#maybe he decides he’s managed it by dating marinette

[multimousenette]

Miraculous Ladybug really went hard on the “smart” technology is Bad Actually angle. and they’re right

[mochegato]

Santa Baby

This was getting out of hand.  Well, no, it was in hand, but it was a close thing.  Mayhem was definitely reigning.  But that’s what Christmas is, isn’t it?  Not the Hallmark, picture-perfect, sanitized, Instagram-ready version of Christmas.  No, the real Christmas is children running around and barreling into cousins and favorite uncles or aunts they haven’t seen in months to give them the biggest hug their little bodies can manage.  It’s grandparents or that one family member who isn’t blood related but is absolutely family, sugaring the kids up before sending them home with their parents.

Christmas is beautiful, glorious chaos, all tied up in red bows and tinsel.

Which is why Marinette was currently sporting her own red bows on her Christmas-red dress, long enough to be elegant for the formal atmosphere of the Wayne Enterprise holiday party, but short enough to allow her the freedom to run after kids while they enjoyed some adult-free time where they didn’t have to act like mini adults just because they were at their parents’ place of employment.

This area was the children’s area.  It was haphazard and imperfect, with bright, garish colors and visually-unappealing toys that made too much noise, but made children endlessly happy.  It was everything the party on the other side of the door wasn’t.

It was perfect.  With the very serious exception of the tinsel.  Whoever decided tinsel was the perfect addition to the children’s area either hated Marinette or did not understand children.  Marinette had spent her first half hour painstakingly collecting all of the tinsel within arm’s reach.  She was more than happy to blame Tim for the tinsel, after all he had bragged about having his hand in every element of the gala planning, though perhaps lamented would be a more appropriate word for what he had been doing.

It was also his fault she was there in the first place, and yeah, maybe she'd volunteered, more comfortable with toddlers than pompous, handsy businessmen.  And it wasn’t like she had a date to insulate her from the ‘friendly’ chatting filled with thinly veiled insinuations and innuendos, which meant the night would end with her upsetting at least one major partner in the company and either getting returned to intern status or just fired outright.  A fact which Tim knew and had heartily taken advantage of; the singledom not the fear.  Actually… she wasn’t sure it wasn’t both.

“Oh, no, sweetie, that’s not food,” Marinette called as she rushed over to yet another toddler who had a fistful of missed tinsel in his hand and was trying to shove his entire hand and its contents into his mouth.  She hoped she was keeping her voice light and airy, not letting the exasperation of repeating the same phrase yet again and she must have been successful because he grinned brilliantly at her, dropped the tinsel, and held his arms up in the universal child signal.

“You want me to pick you up?” she cooed, already lifting him onto her hip as she spoke.  “That better, Eli?”  He grinned up at her with a gummy smile that absolutely melted her heart.  She grinned back and tickled his belly as she stood, but as soon as she straightened she heard another yawp at her feet and looked down to find another toddler, this one a few months older than Eli, likely only nine months old.  Carrie was giving the same signal, clearly understanding that Marinette had a second arm and hip, and thus could certainly hold her as well.

“Ms. Dupain Cheng!  Ms. Dupain Cheng,” a young girl who could not have been more than 8 called to her.  “Watch me!”  It was the only warning she got before the little girl did a gymnastics pass with a series of cartwheels, front flips, and round offs.  Marinette only had time for her eyes to grow impossibly large before it was over, not that there was much she could have done with her arms filled with two toddlers.  “Good wasn’t it?” Lizzy beamed, only breathing slightly harder.  “I’m doing it for my competition in a few weeks.”

Marinette offered a strained smile.  “Yeah, sweetie.  Very impressive.  Great form.  But maybe let’s not practice gymnastics with so many kids running around.”  Lizzy gave her a flat look that made it clear Marinette’s argument was not appreciated.  “And not on a hard floor.  That’s… bad for your knees!” she tried quickly, this time receiving an uncertain side eye, which was better at least.

“Did you want to dance with kids over there?  Or if you want something a bit more creative, Sarah is over at the table drawing signs for Santa and Eric is drawing cars.”  She looked around with exaggerated covertness and crouched down to her level, which was quite a feat of balance and strength, if she did say so herself, with the two toddlers on her hips.  She lowered her voice so only Lizzy, Eli, and Carrie could hear her.  “There’s just about every kind of glitter on that table for you guys to use and you can use as much as you want.”

Lizzy’s eyes lit up.  “Glitter?”  Marinette hummed in affirmative, barely concealing her smirk at the growing excitement in Lizzy’s eyes.  “As much as I want?” she repeated as though there was a trick in the offer.

“Yep,” Marinette nodded, popping the p.  “As much as you want.”  Lizzy squealed and ran to the table completely missing the chuckles behind her as Marinette watched her launch herself at the different containers of glitter.  Her moment of levity only lasted a few seconds before she heard the distinct sounds of blocks crashing down and immediate bawling.  But before she could intervene, the doors burst open with a loud boom, distracting all the kids.

“Ho, ho, ho!” Santa Claus trumpeted, not so much easing into the room as bursting in.  “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!”  All of the children stopped what they were doing to turn their attention to him.  Almost all of the smaller children rushed over to him while the older kids returned their attention to their activities, and a select few hid from him.  Whoever was playing Santa did an excellent job of threading the line with each of them, giving the timid kids their space, but making sure they knew he was open to talking if they were interested, chatting with the younger kids and getting their Christmas lists, while discussing video games and dancing with the older kids.

After he’d made the rounds he stopped by Marinette.  “And what about you, little girl?  What would you like for Christmas?”  His eyes sparkled with a contagious mirth.

Just then Eli tugged hard on her Santa hat and would have succeeded in pulling it off her head if Santa hadn’t interceded to put it back.  “I could use a bit of help,” she joked.

Santa opened his mouth, but whatever response he was going to give was interrupted by a couple coming in and calling for Eric, one of the kids that had hidden from Santa.  Eric ran up to them excitedly and jumped into his father’s arms, already babbling to both of them about his time there before his father had even stood.  His mother gasped at all the right places, her energetic smile becoming more tender when her husband kissed her temple and guided their family toward the door.

Marinette sighed longingly as they walked out the door.  “…and a boyfriend,” she uttered thoughtlessly but straightened up instantly, just realizing she said the words out loud, “…if you’re feeling generous,” she finished sheepishly.  Her cheeks heated a deep red in embarrassment, which seemed to thrill the toddlers on her hips who then reached to grab her cheeks, further bringing attention to her mortification.

Santa chuckled and nodded.  “I’ll see what I can do.”  He bobbed his head toward the party on the other side of the door.  “Gotta go make an appearance for the real children.  Merry Christmas, Marinette.”

“Merry Christmas to you,” she responded immediately.  She returned her attention to Eli and Carrie, nuzzling into them each in turn before his words sunk in.  She snapped her head toward the door.  “Hey, how do you know my…” but he had already disappeared, the door snicking shut quietly.  “…name.”

She stared at the shut door for a few seconds before deciding he must be another employee.  He certainly didn’t look like the real Santa.  She remembered his blue eyes vividly.  These were a very different blue.  But, before she could think too hard about why they seemed so familiar, Carrie knocked her out of her stupor with a baby hand to the cheek and loud noises making it quite clear she was ready to be entertained again.

“Oh, I am so sorry sweetheart.  Was I not giving you the proper attention,” Marinette giggled.  “Come on, you two, let’s play with the blocks over there.”  Carrie trilled as though she understood what Marinette was saying but kept her eyes darting between Marinette’s eyes and lips, waiting for her next words.  Meanwhile Eli looked toward the blocks and reached for them like the movement would get her to move faster.

Before she could make it to the blocks, she was sidetracked to the music section of the room where an argument had started over what song to play next.  A hearty Taylor Swift contingent was battling against an impassioned Disney contingent, though both of them were ignoring a significantly smaller Bell Biv DeVoe contingent of just one nine-year-old.

After much negotiation, and unabashed pleading, she finally got them to agree to a compromise of AJR to start, then shuffling the other options and letting the computer decide.  Thankfully, the older kids saw it as a fair compromise since nobody ‘wins’ and there are no biases.  Just random selections.  Once the older kids agreed and started dancing, the younger kids got excited as well.

She had just enough time to take a breath, her arms burning from still carrying Eli and Carrie, when movement at the door drew her attention.  A man, an indisputably stunning man in an impeccable suit, elegant in a boyish way, had poked his head in to look around uncertainly.  She eyed him suspiciously, He definitely wasn’t one of the parents who had dropped their children off.  She would have remembered those roguish eyes.  But if he wasn’t a parent, she couldn’t figure out why he would be there around all the innocent, defenseless children.

She froze for just a second trying to decide between the instincts to protect the kids in her arms by keeping them there or protect them by setting them down.  She opted to keep them in her arms for now, but keep enough distance between them and him so she could set them down and get between them if he got aggressive.

“Can I help you?”  She’d tried to keep the mistrust out of her tone, but she was entirely confident she hadn’t.

His eyes jumped to her and a broad, charming smile spread on his lips.  “Actually, I’m here to help you.  I was told you needed a bit of help.”

Marinette stared at him dumbfounded for a few seconds before Eli demanded her attention by tugging on her Santa hat and trying to bring it to his mouth.  She squeaked in surprise and shot him a sheepish smile.  “Okay.  Right.”  But instead of moving to invite him in, she stared at him hard for a few seconds.  He seemed honest, but she didn’t really want to risk it with children involved.

“Unless you don't want help with the kids...” he hedged when she hadn’t responded after a few seconds.

“Oh no, yes!  Please.  I just didn't think you worked here.  I thought everyone helping out tonight was supposed to wear a Santa hat or something,” she offered as lightly as she could, throwing out the bait to see how he reacted.

He raised an eyebrow.  “I don't wear funny hats,” he intoned.  His tone was so flat and his expression so unimpressed, she almost laughed.

“Not even for Christmas?” she teased, her eyes exaggeratedly wide, which was only encouraged by the toddlers trilling at her reaction.

He made a show of appraising her hat, barely clinging to her head with Eli still trying to chew it.  “Not all of us look as good in red as you do,” he crooned with a wink.

She blinked.  It was the wink.  It was too much.  She was not equipped to handle this much smooth flirting, especially not with two toddlers on her hips.  She had to take a few beats, covered by pretending to play argue with Eli, before she could get her racing heart and blushing cheeks in check.  But once she did, she wasn’t about to let this chance slip by.  “I think you'd look pretty good in red,” she purred back but had to immediately turn to Carrie so he couldn’t see her blazing cheeks.  Nope.  She wasn’t equipped to flirt back either.

He froze for just a second, but his lips quickly melted into a brilliant smile.  Until she spoke her next words very firmly.  “But, I can’t just let you work with the kids.  I don’t know who you are and even if I did, we haven’t done a background check.”

He nodded in understanding, his smile softening to just a slight upturn as he reached into his pocket, keeping his eyes on her the entire time until he pulled something out to show her.  “Here.  My WE ID card.  B… Mr. Wayne requires a thorough background check for anyone working for him.  Anyone who shows any indication of being a danger to children are not hired.  I don’t really know what else I could say to convince you right now.”

She stared at the card intently, analyzing each letter and color to find any indication of forgery, but she couldn’t find anything.  Thank God.  She really didn’t want to kick the sexiest man she’d seen in years, and she’d seen Dick Grayson up close and in person, out with a bad impression of her.  “I’ll take that assurance,” she grinned with a nod.  “And I definitely need the help, if you’re sure.”

As if to prove her point, at that moment, Lizzy rushed toward them in another impressive but ill-aimed gymnastic pass.  The man lunged for her moments before she crashed into another kid, everyone involved letting out a relieved breath.  “Oh, yeah, definitely,” he nodded as he gently placed Lizzy on the ground in a controlled motion that Marinette envied.  She’d only been supporting babies for a short period, not even their full weight which was mostly on her hips, and her arms were already starting to shake.  “Jason, by the way,” he finished when he’d turned back toward her.

“Thank you so much.  Marinette,” she grinned back with a severely limited using the hand holding Carrie.  She slowly lowered herself to Lizzy’s level cursing herself the entire time because she knew, she knew, she wasn’t going to be able to stand back up, but she had to do it anyway.  “I thought you were going to do some art with the glitter.”

“Got bored,” Lizzy shrugged, not able to make eye contact with Marinette because she was looking back and forth between the new adult and Marinette.

“You know, my brother does gymnastics.  Teaches even,” Jason started as he lowered down next to Marinette, his voice contemplative, like it was just a coincidence Lizzy just happened to overhear him.  “So, I can tell you, these floors are really dangerous for it.”  He knocked on the hardwood floor to demonstrate.  “They’re too hard and too slippery.”  Lizzy gave him the same unimpressed look she’d given Marinette earlier, then shot a suspicious look toward Marinette, clearly confident that Marinette had put him up to it.  “But what you can do…”  He shucked off his shoes and took a running start before sliding easily across the floor in his socks.  He turned back to Lizzy with a brilliant, boyish smile.

Lizzy grinned back at him and imitated him, bumping into him lightly at the end.  Pure, innocent laughter bubbled out of her, drawing the attention of several other kids around them.  Jason barely slid to a stop back next to Marinette before more children in the room started making their way over to them.  Even Eli reached for Jason to hold him and Carrie started wiggling in Marinette’s arms to get down and join the fun.

In no time, almost all of the children were running across the floor and sliding with differing levels of success.  This fact naturally led to it becoming a competition between them, with Jason not so covertly helping the littler kids and deftly handling any complaints of cheating or interference while keeping Eli laughing.  While he engaged the kids with that, Marinette took on the babies and kids who were not interested in the floor skating competition.  They seamlessly tag-teamed the kids, switching out when they needed, backing each other up, and working together to keep a smile on as many kids’ faces as they could while the clock ticked away unnoticed until finally, the last kid, Eli, was handed back to his parents.

Marinette breathed out a sigh of relief as soon as the door closed behind them and collapsed into a chair, her whole body melting into it and her head falling back as her eyes closed.  “Finally done,” she sighed.  Even in her exhausted state, she was still intensely aware of Jason and the fact that he’d chosen to sit in the chair that almost touched hers.  It took a few beats before she felt like she could handle speaking with him so very close and no children to hide behind.  “Thank you so much for helping me out.  I don’t know if I could have managed it without you.  Certainly not with my sanity intact.”

“No problem, glad to help.”  The smile he shot her should be illegal.  It made her heart start fluttering dangerously.  And the way the ball from the Santa hat Eli had taken from her and put on him, fell into his eyes?  Her lungs were paralyzed.  She didn’t think she’d be able to take a full breath ever again.  “And really, you should be thanking Santa.”

That knocked her body back into rhythm as she tried to make sense of his words.  “Santa?”  She’d made it very clear to Santa last time she’d seen him that he needed to stay out of her life, especially her love life.

His responding grin was slow and easy, distracting her momentarily into thinking about how she should start a catalogue of his different smiles.  Each one seemed to have a slightly different effect on her body.  “He caught me in the gala and sent me over.  Said he thought I might be able to help you.”

“Santa sent you over…” she asked slowly.

“Really, it was helping me more than you, I think.  I was more than ready to be out of there.  Pompous jerks that think they’ve earned respect and immunity simply by stealing wealth.  Honestly, it’s better if I’m not there.  I’m not sure what my dad is thinking manipulating me into coming to these.  Though this time it was more my brother pushing for me to come.  Said he thought I’d enjoy it this time…”  Jason chuckled and looked over at her. 

Marinette stared at her Santa hat.  This was against their agreem… “Ooohhh,” she breathed out before she realized it had slipped out.  ‘Santa’ not Santa.  Oh, that made so much more sense… kind of.  Still not sure why ‘Santa’ would care about her love life or be generous enough to send such an amazing option.

“Plans for the rest of the night?”

Marinette hummed, only incredibly distracted by the way he’d stretched his legs out in front of him to relax into his chair.  “Relax in a bath, I think,” she answered distractedly.  “That’s about it.  Nothing really.  Just want to get off my feet.  You?”

His eyes darted over to her, a conspiratorial smile on his lips.  “I don’t know about you but I’m hungry.  These things happen over dinner time and then never offer food.   I could go for a nice dinner,” his voice lifted at the end in clear invitation.

She nodded in agreement.  And, yep, that smile needed to be cataloged as well.  “Oh, food, right.  I forgot that was a thing.”  She looked over and smirked at him.  “That sounds really nice.”

He gave her a dazzling, pleased smile and walked over to grab his and then her coat.  He held her coat up so she could slink into it easily and she just barely managed to hold in her squeal.  Walking over to him normally was a challenge, but she thought she somehow managed it… more or less.  “You choose the place, I’ll pay,” she offered looking up at him through her eyelashes.

Jason slid her coat over her shoulders then ran his hands over her shoulders and upper arms, his touch feather light and Marinette almost pouted when he stepped back, but it turned into a laugh when he reached into his pocket and held up a credit card between two fingers.  “No, dinner will be on Santa.”  He winked before tucking the card back in his pocket then opening the door for her and sweeping his arm toward the exit with a small bow. 

“You stole from Santa?” she asked incredulously.

“Borrowed,” he corrected with a devilish grin, “borrowed from Santa.  He owed me anyway.” She huffed out a laugh as she moved forward.  “Now, come on, let’s find some place we can talk.  I’ve been dying to get to know you better all night.”  He let out a quiet breath as she passed through in front of him, a small, optimistic smile pulling his lips up.  “Merry Christmas to me,” he whispered to himself.

[i-like-anything-water]

Hey, me again! I was curious: What would your thoughts be on a Chloenette AU in which both Chloe and Marinette play video games as a way to vent stress, and end up starting to date online... while totally unaware who the other is IRL? Hey, the question mark is working this time! But yeah, I kinda picture Chloe as the type of person who SAYS she doesn't like video games because they are for "nerds," but actually has a bunch of really expensive gamer gear, and Marinette is a confirmed gamer in the show.

Hello!

Oh god, this would be very hilarious and fluffy. At first Chloe really doesn't like videogames cause why would she spend her day staring at a damn screen when she can do other things? (Like staring at her phone screen while shopping lmao). But she changed her mind when Adrien started inviting her over to watch and boy, was he super ridiculous.

"Adrikins!" She cries out, snatching the controller from the boy, "You are an Agreste! You do not lose to anyone, especially commoners over a stupid game!"

She actually managed to win third place but being the competitive brat that she is, she was pissed and vowed to get first place. What started as merely watching and commenting became her and Adrien's 'training' to beat random people online.

She still insisted it was kept a secret though. She was a Bourgeois, utterly unacceptable!

I'm not good with videogames myself so I don't have a specific game in mind. But I'm thinking of some rpg or where there's roles and heroes and stuff and Chloe meets a player who's ticked her off.

Marinette was sleep deprived and just had to beat an annoying akuma and wanted to play in peace and relieve her stress when this very flashy and expensive looking player just...poked her. She poked her back. And it ended with them just running around and decided to go on one adventure. Just one, she was intrigued after all.

Chloe didn't mean to poke her. She accidentally pressed her controller and it poked this player that just gave her some sort of... something. And it poked her back! She got an invite and despite being confused about the whole thing, she accepts.

And that's where it all started.

They became friends after learning how compatible they are during missions. Chloe was still wary of people finding out about her interest in games so she kept some part of her life vague, especially her name. Marinette didn't mind, she was just happy to talk to her friend.

They open up, learn stuff about each other and one thing leads to another and bam, they're girlfriends!

This bleeds on to their personal life and since Chloe is mostly on cloud nine, she doesn't bully people like usual and everyone is surprised (and slightly worried that the apocalypse is near or there's a reality bending akuma). Everyone including Marinette.

Marinette is also ecstatic (she's told Alya and some others about her girlfriend and they were very happy for her) but she can't help but notice and be curious about her rival's sudden change of attitude. She wanted to ask but they're getting along more easily (by this, they don't try to go at each other's throat by just locking eyes) so...maybe as long as nothing major changes....

It's during the upcoming competition does certain major changes come. Marinette is with Max, Adrien and some other kid talking about signing up for the competition. Chloe overhears and being the girlfriend of an amazing gamer, she couldn't help but brag.

"Hmp, your skills are no match to my girlfriend's! She'll wipe the floor with your tears when she's done with you." Her girlfriend had mentioned last night she was thinking of signing up for their school's competition and Chloe found out it's different schools battling each other. She had been excited! Her girlfriend shared her excitement and planned to see each other and introduce themselves formally when the competition comes. Chloe wanted to support her girlfriend after all.

Max looks like he stopped working, Adrien is beaming and Marinette is shocked. Wait...

"Girlfriend?!"

"Anything wrong with that, Dupain-Cheng?!"

"What? No, no! Oh god, no! I was just..shocked." so that explains the happy moods. Max still looked shocked. Then again, this was Chloe. It wasn't even the girlfriend part. It was the, uh, someone actually wanted to date Chloe? That wasn't Adrien or some famous celebrity? And Chloe wanted them too?

"Whatever, Dupain-Cheng. My girlfriend is one of the best and she's trying out for the competition and I'll be there to support her! I feel sorry for any of you who'd be up against her."

Chloe rolled her eyes and walked away from the shocked group, muttering how they're definitely going to lose.

"Marinette." Max finally speaks.

"Hmmm?"

"There's a 89% chance you will experience sudden dizziness and faint, but didn't you just tell me you also had a gamer girlfriend who happened to be blonde and is coming to support you?"

Oh. Oh.

"She has ten seconds before she - oh wait, no, she's already fainted. Thank you for catching her, Adrien."

[princess-of-the-corner]

So, I THINK this could be tagged as Princess Bee, or adjacent, this is mostly me feeling this out on the Miracuclass and attached jobs they’ll have as adults? Tell me how you think it sounds, and if any are WILDLY out of place, I guess.

Marinette - Designer. Has mostly taken over the Agreste brand, and redone it as MDC Designs. While still doing a lot of work herself, she is much better at delegating her time than Gabriel was, so can spend more time with her family.

Adrien - yeah, this one’s a little weird, cause I can sort of see him doing … . just about anything? Keep doing modelling? Sure. Take over Marinette’s parents bakery? Why not. Be a House Spouse? Absolutely! Voice actor, stage manager, set designer- Hell, go really out of left field and be, like, an astrophysicist? Go right ahead! Just … the only thing I can think of, is whatever Adrien does? It NEEDS flexible hours. He is NOT turning into his old man, he needs there to be plentiful family and friends time!

Alya - no brainer, she’s a reporter! Probably taken over from Nadja Chamack as the face of Paris’s news cycle. Or, I could also see her going mostly self-employed, get a bit more freedom in her reporting, but that one would depend, I think.

Nino - couple of things, really. I can see him being a movie producer or director, but I could also see him working in movies as a sound designer. The guy who does sound effects, or creates the sounds needed for a film. Either way, I can see him DJing in his off time. That’s his hobby.

Sabrina - future Mayor of Paris! I weirdly see her as, like, starting going into forensics or criminal law. She didn’t start OUT going for politics, but. Well, shit happened with her dad when she started dating Luka, one thing leads to another, and boom, youngest elected mayor in over two hundred years. She’s damn good at her job, too.

Luka - cause I mentioned him above, he and the band are still doing Kitty Section, but it’s kind of taken a back seat to the whole, ya know, Families they have now. They still make music, still put out new songs, or record covers, might do a local show, but they Don’t tour or anything. Luka himself, I can see as either a local music teacher, some kind of instrument maker, or even the owner of a small record label. Guess it depends.

Juleka - apart from Kitty Section, I can see her still being a model, but she might have stopped to try other things. I can also see her being a photographer, or also a kind of music teacher. Or maybe she and Luka co-manage that little record label, who knows?

Rose - so, Rose is interesting, cause besides Kitty Section, there are there jobs in my head I can see her as REALLY CLEARLY. Either flower shop owner OR Doctor OR head of a charity organization. Not sure what exactly the charity would be, or what kind of doctor, but I can see her as each of these really clearly.

Ivan - besides Kitty Section, weirdly the only thing I can really see Ivan as is a teacher? Not sure why, but like. He just radiates Papa Bear energy? He’s a big hit with younger kids, they just climb all over him, but they will always listen when he talks.

Mylene - I’m thinking stage actress? Like, she still does activism and stuff, but I see her really getting into stage plays, they weirdly are better for her stage fright than recorded shows.

Kim - Olympic swimmer. Or, maybe sport hopper Olympic Athlete? Anyway, he wins a few gold medals, then decides to settle down a little, ends up as a PE teacher.

Max - Game designer. Like, also inventor, he keeps creating new software and hardware to run the games he wants, and people keep trying to get him to be the next Microsoft, and he’s like “Fuck no, I’m making Legend Of Zelda:No Fate, Special Edition, now it comes in VR Chamber version!”

Alix - I … honestly don’t really know. I think she might try professional skater for a year or two, win some competitions. Maybe she eventually starts working at the museum with her brother? But she’s also the only one with a working Miraculous, she might be doing something with that …

Nathaniel - a graphic artist, mostly working on his own comics, but will do commissions for people. Self-employed.

Marc - writer, mostly works on Comics with Nath, but has also published a few short stories, maybe a novel or two. Self-employed.

Kagami - probably a champion fencer, Olympic gold winning even. Rest of the time, might coach a few fencing classes, or work on her art. Might have done a few collabs with Nathaniel, or drawn a few covers for Marc’s books.

Felix - Either ALSO works as a stage actor, OR owns his own studio to make whatever movie or play he wants. Probably employs many of his friends.

Chloé - Off being a kickass lawyer. If she hadn’t gone into law, might have become a realtor.

Zoé - I know actor is popular, but I could see her being a detective, or private investigator. She’s very popular, because she gets great results! … despite the fact she’s always quite put out that the culprit wasn’t a vampire or a ghoul or something.

Lila - if you want to get extremely technical, she’s a freelance writer. That’s what she tells people she does, jets around and writes stories. And she has published a few books, mostly mysteries. But of course, her actual way of getting money is using the Butterfly to con people. She’s even moonlighted as a masked thief a few times. Though she might be looking to shift careers, after a certain news report from Paris goes live … 

BONUS:

Aurore & Mirelle - Weather girls, right? Nope, those two are storm chasers! After growing up in Paris at the height of Hawk Moth? They MIGHT have turned into adrenaline junkies. They go around the world, chasing storms, working out the science, and reporting about it on cite to various agencies. They even had their wedding near a tornado! Everyone is VERY happy for them, but also thinks they’re nuts! (They do not, as of me writing this, have kids, because I can see that being the thing that makes them decide “Ya know, we should probably stop chasing hurricanes if we want children.”)

Mme. Bustier - Now the Principal of Dupont.

Nathalie & Emilie - professional grandmas! In all seriousness, Emilie probably helps manage Felix’s studio, while I headcanon Nathalie never really recovers from being Damaged by the Peacock. Like, she’s ok! She’s healthy, and isn’t in danger of falling into a coma! But the damage had physical effects that, for whatever reason, didn’t hit Emilie as hard, but did stick around for Nathalie. Like, she gets short of breath easily, needs more rest than others, I kind of see her with a cane? She’s doing alright, but isn’t up to running any marathons. So Nathalie is enjoying a pleasant retirement. Maybe she works at the museum now, she did used to be a grave robber - “the only difference between a grave robber and an archeologist is one has permission!”

Chester Fester - uh, on paper, he’s a cook, but he keeps getting fired for allowing pests into his workplaces. Then he met Lila, and now I guess if you want to get technical, he’s her personal chef? He does most of the cooking, cause Lila CANNOT cook to save her life, so Chester tries to make sure she’s eating healthy. He also helps out with her schemes, and such, though, so, maybe general housekeeper? Butler? Not really important, I guess, unless he needs one of those to put on his taxes.

(Please include your thoughts, and anyone you think I missed, cause I swear to GOD I’m missing someone!)

-

YES

Okay so like. My notes are mostly gonna be ‘hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah’ because I know I have like. Somewhere in the tag I listed jobs and yeah this is! This is basically it! But let’s go a bit more! In-Depth since we can!

Marinette - Designer baby! It was her dream in the first place and she kinda. Low-key yoinks all of Gabriel’s industry? Like he dies ofc and his fashion company goes to Emilie and Adrien but they’re.... Not really into it? Emilie is fine running the company stuff, but she’s not a designer. Adrien’s decent at the company stuff but also isn’t a designer and really isn’t into Business. They do keep what they can going but when Mari starts making a name for herself, enough that she feels she got the fame on her own terms, she takes over the stuff that’s still running and gets the industry contacts and such.

Adrien - Honestly I think he rolls with having so many options. Mainly stay at home dad, especially when the kids are little. But if Mari asks him to model something, he will. Tom and Sabine need an extra hand in the bakery for a big order/catering? On the job! Get told ‘hey we have a character in a movie your voice would fit?’ sure he’ll come help out!

Alya - hell yeah a reporter! I did debate on if she’d still do more written journalism, but she does like the camera type so yeah taking over for Nadja makes sense!

Nino - Yeah director! He does the sound and such too on his movies. Very much a jack of all trades in that he can step in when he can’t get across to the crew his ideas. (not like in a pretensious way just genuinely ‘idk how to describe this so hand me the wheel’)

Sabrina - I love the Mayor!Sabrina idea so much lmao. Like yeah I think she would’ve been into law more on the ‘well my dad’s a cop and he thinks I’d be good at it’ but then.... yeah between the tensions between him and the Couffaines and then Sabrina learning to think more for herself and some encouragement from others and various circumstances she ends up runnign for mayor. And wins!

Luka - Yeah his main thing is still Kitty Section and yeah no tours. They’re starting to get a little back into the idea of short tours now that the kids are a little older and able to like. Handle themselves for a weekend trip. But yeah shows have to be local like that instead of hopping over to like austraila or some shit.

Rose - mm! I like the doctor one! She’d def work with kids. The charity stuff can kinda be like a side thing of just. Heavily supporting and using her platform of Kitty Section to advertise the charities she supports!

Ivan - this was actually suggested within this AU but he gets to be a music teacher! On top of Kitty Section ofc. But yeah he looks scary but is so soft with his students!

Mylene - Yes! Actress! She gets over a lot of her stagefright(or at least has made it managable) and can be on stage! She does some movies too, but she very much prefers stage acting to film acting!

Kim - Olympic swimmer turned gym teacher? Hell yeah.

Max - 100% game designer. Beautiful.

Alix - honestly I like her working at the museum! She def liked that sort of thing even before she got time travel. Def has a roller derby hobby though.

Nath and Marc - yeah they absolutely still make comics together!

Kagami - olympic fencer! hell yes! And yeah I’d see her being a fencing instructor in the downtime. She def brings Adrien in for a ‘real match’ to spook her students though.

Felix - mm! opens a branch of Graham Films in Paris to make movies there! Works a lot with Nino and Zoé.

Zoé - tbh I love her being the actress but where canon just. Yoinked that from mylene I’m making their differences re: stage v film. So Zoé is more into film than stage. I do like the PI thing though, but maybe in another universe.

Lila - my girl is out here committing crimes! But yeah she’s done various cons. She has /some/ morality so her cons and thefts are usually a little Leverage-esque in that her target has it coming, but def more for profit.

Aurore & Mireille - Ha! I love that! I will note one thing on the like. I actually don’t ship them? Like in theory I like the ship and I’m not like ‘ugh’ when I see it. But usually I have Aurore is gay but Mireille is unfortunately straight. 

Bustier - Ye! She’s principal now! Since I’m nice to her in this AU I like. Rewrite everything that went down with her in Season 5 so she’s not ya know fuckin awful at her job. So her being principal is a good thing!

Chester - once again I love him. But yeah ‘officially’ he’s Lila’s personal assistant but he’s just rolling with whatever con she’s doing.

[milarqui]

Miraculous Ladybug Prompt

I've seen a zillion Miraculous Ladybug prompts around, so I decided to bring up my own.

It begins with the moment where Adrien tells Marinette not to expose Lila and the "high road" thing. However, here he realizes that Lila's lies may not hurt now, but who's to say what she might do in the future? How does he know that it won't get worse?

And, hell, he said he would have Marinette's back. What if he grows a spine and actually supports her?

So, when Marinette is forced to the back? He moves there as well - that way he won't distract Lila with his presence, and she'll be able to focus on the lesson!

If the others shun Marinette? He defends her, says they all know Marinette better than him and he can't believe they're believing Lila over her.

He's there whenever Lila tries to accuse her of anything.

When it becomes clear Lila won't stop lying? He helps Marinette come up with a plan to stop her before someone gets hurt.

Thanks to Adrien's support, Marinette (re)gains self-confidence to stand against Lila, Chloé, and others. She might even stop doing things for free, depending on how bad it gets.

And seeing the real Marinette, Adrien begins to fall for her. And, as he does, he starts to realize that all of his flirting with Ladybug is hurting her. He apologizes to Ladybug and promises to stop - Ladybug replies that she doesn't mind it much, just when he does it in inappropriate moments and/or in inappropriate ways.

He tones it down and keeps it to patrol times or post-purification, and takes the fights more seriously.

Eventually, Marinette gathers her courage and manages to ask Adrien out. Adrien agrees, and discovers that Marinette now stands above Ladybug in his heart - the fact that Ladybug tells him that she's now dating the boy she's in love with helps.

Eventually, they find their secret identities, and Adrien says he should have realized it - both Marinette and Ladybug are wonderful, beautiful girls. The only bad thing is that he wishes he would have fallen for Marinette earlier.

In the meantime, Lila keeps trying to ruin Adrien's relationship. How Gabriel Agreste takes it depends - does he attempt to do that to break Marinette's heart and Akumatize her? Does he decide to leave them together so he can have a pull to bring her into his company?

As for the class, up to you. Maybe they begin as Lila's hoodwinked audience, but Marinette and Adrien manage to wake them up? Or perhaps what the duo does doesn't matter?

BONUS: A scene where, after Bustier tries to make Marinette apologize for something, Marinette asks at which point do the "Chloés/Lilas of the world" get punished.

BONUS 2: Same as above, but instead Marinette does something really hurtful, and when Bustier tries to order her to apologize, Marinette fires back that she's been a good example for long enough - now it's Lila's turn to forgive her! (She may also call Bustier an hypocrite if she tries to apply a double standard)

[quickspinner]

Indelible - Ch 22 Foot

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | ?? | AO3

Luka hugged Renée, grinning as they both stepped back to look at each other. “It’s good to see you,” he said, “Sorry it has to be a business lunch. They’re really packing my schedule lately.”

“I bet they are, but I’m not complaining,” Renée laughed as they sat down at the cafe table. “You’re really making a mark these days, and a scoop with you will feed me for months.” 

“I’m just a mealticket to you,” Luka sighed dramatically, and Renée laughed.

“A girl’s gotta eat,” she teased, waving the menu at him. “And so do you. Have you lost weight?”

“A little,” Luka admitted, with a tired smile. It was nice, not to have to put up a front for Renée. “We’re just busy. Our tour manager makes sure I eat regularly, though, I promise. Nobody wants their mealticket wasting away.” He winked as Renée grinned at the joke. 

“Well, shall we get the work talk out of the way?” she asked, flipping open her notebook, and Luka settled back with a sigh.

“Can’t we order first?” he complained.

“I already ordered,” Renée told him, and grinned when he gave a half-hearted glare. “No more delays, let’s get into it.” 

“If we must,” Luka sighed, and let Renée grill him about the expansion of the tour, the new cities they had added, and the rumors about a second album. The food was good; Renée still remembered what he liked, so at least he enjoyed the meal while he endured the questions. 

Finally, she closed her notebook, and Luka relaxed a little. There was still something about Renée’s bloodhound mode that put him on edge, even though he trusted her.

“So, I have a question about Marinette,” Renée said suddenly, leaning forward and putting her elbows on the table. 

Luka looked up, surprised, and met her gaze.

“Rumor is she’s dating Felix Graham de Vanily,” Renée continued, watching his face. “Is it true?” 

Luka blinked, and then shrugged. “Maybe. I haven’t talked to her for a while, actually.” At the quirk of Renée’s eyebrow, he felt compelled to add, “We’ve both been busy. We talked on her birthday, but not much since.” 

“Hm.” Renée eyed him. “And you’re okay with that?”

“I’m okay with whatever makes Marinette happy,” Luka replied, not looking away. “I always have been.” “What was all that business at New Year’s, then?”

Luka winced. Of course she knew about that. She’d been there, after all, and she was observant. “Just a little too much champagne, that’s all. I got a little carried away. I care a lot about Marinette but she’s never been interested in me that way. I accepted that a long time ago. I just had a little…slip in judgment that night. We talked it out afterwards and life goes on.” 

Renée frowned, tapping her fingers on the table. “Life goes on, so she decides to date a guy that’s practically her ex’s twin? Don’t you find that a little weird?”

Luka snorted. “I’ve known Marinette a long time. It doesn’t seem like that big of a stretch to me. I don’t think it will last, though.” He closed his mouth on the rest of what he might have said. He didn’t want to be talking about Marinette behind her back. He already felt guilty enough about talking to Adrien about her, even though Adrien’s reassurance that Felix, while self-absorbed and pretentious, wasn’t really a bad guy, had eased Luka’s mind considerably. There was still a niggling suspicion in the back of his mind that Marinette’s infatuation with Felix was more about a second chance at the life she thought she was getting with Adrien, but that wasn’t something he intended to discuss with Renée. 

“Well, I hope she knows what she’s doing,” Renée said, finally leaning back into her seat with a slight slouch. “Her reputation’s taking a hit. ‘Gold digger,’ is one of the nicer things people are calling her.” 

“She’s a big girl,” Luka sighed, although those headlines had bothered him too. “She can make her own choices.” 

Renée shot him one more short glance. “But she hasn’t told you she was dating him?” 

  Luka shook his head, hands tightening on the arms of his chair. He didn’t want to admit how much that bothered him. At least when Marinette had started dating Adrien she’d had the decency to call him herself. 

Not that he was entitled to priority news updates on her love life. Of course not. It just…would have been nice if she had let him know. Or, you know. Talked to him literally at all. He couldn’t seem to get through to her at all these days, and her text responses were long delayed and short. It hurt more than he wanted to admit, when he had the time to think about it. Fortunately time was not something he had a lot of lately. 

“So what’s your mom up to these days?” Renée asked abruptly, and Luka smiled, appreciating the change in conversation, though he paused to check the time before leaning back in his chair and picking up his cup of tea. 

“You’re gonna love this one,” he said dryly, “So I’m three countries away and I suddenly get a call from Juleka—” 

***

Luka had to give his label credit, they didn’t sleep on an opportunity. He rubbed his tired eyes and leaned his chin on his elbow as he handed the freshly signed paper back to Lucille. “What’s next?”

“That’s it,” said Lucille with a smile, squaring the stack of paper in her hands. “Congratulations, you’re officially signed for a second album and a headline tour to promote it. Now all you have to do is write and record it.” 

  Luka grinned weakly. “You make it sound so easy, while I’m still in the middle of this tour’s circus.” 

“You’re doing a great job, Luka,” Lucille told him, leaning forward to squeeze his shoulder. She looked at him closely, and Luka tried to pull himself together and look a little more alert. “You’re sure you’re up for all this? We’ve just put an awful lot on your plate with these extra shows.” 

Luka nodded, straightening up. “I’ll be glad when it’s over,” he admitted, “and I don’t think I’ll be able to get too much writing done until it is, so I’ll have to buckle down over the break to get everything written, demoed, and recorded, but it’ll be worth it.” 

“Your one-on-one interview go okay? The one with your friend?”

Luka blinked for a moment. His talk with Renée seemed like it was months ago but in reality it had only been a few weeks. “Yes, I think so. She should be about ready to release, so I was going to call her and let her confirm the new album now that the ink’s on paper.”

Lucille nodded slowly and sat back. “How’s the new kid working out?”

Luka’s grin was a little more genuine. “Yann? He’s great. You wouldn’t expect anyone as quiet and shy as he is to be able to get shit done like he does, but he’s amazing. I’d definitely like to have him for the next tour if he’s willing.” 

Lucille nodded. “I’ll talk to him and get a contract worked up. The label’s finally waking up to how awesome you are,” she grinned as Luka ducked his head, “So I should be able to get some concessions to make the next bit easier.” She stood and bopped Luka lightly on the head with the stack of her papers. “Just don’t overdo it. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Every rockstar is a human being who needs to eat and sleep and gets hung over if they drink too much.”

Luka bit back the yes, mom that wanted to escape and just nodded. “Thanks for flying out, Lucille. It really helps to do all this contract crap in person. Too many distractions when you’re not here to chase people away.” 

Lucille laughed. “Of course. I’d be here more often if I could.” She sighed with a touch of frustration, and then smiled at him. “Looking forward to the show tonight. It’s been ages since I’ve been able to see you play live.”

“I’ll try to make you proud.” 

*** 

Every day felt like a whirlwind now, with publicity events and signings in addition to the extra tour stops. Road days were almost a relief, when Luka could finally sit down, put on his headphones and let his brain wander for a while. They usually stopped being a relief by the seventh or eighth hour, when he was ready to get up and move a little bit, but Yann was observant and generally knew when one of them needed a break. He usually found them a rest stop before they went for each other's throats. Still, by the time they got to their hotel at night they were all glad to pile out of the van, find something to eat, and separate to their own rooms for a while. 

It was their last scheduled show with Jagged and predictably, everything in proximity to Jagged was a madhouse. Luka brought his dinner back up to the room, hoping for some peace, and found Dingo was sitting on his bed. Dingo frowned down at some slightly crumpled sheets in his hands. Luka froze for an instant, knowing immediately what those papers were, but he covered it as well as he could, shutting the door behind him and walking past Dingo. 

“You been working on this again?” Dingo asked, looking up and waving the pages at him. “This is the one you started at the beginning of the year, right?” He hummed a bit of the tune, and Luka winced a little.

“Yeah,” Luka said, keeping his back to his friend as he set his to-go container down and checked his phone. He answered yet another text message from one of Marinette’s friends, asking if he’d heard from her. Apparently he wasn’t the only one she was ghosting lately. He wasn’t sure whether to feel worried or relieved. “It's still not done though. Where’d you find those sheets, anyway? I forgot where I put them.”

“They were on the floor this morning.”

“Huh. I must’ve dropped them out of some—”

“Play it.” 

Luka looked up, brow furrowing. “What?”

“I wanna hear it,” Dingo said, holding the sheets out to him. “Play it. You weren’t near this far along with it last time I heard it.” 

Luka shrugged, taking the papers. He didn’t really need them, but it was as good an excuse as any to take them back. “It’s not ready,” he said, shoving them inside one of his bags. 

Dingo rolled his eyes. “Don’t bullshit me, mate, just play it.” 

Luka sighed, and pulled his guitar case up onto his bed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said lightly as he unzipped it, but he could see the way Dingo’s brows were furrowed above his shades and knew. Dingo wasn’t going to let it go. As much as he wanted to pretend like the song was nothing, Luka felt all his muscles tense up as he played the first few chords. His hands stilled and he shook his head.

“Keep going,” Dingo insisted, and Luka sighed. He kept playing, gritting his teeth against the feelings that were flooding back. As soon as he’d gotten as far as he could go, he stopped playing and lifted the strap over his head.

“I’m not ready to finish it,” Luka declared, shaking his head as he put the guitar on the bed. “I might not finish it at all.”

“Why not? It’d be nice to play something with some teeth to it,” Dingo asked, tilting his chin down to look at Luka over the rim of his sunglasses. Luka was tempted to tell him he looked like one of their old high school teachers, about to ask why they weren’t meeting their potential. “We could use a little more bite in our sound, if you ask me.” 

Luka just shook his head. “Not the right time. I don’t have time to think about it right now, anyway. Our schedule's insane for the next few weeks with all those big stadium shows they added.”

Dingo groaned, flopping back on the bed with his arms wide. “I’m so bored, Lu. I thought we’d have some fun playing with Jagged again but this leg has been nothing but contracts and paperwork and scheduling and blah blah blah.”

Luka huffed a laugh. “You haven’t made anything explode in months, I can see why. Tell you what,” he added, picking up a drumstick from the table and chucking it at Dingo, who managed to snatch after it bounced off him. “Grab your gear while I eat. Our stuff’s already set up for rehearsal. We'll go jam. You can lead and I’ll find something to go along with it. If we come up with anything decent, we’ll work on it in the breaks. I’ve got to start coming up with something for this next album anyway and I’m not making much progress on my own.”

“Hell yeah,” Dingo cheered, twirling the drumstick as he leaped off the bed. “Think we can make enough noise to make Jagged’s roadies complain?” He grinned wickedly. “If any of them can even hear anymore anyway.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “At the rate Jagged fires people they probably don’t have time to go deaf,” he muttered, but he was grinning as he opened his food.

***

Luka groaned and rolled over to answer his phone. “It’s the middle of the night here, Rose,” he grumbled, glancing at the other bed. The shadowy lump that was Dingo didn’t move, and the snores didn’t stop. Luka wasn’t surprised; they’d done three shows in a row this week and they were all exhausted. 

“Good, then you’re free. You’ve barely been answering my texts. What’s going on with Marinette? Have you seen what the papers are saying?”

“Missed you too, Rose. Where’s Juleka?” Luka asked, then cleared his throat. He was getting hoarse. He’d have to try and rest his voice tomorrow. 

“Asleep. She doesn’t want to talk about it. She thinks I should just leave it alone.”

Luka sighed through his nose. “She’s right, you know. Marinette can date who she wants.”

“But she wants you !”

“Apparently she doesn’t.” 

“I can’t accept that. I’ve seen you two together. How am I supposed to leave this alone ?” Rose hissed. “You’ve been in love with Marinette your whole life! The last time I saw the two of you together you might as well have been married the way you acted! Not just you, her too!”

“Well, she met someone else,” Luka sighed, rubbing at his eyes. “It happens.”  

“Luka! You need to go see her. Go—go do something about it!”

“Do what, Rose?” Luka asked. “Even if I could leave, which I really can't right now, what do you expect me to do? Beg?” 

Rose sighed like he was the dumbest person alive. “Not right away. Sweep her off her feet first! Show her how romantic you can be and that you're just as much her fantasy prince as this, this Felix guy!”

“I'm not though,” Luka muttered. 

“ Then you tell her you can't live without her and beg her to come back with you?”

Luka snorted. “And do what?”

“Luka if you don't know what to do after that we need to have a whole different talk.”

  “You know what I mean.” Luka rolled his eyes. “I get her back here and what? Cram her and her sewing machine in the back of the van where she can spend all her time on the phone with her lawyer trying to explain why she broke her contract.”

“You're being very unCouffaine right now.”

“Well somebody in this family had to grow up eventually,” Luka snapped. “Rose, do you know how many people’s paychecks I'm responsible for right now? 

Rose was quiet for a moment, and when she spoke, she sounded almost hurt. “Don't you want to fight for her?”

“ No ,” Luka replied, with unexpected force, and then he softened his voice. “No, Rose, I don't want to fight for her. I don't want to argue, I don't want to beg. I want to be enough, just like I am.” The words rang in his head and he rolled over, blindly grabbing at the notepad and pen on his nightstand. He flipped on the lamp, blinked against the light, and scribbled the words down quickly. He had enough time to finish, turn off the light, and lay back again before Rose had processed what he said enough to reply.

“Oh, Luka,” Rose sighed. “But she does love you. I'm sure she does. You guys were getting so close again, I was sure—”

“I know,” Luka muttered. “We were wrong, though, Rose.”

“Well it was a shitty thing to kiss you like that and then freak out,” Rose griped, and Luka has to laugh at the unexpected curse.

“Rose—” he began, but she cut him off.

“No!” Rose snapped, and Luka could picture her stamping her foot. “No, I don't have to be okay with this. It's not fair and it's not fine and you deserve better.”

Luka couldn't help smiling, though weakly. “Thanks, Rose. I love you, okay?”

Rose sighed. “I love you too.” 

“Are you going to be there for the Paris show?”

“Luka,” Rose said, again as if he were stupid, “Your first headline show at the Eiffel Tower? Of course we’re going to be there. All three nights in fact. Then I’m going to make sure you sleep for a week and feed you your weight in—in food,” she finished lamely, and Luka laughed. 

“I’ll see you guys in a couple weeks, then,” he promised. “Now good night, Rose.”

***

It felt like a dream when he got out of the van and looked up at the tower that had been a daily sight in his childhood. It was lit up, and the grandstands were being set up in front of it. He’d watched his first Jagged Stone concert here.

And now it was his name up there on the banner. It didn’t feel real. 

The concert personnel swept in and Luka followed Yann’s murmured directions almost in a daze. They ushered everyone to the trailers set up for the performers to get ready. Sound check, hair, makeup, it was was a madhouse, but one that had become routine. 

The first two shows went by in a blur, the high of performing mixed with worry that something would go wrong, and the jangling dissonance of both knowing the whirl and rush of the tour would soon be over, and feeling like it would never end. 

Luka still wasn’t used to having his own dressing room, but as they started booking larger shows, Lucille had begun stipulating for one, and Yann made sure he got at least five minutes to himself, without dressers and makeup people and coordinators running in and out. Luka appreciated having a space of his own where he could, for at least a little bit, shut out the world and breathe, and appreciated even more that the people supporting him realized he needed it. Luka’s heart sped up even at the thought of an entire tour with this much spectacle. He hoped he would get used to it.

Luka was in the middle of those five quiet minutes, sitting with his eyes closed and counting his breaths, when the door swung open, making him jump. He opened his eyes, and then blinked them in astonishment at the woman standing in the doorway. “Kagami.”

“Luka.” She stepped inside and shut the door behind her, then turned to face him, ramrod straight and businesslike as always in a pants suit with sharp lines, white over a red shirt. Luka got to his feet, fidgeting with his rings, feeling very aware of his stage clothes and makeup. 

“This is unexpected,” he said, unable to think of anything else. Outside of the occasional congratulatory text, probably prompted by Marinette, he hadn’t seen or heard from Kagami in years. 

As casual acquaintances brought together by a mutual friend, they’d always been cordial, but never really friendly. Kagami had never been comfortable around him, and he understood. She presented a poised, perfect, carefully curated version of herself to the world, and his presence upset her balance.  That he would never tell her secrets was irrelevant; he could read them, and that was already too much. Luka had always tried to respect her reticence, but she was perceptive in her own way. 

“I know,” Kagami replied crisply. “I came to talk about Marinette.”

Luka’s eyebrows shot up. “Now?”

“Yes, now,” Kagami said a little sharply, crossing her arms, a slightly irritated expression cracking her mask. Oddly, it made Luka feel a little better, since it reminded him of the suffering expression she’d often worn when they were out with Marinette as kids. “I’m worried about her,” Kagami added stiffly, when Luka said nothing. “I’m sure you are too.” 

“Some,” Luka admitted, and sat back down on the couch, gesturing Kagami to the makeup chair. She eyed it for a moment, and then sat down in it, careful not to lean back. “I don’t see that there’s anything I can do, though. I can barely get her to text me back, let alone pick up the phone.”

“Don’t you find that concerning?” Kagami asked, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked him over again. “It’s not like Marinette not to keep in touch.”

Luka tilted his head slightly. “She’s not talking to you either.”

Kagami looked away. 

They were silent for a moment. 

“What exactly are you planning to do?” Luka asked.

“I’m going to get her,” Kagami said flatly, giving him a look like it should have been obvious. “I want you to go with me.”

Luka choked on the “Now?” that wanted to come out. Of course now. That was how Kagami was. Never mind that he had a stadium full of people waiting for him. 

Well….after the show. If she was willing to wait until after the show, he could go. Technically, after tonight, he was free. There'd be meetings to reschedule and all that corporate bullshit, but...he could go.

Except, there was the new album he'd promised, which he'd barely made a start on. He was on a deadline to get everything witten, demoed, and cut for the album, and if that didn't get done on time then all the plans they had made for next season would come crashing down, and where would that leave him? Him, and the bandmates that trusted him to fulfill his obligations, and the producers who took a chance on him, and Lucille who'd worked so hard to get him the independence he wanted, and Yann, who was already on contract for the next tour...Luka had caught Dingo looking at engagement rings on his phone last night. 

“I talked to Adrien,” Luka said finally. “He said that Felix is all right. A bit sharp, but not cruel. Dedicated to the ones he loves.”

Kagami snorted softly, rolling her eyes. “You trust Adrien’s judgment?”

“Not entirely,” Luka admitted. “You know he tends to think the best of people. I do think there’s probably some malice on Felix’s side, dating Adrien’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Undoubtedly. Felix is a much more aggressive opponent than Adrien, and more ruthless. Whether that is his primary motivation or not, Felix will be aware of the effect it has on Adrien, and he will enjoy it.”

“You’ve met him?” 

“Briefly, once or twice, when Adrien and I were dating. Not for very long at a time, and it was many years ago,” Kagami admitted. “He won’t be good for Marinette. He won’t be good to her. He is selfish and insular and…and he likes to win.”

Luka let that sink in for a moment. “Adrien doesn’t think Felix would hurt her.”

“Not physically,” Kagami agreed grudgingly. 

“What are you afraid he is doing to Marinette?” Luka asked, deciding to go straight to the point. He had a show to put on, after all. 

“I…don’t know,” Kagami admitted, standing abruptly and walking across the room, folding her hands behind her back. “I only know that she won’t talk to me, she won’t see me, and it all started when she took this job with Felix. She wouldn’t just get too busy to talk to m—us. She never has been before, no matter what was going on.”

Luka shrugged. “If she’s in love with Felix then she might just not be thinking about anyone else. Caught up in the pink sparkles, or whatever.” 

Kagami’s hand went to a place high on her thigh. “She wouldn’t just forget us.” Her voice was tight and trembling.

Luka found his own hand resting on his side, and tore his thoughts away from washed out colors and blurred lines. He forced his hand down and sighed, trying to be gentle. “I think we both know that neither of us is exactly objective in this situation, Kagami.” 

“That is irrelevant,” Kagami insisted. “She’s our friend. Shouldn’t we protect her?”

“From what?” Luka asked, and the words betrayed his frustration. He stood up and paced the small room himself. “Making stupid choices? If she wanted our opinions, she knows where to find us. If she hasn’t asked by now, it’s because she doesn’t want to hear what I—what either of us have to say about it.” 

“She listens to you,” Kagami said stiffly, uncomfortable with his emotion. She looked away from him. “If you went there she’d see you. She’d talk to you.” 

“You don’t know that, and this time neither do I.” Luka stared at his toes. If only he hadn’t kissed her. If only she hadn’t kissed him , and tangled everything up. Maybe she would still feel safe to talk to him. Maybe he would feel safe asking her to. “You go, if you think you need to,” he said softly, after a moment. “She might not listen to you, but she’ll see you, and at least you can make sure she’s all right. I trust you to recognize…if anything else is going on.” He knew even the strongest women could end up in bad situations, but he still couldn’t imagine anyone lifting a hand against Marinette unopposed and unpunished. Certainly he couldn’t imagine Felix doing it. Manipulative and ambitious Felix might be, but if there had ever been a time when Felix had to resort to physical coercion, it must have been a deep disappointment to him. It wasn’t the kind of victory he would savor. It would be no kind of victory over Adrien if Marinette stayed with him out of fear, after all.

Luka shook his head. No, Felix would have to make her love him to be satisfied. Luka knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if he went and confronted Marinette about Felix, that regardless of Luka’s intentions, it wouldn’t be a conversation about what Marinette really wanted, about whether this was really the best choice for herself. One way or another, it would become him or me , a choice between Felix and Luka, with the loser shut out for life. 

Luka had never been her choice, and he had always respected that. He shook his head. It wasn’t that he was cutting his losses, but…

“I think I’ve given enough,” he said, very quietly, and he heard Kagami sigh.

“Maybe you have,” she agreed. “And yet, I’m disappointed.” 

Silence fell, and neither of them moved. 

Finally another huff of air left Kagami, and he heard the slide of her shoes and the whisk of her pantsuit as she turned to leave. The door opened, but then she paused.

“Should I call you if anything happens?”

“Of course.” It didn’t have the vehemence, the conviction it would have had a year ago, but it was still an unalterable truth. He would be there if she needed him. If Marinette needed him. 

She needs you now , a voice whispered in his mind as the door shut behind Kagami, and Luka shook his head to clear it. Maybe she did, and maybe she didn’t, and the fact that he didn’t know the answer was unsettling all by itself. Wasn’t that proof enough that she was pushing him away? How could he, with all his tangled feelings, ever hope to go into a situation like that with anything like neutrality? How could he possibly be anything besides a complication? 

Let her choose first. Then he would be there for her, if he needed to be. 

Yann threw the door open, pale and clearly flustered. Luka would have to have a word with Kagami about frightening his staff, apparently. “We’re running late now, are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Luka said, shaking his arms out in an attempt to settle his nerves. “Guess I’ll have to be.”

Fiction Master Post

[dum1s-writings]

~~~~Intro thingy I guess~~~~

Greetings from @thedum1 (⁠◔⁠‿⁠◔⁠)

I have once again decided to start a new sideblog. I just wanna try tossing my hat into the xMasc!Reader ring. I'll have main fandoms and on occasion fandoms, which will be allowed once in a while.

~Main fandoms are subject to change.~

The main fandoms will be marked with 💕

Favorite characters will be marked with 💋

Obey Me! Shall We Date? 💕

Lucifer

Mammon

Leviathan 💋

Satan

Asmodeus 💋

Beelzebub

Belphegor

Diavolo

Barbatos

Solomon

Simeon 💋

Luke

Twisted Wonderland

All students and staff*

*Riddle, Epel, Idia, Neige and Rollo are my weaknesses

Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir 💕

Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir 💋

Nathaniel Kurtzberg/Caprikid 💋

Marc Anciel/Rooster Bold

Nino Lahiffe/Carapace

Luka Couffaine/Viperion

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

Alya Césaire/Rena Rouge

Kagami Tsurugi/Ryuko

Gabriel Agreste/Hawkmoth

Nathalie Sancoeur/Mayura 💋

Mystic Messenger

Yoosung Kim

Zen/Hyun Ryu

Jaehee Kang 💋

Jumin Han

707/Luciel/Saeyoung Choi 💋

Animal Crossing 💕

Apollo 💋

Cherry

Julien 💋

Raymond 💋

Marshall

Tangy

Colton

Whitney

Punchy 💋

Stitches

Muffy 💋

Diana

Zell

Lucky

Ankha

Chrissy

Francine

Judy

Kyle

Fang

Willow

Merengue 💋

Mott

Bud

Kicks 💋

Isabelle

Tom Nook

Death Note

L Lawliet

Light Yagami

Touta Matsuda 💋

Teru Mikami

Misa Amane

Naomi Misora

Kiyomi Takada

Mihael Keehl/Mello 💋

Mail Jeevas/Matt 💋

Nate River/Near

Total Drama Island/Action/World Tour

Trent

Gwen

Cody 💋

Noah 💋

Justin

Lindsay 💋

Sadie

Katie

Sierra

Leshawna 💋

DJ

Beth

Heather

Duncan

Courtney

Alejandro

6teen

Caitlin Cooke

Nikki Wong 💋

Jude Lizowski

Wyatt Williams 💋

Jen Masterson

Jonsey Garcia

Teen Titans (2003 cartoon version)

Robin 💋

Starfire

Raven 💋

Beast Boy

Cyborg

Jinx

Terra

Red-X 💋

Aqualad

Speedy

Bumblebee 💋

The occasional slasher

Michael Myers

Cory Cunningham

Billy Lenz

Brahms Heelshire 💋

Others to be added...maybe.

The general rules:

Fandoms will have their own rules in their own separate posts

He/Him and They/Them pronouns only

I have problems with menstruation so none of that allowed as I HATE thinking of my own

Polyamorous relationships are accepted and loved here but NO cheating 😤

No non-platonic/familial child/teen x adult

No incest of any kind

No angst without a happy ending

VERY EXTREMELY RARE sexual nsft 👀

Piggybacking off the last rule I prefer a Top/Not Penetrated reader

No matchups 😐

No OCs as main character/reader

Piggybacking again I will allow OCs as side characters

You may see mentions of my OCs as I love them

Some characters will be OOC and I have no shame about that 🤷🏾

All fanfics will have swears except for Miraculous

I'm bad at coming up with bad guys/villains so fandoms with baddies will take place during down time/right after a fight

I am slow and easily distracted so things will come out when I remember

My target audience is me first so if I don't like how a thing is turning out it won't be published

Again....this a masculine pronoun only blog. And before I get shit on by children and the feminine pronoun users........Fuck. Off. I'm here for the gays and theys. I've been on the internet for years and there's PLENTY of shit for y'all.

[overworkedunderwhelmed]

Rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to ao3. if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

Thanks for the tag @botherkupo !

With nearly 150 ML fics, this was way easier than I expected to pull together. But also, there is just so much I have written and totally forgotten I have...

Starting with the most recent:

The Rules of Engagement: 

Marinette tapped her fingernails on the tabletop, putting the clean edges of her bright red nail polish at risk. The busy rush of people meeting and greeting at far off tables only served as a stark reminder that she still sat alone.

Her date was very late.

The Perfect Fit

Ladybug nibbled her lip nervously, the way she always did when she wasn’t entirely sure of a plan. She had been riding a rollercoaster of emotions since the moment she touched down on Adrien’s windowsill. Only this time, it wasn’t just her heart that was in jeopardy.

#PajamaGirlisBakeryGirl?

It all started, as these things so often do, with an absurd post in the LadyBlog forums, claiming: “I’ve counted the number of times that Ladybug saved Chat Noir.”

Thinking Inside the Box

“Oh!” Chat Noir’s eyes grew very wide, watching with a little less trepidation at the familiar sight and far more amusement, as he his eyes darted over to meet the blue eyes of his very lovely companion. “However did we get trapped in here again?”

Shot Through the Heart (And You’re to Blame)

“Get back here, Chat Noir!”

Chat Noir scrambled on the rooftops, sprinting and leaping as quickly as he could manage. Once upon a time, he had even dreamed of Ladybug chasing him like this. Panting as heavily as he was, he couldn’t afford to lose his breath just to sigh. It figured, when Ladybug finally did decide to chase after him, it would be far closer to the nightmares that Sandboy had channeled.

Once Upon a Dream

Marinette wasn’t exactly okay.

When she returned home in the evening after she and Chat Noir had their shared dream, it had taken a lot of hugs from Alya and a massive cup of hot cocoa from her mother to persuade Marinette to try and sleep once again.

Sending Out an S.O.S.

She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she had gotten into this mess because her habit of signing notes—or scarves—never failed to get her into trouble.

Of course, the trouble was that this was the exact thing that had always brought her closest to Chat Noir.

So, if anything, she had ample reason to hope.

Nothing Compares to You

Chat Noir frowned. His baton had shown no sign of Ladybug, but the Ladyblog had gone buggy with red-spotted reports and he and Plagg were both itching to stretch his legs after the wretched day he had.

Close Calls

“Sorry.”

Ladybug smiled ruefully down at her favorite face in all of Paris, as she touched down in Adrien’s bedroom. With extraordinarily care, she set him down to the ground from the impromptu Princess carry.

When Down in the Bakery There Arose Such a Clatter

With all the noisy clatter below, Tom and Sabine had no choice but to race down to the bakery.

The pair of them looked worse for the wear thanks in no small part to the food poisoning. It was only a blind panic for their livelihood, their daughter, and the young man they definitely had come to love like a son that had them carefully bundling up to trudge down the stairs as soon as they could both manage.

Especially since neither Marinette nor Adrien was answering their cell phones.

Tagging to do if you would like: @steelblaidd, @katieykat513, @nomolosk, @xhanisai,

[ali-annals]

3: gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies

Invisible String Masterlist PREVIOUS NEXT AO3

One single thread of gold tied me to you

Marinette picked an embroidery style for Damian’s suit. 

From now on, everything I make him will have a gold thread in it , she decided. 

She made him a matching Phantom-of-the-Opera style mask for when he went out as MDC’s date, or Fairy’s…once she told him she was Fairy, or he figured it out.

She admitted to being curious about a professional vigilante detective’s scrutiny of her alter-ego(s).

Her fans, ‘Wings' as they called themselves, could be a little crazy…just like the press. She didn’t want to throw him out there.

She couldn’t sleep that night and wrote two new songs. Maybe they’d debut at Christmas? Fairy was giving a concert for charity in partnership with the Thomas and Martha Wayne Foundation then…. which could work, get more sales and increase the appeal. 

At two a.m., she called Penny and Chloe to discuss the topic and listen to her demos.

After Penny ended the call, Marinette portalled Chloe to her home. 

“I met my soulmate again, Chlo! His name is Damian Wayne, and he’s…perfect, so far.”

“Um, do you have a picture of him, Maribug?”

“I got one of him for reference, in the suit I’m making him, so I know where to put the embroidery. Does this work?” Mari handed over her phone to her bestie/manager.

“His brother is Tim Drake?”

“Yeah, he ordered Damian a jacket last Christmas.”

“Mhm. Of course, your soulmate is a Wayne.”

Marinette flopped against the back of the sofa. “I knowww. I was hoping there were two people named Damian Wayne in Gotham, but then he told me his brother was Tim Drake as he was leaving and then he just left me with the fact that my soulmate is American Royalty!”

~~~

“Hey, Demon Spawn, we’re going to a concert on the 21st,” Jason informed Damian.

“Can't come; I’m busy.”

"But it’s Fairy performing! You know you like her music, and she’s singing two new songs for the first time, too,” Dick wheedled.

“Sorry. I have plans.”

Plans to be with Fairy .

~~~

Marinette had told Damian she was Fairy when she presented him with the suit and mask and asked him to be her date/bodyguard to the concert. 

He accepted, of course, and reported that the Waynes still had no idea Damian was dating anyone, or had a soulmate. Everything was going perfectly according to plan…

~~~

Time/Wondrous time/Gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies

December 21 came.

Damian left Wayne Manor at 3:30 so it wouldn’t be suspicious. He headed to a cafe, made sure he’d lost any tails, then headed to Mari’s house.

Chloe was there, dressed in a white MDC with gold detailing and embroidery, fitting for the season.

Damian changed into his suit, which was a crisp black, done in the style of Jagged and Luka’s rocker suits, but with the eccentricity toned down. His shirt was black and his tie was black, but gold embroidery sparkled and wound throughout the tie and suit edging.

It was a stepping stone to more creative suits that Mari had in mind for him.

(Chloe handed him a comm, which he put in his pocket.)

It was comfy, and hopefully, as something he wouldn’t normally wear, it would throw his family even further off his track of acting unusually.

Marinette descended the stairs, wearing an ethereal white cloud of tulle. Silver and gold embroidery graced the form-fitting bodice and layered lacy tulle sleeves hung to her elbows. The skirt could rip away to show the white jumpsuit pants underneath.

She wore a gold chain with a small diamond pendant and her Ladybug studs, disguised as gold-clasped garnet drop earrings.

Her mask was a matte white domino with intricate gold swirls extending from the forehead and cheek lines.

A bold red lipstick finished off Fairy’s look. Her waist-length curls swung freely.

Damian picked his jaw up off the floor and took her hand, pressing a kiss to the back. “You look breathtaking, ya nafasy."

At the concert venue, Mari ran through the sound check and vocal warm-ups while Chloe made sure her dressing room was off-limits. Damian and Chloe put their earpieces in after Marinette tuned them to her channel.

During the concert, Damian waited in the wings with Chloe. He noticed his family in the reserved seats with backstage passes to meet Fairy after the concert.

He warned Chloe and Marinette as they waited in the dressing room once it was over.

After five lucky people had met Fairy and gotten a (charmed) autograph, the entire Wayne family minus Bruce and Damian filed in. (Cass was back from Hong Kong for the holidays.)

“Hi, guys, I’m Fairy! How are you doing?”

“We’re great! The concert was amazing!! Dick Grayson, huge fan of your work.”

The family nodded in agreement.

“Aww, you guys are the best. I’m always blown away by how much you Wings love my work. So you liked it, good.”

"Tim Drake,” He shook her hand. “Your new songs are amazing! What inspired the second one?”

“I met my soulmate last October, and then I wrote that song the night we formally met.”

After a short conversation with each member of the Waynes, Fairy introduced them to Icarus, her soulmate and bodyguard (aka their little brother, Damian).

They never suspected a thing.

Once the next ten people passed through, Damian, Marinette, and Chloe drove back to Mari’s house to relax. After a cup of tea Wayzz had freshly brewed, Damian headed back to Wayne Manor.

He snuck into the Batcave, changed back into his civilian clothes from his suit, and waited for his siblings’ exuberance to spill down.

~~~~~~

February fifth, Damian collapsed on Marinette’s sofa in the back of Lucky Charms.

“Father suspects something; I know it.”

“How?” she looked up from pinning a suit together.

“He gave me the Spring Gala to plan. He knows I would never allow it to be a failure, but it takes weeks of planning to accomplish, which means I cannot sneak away for hours to see you.”

Marinette immediately switched to planner mode. “I can help, and I’m sure Chloe would be thrilled to be her bossy self in charge of things. She and Penny have lots of contacts and know the best places to get good deals. Entertainment….Fairy can sing, maybe? When is the Gala?”

“Whenever I choose. Sometime between April and June.”

“Perfect! My second album is coming out in July, so I could perform a couple new songs again, get the Wings hyped, and I bet you’d get great numbers of attendees if I announced I was revealing my music video at the Gala. Oh, speaking of, will you play my lead?”

“Anything for you, ya nafasy . Which song are you turning into a music video?”

“You know the one I played for you last week? Still haven’t named it– maybe you can help– but I’ve got all the scenes filmed in my head.”

“Oh, the one that sounds like this?” He hummed a few bars.

“Yeah, that one.”

“Can I have a copy of the lyrics?”

“Tikki?”

The ladybug kwami produced a sheet of paper with the lyrics Mari had finalized.

Damian read it over while Marinette completed her sewing.

“Mmm…Searching for You?” he suggested at last.

“I like it! What do you guys think?” She turned to the kwami.

“It fits very well, Marinette. We approve,” Tikki winked at her chosen. They’d had several long discussions about Damian.

“Thank you, ma lune. Did anything else interesting happen today?”

“Grayson crashed into Brown mid-grapple while they were on patrol. I’ll send you the video.”

“Ha! That’s like, the fourth time this year!” Marinette cackled as she watched the footage from the mask cams play out on her phone.

Damian had approved her security before he shared videos of the Bats with her, but she had high-security software on all her tech, thanks to Max helping her.

~~~~~

And it's cool/Baby with me/And isn't it just so pretty to think/All along there was some/Invisible string/Tying you to me?

May 16th was the Waynes' annual Spring Gala.

None of the Waynes & co. could find Damian.

“He’s probably checking that everything’s going smoothly at the hall,” said Bruce to Jason as they tied their bowties.

“He’s taken planning it quite seriously. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”

Jason gasped in shock. “B! You almost sound sentimental or proud. Are…are you… showing emotion ?”

The assembled Batclan hooted in laughter as Bruce glared unheatedly at Jason.

At the Gala hall, there were still no signs of Damian. The Gala started at 7:30, and now it was 7:20, and still no sign of the host and organizer.

On the plus side, none of his danger signals had gone off. Where was he? He had to officially start it.

Of course, Bruce or one of the others could step in, but it would be strange that the one who had put it together didn’t show up.

Five minutes later, a white limousine pulled regally up to the red carpet stretching from the street to the door of the entrance hall.

The Waynes stood in a cluster by the foyer, waiting for their missing member.

The chauffeur hopped out and opened the door of the limo.

A tall, black-haired young man stepped out, then leaned back in to offer his hand to his date. 

She had dark hair piled into a chignon, emerald earrings and necklace, and dainty silver strappy heels. Her dress was a pale lavender silk ballgown, with deep embroidered pleats and a plunging V-neckline to the bedazzled waistband. A layer of fine white silk filled the decolletage and trailed into airy sleeves. Her lips were red and she wore a purple mask with pearls trimming the edges.

“It’s Fairy!” Dick patted Babs’s arm excitedly.

The couple turned and glided up the carpet, where they lightly bowed to Bruce. 

“Father.”

“Mr. Wayne.”

Damian wore Icarus’s suit, but in silver, this time, and his tie was lavender.

After a quick speech and answering a few questions from the media about the Gala, he declared the party to have begun.

Fairy leaned around his arm as they entered the Gala hall to smile and wave at his family.

“Damian is my date since my soulmate is busy.”

“How do you know Fairy,” hissed Jason at his youngest brother. “Is that an MDC suit?”

“She introduced me to Fairy.”

After the dinner and some speeches (which thankfully didn’t go on too long), Fairy stepped up to the stage.

“Hello, everyone, it’s nice to see you! I’m Fairy, your entertainment for the night. I apologize in advance if I’m not entertaining.” She paused for the chuckles. "You’re in for a special treat tonight. My newest single, from my upcoming album, has been made into a music video. And you all get to watch its premiere! Without further ado, Searching for You.”

On the large screen behind her popped up a black background with white lettering. “Searching for You" by Fairy (ft. Damian Wayne).”

It quickly blanked out and the MV began.

Fairy was dancing alone in different places around the world, as she sang the first verse and chorus.

The tempo picked up for the second verse and became a livelier melody as she met her soulmate, played by Damian. (They activated their soulbond but just let the audience assume it was CGI/special effects.)

The second verse and chorus were spent together in one spot as days and nights passed by. Damian’s harmonizing and the third verse sounded beautiful as it showed his conflicted feelings about the bond.

Then Fairy picked up the bridge and fourth verse, which they sang together as they wandered the world.

Half the time the Waynes spent watching the video, and half they spent staring incredulously at a nonchalant Damian, then back to Fairy.

Once it was over, Fairy returned to the stage in a performance outfit, ready to sing some of her other songs.

The Waynes huddled around their youngest member. “What did Fairy’s soulmate think of you doing that, and then being her date?”

“Icarus? There’s no need to worry. He and Fairy are quite secure in their relationship. I checked–he is 100% okay with it.”

The family turned back to their favourite performer, not wanting to miss her performance. They could always grill him more at home.

~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: "Ya nafasy" is an Arabic term of endearment that translates to 'my breath' or 'my lungs', as best as I could make out. A friend told me it's not commonly used, but is probable.

[jasmine-the-fox]

Your not dating him! I am now!

MLB and BNHA crossover salt request by... You guessed it azv2448

Enjoy!

Lila Rossi has gone too far with her lies now, Mari didn't know what was going through her head but the liar decided to claim that she was dating the famous japanese model Bakugo Katsuki himself, it really angered her because she was childhood friends with him but disconnected with the distance and time zones.

"Sadly because of time zones and the distance... we can't talk as much as we used to" she whined making everyone feel bad for her and claiming that she would see him again soon, Mari rolled her eyes as she then went to her tablet and reads over her email before sending it with a nod, having enough of the lie she decided to try and contact Bakugo Mitsuki about all of this, so in her email she explained the lies that Lila claimed so far and the actions she takes to make sure everyone believes her and is on her side.

She simply hopes that the woman reads it at all...

In Japan...

Mitsuki was a very busy woman, working hard with her husband Masaru and making sure that woman and female models stop harassing there son Katsuki in dating them... it makes her sick to think people will do anything to be with her son, sure he's hot and famous from modeling but the fact is he is a human being and has a right to decided who he want's to date in the end... so if they can't respect that then she wont respect them either.

She returned to her office with a sigh, turns out that the public wants her son to confirm that he's dating either Utsushimi Camie or Uraraka Ochako... it pissed her off as she texted Katsuki's manager about this and asks to set Katsuki for an interview to tell the truth about this whole thing... and then she saw she had an email from Katsuki's childhood friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she really missed the girl to be honest and she could tell that the distance from her was hard on Katsuki too.

She skimmed through the email before screaming in rage at the information she was given just now... some liar was claiming to be dating her son... and not just any liar, but the same liar who has made others hurt some of her staff! Pissed at this she decided to send her son over to Paris to resolve all of this... while also helping her son finally be with the girl he likes "Maybe then we can plan for marriage and kids" she mumbled to herself as she contacted Katsuki's manager once more.

Katsuki didn't like this at all... going to Paris and yet not tell Mari hurt him but considering the fact that the liar bullies her... he needed to keep her safe as best he can, he didn't want some lies to be spun on her because they knew each other, when the plane landed, he went to get his luggage's and was driven to the hotel he would stay at for the whole thing, once settled and his mom informed, he left for the bakery to get more info on Lila.

Sabine was at the counter when he walked in, she was very surprised and happy to see him again after all these years... but the second he brought Lila up she became angry and brought him to her daughter's room and revealed three binders "Marinette has been collecting evidence of Lila's lies and actions for some time now... and as you can see the girl is very talkative about her stories" she explained, he nodded and then she left the room, Katsuki took picture after picture of everything in those binders and sent them to his mom.

She on the other hand was losing it as we speak... she was enraged that sweet Mari has been suffering for so long by this liar... and she wasn't going to let this continue, she called up her team of lawyers and presented everything to them, they immediately got to work on making calls and planning plane flights to Paris, once he was done, he leaves while getting a few sweets, he heads back to the hotel while fans take pictures of him which results in everyone knowing he was in Paris right now... but he didn't care.

He would use this to his advantage...

Mari returns home with a sigh, Lila has lied twenty times today and she needed to add all these new lies to her binders... of course the lies were all about Katsuki and it makes her sick that she would claim all kinds of things as his likes and dislikes when some likes he was allergic to! She walked inside only for her mom to reveal that Katsuki came by, which surprised her since he didn't tell her... then she thought back to the email she sent Mitsuki, but for now she would wait and see what they will do about Lila and talk to him when he comes to see her.

A few days later, Katsuki comes by her school to talk about the Lila problem they were having, he also needed to talk to her about what his mother was doing right now about the whole thing so she would be ready, Adrien and Rose however see them together and Adrien recognizes him in an instant, which makes Rose rush to tell Lila who then tells a sob story about how in fact Katsuki is abusive and was more then likely about to do the same he did to her to Mari.

To Lila this will push Mari into a corner to become one of her followers in the end... but the class went crazy, stormed over and began yelling at Katsuki, it went too far when Alya and Kim pushed Katsuki down the stairs... only for Mari to save him from getting badly hurt which resulted in her getting a sprained wrist, horrified Katsuki rushed her to see the nurse and told her everything that just happened... this resulted in Damocles calling Kim and Alya's parents to school to tell them what there kids did.

this resulted in the two being forced to pay Mari's medical bills as she ended up needing to go to the hospital, days went by after that and Lila decided to try and flirt with Katsuki... but now even a few words in before a group of lawyers came over and slammed into her arms lawsuits from the Bakugo's for the lies she made of Katsuki and staff members... which resulted in even more lawsuits from the people she lied about before the Bakugo's, the class also got lawsuits for there actions towards Mari and Katsuki, Bustier and Damocles were fired for there horrible actions and Gabriel got lawsuits for stealing and pushing Bakugo staff to suicide.

they all lost a ton of money and any chance of there dream jobs, Mari was now freed from all of Lila's lies, however Mitsuki begged for Mari to move to Japan to study and then work there which she quickly agreed to and packed up her things to leave... while holding Katsuki's hand the whole time.

i mean they are dating now... so yeah they would be holding hands.

[sturchling]

Could I ask for Chat Noir salt where

After Marinette leaves Paris and heads to your city for choice (Star City, Central City, Metropolis, Gotham) and gets into a relationship.

She has to return to Paris via Horse Miraculous to fight an akuma and bumps into Chat immediately after leaving the portal, so he asks why and she explains her new living situation (its actually been a while since she moved, he just now noticed)

Maybe he wants her identity since she's no longer at risk and she shuts it down

He gets violent and she takes the ring?

Sorry for the wait! Hope you like it and was worth the wait!

Marinette had decided enough was enough. Things in Paris had been getting worse lately, with Lila and the class. So she had decided to move to Gotham as a part of a student exchange program. She had a pen pal that attended Gotham Academy and their family had offered to host her, if she decided to participate in the exchange program. At first Marinette had been hesitant about leaving Paris while Hawkmoth was still active. But now, things had gotten so bad in Paris, she was worried she could be akumatized herself. That couldn’t happen. She figured the distance from Paris would do her good. So, she packed up her stuff and left for Gotham.

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

Marinette had been in Gotham for about a month now. So far everything was going great. Her host family was really nice and welcoming. Her new class was fantastic, and they all became friends quickly. She had even started growing close to Damian Wayne, much to her new class’ shock. Damian wasn’t exactly outgoing, or friendly to the rest of the class. So it was a bit of a shock to see him warm up to Marinette so fast. Marinette was very happy with Gotham and really enjoyed her time there. 

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

But without fail, about once every few days, Hawkmoth would attack Paris and she would have to go back to deal with an akuma. She had been using the horse miraculous to travel back and forth as needed, and so far no one had figured out that she didn’t live in Paris anymore. She hadn’t even told Chat when she left. She didn’t want to risk anyone knowing she didn’t live in the city anymore and that news getting back to Hawkmoth. The less people that knew, the better. And that includes Chat. She had always made sure to open a portal to Paris, somewhere isolated, where no Parisians would see her. She had always been very careful. But today, she had been at Wayne Manor, having a movie date night with Damian, when the alert went out. So she was in a rush once she found a spare bedroom to hide and transform. So, she also didn’t realize that the portal she had made put her in an alley that Chat was also using to transform.

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

Marinette stepped out of the portal, thankfully already transformed, and right in front of Chat. He stared at her, confused. “Milady? Why are you using the horse miraculous? What’s going on?” Marinette, trying to focus on the task at hand, said “Let’s focus on the akuma for now. I will explain everything after.” Chat nodded, but was distracted for the majority of the fight, trying to figure out why Ladybug had used the horse miraculous. 

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

It was an easy fight, Mr. Pigeon again. They didn’t even have to use their powers to beat him. Which left them plenty of time to discuss the horse miraculous. Marinette explained everything. How things in Paris had gotten bad for her in her civilian life and she was worried about being akumatized. How she had moved to Gotham as part of an exchange program. And how she had been using the horse miraculous to go back and forth between the two cities for about a month now. After she was done, Chat was just staring at her in shock. Marinette waited for him to be mad at her for keeping this from him, or maybe be concerned about whatever had happened in Paris to make her leave. But instead, the first thing he said was “This is great Milady!”

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

Marinette was now the one in shock, as she stared at her partner. “What do you mean, ‘this is great’? I thought you would be mad I didn’t tell you sooner.” Chat shook his head. “Well, maybe I was a little mad, but its fine. Because now that you don’t live here, your identity is perfectly safe! We can tell each other now and it will be fine!” Marinette just stared at Chat, not sure what to say. “Chat, we can’t. Our identities have to be a secret. Just because I live in Gotham now, doesn’t mean it is safe. You could be akumatized and Hawkmoth would find out. Or if I come back to Paris for a time, and get akumatized, he could learn your identity. I am sorry Chat, but we can’t.” Marinette turned to leave, about to open a portal, when Chat’s clawed hand grabbed her arm tightly. She turned around to look at him again, and Chat looked furious.

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

Marinette tried to pull her arm out of Chat’s grip, but she couldn’t get away. “Chat, what are you doing? Let go!” Chat’s grip tightened, definitely leaving a bruise. “No! I am tired of this Milady. I have waited long enough. I deserve to know who you are!” Much to Marinette’s horror, Chat reached with his free hand for her earrings. Thinking quickly, Marinette twisted her arm Chat was holding, making his arm twist too. She kneed him in the stomach, sending him to the ground. Chat jumped up and actually tried to use his claws on her! Marinette couldn’t believe this was happening. Chat had managed to land a few hits, leaving Marinette with several bleeding cuts on her arms and chest. Before Chat was able to cause any life threatening injuries, Marinette was able to trip him and pin him to the ground with his arms behind his back. In this moment, Marinette knew that Chat was not fit for a miraculous anymore. Maybe he had been once, but he couldn’t be trusted now. Marinette removed the ring from his finger. A green light flashed, and then Adrien was on the ground in front of her. Adrien tried to apologize and beg for the ring back, but Marinette didn’t listen. She just opened the portal, and arrived back at the manor, still bleeding. Of course though, with the way this night had been going, she wasn’t alone in the bedroom she had come back to. Damian had been looking for her and came into the room, just as the portal opened and Marinette stepped through, still transformed. For a while, after the portal closed, they just stared at each other in silence. Finally, Damian broke the silence. “So, Angel, are we going to talk about the portal, your new outfit, or the bleeding wounds first?”

[mc-lukanette]

Have you considered writing a "Truth" fix-it with Marinette admitting her secret to Luka? Maybe he could be a confidant like Marianne was for Fu.

Truth was having a terrible, awful, rotten, very bad day. If he could use his powers on the universe, he would've asked what he did to deserve this kind of treatment.

It started with his girlfriend keeping a secret from him concerning her ditching their dates, then escalated to Jagged Stone - who'd been his idol for years - turning out to be the father who abandoned him, and now he was fighting Ladybug and Chat Noir in Marinette's room after he’d been told by multiple people that Marinette’s supposed “secret” was that she was in love with Adrien, as if he hadn’t already known that and they just wanted to mock him.

His civilian self had never been never someone to presume, but now it's all he could do. Marinette must've ditched him because she didn't really love him, Jagged probably never even felt bad about abandoning him, and despite Adrien never even trying to win Marinette's heart, he was just better than Luka in every way, because the rich model with all the connections Marinette could ever want would always outmatch the "guitar boy" who worked a part-time job, lived on a houseboat, and had parents who either kept secrets from him or flat-out didn't want him.

Had it not been for his akumatization working to drive him towards a goal without interference, he would've cried. He wanted nothing more than to wake up and think the whole thing was just a bad nightmare, with dating Marinette just being brief highlights of it that kept getting shot down with a reminder that he wasn't good enough.

He wanted it all to be over.

Chat Noir was still trying to banter with him, but Truth wasn't having it. While going after Ladybug first wasn't ideal, as she was the smarter out of the two, it was easier to get rid of Chat Noir and deal with the heroes one at a time.

Thus, when Ladybug had run across the room to use her Lucky Charm, Truth acted. He managed to grab Chat Noir and throw him into the chest that Ladybug had been hiding in before, then locked it tight to prevent Chat from escaping. That done, he went after Ladybug, who was stunned but nevertheless prepared to fight. Chat Noir being out of the picture didn't impact her ability to fight, but Truth had Pharo on his side to knock Ladybug around when it was too hard to get a spotlight on her.

Finally, he managed to tackle her, her lying on her back and him pinning her arms down. The chest nearby rattled in protest, but Pharo shined its spotlight on it, preventing it from moving anymore.

Truth watched as Ladybug looked around for a method of escape, but she came up empty. Her eyes widened in the realization that... this was it. This was the end.

"Now," Truth said, clamping down harder on her arms as he leaned down, "tell me the truth!"

Ladybug tried to shut her lips tight, but he could see her struggling, her body shaking as she tried to free her arms to stop herself. It was only a matter of time.

Then, her mouth opened, and out came the words, "I love you, Luka!"

He froze, his fingers twitching in his confusion while he could only stare down at her in shock.

"And I'm so sorry! I'm sorry for everything! I wanted to tell you - I always wanted you to know - but I couldn't, and you deserve so much better than a hero who can't give you the time you deserve!"

A cold realization washed over him in form of a shudder. Those words could've been interpreted in so many ways, but he was the only one who registered their real meaning: that Marinette was Ladybug, her "ditching" had been her needing to fight akuma, her keeping secrets had been out of a desire to protect him, and he—

...He had only caused her more problems by getting akumatized, being no better than all those that had interrupted their dates. She loved him, and he gave into Shadow Moth to go against her.

Ladybug continued rambling, oblivious to his internal crisis, "You're incredible, and I just love you so much. I knew you were special from the day we met, when you called me—"

Truth clamped his hand over her mouth, preventing her from spilling any more secrets. He could feel Shadow Moth's influence in his mind, demanding that he remove his hand, but Truth ignored it, just as he'd been ignoring so many of his commands. The energy from akumatization that once made him feel powerful now made him feel disgusted with himself, guilt swirling in his gut and making him regret everything.

He reached up with his other hand, grabbing at his necklace and tearing it off. Ladybug's brows rose at the crunching of his akumatized object, and the last things he saw were the akuma flying free and Ladybug's expression turning to something...

thoughtful.

—————

Marinette de-transformed in a nearby alleyway and headed down towards the Seine, having not yet processed all of her feelings from that day. She had a little time left, given that Luka had quietly asked to walk back home himself, but she’d gotten no closer to clearing her mind since leaving her house. She was still a jumbled mess of "what if"s and "but maybe"s, and ultimately knew that it was going to be a matter of essentially winging it and just saying everything that she had on her mind.

As she approached the Liberty to wait for Luka, she paused as she noticed another figure already standing there. After all, Jagged Stone wasn't exactly someone you could not notice.

Before she could debate on whether to approach him, Jagged seemed to sense her and glanced over to make eye contact. She stiffened, only able to wave awkwardly and pretend like she didn't know why he'd be there.

"Hey, frockstar," Jagged greeted tiredly, his smile not quite reaching its usual lengths. "What are you doing here?"

"Um..." She walked over, standing next to him and staring in the direction where Luka was going to come from. "I need to talk to my boyfriend."

"Ah." It took a few seconds for the words to actually register with him, at which point Jagged turned to her, mouth agape as he grabbed her shoulders. "My son's your boyfriend?!"

She didn't quite have the energy to feign total surprise at the “son” comment, but she didn't have to. Jagged immediately pulled back without really looking at her, regaining his composure just as quickly as he'd lost it.

"You... wouldn't happen to be able to put in a good word for me, hm?" He grinned sheepishly, jabbing at Marinette with a hopeful elbow. "Haven't exactly figured out what I'm gonna say yet."

She was torn between being upset with him on Luka’s behalf and feigning sympathy because it was not only none of her business, but she was in a similar boat and felt like she had no right to judge.

She went with the latter, smiling weakly and jabbing him back. "That makes two of us." Then, she frowned as her nerves came back. "And... anyway, I don't know if he'll want to keep being my boyfriend after tonight."

For once, Jagged didn't pry or ask questions, the atmosphere probably felt even by him. They just stood there, waiting.

After a few minutes, Luka finally walked into view, staring at the ground and seeming defeated. Marinette felt ill at the sight, her fingers clutching at the fabric of her capris to find a sense of stability.

Should she approach him? Let Jagged go first? Or, maybe that would seem evasive, so—

She felt a pat on her shoulder, looking up at see Jagged urging her forward with his eyes. She wasn't sure if she should be grateful or consider him to be the evasive one, but Luka's akumatization was also mostly because of her and thus it only made sense for her to go first.

She ran the distance to get to him, Luka glancing up at the sound of her footsteps and stopping as she got to him. The usual light in his eyes wasn't there, and she had to force herself to even say a simple, "Um... hi."

"Hey." He hesitated, then rubbed the back of his head. "I'm really sorry, Marinette."

"Huh?"

"I got akumatized, and I was in your room when I woke up." His brows furrowed with uncharacteristic anxiety. "I didn't have to hear the song to know what the notes were. I must've gone after you."

Marinette blinked, having not even thought about him feeling guilty over the whole thing. She shook her head, reassuring, "No no! I mean—you told me to run! You didn't go after me, not really!"

She wasn't technically lying; he never sought her out to her knowledge, and even as Ladybug, she'd always had to chase him.

Luka sighed in relief, though his expression didn't change much. "I'm glad."

He met her gaze again. She yearned for the way he used to look at her like he wanted to get lost in her forever, but his eyes soon darted elsewhere as he noticed Jagged Stone standing not too far away.

Marinette tried not to get discouraged, stepping back into his vision and waving her hands to try and divert his attention. "Ah—don't worry about that! Look—" She paused, needing a moment to breathe, then lowered her hands and shifted to seriousness. "Can we talk? And walk? It's... really important."

She couldn't imagine the conclusions he must've been coming to in his head, partly because he didn't voice any of them. His eyes merely searched hers, seeking nothing in particular.

"Sure, Marinette," he agreed.

She managed a smile, happy that she made it this far at least. She reached out to take his hand, but stopped herself at the last second and simply walked past him, Luka taking one look back at Jagged before following after her.

The walk was tense and quiet, the only sounds coming from the evening ambiance and their footsteps. The uncertainty of it all gave her anxiety, but she'd been sure of that uncertainty since she first decided to talk to him about this.

Because, whatever the future of their relationship was, it would be in his hands.

—————

As they arrived at her intended destination, Marinette heard Luka briefly stop behind her, perhaps processing where she just took them. It was the Canal Saint-Martin, also known as the place where they'd first agreed to date, and now it was potentially the place where they'd break up as well. Marinette vaguely pondered if that would be for the best, like the memories would just cancel each other out and Luka could forget about it altogether if he wanted to.

Nevertheless, she walked over, glancing at the bridge for reference and sitting in roughly the same place she’d been all that time ago. She then tossed Luka a hopeful look, and he walked over to sit next to her.

Steeling herself up, Marinette took a breath, inhaling until she couldn't take in any more oxygen and then exhaling for just as long. At least a little more emotionally prepared than she was before, she finally spoke up.

"I...I'm sorry, Luka. I'm sorry that I got you akumatized—" She saw that he was about to interject and cut him off. "—and I know you don't blame me, but it doesn't matter—I mean—it does matter, but I'm still sorry anyway, okay? You had a right to be hurt and maybe if I'd explained myself better, then things would’ve been different."

He still seemed to want to argue, but was holding himself back so she could continue, which she appreciated.

"It's not that I didn't trust you. If anything, I—I trust you more than anyone else. You've never betrayed me and I know you'd never tell anyone if I told you my secret. You understand me even when I'm being the disaster that everyone laughs at - everyone but you - and..."

She sighed, pulling out her phone and navigating to her text conversation with him. Mentally wincing, she tapped on the photo of her Adrien wall that Ziggy had sent, then presented it to him. He leaned in to make sure of what it was, then looked back at her, clearly not understanding where she was going but knowing it wasn't her being spiteful or rubbing it in.

She said as much, "You don't assume anything, like when you got sent this dumb picture. I know it was obvious that it was an accident, but you didn’t have to go with it and you did. I wouldn't have blamed you if you got mad, but you didn't. Whenever I'm stammering and being an idiot because I'm scared or nervous, you don't judge me for it or think that whatever comes out is what I actually mean. That's so important to me, Luka, you have no idea."

She settled the phone between them and kept the picture on-screen. Her gaze flickered down to it, silently encouraging him to look at it too, then glanced back up at him.

"How much do you know about fashion?"

He tilted his head, thrown off by the sudden question, but answered anyway, "Only what my sister's ever talked about."

"Do you know why fashion trends die so quickly?" When he shook his head, she explained, "Part of it is the over-exposure. When people hear about what's in at the time, suddenly everyone starts wearing whatever it is, so everywhere you look, you see it, and then people get tired of it."

There was a flicker of understanding in his eyes, Luka looking back-and-forth between her and the phone like he was piecing a puzzle together.

She confirmed it for him, "That's why I have so many. I don't feel that way about him anymore - I don't think I ever did - but I just don't know how to act around him. I hate how the whole idolizing thing took over my life and I already tried everything else, so I figured this might work." She groaned. "And of course it blew up on me and you got sent that without any context. Of course."

He gave a look of concern at the exasperation in her tone, but she tried to ignore it, not wanting his sympathy.

"My point is..." She gestured vaguely at the phone. "I stammer about him, but it's not because I'm in love with him, it's because I've never really been his friend and I don't know how to do it. I'm not dedicated to him and I'm getting better at not doing the stuff I used to."

His eyes flickered again and she wondered if he was thinking about that day on the Liberty where she was late to Kitty Section playing, where she ignored Adrien entirely. Just for emphasis, she tapped her phone and deleted the picture, adding on, "I'm only dedicated to you, Luka. I—"

She shifted in place, hitting the wall behind her feet a few times with her heels to ease off the anxiousness. It was so much easier when she’d been Ladybug, though granted that she was under the influence of Truth's spell at the time. She and Luka were dating, yet she was sure he'd ask her to end it, making putting herself out there all the scarier.

"I..." She met his gaze. "I love you." He gaped at the confession and she continued on, "I love you like I haven't loved anyone else before; definitely not Adrien. It's the kind of love that actually makes me happy, and comfortable, and my life is better with you in it."

She bit her bottom lip, hands curling into fists at the tight feeling in her chest. She turned, placing one hand on the ground as she began to push herself up, her other hand landing on Luka's shoulder to wordlessly insist that he didn't have to stand with her, so his gaze merely followed her as she moved.

"But that's the thing." She took a few steps away, back turned to him as she stared up at the sky. Her stomach twisted itself in knots at the words in her throat, but she nonetheless admitted, "I don't think it's mutual."

Luka's voice took on a sharp, offended tone. "Marinette—"

She spun to face him, cutting him off, "—and I know that you're going to say something sweet and heartfelt about how everyone has a place in your life and then something about how bad notes can still make good songs, but... Luka, you don't understand."

She turned away from him again, this time pacing as she counted off events. "Bullies and liars target me, and sometimes that means going after people I care about. I'm clumsy and a stuttering mess and you wouldn't believe the mistakes I made that I couldn't have even seen coming. It seems like I draw bad luck wherever I go; I mean, your mother is one of the most chaotic people I can think of, so you'd think she'd get akumatized a bunch, but it was only the day I showed up that she did. Even the other boys who only loved me for a little bit either got akumatized over it or became an anxious mess until they found out who they actually liked, and that last one would've at least been really useful to think about if I'd just made the connection back then, but I didn't!" She paused, then met his eyes with a pained expression. "And then there's you."

"What do you mean?"

She stopped in place, not knowing whether to be touched or not by the fact that he either hadn't noticed or was pretending not to. Throwing her arms out, she explained, "Things go bad whenever we hang out! I already mentioned your mom, but then there was the ice rink; even without me getting distracted when all you were trying to do was make me feel better, there was an akuma and you probably got frozen solid by him. When we were hanging out on the Liberty, Adrien just happened to show up on that day with Kagami to turn me into a mess, and then Desperada came to make everything worse."

Marinette couldn't remember when she'd started thinking about such things or feeling guilty for everything that ever happened. There was just a point where it felt like she was always apologizing for something, no matter how small it was, and stuff being her fault became par for the course by then.

"Then, both times you got akumatized, it was because of me—and I know you don't blame me, but I'm always involved! You were ready to leave the TV station, but because I tried to put up a fight, Bob Roth threatened me and that was your last straw. Today was the same thing; you were already upset about what happened with your dad and then it was me who sent you over the edge!" She shut her eyes tight, the memories painful to relive. "You're always putting up with me, Luka. You put up with me crying all over you and even dropped your guitar for it, and then you had to protect me from Miracle Queen's mind control! I'm supposed to protect you!"

He recoiled at the volume of her voice, then furrowed his brows, his eyes darting back and forth as he seemed to process something particular about what she said.

"I'm supposed to make you happy, and I can't. Out of all the people in Paris who should be able to keep you from getting akumatized, it should be me, and all I've done is hurt you. You're the calmest person I've ever known and then I came along and gave you feelings you didn't ask for. Sometimes—" She shook, choking briefly on the words. "Sometimes I wonder if it would've been better for you if you never met me."

Luka's gaze sharpened. He didn't reply, but turned fully to her, pushing himself up as if to approach.

However, she stepped back, his look then flashing to hurt. She took a breath, expression determined as she said with her whole chest, "I'm Ladybug, Luka."

He froze, his body going stiff and his eyes blinking rapidly at either the reveal itself or the way she’d so firmly said it.

"I'm Ladybug," she repeated quietly, this time with an ache in her voice, "and I'm telling you not because I trust you—I mean, I do trust you—but I also believe in you; that you wouldn't sell me out to Shadow Moth even with all the mind control in the world. You've always had my back and supported me even when I didn't deserve it, and I want you to know. It's dangerous and I don't know what'll happen and I'm scared but I want you to know it." She put a hand to her chest. "I'm the one who has to save Paris whenever something happens, and that's why I always had to ditch you. I'm the one who messed up and lost you your identity as Viperion. I'm the new guardian of the miraculouses, and the kwami don't even listen to me; they invaded my privacy and it was one of them that took and sent you that picture."

She realized that her vision was staring to blur and looked skywards, trying to fight back tears.

"I-I'm not a normal girl. I can't be a normal girlfriend, or give you everything you'd want out of a normal relationship. It's my fault that you got akumatized because I just—I wanted you. I wanted to be in a relationship and go on dates with you, but Ladybug isn't supposed to want things. She's supposed to be selfless and only worry about everyone else, but... you made me happy, and I wanted more of that. You were the first person I really felt like I could be myself around without being scolded or lied to and I thought it would be okay..."

She noticed him moving and quickly turned her back to him, at least able to let the tears fall now without him seeing them.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I always think I can handle things but then it goes wrong and I end up hurting people. If I'd just gone home the day of the music festival instead of complaining about Adrien not being around, then none of this would've happened." She sighed in frustration, wiping her eyes clean of tears, and she was so focused on forcing her words out that she didn't hear the footsteps coming from behind her. "I-it's okay if you want to break up, Luka. It wasn't fair that I kept you in the dark, and I understand if you're mad, or you want to date other people, o-or if you don't love me anymore—"

Her voice cut off with a gasp as a pair of arms wrapped around her midsection, pulling her against a familiar, warm chest that had an unfamiliarly pounding heartbeat. She tried to look up at him, but his hair was shadowing out his eyes and left only his trembling lips visible. In fact, his whole body was shaking, as if it were winter and no amount of layers could keep him warm.

"L-luka?" she called, confused.

"Stop," he begged quietly, the hug tightening briefly to give her a squeeze. "Please."

"But..." She trailed off, acknowledging the request. She'd never heard his voice just break like that.

"You've already sung your part of our duet, Marinette. Now it's my turn." He paused, taking an unsteady breath before continuing, "I'm glad you told me your secret. I know you're worried about me being in danger, but it makes me happy that you can rely on me now. Music boxes aren't meant to stay shut, and you deserve someone who you can open up to, even if I hate that you have to mute yourself in the first place to keep everyone safe."

She opened her mouth, wanting to say that it was okay and it was just her job, but kept quiet to respect his earlier request.

"My life isn't worse because I met you," he murmured, an unspoken plea in his tone that told her to never think that way again. "I felt things with you that I never have before. My song started out as a flatline, then we met and you made it move. Music isn't exciting if it doesn't change but you did that for me. What you might see as bad notes is my passion for you, and I won't apologize for it or make you apologize for messing up just like every person does. I'd never wanted someone before you, and even if you never wanted to date me, I'm grateful that I got to know you; to fall for you."

Marinette blinked in an attempt to stop oncoming tears, Luka pulling her closer for comfort when she whimpered.

"All that mattered to me is when we were together, just the two of us. That's when your melody plays the clearest and when I get to see you. Those two weeks when we were preparing our music video were some of the best two weeks of my life because I got to see you in your element. I've accepted every break in the tempo because I've heard you, I've heard the Marinette you've wanted to be, and I want to be there for every beat of it." Then, he exhaled, adding with a somber tone, "I can't imagine how much pressure you must be under, or how awful things are and how impossible it must be to sing when you can't even take a breath without something going wrong. I just... I want to help you be happy. I don't care what you, your kwami, or anyone else says; you're allowed to be happy, Marinette, and I'd drop a thousand of my guitars if it meant that you get to play happy notes one more time."

She let out a sob, blushing pink as her hands unconsciously raised to rest on the ones around her waist, Luka sighing in content and nestling further against her.

"So I don't want to break up with you, Marinette. Not at all. I just want to find ways to make it easier on you - on both of us - and if that means finding ways of planning our dates around akuma attacks, or not planning at all and going wherever the rhythm leads, then that's what we'll do."

She tried to keep quiet, but couldn't help voicing, "W-what if... what if it doesn't work? What if I have to bail on you every now and then? People will think—"

"I was never worried about that," he retorted immediately. "I'm a Couffaine. My clothes are ripped, I carry my guitar in the basket on my bike, and I live on a boat. I stopped caring about what people thought a long time ago."

He was unbelievable. Marinette didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did both. He just held her there, his heart still beating against her back but now serving as something to calm her.

"The only opinions that matter in our duet are yours and mine," he said. His hold loosened, though hesitating like it was physically painful to release her. He let her go nonetheless and held his hands out in front of her, palms facing the sky. "So what about you, Marinette?"

She stared at his hands, then slowly raised her own to hover over them. She breathed up, then slid her fingers across his palms until their calloused fingertips met, neither making any move to pull away.

"I...I want to make it work," she whispered, leaning back against him. "I want to be with you, Luka. I'm at my best when I'm with you. I just..."

She stopped, knowing that he would have an argument for anything she said. If she apologized for the failed dates that she can never fix, he'd argue that it'd be worse to leave things off a sour note, and that not every good song starts out good. If she tried to suggest other people for him to date or imply that it'd be easier with someone else, he'd say that his guitar plays only for her and he wouldn't change that even if he could.

"...I'm sorry," she said, smiling her first genuine smile of the night. "I won't doubt myself anymore."

Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling too. "Do you feel better?"

"Yeah. Do—do you?"

"Yeah," he replied, voice thick with emotion.

Wanting to see his face, she slowly dropped their hands and turned to face him, silently hoping that she didn't look awful from her earlier tears. However, to her surprise, she noticed that Luka's eyes were watery despite his smile, just like her. Realizing something, she raised a hand to her shoulder, where his face had been hovering over ever since he'd hugged her from behind.

It was wet.

"Oh, Luka..."

She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him against her. He returned the gesture, squeezing her lovingly and giving her back a few rubs that she responded to with a happy hum. They held the position, the warmth of the hug completely negating the slight chill of the night air.

Even when they pulled away, it wasn't far nor for long. Marinette wasn't sure which of them initiated it, but one moment they were staring at each other and the next they were kissing. It had been long overdue and she idly thought that it was better than she would've imagined their kiss at the cinema to be.

She breathed in his scent, her fingers blindly reaching up to slide into his hair. She almost felt like crying again, though this time in relief that everything had actually worked out for once and they were kissing without interruption. Even though Luka was more subtle in showing his emotions, she could tell that he felt the same from the way his hand on her back shook, practically vibrating with happiness.

The kiss eventually broke with a soft click, though she kept her hands on him for the sake of stability. They were both breathing a little hard from the emotional toll of the conversation yet not necessarily in a bad way.

And the love in his eyes - the life that she missed so much - was back. She honestly thought she wouldn’t have seen it again and she was tempted to just keep kissing him in relief, part of her aware that he definitely wouldn’t have minded it.

It took her a few tries to get the words out, hesitant to break up their wordless exchanges of love. She knew what revelation was waiting for Luka back at his houseboat - maybe he'd already guessed it - and she wanted to be there for him, so she asked carefully, "Do you... want me to come back to the Liberty with you?"

Eyes half-lidded, he gave her a soft smile and gently squeezed her hand. "Yeah. Do you want to sleep over?"

She nodded. "Mm, I'd like that."

Holding hands, they began making their way back to the Liberty, the ambiance of the night finally coming through to soothe them. Marinette glanced down at their joined hands, then at the wide smile on Luka's face, the latter clearly caused by the former.

She looked ahead at where they were walking, pretending that she hadn't just been admiring him. "We could always go out for breakfast together. That might work out."

"That sounds amazing." Luka feigned a look of thoughtfulness. "Maybe Shadow Moth doesn't like mornings?"

Marinette squeaked mid-giggle. "You'd think that'd be the case from the name, huh?"

He chuckled, covering his mouth with his free hand, and the conversation remained light from there. Any bad feelings from the day had evaporated, leaving only smiles and hope for the future in its place.

Everything was going to be okay. For once, Marinette could truly believe that.

[marauderundercover]

The Strings that Bind Us: Chapter One

AO3

Marinette Dupain Cheng was tired. She’d fought the same villain for fifteen years. She’d been a hero longer than she’d been just Marinette. It was exhausting. And she was ready for a break. Two years after unmasking Hawkmoth, Paris was finally healed enough for her to move on. To leave.

Which was why she was currently putting fairy lights and pumpkins on the balcony of her new apartment in Gotham. It was quiet, and lonely, but at least she didn’t have the weight of a city on her back anymore. She hums as she places the last pumpkin. Perfect. Glancing across the city, she lets out a sigh. Here she was, in an entirely new city, no connections and no one to talk to when she needed to just talk. But it was worth it, the memories of everything in Paris still too fresh. It still hurt too much. Deciding it’s not too early to go to sleep, she walks back inside. She’s just closed the door when a loud crash from outside has her tensing. She peeks behind the curtain, frowning at the figure on her balcony. She opens the door.

“Uh, hello.” She greets the strangely dressed man. If what she’d read had been correct, this was Batman. Gotham’s resident hero, or vigilante as the papers called him. He probably wasn’t here to fight her, but you can never be too careful.

“My apologies.” He says, his voice gruff. Her eyes narrow at the way he favors his left side.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” She asks suddenly, her face instantly heating up as the words tumble out without her permission.

“I’m not-” He starts, but she shakes her head.

“I insist. You are out trying to protect citizens, are you not? The least I can do is offer you a coffee.” She says, turning and walking back inside. She doesn’t turn to see if he follows, but she does hear footsteps behind her. She figures he could walk silently, if he really wanted to. After all, even though he’d been around for eight or so years, few had ever seen Batman. She hums, moving around the kitchen and starting up her small coffee pot and grabbing a few of the leftover pastries from earlier. Placing the pastries on a plate, she pulls down two cups before turning to the vigilante in her kitchen.

“How do you take your coffee?” She asks, and she swears his lips twitch slightly.

“Just black.” He says, and she grins.

“Thank goodness. One of my friends in Paris refuses to drink coffee unless it’s half cream and sugar.” She says, trying to keep the conversation light. After all, what do you say to a random vigilante? It was different when Chat Noir, or Adrien, visited her back in collège. He didn’t start doing that until after she’d helped with Evillustrator, which helped it to not be awkward. Like it currently was with her and Batman. God, why did she even invite him in? She turns and almost sighs in relief when she sees the coffee is done. Quickly filling up both cups, she passes one to Batman and then pushes the plate of pastries towards him.

“I own the cafe downstairs.” She says as an explanation when she sees his lips purse. He nods and grabs a croissant, taking a hesitant bite out of it.

“Thank you.” He says, and she just smiles. She may not want to be a hero again, but maybe it would be okay to be friends with a hero again.

---

The bell over the door notifying her of another customer makes Marinette stick her head out from the back.

“Hello! Welcome to La Petite Tasse, I’ll be with you in just a minute.” She calls, not catching the response before she’s back in the kitchen, pulling a fresh batch of croissants out of the oven. She slides the tray onto the cooling rack before tugging off the oven mitts and rushing out to the front.

“I am so sorry about that, most of my workers are also students so they have class right now. What can I get you?” She rambles, freezing when she looks up into the most attractive blue eyes she’s ever seen. The man just smiles at her, and she swears her knees go weak.

“That’s fine. Could I have... a large black coffee and a croissant?” The man asks, glancing up at the menu before looking back at her. She nods and smiles, cursing the way her cheeks heat up. Sure, this was quite literally the most attractive man she’d ever seen in person, but she was not going to fall for a pretty face. Nope. Totally not. She turns and grabs a cup, filling it up before rushing to the back to grab one of the fresh croissants. After all, they were better warm.

“That’ll be three dollars and twenty seven cents.” She says, passing the man his order. He grins and passes her a twenty.

“Keep the change.” He says with a grin before he turns and walks out. She blinks, slightly confused, but takes the change and puts it into the tip jar. That was weird, she thinks, but she doesn’t think too much into it. It’s not like she’d ever see him again.

---

She had been wrong, and she was completely okay with it. The man came in almost every day for two weeks before she worked up the courage to introduce herself and ask his name. He’d seemed shocked, but had introduced himself as Bruce. And after two weeks, she was happy to say that Gotham had started to feel a little lighter, that she was a little happier in this dark city. The bell above the door chimes, but she keeps working on filling the macarons since Mack was manning the counter.

“Listen kid, open the register and I won’t shoot your fucking brains out.” A voice says. Oh hell no. She drops the piping back and picks up her rolling pin. Peeking out, she breathes a sigh of relief when she sees it’s only one guy, not an entire group. She tosses her rolling pin lightly before catching it, familiarizing herself with it as a projectile before she actually uses it. She watches as Mack’s hands shake, obviously panicked. Letting out a steadying breath, Marinette aims and manages to hit the man in the head with the rolling pin. He drops instantly, the gun clattering to the floor. She rushes out and grabs a couple zip ties from under the counter, walking over and cuffing the man’s hands behind his back before dragging him towards the handrail and attaching him to it. She glares at the man before she remembers Mack and gasps. She rushes over, frantically checking over the girl to make sure she’s okay.

“Mama M, I’m fine. I promise.” She says, though her voice shakes. Marinette breathes a sigh of relief before crushing the girl in a hug.

“I am so sorry, Mack, so, so sorry.” She apologizes, holding the girl close. She can feel the girl shake slightly, her shirt getting wet as the girl cries. Marinette just coos softly, whispering reassuring words to her. She barely hears the bell signaling a customer ring.

“What the hell happened?” A familiar voice asks. She glances over at Bruce and grimaces.

“Attempted robbery. Would you mind calling the police?” She asks, nodding towards the landline. He blinks, standing frozen as he stares at the tied up man in the corner. “Bruce!” She calls, his attention snapping to her. She nods towards the phone again and he nods, walking over to make the call.

---

After the police take their statements, Marinette sends Mack home with the tips from the day, despite the girl’s protests.

“Sweetheart, you were just held at gunpoint. I’m not gonna let you stay here. Go home, eat some junk food and watch something funny. I’ll see you on Monday.” Marinette says, giving the girl another quick hug before watching her leave. She turns to Bruce, who had been kind enough to stay, and winces. “You’re not gonna get in trouble with your boss, are you?” She asks. He just grins.

“I was actually off today, don’t worry about me.” He says, his smile falling as he looks her over. “Are you okay?” He asks. She lets out a shaky breath before nodding.

“Yeah, yeah. I was more worried about Mack, honestly. I was in the back, but I couldn’t just stay there. Not knowing she was in danger.” She says, her arms wrapped around herself as she tries to stay calm. It was the first time she’d had an actual gun aimed at someone she cares about.

“You were quite the hero today.” He says softly, and she snorts, shaking her head.

“No, Bruce, I wasn’t. I did what anyone else would’ve done.” She says, waving him off dismissively.

“Only you would actually believe that there are still people good enough to act like that.” He says softly. She blushes and clears her throat.

“Well, did you want your regular?” She asks, moving to go back behind the counter. He frowns.

“Mari, you aren’t seriously going to open the cafe back up today, are you?” He asks and she frowns.

“Why wouldn’t I?” She asks.

“Because your store was just attacked!” He exclaims, and she snorts.

“If my parent’s bakery in Paris closed every time there was an attack, they would’ve gone out of business.” She says flippantly. He frowns, and she worries she’s said something wrong, when his face suddenly twists back up into a smile.

“Spend the day with me.” He says and she blinks in surprise.

“What?”

“I had set out to ask you on a date when I came in today, but the whole attempted robbery stopped me. I know you want to just get back to work, but what if you spent the day with me instead?” He offers. She stares at him, wide eyed, before a wide smile forms on her face.

“I thought you’d never ask.” She says. It’d be fine to have the cafe closed for a day.

Next

Event tag list: @maribat-october-rarepairs

Permanent tag list: @stainedglassm​ @kittenmywaythrulife @laydeekrayzee @doll246 @queenz-z @deathssilentapproach-blog @literaryhiraeth @unoriginalmess

[mochegato]

Truth Be Told

This night was not turning out how she had thought it would turn out… Actually, up until a few minutes ago, it wasn’t much different from how she thought it would go.  She hadn’t been holding out much hope for the guy Rose had set her up with.  They did not have similar vetting styles or criteria.  So despite Rose’s most heartfelt hopes, the date with an overly sugary prick, oozing with fake charm and inauthentic compliments, was a complete flop and yet completely expected. 

While that man was annoying, he was not the cause of her current frustration.  No the current frustration was the man that had attempted to grab her as she walked home, her stilettos in her hand, because truthfully, she’d rather risk the dirty sidewalks of Gotham than the pain and blisters wearing those for another twelve blocks would cause.

She’d kept an eye on the man for the last block as he followed her, getting slowly closer and closer in a vain attempt not to alert her.  Joke was on him, she was always on alert.  But she wasn’t positive he was actually a threat.  Lots of people in Gotham were creepy, it didn’t mean they were a threat. 

When he finally grabbed her arm, she twisted immediately hitting him in the face with one of the stilettos.  He screamed in pain, bringing his hand up to his face.  She took advantage of his momentarily distraction to run.  She was confident in her fighting abilities, but there was always a chance for him to get a lucky hit in and a fight avoided if possible was safer than a fight engaged… or something like that.

He took advantage of his greater size and lunged at her before she could get out of his range.  He jerked her back with such strength and force, she couldn’t stop him or brace herself.  She fell as he pulled, dropping her shoes as she did.  He angrily swung for her head as she laid on the ground.  She rolled out of the way just in time and heard the crunch as his fist connected with the concrete.

She took a breath and stood up, moving behind him to punch him hard in his kidney.  He crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath.  She took advantage of his position to knee him in the face, breaking his nose.  He groaned in pain and cradled his nose.  Marinette paused for just a second to take a breath before running again.  The ogre moved quicker than she had expected and grabbed her arm with his good hand, yanking her to him.  She used the momentum to drive her palm into his chin.  He staggered back a few steps, giving her enough room to kick him in the chest.  He fell back against the building next to them, hitting his head on the bricks with a sickening smack and slid down the wall, crumpling into a pile at the bottom.

Marinette edged closer to him to see if he was still alive, tensing as she got closer, ready to bolt if he so much as twitched.  She breathed a sigh of relief feeling a strong pulse and let herself relax for a moment.  Her whole body immediately tensed again as she heard a sound of something dropping behind her.  She slowly turned around to see a figure with a red bat across his broad chest a few feet away from her.  Her body relaxed minutely at the sight.  He was one of the bats.  One of the more violent ones, if she remembered correctly, but only against people who hurt kids.

She watched nervously as Red Hood sauntered slowly up to her.  He stopped a few feet away from her, looming threateningly over her.  He stared at her silently for a few moments, or at least she assumed that’s what he was doing.  It was rather hard to make out where exactly he was looking with his mask on.  She just barely stopped herself from jumping when he lifted his hand out to her, holding her shoes.  She looked at them dumbly for a few seconds before finally taking them with a quiet “Thanks.”

He didn’t react, or maybe he did, she just couldn’t see it under the mask, which was doing nothing to calm her.  Finally after she’d gotten her shoes back on he decided to break the silent, looming, threatening presence aura.  “That was amazing,” he gushed out.

Her eyes widened at the comment and snapped up to the mask’s eyes.  Of all the things she had been anticipating, that was not one of them.  “Uh… Thanks,” she answered uncertainly.  She studied him for a moment and realized he hadn’t been sauntering earlier, he had been staggering and now he was swaying as he stood turned.  “Are you… um… are you okay?  You’re kind of…” she motioned to his body.

Red Hood tore his eyes away from her eyes, with great force of will to examine his body for what she meant.  He stumbled as he tried to check himself for injuries.  He was fine.  He hadn’t even been involved in this fight and Scarecrow’s goons hadn’t landed almost any of their hits.  He was perfectly fine.  He looked back up to meet her eyes again and cocked his head to the side for a moment.  Her eyes were blue but he couldn’t quite tell the shade with his mask on.  The filters in the mask were making them appear slightly different than they really were and he needed to see her eyes properly.

Marinette failed to stop herself from jumping slightly when his hands moved lightning quick to remove his helmet to see her better.  Marinette gasped at his freshly exposed face.  “Should you be doing th…”

“Wow… you’re fucking hot,” he grinned.  He had definitely made the right decision removing the helmet.  He could see her much better without it. He could now make out the rosy hue on her cheeks at his comment and the exact bluebell shade of her eyes.  He had been right.  She was even more gorgeous without the filter.

“Um… thanks,” she gave him a nervous smile.  What the fuck was happening right now?  “So are you.”

“I am,” he nodded in agreement.  “But you’re hotter.  I’m Jason.”  He reached his hand out to shake hers.

Marinette drew in a breath and clenched her lips closed.  Her eyes turned concerned.  “Oh, you definitely shouldn’t be doing that,” she tried to lightly chastise him, but he was looking at her with such an earnest, hopeful expression she couldn’t help but smile at him and take his hand.  “Hi.”

“Hi,” Jason… should she call him Jason or Red Hood.  She really shouldn’t know his name… but she did so… Jason said again breathlessly.

“Hi,” Nightwing added loudly from behind Jason, breaking their moment.  Marinette yanked her hand back and looked back and forth between the two.

Jason groaned loudly and shook his head.  He looked up to the sky for a moment, but quickly returned his focus to Marinette.  “Oh fuck off, Dickhead.  I’m working here.”

“So the body is yours?” Nightwing prodded.

“No,” Jason grinned proudly at her.  “It’s hers.”

Marinette gave Jason a panicked look before switching to look at Nightwing again.  “He attacked me and I stopped him.  He’s still alive.  I checked.”

“Yes you did,” Jason confirmed delightedly.

Nighwing tapped his ear piece and knelt next to the body, examining it.  “Oracle, can you send police to my location, please?  We have an unconscious body.  Looks like he’ll need a medic too.”  He nodded at whatever was said in his earpiece and took a beat to collect himself before walking up to them slowly, watching them analytically as if trying to assess the situation.  “You okay, ma’am?”  He asked with a guarded tone.  Marinette looked over to Jason who rolled his eyes at her and looked away in annoyance at Nightwing’s interruption.  Marinette looked back to Nightwing and nodded slowly.

“Glad to hear it.  Sorry about Hood,” he grinned charmingly at Marinette in a manner she was sure was supposed to lull her into a sense of calm and trust, but after an entire dinner of smarmy smiles, Nightwing’s grated on her instead.  Jason’s earnest smile however… that was something else. 

Despite Jason’s previous insult, Nighwing continued walking closer until he was close enough to throw his arm over Jason’s shoulder.  “Scarecrow had a particularly potent drug and Red Hood got hit with it a few times.  So Hood could have been saying absolutely any crazy thing.  I’m honestly surprised he can even walk right now.”

Marinette caught on quickly.  This was Nightwing’s way of mediating potential security breaches, in case Jason had done anything that could compromise his and their identities, like removing his helmet and telling her his name.  Marinette could sympathize with the attempt after her years of trying to manage the miraculous identities secret, but he’d come with his fake smile and fake concern and she was done with fake people today.  So, mess with him it was.  “So I shouldn’t have taken him saying I was cute seriously?” she asked innocently.

Nightwing paused for just a second.  If Marinette hadn’t been watching, she would have missed it.  “No!  No,” he stuttered.  “I mean, it doesn’t STOP him from saying true things.  And that certainly is true.  It just…”

Jason finally tore his intense gaze away from Marinette to whirl on Dick and shove him away, which was actually quite lucky for Jason, as the shoving motion is the only thing that countered his momentum and kept him from falling.  “Stop hitting on the woman I’m hitting on,” he hissed at Nightwing.  Nightwing gasped at seeing Jason’s naked face, not even a domino mask to hide his identity.

Jason twirled back toward her, but overcorrected and turned past her.  He had to slowly turn back until he faced her and pointed his finger at her accusatorily.  “And I didn’t say you were cute.  I said you were fucking hot and you are.” He smiled proudly at his statement.

Marinette giggled both at Jason’s bluntness and the horror on Nightwing’s face.  She raised her hands in surrender, letting Jason take the win.  He nodded smugly at her acquiescence. 

“Okay Romeo, let’s get you home,” Nightwing said, clapping Jason on the back and not so subtly pushing him past Marinette and down the sidewalk, or at least attempting to. 

Jason swayed back toward Marinette, raising his arm to balance himself just high enough that it landed perfectly on Nightwing’s shoulder in a way that would have been considered smooth if it had been in anyway intentional rather than sheer dumb luck.  “Dickweed, if you stop me from getting her number I’m going to fill all of your uniforms with itching powder,” Jason growled threateningly.  He leaned in closer to Nightwing until their faces were a few inches apart.  “ALL OF THEM.  If she’s willing to give me her number, I’m going to take it.”

“And what good would her number do Red Hood?” Nightwing gritted out pointedly.

Jason blinked and pulled his head back clumsily.  “Don’t know.  But it’ll do Jason Todd a lot of fucking good.”  He smiled roguishly at Marinette.  “And if I’m extremely lucky, maybe eventually, some good fucking too.” 

Marinette sputtered at him completely exposing his identity and his honest admission of his intentions, her mouth dropped.  Nightwing groaned.

Jason moved closer to her, trying to keep his steps measured and graceful.  It didn’t really work, but it reduced the stumbling.  “I never did catch your name, Helen might come close but couldn’t match.”

She blinked a few times to catch up with the rapid change in tone and quirked her head to the side.  “Helen?”

He nodded slowly at her, his eyes still focused solely on her.  “Of Troy.  Face that launched a thousand ships.  Surely yours could launch a million.”  His voice was reverent and his smile had softened becoming affectionate rather than roguish.

“Oh my God," she giggled, an incredulous smile settling on her face.  "Is he like this when sober?”

“Not with me,” Nightwing said rolling his eyes, or at least she thought that’s what he was doing under the domino mask.  His entire head rolled as he did it.  “But he is usually pretty blunt,” he acknowledged.  “But with the serum added in…”  He trailed off, letting her fill in the gaps.  Nightwing looked back over at Marinette appraisingly.  “Look…”

“Marinette,” she supplied.

“Marinette…” Jason repeated.  He let the name linger on his tongue.  “That’s a beautiful name.  Epic poems could be written about that name and that smile.”

Her cheeks reddened and she had to look away from the intensity of Jason’s stare.  She shook her head and coughed to try to calm her heart.  She raised an eyebrow at Nightwing.  “So I take it that it was a truth serum?”  The deep sigh Nightwing let out was confirmation enough for Marinette.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that you are sexy as fuck,” Jason interrupted her.

Marinette, whose mouth had been open to continue her thought, snapped it shut with an audible clap and turned bright red.

Nightwing choked and tried to cough to cover it.  “Jesus, Jason.  Take it down a notch or ten.”

Jason shrugged at him, smiling proudly at Marinette’s expression.  “Equal and opposite flirting rule.”

“Excuse me?” Marinette interrupted.  Because that sounded like he was flirting to the same level she was and she had definitely NOT been flirting at that level or at all.  Damn, she needed to up her flirting game.  She opened her mouth to say something but snapped it shut quickly.  Now was not the time.  He was drugged out of his mind.  She was not going to hit on someone who was buzzed beyond belief.

“The level of flirting exhibited shall match the level of awesomeness of the subject of the flirting,” Jason explained calmly, still smiling his soft smile at her.  And honestly, if he kept that up, she was going to rescind her stance on flirting back at him.

Marinette stared at him for a few seconds “Uhhh,” she started, internally groaning at her very intelligent response.  Eloquent conversation?  Nailed it.  Very deserving of the ‘awesome’ title.

She blinked a few times and turned to Nightwing.  “I understand the value of a secret identity.  I assume you won’t take my word on it, but perhaps you could take a fellow hero’s word?”  Nightwing raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her.  “You’re part of the Justice League, right?  You can check with Ladybug.  She’ll vouch for me.”

“Ooohhh,” Jason suddenly let out, moving in between her and Nightwing.  “Ladybug!  She’s fucking hot too and so amazing.  Almost as much as you.  You fight like that without a magic suit to help.  That’s so impressive.”  Marinette could feel her cheeks grow even redder.  If this kept up, her face was going to be as red as her mask, and there would be no hiding her identity.  “You’re friends with her?” Jason continued, oblivious to her inner turmoil.  “Batman won’t let me meet her.  Are all your friends as hot and amazing as you?” 

“I’ll check with her the next time I see her,” Nightwing confirmed over Jason, putting his arm around his waist again to guide him down the street.

Marinette nodded at him.  “It was nice meeting you two.”

“Wait,” Jason lunged out of Nightwing’s arm toward her, nearly knocking her down.  “I didn’t get your number.”

Marinette looked to Nightwing.  “Uh… I don’t think your… teammate wants me to do that.”

“Ignore that happiness killing asshole.  Dick has always been like that.  Besides, we’ll need your number to keep an eye on you, right?  I volunteer,” he grinned brightly.

Marinette opened her mouth and shut it again.  She determinedly refused to look at Nightwing, Dick apparently, and focused on Jason, fixing him with a pointed stare.  “If I give you my number, will you stop giving me personal secrets?  Yours and your other partners’?”

“My brothers?”  Marinette’s eyes snapped to Nightwing’s this time.

Nightwing slapped himself on the forehead.  “Little Wing…” he groaned.

“Yes your brothers’.  And go home and sleep this off?” she continued.

“Yes I will.  Although I’d sleep better if I knew you were there too, watching over me,” he added earnestly.

“No, you wouldn’t.”  She pulled out a sheet of paper to write it on but he shoved his phone in her hands instead. 

“Just put it directly in here,” he offered instead.

She closed her eyes and sighed.  She looked over to Nightwing for guidance, but he shrugged at her, defeat clear in his slumped shoulders.

“I definitely would,” he countered her.  He turned toward Nightwing.  “You should have seen her take out that thug when he tried to grab her.  She was amazing,” he sighed out dreamily.  “She knocked his ass out.  Hey!” he perked up as if suddenly realizing something.  “She’s a knock out who knocked his ass out!”  He turned back toward her and leaned on Nightwing in a daze.  “I think I’m in love.”

“I am so sorry about him,” Nightwing looked at her pleadingly.

Marinette waved him off and put her name and number in Jason’s phone.  “Truthfully?  Significantly more honest, respectful, and romantic than the date I had tonight or in the past… while, so… Have him give me a call tomorrow if he still feels the same.”

“Oh I will,” Jason grinned at her, taking his phone back and laughing at the (Helen) she’d put next to her name.  “It was nice meeting you Marinette.  It was the highlight of my week.”

Marinette grinned and pushed up to kiss him on his cheek.  “Mine too.  Now put on your helmet before you out yourself to anyone else.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jason nodded.  He put his helmet on as she walked away, but rubbed the area of his helmet over his cheek where she had kissed him, a goofy smile on his face.  He would definitely call her in the morning.  He would make sure he remembered.  He wasn’t stupid enough to let someone like her get away.

Continued in Well, Well, Well, If It Isn’t the Consequences of My Actions

@boldlyanxious

[boldlyanxious]

A year of Glitter

Part 14: final

Glitter series

Masterlist

New Year’s Eve brought Marinette back to a fancy party, only this time she was attending as a guest rather than the planner. She had been invited by a client. It seemed like good business sense to go mingle. She worked hard on her dress to make it eye-catching with black lace and red leather. She wore some of her best accessories to go with it. She looked pretty great for a walking advertisement. She was still nervous. She didn’t know how to act around all the new people so she felt really stiff, but after a bit she decided they all seemed a bit stiff too.

Most of the people she met seemed really friendly so that was nice. The occasional shocked comment about her making her own clothes and accessories. Working for a living was not what most of the women here aspired to do. She managed to smile politely and change the topic. They did seem interested enough in what she was selling so they held their snobbery back to get the information.

She still was not really in the party mood. She almost didn’t go but when Eden found out she had been invited to Bruce Wayne’s New Year’s party she insisted that Marinette had to go. Marinette tried to get her to go with her but Eden was in new relationship bliss and they were going to the ball drop in New York. Marinette would have rather just stayed home and she almost did, even after all the work to make her dress. But Eden called her to make sure she left for the party. She sent a cab that was already paid for and Marinette went mostly to get her to stop pushing. She could always leave the party if she wasn’t having a good time.

Good wasn’t really the word she would use, but it wasn’t bad. She danced with several people and the food was outstanding. She did love to look at the styles everyone was wearing. She didn’t get much of an opportunity to see styles like this in Gotham. She would see some when she went to the fancier clubs or worked at Kathy’s shop but there were also a lot of regular people who just wanted some fancy accessories. Right now she wished she had a sketchbook with her. It made her want to draw. Someone was taking pictures as if it was a movie premiere so maybe it was a much fancier party than she realized. She could probably find the pictures online if she wanted to try drawing from any of them.

She really enjoyed the dancing even if she didn’t know her partners well. It was really easy small talk where her focus didn’t have to be how she presented herself to a group because the focus was on the dance. She had learned ballroom dancing because of the possibility of attending such functions as a designer but she hadn’t really had much opportunity. She accepted all offers even though many of the men were probably far too old for her. She wasn’t concerned as long as they were polite.

The current man was the picture of decorum. He kept his hands in the appropriate spots and didn’t once ask about her preferences on dating partners. It became clear at the end of the dance though when he moved her off the floor to introduce her to his son. He was trying to introduce her to someone else. The son didn't really seem as enthusiastic. His own thoughts about her the man had managed to keep off his face, but his son didn’t quite mask his features as quickly. She couldn’t tell what he thought but she chose to ignore it anyway. It was getting closer to midnight and she would rather be close to one who would prefer to be moving away from her when the clock chimed rather than one who would try to get closer.

“Ah, here he is Mlle Dupain-Cheng. My son, Tim Drake,” the man said.

She hadn’t caught the man's name. They had been too close to the band when he spoke but she would have felt bad making him repeat it. Now it felt really awkward as he had clearly remembered her name.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Marinette said. She turned back to the other man after shaking Tim’s hand. “Thank you so much for the lovely dance.”

“It was an honor. Now I must run off for some hosting responsibilities. Make sure the clocks hit midnight at the right time.”

He turned and walked away quickly and Marinette felt her face drain. She had been dancing with the host. The host was Bruce Wayne and he wanted her to dance with his son. She didn't actually know much about the Wayne family but they were very rich and owned a lot of businesses in Gotham and apparently helped out less fortunate people a lot.

She turned back to Tim for a moment. He held out his hand to lead her to the dance floor as his father expected. She smiled back at him, trying to hide her sudden feelings of inadequacy. She looked at the man before her. He was very attractive. He just wasn’t really her type and he had not seemed interested in her. She chose to just focus on the dance and worry about the rest later.

He was the picture perfect dancer. He definitely seemed to know exactly how to act. He made polite conversation although he seemed to change topics randomly and had a few odd questions mixed in. He did get a bit of information about Marinette’s business and that seemed much more normal. She didn’t actually know enough to know what was normal for rich people. All the ones she had known in Paris were a bit quirky so maybe that was expected. The end of the dance was timed perfectly to give people just enough time to find someone to kiss before the clock chimed.

She was shunted to the side by a few eager young ladies trying to be available. Tim didn't seem to want to be with them any more than her. Marinette was happy to slip away. She grabbed the toasting champagne and slipped off to the balcony just as she had done last year. The snow was falling down. She wished she had something to dust the snow off the bench. Sitting after standing in heels so long would be nice and she could get her feet further from the cold ground. She looked down over the gardens. She thought walking through them would be nice. It would be quiet and sheltered from the cold wind, still a jacket would have been a good option.

She stood and turned suddenly as she heard the door click behind her. She remembered how the door had closed last year and locked her out while the place was being robbed. Instead she could hear the countdown from inside as the door opened and a man in a suit walked out. She mentally prepared herself to refuse the kiss no matter how good the tailored suit looked on him. She took a breath and looked up into his eyes. Her heart caught in her throat; she must be dreaming.

“Jason?” she whispered.

He pulled her to him and cupped her cheek. She reached out to touch him and looked back at her flute of champagne. She worried that she was somehow hallucinating. The only time she had seen him in 2 months was in her dreams. His thumb glided along the bottom of her lip, urging her to believe he was real. It couldn't be him even if he was alive, he had not been at the party. She felt like crying. She didn't want to think of him right now.

"It's me, Doll. I'm back."

He tilted her face up by gently hooking a finger under her chin. She was still trying to wake herself but when she heard the chime of midnight, she decided she didn't care if it was a dream. She moved up to meet him as he leaned down to kiss her. His mouth slanted against hers and she opened her mouth to his. She pushed herself against him, relishing that the suit that let her feel far more of him than his typical armor.

She pulled him down, wrapping her arms around his neck. When he lifted her legs up and pushed her against the wall she decided that this had to be real or she would have landed in a heap on the snowy ground. They didn't break apart. They kissed desperately until they both were forced to pull back gasping for breath creating visible clouds in the cold night air.

She slid her hands against his face and shoulders. Then moved to his chest leaving kisses and visible puffs of air behind. She was still struggling to believe that any of this was real.

"How are you here?" She asked, "I thought--"

"I made it out. The news didn't show everything. But I couldn't risk approaching you right away."

"How did you know I was here? It doesn't seem like there is a crew inside relieving the rich people of all their valuables."

"I'm actually living here. I came down to see the end of the party. Then, I saw you. I have wanted to visit you since that night but this was my first opportunity without risking your safety."

"You live here? In the house of Bruce Wayne."

"It's a long story which I hope to tell you someday. But if you like the idea, I would very much like to keep kissing you."

Marinette shifted as his mouth moved to her neck leaving hot kisses on her skin. His hands went between the wall and her bare back. She moved back to kiss him but pulled away quickly and dropped her feet back down. She left her forehead pressed against his.

"This is amazing except for one thing." He frowned but she kept talking. "We are out in the snow when if I understand correctly you have a warm room inside this house."

"I do. It has a fire in the fireplace."

She nodded back at him and moved towards the door. She turned back to him so suddenly he bumped into her.

"It has a bed too, right?"

Rather than responding he groaned and pushed her inside. He put his arm around her shoulders and guided her to his bedroom.

Taglist

@theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @adrestar | @tbehartoo | @zynna | @technicallyburninggarden | @certainmuffinbagelcalzone | @jayjayspixiepop | @moon5608 | @rianoel

@izanae | @kittenmywaythrulife | @folk-ever-lore | @queenz-z

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 34

Man these parts are getting harder and harder to churn out. A lot of plot points converging and real life ramping up. Hopefully you all enjoy this. Please comment your thoughts on the chapter. And if you really liked it, Reblog it. Thats the best way to get others to see it. Also, Please let me know your thoughts. Your comments fuel me.

(Master Post)

_____________________________________________________________

Masquerade surveyed the classroom. Her former classmates now her masked servants. It was fitting how they were all silent. Before, they listened to her because she told them exactly the things they wanted to hear, now they listened because she had power over them. It was kind of poetic in a way.

She looked across the classroom, she realized that there seemed to be more people missing than she initially realized.

“We are missing someone. Aside from Marinette, who is missing?”

The controlled classmates looked amongst themselves. Trying to figure out who was the one that was not in the class.

“Is it Chloé?” Miracular inquired, trying to answer her master’s request.

The akuma looked around.

“Huh… Oh yea, she isn’t here. Well she isn’t important. I was thinking someone else.” Masquerade answered. She looked to her most recently made akuma servant.

The Bubbler, the akumatized version of Nino stood motionless. As if he was not registering what was going on.

“Bubbler? Do you know who is missing?”

The multicolored akuma said nothing. Not even looking in the direction of the mask maiden.

“Bubbler! I order you to answer me!” She commanded with fiery rage.

The akuma turned to face his master, now responding.

“Adrien is missing.” The bubbler answered, his voice robotic and as emotive as a speak and spell.

“So, Adrien isn’t in the room. What a shame. I was planning on turning him into my handsome little knight.”

Masquerade thought for a moment.

Has Adrien been akumatized? Lila wasn’t sure she had ever seen or heard about him getting akumatized. She knew that the class had pretty much gotten hit at least once or twice at some point from what she had heard and read from the ladyblog. But if that goody-goody Marinette hadn’t been akumatized, Adrien likely hadn’t been akumatized either.

“Alright my servants! We have a new mission. I want you to lock this school down! No one is allowed in or out. Anyone you find, bring them to me. If they can be akumatized, then they are joining our cause.”

“Time breaker. Guard the perimeter outside of the school. Anyone outside of Ladybug and Chat noir trying to get in. Tag them, but only if they are suspicious of what’s going on. Stay hidden otherwise.”

“Timebreaker nodded and began skating out of the room in a rush.

“Horrificator, once Timebreaker is outside, seal all the exits in the main building.”

The masked monstress nodded and sped out of the room.

“Dark Cupid, Stoneheart, Princess Fragrance, Miracular and Reflekta. I want you to split up check all of the rooms and bring me potential akumas.”

The five akuma nodded and made their way out the door.

“Gamer and Robostus. I want you to hack into the airwaves. I want access to every Electric device in Paris when I give you the signal. But make sure to be subtle. I don’t want anyone to know about us until I tell you.”

The two nod and start working to get that ready for her.

She focuses her attention to the bubble making akuma that was giving her problems earlier.

Considering how hard it was to break him down, it was understandable. She had saved him for last for a reason. Because he was the hardest one to crack.

He was a relatively calm individual, able to keep a level head. But even he had his weakness. His confidence. Once that was shaken, seeing his entire class taken, knowing his girlfriend was under her control, he couldn't resist another moment. In a way, it was the most satisfying charm on her bracelet.

“Now Bubbler, you are going to go and locate Marinette and Adrien for me. Put them in a bubble and bring them to me. Help that girlfriend of yours.”

The bubbler nodded yes despite severe shaking. Seems even now he is trying to resist the control of the mask.

“Troublesome, but it is only temporary. He will break soon enough.” Masquerade mused to herself.

She looked at the near empty room with contempt. This was hardly a place where she could exact her vengeance. It was so… lame. Though a thought occurs as she realized who she had left standing at attention without orders.

“Evillustrator, I have a special request for you.”

________________________________________________________

“What is this?” Chloé screeched. “My daddy bought me the best phone plan in the city. How can I not have service right now?!”

The nurse felt a chill run down her spine. Could the akuma block out phone signals? Is that why there is no attention being given to the school? How could they call for help? How would anyone know of the akuma attack? Would Ladybug and Chat noir be able to help them?

The nurse started to feel herself going pale, she was just supposed to be a school nurse. Worst thing she needed to deal with was a scraped knee or give a kid an ice pack. Now she has a woman that collapsed on the bed and an akuma that is somewhere in the school. She had just moved to Paris a few months ago. It was her dream to live in the city of love, get her career going, find a nice guy, and just live the good life. But no one told her that supervillain attacks would be so personally connected to her situation? She had heard about this crap in New York and in America. But Paris? It was too much. What if Ladybug and Chat noir didn’t fix everything? What if this was where her story ended. What if…

“Hey!”

The nurse turned to her attention to the voice. It was the brash blonde teen that was complaining.

“You look like you’re going to pass out. Just a heads up, I am not taking care of you.” Chloé commented.

Angela felt her face heat up with annoyance.

“Listen you brat. I don’t have time to deal with your attitude. I have a woman that is out cold from exhaustion in a building with a hostile akuma.”

“Good, at least you aren’t going to faint. I don’t need any more whinny women fainting on me”

The nurse paused, did the girl say that just to help her not succumb to the grim situation?

Chloé started making her way to the door.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“You already got your hands full with the annoying assistant. I need to make a call to daddy. So, I am going to head out the building and try there. Try not to get ripped apart by an akuma, I still need more ice when I get back.”

Angela blinked. This girl wasn’t scared of the akuma. She was actually going out to do something reasonable. If she could call for help, it would mean that this whole thing blows over.

“Okay, I’ll stay here. Be safe.”

“Yea whatever.”

Chloé headed out the door.

Angela felt a ghost of a smile grace her face.

‘Maybe that girl isn’t a complete brat after all.’

__________________________________________________

The shapeshifting sentimonster growled as it smacked the locker. It lost both primary targets. And worst of all, Ladybug appeared to make this even harder. Masquerade needed to hear about this.

“Master, Marinette and Adrien have escaped my sight.”

The sentimonster heard a sigh of disappointment from the other end.

“It is fine Simularé, They wont be able to escape the school anyway. They will be found soon enough. If anything, this is a blessing in disguise. Having them be the last targets will have them bare witness to how devasting it will all be.” Masquerade answered. “Any news on Ladybug and Chat noir?”

“That’s the other bad news. Ladybug arrived, I am assuming that’s how Marinette managed to escape, and ladybug also took Adrien away as well. No sign of chat noir. But if you know one is here, the other is likely soon to follow.”

There was a brief moment of silence, as masquerade mulled over the information she had received.

“Actually, that works out well for us. Meet up at my location, I have the other students out looking for them, I need your power for something more important.”

“Yes master.”

Simularé shifted back into its phantom form, moving quickly down the hallway to obey her master’s request.

Just as it left, Ladybug popped out of a nearby locker. Relieved it didn’t notice.

“That’s not good, Masquerade likely got everyone in the classroom.” The red heroine said aloud.

She activated her communicator and tried to contact chat noir. But there was no sound.

“Damn it. No signal. Lila likely cut the communication as soon as she realized it.?”

“No worries Buggaboo, I happen to be on site.” A voice called out.

Chat noir jumped out of another locker to reveal he was there.

Ladybug felt a bit of relief at her partner’s appearance. She could tell he felt the same. Better a situation with two heroes.

“Been here the whole time?” The spotted heroine asked her cat crimefighting comrade.

“Just arrived a few minutes ago, I figured something was up, so I decided to take a quick peek. Cat curiosity and all that.”

“And you assumed it was with Collège Françoise Dupont?”

“It seemed like a solid guess.”

“Considering the track record, that is reasonable.” Ladybug conceded.

“Ever wonder why it is always this school and never any of the other schools? Paris is a big city. You would think Hawkmoth would decide to branch out to the other schools in the city.” Chat noir inquired as they started walking down the hall.

“I assumed its just a coincidence.”

“Shot in the dark, maybe he has a kid that goes here. He is pretty old” Chat noir dissed.

“I can’t imagine anyone that would want to date Hawkmoth.” Ladybug joked.

“What about the blue lady? She seemed crazy enough.”

“And now that image is burned in my mind. Thanks kitty.” Ladybug sarcastically commented. “Despite the mental scarring, I am glad you got here. Seems a repeat offender got herself an upgrade in the akuma powers department.”

“Lila.”

“How did you know?”

“I was reading the ladyblog, Alya did great work on that article.” Chat noir praised. He mentally applauded his quick thinking.

“Right, kind of the reason I felt the need to keep an eye on this place. But sadly, I was too slow.” Ladybug responded a tad gloomy.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. We will finish this akuma before lunch.”

Ladybug heard a footstep from the end of the hallway.

“Get down!”

Ladybug tackled the cat hero down. Just narrowly avoiding a neon pause symbol, which now suck on the wall.

“Looks like Lila has been busy.” Chat noir noted as he turned his face to the direction of the attacker.

Ladybug looked at the akuma. The white mask covering her friend’s face. Lady Wifi was back.

“Alya…”

The two heroes got into a fighting stance and prepared to take down this controlled akuma.

________________________________________________

The halls were empty and lifeless as the two visiting teens made their way cautiously down the halls.

“Oddly quiet in here.” The fencer commented. “What do you think Luka?”

“Well last time we entered a place with an akuma in it, it was brimming with armored minions. Maybe this akuma has more stealth?” The Musician commented. “So, I don’t think you will be fighting as directly as you are use to Kagami.”

Kagami nodded at that, not exactly happy or sad regarding that remark. Her plan was to see if she could help her friends get out of the building, grab her textbook, and get out. She wasn’t really that interested in fighting a superpowered foe at this moment in time.

The two ceased speaking when they heard approaching footsteps.

“Someone’s coming.” Luka noted.

The two duck into the nearest room.

The two stayed close to the door as they listened to the sound of the approaching figure.

Kagami dropped to the floor silently as to check and see if she could get a visual.

She could only see what appeared to be costume boots of a larger figure. Which made the expert fencer believe it was not friendly.

The figure stopped, looking at the door. The two teens felt their neck hairs stand on edge as they did their best not to make a sound.

After what felt like an eternity, the figure passed the door without checking. Once the sound of his footsteps could no longer be heard, they let out a sigh of relief.

“That was way too close for comfort.”

“Agreed. I would prefer a direct confrontation next time, much less nerve-racking. “

The two carefully open the door and exit the room.

“Seems we found the akuma.” Luka commented. “Now we just need to avoid it and.”

“You mean akumas.” Kagami corrected.

“Akumas?”

Kagami tilted the boys head to look in the same direction she was looking, and sure enough she saw a rather large rock like creature walking the halls.

“Oh… well that is bad.”

Kagami pushed him back into the room and closed the door. Locking it before the rock giant could notice them.

“I’m surprised.”

“By the fact there is an 8-foot-tall rock beast outside?”

“No, by the fact you didn’t try to fight it.”

“I don’t have a weapon.” Kagami replied flatly.

Luka raised a brow at the comment, unsure if the fencer was serious or not about fighting that thing if she had a foil.

“Is something wrong?” A third voice came from behind them.

The two teens turned around, preparing for the worst. Though they were relieved to see it was just an old janitor… in a Hawaiian shirt. Despite his odd dress, he did give off a kind aura. One of a trusting old grandpa.

They noticed that the room seemed to be a sort of teacher’s lounge, with a small counter with a sink and cabinets. As well as a fridge to keep food cold and stored. A place in the school where teachers would come to get a quick coffee or store their lunch.

“Oh good, you aren’t an akuma.” Luka sighed with relief.

“An akuma?” The old man asked.

“Yes, it is very dangerous out there right now. There are multiple villains outside. I would recommend staying put while we go out there and help handle things.” Kagami explained.

“Quite bold of you to go out there against those monsters.” The man responded.

“Don’t worry, we will be careful. We just need to make sure we can get as many people out as we can so Ladybug and Chat noir won’t need to worry.”

“Ah, how selfless of you. You both seem quite capable for ones so young.”

“You’re very kind, but we are just doing what we can. Our friends are out there and they need our help.”

Kagami goes to the door. Checking to ensure the coast is clear again.

The old man pats the musician’s shoulder.

“I am sure you two will figure a way to help your friends.”

“There are too many outside this room.” Kagami grumbled. If only I had a way to fight them.”

The mysterious janitor smiled.

“Say… I did happen to see Ladybug earlier.”

The two teens turned their attention to the old man.

“You did?” they asked in unison.

“Yes, she happened to drop something while rushing. Would you two be so kind as to return them to her when you see her.”

The two of them glance at each other and shrug. The old janitor might be senile.

“Sure… We can give it to her.” Luka assured the old man, trying to remain polite.

The old man moves to a closet, where out of view of the two teens, an elaborate chest with the symbol of the guardian’s decorates the top. He quickly gets two smaller boxes and closes the closet.

“Ah! Here they are.”

He hands the two a small box each. Their eyes go wide.

“They seemed important, so I didn’t want to just leave them on the floor. But I have a feeling you two will take good care of them.”

The two teens were engrossed by the boxes in their hands. They recognized them immediately. These were the boxes Ladybug used when handing out miraculous.

“Where did you find…?” Kagami tried to question, but noticed the old man was no longer there.

“He’s gone…”

“Actually, I am over here.”

The teens look in the opposite direction they were looking in order to see him at the end of the room getting a snack from the fridge.

The duo decided that maybe this old guy wasn’t all there after all and figured it would be best to go somewhere and utilize the ‘gift’ they were just given.

“Stay in the lounge where it’s safe okay?” Luka asked politely.

“Of course. I am not paid if I am not working.”

The two teens checked the door again, and once the coast was clear. They both slipped out of the room.

After he knew they were out of sight, the old man chuckled.

“The senile routine works every time.”

“Master, you really cut it close with that one.” A small turtle creature exclaimed as he popped out from the closet.

“The universe works in mysterious ways Wayzz. What are the odds that there would be an attack on the school the very day I decide to hide out as a janitor?”

“Considering the frequency of akuma attacks, very likely.”

“True, but how about running into two individuals that Marinette had picked to be heroes.” Fu followed up.

“That is quite a coincidence.”

The guardian pulled out his phone and noticed he didn’t have a signal.

“It seems I can’t get a signal to notify her of the reinforcements I sent her way. Likely it would be the same on her end. So, it is a good thing I acted in advance.”

Fu moved to the closet where he kept the miraculous.

“I can’t help but shake the feeling Ladybug and Chat noir will need all of the help they can get.

“Don’t worry master, I am sure Ladybug and Chat noir will be successful.

“Let us keep an eye on things. They might need another ally to turn the tide.

________________________________________________________

“I am guessing you are also familiar with what’s inside here?” Kagami inquired as the two stealthily moved in the hall.

“I may be familiar with it.” Luka commented.

Kagami contemplated the statement. She figured out the truth.

“Seems we both have used a miraculous then?”

“It appears we have. Though I am not sure Ladybug will be thrilled that someone knows I have helped her.”

“I understand the sentiment. Though lets simply agree to keep it between us.” Kagami answered. “Friends do keep secrets like that if I’m correct.”

Luka smiled at the comment.

“Your secret is safe with me.” Luka assured.

“As is yours.”

The two found the locker room and quickly moved inside.

“Coast is clear.”

The two opened the boxes and as they did two magical creatures appeared in front of them.

A floating creature with multiple spikes appeared in front of the fencer, while another floating creature that resembled a cobra stood in front of luka.

“It is a pleasure to see you again Mistress Kagami.”

“It’s been too long, Longg.” Kagami smiled. Happy to see her kwami friend.

“Hello Luka, itssss been a while.” The snake kwami greeted.

“Happy to see you too Sass.” Luka fist bumped his kwami.

The kwamis stop and turn to see the other kwami there.

“Does Ladybug know about this?” They both ask in unison.

“We will inform her after. Right now, there is a lot of danger.” Kagami exclaimed. “Ladybug needs our help.”

The two kwami nod and prepare to fight.

“Consssider us accomplissses.” Sass answered.

The two teens put on the miraculous.

“Sass! Scales Slither.”

“Longg! Bring the storm”

The two teens transform into their heroic alter egos.

Kagami shifting into the dragon miraculous hero Ryuuko, and Luka changing into the Snake hero Viperion.

The two stop to glance at the other.

“So, what should I call you.” The snake hero asked curiously.

“Call me Ryuuko. And what about you mister snake?”

“Viperion is what I am going with.”

“Fitting.”

“As is yours.”

The two give a nod of comradery before making their way out of the locker room. They had to go help Ladybug.

__________________________________________________

Ladybug dashed across the hallway, avoiding pause symbols being flung at her by the conniving akuma.

She slid underneath one of the symbols and preformed a daring slide kick to knock Lady Wifi off balance.

While she was unstable, Chat noir charged and used his baton to make contact with her white mask. Believing it was the obvious weak point.

“Got it!” Chat noir exclaimed triumphantly. The strike of the staff knocking Ladywifi a good several meters. Before lying flat on her back.

“Wow, that is a tough mask. I thought for sure that was the weak point.” Chat noir commented.

Lady Wifi stood up robotically.

“There must be a way to snap her out of it. Unless Hawkmoth is learning from his mistakes.” Ladybug hypothesized as she got up from the ground.

“Well I got nothing.” Chat noir shrugged.

Another set of footsteps approaching caught the hero’s attention. The recognized the multicolored bubble maker the moment they saw him.

“Nino… You too?” Chat noir said under his breath.

The Bubble maker used his bubble wand to summon two large bubbles to capture the heroes. Bringing back flashbacks of their first encounter with the bubble akuma.

Chat noir and Ladybug expertly slide between the gaps of the attack, resulting in Lady Wifi getting hit with the large bubbles and being sent flying into the wall via bubble prison.

Chat noir lunged at the Bubbler, his quick pounce pinning him down before he could attack.

“Maybe I can destroy his mask with…”

“Wait Chat noir!” Ladybug called out.

Chat noir paused.

“What if your cataclysm doesn’t free him?”

“And then I am left without the power before a recharge.”

“Exactly. We need to hold off on using our powers right now.”

Chat noir wanted to save his friend. But he knew his partner was right. They needed to conserve their powers before facing Lila.

The Bubbler managed to get the cat hero off of him with a burst of strength. Knocking Chat noir to the ground.

Lady Wifi had gotten free from the bubble attack and was now blocking the other entrance.

Ladybug and Chat noir moved back to back, Ladybug facing the ladyblogger turned mindless akuma slave and Chat noir facing the akumatized DJ.

“Any ideas, Buggaboo?”

“Seems they can’t adapt. They are pretty much mindless slaves. Which makes sense since Lila wouldn’t want them to think for themselves.”

“So you’re saying their movements are simple.”

“Which means they are exploitable.”

Chat noir felt relief watch over him. He knew Ladybug had a plan.

_____________________________________________________

“EWWWW!” Chloé screeched in disgust. The front entrance to the school had been covered in a pink slime.

She wiped her hand on the cleanest section of wall she could find. This was not her day.

“What is with this nasty gross akuma? First, I can’t call Daddy to come and pick me up. I can’t even post about it! How will Ladybug know to save me? Or better yet, get me the bee miraculous so I can help her save the day?”

Chloé decided to try another exit, since she had no plans of sticking around without knowing if she was going to be given a miraculous or not. Plus, she did say she would call for help, and doing that would make her look good in potential hero points.

As she was walking, she bumps into something in the middle of the hall. Which was bizzare since the hall was clear.

“Ouch, right on my bruise. What the hell is…”

Chloé felt her anger shift to fear when she watched as the empty hall now contained a familiar akuma.

“Sabrina?”

The akuma turned to her, her face covered with a white face mask.

“Eww. Your akuma form looks even tacker than before.”

“Take potential akuma to master.” The akumatized Sabrina stated in an emotionless tone. Repeating the order, she had been given.

“Oh no you don’t! Sabrina, I order you to listen to me!”

The akuma ignored the blonde’s command and slowly walked towards her.

“Sabrina… I am warning you. I am going to yell at you over this later if you don’t stop right now.”

Chloé started slowly backing away. She wasn’t sure of what to do.

“Listen… if you stop right now… I’ll uh… let you take a pick of one of my old sweaters.” Chloé bargained, not intending to let her pick one of the ones she actually liked.

Chloé felt her hand touch the sealed door, and knew she was at the end of the hall. She was boxed in.

“This is so unacceptable.” Chloé stated, preparing to get captured. But a flash of Red and Black came out of nowhere and kicked the akuma hard to the wall.

“Ladybug! I knew you would like save me!” Chloé jumped and hugged her savior.

“Im not ladybug.” The heroine spoke.”

Chloé released the hug as she examined who her savior was.

“Who the hell are you?”

Chloé had never bothered to learn the names of any of the other miraculous heroes. She sometimes forgets chat noir’s name.

“Ryuuko.” The dragon heroine stated calmly, almost regretting saving Chloé.

“Did Ladybug send you? Cause it would have been better if she got me to help.”

Ryuuko decided to ignore Chloé’s comment.

“Now we need to leave before she… Where did she go?” Looking at the dented locker that no longer had an akuma lying on the ground.

Suddenly the akuma popped out of nowhere about to strike from above with her tonfa and steal Ryuuko’s powers, but was stopped when a small harp smacked her face.

“She appears to have invisibility.” A voice called out.

The two turn to see the snake hero as he caught his harp on the rebound.

Chloé took a moment to look over the snake hero. She had to admit, he was pretty cute. Not Adrien cute, maybe she would start learning the names of the other heroes.

“Quick thinking Viperion.” Ryuuko thanked the snake teen.

“Just following your lead.” Viperion responded. The two giving eachother a respectful smile. They both seemed to have gotten used to working together.

The akuma got up. Its white face mask making the akuma’s expression unreadable. But its body language exuded rage.

“Seems we aren’t going anywhere until she is taken care of.” Ryuuko said as she stared down the akuma.

Viperion turned to chloé.

“You need to go and get to safety.”

“Okay!” Chloé says as she runs off.

“How come she didn’t give you any sass?”

“Because I already have him.”

Kagami had to admit that was a clever response.

“Not what I meant, but Chat noir would love that joke.”

“I will be sure to tell him it later.”

“Stick to playing guitar. You’re a better musician than comedian.”

Before they could get off anymore banter. The akuma went for another attack.

________________________________________________________

Simularé entered Ms.Bustier’s classroom.

“I am here.” The ghostly sentimonster announced.

“Excellent.”

The sentimonster looked up to see that the classroom it was expeciting to see had been altered into what appeared to be a rather glamourous throne room. The windows covered by white curtains with the design of an akuma in black. The platforms and stairs had been altered to be marble. And at the top, where Lila’s desk once was was now a golden throne akin to something one would see in a castle. Though despite the impressive change in the classroom it was still being designed. The akuma known as the evillustrator was still creating more furnishings for the room.

“Simulare, I have an order for you.” Masquerade stated as she sat on the new throne. Clearly confident in her position.

The sentimonster approached her master. Stopping only a few feet away.

“I want you to create a mirage over the school. Since Ladybug is already in the school. It would be best if you made sure no one notices whats happening here. I don’t need any additional heroes popping in yet. Let’s handle her before making things public.”

Simularé nodded.

“Understood. But what should we do if she…”

“I have everything under control. Just follow my orders.”

Simularé ceased her questioning.

“As you wish master.”

The sentimonster shifted into her Volpina form and headed out of the classroom.

“She is getting arrogant in her power. If things do go south, I will need to step in.” Simularé said to herself. But for now, she knew she had a role to play.

_____________________________________________________________

And that ends part 34.

Seems things are REALLY heating up. Will Viperion and Ryuuko be able to help Ladybug and Chat noir?

Will Ladybug and Chat noir be able to get through to their brainwashed friends?

Will Masquerade's gambit be enough for her to get her vengeance?

Whats Simularé's deal?

Find out by staying tuned and sharing. Remember Reblogs help content creators and if you do enjoy my content, the support really does help