette loves someone, she does it with her whole heart. If I had your chance, you bet your life I would never waste it like this!”

Tim… was serious. All those times, he was serious. I can’t believe I thought it was a joke when Tim was constantly pouring his heart out to me.

“Like she would ever give you a chance Wayne. Not after you made it so easy for me to get her to hate you. I’ll let her know eventually, but in reality, she has nothing. Especially compared to Lila. It’s like father always said, relationships are only good for what they can offer yo-”

Adrien never got to finish his sentence as Tim’s fist connected with his face. I could hear Kim let out a string of cusses as the video cut out. There was nothing I could do as I stared at my phone, still processing what I had seen, what I had heard. I stared until the screen blackened and all that was left was my own shocked expression.

For some reason, it didn’t hurt that bad hearing Adrien’s words. Somewhere deep inside of me must have realized that fascination with someone from where I grew up way outshined the actual connection I had made up.

“Tim,” He tried to protect me. It wasn’t just some jealous ulterior motive; Tim just didn’t want to see me hurt. And speaking of Tim, “my God, I have to find Tim!”

I pushed off my bed, racing down the stairs and out the front of the bakery. Maman glanced sideways at me as I zipped past, but she did nothing to stop me, a seemingly knowing smile plastered on her face. I’m sure I’ll deal with her teasing later, but that wasn’t the important thing at the moment.

No, the only thing that mattered was finding-

“Marinette?” My feet planted themselves, my arms involuntarily shooting out to balance myself. Before I had even turned, my heart was already jumping in my throat. “Marinette, where are you going?”

I couldn’t stop myself as I stumbled forward, my steps clumsy as I made my way to where he stood.

“Marinette? I-oof” I threw myself into Tim, my arms tightening around him in fear that if I let go, he would somehow slip away from me. He hesitated for a moment before I felt his own arms wrap themselves around me.

We stood there as seconds passed, neither speaking, just simply holding on for dear life.

“I love you.” His heart raced, reacting to my words much the same as my own. “I’m sorry for everything Tim. I’m sorry it took me this long to realize you never once were joking about your feelings for me. I’m sorry that I let a stupid boy come between me and my best friend. But most of all, I’m sorry that I never had the courage to say it sooner. I love you, Tim.”

All too quickly he pulled back, his hand rushing to his face in an attempt to cover the spreading red.

“You-ou-you-you can’t just spring that on me! I didn’t have any time to prepare. And you took away my big moment! You have no idea the demons that I literally fought to finally work up the courage to come confess! Marinette!”

I felt the giggle bubbling up as Tim attempted to compose himself, the blush ever-burning as it moved to brush against his neck.

“I guess I should add that to my apology speech too huh?”

“Yes! You should! I want a formal apology later for ruining something that I have been planning for since we were kids.”

“And what about now?” Tim cocked his head as I took a small step forward in an attempt to close the space between us. “If that’s what you want for later, what do you want for now?”

I could practically see the wheels turning in Tim’s head as he tentatively reached out, grasping my face as lightly as he could with both hands. Time seemed to stop as he pulled me forward, his breath quick and uneven, much like my racing heart.

“I want to kiss the woman I love, but only if she wants me to.”

“What a coincidence, I also was thinking that I would love to kiss the man in front of me.”

We both moved forward, our lips and teeth colliding at the same time.

“Ow!” Tim released one hand as he covered his mouth. There was a moment of silence before we both erupted, our laughter mingling as it filled the night air. “Somehow, that felt exactly like us.”

I could only nod as my laughter faded out, an ear-splitting smile taking its place.

“It’s okay though because now we can try again any time.”

Tim smiled as he leaned forward once more. “Good, because I would love to try again right now.”

His lips were soft and his kiss was gentle and described in a single word; perfect. When he pulled back, his forehead rested against my own, his heart practically jumping through his shirt.

“Is this real?”

“It is.”

I shared his sentiment. It didn’t feel real that after all this time, after everything that had happened, we had finally found our way back to each other.

I’m sorry if this wasn’t the happy ending you were waiting for. After all, I did warn you that it wasn’t your typical girl meets boy.

In the end, I never quite figured out my question; how do you survive in an extraordinary world when you’re only average? After everything, I still don’t have anything definite, but I suspect that it becomes infinitely easier when you fall in love with your best friend.

As I met Tim’s eyes in our last moments alone that night, the only thought occupying my mind was that never again would I ever let him go.

I found the person that makes my average life extraordinary and he’s always been right by my side.

“Never leave Tim, okay?” I could feel the warmth from his smile before it even appeared.

“You’re only stuck with me for the rest of your life and any time after that.”

I reached forward, intertwining our fingers, relishing in the perfect fit. This was everything I had been searching for and now it was quite literally in my grasps.

This, well this was only the beginning of our story, but that’s a tale for another time, right?

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[yannowhatigiveup]

My One And Only - Chapter 13

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So this chapter is probably as long as the first, maybe just a word or two longer idk idk. This story here has nearly caught up where I am right now so the updates will be less frequen, I’m also starting school again so yeah. The one-shot that I’m writing is nearly at 10k words and it’s not even that good-

"God, you really are an Angel". The blush on her face was very noticeable. She smiled at him before using her yo-yo to bring her to the akumatized victim. He watched as her silhouette jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Once she was out of sight, Damian looked back at the sunset. He chuckled to himself. "I guess when you bumped into me the other day, you gave me some of your Lady Luck".

———————————————————

"Wait wait wait, take two steps back." Chloe put both her hands up in confusion. "So you went to Andre's and what were the flavors that she got?"

"She got dark honey, lime and rose" Kagami answered.

"But he never explained the meaning behind them, which he always does" Alya added. Alya, Chloe and Kagami were in the blonde's room talking about the ice cream 'date' they went on with Marinette the other day.

"That reminds me, Alya?" Kagami asked. "Do you still think the ice cream represents Chat Noir?"

Chloe just blinked in surprise. "No, I met the guy recently" Alya replied. "He's perfect for her. Actually I should text him to see how Mari's doing" Alya took her phone out as Kagami nodded slowly. Chloe still looked like she was trying to wrap her head around the whole situation.

"So Mare-Bare has a crush on this 'foreign exchange student' and Alya met him the other day?" Kagami nodded, slightly amused at the blonde's confusion. "Do you think he likes her back?" Her question was both directed at Kagami and Alya who was still on her phone.

"Yeah I'm sure he does- wait he sent something" Alya let out a squeal of fangirlism as Chloe and Kagami went over to see what Alya was gushing over. Once the two girls came over, The reporter showed them a photo that got sent to her. It was Marinette, sound asleep on what Kagami and Chloe thought was the boy's chest. She was smiling and looked at peace.

"They look adorable~" Chloe cooed, having the same bright smile as Alya.

"He better not hurt Mari-hime" Kagami muttered, a soft smile appearing on her face as she looked at the photo.

~~~

"Pound it!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir managed to defeat the villain, it was Sandboy again. He was at a sleepover and some of his friends told a scary story, and the rest was common knowledge. Ladybug was about to yo-yo out of there but Chat Noir stopped her before she could do so.

"Ladybug, wait"

'This can't be good, he barely ever sounds this serious' She wrapped the yo-yo back around her waist before answer. "Kitty, is something wrong?"

"Well-" he was cut-off by the sound of his miraculous beeping.

"We can talk about this next time, ok?". After he hesitantly nodded, Ladybug got her yo-yo. "Bug out!"

She landed in an alley near Le Grand Paris and de-transformed. Marinette then took the opportunity to process what happened. 'Lila said something bad, I got upset, I went to Damian's, He took me on a walk, We kissed, He asked me to be his girlfriend, I showed him I was Ladybug, I-' her train of thoughts stoppped. "Oh my god, I told him I was Ladybug" she breathed. Her kwami then flew in front of her face. "OhmygodohmygodiamsososososorryTikkiididn'tmean-"

"It's perfectly fine Marinette!" The bluenette was was cut off by Tikki's giggling. "There's something about that lover of yours, I can't quite place it but I know we can trust him"

Marinette blushed at Tikki's words but nodded. "Y-yeah, thanks Tikki".

The bluenette soon reached the hotel door that was all too familiar to her now, her face reddened slightly at the thought. She still let herself in though, making sure to lock the door behind her. When she had closed the door, she noticed her demon reading on the sofa, he put his book down as he noticed Marinette walk in. She walked over and stood behind the sofa, looking down on Damian as because she was standing, she was taller. He looked up and smirked at her.

"You know," her boyfriend began. "I had high suspicions of you being Ladybug, though, I couldn't be certain."

"How come your suspicions were so high?" Marinette asked, still smiling.

"Well when you're a vigilante yourself, I suppose it can be easier to pin point others' secret identities"

She smiled while rolling her eyes and kissed his forehead. She seemed tired and Damian made a mental note to tell her again later when she was more energized. Marinette then went to sit in the sofa and snuggle into Damian's muscular chest.

"Don't you have questions?" She murmured, she was too comfortable to move her head up.

"I do but they can wait" Damian stroked his fingers through his angel's hair. 'My Angel...' "You're tired"

"I'm not-" her yawn contradicted the words that were about to leave her lips and she grumbled in annoyance while Damian chuckled. "If I do sleep wake me up before 9, Maman and Papa are going to the airport and I want to say goodbye"

Damian remembered that Marinette's parents would be going to Marseille for around a week, they were going to open up a second location there as they had become well known in that part of the country. "Alright" he softly answered, he assumed that Marinette had fallen asleep already and his assumption was correct when he felt her slow and steady breathing. At that moment he got a message on his phone, a message from Alya. She was asking about Marinette's current predicament and Damian sent a picture of Marinette sleeping soundly, a smile on her face. He wasn't purposely trying to stay out of the frame but he wasn't in it either way.

Me: She's doing much better than earlier today, it would be best if Marinette would be the one to address what was wrong

Césaire: Oh ok, I'm glad she's feeling better

Césaire: u 2 look adorable af tho

If he blushed at that comment, no one would know. Damian put his phone down to look at his sleeping Angel. He smiled to himself and picked the bluenette up bridal style. He brought her to his bed and tucked her in to let her sleep, not before planting a kiss on her forehead, though. Damian focused his vision on the digital clock on the nightstand. '7:47 I'll let Marinette sleep until 9' His thoughts were interrupted by a small, squeaky voice.

"Damian"

His head quickly turned in the direction of the voice. 'I swear I didn't hear anyone else enter-' Damian had to blink twice. In front of him was a small, red, bug-like creature. 'What the fu-'

"Damian my name is Tikki, I am Marinette's kwami" she held her tiny arm out and Damian hastily lifted on of his finger's for the kwami to shake, he didn't know what else to do if he was being honest. "I understand that you have questions so you may ask some now, though, I understand if there are some you would like to ask her personally"

He nodded. "What....what is a kwami?" He asked hesitantly, not wanting to offend the kwami and still trying to get a hold of this new information.

"A kwami is, I guess, a miniature god that lives inside of a miraculous. The kwami is what gives the user's miraculous their powers as well as their hero costume. A miraculous is a piece of jewelry that grants the user powers. Marinette's miraculous is the Miraculous of the Laadybug, the earrings. They give her the power of Creation and Good luck" Damian nodded slowly, now back sitting on the couch. "Marinette in trusted you with her secret identity, I sense that I can trust you as well but I want to you to promise to keep her identity a secret, unless she says otherwise"

"Don't worry I will, I of all people should know the importance of keeping a secret identity a secret"

"You're a superhero?" Tikki questioned, not hearing what Damian told Marinette earlier

"Vigilante" he corrected.

"I guess that's why you have a trusting aura" Tikki pondered. "Thank you Damian, for making Marinette so happy"

"Anything to make her smile"

~~~

"Habibti, it's time to wake up" Damian gently shook Marinette's shoulder.

".......nnwhy" Marinette buried her face further into the pillow.

"You said you wanted to see your parents go to the airport, correct?"

"Oh right!" She jumped out of bed, any signs of tiredness was now gone. Damian chuckled slightly and moved towards her, he brought the ribbon he had taken earlier and put her hair back up in a ponytail. "Thanks!" She exclaimed after looking in the mirror. "I know I said I would explain everything but can I do that after we say goodbye to my parents?"

"Of course Angel"

She smiled brightly and the two walked out of the hotel to her parents' bakery, their arms linked together. As they arrived, they noticed two figures with bags and a taxi with it's boot open.

"Maman, Papa we came to say goodbye" Marinette walked over to her parents with Damian by her side, tilting her head slightly in confusion as they both smiled smugly at the couple.

"You came earlier than we thought you would Marinette and hello again...Damian is it?" Marinette's mother asked.

"Yes it is, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr Dupain, Mrs Cheng"

"No need for formalities son, Tom and Sabine" Tom said, giving Damian a bone-crushing hug.

"Papa!"

"Tom, dear, we don't want to suffocate the poor boy"

"Oh right!" Tom then put Damian down. "Is it safe to say that I assume you are Marinette's boyfriend?" The man asked, looking very joyfully at the blushing couple.

"Y-yeah" Damian murmured while Marinette nodded and both parents shot them big smiles.

"We were debating when that was going to happen" Sabine admitted with a shrug.

"Maman!"

"Oh would you look at the time, we better get going" Sabine smiled smugly, ignoring her daughter's protest. Both her and Tom engulfed Marinette in a hug and beckoned Damian to join in.

"Bye Maman, Bye Papa!"

"Goodbye Sabine, Goodbye Tom"

The couple watched the taxi leave for the airport, they stood in comfortable silence.

"So should I explain everything now? I can sleep over at your place if you want all the details" Marinette asked, blushing slightly at what she just said.

Damian realised that she was referring to sleeping over in his hotel room, honestly, he didn't mind. "If you want to"

"Great! Wait here I'll get my things"

~~~

"...and you're Multimouse too?" Damian continued after Marinette nodded. "Wow, that is...a considerable amount of information. And you called Tikki a 'bug-mouse'?" He chuckled amused at the flushed face his girlfriend now had.

"It was one time! The first time I saw her! Do you think I would have acted any differently?" She pouted and Damian took the opportunity to kiss her. He then got up to look at the time, smirking as he noticed the flushed bluenette in his peripheral vision. "Also, how did you work out that I was Ladybug?"

"For starters, I researched her- well, you and I couldn't help but notice how similar you two were, in build and personality. From there I just connected the dots"

"Huh, usually there's magic that prevents others from noticing things like that but it didn't work on you for some odd reason. That's- wait" she paused and blinked and then looked straight in Damian's eyes. Before he could voice out his confusion, she spoke again. "Did- did you just...make a pun?"

His forest green eyes widened "...no"

She laughed for a good while, especially when seeing the look on Damian's face. After she composed herself, she changed the subject. "Now it's your turn to explain, Shaytan"

"Hm alright, are you familiar with the vigilantes in Gotham?" He asked.

"The Bat-family? Are you one of Batman's comrades?" Marinette looked up at her boyfriend, wide-eyed with fascination like a child's. Damian couldn't help but melt at her expression.

"Yes and yes, my vigilante persona is known as-" he was about to tell her that he was Robin before she cut him off.

"Wait can I take a guess" Damian gestured her to do so. "Hmmmm considering your age, my options are narrowed down to one of the Batboys. Looking at your build I'd say that you are..Robin!" She said his name with great certainty.

He clapped while smiling. "You are correct, yet again"

"I'm surprised though, you don't seem like the type to be a traffic light" she teased.

"Tt, stop rubbing more salt in the wound" he groaned.

Marinette giggled. "So your brothers are the other Robins and your father is Batman, I presume?" Damian nodded. "Wow...who knew that two heroes from different places would fall in love?"

"I suppose I did" He looked at the clock again, it was 11:58. "It's getting late"

Marinette followed his vision to the clock. "Huh, I didn't even realise that the time flew by so quickly" she then got up to rearrange some of the pillows on the couch.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confused.

The bluenette looked at him, also confused. "I'm sleeping on the couch, right?"

"You can sleep on the bed, you are the guest after all. I can sleep on the couch"

"No, couldn't possibly! It's your room!"

The bickering went back and forth between the two while Tikki watched in amusement. 'If Plagg were here, he'd only add more fuel to the fire'. Most could argue that the relationship between the couple was moving too quickly but Tikki knew otherwise. The magic of the miraculous was at work. Only the true holders of the Ladybug miraculous and the miraculous of the Black Cat would be affected. That isn't always the case though, they would only be attracted to one another if the feelings they had were romantic and mutual. To most, it would appear that they were moving too quickly. But for the kwami, it was just a sign that the two true holders were found, and they were found together. 'I do have to tell Plagg, though'. Then the small kwami got an idea. "Why don't you both just sleep on the bed?"

The two then turned to Tikki, both faces were red but Marinette's shone through the most. The small kwami merely had an innocent smile on her face.

"...I-I guess that's manageable" Damian murmured.

"O-ok" Marinette mumbled, clearly too flushed for her own good.

~~~

"Alright Mari-bear, spill the beans"

Marinette had breakfast at Damian's before going home to change, she had to meet Jagged and Penny again to record and to discuss the name of the song because, for whatever reason, they hadn't done that yet. After, she promised that she would hang out with Alya, Chloe and Kagami in the blonde's room but she didn't expect to be interrogated. She briefly sugar-coated what Lie-la did and said, luckily her friends took the hint that she didn't want to talk about it. She also gained a new nickname, or a variant of one. Marinette noticed how Chloe interchangeably used 'Mare-Bare' and 'Mari-Bear' but they were more or less the same thing.

"Wha-" They all gave made a knowing face, the 'you know what I mean' face. She let out a defeated sigh. "S-so um...yesterday he asked me to be his girlfriend". The bluenette prepared herself for whatever was going to happen next, what followed was an ungodly amount of fangirl squeals. Even Kagami seemed to let one out.

"You said yes, right?" Kagami asked with a joyful tone. Marinette nodded. "So what's his full name?"

Marinette took a deep breath. "Queenie, do you keep track of who is staying in the hotel?"

"I guess" The blonde replied, glancing at her nails. "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, he's staying in room 301"

"Hm...that's one of the expensive rooms so that means-" Chloe let out a gasp of realisation. "No fucking way! How-" she then bursted out laughing, Marinette giggled as well.

"You lost me" Kagami looked between the two while Alya just shrugged her shoulders.

"Mari, Damian Wayne is your boyfriend? How you managed to thaw the Ice prince of Gotham's heart I will never know, only you Dupain-Cheng" Chloe, now recovering from laughing, was now looking at Marinette with admiration and interest.

"Wait, THE Damian Wayne?!" Alya gaped at Marinette.

"Y-yeah" The bluenette stammered and tried to hide her blush with her hands

"What's he like?"

"Is he as cold as they all say?"

"Does he treat you right?"

Marinette was bombarded with many questions regarding Damian. She struggled to keep up with each and every one of them. 'Is this what it feels like to be inundated by paparazzi?' She thought teasingly.

~~~

It was around noon. A spotted heroine jumped from roof top to roof top. She had just finished her patrol and was headed towards the Eiffel Tower, Chat Noir wanted to talk to her about something. He seemed serious too. Ladybug was slightly concerned for her friend, seeing Chat Noir act serious was a very rare sight. She voiced her concerns to Damian before she went out on patrol.

"You said he values your friendship, correct? In that case he probably wants to shelter you from whatever information he stumbled upon"

Marinette jokingly scoffed. "I'm not a damsel in need of protection thank you very much"

Damian smiled and hugged Marinette from behind while resting his chin on her head. "I know Angel, I know. That won't stop me from protecting you though"

Ladybug used her yo-yo as a grappling hook and landed gracefully on the top floor of the Eiffel Tower. Not surprisingly, Chat Noir was already there, waiting for her.

"Kitty?" The spotted heroine asked after a short moment of silence. "Is everything okay?"

The cat-themed hero sat on the floor, Ladybug sat in front of him and after a big breath, he spoke. "Ladybug, I- I don't think I'm the true holder of the Black Cat miraculous"

———

Taglist: @little-bluestar, @miracleofadisaster, @frieddonutsweets, @jjmjjktth, @genderfluidmoma, @starlit-dreaming, @icerosecrystal, @lolieg, @kashlyn, @mochegato, @eggadoodle, @walkingthroughonautopilot, @toodaloo-kangaroo

[gryffindorcls]

Plot Twist

Summary: Even though she still gets nervous around him, Marinette has been happily dating Adrien for several weeks. However, after agreeing to a mutual reveal with Chat Noir, Marinette postpones her date night with Adrien. Luckily, he also has plans with a friend that night.

Length: 7,178 words 

Hello, lovely readers!  This was written for the 2020 JV Art and Fic Trade on Discord. There is accompanying art for this fic by @supergirl9130.  Be on the look-out for it soon! Enjoy! 

(Shout out to my beta for this fic, @miss-congeniality-of-ml) 

— AO3

Fanfiction

Marinette snuggled further into Adrien’s embrace, relishing in his warmth. In response, he kissed the crown of her head and sighed.

If someone had told her six months ago that she would be in this position, she would have laughed, cried, and then laughed again. Never in a million years did she actually think that Adrien Agreste would ask her out on a date, let alone want to become her boyfriend.

“Are you still feeling cold?” Adrien whispered into her hair. “Do you want me to get you a blanket?”

She shook her head. “I’m okay.”

“You say that now, but you always get cold again when I let go.”

“Then don’t let go.”

“As you wish, my love.” He held her even tighter, sending her heart into a frenzy.

Much to her chagrin, six weeks of dating still hadn’t taken away all of the nervousness that she felt around him. She quickly discovered that Adrien’s love language was all of them; as a result, he constantly showered her with affection, gifts, and attention. While most of the time Marinette didn’t know how much more her heart could take before it exploded, she’d never been happier.

Ever the gentleman, Adrien never showed her anything less than boundless patience whenever she became a blushing, stuttering mess in his presence. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it, and that only made matters worse.

Whenever she had a “Marinette Moment” (as he affectionately called it from time to time), he would simply smile, pull her into an embrace, and whisper reassuring words into her ear. Sometimes, his soothing would work, but other times it sent her heart off to the races, leaving her to slowly melt into a hyperventilating puddle.

“Marinette, breathe.” Adrien’s hand was running up and down her back. “You’re turning redder than you usually do.”

She wanted to kick herself.

It had happened again.

She hadn’t even realized that she’d been holding her breath this time. Shaking herself back into reality, Marinette exhaled and buried her face against Adrien’s collarbone, relishing in the soft cotton of his designer t-shirt.

“Sorry,” she whispered, slowly feeling the embarrassment fade away.

“You know that you never have to apologize when this happens.” He kissed her cheek. “Like I would really complain about having another opportunity to hold you in my arms.”

“Yeah, but it happens all the time.” Marinette pulled away, bit her lip, and looked down at her lap. “Aren’t you getting tired of it?”

Adrien took her hands in his and ran his thumb over her knuckles. “Never. I love everything that makes you, you.”

Had it not been for the warmth that filled her chest upon hearing his declaration, she would have combusted again, but instead, she pulled her hands away and launched herself into Adrien’s arms. “You’re amazing. How did I get so lucky?”

He nuzzled his cheek against the crown of her head. “I ask myself the same question every single day. You are not only the best girlfriend I could have asked for, but you are also the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. My only regret is that I didn’t ask you out sooner.”

Momentarily forgetting how to breathe, Marinette choked on her next intake of air. The coughing fit left her breathless and lightheaded.

So much for staying calm.

With sheer panic in his eyes, Adrien’s hands fluttered around her as she gasped for air. “Are you okay? Do you need water? What do I do? Please be okay!”

Taking a sharp intake of breath, Marinette managed to partially regain her composure. “I’m fine.”

The worry still hadn’t left his features. “You didn’t look fine. At least let me get you some water.”

Adrien hopped off of the couch and ran to the mini-fridge under his desk. Upon returning, he handed her a chilled water bottle and sat down next to her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He put his arm around her. “Did you choke on air again?”

She sighed. “No. It was your cuteness this time.”

“Oh, really?” The panic in his eyes melted away, leaving behind a dazzling smile. “Twice in one day. I’m on a roll!”

“You can’t just tell me that I’m the best girlfriend without warning me!”

“I can’t help myself. Complimenting you has become a hobby of mine.”

“Well, your hobby is going to kill me.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“I’m serious! You’ve watched me launch objects across the room and trip on air when I’m around you. One day you’re going to be so adorable that I’m going to get spooked and fall to my death or something.”

“You know I’ll never let anything like that happen to you, right?” Leaning in close, his breath ghosted her cheek. “I’ll always be there to catch you when you fall.”

The heat moved to her ears. “Adrien…”

Using his index finger, he tilted her chin upward and captured her lips under his. “Okay, I’ll stop.”

“Thank you.” Satisfied, she returned the gesture with an even deeper kiss, eliciting a contented hum from her boyfriend’s throat.

“For now.” His mouth curled into a Cheshire grin as he pulled away from the kiss.

With a pout, Marinette stood up and made her way to the opposite side of the couch. After crossing her arms and sitting down with a playful huff, she turned her head and stuck out her tongue.

“Marinette!” Adrien jutted out his bottom lip and pressed his hands together. “Please come back! The couch is getting cold.”

“Nice try, Agreste. Those kitten eyes won’t work on me!” Marinette looked away and pointed her chin in the air. “Have fun sitting by yourself.”

“NOOO! You have to come back!” Marinette choked back a laugh, and Adrien held his hands up in surrender. “Fine! You win, my love.”

“Good.” She crawled across the couch and resettled herself against his shoulder. “Now, hold still. I’m tired after almost dying.”

“Oh, so now I’m nothing more than a pillow to you? I see how it is.”

“Shhh! Pillows don’t talk.”

“GASP!”

Marinette snorted. “Oh my God...did you really just say the word ‘gasp’?”

“So what if I did?” Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her back to his side.

“Who even does that?”

“I do!”

“You are such a dork.”

“And you’re surprised?”

No.

At least not anymore.

On their first date, Adrien had spent thirty solid minutes trying to balance a salt shaker on its edge while gushing over his new favorite movie. As she watched him hunch his body over the table, stick out his tongue, and maneuver the salt shaker into the perfect position, Marinette realized that the person who had been taped all over her walls was Adrien Agreste, the perfect model and son, not the boy who sat before her.

No, this was not the Adrien who went to photoshoots, took perfect pictures, and sat up straight during interviews. This was not the Adrien who smiled politely when approached and shook hands with powerful men and women. This was not the fabricated Adrien from the magazine quizzes whose personality was defined by his favorite color and the brand of shampoo he used to wash his hair.

This was the Adrien who had swallowed his pride and admitted that he didn’t know how to make friends. This was the Adrien who had seen a girl standing in the rain and sacrificed his comfort by giving her his umbrella. This was the Adrien who loved video games, whose eyes lit up when he saw a plate of cookies. This was the Adrien she’d fallen in love with, the Adrien she’d lost sight of when her mind had been clouded by infatuation.

That night, Marinette rediscovered what love meant. She’d silently cursed herself for getting lost in the glossy, ten-page spreads and towering advertisements that brandished his face, for jumping to conclusions without knowing the full story.

At that moment, she vowed to learn the full story, to truly get to know the Adrien behind the flashing lights and perfect etiquette. She’d dreamed of a life with Adrien, but in actuality, she’d only dreamed of a life with the idea of him.

Marinette didn’t know that she could love a person more than she already did, but at that dinner table under the soft light of a chandelier, her heart expanded to make way for all that she had to discover about her new boyfriend.

So yeah, he was a dork. A kind, selfless, sometimes clueless, wonderful, and amazing dork.

She smiled and tapped his nose. “No, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

He beamed. “Good! Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“And one day I’ll be able to handle your sweet nothings without turning into a puddle.” Marinette picked the water bottle off of the table and took several long sips.

“Once again, I will repeat this until the day I die. Your blushing is one of the cutest things on the planet. It rivals videos of kittens eating loudly and ducklings wearing hats. You’re absolutely purr-fect.”

Water nearly came shooting out of her nose. “Adrien Agreste, did you just make a cat pun?”

“Yup!” He looked so proud of himself.

All the nervousness from before disappeared, for if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was how to deal with a cat-pun slinging boy with a smug grin on his face.

“Is there a reason for the puns, or are you just trying something new?”

“I think you meant to ask if I was trying something mew.”

“Nope, that’s all you.” “Well, to answer your question from before, punning is a part of my purr-sonality. C’mon...just admit they’re claw-some.”

“Goodness gracious, just how many cat puns do you have in your arsenal?”

“I can go all night, Marinette.”

“And pray tell, where did you learn all of these puns?”

“I have a few cat pun websites bookmarked on my computer and my phone. I also have a cat pun translator app, and I bought a pun dictionary. But I put all of the best ones I find in my notes app.” He whipped out his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and held it out for her to see. “I’ve always liked puns, but the cat ones kind of took over.”

She bit back a laugh. “Who are you? Chat Noir?”

An indistinguishable emotion flickered behind his eyes before quickly being replaced by a mischievous glint. “Would that be the worst thing?”

No.

But something like that happening would be too good to be true.

Her partner was the best, and there was no doubt in her mind that whoever was behind the mask was brave, kind, loyal, and an all-around amazing human being, so it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility for the love of her life to be Chat Noir. However, Marinette knew that she wasn’t that lucky. At least the world had been blessed with two equally as amazing blond boys...who both apparently loved puns.

“Not at all.” She smiled and shook her head. “He’s a pretty cool guy.”

“R-really? You think so?” His voice uncharacteristically cracked on the last word of his question.

“Yeah, he’s my favorite hero.”

“Wait, really? It’s not Ladybug?”

“Nope. It’s Chat.”

And how could it not be? Her partner was incredible, and soon she would be able to tell him that not as Ladybug, but as Marinette.

Chat had been overjoyed when she’d suggested a mutual reveal. It was long overdue, and now that she was comfortable as the new Guardian, she was ready. It would make things safer for both of them to know. Not to mention she was excited at the prospect of being able to double down on their search for Hawkmoth.

Oh, how she dreamed of the day that Hawkmoth’s reign of terror came to an end! With her and Chat working together as both heroes and civilians, that dream might finally have the chance of becoming a reality.

If only Adrien could know about my life behind the mask, she mused, He’d probably be super helpful. Perhaps that’s something Chat and I could dis-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a piercing ring.

Adrien picked up his phone, turned off the blaring alarm, and sighed. “As much as I would love to stay here and cuddle, I have to go meet with my work friend now. Are you sure it’s okay that we’re skipping date night for this?”

Oh, right.

He was meeting with a friend today, as well.

She’d been worried about canceling her plans with Adrien, but he’d seemed relieved when she had brought it up earlier that week. When he revealed that he had also made dinner plans and needed to postpone their date, she couldn’t help but marvel at how in sync their lives were.

“Of course! It’s important for us to hang out with other people sometimes.” Marinette looked up at him through her eyelashes and smiled. “And we’re not canceling date night. We just moved it to tomorrow.”

“That’s right!” He grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “And to make it up to you, I will make sure that it is the most amazing date you’ve ever been on!”

“Even more amazing than the time you took me to Gabriel’s annual investor’s gala?”

Adrien nodded his head. “Most definitely.”

“Oh?” Marinette bit back a laugh. “And why is that?”

His face fell flat, matching the tone of his voice. “Because my father won’t be there.”

Giving in and falling into a fit of giggles, she held her stomach and doubled over. “Yeah, that would definitely do it! He made things so awkward when he demanded that you dance with that girl.”

“Sadly, it’s not the first time he’s done something like that. He’s always using me as a marketing tool with the investors. Let’s just say that having me spend time with a rich man’s daughter is one of my father’s many business tricks.”

“I’m sorry you have to deal with that.” She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “At least he’s out of town for the next few weeks.”

“Yeah, thank goodness.” He leaned in and pecked her on the lips. “It means that I have you all to myself with no interruptions.”

The alarm on his phone went off a second time.

He took a deep breath and tapped the screen. “Except for right now. I really do have to get going soon.”

Marinette took her phone out of her purse and looked at the time. “Me, too. I told my friend to meet me at 6. If I don’t leave within the next five minutes, I’m definitely going to be late.”

“Same.” Adrien pocketed his phone, hopped off the couch, and grabbed his shoes. “So, where are you meeting up with your friend?”

“Oh, at some cafe I suggested. I went there with Kagami a few times.”

“Have we ever been there together?”

“No, but maybe we could go tomorrow! On our make-up date!” Marinette hopped off of the couch and slipped on her flats.

Adrien returned to her side and took both of her hands in his. “I’d like that.”

Marinette had picked the restaurant because she knew Chat would love it, and the more she thought about it, she knew that Adrien would probably love it, as well. “You know, you and my friend...you and he are really similar. I think the two of you would be really good friends.”

“And if we’re being honest, you and my work friend are so alike it’s insane. I guess there’s a reason why I used to be in love with her.” His eyes blew wide as he clasped his hands over his mouth. “I mean…”

Marinette took a step back. “The girl you’re meeting with today...she was the girl you-”

He frantically waved his hands in front of him. “No! It’s not like that anymore! I swear! I don’t love her...I mean, I do, but not like that. She’s like family? Also, she’s dating someone now. She only saw me as a friend, so it didn’t work out.”

“I always thought it was Kagami.” She collapsed back onto the couch, feeling her heart sink. “That means I wasn’t even your second choice. I was your third.”

Adrien scrambled onto the couch. “No, no! Please don’t start thinking like that.”

“But it’s true.” Feeling smaller than she’d ever felt, Marinette buried her head in her hands and pushed back tears that threatened to fall. “I’m sorry you didn’t wind up with either of the people you loved before me.”

“Marinette, I need you to look at me.” He carefully pulled her hands away from her face and held them in a steady grip. “You weren’t my third choice. You weren’t even my second choice. You were my always choice.”

“Your...always choice?” A tear slipped down her cheek and fell onto her lap. “I don’t understand.”

“You know what? Neither did I until the day I found out that you had a crush on me. Sure, I was in love with the girl I work with. It consumed me and didn’t let me think about anything else, but she didn’t want a relationship with me. I was heartbroken, and while I respected her wishes, I didn’t know how I could ever love another person the same way. Then Nino made his little slip-up, and I realized that I already did.” He leaned in and rested his forehead on hers. “I’ve been in love with you since the day we met.”

“But…”

“No buts. Please. I care about my work friend a lot, but I am in love with you. Yes, loving her was exciting, like fireworks, but loving you feels like…” His face softened, his gaze filled with adoration. “It feels like home.”

Her breath hitched. “Adrien…”

“Marinette.” The reverence in which he uttered her name set her entire being ablaze.

“You’re going to melt me into a puddle again.”

“Good.”

She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and closed herself around him. Returning the gesture, he drew her into a tight embrace. With his chest flush against her own, Marinette could feel the pounding of his heart and the depth of his breaths.

When he pulled away, she immediately felt the absence of his warmth. She sniffled, and using his thumbs, he wiped away the wetness from her cheeks.

“Now go have fun with your friend.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I want to hear all about it when I call you tonight.”

Marinette couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped. “Thanks, you, too.”

“And maybe the both of us could convince our friends to hang out as a group one day...you know, since we’re all so alike.”

“It’s funny. My friend used to have a crush on me, and I turned him down. It sounds like our friends wouldn’t just hit it off, but they might just be made for each other...like you and I are.” She couldn’t help but laugh as she pictured Chat and Adrien’s work partner meeting for the first time. “Too bad my friend is already dating someone.”

“My co-worker is dating someone as well.” Adrien chuckled and shook his head. “But for real, it sounds like they’d be a match made in heaven.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if they were actually dating each other?” It was a ridiculous thought, but it felt good to laugh after crying.

Adrien nearly doubled over. “That would be the most insane plot twist. Their relationship would be like one of those romances from a movie or something.”

“Only if it’s a really cheesy movie!” She thought back to all of the times she’d dealt with Chat’s flirtations. “I know for a fact that my friend is the ultimate hopeless romantic.”

“You mean like me?”

“Well, I did say that the two of you were alike.”

“Then I must meet this classy gentleman friend of yours!” Adrien held a finger in the air as he spoke. “He and I shall be the best of friends.”

An infinitely more ridiculous idea popped into her head. “I just thought of an even bigger plot twist!”

“Let’s hear it.”

“What if you’re actually the friend I’m meeting today?”

“Well then, may I suggest the biggest plot twist of all? You and I are actually each other’s friends, and we didn’t know because until today, we’ve been dressing up in disguises every time we’ve met up.”

Marinette slapped her hands against her cheeks and feigned surprise. “Then that would mean that you fell in love with me twice!”

Yeah, it would! And it would also mean that you turned me down because you had a crush on me but didn’t know it.” Adrien flopped dramatically onto the couch. “My poor brain can’t handle the confusion.”

“Same. Can you even imagine trying to keep something like that straight?”

“Nope! As crazy and cool as something like that would be, I’m pretty relieved we don’t have to deal with that kind of mess in our love lives.”

“Yes! Agreed!” But you’re right. I do think that the four of us would have a lot of fun together! I’ll ask him about a possible group hang-out session. I’m sure he’d be down for something like that.” Marinette straightened her purse strap, bent down, and pecked Adrien on the lips. “I’ll talk to you later. Love you!”

As she walked towards the door and out of his room, she heard Adrien call out behind her. “I love you, too!”

Carrying his words with her, Marinette bounced with each step she took. She skipped down the steps of the mansion and basked in the warmth of the summer sun.

How could she have been so silly to think that Adrien loved her less than he did? Of course, he loved her! She could see it in his eyes every time they were together. She could hear it in the way he spoke to her. She could feel it in each kiss.

Adrien Agreste loves her just as much as she loves him, and there was nothing that could ruin the high that came with this knowledge.

Nope. Not a single thing could ruin her day.

She was in love.

Someone loved her back.

And she was about to reveal her identity to Chat Noir.

Marinette froze.

She was about to reveal her identity to Chat Noir.

What was she thinking?

She couldn’t do something like this. She and Chat were fine the way they were. Right?

Opening the clasp to her purse, she ducked into an alleyway and did her best to not hyperventilate. “Tikki!”

Her Kwami zipped into view. “What’s wrong? Is there an Akuma?”

“No...it’s just…”

“Yes?”

“Just…”

“Marinette, what is it?”

She clenched and unclenched her fists several times before finding the words to say. “I can’t do this. No, I shouldn’t do this. How could I have possibly thought that this was a good idea?”

“What?” Tikki squinted. “Are you talking about meeting Chat?”

“Yes! Didn’t you always say that we had our secret identities for a reason?”

“Yes, but that was before. You’re the Guardian now, and you’re supposed to know where every single Miraculous from the Miracle Box is at all times.”

“But what if-”

Tikki cut her off. “No what if’s! This is the right thing to do, and you know it!”

Is it? Worry still clouded her mind. Am I going to regret this?

“I don’t know.” Marinette fiddled with the strap on her purse, fighting the urge to turn around and run home. “What if everything goes wrong?”

“It won’t!” Tikki nuzzled Marinette’s cheek. “Also, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Don’t forget...I already know who Chat Noir is.”

“That’s right! You do!” She cupped her Kwami in her hands. “Will you tell me a little bit about him? It’ll make me feel better about all of this. Please?” Tikki shook her head. “Marinette, you already know everything you need to know about him.”

“I do? But I thought the Miraculous magic was supposed to make that impossible.”

“The suit masks your features, not your heart, and trust me, you know Chat Noir’s heart inside and out. He’s never tried to hide who he was from you.”

“I guess you’re right.” She fixed her eyes on the pavement below. “But I’m still nervous.”

“And you think he’s not? He’s most likely freaking out as we speak, and it would probably make him feel a lot better if you actually showed up.” And once again, Marinette knew Tikki was right.

She had to do this.

If not for herself, for Chat. Her partner deserved the support that came with knowing her identity. She never wanted him to find himself in a position where he needed help from the Guardian and didn’t know where to find it. Chat needed her just as much as she needed him.

And now it was time to meet him.

Doing her best to shake off the sinking pit in her gut, Marinette smoothed out her skirt and straightened her back. “I can do this.”

“Yes, you can!” Tikki threw her tiny paws into the air. “This is so exciting!”

“Sure, if by exciting you mean that nauseous feeling in your stomach, but I can do this. I’m Ladybug.”

“And more importantly, you’re Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You’re the girl who’s an amazing designer, class president, and friend. You are kind, and you always stand up for what’s right.”

Marinette could feel her confidence grow. “That’s right...I am! I’m great in and out of the mask. Just like Chat is.”

“Just like Chat is.” Tikki smiled. “And I’m sure he would love to know your name.”

“And I would love to know his.”

“And all you need to do is walk into that cafe.”

“And find the boy wearing the black hoodie and the silver ring.” Marinette held up her purse for her Kwami. “C’mon, Tikki. Let’s go have dinner with the boys!”

“Boys?” Tikki cocked her head to the side. “As in more than one?”

“Are you telling me that you’re not excited to see Plagg without having to sneak around?” Marinette couldn’t hold back her laughter when she saw Tikki’s face light up before she enthusiastically dove into the bag.

With a renewed spring in her step, Marinette made her way to the cafe. Within minutes, she found herself standing outside the glass door, gripping the metal door handle. She took a deep breath, opened the door, and crossed the threshold.

A blast of warmth hit her face as she walked into the intimate dining space. She scanned the room and felt a rush when her eyes landed on a hunched figure clad in black.

Chat.

If it was indeed her partner, he was sitting at the far end of the cafe, facing the wall and scrolling through his phone. He had a hood pulled over his head, so she couldn’t see the color of the person’s hair. During their last patrol, Chat had divulged that his hair was actually blond so she would recognize him when she saw him. While this stranger wasn’t making it easy, there was almost no one else it could be.

And there was only one way to find out.

It’s now or never, Marinette. She psyched herself up as she walked over to the hooded stranger. Just walk up and ask…

“HEYISTHISSEATTAKEN?” Marinette slapped her hands over her mouth when she realized how loudly the garbled strand of words had come out. “I mean…”

The cafe had gone quiet, and she could feel all eyes on her.

This is a disaster. What am I doing? If this is Chat, he’s going to think I’m such a weird-

“Marinette?” A hand wrapped around hers, bringing her catastrophizing to an end.

Wait.

The hand was warm and familiar. “My sweet, beautiful Marinette. Come here.”

I know that voice.

The hand tugged her closer. “Come here, my love.”

Adrien.

A pair of green eyes filled with love and surprise locked with hers. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Her brain continued to short-circuit. “What are you doing here? And why are you hiding under that hoodie?”

“Ahhh, yes.” Using his free hand, he scratched the back of his head. “I’m meeting my friend here, and I really didn’t want anyone taking pictures of me meeting with a girl who wasn’t you and getting the wrong idea. Having another media presence conversation with my father is the last thing I need.”

“I totally get that. I remember you telling me about the last time your dad sat you down for one of those talks.” She smiled, but confusion continued to swirl around her mind.

She could have sworn it was Chat; however, she couldn’t have asked for a better outcome to her mistake.

“I know it hasn’t even been an hour, but I’m happy to see you.” A gentle kiss pressed against her knuckles. “So, what are you doing here? You’re not following me, are you?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and took a seat across from him. “No, my days of following you are far behind me, thank you very much, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t remind me of all my embarrassing pre-dating decisions.”

“They’re so cute though!” He rested his head in his hands. “I’ve never had someone care about me as much as you do before.”

“Adrien, stop!” Her cheeks started to burn. “My friend is going to be here any second, and I can’t look like a tomato when he shows up!”

“Ohhhh, so that’s what you’re doing here! Wow...what a crazy coincidence!”

“You want to know an even bigger coincidence? My friend said that he was going to be wearing a black hoodie when I met up with him. I thought he was you.”

Adrien leaned back in his chair. “Wait...really?”

“Yeah.” Marinette nodded her head. “He said that he would be wearing a black hoodie with a silver ring. He wanted me to be able to recognize him.”

“Hold on.” He opened and closed his mouth several times before continuing. “Have you never met your friend in person before?”

“Uhhh.” Panic started to settle in her gut, but luckily she knew how to keep a straight face. “Well, it’s complicated.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, we've met in person, but our outfits were kind of weird.”

“Uh-huh, and what’s your friend’s name again? I don’t think you ever mentioned it.”

“Umm...you see, we’ve only been using nicknames, so I’m not totally sure.”

He held up a hand. “So let me get this straight. You two don’t know each other’s names, and there was a chance that you wouldn’t recognize him because you were dressed weird every time you saw each other before today.”

“Yes.” Marinette looked away. “That’s right.”

“And I’m guessing that means that you gave him something to look for to help him know that it’s you?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

She swallowed, sincerely hoping that she wasn’t giving too much away. “My black earrings.”

His eyes immediately locked on her ears, sending him into a near trance-like state. Several emotions passed over his features before his eyes grew wide.

“Oh my God.” His voice was barely a whisper. “Oh my God.”

Her cheeks grew hotter as his unrelenting stare continued. “I-is there something on my face?”

“It all makes sense now.”

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

He grabbed her hands from across the table. “I was close a few times but you always shook me off your scent. You’re so clever, but I guess you already knew that.”

“What are you talking about?” She pulled her hands away. “Adrien, I don’t understand.”

“You’re joking, right?” Without breaking his stare, he leaned in and curled his mouth into a smirk. “Oh wow, you’re not.”

The panic and confusion that clouded her thoughts began to melt away as her annoyance grew.

Why would Adrien freak her out like that and then...laugh?

He was laughing.

Why was he laughing?

“Would you care to share what’s so funny?” she asked with a huff.

He wiped a tear away from his eye as he attempted to compose himself with several deep breaths. “I just can’t believe it!”

“Can’t believe what?”

“Marinette.” He got up, walked around the table, and knelt in front of her. “Don’t you think it’s interesting that you’re waiting in this cafe for a boy in a black hoodie and you ran into me?”

“Yeah, it’s a funny coincidence. Great minds think alike, right? Wait...speaking of friends.” Her eyes scanned the cafe. “My friend still isn’t here.”

“I guess we’ll have to do this a different way then.” Adrien stood up and grabbed his phone off of the table. “Can you do me a favor?”

“If I do, will you finally tell me what’s going on?”

“Yes, but I think you’re going to figure it out soon enough.”

“Fine. What do you want me to do?”

He pulled her onto her feet. “I’m going to go call my friend because she’s not here yet either. While I’m gone, could you call your friend, as well?”

“What, no!” Marinette did another scan of the cafe before turning back to Adrien. “I have to stay here in case he shows up. If he gets here and I’m not here, he’ll think I stood him up.”

“He won’t. And don’t you want to see if he’s okay?”

She bit her lip and watched as a pair of giggling girls walked through the door. “Yeah, I do.”

Relief washed over his face. “Thank you! And then when our friends get here, maybe we could all eat together?”

“And you’ll tell me what’s going on?”

“Yes, I promise that if you haven’t figured it out by the time we both return, I will tell you everything, but you’re going to facepalm when I do.”

His sincerity calmed her agitation. “We’ll see about that!”

Adrien laughed again and disappeared into the men’s room. Following suit, Marinette pushed open the door to the ladies’ room, checked that she was alone, and transformed.

Before she had the chance to pull out her yo-yo and make the call, it started to ring.

She grabbed the device and held it up to her face. “Chat, where are you? Are you okay?”

“Can you meet me on the roof?” She could hear a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Right now?"

"Yes."

“Why?”

“Purr-lease, my lady? Do it for me?”

"Is this something I'm going to regret?"

"Nope! I purr-omise. Cat's honor!"

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“Awesome! See you there!” Before she could respond, the line went dead.

Great.

Now she had two boys who were acting weird.

After finding a window that was big enough for her to squeeze through, she leaped through the opening and hooked her yo-yo around a chimney. With a tug of the wire, she flew into the air and landed on the edge of the roof.

“Hey, Ladybug!” She whipped around and was met face to face with the most excited-looking Chat she’d ever seen. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“You asked me to come up here, you silly cat!” She sheathed her yo-yo and rested her hands on her hips. “What are you up to?”

“Even after saying the same opening line? Really? Nothing?”

“Chat, what are you talking about? I swear, between you and my boyfriend…”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Oh, right.” She pressed her pointer fingers together. “So, my boyfriend is here, and he’s also waiting to meet with a friend, but he’s acting all weird right now...just like you are. But anyway, I know that today is a big deal for us and we have a lot to talk about, but since he’s already here and I don’t want to make it any weirder than it already is, do you think it would be okay if we ate dinner with my boyfriend and his friend?”

He took a step closer. “That sounds like a lot of fun. I would love to.”

“That’s a relief! I was worried you’d get mad and say no.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “But we may have to get our stories straight before we go back in there. I kind of told him that we only knew each other by nicknames until now, so unless we want to tell him that we’re the heroes of Paris, we should do the reveal here.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Oh, and one more thing. My boyfriend is kind of famous? He’s Adrien Agreste.”

“The model whose face is plastered all over the city?” Chat’s expression was unreadable. “Does that mean you’re the girl from all his Instagram posts?”

Marinette hoped it wouldn’t be a problem. “Yeah, that’s me. He’s wearing a hoodie so no one recognizes him, so I hope that’s okay.”

“That's fine with me.” He took another step closer. “So, would you like to do it on the count of three?”

“Do what?” They were so close.

“Drop our transformations.”

“Right! We should do that!”

He was now inches away from her. “On the count of three?”

“Sounds good to me.” Her heart hammered against her chest.

This was it.

It was now or never.

She took a deep breath and counted with him.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

They spoke their detransformations at the same time, and Marinette’s brain ceased to work as the magical green light left her boyfriend in Chat’s place. Taking a step back, her foot slipped off the ledge, and everything went in slow motion as Adrien yelled, grabbed her hand, yanked her back onto the roof, and fell with her into a heap of tangled limbs.

Without letting go, Adrien sat up and pulled her into his lap. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re alright!”

Still stunned speechless, all she could do was nod.

“See? I told you I’d always be there to catch you when you fall.” He gave her a once over before wrapping his arms around her and holding her against his chest. “Sorry, I thought it was a good idea. I should have moved us to the middle of the roof.”

Her brain began to sputter back to life.

Adrien was holding her.

And Adrien was Chat Noir.

Which meant Chat was holding her.

Which meant…

“I’m in love with Chat Noir.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Yes, you are.” He rested his mouth against the crown of her head. “And I fell in love with the same girl twice. Best. Plot twist. Ever.”

Marinette thought back to earlier that day, a time that now felt like a thousand years ago. “How did we not see this?”

“I don’t know, but now it all makes sense why you never agreed to go to the movies with me as Chat Noir. We were too busy living in our own movie.”

“We have so much to talk about.”

He held her even tighter. “Yes, we do, but we have a whole lifetime to talk. Let’s just enjoy dinner tonight.”

“Dinner sounds perfect.” She let all of her muscles relax and allowed herself to melt into his embrace. “I’m surprised you’re not freaking out right now.”

“Oh, trust me, I am, but I’m just going to focus on how amazing it is that my girlfriend and my lady are the same person and worry about the rest later. How are you holding up?”

“I’m still processing, but there’s a good chance that I will freak out and scream into a pillow later.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“What makes you think that you’ll be there to see it?”

“What makes you think that I’m going to leave you alone tonight?”

“And how do you plan on doing that after I go home after our date?”

“I was thinking that purr-haps a certain cat could come and visit you on your balcony? It sounds a lot more interesting than a boring phone call if you ask me.”

Of course, they were the same person.

It all made sense now.

This was Adrien. This was her Chaton. This was her best friend. This was the love of her life. This was her everything.

“Fine.” She pulled away and tapped his nose with her pointer finger. “But the cat has to bring hot chocolate if he wants to stay.”

“Deal!” He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “And may I just say that I am so excited for our next patrol.”

“Oh, no…”

“I wonder what the pictures on the Ladyblog will look like when Alya captures Ladybug turning into a blushing, stuttering mess after Chat Noir flirts with her!”

“Don’t think that I won’t end you just because you’re cute.”

“Awwwww!” He nuzzled her nose. “We can be cute together!”

“I said it before, and I'll say it again. You’re going to be the death of me, Adrien Agreste.” She buried her face against his hoodie and shivered.

“Nope! Not on my watch.” He got up and lifted her into his arms, prompting her to squeak. “Let’s get you warmed up inside.”

As he called for his transformation, Marinette found herself unable to look away. Here he was, holding her like she was his world, ready to do seemingly anything for her.

How did she get so lucky?

“Alright, hold on.” She braced herself against him as he leaped into the alleyway below.

He set her down on the ground and called off his transformation once again. After telling Plagg to join Tikki in Marinette’s purse, he took her hand and began walking towards the cafe.

Before they reached the door, Marinette stopped in her tracks. “Hey, Adrien?”

“What’s up?” He turned to look at her. “Did you want to go somewhere else to eat?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I’m just really happy that it’s you.”

“Oh, Marinette.” He pulled her back into his arms and dipped her into a kiss. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but knowing that it’s you is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I thought having me as your girlfriend was the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you.”

“Life would be boring if that stayed my favorite thing. Besides, if we’re going to be together forever, do you really want to stay just my girlfriend?”

“We’re only sixteen, Adrien.”

“And that means that we have many, many years to experience even more plot twists and greatest moments with each other.”

His declaration warmed her from her head to her toes, but to her surprise, she managed to keep herself composed and stutter-free.

“I guess that means we’re still in this together? Just you and me?” She snaked her arms around his neck.

“Always.” She couldn’t help but smile as he kissed her again.

[aalissy]

Napping

Day 28 is done!! But there’s only two more days of Adrienette April D:. Marichat May is just around the corner tho so if you like that ship stay tuned for more haha <3. Anywho, lemme know what you think of this chapter :)

AO3

Marinette yawned loudly, struggling to keep her eyes open. There had been two akuma attacks last night making it so that she barely got three hours of sleep. Hawkmoth must be trying to kill her because paying attention in class was next to impossible. She could only sometimes make out what Mlle. Bustier was saying because most of her thoughts were focused on sleep. 

Marinette barely even registered the sound of the bell ringing that signaled the end of the day. Her eyes had fully shut as she leaned her head on her fist, snoring lightly. A shake of her shoulder and a voice calling her name were the only things that made her blink her eyes open blearily. She then gave the boy above her a blissful smile, only barely awake. Sighing lightly, she said his name sleepily, “Adrien.”

“Are you alright, Marinette?” he frowned down at her with worry. “You look tired.”

She bobbed her head up and down, smacking her lips together. Eventually, she murmured, “Mhm. No sleep. Akumas.”

Adrien’s face seemed to light up with realization and understanding. He chuckled lightly, running a hand through her hair that she leaned into. “Yeah, I know what that’s like. Does Hawkmoth just have so much free time on his hands that he thinks it’s okay to send akumas out at ungodly hours?”

Instead of responding, Marinette simply tugged him down into her seat. She snuggled into his side, placing her head on his shoulder as she sighed happily. Once content and warm, she quickly went back into her most recent dream. She didn’t notice Adrien’s exhalation of shock nor the soft look he sent her. 

The two stayed like that for a while, content to remain next to each other. Eventually, Adrien pulled out his phone and grimaced at the time. Guiltily, he slowly shook Marinette awake again. “Marinette, we need to go soon. It’s getting late.”

“Don’t wanna,” she mumbled, pressing her face even more into his shoulder. “Gimme five more minutes.”

Once again, she missed the adoring smile that he sent her, still lost in a dream filled with pastries and a certain model. Marinette squeezed his arm gently with a contented sigh. There they sat for another few moments, neither of the two willing to move. Adrien even felt his own eyes start to get heavy, a part of him longing to just close his eyes and make up the lost sleep from the most recent akuma attacks. 

Just as he slowly started to drift off, his phone buzzed in his hands. Adrien grimaced down at the text before he looked over at Marinette again. Slowly and rather ashamedly, he shook her shoulder once again. Quietly, he murmured, “I need to go now, Marinette. My bodyguard is here.”

With that, she yawned loudly, her eyes slowly opening to look at him. A large, warm smile stretched across her face as she stared at the boy in front of her. Slowly, Marinette frowned as she squeezed his arm once again. At that, she was fully awake, her eyes wide open as she scrambled away from him. “Adrien! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I-I was freaming, I-I mean dreaming and I didn’t realize you were actually there! I-I thought you were still my dream.” 

He gave her a teasing smile in response. “Dream about me often then?”

Marinette squeaked at that, her whole face turning red as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Her palms itched to smack her forehead, wishing that she had never gotten so sleepy at the end of class. Realizing something, she blinked around at the empty classroom. Her frown deepened as she murmured, “Where is everyone?”

“It’s the end of the day, Marinette,” Adrien said, his green eyes twinkling at her playfully. “Everyone’s gone home already. I noticed you sleeping and wanted to wake you up but I don’t think that turned out too well.”

He chuckled rather sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he peered at her. Marinette’s cheeks flushed even deeper, embarrassment coursing through her. She scrubbed a hand down her face, cursing Hawkmoth in her mind. With a quick shake of her head, she got rid of any last ounce of sleepiness. Quickly, she pulled up her backpack, mumbling, “Right. I’m sorry if I made you late at all, Adrien. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I really was very tired.”

“It’s alright, Marinette,” Adrien chuckled before nudging her shoulder. “It’s happened before, remember?”

At the mention of their experience on the Startrain, Marinette tittered nervously. She was never going to live this down, was she? And, for that matter, how was she going to get any sleep tonight when the memory of being in his arms was etched into her brain? Standing up anxiously, she turned to look at him anxiously. “W-well, thank you for waking me up, Adrien. If you hadn’t I don’t know what I’d do.”

“It was no problem, Marinette,” he winked. “I’ll see you tomorrow, so try and get some more sleep tonight.”

He patted her on the shoulder and she watched him leave with a happy sigh. How could he be so sweet and so charming? It just wasn’t fair on her heart. Giving her head another quick shake, Marinette left the classroom as well only to bump into her best friend.

Alya squealed happily, shaking her shoulders as she said, “What happened in there, girl?! Tell me everything! Did you really fall asleep on his shoulder?”

Blinking at her friend’s ambush, she eventually realized what they were talking about. Marinette crossed her arms, glaring at Alya. “You mean you were here the whole time and you didn’t wake me up yourself? Why not?!”

Her best friend looked a little sheepish before she said, “Well, I was about to but Adrien said he could do it. Besides, you should have seen some of the looks he sent you while you were sleeping! I think he’s crushing hard!”

“Really?” she bit her lip shyly, feeling butterflies flutter happily in her stomach. 

“Mhm,” Alya screeched, bobbing her head up and down before lifting up her phone. “I even managed to snap a picture!”

Marinette gasped in shock at the image Alya was showing her. She was nuzzled up into Adrien’s side, a soft smile on her face as she slept quietly. He was looking down at her so softly that it caused her butterflies to dance around even faster. Nibbling on her lip, she squealed, “Can you please send me that right now?”

“So, all is forgiven?” Alya asked with a small smirk.

“Yes, yes!” Marinette giggled, “But only if I can have that photo!”

The two girls laughed loudly together before the picture was sent and she could smile down at it happily. Maybe, the two akumas last night weren’t so bad. Maybe they did happen for a reason. Clutching her phone to her chest tightly, she couldn’t wait to fall back asleep again tonight.

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

The "Marinette is in charge of a class trip and has to suffer at her classmates whims, finally snapping and getting her cruel, well-deserved revenge on everyone" plotline can die now. I see it and I just want to yeet Saltinette out of the story so she can stop warping the world around her and everyone else can get a nice field trip arranged by the teachers and the school, as is canon, and Saltinette doesn't get to abuse her authority to make people suffer.

@flightfoot So! . . . My brain took this as a challenge apparently.

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

"Alright class! Settle down." Mme. Bustier clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Now, the school field trip to, uh, the beach?"

"Yeah, mine says beach too." Alya held up the script and nodded for the teacher to continue.

"Right! Remember to-"

"AHHHHH!"

"Juleka, that's not in the script." Mme. Bustier waved her copy for emphasis.

"Sorry, Mme. Bustier!" Rose supplied while comforting her girlfriend. "It's just- AHHHHHH!"

"That is it! What!? What is with the screaming!?" Chloe demanded.

Rose pulled one of her hands that covered her face and pointed at the script that had fallen open. "S-S-Saltinette's in the script!"

Pandemonium erupted as the class protested.

"Quick Markov! Run away before she reprogrammes you again!" Max yelled, holding the window open for his friend.

"Ugh! Why her?" Chloe pulled out her phone to post about how unfair it all was online. "She's even more intolerable than Dupain-Cheng! Always saying we're friends and telling me to agree with everything she says and-" she shuddered, "expecting me to be nice!"

Alya was shaking her head and making an ex with her arms. "Uh-uh, no way. This is not in my contract!" . . . Seeing Nino wavering in his seat Alya brought the trashcan over.

Nino emptied his breakfast into it as his girlfriend rubbed circles on his back. He lifted his head just long enough to say: "God, I hate her." And then buried his face back down.

Adrien stared off into space, eyes blank as his inner voices argued.

The one that looked suspiciously like a supervillain was grinning. "Aren't you tired of being nice? Don't you just want to Murder?"

The Chat Noir-ish one tapped his chin before pointing at the supervillain. "You know? He's got a point."

"Guys, guys!" Glasses Adrien protested, wrapping an arm around their shoulders. "We've been through this. Of course we're going to murder!"

"-Adrien? Dude!"

Adrien snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that the bane of their existence had entered the classroom. He turned toward Nino. "So we all agree that it's only murder if it's a person, right? Anthropomorphic embodiments of selfishness and revenge fantasies don't count?"

Saltinette draped herself dramatically onto Mme. Bustier's desk. "Oh! See how cruel and mean spirited my former crush is!"

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Get over yourself."

"Is this- Wait, hang on." Saltinette leaned her head back and held up an eyedropper. "Ah, there. That's better. Is this any way to treat your class representative?" Saltinette wailed with tears in her eyes.

"After I slaved away at fixing that old junkyard bus and raised enough money to pay the driver, 'cause he only accepts payment in quarters, by having a sale at the bakery and coordinated everyone's schedule so we could all go together!?"

Mme. Bustier flipped through the script. "It doesn't say that."

"Oh! How Lila has shone your true colors!"

Alix turned her head from left to right. "Dude, she's not even here!"

"Even Alix has turned her back on me!" Saltinette continued, holding the back of her hand to her forehead. "An unforgivable crime unless she gets on her knees and begs me for forgiveness and helps me ruin everyone else's lives and then maybe, possibly, eventually I will deign to give her the Bunny M-"

"Marinette SMASH!!!"

In the blink of an eye Saltinette went sailing through the window and disappeared into the sky with a twinkle of light.

Marinette brought her smoking fist, which she had just used to uppercut Saltinette out of the story, to her lips and blew on it.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Marinette stumbled before righting herself with a grin. "I needed a running start."

The classroom erupted into cheers.

Adrien smiled proudly at her. "Go out with me, My Lady?"

"Absldbsbdj! Adrien! That, um, isn't in the script!" Marinette protested despite having sent the "main character" into the stratosphere, cheeks tinting.

"Sure it is!" Adrien smugly flourished his copy of the script to the page they were on. He'd attached a sticky note to it that said, 'Adrien asks out his future wife'.

"Eeeeeeeee-" Marinette's face became even redder as her grin widened.

"Nice going, sunshine," Alya teased. "You broke her!"

"What a paws-itively un-fur-tunate occurrence."

Marinette blinked as a terrible realization dawned. "Oh, no."

Adrien grinned as he pulled her into his side. "Oh, yes!"

Mme. Bustier smiled at the new couple while throwing whole pages of the script into her new shredder. Right then. Taking out her red pen she began to make corrections for what remained.

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

"Ha! Ready to give up, handsome?" Marinette sent the volleyball back over the net.

"You wish, beautiful!" Adrien slid on the sand and managed to keep the ball in play.

"Heads up, babe!" Nino called as he shot it back to the other side.

"For me? You shouldn't have!" Alya jumped for the ball and sent it spinning onto the sand, to the groans of the boys.

"Aw, look at them!" Rose cooed from her spot next to Juleka. The bright pink towel and umbrella clashing with Juleka's black beach hat and swimsuit. "They're adorable even on opposite teams!"

"I know. Horrible isn't it?"

Rose giggled. Juleka sometimes liked to pretend romance was icky 'for the aesthetic'. Personally, Rose thought the matching necklaces her girlfriend had bought them were plenty romantic. But who was she to ruin Juleka's fun?

Her attention wandered to the water where Max and Markov were enabling helping Kim with something.

"You sure you're up for this little guy?" Kim asked.

"I appreciate your concern but I assure you my waterproofing will keep me quite safe!" Markov replied.

Max nodded, adjusting his prescription goggles. "Markov will time your swim and measure how well you've improved."

"Then what're we waiting for?" Kim plunged underwater with a splash. Markov following after him.

Ivan gave a warning glare in their general direction before turning back to Mylene. Who was floating happily in a tube float.

Sabrina gazed wistfully from where she held Chloe's tanning mirror. Chloe herself could be heard snoring.

"Psst! Sabrina!"

Looking around, she spotted Alix behind some large rocks. Blinking, Sabrina pointed at herself.

Alix rolled her eyes. "You see any other Sabrinas around here? C'mon!"

Sabrina stood, paused, opened up the Queen Bee themed umbrella so Chloe wouldn't sunburn and hurried to catch up.

Nathaniel chuckled from his perch on the rocks as he continued sketching.

"Okay, I have a plan." Adrien announced.

"Is it an actual plan or is it one of your regular plans?" Nino asked.

Adrien summoned as much indignation as he could- "Rude," -and turned back to the game without telling Nino the plan.

"Wait, bro, c'mon!"

"Too late!"

The volleyball flew back and forth as both teams went all out. Marinette saw her chance, reached for it and-

"Hey, Marinette."

Adrien's hair glistened in the sunlight, eyes smoldering as he gazed into her soul. His soft lips curling into a playful smirk and-

Marinette felt sand burst all over her hair as she fell.

Instantly she was back on her feet. "Cheater! I call cheating!"

Rose laughed good-naturedly, knowing that Adrien had just invited a reckoning onto himself. "Poor Nino."

Kim burst to the surface. "Ahhhhhh! What is it? Get it off!"

"Please hold still so I may assist you!" Markov zoomed around Kim, trying to use his arm to pull some brown thing off of him.

"Kim, it's just seaweed!" Max yelled.

The corners of Juleka's lips twitched. "Tragic." She clicked her pen and wrote something down in her notebook.

Rose smiled and offered a lick of their icecream.

Ivan narrowed his eyes at the commotion but just snorted and went back to making sure Mylene didn't drift off.

Sabrina straightened from where she leaned over a tide pool. "What was that?"

"Just Kim being dumb again," Alix replied dismissively. "Ooh! There's a good one!"

"Making Marinette angry is a terrible plan!" Nino panted.

Adrien just grinned. "How can she be angry when her boyfriend looks like this?" He struck a dynamic pose.

Marinette missed her swing. Again. Glaring at her smug cat of a boyfriend she rose to her feet. "That's it." Marinette pulled out her pigtails, letting her hair fall. "The gloves are off."

Adrien stared openmouthed as the next volley sailed centimeters past his face. A gleam entered his eye. "Game of cat and mouse?"

"We'll see whose the cat this time!"

"Uh, we're still here y'know," Alya reminded them.

Blushing sheepishly all four resumed their game.

Taking a sip of her non-alcoholic cocktail Mme. Bustier put the finishing touches on the script. That done she tossed it aside and smiled at her students enjoying themselves. All was as it should be.

[snacc-noir]

Unseal and Reveal pt2

Ao3

Part 1

Adapted from this post

Summary:

Adrien asks Marinette to fake date him after his father finds a pink ‘love note’ containing just her name on it

— but it was really the emergency note Ladybug gave him in case he needed to know her identity

Adrien has screwed up. 

But before anything begins, he’d like to make it very clear that he’s only ever had good intentions, believable smiles, and incredible lying ability – no matter what his friends say (“You once told Alya you had a great dentist so Marinette wouldn’t be suspicious”), because he’s kept the fact he’s Chat Noir under wraps and no one has been the wiser. 

Then again, Chat Noir is stylish, handsome, incredibly dressed, insanely hilarious, im(pecc)ably ripped, totally— 

Yeah, so Adrien just can’t live up to that (If it came down to it, he’d totally fall in love with himself if circumstances allowed.), and thus his identity is pretty secure , unlike his self-esteem on a good day. 

Specifically, today. 

Because he has screwed up.  

So yes, he’s somehow the best and worst liar ever, which probably likens to how it isn’t his secret identity that he Accidentally (three underlines for ‘accidentally’) reveals, but, uh, someone else’s. 

Ladybug’s. 

He knows Ladybug’s identity.  

But hey! Hey— remember, her idea. It was never him who suggested the ‘let’s write our names on letters in case we need to know in an emergency’, as that was definitely her. 

He’s screwed everything up, but it was definitely her. 

“Did you know? ” 

“Duh,” his kwami’s gravel voice says, “I know everything.” 

Adrien’s hands are rousing his hair so much at this point he might expose himself as Chat Noir if anyone went by his lean windows. “You knew this whole time!? That Ladybug is– That she’s– That—”  

All air escapes him in a corrupt elongated syllable. He flops on his Extra King size bed with silk sheets and fluffed pillows, almost knocking his model agency’s branded hydro-flask onto the desk adjacent with three exorbitant monitor screens. Oh, how difficult his life is.  

“You’re so pathetic.” 

He is.  

“This is hilarious.” 

It is not.  

‘“What am I supposed to do, Plagg?! Call her? ‘Hey love of my life, it’s me Adrien, but you also know me as Chat Noir. I accidentally found out your identity and long story short, my household thinks we’re dating and wants you over for dinner. Are you up for fake-dating and not killing me, please?” 

His kwami skulls a camembert roll. “I’m down for that idea.” 

Adrien pegs a sock. 

“How are you so calm?” 

“I shrugged in the face of dinosaur extinction. Your damsel in distress crisis – you’re the damsel, by the way – and ‘oohhh no, I’m so in love’ hullabaloo is nothing.” 

Adrien’s frown deepens. “I don’t sound like that.” 

“You do. Your voice goes like eee .” 

“What? No it doesn’t” 

“You’re right, it’s more like ahhh . ” 

The heat in Adrien’s acid eyes smarten. He crosses his arms, huffing in a way he hasn’t since early childhood, and glares at his ceiling. “I’m done talking to you.” 

He isn’t, of course, as there’s only one person in his life he can complain to about his array of #RelatableTeenBoy issues, like ditching your favourite topic of Physics one class to cater to a Giant Baby akuma (again) and being late due to lack of places to change into your skin-tight cat suit (you know; just those little things). And by Hawk Moth’s insufferable menacing he isn’t letting that outlet fall from under him. He needs to clear his thoughts, because believe him, there is a lot to sift, and it doesn’t help when part of this whole catastrophe has left him with the knowledge that— 

“Marinette is Ladybug!” 

Plagg has moved to Adrien’s three-panelled computer desk and is clicking through something. “I’m so glad you’ve caught up.” 

“And if she’s Ladybug, that means,” he goes on, white overshirt sleeves now uneven as he animates his words with a pillow, “she was just saying to me – to Chat – she was in love with him to save her identity! And there’s another boy she’s in love with! And–! And I might know who it is!” 

“Who?” Plagg asks, the volume juxtaposing his welder’s. 

“I said 'might’.” 

The keys click louder. “You mean because you know Ladybug in real life you could have met him before? Or you actually know him?” 

“I don’t know! I just know that Marinette’s… She’s in love with another guy.” The earlier exhilaration drains and his chest feels hollow and soul-sucking. “Wait– I can’t ask her to be my fake-girlfriend!” 

The destructive god scrolls through the itemised shopping cart to double-check his fromage orders without any fear of his owner noticing. Well you obviously don’t have a choice. Your dad wants her over for dinner. Besides, it’s Ladybug, remember? She’ll do anything to help a friend out.” 

Ladybug. 

Marinette. 

Of course.  

There are still many things that don’t add up (Multimouse: just how?) but of course. 

He can’t risk his own identity and hers to his father. He must keep the façade up. And if that mean s falling on his knees in front of who unarguably should be the most glorified woman in the world, crying to her to please just be his fake – very much, but unfortunately fake – girlfriend.  

He will. 

He’ll do it right now. 

- 

“I can’t believe you chickened out.” 

Walks to school, even with the cost of waking up earlier, are always more refreshing than drives in cold silence. The freedom here is less pale, and he can hiss at Plagg all he wants with only the dignity loss of onlookers noticing him crankily talking to himself. 

“Oh wait, yes I can. Because you’re a coward~. ” 

“I did not ‘chicken out’,” Adrien snaps. “And I’m no coward. I just— I need to speak to her in person instead. This way, she didn’t have to receive an unwanted call so late.” 

 “You mean six?” 

He huffs. “Marinette needs all the sleep she can get.” He pokes the creature back into his overshirt. “She’s always so busy. Even you’ve seen her collapse in class. Wait—!” 

The only one that waits is himself, columned with the line of trees ahead, locked in the interval of his soap opera as his audience darts for a shiny rock near a fire hydrant. 

“Because she’s Ladybug too! Of course! Of course! This makes so much sense! She’s so tired and overworked! It’s no wonder she’s all over the place – in the best of ways, I mean, she’s literally adorable when she’s frantic. Wait, have I always thought that? Have I always seen Marinette as the cutest thing ever? Her spluttering is so endearing. And if she’s already so tired, I can’t make her fake date me, too! She’s already so stressed! I’d literally be the scum of the earth if I even dare—” 

Plagg is staring at him with flat interest. Humbly aware of his judgement, Adrien swallows, letting the air untense and clams his hands – eager to narrate his animated allegory – in his pockets in strife to get a grip.  

He sighs. 

“What if I mess it up, Plagg?” 

He inventories his new rock in Adrien’s satchel. A hymn of silence roots in the place of what should be a snide remark. But there is no fed-up comment, just a kwami wriggling under his overshirt out of sight and a solemn voice that issues from it,  

“Kid, you’re partners. You work together. You forgive each other. You trust each other. And if Ladybug trusts you,” he sticks his head out a little more, “find it in you to trust yourself. You won’t mess this up if you put her and her identity’s safety first, which I know you will, because you love her and you’re a great hero.” 

Adrenaline dampening, Adrien smiles.  

“Thanks, Plagg.” 

- 

Marinette has never believed in bad luck until she met Chat Noir (fifty Mr Pigeon akumatisations this year with a feather allergy? The next lucky charm is going to be an Epi-pen) and for a while, she didn’t believe in good luck, even with being Ladybug. 

But that was then. Back then, meaning like, ten minutes ago before she was invited to stay back after PE by Adrien. 

Right now, though? Right now, she’s decided she’s going to hand-sew a bedazzled shirt embossed with, “Goddess of Luck” to wear while Ladybug on patrol (and on the back, a quote she woke up to on Instagram this morning: ‘“can also kick ass” – Adrien Agreste’ (she took ten screenshots when he posted that)), because Marinette has good luck.   

“You’ll be doing me a huge favour,” the ass-kicking quoter says on an afternoon she has not planned to receive the most exciting request of her life. 

And you know what she says? 

You know what the stuttering girl who may as well trademark the word ‘GAH’ she falls that much, says? 

You’ll never guess. 

No really, you won’t. 

Because turns out, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is more than just accomplished. 

So what if she thrones the winning title of a Gabriel fashion comp? What even matters of being class president and an all-around likable person? Who takes notice of another fashion mogul inviting you to live in New York because of your talent? ––An invitation you had to decline because, you know, being Paris’ zero-pay superheroine has a sprinkle more of importance. And oh, did she mention she’s Ladybug? Because she’s Ladybug. A superhero.  

But none of that matters right now. 

“I’d be happy to help.” 

Because she’s said yes.  

She—Marinette McStutter Dupain-Cheng—has said yes with her mouth (not vague hand animations over blubbering nonsense) to Adrien, and although her muscles are locked with their key over the Eiffel tower (and the tiny detail that her thoughts are screaming so much she can’t hear a thing of his relief and numerous ‘thank you’s), she’s still said yes!  

Screw every other accomplishment. She’s said yes to being Adrien’s fake girlfriend. 

Ladybug? Nah, that’s Mrs. Fake Agreste to you.  

Good luck is real.  

Okay but sure, ‘Fake girlfriend’ doesn’t exactly live up to ‘Very real girlfriend’, but being a fake isn’t that bad! She’s seen Lila do it every day for months – oh, hang on, no actually the term ‘fake’ has very negative and huge implications, then. However, in Marinette’s heavenly-blessed case, ‘fake’ means she’s doing a very big favour for a friend and is going to get more time with Adrien – just to name a few positives.  

“Seriously Marinette, you have no idea how much this means to me. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have a friend like you.” 

‘Oh honey, I’m the lucky one. ’ 

“It’s– It’s no problem! Yeah! Really, I’ll come to dinner, no problem! It can’t be too hard. I can be your girlfriend! Eugh– Pretend girlfriend. It’s not hard being in love with you! I mean– Ugh!” 

The monstrosity that is the never-shutting-up hole in her face is blocked off by frantic hands, stifling the last of her eloquent groan. But peering up, she realises she really has underestimated how much this means to Adrien, because he looks like he’s poised on a cliff of ecstasy ready to fall – eyes verdant, big, and lushed over with a hue of moisture that twinkles, and a smile so bright and toothy the sunlight hollowing out the remaining shade of the PE stadium glints off it.  

In fact, her mess of a speech is such a compliment to Adrien that her locked-limbed body is suddenly engulfed by his. Startled in delightful senses of the word, she squeaks, and he quickly pulls away, face a few rose tones darker than before as his hands twitch at his side unsurely. 

“Uhh, I guess we have to get planning.” 

She watches in transfixed attraction as Adrien picks both their schoolbags up, finally blurting (without any squeak, she may add), 

“Y–Yes. We do.” 

(she didn’t say any stutter, so shut up.) 

“Would your father let you come over right now since school’s almost finished?” 

He casts a look to the exit thoughtfully. His flawless side-profile in high resolution before her, she sees the corner of his mouth quirk up in an unsettling familiar way, as if his whole charisma shifts to someone else’s.  

They do need to plan; to run away together, where only they share this odd secret - a place alone together where they'll look each other eye-to-eye and practice their sonnets of love to construct a believable facade for his father-

“It’s more fun sneaking to my girlfriend’s house, isn’t it?” 

That time, she squeaks.

And comes to the daunting realisation:

Marinette is screwed. 

[cakejots]

cataclysmic creations

What happens when Marinette gets overly attached to a gift from him but also not really from him? Chaos.

Rating: T, Words: 2482, Chapters: 1/1

Read on AO3

“I suppose this should do, Plagg.” Adrien held up his handiwork with sore arms, beaming with pride. But anyone looking at him would think that he’s in pain.

“That’s not a very exquisite design, is it?” Plagg snickered.

“Shut it. Her birthday’s tomorrow and I just don’t have the skills for it, alright? Guidance from videos can only go so far.” He cringed at the unevenness of the fabric, some sections were woven tighter than others, and some looser. The number of tiny holes that peep at him from the looser areas was just embarrassing. Adrien deflated a little bit and lowered his arms slightly. “I just hope she likes it.”

Plagg went behind the textile and shoved his tiny butt through one of the bigger holes just to spike him. Adrien growled and tried to kick his Kwami but Plagg was already on his way to the computer table. “Though I have to say, these look so much better!”

Adrien was relieved that at the very least, the red paper roses he crafted were met with approval. He didn’t want to think about the number of failed attempts it took to get to where he was now, and the amount of time spent watching videos on it. He’s just glad that they looked real enough to fool people at first glance.

“Still, why stop at two roses when you could’ve gone for a bouquet? You think this is gonna compare with that?”

“I don’t have time, Plagg.”

“Then why not just buy one?”

“Marinette’s not one for physical items, but I feel she’ll appreciate it even more if she knew time and effort were spent on them.”

Ashamed as he might be about the quality of his creations, Adrien was glad that he could spoil her with gifts. But she doesn’t need to know about that.

Marinette had told him not to sweat about giving her anything for her birthday as his company with her is a gift itself. But knowing her, she was probably afraid that doing so would risk his identity. So being the good boyfriend that he is, he would go against her wishes (or not) and surprise her with what he has been known to give: roses, but with a twist.

He’d present her with not just one, but two roses to show his love and affection for her. Not that he needs to do that to convey his feelings, both are aware of where they stand in their relationship. But he’s a romantic at heart, can’t blame him for wanting to do more.

Marinette deserves the constant reminder of how special she is to him after all. And with the twist being that the roses were handcrafted, to proclaim his undying love for her.

And of course, Adrien being Adrien, that alone wasn’t enough. Oh no no no. See, Adrien is Chat Noir and Chat Noir being Marinette’s boyfriend meant that he would give her birthday presents regardless of her wishes. The only restriction he had was that he can’t be original in his gifts.

But Adrien didn’t have that restriction. And since Adrien wasn’t Chat Noir, at least to everyone else, he was free to be as creative as he can be with presents. So he had decided to crochet a blanket for her as Adrien’s birthday gift to Marinette.

Why a blanket? Well, he wanted Marinette to have something that reminds her of him, and what better way to do that than to have her see and feel his gift the first and last thing of the day? Call him cringy, clingy, or whatever, he doesn’t care. This is their relationship, not anyone else’s. Sue him.

The crocheted cloth was just a simple blanket with nothing but a uniform colour of blue. It wasn’t the prettiest, but he wanted her to hold onto a piece of him, even if she doesn’t know it.

And luckily for him, Marinette loved both gifts, a lot. But since the blanket was more practical than the decorative roses, she had spent more time with it.

He just didn’t expect her to hold onto it all the time.

The first couple of times he visited her, he was overjoyed that she had taken special care of his gifts. The paper roses were placed in an elegant glass vase right next to her desktop, and he always caught her staring at them with a lovesick smile whenever she was waiting for his arrival. With the blanket draped over her shoulders of course.

And the blanket, oh gosh the blanket! Despite his belief that it belonged to recycling bins, she had refused to leave that disaster of a blanket alone. The slightly smaller blanket size had enabled her to always carry it around wherever she went within the room. That sight itself had warmth bursting forth within his chest.

Yes, she loves it that much.

Their time spent together stayed the same, with the addition of the blanket wrapped around herself. Or if it’s too hot, she’d fold it into a bolster and hug it. Or if they were relaxing on the floor, she would lie on top of them. And whenever he visited without her knowledge, he’d see her resting her head on top of a blue pillow while reading fashion magazines. Sometimes, he would even spot his alter-ego in them. It was endearing to see her attachment to his cataclysmic creation.

As the cooler months approached, that meant endless cuddles with Marinette for Chat Noir. Well, nothing wrong with expecting more cuddles from her, right? They had their occasional cuddles during the warmer months. And his Lady had always cuddled with him during cooler months, so it was safe to assume Marinette would do the same.

Right?

But that wasn’t what happened.

Oh no.

That was not what happened at all.

She had cuddled with her blanket far more than she did with him. It was to the point that he received way fewer cuddles from her than he did during the warmer months.

Was it because of the materials he had used for the fabric? It traps heat much better than he can provide, of course she wasn’t going to cuddle with him. What if he pushes her away during their sleep together? Is that why she would prefer being enveloped by the blanket? It’ll never push her away like he did. Or maybe blankets are better and softer to hold onto than his body. Whatever it was, he just knew that this can’t continue.

“You don’t want to cuddle with me anymore?” Kitten eyes fixated themselves on hers, begging for her attention.

Her eyebrow twitched. “Chat no, that’s never the case! It’s just… This gift’s really precious to me.” Does she need anyone else to validate her feelings? Probably not. It was a gift from Adrien, the first person she had ever given her heart to. Even though she had agreed to move on, it still held sentimental value to her regardless.

Chat eyed her and pouted. From the sound of it, Marinette seemed to know that she’s cuddling with that blanket more than with him, and he didn’t know if he should be happy or mad about it. One thing’s for sure though, he was definitely not jealous. Nope, not jealous at all. Jealousy? Don’t know her.

“We can still cuddle! Come here, you big kitty!” She enticed with open arms, and the blanket tossed away from her. Chat lit up and he plopped himself into her arms, pleased that she was now cuddling with him instead of that blanket. The warmth that was now present allured him to sleep with his arms around her waist.

Early next morning, Chat awoke to the constant shaking of his body. The heat source he had from last night was gone. He looked to his side and right there in plain sight, Marinette was snuggling with that unsightly thing. She even had that wrapped around herself and not the two of them.

That audacity.

Chat wasn’t amused at all. Nothing about this was endearing nor adorable anymore. Not when her attention was on that thing and not him.

Plagg was also being an unhelpful ball of chaos when Adrien opened up his heart to him, voicing his genuine concerns and asking for help over the issue regarding his girlfriend’s overt attachment to that thing.

“You brought this upon yourself,” he sneered.

He was actually enjoying his misery.

Little shit.

“You love that blanket more than me.”

It wasn’t even a question like before. It was a god damn statement, just straight up facts about how he felt. This was getting ridiculous. He was jealous, there he admitted it, of the gift he made for her. A gift that technically has his essence. A gift from him. A gift from Adrien-him. He was jealous of himself. An inanimate object from him to be specific. What even?

“That’s not true.”

How dare she deny it.

“Then leave that thing alone and come lie on me while you work on your sketches, like always.” He spoke through gritted teeth.

Marinette couldn't do that. She was currently lying on top of her folded blanket with her upper body elevated from the floor, doodling. It was way too comfortable to move.

“Make me.”

Chat stood so abruptly that Marinette jumped at the movement, and suddenly she was rolling away from her blanket pile. She quickly snatched the other end of the blanket before Chat could do whatever the hell he wanted to do with her blanket.

A tug of war ensued.

“Chat, stop! You’ll rip it apart! Just let go!” Marinette yelled as his claws started digging into her precious fabric.

“No, I had enough. You let go! Come and cuddle with me again!” He demanded.

Chat didn’t know what was going on. Marinette has yet to topple over despite this being an unfair tug of war, hero versus civilian. He should be ashamed of himself for allowing this to happen, but he’s not. He needed to get rid of that piece of junk ASAP.

He could always kiss her injuries goodbye later.

Marinette really had no intentions of letting up anytime soon, that was clear from her face, grip, and stance. Chat decided that Adrien would stop giving her birthday gifts if they were to hold more value to her than he does.

The thought itself led him to unconsciously dig his claws further, creating hideous holes on the already-ugly blanket. He was ripping his own creation. His own blood, sweat, and tears, and honestly, he should stop. But he doesn’t.

“I’ll cuddle with you! Just please let go!”

Normally, Marinette’s pleading was enough for him to give in, but not this time. He wasn’t going to budge. “No! That thing stays away this time, it has already taken up the privileges it doesn't even have in the first place for far too long!”

“Chaaaaaaat!”

“Marineeeeeeette!”

And they both landed on their butts.

Marinette gazed at what remained in her hands and started bawling.

Chat didn’t think they’ll be able to rip it apart, he was expecting her to give up and let go just how strong is she?. Now he felt bad, but before he could walk over to her, she tackled him, arms tightening around his waist.

She was hugging him and crying and not even hitting him or scolding him and he has no idea what’s happening anymore.

“Princess, I’m sorry, please stop crying.”

“No.” He winced. “I’m sorry, Chat. If I had just let go and cuddled with you, this wouldn’t have happened.” Marinette held him tighter and wept.

“No, Marinette... Please, I’m so sorry, I can fix this. Just please stop crying,” he begged.

“How, Chat? You’re not even Adrien,” she wept.

Chat was silent while running his fingers through her hair to soothe her.

“I can,” and he muttered his de-transformation phrase.

Marinette closed her eyes from the sudden brightness and she was gaping at Adrien now. It didn’t register to her that he had de-transformed until then.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “I can, so don’t worry about it anymore. I’m so sorry for revealing who I am. I just— I don’t know what else to do and I hate it when you cry.” He sneaked a peek at her.

Marinette’s wailing had stopped and she was just looking at him with those wide sapphire orbs. Emotions ran through them and he’s not sure if he picked them all up.

“Please say something.”

After a few beats, “Adrien.”

“Hi.”

“Where did Chat Noir go?”

Did— did she really just ask that question?

He just de-transformed in front of her! Did she not see that?

“I’m Chat Noir!”

“And I’m Ladybug.”

“Wait, wha—”

In a pink flash, Ladybug was lying on his lap, arms circled lazily around his waist.

His eyes widened. “M-My lady?”

“Hey, Chaton,” she smiled.

“Oh my god! Why did you reveal yourself?” Disbelief splashed across his face.

“Why did you reveal yourself?” She threw the question right back at him.

He grabbed her face, shaking it by the beat of his words. “I didn’t know what to do!”

“And, I was trying to salvage the situation! But seeing how chaotic it has gotten, Plagg would be so proud.”

A burst of hysterical laughter could be heard by Adrien’s side, and that chaotic black hole came into view. “You bet I am, Pigtails.”

Adrien looked like he’s losing his mind. “You just revealed you’re Ladybug! How do you salvage that?”

“Chaton, you don’t get it, do you?”

Her head was still in his hands, and he shook her head again, his urgency visible through his actions. “No! Of course I don’t! How?”

“You like both Ladybug and Marinette, don’t you?”

“What? I love both Ladybug and Marinette, thank you very much.” Then it suddenly hit him. He just admitted that he was still in love with Ladybug and should get slapped for two-timing. But more importantly, the two people that have been wreaking havoc in his heart, albeit unknowingly, were both the same person. In his lap.

“Oh.”

Adrien’s eyes bulged out. “Oh my god!”

“There you go,” she smirked. “Couldn’t deprive you of that feeling.”

He didn’t really know if this feeling was one he welcomed now. To be outed as a cheater, but also not really one. This was too much to wrap his head around. How did she get over it so fast?

“You better fix that blanket!” She removed herself from his hands and pushed her face into his stomach. Ladybug embraced him tighter, finally glad that she didn't have to strain her neck any longer.

“Of course, my lady. And you better start cuddling with me again,” he ran his hands through her hair once again.

“Of course, mon Chaton,” she laughed. “I’ll cuddle with both of you.”

“No!”

[sinninginpurple2-0]

Rite of Passage - Chapter 10

This was completely and utterly inspired by an ask sent to @clairelutra and her response to said ask. All credit for the basic idea goes to her.

Buy Me A Coffee?

AO3 <<Chapter 1  <Chapter 9   Chapter 10   Chapter 11> 

Confessions

“You’re staring at me, aren’t you?” Marinette asked, eyes still closed as she regained her senses completely.

Adrien grinned mischievously and moved to lie down next to her again, propping his head up on his arm as he did so. “How could I not stare at you when you look the way you do?” he asked, snickering a little when she opened one eye to peek at him, “Half naked and sweaty and delicious? Good, was it?”

“Oh God, you’re about to be unbearable right now, aren’t you?” she asked with a sigh, “You look so pleased with yourself. Like the cat who got the cream.”

Well…That pun was enough to uncomfortably stoke his imagination. His eyes trailed down her partially naked body to the juncture of her legs, slick with her own moisture. He licked his lips.

Noticing his gaze, Marinette rolled over onto her side to face him, propping herself up in the same way as him. He turned back to face her as she tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows inquisitively.

“What?” she asked, “What is it?”

He gulped. Did he really want to tell her this? It was sort of embarrassing, but they had never lied to one another before – not except to protect their identities – and he didn’t want to start now over something as stupid as sex. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. Then he spoke as honestly as he could, in spite of the way his shoulders crawled upwards to try and hide his flaming ears.

“I want to go down on you. Like, I really want to. You have no idea how hard I am thinking about it.”

He watched as Marinette’s eyes widened before she averted her gaze in embarrassment. There was no noticeable blush this time, but her skin was already a permanent rosy colour, so perhaps she had simply reached her capacity.

“Really?” she asked, her nose wrinkling a little as she glanced back at him, “‘Cause I’m not too crazy about doing the same for you.” She suddenly looked horrified for a moment as the words her mouth had spoken without her brain’s input reached her ears. “Not that I wouldn’t!” she squeaked, desperate to reassure him, “You’d like it and I’ve never done it before, so who knows how I’d feel after trying it? But I can’t help thinking it’s a bit icky and-”

He leaned forward quickly without warning and kissed her deeply, quieting her ramble before it picked up too much speed. “You don’t have to,” he told her, “I mean, I’d like you to, but there’s no pressure. Maybe we could try that later? Or another time?”

Shit, he thought, biting his lip, eyebrows pulling together in sudden uncertainty.

“That is…if you wanted to do this again sometime?”

Marinette stared at him for a moment and Adrien began to worry that he had ruined everything. Why could he never be satisfied with what he was offered? Here he had been given this wonderful opportunity. The chance to show his Lady his love for her without the need for words. To let his adoration bleed through his physical touches and sensual kisses. Every neuron firing, carrying the message to his nervous system to paint his feelings across her skin and pray his worship was absorbed into her very being. And he might have killed that opportunity by daring to ask for more.

Marinette didn’t seem to be as oblivious to his inner turmoil as he had once been to her feelings for him, her hand reaching up to stroke through his bangs hanging down towards her before resting on his cheek tenderly. She caressed his skin with her thumb gently, a concerned look appearing in her expression. “You’re worried this is a one-time thing,” she said.

He dropped his eyes from her face to her collarbone, chewing his lip more harshly as an outlet for his dejection. He started when her thumb suddenly teased free the abused tissue from his teeth, glancing back up to her face to see the softest smile looking back at him.

“Adrien,” she started, “Chat. After today, I would be ecstatic to do this again. Maybe we could also…” her eyes darted away for a moment before returning to his face. He watched as she took a deep breath, a look of determination taking over her face as she continued. “Maybe we could get dinner? Then go to the cinema or something?”

Adrien’s self-imposed misery swiftly slipped away from him. Like ink floating through the liquid sweetness of her words, he felt it swept away by the current of her equal desire for more. Overcome by exhilaration, he pressed his lips to her own with alarming pressure, desperately trying to push all of his joy and devotion into the kiss. She responded with equal intensity as soon as her surprise at the sudden action wore off.

“I would love to go on a date with you. On one condition.”

“What?”

“We go on lots of them. And you let me pay. And I get to spoil you with lots of gifts and we cuddle in front of the TV sometimes instead of going out.”

“That’s more than one condition.”

“So, sue me, Maribug. Will you be my girlfriend?”

She smiled in a way that warmed his heart so thoroughly, he was sure he would never be cold again. In fact, he was sure to radiate that warmth now so that all places he travelled to would remain safe from inclement weather.

“Of course, I will, Chaton,” she replied, her hand cupping his cheek as she leaned forward to drop another chaste kiss to his lips. Her hand slid down his face to his shoulder, continuing to his chest where she applied the faintest pressure, nothing more than a hint of what she wanted from him.

He obliged by rolling back to lie against the mattress as she continued to smother his lips with unconcealed affection.

She pulled back slightly, and his eyes opened -still half lidded- to see the only girl he’d ever felt this strongly for, his Lady, his Marinette, hovering above him. She was watching his face closely and a strong wave of emotion was evident between them.

“I love you,” she said in a thick voice, “I love you so much.”

She loved him? He knew from what she’d already admitted to that she liked him, was definitely attracted to him and had been so for quite a long time if the way she talked was anything to go by. But for her to be in love with him? It was something he hadn’t yet considered.

His eyes felt hot and he pulled her down to him and buried his head in her shoulder to hide his face until he could control his urge to cry. “My Lady,” he sobbed, “I love you too. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“Kitty, are you alright?” she asked, the concern in her voice evident as well as the soothing hand rubbing at his scalp.

“Yeah,” he sniffed, “I just…I’ve waited for you to say that for so long and part of me thought it might never happen so I’m…I’m-”

“Shh. It’s okay. I’ve got you,” she told him tenderly, shifting slightly to hold him more comfortably.

As emotional as he was, the crinkling noise caused by her movement evoked the curious cat in him and he experimentally brushed his own chest against hers a little to confirm. Yup, there was that strange plastic sound again. He pulled back from her shoulder to glance down at the origin of the noise and spotted it at once.

There, tucked tightly inside the small pocket on the front of her pyjama top was a square plastic packet. He recognised what it was at once and the beginning of a small smirk appeared on his face.

“Was this all an excuse to look down my top?” Marinette asked with a giggle, incorrectly guessing at the direction of his stare.

He looked back up at her for a moment before the grin intensified. “It wasn’t, but since you mention it, it’d be rude not to.”

She sat up before he could glance down again, and he laughed at her feigned disapproval despite himself.

“You know,” she started, drawing his attention with the way her arms crossed over each other to grab hold of the hem of her top, “if you wanted a look, you only had to ask.”

She pulled the garment over her head with a minor flourish before she attempted to throw it to the side of the bed with the growing pile of clothes they’d shed already. She would have been successful if Adrien hadn’t shot out his arm to grab the soft fabric before it could get out of his easy reach.

“Nice,” he said, turning back and really it was nice. Marinette had forgone her bra as well as her underwear when she had changed, so now she sat completely bare before him. Aside from the obvious exhilaration of finally getting an eyeful of her boobs, Adrien found he was completely awed at every inch of skin revealed to him. Hers was almost flawless and he was sure that most models he’d worked with in the past would kill for skin as soft and beautiful as hers.

He reached out for the only visible line he could see, a thin white scar -obviously a very old, healed one. It was offset from her right breast ever so slightly and led out towards her breastbone and he traced it in reverse with his thumb, stopping just short of his destination in order to glance up at her face for approval. She looked nervous again which confused him for a moment until she spoke.

“I fell off my bike as a kid and there was a stone in the road which cut me,” she explained, though he hadn’t asked, “I know it’s kind of ugly, but-”

“It’s not,” he told her, “There isn’t a single part of you that’s ugly and you don’t have to hide it from me. You know that right?”

When she didn’t respond he pushed himself up to place a kiss to the edge of her scar, delighting in the gasp she made at the contact. Again, he glanced up at her face.

“More?”

“More.”

He acquiesced, gently running his tongue along the fine line by feel alone and continuing further along her breast until he reached her nipple. He closed his mouth over it and sucked, encouraged by her breathy sighs. His other hand came up to reach for the other breast dropping the top he had still been holding to the bed beside him as he did.

He spent some time moving between breasts, experimenting as he was unsure what else to do due to his inexperience. He left trails of kisses, sucked and licked. He tried a light nip to her nipple at one point and immediately worked out never to do that again, as Marinette gave a hiss of discomfort and pulled away a little. He eventually fell into a rhythm of using the tip of his tongue to leave little secret messages across her, tattooing his feelings for her into her skin with words of affection.

She giggled after a while and he pulled back to look at her for clarification.

“Are you doing the alphabet trick?” she asked with a grin, “I thought that was for other places?”

“What? I-I wasn’t-I was just-” he began to splutter nonsensically, and she gave a snicker at his embarrassment, “I was writing that I love you, if you must know.”

“Aww, Kitty. That’s so sweet.”

The barely restrained laughter made it hard to believe her.

Adrien decided that if his Lady was enjoying teasing him, then maybe it was time for a little payback. Leaning in to touch his forehead against hers, he reached out with one hand to fish the little packet from the pocket on her top whilst the other one reached to cup her between the legs distractingly.

“I could always write those little love notes somewhere else for you, if you wanted,” he purred, enjoying immensely the immediate effect he had on her as she whimpered in response.

His other hand successfully extracted its prize and he brought it up to their faces to present between two fingers for her examination.

“Though I also kind of want to know where you got this condom from.”

Buy Me A Coffee?

[silverwhiteraven]

Wings of Broken White - Ch.9

Tag List: @marichatmay

[ Posted on A03 ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 8 ] [ Chapter 10 ]

“I don’t want to be scared any more,” Mylène whispered gently to the curious gazes. Ivan, out of the Dragon costume, had one of his wings wrapped around her protectively.

Chloé, decked out in a formal suit and cape, scoffed, “It’s just a costume, Haprèle, pull yourself together!” Adrien, dressed in one of Chloe’s blue and white ballroom dresses, nudged her with his shoulder and gave her a deep frown, shaking his head. She scoffed again and looked away. “If it will make you feel better, just pretend you can still see Bruel behind that ridiculous costume. It will be less scary that way.” She then turned and walked away, her regal red caplet fluttering behind her.

Ivan sent a thankful look to Adrien for the interference, and he smiled back reassuringly. Mylène giggled a bit, looking perplexed but a bit better. “Did she just try to be nice?” Adrien only shrugged, his smile turning knowing, and the group laughed lightly.

They tried the scene again, and Mylène did better, but couldn’t make it through to the end of the stage-fight. Something about imagining Ivan getting stabbed with a sword, even if it was fake, really didn’t help the situation. No one could find her when she ran off again, and that was when the Akum came. She reappeared, but no longer herself.

Rather, she was nor a very real, very large version of the class’s fairytale Dragon. And just like how their costume didn’t actually breathe fire, neither did Mylène’s. Instead, it was very much a blast of glitter.

Marinette found herself to be the first one hit by it when she was trying to herd the class to safety. She didn’t realize anything had happened to her until the class was barricaded in a room together, sans the Akuma Dragon, and everyone was staring at her.

“Uh...What? Do I still have some glitter on me?”

Adrien had broken the silence with a suppressed giggle and a shake of his head. “No, uhm, I think the Akuma did something to your armor?”

She looked down, only to realize it wasn't cardboard and foam. It was heavy, and shiny, and- “Is that-? Oh no, Adrien, your fencing rapier! She turned it into- into a broadsword! M. D'Argencourt is going to have my head if he finds out I got it involved in an Akuma attack!”

He patted her on her armored and caped shoulder and shook his head with a fond smile. “Don’t worry about it. Ladybug and Chat Blanc will have it back in no time. In the meantime, I don’t hear the Akuma at the door any more. I wonder…”

The class moved to glance out the windows of the classroom, only to gasp in unison and see their school’s courtyard transformed in a wave of glitter-fire.

Markov, wielding his still-recording camera, let out a whistling sound. “Now that's what I would call a perfect set for a medieval movie. Do you think we can get Ladybug to not cast Miraculous Ladybug until we finish filming?”

The class broke out into an even mix of disbelieving groans and agreeing hums.

All that was left now was for the Heroes to figure out how to get out there and fix this.

Surprisingly, the civilian heroes managed to get out of the classroom rather easily. It became clear that the Akuma had very little interest in actually hurting anyone. It seemed to simply be making itself at home in their school-turned-castle. It made sense that a Dragon would find comfort in being in a medieval fantasy setting of its own making.

The real problem came when the class tried to leave the building itself. Akuma-Mylène, just like any other Akuma, had her mind set on a task and was hellbent to keep at it. So the entire class was captured and became the Princesses in her dizzyingly tall Tower. Anyone not already in costumes got put into extravagant gowns, makeup, and even jewelry when the group got caught by the glitter-fire. The costumed students got the same treatment as Marinette, their characters brought to life in more detail.

Marinette did a quick headcount of the class, then did it again when she noticed something was off. “Hey, has anyone seen Kim? He was with us when the Akuma caught us, wasn’t he?” Everyone looked around the tower chamber they had been locked in, only for confirmation of his disappearance to pass back to her. That is, until their ever-composed King looked up, screeched in terror, and smacked a few faces when her Swan wings spread out.

Everyone looked up to see a small dragon in the rafters, looking down at them with a wide smile and a wagging tail. It dawned on them, then, that Kim, who had kept the prop dragon head with him the whole time, had probably ended up turning into this adorable baby dragon when they were captured.

His wings spread and he jumped into a glide. Clearly, the wingless boy was enjoying a temporary change in wing-status.

After a few circles around, he landed on Marinette’s shoulder, making her stubble. Her Crane wings flared out to balance her, and she froze. She saw the eyes of the class on her and her breathing stopped in panic.

My wings aren't bound. The Akuma got rid of my bindings- They were hidden under the cape until now- Oh gods everyone can see them, they’re-

Her thoughts were halted as Adrien spoke up.

“Huh, I guess Mylène pictures Knights to have wings! She did get you twice with that glitter-breath thing she does, right?” Marinette sucked in a breath, realizing that he was giving her an out, whether he knew it or not. “Those wings weren't there the first time she got you. Maybe the more you’re hit, the more you're affected? In that case, we should really keep dragon-Kim away from Dragon-Mylène, he might just get bigger!”

Marinette swore she would have kissed him out of thanks for this if she hadn't been weighed down by Kim. Alix and Nino, the only ones besides Kim who knew that the wings were not Akuma-made, added themselves to the kiss-list by echoing Adrien’s words and adding their own reasonings for why someone without wings would suddenly have them.

While the attention was off of her, she tucked her wings back into the cape and straightened up, dragon-Kim content to curl around her shoulders like a monkey. She went to a window and peered out, seeing nothing but the skyline. Curious, she leaned out and looked down.

“Huh,” she pulled herself back inside and turned to her class. “Hey, I think we can escape.”

“Escape?” Alya joined her, looking curious. She glanced out the window as well, and her eyes went wide. “Oh…”

“Exactly!” Marinette grinned.

“Care to fill us in, please?” Nino looked between the best friends nervously.

Alya beamed, “Look outside; the Akuma isn’t watching us. No circling of the tower like a vulture. She expects us to stay put and play our role.”

Max hummed in thought as he joined them at the windows. “This appears to be true. Traditionally in Fairy Tales involving dragons, they are not confronted in the sky, but rather on the ground. Usually outside the gates or somewhere inside. Perhaps Mylène is waiting for Ladybug and Chat Blanc to come as the Heroes of the tale?”

Marinette nodded, glad her classmates were catching on. “Exactly! I saw her down at the base of the tower, and she wasn’t looking upward. We could rescue ourselves and fly out!”

An excited buzz went through the class at the prospect of being their own saviors.

“Yeah, about that,” Chloé spoke sharply, hands on her hips and looking a tad annoyed. “Some of you can’t actually fly, remember? That includes you, Dupain-Cheng. You and Lê Chiến may have wings, but you have zero experience with flying. And not to mention my dearest Adrien! And Sabrina, too, I suppose. That’s four people who can’t leave this tower. And last I checked, none of us winged students are grown enough to carry a whole other person.”

They had to admit, Chloé  had a point, and a big one. They couldn't just leave a chunk of the class behind, stuck in the tower.

Ivan cleared his throat. “I could- I could carry Sabrina and Kim? I have practice flying while carrying things. Mostly gliding, but that’s all we need, right? Just enough to get us to the ground safely?”

“That sounds like a good plan!” Adrien smiled, interrupting Chloé as she was about to retort. “Don’t worry about me, though, I think it might actually be a good idea if I stayed. Dragon won’t be too happy if he finds out the original Princess isn’t in the tower where he belongs, right? Besides, I found a closet full of blankets and cushions. I was thinking I could build a pillow fort while I wait for the Heroes to defeat the Akuma.”

“As cute and brave as that sentient is, Adrien, what about Marinette?” Alya interjected protectively.

Marinette smiled reassuringly and set a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I should probably stay, too. I’m the Knight, remember? A Knight always protects her Princess,” she winked at Adrien, who smiled back with a dusting of pink on his cheeks.

Chloé practically growled, displeased, but a look from Adrien had her huffing and turning away. “Fine! Stay if you want! At least your sacrifice will be noble or whatever.” And with that, the class’s King was hopping up onto the windowsill and diving into open air.

It took several rounds of reassurances and encouragement, but eventually, Marinette and Adrien were able to herd the rest of their class out the windows after Chloé. Nino was the last to go, and before he did, he gave Marinette a soft smile and a glance at Adrien who gave a wave before dashing for the closet.

“What is it, Nino?” She asked curiously.

“He protected your secret,” he stated plainly.

“Oh- Yeah, he did…” She looked at Adrien, too, watching as he pulled blankets out.

“The literal model son of a winged fashion designer. There’s a chance that, well… Marinette, I think he knows.” She tensed where she was, but said nothing to try and disprove her friend’s theory. He continued, “Don’t you think he would be able to recognize the use of wing-binders, considering his life? And the thing is...I’m worried about you. We all are, those of us who know, that is. Maybe just, start by sharing your wings with someone else. One person at a time, ya know? Adrien would be a good start. And who knows, it might get you out of this tower, too,” he added with a teasing tone. “I know you can hold a lot of weight on those wings of yours. Be a real Knight and consider giving him a Princess-carry, yeah?”

Marinette snorted and bumped him, causing him to stumble and laugh.

“Just sayin’, dudette! See ya!” And with that, he was out the window with the rest.

She considered his words as she walked over to Adrien where he had started building a pillow-and-blanket fort, just like he had said he would. He beamed from between two of the makeshift walls when he saw her.

“You’re really calm about still being stuck here, Adrien,” she noted softly.

“Are you kidding? This whole project has been the most fun since- well, in a while. Akuma or not, I like being here. Also, I just made a blanket fort. Blanket forts make everything better.” He grinned wide and went right back to building.

Marinette laughed and shook her head. “Fine, move over then. I’m going to help.”

Their fort was flimsy and fell over several times, but they both had to admit, it was a fun thing to do. It also revealed that the closet hid a trap door to a staircase leading downward.

“Who knew having fun would be the answer to our conundrum?” Marinette mused, amused.

“You sure do get caught up with a lot of Akumas that can have fun, huh?” Adrien jokes, causing her to chuckle and fluster at the realization.

“I mean, you're right, I guess. Nino, Nathaniel, Mylène- Everyone just wants to be happy. Makes me wonder what Hawkmoth is doing,” she trailed off, pondering on his own.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Adrien sat back, looking perplexed. “His power is so...big, but he does so little with it. I could swear he even stops himself from going too far. Why does he even attack Paris and ask for the Miraculous?”

“And what’s holding him back?” They were quiet for a little bit as their thoughts continued on silently, unknowing that they were both thinking along the same lines due to their masked partnership.

The blanket fort fell down on top of them, knocking them out of their thoughts and back into joint fits of giggles. Once they escaped their soft prison, they made their way to the window, looking out. they admired the view, but used it to remind themselves of their duties to do.

“Adrien?” He answered with a hum. “Thank you for speaking up, distracting everyone.”

He smiled gently and glanced at her. “When the wings came out? It was nothing. No one should be stared at like that if they don’t want to be.”

She wryly smiled back. “Thank you anyways. You’re a good friend and I, I trust you, a lot.”

His eyes went wide, “You do?”

She nodded, her smile growing in amusement. “Yeah, I do. Enough to tell you that I appreciate you keeping a secret you didn’t even know you just learned.”

“You mean-” he glanced at her Crane wings as they peaked out from behind her cape. She looked at them, too, noticing for the first time that they had a layer of armor on them as well. She smiled, stretching them out more.

“Yeah. Besides one person, I haven't told anyone about these in almost four years. I’m not exactly...proud of having wings. It’s hard to explain.”

“And you’re okay with me knowing?” He asked, his voice low in awe.

She smiled, a bit embarrassed, and nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

He beamed like she had just handed him the stars, and somehow, a twinkle in his eyes made it seem like she had already given him the sun and moon in the past, too. Just to get him to stop looking at her like that, she declared it was time to exit the Tower, and she scooped him up just the way Nino had suggested. After delivering him to safety, she ran off as fast as she possibly could. Not long later, Chat Blanc and Ladybug had Paris and Mylène back to normal.

[giuliafc]

Stuck in a cabin (with you) - Chapter 5

Stuck in a Cabin (with you)

Ao3 || FFN || Wattpad

Summoned to save his Lady's life, Adrien gets stuck with her in a cabin during a blizzard. Identities get revealed, feelings come out...but who's been plotting to kill Marinette? Will the culprit be punished? Read to find out :) (Adrienette)

Chapter 5 — Gorilla to the rescue

“Oh my, M’lady, 39.3!” Adrien looked very carefully at the little mercury column that displayed the temperature through the glass stick. He cupped a hand on her forehead and looked up. “That’s very high, especially considering that you were a block of ice only a little while back.” He eyed her with concern and made to get out of his spot on the couch, but Marinette snuggled up to his chest and firmly resisted his attempt to move.

“I’m so cold,” she whispered, her teeth chattering.

He smiled softly. “Your body’s very warm, Marinette, but probably you’re cold because of the temperature. If you let me, I think I saw some paracetamol tablets in the first aid kit over there.” He pointed at the little box he had taken the thermometer from earlier, but Marinette’s hold on his chest grew stronger.

“Stay,” she whispered, burying her face deep in his chest. His cheeks tinged in pink and his eyes widened, but after a minute, his gaze softened and he rested his chin on the top of her head.

“All right, Buginette. I’m not going anywhere.” He could feel her temperature going up from her forehead resting against his chest and he would have wanted to reach the first aid kit for getting those tablets. But Marinette was holding on to him as if he was her last safety anchor. He couldn’t leave her like that. He really couldn’t. So when he felt her arms wrapping firmly around his back, he sighed in defeat and relaxed into her hold. If this was a dream, please don’t wake him up.

He had just closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head, feeling with worry how warm her forehead was against his throat, when he felt something tapping him near his right hand. His eyes shot open and he looked in the direction of the nudge he had felt; Tikki and Plagg both were floating near his arm. Plagg held in his paws the box of paracetamol Adrien had wanted to get from the first aid kid and Tikki was holding a glass full of water..

“There, gamin,” said Plagg as Tikki continued, “no need to panic.”

He smiled brightly. “Thank you guys! Where did you find the water?”

Tikki giggled and chirped, “A kwami has her ways!”

With a little difficulty, since Marinette was leaning heavily against him, he picked up the paracetamol tablets and the glass and moved slightly Marinette, trying to loosen up her hold enough to make her take the medicine. She just hugged him tighter.

“Come on, Marinette, just two tablets and a drop of water. Do it for me,” he muttered as he tried to push her back a little. She looked really red in the face and her body felt like boiling in his hands. Her breath was also catching quickly and when she opened her eyes briefly to swallow some water to take the tablets, they looked red and puffy. She did smile though when she sipped the fresh water. “Good girl,” he commented and she wrapped her extremely warm arms around his neck and looked at him with glassy eyes. Adrien wasn’t sure whether she was seeing him for real or if she was just being hallucinated by the fever.

“I love you, mon chaton,” she whispered.

Adrien’s heart skipped a beat, his eyes widening in shock. “W-what?” he muttered to himself. She wrapped herself closer to him and rubbed her head against his chest.

“Mhh-hm.” She sighed contently. “For… forever,” she continued, her voice hoarse, her words all slurred.

An adrenaline rush ran through his body as she said so. His heart was pounding in his throat. “But… the o-other boy?” he inquired, his throat instantly drying up.

“Adrien,” she whispered sluggishly.

“Yeah?” he whispered back and his breath caught up because she started drawing small circles on his chest with her index finger and the sole feeling of that was giving him goosebumps.

“‘Twas Adrien,” she repeated again, even more sluggishly.

Him? The boy she loved was really him without the mask? Just his luck! Having spent all that time being in competition with himself. How many people could say that? He opened his mouth to reply, but when he looked at her he noticed that she had fallen asleep. The hand that was tracing his chest was now lying limp on her lap, her head comfortably leaning on his chest, just over his heart, a cute smile curling her lips.

He spent a long time looking at her, at the elegant curve of her jaw blending with the slender length of her neck, at how her mouth was adorably slightly open and her cheek became even pinker where it leaned on him. She was sleeping so peacefully that he didn’t want to move, in fear she would wake up; so he just sat a little better, legs crossed on the bed, wrapped the blanket securely around them and rested his chin on her head, trying to find a comfortable position.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, in a half asleep stupor, but his torpor was suddenly disturbed by a loud beating at the door. Marinette jumped in his arms. He quickly checked her temperature by placing a quick kiss on her forehead and realised that she was much cooler now. She was still asleep, though, even if some more bangs resounded from the same direction.

Very carefully, Adrien detangled from Marinette and laid her down on the couch, covering her with the blanket, and then moved closer to the door, suddenly embracing himself and shivering from the cold.

“Who’s there?” he said when he was behind the door of the cabin. A loud grunt resounded from the other end, making him understand that it must have been the Gorilla. At bloody last! He heard somebody on the other side of the door starting to bang at the door. He saw the door’s handle going up and down, but another loud groan told Adrien that the Gorilla couldn’t get in.

“Hang on, let me help you,” he shouted, and started pulling on his side of the handle, with no success. Shoot. He looked up and it was clear what had happened, now that he thought about it. The ceiling of the cabin had gone so low that the door hinges had collapsed. The metal structure of the door looked bent and not even a man as strong as the Gorilla was able to move it an inch.

“The door is stuck!” he shouted to his bodyguard. He heard some more rummaging on the other side and ran to the window to see if he could see anything. The Gorilla was trying to lift one of the trees that had fallen on top of the cabin. God, they looked so big and heavy! And so covered in snow. As his bodyguard was trying to lift one, Adrien heard a cracking sound inside the cabin and saw some fragments of mortar and debris fall to the ground. The Gorilla pulled a bit harder and a further loud crack resounded eerily in the cabin.

“It’s not working, you’re making it worse!” he said, trying to stop the Gorilla and prevent further damage. He swore that he had seen the ceiling lowering even further. The Gorilla walked to the window and exchanged a worried look with him. Adrien put a hand to his ear, mimicking a phone and then drew a cross with his hand, trying to signal that his mobile phone was dead. The imposing man took his own phone out of his pocket and messed with it, undoubtedly trying to send a text message from the look of it. But after a few seconds of skimming through things aimlessly, he sighed and signalled “no” with his hand.

Shoot! Was there no signal? Had the storm caused damage to the telephone line somewhere? He heard more desperate bangs coming from outside. “Can you hear me? It’s not working!” said Adrien as more debris fell to the ground. His bodyguard returned to the window, giving him a nod full of what looked like sadness and frustration. Good, at least he could hear him, he didn’t need to get creative with signals any longer. “You need to go look for help. I’m not alone here, I had to help a friend who had an accident earlier and she’s stuck in here with me now. She’s very sick and her phone is broken. We have no food that I could find!”

The Gorilla signed something that Adrien knew meant, ‘Are you okay?’

He nodded decisively and leaned closer to the window to say, “Yes, I am, but the cabin is very damaged. I don’t know how long it will resist. The electricity is gone. It’s really cold. Please go find help!” Gorilla shook his head but Adrien clasped his hands in a prayer gesture. “Please! You won’t be able to get us out by yourself!” He scratched his head. “I think I remember seeing some houses not too far from the park. Maybe you can get there and bang at someone’s door and ask for help? There should be some mobile signal there too, so maybe you can call Nathalie.” After a few more head shakes in protest and begging from Adrien on the other side, finally the Gorilla gave in. He closed his eyes, nodded and put a hand in front of himself, as if telling him ‘All right, I'll do it.’

“Thank you!” said Adrien with a sigh. “Would you be able to find any sweets or pieces of Camembert cheese while you’re there?” Adrien clearly saw the man closing his eyes and lowering his head in the closest imitation of a facepalm he had ever seen him making. And was that a sigh? “Wait!” he added stopping the man in his tracks before he could turn around and leave. “We also have a bit of a… situation here.” He brought his hand to his nape. “Don’t ask please, but my friend Marinette needs clothes. Uh… underwear possibly.”

The man’s gaze clearly hardened, he raised an eyebrow and gave a curt, long stare at Adrien, his eyes navigating allegedly on his naked torso. Adrien felt all blood rushing to his face. “Nonononono, you’ve got it all wrong. She fell in the lake. I had to help her or she would die. I’ll tell you later, but now she’s sick and her clothes are all wet.” He gave his bodyguard the most pleading puppy eyed look he could get himself to come up with. “PLEASE!” Again he put his hands in together in prayer, right in front of his face. He saw the man keeping on thinking about it, his hand still firmly on his chin, his eyebrow still raised in scepticism. But eventually, he signalled again and nodded. He made a gesture signifying ‘later’ and walked away. Adrien breathed easier.

oOoOoOoOoOo

“Adrien? Is that you?” came Marinette’s voice from the couch.

“Who else?” he asked walking back there. He kept embracing himself and looked sheepishly at Marinette. “Do you mind if I put some clothes on? I’m freezing.” She chuckled a little and nodded shyly.

“Sorry, minou. Of course you can; I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

He smiled as he hurried to fetch his clothes from his own little pile on the floor. “Don’t think about it, it’s okay. It was warmer earlier, but the heater must have stopped working when the ceiling collapsed. We don’t seem to have any electricity.” When he had finally put some layers on to protect himself from the freezing temperature, he sat down again by the couch. They sat in silence for a while, both looking down with flushed faces.

“Were you talking to your bodyguard?” asked Marinette eventually, breaking the silence.

Adrien nodded. “Yes. He’s gone looking for help. He tried to move the trees fallen on top of the cabin but even he couldn’t move them, not even by an inch.”

“Shoot,” commented Marinette. “And Plagg was right earlier, there’s no point in you transforming and trying to Cataclysm the cabin.”

Adrien nodded again. “Yeah… I hadn’t thought about it carefully enough.”

“You never do,” came Plagg’s voice from his side.

Adrien pouted. “Cheers, Plagg...”

“Sorry, but it’s the truth, gamin. At least when you’re Chat Noir. Too often you act before connecting your brain to your mouth.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say, Plagg!” said Tikki, showing herself up from behind Marinette’s back. She grabbed Plagg and zipped away, leaving them some privacy.

Once again, an awkward silence wrapped around them. Adrien kept looking at Marinette, who was also glancing at him from time to time. His hand ran to the nape of his neck.

“Uh, about earlier,” started Marinette and at the same time, Adrien asked, “Talking about earlier…” They both stopped as they heard the other talking and blushed. “Please carry on,” they both said at the same time. “That is…” They both pouted and sighed.

“Okay,” finally managed to say Adrien, his blush darkening when he realised that she wasn’t going to talk with him. “Uh, what you said earlier, I was wondering if you remembered any of that at all.”

Marinette sucked her breath in and gave him a sheepish look. “W-what did I say earlier?”

His back tensed and he held his breath as he said it, slowly but surely, “That the other boy was… Adrien.” She paled and his eyes widened. “It’s true?”

She hid her face behind her hands and started uttering some undefined noises. However, after an interminable moment of doing that, she lowered her hands and locked her gaze into his, nodding shyly. She sucked her breath in when his eyes became as big as saucers and he lost the ability to breathe.

“Sorry,” she said. Her gaze fell and she pouted uncomfortably. “Sorry to disappoint you,” she added.

His heart skipped a beat. “What? Disappoint me? Oh no! I mean, it’s just—weird, I suppose. Just my luck. I was in… competition… with myself. Haha. Who else on Earth. I mean… yeah, cool. Honestly.” He laughed awkwardly and rubbed his neck, with his eyes closed as he didn’t feel able to look her in the face. Then he crouched over himself and hugged his arms, trying to disappear from the world. “I’m sorry if your image of Adrien is being crushed completely today. I… I’m not perfect. I’m just your partner, the clown.” He blushed and lowered his gaze.

Marinette sucked her breath in again. “You don’t need to be perfect, Adrien.” She smiled warmly when his eyes darted immediately to her face in surprise. “And I love your sense of humour, you know that.” They exchanged a soft look, then she lowered her gaze as she continued, “I suppose I’ve never told you how I fell in love with… the other boy, did I?” She saw him shaking his head, even if she was still looking down. Her lips curled up in a small smile and she hugged herself, her heart racing in her ears as she tried to find the courage to talk. “I-it was your first day at school and you gave me your umbrella.”

Adrien gulped awkwardly. “What? My first day?”

She looked up at him and nodded shyly. “Yeah.”

“I thought you hated me!” he muttered to himself.

She sighed. “I must say that at the beginning I wasn’t really impressed.” He pouted so she continued, “But that was on me, Adrien. I had let myself get carried away by my prejudices. You were a rich boy, model, gorgeous, friend of Chloé… I thought you would have been as much a bully as she is. And when I found you messing with chewing gum on my seat I just got that suspicion confirmed so… I didn’t give you a chance to explain and just judged you on that. It wasn’t nice of me, and I never even really apologised for it, so I’ll do it now. I’m so sorry for misjudging you that day.” She put a hand to her forehead. “I can’t believe I misjudged you twice.”

“Huh?” asked Adrien, giving her a pointed look.

“I misjudged Chat Noir too, you know. I thought for a really long time that you were just a clown, someone to not take seriously, and that you didn’t love me for real, that it was all part of an act.”

He paled. Did she really think that of him? “But—”

“Shhh,” she interrupted him, “I know it’s not the case. When you joined me on my balcony the day that André was akumatised into Glaciator, for the first time I discovered a side of Chat Noir that I had never seen before and I realised that maybe I had misjudged him. And slowly my feelings for my partner have grown so much. I learned to appreciate him and respect him. And to love him,” she added in a whisper.

Adrien gasped. “Say that again?”

“You heard well the first time,” said Marinette with a soft smile on her lips. “I love you, chaton. I was rejecting Chat Noir for Adrien but… slowly Chat Noir also stole a piece of my heart.” She smirked and eyed him in a flirty way as her elbow hit him lightly in the ribs. “You cheeky cat,” she added with a giggle.

He giggled as well. His hands reached her shoulders and his gaze locked instantly into hers. Marinette felt blood rushing to her face for the intensity of that look. “Can I kiss you?” he asked, his gaze trained on her, as if there was nothing else left in the world. His heart threatened to jump out of his ribcage when she nodded and smiled softly. Timidly, she cupped both hands around his cheeks and pulled his face forward until their lips met.

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

Author’s Note:

Hi there! Here we are at the end of chapter 5. Hope you all enjoyed it. So… the secrets start coming to the open. next chapters are going to be crucial for the plot, but I really wanted to give the characters a little bit of fluff before hitting them with the $h*t…

What do you say? You thought the $h*t had happened already? Well, think again. There’s more. Yes, I know I'm cruel. It’s my middle name!

In the next instalment of “Stuck in a cabin (with you)”, “A very unexpected help”:

— “I have been trying to get in touch with Marinette for hours and her phone’s always been off.”

— “What? Adrien is missing too?”

— “Apparently he has helped a friend of his, who was in trouble. That Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She’s sick and,” she gulped, “needs underwear.”

So… I hope that you enjoyed chapter 5. Let me know what you thought about it and drop me a comment! I will continue soon :) can’t promise I will publish every week, but let me know what you think and I’ll publish as soon as I can. Please subscribe if you’re interested in knowing what is going to happen, so you will know when the next update is!

And please check out my other WIPs, “When Magic Fails”, “Caught in the Loop”, “Errata Corrige” and “La Caverne du Papillon d’Or”!

Last but not least, as usual, if you read this and you’re not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks. See you there soon. Not sure when I will update this story but it won't be too long! Promise!

[rena-rain]

UPDATED Reverse Crush Origins!

There were a couple problems with how I posted this originally, so after some character analysis I changed some stuff and I like it better now. I hope you guys do too!.

-----

“So, you’re friends with Chloe, huh?” The boy sitting next to him gave Adrien a bored, disapproving look. He was taken aback; was being Chloe’s friend a bad thing around here? He’d always assumed she must be popular at school. He looked around to see her and her friend Sabrina sticking a wad of chewing gum onto the seat across the aisle from his.

He stood up. “Hey! What’s that all about?” Adrien hated getting on her bad side, but this just seemed…gross.

“The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I’m just commanding a little bit of respect, that’s all.”

“Respect? Are you kidding me?” The demand came from a high, feminine voice behind Adrien. He turned and instinctively sank back into his seat. Two girls stood fuming in the doorway. The one with red and brown hair sent a murderous glare in Chloe’s direction, and her friend, an Asian girl with iridescent blue eyes and pigtails the color of midnight, stalked forward. “You know what, Chloe? Your attitude is the one that needs adjusting. I’m not putting up with your bullying anymore, whether it’s at me or Ivan or anybody else around here!”

“Ugh.” Chloe leaned dramatically toward Adrien. “You see, Adrikins, what I have to put up with in this place?”

Adrien couldn’t believe his ears.

The girl crossed her arms defiantly. “Don't you dare try to play the victim here. You're not going to scare me anymore, Chloe, so next time you try to pick on anyone in this school again - Ivan or Juleka or Mylene or anybody else - remember that from now on, you'll have to go through me first."

For a second Adrien swore he saw fear in Chloe's eyes. Then that nasty sneer was back. "Oh, please, who do you think you are, Duapin-Cheng? Nobody can grow a spine overnight, least of all you."

"You know what I think?” The girl took her friend by the hand and they parked themselves at the desk behind him. “Your gum, your seat. I’m taking my desk back.”

“WHAT? You can’t do that!”

“Actually, we can,” The other girl said. “After all, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil – ”

“ – is that good people do nothing.” They fist-bumped and the rest of the class laughed and cheered. Chloe sat down on the right side of the abandoned desk, leaving Sabrina to scoot as far away from the gum as she could.

Adrien blinked in wide-eyed amazement. He wasn't sure what exactly just happened, but he'd never seen anyone stand up for themself like that. Stand up for other people like that. This school was blessed with its own guardian angel. He would gladly go blind just to see her on a righteous warpath.

“Whoa,” Adrien’s desk mate said. “I’ve never seen Marinette shut her down like that.”

Marinette. That was her name. It made electricity arc through his fingertips and his heart pound. “She’s amazing,” he mused.

“You cannot be friends with both Chloe and Marinette, dude. They’re like, mortal enemies.”

Adrien sagged. “It’s just… Chloe’s the only friend I’ve ever had. I’ve known her since we were little kids. She’s abrasive, but…” He glanced at the guy, who gave him a single raised eyebrow. He sighed. “I had no idea she was this awful with other people.”

Several beats of silence passed where Adrien just stared forlornly at the wood in front of him. The next words he heard surprised him.

“I’m Nino, and it’s time for you to make some new friends, dude.” Nino offered Adrien a hand. Smiling, he shook it.

-

“Leave it to the professionals, you already failed once.”

Marinette’s breath hitched. She turned around to look at Stoneheart still holding Mylene in his fist. “He’s right, you know. If I’d captured his akuma in the first place, none of this would’ve happened! I knew I wasn’t the right person for this job.”

“No.” Marinette looked up at Chat Noir. “He’s wrong, because without you, she’d no longer be here. And without us, none of these people stand a chance. We’ll prove that to them.”

She didn't know what to say. "I - "

He placed two gentle hands on her shoulders and bored into her with his bright green cat eyes. “I know how you feel, Ladybug. I'm scared of messing up too - I wasted my power yesterday and nearly blew the fight. But you and I are a team and I know we can do this together. Trust me, okay?”

Mari – Ladybug felt her face heat up. Chat Noir’s gaze was so sharp but so soft at the same time, like he could see into her soul without hurting her at all. She finally understood what the poets meant by 'the eyes are the windows to the soul;' Chat's exposed, gentle sincerity could have drowned her. She felt his support and his confidence flow into her body, making her feel like she could take on the entire world. When she spoke her voice cracked. “Oka – okay.”

She would have completely zoned out in his adorable jade eyes if it weren’t for Stoneheart’s grumbling roar from the Eiffel Tower.

Ladybug felt all gooey inside when Mylene gave Ivan a huge hug. “Aw, they’re so made for each other.”

“And they’re together now. All thanks to you, LB.” Chat Noir smiled that cute, playful little smile of his, and Ladybug kind of wanted to kiss it off his face. The thought surprised her and sent her heart thumping. She squeaked a little when he gently shoulder-bumped her. "That was an awesome speech. You've made everyone in Paris feel safe again after getting attacked by a freaking supervillain. I told you you could do it."

At his praise, Ladybug blushed so hard she felt sure her face now matched her suit. She was saved by Chat Noir's Miraculous beeping.

“Whoops, looks like we gotta split, see you next time, kitty!” She didn’t wait for his reaction to her word vomit before she swung away from him and over the rooftops. If this new fluttery feeling in her stomach was a crush it was going to be an unbearable one. She didn’t even know who Chat Noir was!

Marinette wished she could call Alya about this.

-

Adrien walked into class the next day. He paused at his seat, about to say hi to Marinette. She wasn’t looking at him, and he chickened out and sat down without a word. Nino looked between them and nudged him with his elbow.

“You should go talk to her.”

Adrien blushed. “What?”

Nino lowered his voice. “Marinette. If you like her, you should go for it.”

“But what do I say?”

“Just be yourself, man. She’s super easy to talk to, literally everyone likes her.”

Everyone? He glanced back behind him, where Marinette and Alya were laughing over something on her phone. She held herself with such genuine ease it made him jealous; she probably didn’t have to pretend a day in her life. Remembering the way she’d smirked at Chloe from behind that same desk made his heart flutter and he turned away before she could catch him staring.

Adrien was used to being pushed around by Chloe. Like with his father and tutors and photographers, he just learned to bite his tongue and ride it out. But yesterday, watching Marinette put her foot down and tell her no, you will not treat me or my friends like this - it was like getting struck by lightning.

Marinette probably had tons of friends already. But…it was worth a try.

By the time school ended it was raining outside. Marinette was in the doorway, looking dismayed, when he approached her. “Hey. Marinette, right?”

She raised her chin and side-eyed him, one eyebrow quirking upward. “Aren’t you Chloe’s boyfriend?”

The question actually made him choke. His cheeks burned. “Wha – no, no, god no, she’s just a friend.”

“Why are you friends with her? You don’t seem like a bad guy.”

“She’s…” Adrien got caught up in Marinette’s skeptical expression. She looked guarded. He wondered how long Chloe had been picking on her that his mere association was a major strike against him. “We grew up together. I’ve never been to school before. I’ve hardly been around kids my own age, so it was be friends with Chloe or be alone.”

He sighed and opened his umbrella, gesturing for her to walk with him. Sharing the meager shelter while they walked down the steps meant he could feel the warmth from her body right next to his. “So you’ve never had any other friends?” she asked.

“Not really.”

They stopped when they reached his car. She faced him, and that put her captivating eyes about a foot away from him. Adrien resigned himself to having permanently red cheeks from here on out.

“I think you need better friends. Adrien, right?”

“Right.”

She held out her hand between them. “Well, then. It’s very nice to meet you, Adrien.”

He took her hand and, on an out-of-nowhere impulse, kissed it. “Lovely to meet you as well, Marinette.”

Marinette giggled at the gesture.

Flustered, he asked, “Do you need a ride home?”

“Don’t worry about it; I live at the bakery next door. It’s not even a block away.”

He hesitated. “Well, if you’re sure. Here.” He handed his umbrella to her. “It’s still not fun to walk in the rain. You can borrow it if you’d like.”

Marinette graced him with the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “Thanks, Adrien. I promise I’ll give it back to you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Um, see you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.” She turned away and Adrien leapt into the car before he got soaked. The Gorilla blessedly ignored whatever just happened, but Plagg decided to stick his head out of Adrien’s shirt to smirk coyly at him. He shoved the kwami back into his hiding place.