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kasienda · 2 years

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Restorative Justice - Ch 6: Restoring Community

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Chapter 1 - Community Circle

Chapter 2 - Preparation

Chapter 3 - Circle Checkin

Chapter 4 - Acknowledging Harm (Part 1)

Chapter 5 - Acknowledging Harm (Part 2)

Chapter 6 - Restoring Community

Ms. Bustier didn’t speak immediately, but she was smiling at them.

“This is a lot,” she said, releasing a sigh. “It doesn’t seem like enough to say that you’re all amazing, but you very much are. For all you managed to accomplish and juggle while the people in your lives had no idea. People do not give teenagers enough credit.”

The praise was obviously more for the others than her, which was fine, because Chloé didn’t need such words or sentiments.

“I’m also so proud of you all for your vulnerability and your willingness to share your struggles and to truly listen to one another’s pain. That is such hard work.”

Ms. Bustier’s green eyes landed on her, and to Chloé’s surprise, her teacher’s expression remained soft and proud.

Chloé glanced away, her neck prickling.

“Chloé, you told us that you hate circles, and yet you fought for this to happen anyway, and once we were all here, you truly engaged in the process as you never have before, and I very much hope you’re satisfied with the results so far.”

Chloé shifted in her seat. She wanted to object, to pull away, to make the kind words stop. She didn’t know what to do with them.

But Ms. Bustier was the first adult in a long time that didn’t seem to outright detest her, didn’t seem to be afraid of her. She might even have a high opinion of Chloé, or at least of her potential.

And Chloé didn’t want to disabuse her of that notion. So she said nothing in response, glancing down at her nails, pretending she didn’t care.

Because she didn’t.

Ms. Bustier’s attention shifted to Marinette, and Chloé’s whole body relaxed.

Maybe she cared.

“Marinette, you were cornered unjustly into coming to this circle, and you were terrified to share and to speak. And you did it anyway. I hope that you sharing this, and allowing the others to do the same, will be a good thing for you.”

Marinette offered a small smile. “I hope that, too.”

Their teacher sighed. “I must admit, I’m also overwhelmed at the situation you are all in. I know that in terms of our relationship it is of vital importance to keep your confidences.”

The sudden tension in the room was palpable. Marinette was ramrod straight and Adrien was squeezing her hand so hard both of their knuckles were turning white.

“But in terms of not just your safety, but the safety of all of Paris, I feel like I should maybe… get you all some more support.”

“You can’t tell anyone!” Marinette cut in.

“You’re all teenagers. You’re going up against a domestic terrorist,” Ms. Bustier said.

“A terrorist with the powers of a miraculous! No one you tell can help us with that.”

Ms. Bustier remained silent, her lips pressed together in a thin line. She definitely didn’t agree.

“You can’t tell anyone,” Marinette said again as if saying it over and over enough times would eventually make it true. “You promised. We opened up, we trusted you. You agreed to honor our privacy,” Marinette’s voice cracked.

“I’m not trying to corner you, Marinette.” Ms. Bustier then looked at each of them. “Or any of you. I understand how keeping your identities secret protects you. And I want to keep your confidences. But it’s also a risk. You just said you had no fallback position. That this is all on your shoulders and you’re all just children. You could be hurt, or killed, and who would know? And what if you were to fail? Where would Paris be? Or the world? Is keeping that secret not also irresponsible?”

Chloé privately thought Ms. Bustier had a point, but Marinette was already shaking her head, her mouth open to argue, but Adrien cut in (holding her hand) before she could.

“We’re not as alone as you think,” Adrien said, glancing down. “Plagg?”

A little black catlike creature that resembled Pollen far too well to be anything other than a kwami flew out of Adrien’s overshirt. Chloé’s heart rose into her throat.

Adrien and Marinette just got to live with their kwami? Full time?

“Yes!” Marinette hissed. “This is Plagg, and I have Tikki.” A ladybug kwami flitted from Marinette’s purse into the open air beside Plagg.

Ms. Bustier stared at the floating creatures, her eyes as wide as the gap between Chloé’s mother’s visits.

“They are ancient beings,” Marinette said. “They protect us, guide us, and offer advice. The Ladybug is Tikki. She is my partner. She gives me the power to transform and she taught me how to use her powers. But she also counsels me in every aspect of my life. And I imagine Plagg does the same for Adrien, doesn’t he?” she said, turning towards Adrien for confirmation.

Adrien looked absolutely frozen.

But Plagg was already floating above them, nodding sagely. “Of course, I do.”

Adrien’s face rippled, and Chloe knew he was trying not to laugh.

Chloé suppressed a snort.

“You’re the creatures that Ms. Mendeleiev saw?” Ms. Bustier asked.

Plagg opened his mouth to speak.

“Yes!” Tikki jumped in first. Plagg visibly rolled his eyes. The expression looked eerily human. “That was an unfortunate moment of carelessness on our part. Our role in our chosen’s life is as Marinette described.”

“Chosen?” Ms. Bustier echoed, but before either kwami could respond, Ms. Bustier held up a hand. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m clearly out of my depth and we haven’t finished talking about what we all came here to discuss. Marinette, we can discuss whether or not these secrets should be kept or shared another day. Is that acceptable to you for now?”

Marinette froze in surprise, and then slowly nodded.

“Is that acceptable to all of you?” Ms. Bustier asked.

It was stupid that she was even asking the rest of them. Wherever Marinette went, the others always followed. And it wasn’t like Chloé cared if more or less people knew.

Well, as long as it didn’t result in the end of all things.

But they all nodded anyway. Chloé too.

Ms. Bustier smiled. “Great. Before we continue, how are you all feeling?”

She held up the talking piece in offering. Adrien raised the hand not entwined with Marinette’s, and Ms. Bustier handed the stuffed animal to him.

“I feel really good,” he said. “Like free. I didn’t know that just telling someone everything that you’ve been feeling is a thing that people really did. And I liked it a lot.”

“Dude, you have no idea how sad that sentence is,” Nino said.

Adrien shrugged before passing the piece to Marinette with a smile.

“I feel lighter than I’ve felt in a long time.” She passed the talking piece to Nino.

“I’m good.” He immediately handed it to Alya.

She clutched it to her lap. “I still feel kinda raw, honestly. But I think it will end up being a good thing.”

Chloé accepted the kitten and sighed. “This wasn’t as awful as it could have been.”

They all laughed.

Her eyebrows furrowed together. Were they going to find all her cutting remarks moving forward cute? She wasn’t cute - at least, not in that way.

She shoved the kitten at Ms. Bustier, crossed her arms, and glared at all of them. They all kept smiling.

Which was super annoying.

Ms. Bustier looked at each of them. “The final part of our circle is trying to come to some agreements together so that you can come back together as a classroom community, and apparently as a superhero team. After everything you’ve heard, what do you feel you need from each other to be able to do that?”

The room remained silent for several moments. Chloé shifted in her seat. She had no idea what she needed. She wanted the bee miraculous, but there was no way Marinette would agree to that.

And honestly, that wasn’t why she had forced this circle to happen.

Nino was the first to raise his hand though, so Ms. Bustier tossed the kitten to him.

He addressed Marinette. “I hate the back and forth of it. I miss Wayzz. And I’ve barely interacted with him, but we’ve joined together. And I feel a connection with him. I know it’s not necessarily safe to have the miraculous full time, but I would like to get to know him better if that’s possible somehow.”

Chloé found herself nodding enthusiastically until she caught Alya doing the same. Then, they both froze, eying one another.

And then, it was even more galling to realize Cesaire didn’t want to share anything with Chloé anymore than Chloé wanted to share something with her.

But they did share something. Even before today they had shared something.

Marinette huffed. “Well now that you all know, it’s not like you can’t come over and just visit.”

Chloé blinked. Surely, Marinette hadn’t meant to include Chloé in that invitation.

Did she?

“And I want everyone to be able to say when they’re mad at someone,” Nino was saying. “Well, at least at me. If I’m doing something wrong I would like the chance to make it right or explain before I’m frozen out.”

Marinette and Alya immediately nodded their agreement, but Nino’s eyes were only on Adrien who looked way less certain.

“I agree in principle,” Adrien said. “I just… it’s always been hard to tell people when I’m upset. But this circle has been amazing. I can see why you would want this, and I promise I will try.”

“All I can ask, dude.” He passed the talking piece to Alya.

She looked up to the group. “I honestly don’t know what I need at the moment. But I do know I’m excited to be a part of this. And I love you all for trusting me with so much of yourselves.”

She held out the talking piece to Chloé.

Chloé let her hand wrap around the soft stuffed animal. She still didn’t know what to ask for, but she really didn’t want to just pass the piece.

She looked across the circle at Adrien who was smiling at her with encouragement once again. Then, she glanced back at Marinette, who was also smiling.

At her.

It was weird. And it was wrong.

Marinette wasn’t supposed to smile at her . Marinette was supposed to hate her and it didn’t make sense that just sharing about her mother had changed that.

But if Chloé was honest with herself, she wanted to be a part of their group. It wasn’t about the bee miraculous or recognition. At least, not anymore.

But it wasn’t like Chloé could ask them to be her friend. That was far too pathetic. And Chloé was never pathetic.

She adopted her most condescending tone. “I want my suggestions to be taken seriously and not dismissed just because of our past.”

Ms. Bustier arched another eyebrow at her, and Chloé bristled. She had already established that she was rubbish at speaking with respect, but she was trying, okay? She glanced back to Marinette and was relieved to see the other girl smiling as she nodded.

She got what Chloé was trying to say.

Or at least some of it.

Which was the only reason Chloé was able to add more. “I know you didn’t choose me the way you chose them,” she jutted her chin towards Alya and Nino. “But I really was only trying to help Ladybug in the very beginning.”

And maybe her reasons hadn’t been altruistic at all, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t helped. It didn’t mean that she couldn’t help moving forward even if her motives were still pretty selfish.

Before she could say anything more ridiculous, she shoved the talking piece back to Ms. Bustier, who passed the piece to Adrien.

He squeezed Marinette’s hand, looked back up at her, and opened his mouth, but he closed it again before he said anything.

Marinette smiled. “You just agreed that you would try to share when you were upset.”

It was the perfect thing to say. It dissolved Adrien’s nerves immediately in his startled laughter. Whatever Chloé got out of Marinette or didn’t, she couldn’t regret it. Not when it had made things so much better for Adrien.

“I agreed to do that for Nino,” he bantered back, smiling.

She shrugged, mirroring his expression. “I might need it more than Nino,” she said. “I’m not always great at realizing when I’ve hurt someone. I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone,” she rambled, “but especially you. You have to tell me if I do.”

He granted her a small nod.

“So what do you want to ask me for?” she prompted.

His free hand still rubbed the back of his neck. “I… I don’t like being left completely in the dark. If you say we’re partners I want to be partners. Not your sidekick. If you need me to be a sidekick just say that.”

“You are not a sidekick!”

He laughed again. “Then please include me. If you can’t tell me something, I would like it if you at least acknowledge there’s a secret and tell me why I can’t know. But please don’t keep secrets to protect me or spare my ego. I don’t want you to shoulder this burden alone. I am more than willing to shoulder it with you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He handed her the kitten.

She sucked in a breath. “I need you all to stop putting yourself into danger needlessly. I can’t stand it when Alya is chasing akumas or Chat leaps in front of me to take a hit. Even you, Chloé. You have a tendency to piss off akumas rather than deescalate the situation.”

Chloé crossed her arms. Marinette was being ridiculous. Chloé was not the deescalating type. If anyone came at her, they’d get a piece of her mind.

Before Chloé could say as much, Marinette turned back to Adrien.

“Especially you.” She was glaring daggers at him. And he must have heard this all before because he was remarkably calm.

“I already need you so much,” she told him. “I have always been scared that if I knew who you were, I’d care about you even more. It was already so hard to watch you…” she took a shaky breath, “take hit after hit, to get erased from existence, to just… Now that I know your name, how am I not going to scream it when you’re not okay?”

“I trust you to protect me, too,” he said softly, caressing the side of her face like none of the rest of them were even there. Chloé was embarrassed for him. He was such a sap.

Marinette clearly had a different opinion though. Her glassy eyes never turned from him. But at least the girl didn’t start crying again. Instead, she took in a shuddering breath. “Thank you. I’ll try to live up to that.” Then she turned back towards the center of the circle. “I do probably need more help than I’ve let myself have. I need confidants and second opinions.”

“I’m sure Chloé’s got your back there,” Alya quipped.

Chloé started at being included in the teasing banter before she grinned and nodded. She was willing to bombard Marinette with all the second opinions.

It was only when Marinette held up the talking piece toward Ms. Bustier that Chloé realized they had made all the way around the circle once again.

Their teacher placed the stuffed gray kitten in her lap like it was an actual kitten and not a toy.

“Having heard everyone’s asks, is there anything else any of you would like to say?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“I’m honored to have been a part of your circle. Thank you for allowing me to bear witness and to facilitate our discussion today. If you ever feel the need for another, my door is always open.”

“Thank you, Ms. Bustier,” Marinette said.

“Yeah, thanks, Ms B!” Nino piped in.

Adrien scooped Marinette into a hug and then Nino too, a few seconds later. Alya was on Marinette’s other side.

Chloé watched on, feeling awkward. Like, where was she supposed to look.

“C’mon Chloé!” Adrien said. “Get in here!”

Chloé didn’t move and so the other four came to her, and she squawked as they swept her up into their group hug.

It wasn’t the worst thing.

…

The next morning could not have gone worse for Chloé Bourgeois. Her favorite outfit had somehow ended in the regular laundry instead of the drycleaners and was now utterly ruined. Jean was out sick or something and his substitute didn’t know anything about her routine. And the kitchens had run out of her favorite strawberry preserves.

Just when she thought she had left the hotel and escaped the run of incompetence, her driver took a complete wrong turn, and the course correction cost them fifteen minutes, meaning she wouldn’t have time to consume whatever treat Sabrina no doubt had brought her to make her day remotely worthwhile.

Clearly, the universe hated her today.

She stomped grumpily into the school’s hallways only to immediately be accosted by the sight of Adrien and Marinette sucking each other’s faces off.

“Oh my god! Get a room!” she screeched, whacking the back of his head with her purse as she strutted past.

Adrien pulled away from his new girlfriend long enough to offer Chloé a shit eating grin.

“Having regrets, Chlo?”

“So many regrets!” she called back. She was lying. She had no regrets. It was good to see him smile again.

His answering laugh told her he understood, or didn’t mind, at the very least.

She entered the classroom to find the whole class was in a titter.

“Oh my god! It finally happened!” Rose squealed happily. “They look so cute together!”

“How do you think it happened?”

“I don’t care! I’m just glad that it did!”

And just, ugh. Today was going to be so annoying!

Chloé stalked to her seat, determined to tune them all out.

Adrien and Marinette eventually came in hand in hand five minutes before the bell. Everyone broke into cheers and whistles to the newly minted couple.

Marinette’s face was the color of Ladybug’s suit, but Chloé didn’t care because Adrien’s face was brighter than the sun’s glare on her father’s freshly waxed Audi.

“How’d it happen?” Kim asked.

They both immediately glanced at Chloé.

No, no, no! She wanted nothing to do with this.

Marinette’s smirk told her she was doomed. Chloé’s head thunked loudly onto her desk.

“Honestly? Chloé locked us in a room with her and yelled at us for being stupid,” Marinette explained and Chloé didn’t even have to look up. She could hear the glee in Marinette’s voice.

“Chloé did what?” Sabrina asked, and Cholé couldn’t bring herself to look at her best friend’s confusion. Chloé had never pulled off a scheme before without consulting Sabrina first.

“And I got defensive,” Marinette continued, “but in the shouting everything came out. And now she gets to say I told you so.”

“I told you so!” Chloe snapped back and the whole class chuckled.

Marinette grinned. “And Adrien and I get to be happy, so everyone wins!” She held up their joined hands, which Adrien used as an opportunity to gently kiss the back of her hand.

The class cooed and awed in approval.

It was cute. Like, disgustingly so. Chloé didn’t know how she was going to stand being in the same room as the couple for at least another week.

“That’s amazing! Congrats guys!” Nathaniel said.

“It’s about time!” Alix added.

Mylene’s brows furrowed and turned her way. “I can’t believe Chloé did something nice.”

Nice?!

Chloé resented that. She was not nice! She would never be nice. She threw everyone in a room, blackmailed them into sharing their deepest secrets, and screamed at them. She wasn’t nice.

She didn’t want to be nice.

Two or three of their classmates patted Chloe’s shoulders in excitement. And she wanted to throw them all out a window!

What was happening? Did they not remember who she was – what she could do to each and everyone of them?

The bell rang and everyone scrambled to their seats. Ms. Bustier offered them all a fond tolerant smile as she walked into the classroom.

“You should already have your work out,” she reminded them.

The class moved to comply and the lesson began a few minutes later. Despite Ms. Bustier earning her title of Chloé’s favorite teacher all over again the day prior, the class period proved to be monotonous. Chloé could not sit still or stay focused.

She sighed in relief when the bell finally signified the break between classes.

But before Chloé could bolt from the room, Marinette was standing in front of Sabrina and Chloé’s desk.

She held a box with her family’s bakery logo on prominent display.

“Hey Chloé,” Marinette greeted with an open smile like they had been friends for years instead of enemies. “I wanted to invite you to join us for lunch today. Sabrina, you’re welcome, too.” Sabrina glanced between the two girls, uncertain.

“I want to be clear about one thing, Dup- Marinette.”

“Yeah?”

“We may have reached an understanding, but I’m still going to be a bitch.”

Because clearly, they all needed the reminder.

Marinette smiled. She fucking smiled. “ Don’t worry, Chloé. I will always be there to put you in your place whenever you step over a line.” Then she placed a bakery box on the desk. “See you at lunch.”

Chloé glared unhappily at the box.

“What do I have to do to get you to stop bringing me macarons?!”

Marinette shrugged as she picked up her bag from her desk. “You could eat them.”

Sabrina was eyeing the box with barely concealed delight. Chloé slid the box over.

“Oh, just open it already! Eat whatever you like.”

Sabrina seized on it and ate through two of them immediately. “Don’t you want one, Chloé?”

“I suppose I could eat one, but only so you don’t look like a pig eating all by yourself.”

Sabrina wilted. Just slightly, but Chloé noticed. She always noticed.

But this time she felt guilty. Why did she say stuff like that to her best friend?

She ate her cookie slowly and when she was done she made a point of not looking at Sabrina.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t need to say that.”

Sabrina froze mid bite, and stared at Chloé like she had never seen her before. “You’re sorry?”

“Did I stutter?” Chloé growled back.

Sabrina smiled as she turned with another macaron raised to her lips. “Thank you, Chloé. You’re forgiven.”

It wasn’t a hug, but Sabrina hadn’t been tha t upset. And Chloe probably didn’t actually want a hug.

Probably.

The class gradually filed back in as the break continued. The bell rang, and Ms. Bustier had barely opened her mouth to start their next lesson when an akuma alert went off. She glanced way too obviously toward the superhero corner, which of course drew the whole class's attention to that spot. Adrien and Marinette both sat ramrod straight, frozen like the newest intern caught in her mother’s ire.

Chloé sighed. Everyone was an amateur.

Except her of course.

“No!” she wailed. “There simply can’t be an akuma today! Do you know how much time I spent on my hair this morning? I am not going outside in this weather. You can’t make me evacuate. I’ll just wait here. So what if the akuma gets me! The ladybugs will just fix it later. But the ladybugs will not fix the damage that’ll be done to my hair by this humidity!”

And sure enough, all eyes were on her. Marinette had slipped out the back while Adrien was through the other door. “Chloé,” their teacher began with a stern expression, but Chloé could see the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You know you have to evacuate with the rest of the class if only so I know where everyone is.”

“Ugh!” she screeched. “It’s ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous,” she screeched as she stomped out of her seat and out the classroom, knowing her classmates would follow.

Which would keep them safer and allow Adrien and Marinette to do their job.

Not that she did it for any of them. No, of course not. She did it for… her brain stuttered as she couldn’t think of anything.

Maybe she did do it for all of them.

She flicked her ponytail over her shoulder.

They would never get her to admit it.

Because she was always going to be a bitch.

She liked that about herself.

…

#restorative justice #chloe bourgeois #miraculous ladybug fan fiction #redemption arc #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #enemies to friends #healing conversations #restoring community #sit in a circle and talk about feelings #my own content

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carbuckety · 1 year

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Favorite Goldenlonzo makeup design?

goldenlonzo my babygirl.... ooh this is a hard question

I really like Joseph Stahl of US Tour 4's makeup, very golden, but very colorful besides and it looks quite pretty and certainly very Cats-like if not catlike. also, oh la la, that muzzle??!??? b&w lonz could NEVER.

For pure giggles i love the paris alonzo design. What the fuck is this

Like haha meme guy-paul image but also that was legit the alonzo makeup. Why? It's like the worst possible compromise of golden & b&w lonzo you could've come to.

It's awful and I love it. So French. So 80s. so Cats

#thanks for the ask friendo #cats the musical #alonzo cats

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saturnian-venus · 2 years

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astro notes pt. iv [beauty & fashion edition]

♤ most people with upturned catlike eyes have mars aspecting their ascendant ex: megan fox (mars conjunction ascendant) cardi b (mars square ascendant) jordin sparks (mars semi-square ascendant)

♤ ladies with jupiter aspecting their ascendant & taurus/libra inner placements are blessed with an alluring hourglass/opposing triangles figure ex: amber rose (jupiter trine ascendant + libra sun) christina hendricks (jupiter sextile ascendant + taurus sun) peggy lee (jupiter semi-sextile ascendant + taurus venus + libra mars)

♤ simple soft glam makeup look lovers probably have venus in earth signs aspecting the ascendant ex: jamie chung (taurus venus + venus trine ascendant) charlize theron (virgo venus + venus conjunction ascendant) sza (capricorn venus + venus semi-sextile ascendant)

♤ aphrodite (1388) aspecting venus can make you look very photogenic ex: cindy crawford (venus conjunct aphrodite) noah mills (venus conjunct aphrodite) naomi campbell (venus trine aphrodite)

♤ every moon in aries/1st house went through a red hair phase ex: janet jackson (aries moon) rosé (aries moon) gloria estefan (moon in the 1st house)

♤ an aspect that can contribute to having fairy/elf like features is a hard aspect between neptune and the asendant ex: sylvie testud (neptune square ascendant) rami malek (neptune opposite ascendant) kate bosworth (neptune inconjunction ascendant)

♤ females with a gorgeous tringale/pear shaped bodies usually have pluto aspecting their asendant & leo/sagittarius inner placements ex: beyoncé (pluto conjunction ascendant + leo mars) christina aguilera (pluto trine ascendant + sagittarius sun + sagittarius venus), rihanna (pluto inconjunction ascendant + sagittarius mars)

♤ people who have deep attractive voices oftentimes have mercury-pluto aspects ex: mark strong (mercury conjunction pluto) laurence fishburne (mercury semi-square pluto) alan rickman (mercury inconjunction pluto) or pluto in the 3rd house ex: martin luther king, emma stone & laura prepon

♤ having neptune aspecting the ascendant can give you downturned doelike eyes ex: paul mccartney (neptune conjunction ascendant) sylvester stallone (neptune square ascendant) grimes (neptune semi-square ascendant)

♤ celebrities known for their famous hairstyles tend to have fire venus combined with moon-venus aspects ex: audrey hepburn (aries venus + moon semi-square venus) whitney houston (leo venus + moon trine venus) farrah fawcett (sagittarius venus + moon opposite venus)

♤ hard sun-uranus aspects can cause asymmetrical face ex: ryan gosling (sun conjunction uranus) paris hilton (sun square uranus) angelina jolie (sun sesqui-quadrate uranus)

♤ people who have their sun/moon aspecting lilith have dark intense attractiveness ex: taissa farmiga (sun trine lilith) ben barnes (moon trine lilith) mia wasikowska (moon square lilith)

♤ the looking bizarre but in a sexy way aspect got to be uranus harsly aspecting the sun ex: anya taylor joy (sun square uranus) benedict cumberbatch (sun square uranus) gemma ward (sun semi-square uranus)

♤ saturn aspecting the asendant & aries/capricorn inner placements can give the individual model qualities ex: miranda kerr (saturn square ascendant + aries sun) gigi hadid (saturn semi-square ascendant + aries venus) vanessa paradis (saturn inconjunction ascendant + capricorn sun)

♤ most of bold heavy makeup lovers have fire venus in the 1st/10th house ex: dua lipa (leo venus in the 10th house) chungha (aries venus in the 10th house) katy perry (sagittarius venus in the 1st house)

♤ psyche (16) aspecting the sun people have an astonishing beauty ex: diane kruger (sun conjunct psyche) monica bellucci (sun trine psyche) aishwarya rai (sun semi-sextile psyche)

♤ famous for their iconic curly hair they got earth moons with sun/uranus aspects ex: andie macdowell (taurus moon + sun square uranus) corbin bleu (virgo moon + sun sextile uranus) keri russell (capricorn moon + sun inconjunction uranus)

♤ having cosmetic surgery to enhance what they got aspect is sun/asendant/midheaven semi-square venus ex: lana del rey (sun semi-square venus) hailey baldwin (asendant semi-square venus) jennifer lawrence (midheaven semi-square venus)

♤ narcissus (37117) conjunct/trine/sextile sun folks are in love with their reflection spends a lot of time in front the mirror and take mirror selfies

♤ big fans of bodycon clothings mostly have venus in a fire house ex: selena quintanilla (venus in the 1st house) famous for her signature looks with bodycon jumpsuits, khloe kardashian (venus in the 5th house) loves bodycon skirts/pants, kim kardashian (venus in the 9th house) most of her wardrobe consist of bodycon dresses

♤ most people with round captivating eyes have moon aspecting their ascendant ex: zooey deschanel (moon conjunction ascendant) dakota fanning (moon square ascendant) marion cotillard (moon semi-square ascendant)

♤ women with a graceful rectangle/banana shaped bodies could have mercury aspecting the ascendant & virgo/aquarius inner placements ex: charlotte rampling (mercury conjunction ascendant + aquarius sun + aquarius venus) zendaya (mercury trine ascendant + virgo sun) mitski (mercury sextile ascendant + virgo venus)

♤ the majority of people born with red hair have got aries/taurus in their big 6 with sun/mars aspects ex: jessica chestian (aries sun + aries venus + sun semi sextile mars) domhnall gleeson (taurus sun + taurus moon + taurus mars + sun conjunct mars) toby stephens (taurus sun + aries venus + sun sesqui-quadrate mars)

♤ water signs individuals like to put on blue eye contact lenses

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soranihimawari · 2 years

Text

Spiral

A timeskip!Satori Tendou x flatmate!reader short

Pairing: timeskip!satori x flatemate!reader

Warnings: fluff & slice of life // suggestive

Word count: ~1.8k

How I pictured Satori

Who thought answering a personal ad in Paris was going to lead to one of the longest relationships in your life? Certainly not Satori Tendou, who at the time was starting his apprenticeship at the local chocolatier and ganachery. Hard to believe three years since you received a call back from a foreign number had passed, but let’s be real. Life was not the most fair when it came to you. After all, you had been gifted a unisex name, so imagine the guess monster’s face when a gothic chic androgynous person with a few hatboxes showed up at his door. You apologize together to the other laughing a bit saying things will work out. Yet, there was also one other major issue: language. You honestly presumed his French was rough, judging by the back and forth text messages, because they all sounded similar to a google translate text block. Regardless the chocolatier and the goth make it work.

Truthfully, living with Satori has been one of the best experiences of your joint young adult life. You’ve been prompted to official taste tester for him alongside him being a subject for your photography book. Always trying to respect each other spaces was a primary thing to figure out, so together you tackle a schedule to use the common spaces: bathroom, laundry, kitchen, etc. Since then, English basic alongside various Japanese to French dictionaries have joined the bookshelves you helped build with Satori.

Three years later, you’re sifting flour and scattering it on the marble table in the kitchen. As a treat, you decide to make your grandmother’s recipe for buttered bread. Rolling out the dough you refrigerated after it rose, you also take out the homemade butter brick you’re used to seeing folded into the center of the bread dough. For a person who usually wears all black, you’re skilled enough to not get a speck on your clothes is impressive. Eyeing the calendar, you circled the date in Satori’s favorite color. Eventually, once the bread had been placed in the oven, you sit on the couch while the timer on your phone is turned on.

Hours later, with the bread cooled on the counter, beside it a small envelope (filled with cupcake glitter) and with a very rigid hiragana script, your flatmate’s name is written there. Yet, who would have thought you’d be asleep when Satori arrived home? Certainly not the birthday celebrant. Satori comes home to find you curled up on the couch, steady deep breaths heard when he found the corner (a sure sign you were knocked out), in something other than the signature black you’ve been known to wear: you were wearing an updated lilac cocktail dress (inspired from the 1950s) complete with bunny slippers. It was enough for the chocolatier to smile more to himself than anything. Also, does it help he had a heart to heart talk with his best friend who actually gave him some sage advice? Yes, because as it stands his heart patters nervously in his chest. The rhythm tells him what’s been weighing in his mind—he likes you, a little more than you’ve been lead to believe. Now will he act on it and will you not push him away? Time will tell because as it stands, you stir as he joins you on the couch, but rather than waking next to cushions, you wake feeling a chef coat button.

“Evening sleeping beauty,” Satori greets.

He has a catlike expression and you roll your eyes at the nickname, but it’s ok. Because you expect it from him. There have been too many times when you’ve been out together and the general consensus are either you two are together (or there was something no one would be surprised if you’re fixing to get to that point). Yet when you readjust yourself, turning into him, breathing in the hints of chocolate and confectionery sugars, your eyes flutter open.

“Tori?” your groggy voice greets. You rub the heels of your palm against your eyes trying to rid the corners of the slumber man’s dust.

There is a delightful hum you hear, thus waking you fully. Needless to say, waking up and trying to squirm was not the best idea, not when your flatmate can hold you so securely by the waist. Next thing you know, you’re no longer resting on his shoulder, no, you’re brought to sit atop his lap, much like cradling a young child. You realize you’re pinned, straddling him as you feel him flex beneath you; years of lifting the delivery of flour and ample time dedicated to kneading had coerced old athletic muscles into a refined one for a chocolatier. Tendou keeps a hand above the zipper of your dress and the other traces lines from your knees to your ankle and back again. The smoothness makes you seem like a marionette, the best one he’s ever seen—he doesn’t want to play with you like the way you described old flames before; he wants something a bit more dare he think it: sweet.

“Lilac, really?” Satori has a look in his eye.

You feel his hand pinch the satin fabric of the sleeve of the dress, a smirk resting on his features. He notices how flushed you’re becoming because of the proximity your faces are, but it doesn’t bother him. Never had, never will, he thought.

“You said it reminded you of home,” you say with a pout. “Something about school pride?”

Satori hugs you closer, muttering nervously, “liking you is going to kill me.”

“It won’t,” you reply just as quick, tilting your head to read his expression.

It’s filled with a hearth fired neutrality you didn’t think he possessed, but of all things, you can tell how much he cares when he does not push you away, yet his hands freeze their ministrations. There is a quiet pause when you find yourself staring at him, not like a subject for your work photographing life in the city, no. It was more like a more ‘adult-like’ love, ie the type that both would want to work out in the long run. In those seconds, with his confession slightly forgotten, you sit back a bit, choosing your next words carefully. Suddenly, the atmosphere where you both were changed into one charged with a mutual desire (three years worth of closeness, friendship, might have naturally progressed to this, according to a friend of yours)—with hope on your fingertips, you grip the collar of his coat and pull him down toward you before you feel his smile against your lips. “Sois courageux petit prince.”

A ghost of a kiss stays between you both. Like testing the waters of the sea, both of you are still a bit stunned. You would think three years of living with the other would have made this sort of move eons ago. However, with life and work in the way, it often gets pushed asunder. Tonight though, with the new day just minutes away, you readjust your self in a more comfortable position. Platonic or not, that gray area needed to be tested and by the gods did he pass it with you. One kiss turned into two, then when your limbs chose to rest against his shoulders, you rest your head against a wiser outsider.

“Bien devant toi chérie,” his hands leave your waist to travel to hold your face gently in his palms before slowly closing the space between you.

This kiss is just as gentle as you could imagine, perhaps even better because two people who are so sure of themselves (and comfortable in their own skin), prove how fearless they can when their souls seemed to spiral outward into a deeper understanding of a love well earned. Essentially, his kisses leave you wanting to carry on, still calculated and careful, ever since you walked through the front door something told Satori he wanted you to stay. You’re so grateful you did because right now, you’re thoroughly enjoying this nonverbal exchange.

“Stay,” you murmur drowsily hypnotized by the ministrations he uses when you require more air in your lungs. He nods, almost bumping heads with you. You lean back a bit and though he supports you, you laugh slightly at his reaction to instinctively catch you.

“Help me out of this,” he instructs hotly tacking on a “please” when your hands unbutton the first three buttons on his coat. You peck his lips as you do so until the end of the coat and he wiggles free from its confines. Satori may not have had many dates but past, but he follows your lead when you choose to lay back down on the couch and he hovers above you for a mere second before he rightfully kisses you the way he’s been meaning to. A confession isn’t really necessary, although when the sunlight seeps through the curtains the following morning, you’re no longer wearing the lilac number from the night before—you’re wearing a partially buttoned ganchery coat with the embroidered kanji of Satori Tendou’s name.

French translations:

Sois courageux petit prince—Be brave little prince

Bien devant toi chérie—way ahead of you sweetheart

#🌻— flying around collecting pollen—queue #sora after hours #haikyuu x reader #satori tendou #satori x reader

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soulmate-game · 4 years

Note

Can you do a prompt of Marinette being the daughter of the Joker and Harley but Harley left him before Marinette was born and when Joker found out about his daughter He decided to kidnap Marinette so she can become like him (Ace chemicals) (Daminette)

Woot, my first ask in a while! Let’s see how I can do this oddly specific ask that reminds me of a fic that might actually exist but tbh I’ve read so many fanfics idk if my brain is remembering right

—*—*—*—*—*

Marinette knew Sabine and Tom weren’t her biological parents. She had known ever since she was eight, when her mother by blood visited her for the first time, sat her down, and explained everything. Including, but not limited to, her disastrously toxic past relationship, her new girlfriend, and her recent success with long term rehab (unofficial rehab that mostly consisted of illegal anti-hero actions, but hey if it worked it worked).

Marinette understood. Well no, she really didn’t since she was only eight, but she understood that her mom— that Harley— was genuine. She had always had a knack for emotions and telling when people were sincere or not. And Harley really was regretful about not being in her life beforehand, and was serious about wanting to be part of her life now that her own was mostly sorted out.

So Marinette was not surprised when Harley really did stick it out. When Harley cooed over Marinette copying her hairstyle to show her support of her biological mom, when Harley never failed to call at least once a week even if she was in jail for punching some asshole or another. Harley never stayed arrested long anymore, she was usually found to be on the right side of the moral scale more and more often so the police didn’t bother keeping her locked up anymore. Through the years, Marinette always looked forward to her mom’s calls. Looked forward to being lulled to sleep by one crazy story or another from her mother’s past. Everything was nice. Perfect, even, for a while.

A thump sounded from her balcony, one late night when Marinette was thirteen. Blinking, the dark haired girl furrowed her brows. Who would be on her balcony? Cautiously walking towards the trap door leading to it, grasping her metal pencil holder as a weapon (she remembered all of her Mom’s stories about break-ins and random attacks back in Gotham), the teen strained her ears. Akuma attacks were only a few months old now, but she had already become in high alert for any sign of Hawkmoth or his victims. As per usual, Marinette’s paranoia began to kick in. Did Hawkmoth already figure her out? Was he here for her earrings? Would she be able to fight him?

She gently pushed up the trap door, catching a glimpse of black leather. Huh? Marinette narrowed her eyes, confused. Was it Chat? He should have been on patrol, on the other side of the city. What was he doing visiting her?

Suddenly the trap door yanked the rest of the way open, making Marinette yelp as the handle for it rugged away from her fingers. And there, backlit by the pure blue-white moonlight, was Not Chat Noir. It was Catwoman, in all her skintight black leather glory, grinning at her before pushing her cat-eye goggles up to the top of her head and crouching down by the trap door’s entrance, balancing only on the pads of her feet.

“Well hello there~” the woman purred. “So you’re the cute little kitten Harley is so secretive about. Nice to finally meet you,” the woman held out a hand, sending Marinette a sweet, if mysterious, smile. For a while, the pigtailed girl only stared before a squeal of excitement left her throat, leaving very little room for any doubt as to her bloodline. A large smile curled over Marinette’s lips, leaving her beaming widely at the catlike woman on her balcony.

“Auntie Selina! Mom’s told me so much about you! Come in, come in, come in! I’ll sneak some macaroons up for you. Or do you prefer croissants? What’s your favorite flavor? Are you really dating Batman? Oh my goodness, that necklace is so lovely! Did you steal it?”

Selina could only chuckle fondly at the word vomit, letting the smaller girl drag her down the trap door and into her very… pink room. Looking around, Selina was once again slapped with just how similar this kid was to her outgoing friend. Marinette clearly had no shame in indulging in the things she liked, such as the color pink and anything regarding fashion. But there were other things amongst the girliness of the room, like the posters of Jagged Stone and the training dummy half-sticking out of her closet door. There were a few ornamental knives hung up behind her computer, seemingly just for decoration although Selina could see that they were definitely battle ready and sharpened. A small mallet, clearly a miniature replica of her mother’s own signature weapon, leaned up against the side of the girl’s laundry basket. But then there was Marinette’s mannequin, which was surrounded by meticulously cut pieces of cloth and had other pieces pinned to it strategically. Marinette clearly had the same professionalism and love for her chosen career that had so completely defined Harley in the Time Before Joker. The same genius intellect hiding in those deceptively cheerful bluebell eyes. And for the first time, though not for the last to be sure, Selina found herself thoroughly relieved that it seemed Marinette had inherited very little from her father.

Except, as she would learn from stories Harley told her later, an apparent affinity for chaos.

“I’m not that picky, kitten. But I’m not that hungry, so don’t go too out of your way,” Selina decided to just react the same way she did with Harley’s rambles, and answer one question at a time. “Also, I am actually dating Bruce Wayne. But, if you promise not to tell anyone—“ she waited for Marinette’s eager nod before continuing casually, “— the two are maybe not as mutually exclusive as many think,” Selina finished with a conspiratorial wink. “No, I actually did not steal this necklace. Bruce has been adamant in trying to curb me of my thieving habit by buying me almost everything I so much as glance at sideways. It’s sweet. Naive, because I like stealing for the fun of it, but sweet.”

Marinette giggled, bouncing in place happily. She loved a bit of innocent gossip like this. “Is Momma Ivy ever gonna visit? I don’t think Mom told her much about me yet, and I still gotta give her the shovel talk!” the fierce look that overcame Marinette’s face made Selina laugh again. Oh yes, definitely her mother’s daughter.

“Pam has been trying to sneak over, but the laws regarding Metahumans in Paris suddenly got much stricter a few months back and have caused some problems. You wouldn’t happen to know what happened, would you?” Selina did not miss when her seemingly innocent question caused her niece to close off almost instantly. Bluebell eyes took on a familiar guardedness, and scanned her with the same soul-searching intensity that Harley had when she was channeling her Psychiatrist side. Selina found herself in a slightly concerning spot though—

Because she couldn’t predict Marinette at all. She was left to simply stand there as Marinette searched for some unidentifiable thing in her eyes, completely unable to read the younger girl’s face and with no idea of what to expect. The side effect of having chaos so thoroughly entwined in both of her biological parents, she supposed.

“Nope, no idea.”

Selina knew that was a lie, but knew equally as well that she would not be getting a better answer anytime soon. So, she let it go and the two of them once again dipped into innocent chatter.

Later that night, when Selina left and the sun threatened to rise at any minute, Tikki flew up from her hiding spot under Marinette’s pillow to land on her holder’s shoulder. Marinette giggled and looked over at her little friend.

“Tikki?”

“Yes, Mari?”

“Why was I chosen to be your holder?” She asked suddenly, flopping back into her bed and staring at her ceiling. The little goddess hummed, smiling knowingly before flying down to cuddle in the crook of Marinette’s neck.

“Because you are born from luck itself. Even when bad things happen, you have the luck and determination to get out just fine, and stronger than before. And despite the destruction and anarchy in your blood, you have the willpower to reign it in and keep control of yourself. That’s all order really is, Marinette. The decision to take all the chaos and madness around us, and make it make sense. Make it do something good. And that’s a large part of who you are, I could feel it in your soul the moment we first met.”

Marinette closed her eyes, biting the inside of her cheek. “What if I lose control?”

“... You’ll just have to get it back. It’ll be hard, but as long as you have people to support you, you will be able to do it. You aren’t evil, Marinette,” the small God seemed to sense the true question her holder was asking, and did her best to soothe the doubt the girl felt. “Just remember the reasons you fight against chaos. Remember everyone you love, and you’ll be okay. And you have me, I’ll always help you.”

“... thank you, Tikki.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“He’s going to find out, Mom.”

“No he won’t, don’t be silly! I’ve been very careful about hiding you from him, Nettie-pie.”

“Mom… I just have a bad feeling. I don’t think we can hide who I am from him. If he sees me, I think he’ll know.”

The phone went silent.

“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him. If I was crazy about him, Sugar, then I’m head over heels for you. Not even he can stop me from caving his skull in if he tries his usual tricks with you.”

“... My plane leaves soon, I’ll talk to you when I land. And mom?”

“Yeah, honeycake?”

“I love you.”

—*—*—*—*—*

It was uncanny just how often Marinette’s hunches were right. Her intuition was something to behold, truly, because it only took three days in Gotham before Joker snatched her right out of her room at Harley and Ivy’s apartment. At least Marinette had sixteen by then, so she had had enough experience as a hero in Paris and with generally unpredictable situations and people who were absolutely nuts for her to not immediately panic. Too much, anyway.

Because there was definitely a little panic there.

See, Marinette knew herself inside out by then. After her own battle with her toxic feelings towards Adrien and doing her best to heal from those before she turned out like her mom, she knew she was by no means mentally indestructible. Mental illness ran the high risk of being inherited, and Marinette was well aware that her own personality was scarily similar to her mother’s at times. She got attached quickly, felt affection and love for others very strongly and, as she found with Adrien, could easily become obsessive if she didn’t watch herself. At least Harley was the perfect person to help with that, and Marinette was serious about helping herself too. She did everything she could to keep an eye on her mental health and keep her behavior in check so she didn’t do anything too unhealthy with her relationships again.

But she knew, she knew she had a soft spot for family. She got attached too easily. And being in the same room as her biological father, despite being tied up by her hands and feet and knowing just how many unforgivable things he had done in his life, Marinette felt vulnerable. She didn’t want to hurt him, despite everything. She still loved him, despite every reason not to, despite her first meeting with him being with him shoving chloroform over her face and hogtying her to a metal chain dangling over a vat of acid.

Geez, she’d need more than just her mom as a therapist after this for sure. Even if her mom had a PH.D, Marinette felt like she’d need several psychiatrists to sort through her emotional turmoil right then and make sense of any of it.

Marinette licked her lips, aware that the only kindness that Joker gave his daughter was sparing her from the discomfort of being gagged.

“Don’t,” Marinette said, surprising herself with the amount of steel she was able to put into her voice. Somehow, she managed to make the single word sound more like an order than a plead. “Joker, put me—“

“Ah-Ah-Ah!” The clown walked over, tutting and waving his finger in the air in almost playful admonishment. He gave her a dramatically fake pout. “Don’t you know it’s disrespectful to refer to your father by his first name?” Neither of them mentioned that Joker was definitely not his real name. They both knew the point was moot. “Say it with me now— ‘Daddy dearest, I am more than willing to be dunked in acid for you,’ go ahead, say it.”

Marinette’s jaw clenched. Familial love or not, she would not tolerate being ridiculed like that. She dealt with enough ridicule when she was fourteen and fifteen during school, before she put Liar Rossi in her place. She had spent the past three years as a hero in charge of the war against Hawkmoth, in charge of protecting all of Paris from an emotional terrorist.

And gee, wasn’t that what Joker was, too? Sure, he was a terrorist in the classic meaning of the word as well, but he was nothing if not a skilled manipulator. He knew the human mind just as well as Harley or any other psychiatrist did, he just used his knowledge for different means. He had emotionally abused Harley for years, he emotionally abused and manipulated people all across gotham on a daily basis. He was just another Hawkmoth, but with more physical violence in place of magic.

With these thoughts strengthening her resolve, Marinette narrowed her eyes at the man who donated half of her DNA. She let her anger boil into her irises, hitting him with one of the few traits she knew she inherited from him.

Her ability to intimidate others on the tip of a hat.

“No,” she growled back at him. She took a deep breath. It had taken her a while, but she refused to be ashamed of who she was regardless of her blood relation. She would have no problem using the very things she inherited from Joker against him. She might have gotten most of Harley’s personality, she might have inherited her mother’s habit of falling in love hard, fast, and obsessively, but she also had Joker’s defiance. His bone-deep inability to be stopped from doing exactly whatever the fuck he wanted.

And then, there were Marinette’s own traits. The ones that were completely her own, developed over her life organically. Like her refusal to bow down to bullies, her creativity, her ability to take even the most chaotic situation and see some sort of balance and sanity in it that she could use to her advantage.

That she WOULD use to her advantage. The shadows she saw move out of the corner of her eye gave her the chance to do exactly that, she just needed to buy a few more seconds. Just a few more seconds.

“Excuse me?” Joker growled right back, his own intimidation, honed over more years than Marinette had been alive and thus much more potent than her own, reading its ugly head as he stalked towards her. His face was pulled down into an ugly snarl, his shoulders tensed and back straight as he glared right at her. From his spot on the metal walkway, he was easily able to reach over the railing and grab her chin in one pale, viciously strong hand. “I think you’re misunderstanding something here, little Marionette. I’m your father. Half of your life came directly from ME. That makes you my puppet. You exist to follow my orders,” his right grip suddenly let go, leaving behind the beginnings of a bruise as his entire demeanor changed from angry to cheerful. He spread his arms as if gesturing to the whole chemical plant victoriously, and an unnaturally large smile curved over his lips and bared yellowing teeth at her. “But that’s okay. I’ll forgive you this time, you haven’t learned any better yet. That’s why we’re here. We need to cleanse you of all those icky bad habits you’ve learned up until now, all you need is a little,” he bounced in place with a wicked smirk to illustrate his next words— “jumpstart. A little acid goes a long way to enlightenment you know, you’ll see my side of things in no time. And with my blood in you, you’ll make a better sidekick than that idiot Harley ever did. I can sense it, you’ve got a real talent for Chaos in you, it’s exciting, Heheeeheheee! Now then, we should probably speed things along before our family reunion is cut short. Hang in there, my little Marionette,” the man actually had the gall to spin in place while humming a tune cheerfully before all but dancing over to the lever that held Marinette’s length of chain in the air over the vat of chemicals below her. “Everything will clear up in that little head of yours in just a second!”

There! Right as Joker pulled the switch to lower her into the bubbling vat underneath her, Marinette was able to finish untying her hands. She couldn’t contain a small yelp as gravity flung her body forward, leaving her upside down on the chain for a brief moment. That was when the chain started lowering rapidly, and Marinette was barely able to rip the rope off of her ankles in time to swing off of it and onto the metal walkway that came up right next to the giant metal container of liquid death and insanity. Joker had barely enough time to shout in rage before the windows near the ceiling shattered, admitting the city’s vigilantes themselves. Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood, Robin, and evening Black Bat all landed on the same metal platform above Marinette’s head that Joker was still on, buying the teen time to start running. But she didn’t go towards the exit right away, instead heading right up the stairs into the thick of the fight. Robin briefly separated from where Joker was managing to hold his own, goons flooding from side doors to inhibit the heroes in their attempt to bring their boss down.

The katana-using vigilante kept one eye on Marinette the whole time, suspicious of why the girl would come back up if not to help her father. But that wasn’t what she did, instead she flipped and kicked and punched her way through the quickly growing sea of Joker thugs until she reached a small pink purse that had been abandoned near the lever that had nearly sent her into liquid insanity. Three thugs surrounded her right as she snatched the purse up and slung it over her shoulder, but Robin barely had the chance to head over before she was heaving the men, who were all easily three times her size, over her shoulder and was slamming elbows into soft spots and the side of her hand into pressure points. By the time Robin got to her side, all three men were unconscious and bound to wake up in utter agony.

Marinette glanced up, getting ready to haul Robin over her shoulder as well before she realized who he was. She let her shoulders relax just a tick, sighing in relief before returning her eyes to scanning their surroundings. She shot him a brief grin.

“Good thing my adoptive mother, Mom, Momma Ivy, and Auntie Selina all made sure I knew how to take down a small army on my own, huh?” She asked rhetorically before they were both unceremoniously dragged back into the giant brawl.

—*—*—*—*—*

“Nettie-pie!”

“Marigold!”

Harley and Pamela Quinzel-Isley shoved down anyone and everyone who dared block their direct path to their daughter. The girl of the hour stood next to the bat clan, a shock blanket held tightly around her shoulders as she did her best to finish her statement to both the vigilantes and Commissioner Gordon.

“You untied yourself… from a ship-grade knot in high quality rope… with a phone charm?” They heard Gordon ask incredulously, to which Marinette could only give a lopsided smile. That was when her mom and stepmom crashed into her, enveloping her in a nearly suffocating hug.

“Gah— mom— momma Ivy—“ Marinette flailed in their arms for a bit before finally getting her head free and continuing her statement as if she didn’t have two of the most dangerous women in the city still giving her a bone crushing hug. “That’s better. Yes, Commissioner. You see, I realized when I was in the car with Joker, while I was pretending to still be unconscious, that one of the charms on my phone had pretty sharp corners that I could use like a serrated edge if I had enough time. So I carefully detached it from my phone, and held it in my palm. It took almost an hour, but once Joker noticed I was awake I kept him talking so that he didn’t notice what I was doing even as he tied me up to that chain. Really, it’s just lucky that I was able to get it worn down in time,” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous chuckle. “But regardless, I think Batman and his partners,” she nodded to the listening vigilantes just to the side of her. “Were close enough that I would have been caught anyway, I just wanted to make sure they had less work to do. The sooner I freed myself, the sooner ‘Daddy Dearest,’” she grimaced as she mockingly used the same term Joker had tried to get her to say earlier that night. “Could go back behind bars where he belongs.”

“Oh my little Nettie-cake,” Harley cried, finally pulling back from the hug long enough to wipe her cheeks. It was clear that she had been crying for a while, and her colorful pigtails were mussed and tangled from where she must have been tugging on them in worry. “You were right. I’m so sorry, I never should have let you come to Gotham when I knew he was out of Arkham.”

Marinette was quick to shake her head frantically, pulling her arms out of Ivy’s hold so she could grasp Harley’s shoulders firmly. “No. No, Mom, I’m fine! And besides, we knew I couldn’t stay secret forever. I really like staying with you and Momma Ivy! Everything turned out fine though, and he’s headed back to Arkham. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay, Nettle,” Pam argued, distracting herself by running her hands through Marinette’s bangs. She had only known the girl for two years, but that was more than long enough for her to consider the teenager as her own. “He took you right out from under our noses. You were supposed to be safe in our home, and he still got to you. That’s not okay. We weren’t able to protect you like we should have been. Maybe you should go back to Paris early.”

“What?! No way!” Marinette argued, eyes wide. “This is the first time I’ve been able to ever visit you guys in Gotham, I’m not letting some psycho sperm donor keep me from enjoying time with my family! I came here knowing full well that it was dangerous. I’m not gonna just run away after one bad experience.”

Harley snorted, and then devolved into uncontrollable giggles. “Heh— psycho sperm donor. Good one, sugar!”

Marinette smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly at her mom’s usual immature antics. Seeing as Gordon had walked away muttering to himself a short while ago, Marinette pulled herself the rest of the way away from her moms and turned to the vigilantes. Without a second’s pause, she bowed to them just like her Maman Sabine taught her.

“Thank you for helping save me. I know it’s probably a shock that I’ve been kept secret from you guys all this time, but I hope you don’t lump me in with the likes of the green-haired half of my DNA. I’m staying with my Moms in their apartment, if you guys decide to patrol by our place like I suspect, I’ll leave some baked goods and coffee out for you on our patio. It’s the least I can do for you all after tonight. And don’t be too hard on Auntie Selina. Me and Mom swore her to secrecy, even from you guys.”

Batman jerked a little at the mention of Catwoman’s real name, jaw twitching for a second. Behind his cowl, his eyes narrowed. Marinette laughed, easily reading his body language and expression.

“She never told me who you are, but she didn’t exactly hide it either. It was easy to put the last pieces together on my own. But don’t worry, SHE swore me to secrecy too. I won’t tell anyone.

“How the hell are you related to the Laughing Asswipe from Hell?” Red Hood blurted out, his confusion clear even from behind his hideous helmet. Marinette burst into giggles, and both Pamela and Harley smiled knowingly.

“Mom gave me up for adoption when I was born, so I spent my whole life in Paris up until now,” she admitted. “Mom didn’t visit me for the first time until I was eight, and she and my adoptive parents are so awesome that it must’ve suffocated the worst traits from his DNA before they had a chance to develop,” she guessed out loud with a good natured smile.

Batman grunted. Marinette knew that one run-in wasn’t enough for them to trust her. After all, she was still the biological daughter of their arch enemy. But she didn’t mind, she understood the caution even if she didn’t fully agree with it. They weren’t outright hostile, despite the fact that Robin had never stopped glaring at her since they fought back-to-back against the mob of thugs earlier. She could live with their suspicion, as long as they continued to not be outright rude or mean to her.

At least she could empathize with Adrien now, whenever she figured out how to break it to him that Hawkmoth was definitely Gabriel and couldn’t be anyone else. Hopefully she could help soften the blow for him a little.

Harley and Ivy were starting to herd Marinette towards their car and take her back home, where they could continue to smother her in care and make sure she didn’t have even a scratch on her, when Robin’s voice stopped them all in their tracks.

“You are a surprisingly capable combatant.”

Marinette froze, blinking in surprise for a second before turning to stare at Robin in shock. The rest of the Bat Clam was doing the same, nobody expecting Robin of all people to be the first to directly complement Marinette. He tutted, crossing his arms, but never moved his gaze away from Marinette’s eyes.

“But your form could use some work. Most of your style is incredibly improvised, which I can appreciate since you do it well, but you would benefit from more structure in your fighting. I will set up a time and place for us to spar. We start in two days, if you think you can handle it.”

It took a while for what Robin said to sink in, and another few seconds for Marinette to decipher what his semi-aggressive, order-phrased proposal really meant. And she smiled.

“It’s a date.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Woo! This started off a little rough, but I really like how it ended up! Thank you, Anon!

#ml x dc #maribat #mlb x dc #eventual daminette #pre daminette #daminette #Bio!dad joker #bio!mom Harley Quinn #Joker Sucks #Request #Oneshot #Fanfiction #crossover

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pseudofaux · 3 years

Note

hi,Pseu! Can we get more daddy!vamp please? this time with comte and dazai and your choice for the third? no third if you just want to write extra for comte and dazai

I’m so happy someone else wanted more of these! 🥰 Please enjoy DaddyVamp hours for Comte, Dazai, and Vincent below! ☺️☺️☺️ (Jean, Leo, and Theo here.)

(Requests are open through May 1 if you would like to get one in!)

Comte is like Leo: emotional about it all. The birth of his child makes him confront several of his demons, and he commits before the baby’s even born to being a stable father— so he doesn’t let his uncertainty show in front of the baby once they arrive, only confesses it to you during whispered exchanges of worry, fear, and love while your newborn sleeps nearby. He actually has some anxiety that will need to be treated but he sticks to his rule about never showing the big worries to the baby, and he stabilizes as the child thrives, sleeps well, eats well. He lives to play peekaboo with the daily paper until the child gets hiccups from laughing. Of course le Comte wants to spoil his baby but he barely gets the chance thanks to your circle of friends (be prepared for him to spoil you extra instead!). He’s the kind of father that very significantly benefits from being around the parents of slightly older children. He’s seen so many small ones in his life but never paid enough attention... so while the anxiety is something he has to struggle with, your baby also makes him more mindful and centered. 💛 Baby grows up naturally generous (Comte is very proud)... a natural mess, too (always needs a housekeeper, always pays them very well for their trouble), and ends up dedicating themselves to establishing a lot of free schools and other philanthropic efforts in Paris and beyond.

Dazai is a bit catlike with the baby, lots of sniffs and pushing one of his fingers into baby’s cheek. “What are you thinking?” he asks your newborn every day, holding them up (head supported!) and looking into their eyes. “What is in your head, hmm? Where did you come from?” As baby gets better able to focus they look back very solemnly, and eventually begin to babble, Dazai likes that even though it’s a bit of a puzzle. He won’t say it, because he doesn’t think he has to, but he LOVES wearing baby in a sling, the balance of his body when he is walking around just feels better with little one cradled close. He likes the way they smell and isn’t squeamish about the occasional wet burp since that’s just a part of the human condition; humans are gross. You may have to remind him from time to time that your family is him, the baby, and you-- he’s the most likely to go off with his new accomplice without telling anyone. As the child grows they keep going off on adventures, especially into wooded areas and when it rains they are always out turning over stones to show the earth it is raining. 💜 Baby grows up to be something like an accountant, very focused in their work and extremely dreamy as soon as they are off the clock. They write a few scripts and many poems, and have a very large appetite for life and all its pleasures (and thrills).

Vincent is deeply, deeply moved by the baby’s existence (of course!). He does all the tummy times together with baby, and as soon as baby can hold their head up he finds safe pigments and sets them on frameless canvas to play with blobs of color. Everything the baby does is marvelous and makes him smile, he’s completely in love with zero reservations about the gladness of it all. He is a little torn between wanting to experience this joy with more children and the importance of devoting himself to providing joy and love to this one child-- you two will have to decide what you want to do about that. No matter what you choose, you have this perfect child for him to love and he is going to do his absolute best! Vincent likes it best when baby (later child) naps in the sunny studio. He dreams of baby first writing with a paintbrush and is careful to show them all kinds of art in the world, not just the kinds in his own studio. Uncle Theo helps with that and likes the way this van Goghling is quiet and appreciative and unstupid-- they have almost the exact same private taste. 💙 Baby grows up to be a gentle and joyful sculptor, and they keep that sharp eye for what they like. From an early age they have a very, very good radar for pretense and BS, and avoid it.

#ikevamp hcs #ikevam hcs #ikevamp comte #ikevamp dazai #ikevamp vincent #ikevamp daddy vamps!#THESE ARE SO MUCH FUN I’m really happy and thank you again!#pseu slings

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scribble-blog · 5 years

Text

Soulmate AU part 3!!

First • Previous • Here • Next

Side note, I’m a grandma in a 22 year old body who doesn’t understand technology. If somebody can teach me how to get readmores to work on tumblr mobile, and possibly how to start linking the posts together, I’d appreciate it!

Also, the taglist is now full! Though if people want, I could try doing a supplemental taglist? Either in a reblogged or in a separate post to notify you? Let me know in the replies!

Damian Wayne, as it turns out, is almost very certainly the son of Bruce Wayne, who sponsored their entire trip to Gotham. There are only two official pictures of him that are clear enough to truly check against, but Marinette sees the eyes and she nods. “That’s him.”

Trixx, Pollen, Kaalki, and Plagg are scattered about the bed, napping and lounging. Adrien also lounges, catlike and crosswise with the bed, entirely over the pillows at their back. Chloé holds the laptop that Marinette is hovering over, even from her seated position with her much smaller stature.

“It would be you,” Chloé snorts. “Oh, let’s just traipse over to America for a quick class visit! Oops, my soulmate is the incredibly handsome son of the incredibly wealthy man who invited us here!”

“Still more believable than you, Miss ‘My soulmate and I have literally been standing two feet from each other for weeks because not only do we have the exact same friends, but we’re part of the same superhero group and never realized until Ladybug allowed us to learn each other’s secret identities.’” Adrien doesn’t move as he calls her out, lazily curled into the warmth of his two friends and the pillows cocooning him.

“I don’t think any of us can speak,” Marinette groans. “I’m living a cheap rom com, Chloé’s got all the plot elements of a high budget Shakespearian drama, and Mr. ‘Didn’t know I wasn’t straight until my soulmate mark was a guys name” is straight out of a b movie comedy.”

“At least I got my act together pretty quickly once it occurred to me that I could like guys too,” Adrien points out. “And now Jon and I talk all the time, and he even comes to Paris sometimes to see me, or we’ll meet up for my occasional business trips in America. Which reminds me,” he pulled out his phone, sending off a quick text, “he wants to come meet you guys. Next week, while we’re all actually on the same continent.”

“Kudos to you for shaking off whatever Gabe tried to stuff your head full of,” Chloé says. “Took me ages to admit that I was gay, and that was even WITH my soulmark and both Marinette and Ladybug constantly in front of me.”

“Feeling pretty objectified,” Marinette protests.

“Oh shut it, I know for a fact that you’ve basically been the gay awakening crush of every not straight girl in our class. And several outside of it. And that’s not even counting all the dudes that fall in love with you.”

“I still object,” Marinette pouts at Chloé.

“Objection overruled.” Adrien sits up. “Marinette. You’re like, the perfect crush. They have a warning about you in the introductory packet for Mme. Bustier’s class.”

“They do not,” Marinette gasps, outraged. “I wrote that packet!”

“And then the class unanimously decided you were too dangerous to be walking around without a warning sign,” Chloé pinched her cheek. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s still in the packet despite Lila’s best efforts to get it thrown out.”

That does make Marinette feel better.

“Damian Wayne resurfaces after year of being believed dead,” Adrien reads from his phone. “Gotham’s Newest Wayne: The True Son! These all read like tabloids but as far as I can tell the Wayne’s don’t tolerate stuff like that. So I guess it’s true?”

“I’m tired of looking him up,” Marinette groans. “Can we just leave it be?”

“Nope,” Chloé pops the P. “Congrats, Dupain-Cheng, this is what friends are for.”

“I wish I could talk to Tikki about it,” Marinette sighs. “Especially because I have literally never heard anyone talk about that- electric feeling when we touched. Is it a Ladybug thing?”

Plagg opens one big green eye. “Cool it, Spots. It’s definitely a Ladybug thing. You’re literally the reason these marks exist.”

Marinette sticks her tongue out at the mini god. “I just miss her.”

“Join the club,” he grumbles, closing his eye and going back to napping.

“Good news,” Chloé says, bringing her attention back to the laptop. “Searching your name very easily leads to you, and our class, and the fact that we won the contest. So, unless he decides he’s not ready to meet you, you’ll have the chance to find him at the gala. Or at Wayne Enterprises. Or at any of the places the Wayne’s own, which is two-thirds of our trip destinations.”

“Oh god,” Marinette says. “What if he didn’t want to find me?”

Adrien, Chloé, and four Kwamis hit her at the same time, shoving her back into the bed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mari,” Adrien scolds her from his position atop the newly formed cuddle pile. “I saw his face too. If the boy isn’t already in love with you, he’ll be hunting you down just for the chance to fall.”

Trixx nuzzled into her side. “I may not be Tikki but all of us Kwamis know how incredible you are, Marinette.”

She sighed. “Alright guys, get off.”

———

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Tim already knew who the girl was, because he’d been curious when his favorite artist had started talking about the source of his newest looks.

But having Damian demand his help in searching for everything he could find on her, and then only asking for the bare minimum of information about her trip itinerary- Tim wasn’t an idiot.

“So. She’s your soulmate.” Tim takes a sip of the coffee he’d been working on, making a face and instantly setting it back down when he realized it had gone cold.

Damian carefully did not change his expression, but it wasn’t fooling anyone. “And so what if she is?”

Tim looked back at the monitor. “So nothing. Congrats, Demon Spawn. I’m happy for you.”

He barely caught the edge of the scowl the younger Wayne tried to hide.

“Hey, no.” Tim spun his chair to face Damian. “Look, we’ve had our differences and disagreements-“

“You had me on the superhero equivalent of a terrorism watch list,” Damian interrupted.

“And you literally tried to kill me within the first day of meeting me.”

“A byproduct of my indoctrination from birth into a murder cult,” His brother kept his face still but the tone was wry.

“You kept trying to kill me.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you!” Damian finally exclaimed, losing his collected demeanor. “Just-“

“Point being,” Tim stressed, “even if we haven’t always gotten along- haven’t ever, really- I’m still happy for you. Soulmates are a special thing. We all kind of thought you might not have one, with the way you always acted when Dick tried to ask.”

Damian forced down the immediate retort and looked at Tim. “I thought that maybe my dying would have prevented my name from showing up for them. And my teachings-“ he said the word with the inflection that meant he was discussing Assassin Upbringing rather than here- “were as such that most connections, be they familial, friendly, or romantic, were- unnecessary and even dangerous.” It felt tantamount to a betrayal of his younger self to confide anything in Drake like this, but... Damian really was, in many ways, a better and more mature person than the spoiled, aggressive, near sociopathic brat he’d arrived as seven years ago. He still kept the veneer of it up, but he was no longer the boy who needed to fight Drake to prove his worth as Bruce’s son.

Now he just waited for Drake to embarrass himself by passing out after staying up for far too long surviving on caffeine and energy drinks. Much easier.

And Drake didn’t ever seem as eager to blackmail and fight as Damian ever had, so he figured a small amount of vulnerability was a proper thank you for his discretion in finding Marinette.

Tim just took another grimacing sip of the cold coffee. “Man. In that case, even happier for you that you’re shrugging off yet another of the Child Assassin School’s upsetting and frankly terrible rules. Though as for the dying thing, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t actively die now that you have the mark.”

Damian shrugged. “Irrelevant now, as I will not be dying anytime soon, and neither will she. And she clearly knows that we’re soulmates.”

“Still confused about that,” Tim frowned, looking back at him. “You said there was an electric current between you? Or it felt like that?”

Damian couldn’t stop his hand from twitching, the memory of it clear enough to feel. “Yes. I don’t understand it myself either.”

“I’ll search around. See if anything comes up.” Tim handed him a pile of papers. “Here, the info you wanted on her itinerary, plus things I thought would be pertinent without going over whatever line you seem to have drawn.”

Damian took them, and very begrudgingly said, “Thank you,” before ducking out of the room.

He waited until he was back in his own room before flicking through them, finding the trip schedule and the hotel rooms listed, the names of her class and teachers, and finally a list of her accomplishments and a copy of the paper that had won her class the trip, authored by her.

He read through it, noting the names of her classmates and their own community efforts, and the way her own section in the paper was minuscule compared to both each other persons section and the list of accomplishments Drake had drafted.

One classmate had, if no less written than than any other person, a distinctly different tone to what Marinette had written, and most of her community building and service events were merely echoes or assisting what another person had done. Damian shrugged it off, as there were sometimes people who simply tagged along, and never put their own effort out there. Followers, and not leaders.

All in all, he found himself more intrigued than ever about her.

TAGLIST:

@the-fusionist @rebecarojas07 @lowandco @kotaleartzu @resignedcatservant @alenee13 @mystery-5-5 @ladybug-182 @actual-disaster-human @loysydark @rumbelle18 @magic-miraculous @vixen-uchiha @athena452 @mochegato @ash-amg @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @thestressmademedoit @sassakitty @doriebell @jessigurl-design @emotionalsupportginger @kceedraws @kuroko26 @moonystars14 @toodaloo-kangaroo @myazael @theatreandcomicfreak @mer-mel @dahjokester @northernbluetongue @area51qt @renscorpio @redscarlet95 @razzledazzle247 @rosep16 @tired-butterfly @catthhay @shamefullove @imanerddealwith @chaosace @captainmac6 @bigpicklebananatree @abrx2002 @cici-schnee @multplelifes @shreky-boi @purple-people-eaters-productions @crazylittlemunchkin @weird-pale-blonde-person

#maribat #daminette #daminette soulmates #soulmate au #fanfic

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mirabugtm · 3 years

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Marichat short :D

A/N: I wrote this a while ago, so I hope you enjoy! I’m planning on doing a couple of things revolving around the Adrien Marinette Chat Ladybug relationship, but it’ll probably wouldn’t be until summer break that I actually begin to write it XD

Adrien sighs as he stares at the night sky behind the glass walls of his room. Once again, he’s all alone on this lovely night.

He held up a rose that he picked for his one true love, or so he thought. It was a long time ago, but he can still remember the day clearly when she told him that she couldn’t take it anymore and left him on the rooftop.

Why? Why was she so afraid? He knows that she has the whole city of Paris to protect, but sometimes he wished she can tell him, they were dating after all.

The moon shines brightly above them. Turning his head, Adrien spots Plagg, sleeping on the edge of the bed peacefully.

“Plagg,” he calls out softly.

A moment of silence. Adrien raises his voice slightly louder trying to wake up the lazy Kwami. Of course, no response.

Adrien chuckles as he thinks up quickly of an idea. “I have… I have some Camembert for you if you wake up.”

“Mmm, Camembert…” the little creature begins to stir in his sleep, his eye slightly opening at the sound of a delicious yet smelly treat being offered to him.

Adrien sits up from the bed and from the ledge, takes a piece of camembert cheese to offer to his little companion. Plagg practically floats from his sleeping space, lured towards the cheese. When the Kwami finally gains consciousness, he notices the boy wide awake.

“Plagg?” Adrien calls out to him again.

“What is it?” he replies, snatching the cheese from his fingers and popping it into his mouth. “You better have a good reason for waking me up this late.”

Adrien stares out his window again in awe.

“How would you like to go on an evening stroll?”

-.-

Marinette can’t sleep. If it’s from worrying all night about Hawkmoth or the fact that she is now the new Guardian of the Miraculous, she doesn’t know. The rest of the Kwami are all sound asleep, their soft breaths comforting her as she sits from her bed. The moon is especially bright tonight.

“Marinette?” Tikki calls out to her. “Is something wrong?”

The girl in question smiles sadly at the little creature. “No it’s fine. I, I think I just need a bit of fresh air.”

“Is this about Adrien again?”

Marinette pauses, takes in a deep breath, and lets it out. The painful memory comes back to her, but she shoves it away mentally as she shakes her head. “No, it’s not that Tikki,” she says softly. “I just…” She just, what? She doesn’t know.

“I’m going out. Watch the others for me, Tikki, okay?”

“Okay,” she says quietly as the girl slowly crawls out of bed. Marinette slowly climbs down, making sure to keep herself quiet as she makes her way to the balcony on her roof. The room is dark, everything a scattered mess. Her designs are all over the place, filled with notes of frustration as she can’t completely focus on them. She nearly slips on a paper, carefully picking it up before the others could wake up and notice her absence.

Once she opens the window and climbs out, she notices someone sitting on her balcony ledge, admiring the moon as it shines brightly. She recognizes his black cat ears, blonde hair, his over silhouette.

“Chat Noir,” Marinette calls out. “What are you doing here?”

The hero in question nearly falls over as soon as he hears the voice, losing balance and wobbling forward. Marinette gasps as she runs over to help him but he miraculously pulls himself up, launching himself high up in the air with a flip and landing safely on his feet.

She stumbles upon him, her body nearly crashing onto his. He’s lucky enough to grab the ledge to stop the both of them from flying over.

Marinette widens her eyes in shock. “I’m so sorry!” she squeals. “Are you okay?”

Chat laughs at their predicament. “My Lady, you’re very clumsy,” he says with a slight smile, his green catlike eyes softly glowing under the moonlight. She notices his soft gaze and pulls away nervously.

“I- uhhh, Chat, why are you here?” she asks as she straightens herself, wiping herself off of any dust. Chat himself leans slightly against the ledge in response.

He shrugs. “I like the view from your place. It’s my favorite place to return to when I patrol.”

She arches an eyebrow. “Oh really?” she asks in disbelief. She crosses her arms with a half smile on her face. “You’ve been coming here a lot more often.”

“You’ve noticed?” he replies, scratching his head with his free hand in embarrassment. “I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you.”

“No it’s fine,” she says, meeting him on the ledge, his gaze following her. “I enjoy your company sometimes.”

“Oh?” the young hero blinks. “Well I’m honored to be in your presence.”

“Don’t push it,” Marinette teases, releasing another breath. Her tired eyes wander over to meet his, his endearing gaze making her flush slightly. “Um… well, I…”

“You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to. But please, I’d like your company for a little bit before I go.”

The teen stares helplessly into the hero’s eyes, filled with an emotion she can’t quite place. “You don’t even have to talk.”

“It’s fine.” Marinette returns to gazing at the open sky. “It’s nice today. No akumatizations tonight. It looks like you get to have a break.

He smiles. “Yeah.”

#miraculous ladybug #marichat #ml marichat #ml ladybug #ml chat noir #ml marinette #ml adrien #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #marinette x chat noir #ml ficlet #ml drabble

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kasienda · 4 years

Text

A Miraculous Reveal - New York

Ack! Apparently, I remembered to post this one to discord, but not to tumblr. I apologize to my tumblr followers if they only get stuff here. But here it is now! It’s a Ladynoir angst to happy ending reveal based on the New York Special. Please enjoy.

___

Adrien slipped into the silver limo and the door thudded closed behind him with a finality that made Marinette flinch. A moment later, the car pulled out onto the road. Watching the vehicle fade away into the grey haze of drizzly rain, two things were suddenly very clear to her.

She didn’t want Adrien to go. He was precious to her in a way that she could not define. He possessed an unending patience, he had the sweetest and softest smiles for her even when she was babbling or stuttering incoherently, and he was kind. She just didn’t know a lot of boys who were just so genuinely compassionate. She clearly had never really gotten over her crush on him despite her best efforts.

But in that moment as the car turned around a corner and completely out of sight, it was surprisingly easy to imagine her life without him. If Adrien disappeared she would grieve, but she would heal, and she would be okay.

No, the gaping hole in her chest had an entirely different source.

It was Chat Noir that she did not know how to live without.

Read on Ao3

Because it was Chat Noir who had her back every time hers was against a wall, Chat Noir who made her laugh when life seemed impossible to face, Chat Noir who offered her advice and insight whenever she asked even when it was about her feelings for someone else, and Chat Noir who built her up and encouraged her in her lowest moments.

And she was never going to see him again.

Marinette fell to her knees, barely noticing the unforgiving impact of the cement below or the cold water seeping up her pant legs from the ground. Hot tears slipped down her cheeks in contrast with the sky’s frigid rain drops. Her whole form trembled like a leaf in an autumn storm as her tears finally caught up to her.

She gripped his ring in her fist, its edges biting into her palm. It was wrong that she had it. It was his. But she couldn’t return it to him. She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know anything about him.

And now he was gone.

It wasn’t fair. Hadn’t she done everything right? She tried to be responsible, she always followed the rules, and she sacrificed so much of her normal life to make sure she could be the heroine that Paris needed. Why had everything blown up in her face so colossally?

Chat Noir was gone.

He had supported her through her worst mistakes. Had he not trusted her to do the same for him?

A warmth cuddled at her neck in contrast to the cold damp air around them. “Marinette?”

“I-I’m sorry, Tikki,” Marinette choked out, as she turned away from the red kwami on her shoulder. “I can’t do this anymore. Not… not without him.”

A black streak flew in front of her face. “Then why’d you yell at him?” Plagg demanded.

Her vision was too blurry with tears to make the kwami of destruction come into focus. “Because I was angry! I didn’t think he’d leave!” she countered sharply. “I had every right to be mad at him, Plagg. He promised me that he’d protect Paris in my absence. And then he didn’t.”

To her shock, the kwami wilted like a plant without water. “That… might have been my fault.”

“Plagg?” Tikki asked, a disapproval to her voice that Marinette rarely heard. “What did you do?!”

The miniature cat whirled to face his opposite. “You don’t understand! He never gets to have any fun! He’s always locked up! Every moment of almost every day is planned and scheduled. He’s not allowed to spend time on his hobbies if they are not pre-approved. He doesn’t get to just hang out with his friends! It’s amazing he manages to sneak away to become Chat Noir when he needs to!” He rose and fell in the damp air with a deep sigh.

“He’s my chosen, Tikki,” Plagg continued, his voice more subdued. “He deserves to have freedom.” He said it like a wish.

Salty tears flooded Marinette’s eyes all over again. Her partner didn’t have any freedom in his life? She hadn’t realized. He had always seemed so carefree. He seemed like such a goofball. But she had never asked.

How could she not have known? She should have known.

But they weren’t supposed to know anything about each other.

Another sob threatened to erupt from her throat. She fought it down.

Plagg continued. “A chance for a vacation popped up and he wasn’t going to go! He was all disgusting like, ‘I promised Ladybug I’d be here.’ I may have convinced him that the risk was really small, that he could watch the news constantly on the trip, and hurry back if anything happened.”

Tikki’s antennae vibrated back and forth in agitation.

“And it would have worked if there hadn’t also been villains here. How was I supposed to know that New York was infested with a cesspool of villains and subpar heroes?!” Plagg demanded with all the self righteousness of a wounded animal.

Marinette absorbed this new information stoically. The drizzling rain was starting to soak through her clothes and hair, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“He deserved the chance to go, too!” Plagg insisted childishly. “Why did your chosen get to go, and mine didn’t? And it’s not like you didn’t know he was here, Tikki! You’re so quick to point fingers after the fact.”

Tikki opened her mouth to argue, but Marinette put a hand up. “It doesn’t matter. He made his choice.” She honestly didn’t know if she was referring to his choice to go to New York, or to his choice to give up his miraculous. “And now, I have no way of finding him.”

And she dissolved into shaking sobs again. “It’s not fair,” she cried. “W-why did I have to realize that I loved him now? When it’s too late.”

She leaned back against a brick wall, the rain still falling down around her. Her pigtails were weeping with excess water. Her lined jacket faired a little better. The cold wet at least hadn’t seeped down to her skin yet.

Plagg zipped up to her face, his eyes searching her face. “You love him?” he whispered. “Chat Noir, him?”

Marinette just dissolved into a new round of wracking sobs.

The tiny catlike kwami patted her cheek. “It’s not too late!” he insisted. “I can help you find him. We’ll give him back the miraculous together.”

Marinette tried to stamp out the hope that sprouted in her chest at those words.

“She can’t know who he is!” Tikki objected.

Plagg whirled to face his counterpart. “Why not?” he asked seriously. “The old man’s gone. She’s the Guardian now.”

Marinette buried her head into her sopping wet knees. Her throat closed off again, making words impossible.

Tikki had no trouble forming words, however. “It’s still a risk. She’s been akumatized, Plagg! She almost handed her earrings right over. And if Chat Noir were akumatized she would be the only defense against unlimited destruction!”

Plagg hissed in displeasure. “Did it ever occur to you that they might be less vulnerable to akumas if they knew each other?!”

“Please stop arguing,” Marinette begged.

Both kwamis instantly stilled.

“I don’t know if I should know who he is yet. But I do know that I can’t be Ladybug without him.”

“But Marinette!” Tikki objected.

Marinette held up her hand. “I don’t want to stop being Ladybug, Tikki. So we need to get Chat back somehow.”

Plagg spun in a happy circle. “I always knew I liked you, Pigtails.”

“Do you have any ideas, Plagg?” Marinette asked, finally letting the sapling of hope in her chest grow unfettered. “Do you know where he’s headed? Is he close enough that you could go directly to him?”

“I don’t think I could get to the airport before he gets on a plane. But it doesn’t matter because I don’t think he’ll take me back. Even if I bring the ring with me. As long as he thinks you’re still mad at him he’s going to reject me.”

“Oh! I am furious with him!” she growled. “But I don’t want him to quit!” And then her face lit up. “That’s it!”

“What’s your plan?” Tikki asked excitedly, spinning around in anticipation.

She turned to her friend and confidant. “You know where he’s going, too, right?”

“The airport. But Marinette, Plagg is right. I likely can’t get to him before the plane takes off, and what if the earrings fell into the wrong hands along the way?!”

“So, you’re saying that I can only go to him once we get home?” Marinette asked, her voice heavy with disappointment. “But…”

“Ladybug?” A warm synthetic voice chimed in. “I need your help.”

Marinette started, whirling toward the mechanical voice behind her. “Uncanny Valley?”

“The akuma is back and it’s gotten worse. I need your help,” the other hero told her without preamble.

Marinette’s chest tightened in panic. She couldn’t face an akuma. Not right now.

Not without her partner.

“I… I want to help,” Marinette confided. “But… I can’t… Not without him.”

Uncanny Valley smiled. “I can help with that.”

…

Adrien leaned forward in the padded seat on his father’s private chartered plane, his head tucked between his knees as he silently berated himself for every decision he had made over the last three days.

What had he been thinking? He had known Ladybug was out of town and that Paris was undefended. And he had gone anyway.

And Paris had paid the price.

Just so he could have a few days in New York with his friends. How ridiculously irresponsible and childish of him.

The resulting damage to Paris could not be undone.

He buried his fists into his hair, tugging at the golden strands in self-loathing frustration.

And then, once in New York, he had almost failed in the worst way possible. He had almost killed Ladybug. His partner!

The woman he still loved despite trying to move on.

And if he had, he’s not sure how he ever would have recovered. If it hadn’t been for Uncanny Valley absorbing his cataclysm, everything would have been lost.

Everything.

And that was on him.

Uncanny Valley had died to save everyone.

He had killed her. He hadn’t meant to. But he had still taken a life with his own power. Even if it was an accident. He had killed someone. Chat Noir was supposed to be a good guy, a hero, and he had killed someone. And not just anyone.

Aeon.

The bright and precious girl that had been following Jess around the whole trip. Ladybug’s charm may have brought the girl back, but it could never erase the moment when the dark haired girl had lain in her mother’s arms, unmoving, from his mind’s eye.

Frustrated tears leaked from his eyes, and his form shook silently.

He knew he wasn’t worthy of being Chat Noir.

Not anymore. His selfish choice to go on a school field trip had ruined everything.

His father was right about him.

Dear god, he didn’t want to face his father.

He dreaded arriving home. He knew that his life was different now. He had no way to escape his hollow and empty room at any time of day or night, no Plagg to keep him company, and he would no longer be able to hang out with or help his lady.

He knew would see her. It would be impossible not to. She still lived in Paris, and Hawkmoth was still at large. But it would be from a distance, and even if they happened to be in the same place at the same time, she wouldn’t know that it was him.

But he couldn’t bring himself to grieve those pieces yet. Because that was only being selfish. And being selfish is what caused the whole disaster in the first place.

A loud pop interrupted his internal self loathing. The air around him was suddenly roaring with the change in pressure. It lasted only for a moment, before everything went still again.

He turned around. Uncanny Valley stood before him with a bright metallic smile.

He smiled back, tears burning at the edges of his green eyes at seeing her unharmed once again.

She stared at him for a moment without saying anything before holding out a familiar octagonal black box.

“Your services are needed, Chat Noir.”

He stiffened at the address. She knew. Knew that he was the one that had killed her and she had come to him anyway.

Adrien held up his hands defensively and took a step back. “No, I am not worthy of the ring.”

She should know that better than anyone.

Her silver smile never faltered. “Good thing I didn’t bring a ring, then.”

She held out the miraculous box again.

His curiosity got the better of him, and he opened the box despite his reservations, only to drop it to the ground immediately at sight of the spotted earrings.

Adrien was already shaking his head when the swirl of pink sparkles diminished revealing the red kwami he had met only once before.

“She can’t give me her miraculous!” he screamed. “Tikki! What is she thinking?! She knows that I’m irresponsible and can’t be trusted! I proved that today!”

“Adrien,” Tikki soothed, holding her tiny hands out in a placating gesture. “I need you to calm down.”

“You want me to be calm?!” He was shaking like a jet engine. “Tikki, I almost killed her today. Me,” he stabbed his own thumb into his chest. “I did that. It was only because of her,” he gestured wildly toward Uncanny Valley, “that I didn’t.”

“It was an accident, and it turned out okay,” Tikki reassured.

“It almost didn’t,” he repeated stubbornly, letting himself fall back into his seat with his hands clenched into fists.

“Who are you talking to?” Uncanny Valley asked him, her head cocked to the side in confusion.

His green eyes darted towards the other hero for a second, and then back to the red kwami. “Tikkis is the kwami that is bonded with the creation miraculous?”

“What is a kwami? I’m unfamiliar with this classification.”

“She can’t perceive me because we are invisible to cameras,” Tikki explained impatiently.

“Kwamis are like spirits or gods of an idea. Every miraculous has one. They embody the jewelry with their powers,” Adrien explained.

“Fascinating,” Uncanny commented. “What does this creature look like?”

“We don’t have time for this,” Tikki interjected. “Can you please tell her to just playback Ladybug’s message?”

“Ladybug left me a message?” he prompted.

“Yes, of course!” Uncanny held her mouth open, but it was Ladybug’s voice that filled up the room.

“Chaton, I…” her voice trembled, and he knew she was barely holding back tears. “I don’t know what to say to you. I just… I need you to come back. I don’t know how to do this without you…” she trailed off, breaking into a sob.

His throat dropped painfully into his chest. He had made his lady cry. Even after everything, it was her voice that could break him.

She managed to recover, and continued, her voice harder. “I was angry with you for leaving Paris when you said you would be there,” she paused for a second. He could picture her glaring holes through his mask too easily. “But I am more angry that you left me today. How could you do that?” she raged. “When things get hard, when we make mistakes, I need you more! I need you to step up! Not run away.”

“I can’t do this without you,” and here her tone had shifted once again. Now, she was all business, all confident Ladybug with a convoluted plan that would bring everything together. He couldn’t suppress the fond smile that sprouted across his face. “So, I’ve decided that I’m not going to.

“I quit,” she said firmly and decisively.

Wait! What?! But she couldn’t do that! Paris needed her! No one could replace Ladybug.

“Now there’s no one to protect Paris or New York except you. Good luck!”

Uncanny Valley closed her mouth, the recording finished, and looked at him expectantly.

He knew Ladybug was manipulating him, but god damn it, he was never not going to do what she wanted.

He wiped tears from his face that he hadn’t realized he had cried. “She can’t give up, Tikki,” he sobbed. “I’ll go today if she needs me. I will go and return her earrings, but she needs to find a new partner. I definitely don’t deserve any miraculous.”

Tikki shot up to his face. “Adrien! This isn’t about what you deserve or don’t! This is about what she needs! And she needs you! You are her opposite and her partner. You cannot just be replaced. That’s not how this works!”

“She deserves better,” he insisted again, like a broken record.

“Do you not want to be Chat Noir anymore?” the tiny bug asked softly.

He sighed. “Of course I want to be Chat Noir, but there’s a difference between what I want and what is best for everyone! I proved over the last few days that I can’t be trusted not to make selfish choices!”

“That right there is proof you can be trusted!”

Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed together in genuine confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You’re willing to step down and pass on your position to another, even though you don’t really want to because you think that’s what’s best. That’s the opposite of selfish, Adrien.”

“But how can she trust me anymore? I let her down,” he whispered.

Tikki spiraled in the air in clear agitation. “Do you think you’re the first miraculous holder to make a huge mistake? Ladybug screwed up just last month and Master Fu’s identity and safety was compromised! And as a result, every temporary hero’s identity was revealed!”

“But that was an accident!” he growled back.

The kwami whipped up to his face.

“Exactly! It was an accident!”

He felt like she had just punched him.

“And Master Fu responded to her mistake by making her the Guardian!”

The kwami pulled herself back with a sigh, her tone once again soft and patient. “Because he was wise enough to know that the biggest mistakes often result in the greatest learning! And that Ladybug is not defined by her mistakes.

“And you aren’t either, Adrien. Ladybug can trust you more after you’ve made this mistake and learned from it, than she could before you ever made it.”

She paused for a moment as if searching for words. Then she darted right back into his personal space. “Never making mistakes does not make you worthy of your miraculous. Learning from your inevitable mistakes and taking responsibility for them is what makes you the perfect holder of the black cat.”

He hung his head. He wanted to believe Tikki. He did. Then everything could go back to normal.

“Do you believe in her or not?” Tikki asked into the silence.

“More than anything on this earth.” The words left him in a whisper.

“Well then!” Tikki continued passionately. “Believe that she’s right when she says that you are needed.”

Adrien wanted to argue. He feared Ladybug was wrong about him, and he was positively terrified of disappointing her all over again.

But if her message was to be believed it was his leaving that disappointed her the most.

He sighed, feeling emotionally exhausted and battered, but he couldn’t argue anymore. Tikki has definitely given him a lot more to think about. “And here I was thinking you would be nicer than Plagg.”

“What?!” Tikki screeched indignantly, shooting up another foot into the air. “I’m definitely the nice one!”

He shook his head in disagreement even as he smiled, enjoying the rare chance to rib a kwami even if it wasn’t the one who gave him a hard time constantly.

“So, how do I find her?” he asked.

“It won’t be hard,” Uncanny Valley interjected. “You just need to go where the akuma is.”

He launched himself to his feet. “There’s an akuma?! Why didn’t either of you lead with that?!” he demanded even as he rapidly thrust the earring posts into his ears.

“Tikki! Spots on!” The creative energies crackled over his form, feeling somehow warm and soft, so unlike his normal destructive power. He stuffed down all his doubts and self-loathing. That could all wait.

There was an akuma to fight.

And his lady needed him.

…

“Watch out!”

Lady Noire dropped to the concrete, cursing the non specificity of the warning. Chat would have told her left or right, up or down in the same number of words. The blast of power rushed over her head and missed her, if only just, so she supposed she couldn’t complain. At least she had an ally in Sparrow. It was better than facing this akuma alone.

Because this akuma - she was blanking on his name. Techno something? But didn’t it also have something to do with the Miraculous? It didn’t matter! Lady Noire couldn’t keep it all straight! That’s what Chat and his love of comics and manga was for! The point was, whatever his name, this akuma sucked!

She vaulted upwards, launching herself from the ground to a street lamp, to one of the lower buildings in the forest of skyscrapers.

Remaining at street level was dangerous. There were too many alleyways and blocked sight lines. But leaping from rooftop to rooftop was almost as bad because it left no places to hide, no options for cover even if she could see all her adversaries coming. And she had to fend off Majestia, Knight Owl, and the akuma on miraculous steroids simultaneously.

At least she was in the clear for the moment. There was no sign of any of them. A distant crash thundered. Lady Noire sighed. Majestia was probably destroying more buildings trying to flush them out.

“Hey, Lady Cat!” Sparrow called. “Follow me!” Then she ducked through an open window a dozens of stories off the ground into a conference room of some sort.

And with another sigh, Lady Noire did just that. She and Sparrow huddled with their heads together out of sight, crafting a new strategy. And again, with Chat, the conversation would have been unnecessary. He could glean her plans from a gesture or three words of explanation.

But she and Sparrow didn’t have that level of intuitive communication. Lady Noire liked Sparrow. The Parisian hero related to the other girl’s desire to prove herself, and she knew the other girl's heart was in the right place. But they didn’t have any experience with each other.

So it took thirty seconds of rapidly exchanged words before they were on the same page and back in the air fighting. It had only been thirty seconds, but how many buildings had Majestia managed to demolish in that time?

Lady Noire honestly didn’t have time to count, as she ducked under yet another projectile - this one launched at her by Knight Owl.

The time delay had been worth it though. She and Sparrow were tag teaming better, grabbing the brainwashed heroes’ attention before they could take out their compromised morals on the city too badly, and covering each other’s back when their three adversaries converged on one of them.

But every move was defensive. They had no plan for an offensive strike. It was all they could do to not get hit by the akuma’s beam.

She wished Chat Noir was there.

She was certain he would come back. He would never leave her hanging. She had absolutely no doubt.

But would he make it back in time? Before her luck ran out completely?

She pounced out of the way of another strike, only to dodge into the blow of another. She had time to curse her mistake, but no time to course correct.

Just when she thought it was over, a flash of red body-slammed her into a third direction.

Relief flooded through her at the familiar sensation of his form pressed against her own. They both readily rolled to their feet, and slid into fighting stances side by side.

“You okay?” he called.

She flashed him a huge grin. “Never better, bugaboy!” Now that he was here.

And unlike the first time they had swapped kwamis, they were perfectly in sync. Even for them, it was impressive. It felt like she could read his mind and he hers.

Or maybe, it was just the contrast of working with Sparrow. Or was her name Eagle now?

Whatever the case, she could feel the difference. Chat Noir was her partner, her other half. He had stolen her heart somewhere along the way, and she couldn’t wait to tell him, even if she would never hear the end of it.

He called for a lucky charm, and she jutted her chin towards a parked taxi cab. He flashed her a grin, and dove into action. And that’s what she meant. He just understood.

“Sorry, Miraclonizer,” Mr. Bug called to the akuma an instant before Lady Noire shot out of the cab and cataclysmed his object. “Third time was not your charm.”

Majestia and Knight Owl cornered the healed villain within seconds of Mr. Bug purifying the butterfly and healing the city.

But Lady Noire paid none of them any mind. She launched herself into her partner’s arms the second it was safe to do so. He caught her as if she weighed nothing, absorbing her momentum with a twirl before pulling her against him.

She had never felt safer.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” she told him, her voice hard. It was the only defense she had against immediately dissolving into a puddle of tears at his feet.

“I wouldn’t dream of it m’lady,” he breathed into her braid. “Shall we go somewhere to talk?”

She nodded into his shoulder. “Go, recharge Tikki. And then we’ll meet up on the Statue of Liberty?”

She bounded away without a word to the American heroes, before ducking into a secluded alleyway three blocks away and letting her transformation shimmer away.

“I don’t have any cheese,” she reported solemnly as she offered one of Tikki’s cookies to the limp kwami that had just fallen into her hands.

“I’ll live,” he replied gruffly, eying the proffered pink macaron suspiciously as if she were offering him poison. He took it, flipped it over and inspected it, before taking the smallest of nibbles.

She sighed. “I’ve seen you inhale cheese, Plagg. I don’t suppose I could bribe you with a promise of a wheel of Camembert later to just hold your nose and inhale that, now?”

“What’s your rush, Pigtails?” he asked, taking another infinitesimally small bite. “The akuma has been defeated already. Your job is done.”

“I just…” she looked away. “I don’t want him to spook.”

Which was a lie. She knew he’d be there. But she… she had lost him today. He walked away once. He might do it again. She wouldn’t feel secure until she had seen him, until he had promised with more than words that he wasn’t going anywhere.

He eyed her. “You can trust him, you know. He’ll wait for you.”

“Like I could trust him to protect Paris in my absence?” she bit back.

Plagg said nothing. Just took another tiny bite if one could call it that.

She sighed, idly running her fingernail along the alley brick wall. “I’m sorry. I’m trying not to be angry. I don’t want him to run again.”

“You don’t have to be what others expect you to be, you know.”

Her eyes whipped to the kwami floating in the dim light of a flickering street lamp. “What do you mean?”

He darted around in an animated circle. “You don’t have to be the bigger person. You can be angry. He can take it. He has lots of practice.”

She hissed at those words, hating that any piece of them could be true, and that she still didn’t know enough about his civilian life to refute or understand them.

“But this isn’t about him, or your feelings for him,” Plagg continued. “This has nothing to do with him at all. This has to do with you being the Guardian.”

She frowned. “I’m not following.”

“You don’t have to be what Paris expects you to be. Or what Chat Noir expects you to be. You don’t have to be what Master Fu expected you to be either.”

Her eyes watered unexpectedly at the mention of her old mentor.

“You just have to be you,” Plagg concluded.

Her knuckles buried themselves into her eyes, as she tried to fight back tears. “But I keep messing up.”

“That’s because you’re trying to follow the rules instead of following your instincts!”

“A hero thinks with her brain, not her heart!” she countered hotly.

“No! You need to think with your gut! Your brain is not what helps you decipher Tikki’s charms. I love her, but that girl can be obtuse! No, you have to follow your intuition, and trust that even if you don’t know what the final piece is when you’re halfway through some convoluted plan, you’ll recognize it when you see it.”

She bit her lip, considering his words. His description of unraveling the mystery of a lucky charm wasn’t wrong.

“Like, why didn’t you bring the horse miraculous on this trip? I know you thought about it!”

Her eyes narrowed at his tone.“Because Master Fu said that having too many miraculouses out and active was too risky!” she began defensively.

“You already proved that your determination, creativity, and your faith in your partner was more effective than that old man’s paranoia when you defeated Feast.”

The miniature floating cat took another crumb off Tikki’s cookie. “The old man is gone! You need to figure out your own way of doing things. His ways won’t work for you because you’re not him.”

“But… I’m just a teenager. I don’t know what I’m doing. He had so much more experience. He kept you all safe for centuries. Who am I to say that his methods were wrong?”

“Who are you?” Plagg repeated indignantly. “You are Ladybug! You have never lost. You are now the Guardian. You are Marienette Dupain-Cheng who is quite accomplished in her own right!”

Her eyes burned at the praise. And coming from Plagg who pretended he didn’t care about anything? Well, that meant a lot to her. Especially today when she was feeling so raw and like she had screwed up just for coming on this trip at all.

“And just so you know, Master Fu took on the role of the Guardian when he was twelve. He didn’t know what he was doing either. He made tons of mistakes. You will too, but they don’t have to be the same ones.”

Marinette leaned up against the wall behind her, carefully considering every word. “Why are you telling me all this?” she whispered.

He flipped the cookie over on its end and nibbled into the untouched end. Really, the whole cookie looked unmarred. They were going to be here all night.

“You brought my kid back. You didn’t let him go. I figure I owe you a favor.”

She smiled softly. “You seem to care about him a lot.”

He frowned. “He gives me only the finest of camembert!” he gushed. “Not every holder can pull that off, you know.”

Marinette reached out and scratched the little cat behind his ear, and to her delight he leaned into the caress and purred. She suspected Chat Noir meant far more to the kwami than cheese, but she wasn’t going to call him out on it.

“Tikki says you can’t ever take anything seriously.”

He looked affronted. “I can be serious!” he argued. “When it’s important!”

She giggled. “I can see that,” she conceded. “Thanks, Plagg! I think I needed to hear this.”

“Like I said, I owed you a favor. It’s nothing more than that.”

“Oh, of course,” she agreed readily, an amused smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

He popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth, and gulped it down in one swallow.

“So are we going to go meet my kid or what?” Plagg asked. “We shouldn’t keep him waiting all night! He’s going to think you’re still mad at him or something.”

“Are you serious right now?” she screeched, staring at the stoic kwami in complete disbelief. “You were just pretending you had to eat that cookie so slowly?”

He did the kwami equivalent of a shrug. “You asked me to hurry it up. And I did! Don’t know what you’re complaining about.”

“Oh my god! You’re impossible!”

“Still waiting on you, Pigtails,” he countered smugly.

“Plagg, claws out!” she growled out, his laughter echoing in the humid frigid air around her even after he was sucked into the ring.

Dark crackling energy enveloped her body from head to toe, thrumming with raw power and energy. Her normal transformation felt warm and comforting. And the black cat wasn’t cold - it was more like lightning. And once her transformation was complete she just needed to move, to run, to pounce, to be free.

She vaulted from the ground, shooting off towards the monument of liberty that she could see clearly now that it had stopped raining, eager and excited to speak with her partner.

As she approached, she could see he was already there - a spot of red that stood out against the green of the statue’s oxidized copper. He was sitting under that railing of Lady Liberty’s torch, his legs dangling playfully over the edge.

She vaulted up and landed next to him in a feline crouch.

“M’lady!” he greeted brightly as if they hadn’t planned on meeting not twenty minutes prior. “I was starting to get worried. What happened?”

“Plagg happened,” she growled. “Apparently, he eats cookies really really really slowly.”

He laughed. And god, it was a gorgeous sound. One that she would never take for granted again. “Yeah, he’s pretty annoying when it comes to food.”

She sat down next to him, closer than she normally would have, wanting to have him close. She crossed her legs at the ankles and they stayed relatively calm compared to his active swinging. Neither of them spoke for a minute, they were just staring over the city of lights. The city that was not their own, but they had just saved.

“Thank you,” she whispered into the silence.

His spring-green eyes snapped to her in surprise. “For?”

“For coming back,” she told him simply, still not daring to look at him. If she looked at him she was fairly certain she would cry. And while tears were likely inevitable this evening, she didn’t want to start off with them.

“I’m sorry for ever leaving,” he told her solemnly.

“It’s…” she broke off. She was going to say that it was okay, but it wasn’t. “Thank you for saying that,” she said instead. “Can you promise me something?”

“Anything,” he said immediately. Her eyes jumped towards his face, surprised at his total lack of hesitation. He gazed back at her, his face calm and serene as the breeze that swept across their cheeks.

“You don’t want to know what it is first?” she asked.

He shook his head with a soft smile. The expression almost seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “I already know I would do almost anything for you, M’lady. I thought you would have known that by now. And the one or two things I wouldn’t be able to do, you would never ask.”

Heat bloomed across her cheeks at his raw faith in her. She was never certain how she had earned it.

“What did you want to ask?” he prompted when she still didn’t explain.

“Just that… next time, if there’s a next time, which I hope there won’t be,” she rambled. “But if there is a next time, can you please talk to me first? Before you make your decision?”

He stared at her for a second. “Next time for what?” he finally asked.

She glanced at him, then looked back down to her knees. “A next time you want to quit…”

“Oh…”

And then he said nothing. And she couldn’t stand it. Her gloved fingers writhed in her lap.

“It’s just… you left without letting me say goodbye,” she confessed, her voice softer than the cold breeze. But she knew he could hear her. She looked back at him again, gauging his face for a reaction, but for once she couldn’t read him. “I…” she bit her lower lip in thought, and looked back down. “I don’t want you to be trapped in this. You’re never obligated to continue, but…”

His hand, gloved in red and black, reached out to hers soothingly. “But?”

Emerald green eyes blinked at her from behind a spotted mask, and she found herself missing the vertical pupils that came from wearing the black cat miraculous. When had his eyes stopped looking alien and strange to her? When had they become a source of comfort?

“If you ever want to stop doing this, please… just let me say… goodbye,” she choked out over the massive rock that had just lodged itself in her throat. Hot tears fell from her eyes, over her mask. She hated crying in the mask.

He pulled her against him, she felt safe and warm in his arms. Her body responded by convulsing harder with wracking sobs. He rubbed her back soothingly, and rocked her back and forth.

“Oh bug, I’m so sorry,” he said softly, and then he kissed the crown of her head. “Of course I promise.”

“The last thing I said to you was out of anger,” she sobbed into his chest.

“Shhh… it’s okay. I’m right here. And I know you,” and she could hear the smile in his voice. “You were never going to let that be our last conversation. I’m apparently really bad at staying away even when I think it’s for the best.”

She stilled at his words, at the self deprecation in his tone. “Do you…?” she hesitated, carefully keeping her head down and not looking at his face. “Do you still... think it would be best for you to give up the miraculous?”

He didn’t say anything.

And suddenly, despite his arm around her shoulders, the night was freezing once again, overcast, dark, and grey.

“Chaton?” she prompted. She was terrified of what he might say, but she had to know. She had to know if she could rely on him.

His head dropped, his forehead rested against the top of her braid. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “In the moment that I renounced Plagg, I did it because I just didn’t see any path back for me. I just kept making mistake after mistake. I didn’t want to keep letting you down.”

“You didn’t let me down,” she objected automatically.

Her partner laughed, but there was no amusement here. It was not the bright, rich laugh that came from his belly that she coveted and cherished. This laugh was bitter and dark.

She huffed out a sigh. “Okay! Fine, you let me down, but not in some irreparable sense that you seem to be thinking.”

His arms tightened around her. “I almost killed you today,” he whispered so softly she almost didn’t hear him.

She sat up then, and traced the sides of his downturned face in both of her hands. She urged his gaze up to hers and waited until he was looking at her before speaking. “But you didn’t.” Her voice didn’t waiver.

His lower lip trembled and soon his whole body was quaking. She jerked him into her arms, and his head came to rest on her bony shoulder.

“I… I don’t know… w-what I would do… if I lost you,” he gasped out between sobs.

“You’re the one that was going to leave,” she couldn’t help but point out dryly.

His nose burrowed deeper into her shoulder. “Only because I am afraid that at some point I will screw up so badly, but instead of me… you’ll be the one to pay the price. I don’t want to be your partner if I am not the best one to protect you. You’re too important to me to let my ego or selfish tendencies get in the way.”

Her arms tightened around him.

He looked up at her then. His eyes were glassy and as green as new spring grass. “But then Tikki said some things that made me think about it differently. That maybe coming back was more important?”

He said it like it was a question. That he needed her confirmation more than anything.

“Kitty, I don’t know how to convince you. I know you won’t be perfect. I won’t be perfect either. I know our mistakes have very real consequences for more than just us. And I would definitely appreciate it in the future, if anything that affects our responsibility changes, you would tell me rather than pretend like everything was taken care of.”

He nodded in agreement.

“But you are it for me! I cannot do this with anyone else because you are the only person who was here with me through this whole crazy thing, the only person who has believed in me even before I believed in myself! You are the person that I trust the most. The only person that can really understand my life. That’s why today was so hard. I…” She broke off into tears.

She started sobbing uncontrollably, harder than either time before. Her throat was tight, and she felt like there was no air. She couldn’t talk, but she desperately needed him to hear these ones.

“I… thought I was… n-never going to see you again,” she choked out.

His hands traced her jaw as his thumbs brushed away her tears. “Do you want to know who I am?” he asked, his eyes serious.

She laughed hysterically through her tears. Of course she wanted to know; she had always wanted to know. But she was still scared. Plagg’s advice about being in her own kind of Guardian warred with every word of caution Master Fu and Tikki had ever given her. Because learning who he was wasn’t something they could take back.

She needed to think about this very carefully. But she wanted to just know. And she wanted to tell him.

“I’m serious,” he told her. “I will tell you right now. You don’t even have to reciprocate.”

She sucked in a breath, trying to calm her racing heart, and smiled brightly at him. She wanted to give into his offer with every fiber of his being. But even if she wasn’t scared to know anymore, it was still probably wise to give it careful consideration before rushing into anything.

“I know who you are,” she told him.

He started. “Y-you do? What gave me away?”

Her smile grew, and her fingertips traced the side of his face. “No, that’s not what I mean. I don’t know your identity. But I do know you. You’re my partner. And my best friend. The boy I trust more than anyone else on this planet. And the most important person in my life. I know your heart.” She placed her other hand on his chest. His heart was racing, too. “I know you.”

She leaned forward before she could think about it too much. He met her halfway.

His lips were chapped, and his breath tasted of mint. His fingers found a home in the small of her back while hers became tangled in his golden locks. Everything about their contact was warm, sweet, and soft.

She didn’t want the moment to end.

It was perfect.

So when he started to pull away, her hands held him in place. And she could feel him smile against her lips.

She finally pulled away with a gasp, and only because she had to breathe at some point, and she was rewarded with a dopey grin on his face with his masked eyes still slitted closed.

She watched him fondly for a few seconds, her giddy smile likely echoing his own. But when he didn’t move, and he didn’t open his eyes, she grew impatient.

“Chaton? You still there?” she teased lightly.

“Yes, m’lady!” he answered brightly. But his eyes remained stubbornly closed.

She poked him in the shoulder. “Why are your eyes still closed?”

He sighed happily. “Because I’m trying to memorize the best moment in my life so I can replay it later when I need it.”

She snorted. “I can’t believe I fell in love with such a dork.”

His green eyes snapped open. “You love me?” he breathed out as if he could scarcely believe it.

She curled her hands around his again. “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded. “Did Uncanny Valley not play you my message?”

“She did, but…”

“And you were here for that confession and kiss, right? You remember it? You weren’t under some akuma’s control or anything?”

He shook his head, even as his fingers tightened around hers. “No, but you didn’t say love,” he objected.

She turned towards him again. “Chaton, the boy I told you about, the one I told you I loved?”

He went rigid, his expression suddenly carefully neutral. “What about him?” he asked casually.

“He came on this trip with me,” she explained. “But today he left. I watched him drive away and it felt like he was leaving me. And it was hard. But it barely registered in comparison to the devastation I felt listening to your echoing footsteps fade away after you left your miraculous behind.”

His gaze dropped to their joined hands. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “I’m not trying to make you feel more guilty. I just… that’s how I knew.”

She turned and kneeled before him, still not letting go of his hands. “I had to let go of both of you today,” she told him. “But you were the one where that did not feel possible. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the lines you snuck into my heart, made it your own, and I don’t want you to leave.

“Because I love you,” she whispered.

His eyes turned glassy, but he was smiling. “I love you, too.”

She couldn’t stand to see him crying even if they were tears of joy. So she leaned forwards and kissed him again. And then again and again until she lost count and they were both giggling like children.

“What does this mean?” he asked her later, when they were giggled out, and her head rested against his shoulder once again.

She sighed. What she wouldn’t give to just be! Be here and now, and not have to worry about Paris or New York or decisions that she didn’t want to be the one to make! “I don’t know. I want us to be together, I think. But this is dangerous. But… Plagg said I needed to make my own rules.”

He started. “Plagg said what?”

She ignored his interjection. “And he was right! I… I’ve been trying to emulate Master Fu because he is the only example I have.”

“Plagg gave you advice…? Like useful advice?” Chat objected again.

She frowned up at him. “You’re getting distracted, kitty.”

“Sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his free arm. “Go on.”

“I just worry that if Hawkmoth knows we’re in love, he’ll find a way to use it against us. Love makes us strong in so many ways, but it also makes us vulnerable.”

He threaded his fingers with hers. And she had never thought she would enjoy holding hands with someone as much as she did.

“Do you really think he couldn’t have already done that before when assuming we were just friends?”

She pursed her lips, considering. She supposed he had a point. She kept her identity a secret so that Hawkmoth couldn’t get at her through her family or friends. But Chat Noir had always been a friend she couldn’t hide.

“It’s just more pronounced, I think,” she concluded.

“Would you want to keep it a secret then?” he asked, his expression betraying nothing about how he felt about that idea. But she knew that was his way of being supportive by letting her take the lead.

“Keeping our vulnerabilities secret does offer some protection. That’s the way Master Fu did it. He always stayed in the shadows and was secretive and he was able to protect the kwamis and to stay hidden for almost two centuries!”

“But?” he prompted when she stopped.

And she smiled, pleased that he could read her so well. “But we’re on the front lines. We don’t have the luxury of staying in the shadows. It’s harder to build an impenetrable wall of secrets when you have to be out in public all the time fighting monsters. When you have to balance a double life without anyone noticing. When you struggle with so much, and can’t confide in anyone, or ask anyone for support…”

And suddenly, now that she was really thinking about it, she was angry. Livid that she had been put in this situation where she was almost alone in keeping an entire city safe, and told that she could share that with no one. How long would it be before she broke? How long before she was akumatized?

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

She shook herself out of her thoughts. “Yeah, I just… I didn’t realize that I was so angry. Master Fu dumped a lot of responsibility on me without leaving any avenues of support,” and she immediately tensed realizing how her words can be misconstrued. Her eyes jerked upwards to his. “I didn’t mean you,” she told him.

He smiled. “No, I totally understand what you meant,” he assured immediately. And then his smile faded and his gaze turned distant.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Do you want to give up your miraculous?” He asked softly, clearly afraid of her answer.

She jerked back violently. “What?! No!! I can’t give it up!” Even she was startled at how visceral her reaction was. “No,” she said again, her tone more calm. “It’s hard, yes. And definitely unfair. But it would just as unfair to put this burden on someone else.”

“But do you want to be Ladybug?” he asked again, this time his green eyes were intense and insistent, rather than worried.

“I love being Ladybug,” she whispered back. “I love knowing that I have helped someone. I love being able to protect the people I care about. And well, even the challenge of figuring out how to defeat an akuma or interpret a lucky charm… It's empowering,” her voice grew louder the more she talked. “Just knowing that when the chips are down, I’m capable of thinking stuff out like that. Most people have to run when an akuma strikes, but not me. I have agency. I can do something. And I’m good at it!”

“Damn good at it!” he agreed with a huge smile.

She smirked. “And I suppose flying over the city by yoyo is pretty cool too,” she tacked on.

“I had to ask,” he told her. “I want you to know you have an out, too.”

“Thank you kitty. I appreciate that.”

“So if you’re committed to sticking it out, what do you want to do differently than Master Fu as the new Guardian?” he asked. “And whatever you decide, know that I will always support you.”

Her eyes locked onto his. “I want to trust. I want to trust you completely. Maybe others too, but I want to start with you. I don’t want there to be secrets between us.”

She felt him freeze underneath her.

“So… does that mean…” he fidgeted nervously. “Tell me if I’m jumping the gun again, but may I tell you my name?”

The question hit her like a lightning bolt, sending both her heart racing and her gut fluttering. Even though he had mentioned it earlier, this time felt different. Now, she felt ready. But she was still nervous. But not in the way that she used to be. She wasn’t worried for her friends and family because this was Chat! Her partner. He would give his life for her, she already knew. The idea even brought a sense of relief.

No, the butterflies in her stomach were more a giddy nervousness. She tried to calm herself by breathing deeply. Knowing his name wouldn’t change how she felt about him. And she had to believe that his knowing hers wouldn’t change the way he felt either.

“Only if you want to,” she said. God, she wanted him to tell her so bad, but she didn’t feel she had the right to demand anything after she had already put him off so many times.

He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to. It works out for you, too, in this case because you’ll always be able to track me down when you need to yell at me for something without having to send a third party or worry that it will be our last conversation.”

She laughed. “You sure you don’t want to wait like two weeks when we’re not so emotionally raw? When our heads are on straight?” It was the more pragmatic choice. There was no rush. They didn’t really have to burn through all the secrets between them in one evening.

He barked out a laugh of his own. “Two weeks for you to come up with a million and three reasons about how bad of an idea it is?” He shook his head, even as he chuckled. “No, I don’t really want to wait for that.”

“I’m not that bad!” she objected.

“Oh, yes, you are,” he grinned, darting in with a quick kiss to her nose, which she scrunched up in response. “It’s one of the many things I love about you.”

“Yeah, well! You’re so impulsive!” she countered, even as she grinned.

“And you love me anyway,” he countered, cheekily.

Heat flooded her neck and face; even her ears felt hot in the cold air. “Yeah, yeah, I do.”

“I love you, too.” His voice was so soft, like velvet, and his eyes were even softer. Love poured from them. It was so intense it was hard to maintain eye contact. She had never felt more exposed or vulnerable. He had all of her heart. He had stolen it.

But he didn’t say anything more, and it was driving her mad.

“So…” she prompted, “What’s your name?”

He started, and then grinned again. “R-right!” He cleared his throat dramatically. “Adrien.”

She reeled backwards as if burned. “W-what?!” she exclaimed. She thought she had been prepared for anything! She thought his name wouldn’t change anything.

She had been wrong.

“My name… it’s Adrien,” he repeated.

Her eyes were bugged out of her head, and her jaw was on the balcony floor. But she didn’t know what to say. It couldn’t be him, could it? That would be too simple. And too unfair all at once! The universe was clearly laughing at her. It had been laughing at her for years!

He frowned. “Is that bad?”

She could hear the tremor in his voice. God, he was freaking out. She had to fix that.

“N-no…?” she stammered. Crap! She was stammering. He was totally going to see straight through her.

Would that be so bad?

“Just… unexpected,” she said lamely.

“Were you expecting a Louis, or an Antoine?” he asked jokingly, clearly trying to bury his vulnerability in silliness, but she could see through him. He was terrified. “What name did you give me in your head?”

“Chaton,” she whispered, squeezing his head, managing to look right into his anxious eyes.

His whole form relaxed and his jokester face melted into the softest smile at her admission. And oh god, it was totally him. How had she never seen it before? She was such an idiot.

“Okay seriously,” he laughed. “What is wrong with the name Adrien?”

“Nothing!” she insisted.

He kissed the knuckles of each of her gloved hands. “Then why are you freaking out?”

So many panicked thoughts swirled through her brain just like it always did when she was trying to talk to Adrien. But this wasn’t just Adrien anymore, she reminded herself. This was her partner, her best friend, her love, and her Chaton. She had just said she wanted no more secrets between them not five minutes prior.

She took a deep breath and prayed for courage. “Adrien might be the name of the boy I had a crush on,” she admitted. Somehow, it was easier to be indirect about it even though she already knew that it was him.

“What were the chances that I have the same name as…?” And then his whole body stilled and his eyes widened. “Unless… No! I cannot be that lucky,” he mumbled more to himself than her. “But… you said…” His eyes searched hers. “You said… your crush walked away from you today. If that was me…”

And suddenly his eyes watered and he was crying again. Only this time, she had no idea what was wrong.

He couldn’t be that disappointed it was her, could he? The possibility had never occurred to her.

“Chaton? What’s wrong?”

He yanked her to him, his arms wrapped around her petite frame from both sides and he cried onto her shoulder.

“Marinette, I’m so sorry!” he sobbed.

And she shivered at her name on his lips, laden with such emotion. She felt her panic begin to fade. He definitely wasn’t disappointed.

“For?” she asked.

“I walked away from you twice today.”

And with those words the last of her fear faded away. She rubbed circles on his back. She hoped he found them soothing.

“Chaton, it’s okay,” she reassured, feeling remarkably free herself. She had managed to confess to both of the boys she loved in one go! And she was feeling much better about this whole Guardian business just as a bonus. “This makes things surprisingly simple,” she said, framing both sides of his face in her gloved hands.

He shook his head and nuzzled his cheek into one of her hands. “I don’t deserve you,” he croaked out.

She shook her head. “I think you deserve the world, Chaton. That’s why I fought so hard for you to be able to come on this trip. I just didn’t realize you were also the person that I needed to stay behind.”

He laughed through his tears. “You’re so amazing, Buginette. I have thought so this whole trip. Until I screwed up royally, I was thinking about asking you out when we got back to Paris. Marinette you, I mean.”

“R-really?!” she squeaked.

“Really!”

“What changed?” She asked. “If I recall, Chat Noir already rejected Marinette.”

“I don’t know that anything did. It’s like you said… I think you snuck in a long time ago and I just didn’t realize it because I was so focused on Ladybug.”

“Ladybug is pretty great, I guess,” she grudgingly admitted.

“Ladybug is definitely amazing! I’ve looked up to her for a long time, but Marinette… she is so much more because she fights for justice without the benefit of a mask. She always stands up when it matters. She goes out of her way to include everyone, she gives people second chances. She gave me a second chance.”

Her eyes watered with his sweet, sweet words.

“She was the first friend I really made on my own, and I think it’s one of the best things I have ever done, and I save Paris on a weekly basis!”

A laugh tore through her tears, and he smiled back.

She tilted her head up and kissed him, trying to convey how much his words meant to her. Because she could not put it into words.

“I love you,” he finished when they pulled away.

She grinned even though she was still crying. “I love you!”

She studied his face, his eyes sparkled and his mouth couldn’t stop smiling. Happiness suited him. She realized that she had never seen her partner completely one hundred percent joyful. She had never understood before that half his jokes and tendency to want to play around was one part outlet and another part defense mechanism, but now, he made so much more sense to her. And she loved him more.

She hadn’t realized that was possible.

“It makes sense now,” she confided.

“What does?”

“Your attitude and personality as Chat Noir. You barely ever are allowed anything, so of course you go a little overboard when the opportunity presents itself. Ladybug has always primarily been a duty for me. Chat Noir is freedom for you. And well, if my miraculous was the only way I got to be free, I wouldn’t listen to my kwami either.”

He laughed. “Plagg actively encourages my rebellious moments,” he said, his eyes still gleaming.

“Really?!” she scoffed. “No fair! Why did you get the fun kwami?”

“He’s not that fun,” Adrien immediately disagreed. “Quite annoying really. He goes through so much expensive cheese you wouldn’t believe it. Nathalie still asks me questions about how much cheese I buy. And he makes a point of leaving cheese crumbs everywhere, which makes everything smell weird.”

She ate up every word like a child on Christmas morning. It was so mundane, but they got to do this now! They got to share every bit of how their civilian and hero lives clashed.

“But he’s definitely the nice one,” her partner concluded.

“What?!” she screeched in mock outrage. “Blasphemy! Tikki is the sweetest!”

He grinned. “She is definitely the mean one.”

“Whatever! I guess you should give her back to me then, since you clearly don’t appreciate her!” she bantered back.

She hadn’t expected the immediate flash of pink light.

Tikki materialized a split second later, but Marinette spared no attention to her constant companion. She was looking at her unmasked partner. He stood before her, unfairly tall. His blond unstyled hair looked more like Chat’s than Adrien’s and she loved it. His cheeks were slightly pink, but his eyes…. It was like she had never seen them before, which was ridiculous because he was Adrien. She had seen them thousands of times before. But she had never seen them knowing he was her partner. They were emerald-green, and they were shining with complete trust and love, and she was lost in their depths.

She traced the curve of his jawline with a gloved hand, but her eyes never left his even when she started tearing up all over again.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

His golden eyebrows furrowed in genuine confusion. “For?”

“For making you wait so long for this moment,” she confessed. She was so mad at herself for costing them so much time when they could have been supporting each other completely in both parts of their lives.

He smiled. And she could see her kitty in his face and it was amazing!

He turned his head into the hand on his face and kissed her palm. “You had to be ready. I know I was less patient on some days, but I’m glad that we waited until we both were ready.”

Maybe he was right. It was better this way because if it had happened sooner she might have combusted realizing it was Adrien and been unable to talk to him. Or she might have been angry if he had shared before she thought it was okay. And this… this was better.

She dissolved her own transformation in a flash of green. Plagg was there immediately, glanced between them in their civilian forms, and he smirked.

“Oh thank god!” he exclaimed. That was as far as he got before Tikki swooped in, and wrestled him out of sight.

Adrien carefully took out his earrings, and they reverted to their red and black form in his hands. He held them up, gesturing to the side of her head. “May I?” he asked.

A blush bloomed across her face at the question. She nodded, not trusting herself to form words.

His bare hands gently pushed a few errant strands of her hair behind her ear, before he carefully slipped one earring into her right ear. “Thank you for making me come back and thank you for trusting me with… yourself and everything else.”

He moved to the other side of her head and slipped in the second earring just as gently. “I promise to do everything I can to live up to your trust in me.”

Then he kissed her forehead before pulling slightly away, but she captured his hand before he could escape entirely.

She caressed each finger one by one, and then took off his miraculous, which was a rose gold on her hand, but instantly turned black when it was free of her finger. She watched in fascination as it turned silver when she placed it on his finger.

“I want to thank you for always supporting me, for being patient,” she started.

“Mostly patient,” he interjected, his voice light with teasing. She pushed a finger to his lips.

“Hush! It’s your turn to listen.

He nodded, his eyes sparkling with mischief. It was such a Chat expression on Adrien’s face. And that made her smile.

“I want to thank you,” she began again. “For always being there when no one else was, for picking me up in my lowest moments, for giving me advice, for being a bright spot in the darkness.”

“Can I get a do over?” He asked, his voice cracking.

“Nope!” She snapped back playfully. She had loved what he had said. “And I promise to be transparent with you as the Guardian the way Fu never was.”

She kissed his hand. Then he pulled her up and his lips met hers again. He was so warm. And he was sending tingles down to her toes.

Would she ever get used to his kisses?

She hoped not.

He pulled away just slightly and her vision was filled with his green eyes. “It feels like we just got married,” he told her.

Heat rushed from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. “I don’t think I’m ready for that. But… maybe someday?” she suggested with a shy smile.

He grinned back. “I look forward to that day.”

She did, too.

…

#Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #identity reveal #ladynoir #angst #with happy happy ending #tikki gives tough love #plagg gives advice #ladynoir talk things out #A Miraculous Reveal #My Own Content

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