#remember when the kwamis had personalities and helped their chosen grow as people?

[laterose13]

At this point I feel like Miraculous Ladybug is a series of headcanons, AUs, and fanart that is tangentially related to a 3D cartoon that nobody actually wants to watch any more because the fans have much more creativity.

[diamaker-moon]

Moving Forward - Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Realizations... (pt. 1)

—————

"I am proud of your chosen, Tikki."

Wayzz said in a calm voice. "She took in the responsibility of being a heroine exchange for her time in her civilian life, and now, she chose to carry the heavy responsibility of a Guardian even though she can refuse it and pass it to someone else, leaving everything behind."

The other kwamis nodded at the wise turtle kwami's words. Tikki looked at them and smiled.

"I'm proud of my bug. She's a worthy ladybug and had shown how worthy she is despite her flaws. She made mistakes, but she chose to fix them. And now she's healing from the toxicity she had received in that place. Sleep well, Marinette..."

— previous chapter... —

The Akuma Class was experiencing an unknown change. And they don't know the exact reason.

It's been two weeks since Marinette hasn't been coming to class.

The first day, Alya thought she was just late or have an errand to run during the morning and will come to class after lunch, but it didn't happen. After classes were done, she tried calling her, only to be redirected to her voicemail immediately. Not knowing her 'best friend' had bought a new phone and uses a new number. She was slightly sour thinking that Marinette is being stubborn in hanging out with Lila, and chose to reprimand her for letting her jealousy get in between a possible friendship with the girl.

The others didn't notice how Adrien was down during the rest of that day. They didn't notice Chloé having a slightly pained look in her eyes.

She was slightly angry that Dupain-Cheng easily gave up in exposing the liar, but it's not like she helped the girl. She had no right to be angry about how Dupain-Cheng chose to move on with life. When she saw her being surrounded by people she didn't know and was walking towards a table, she stared for a moment. Chloé hasn't heard her laugh for a while, the bubbly aura around the girl was fading when she was in Dupont.

Chloé hated to admit it, but she envied the ravenette. Dupain-Cheng having a happy family, while her own mother left them to go to New York for work when she was a child, creating a drift between their relationship. Her own father didn't hang out with her anymore due to his duties being the City's Mayor. Dupain-Cheng gained friends while she was being hated for being a bully who always annoys others and uses her triumph card when she gets in trouble.

She was staring at the raventte's table with a melancholic look. The girl was happy, and Chloé couldn't deny it. Part of her wants to convince Dupain-Cheng to go back to Dupont and defeat the vixen but she didn't want to be selfish for once.

After lunch period she came back to class and grabbed Sabrina's attention, and told her to come with her after class.

The two are in Chloé's bedroom in Le Grand Paris.

"I'm sorry..."

Sabrina was startled to hear such sincere words coming from the person she knew could be very bratty for a long time.

"I'm sorry that I treated you like a servant. And that I made you take some of the consequences from my actions. I want to justify it by letting people know that I lost a mother figure from my childhood and didn't teach me proper manners and that she is very bossy, and that I tried to fit in with her. But I know I can't... There are people around me that could've inspired me to be a better person, like Dup-Marinette..."

When Sabrina heard the name she was about to retaliate but Chloé didn't give her a chance.

"No, Sabrina. She's right. I grew up with people who lie about their backgrounds just to fit in with society. Everything can be searched on the internet Sabrina. I know your smart, use it and prove to me right now that you, defending that Liar is a good thing."

Sabrina stared at Chloé, she was growing nervous, Chloé rarely helps around class problems, and for her to defend the person she has been ridiculing for a long time is strange. So Sabrina did it, she searched.

She sat there, appalled and disappointed, after that there are no articles about a Lila Rossi aside from the girl's interviews in the Ladyblog. Chloé left her to go to her balcony and leaned on the railing. Sabrina ran up to her.

"Chloé we need to let everyone know about this! Maybe we can help Marinette expose her? Collect evidence? Contact her mother? We can help Marinette gain back her reputation and her friends! We can—" Sabrina rambled.

"It's too late, Sabrina..." Chloé said that made Sabrina stop rambling and just stared at her in confusion.

"I saw her. She moved on. Marinette was wearing a uniform from a different school. Marinette gave up, Sabrina, she gave up on trying to protect her so-called friends after being dismissed. You should've seen her, she was so happy, something we— I haven't seen for a while..."

That statement made Sabrina tearful. Staring at nothing, she started remembering glimpses of the ravenette.

She remembered the time that when she looks in Marinette's direction, she was so dull. Like a doll— a Marionette, not reacting to how her sketchbook was torn apart, how her dull bluebell eyes stare at Mlle Bustier when she is talking to her, how she doesn't react when their classmates are attacking her for bullying Lila. Sabrina finally realizes how she treated someone like that without proof. Her own father imbedded to her that 'innocent until proven guilty', yet she didn't even try to see both perspectives and just went along with the class.

Her actions are much worse than how Chloé acted.

"I'll give Marinette credit. That liar tried to break her, but she broke free and spread her wings without looking back, and saved herself."

Sabrina nodded at Chloé's statement while copying the girl's position of leaning on the balcony rails, looking out to Paris.

—————

Juleka Couffaine, the Akuma Class' resident shy goth girl.

When she first met Lila Rossi, she was skeptical, her brother is a fan of Jagged Stone, and when she heard Lila say that she saved Jagged's kitten on an airplane runway was very sketchy for Juleka.

Before she knew it, Marinette became a pariah. She often denies becoming an accomplice due to her neutrality to the problem. When Marinette didn't arrive Monday morning, she was worried. The girl who pleaded to the photographer to take another class photo with her in it, to break her 'photo curse', is absent.

She tried calling her phone, but it went straight to voicemail. She was currently sitting on her bed and her brother strumming his guitar. He notices how she was just staring at her phone in a daze.

"Hey, Luka... does Jagged had a pet cat in his life?" Juleka asks looking up to her brother.

Luka was surprised by the question, "As far as I know, he didn't have one. Due to him being allergic and the cat not being rock-and-roll enough. Why?"

Luka was shocked when Juleka started tearing up, he immediately puts his guitar down to comfort her baby sister.

"I messed up, Luka... I badly messed up..."

After calming down a little, Juleka finally explained to him why she was crying. She explained that the new girl in her class made Juleka skeptical about her, and then about Marinette's supposed 'cheating', 'stealing', and 'assault', she then talked about how Marinette kept accusing the new girl of lying but no one believing her, and that soon Marinette became a pariah in their class. Juleka told them about all the lies that Rossi has said.

Overall, Luka was disappointed in her.

"You said that Marinette tried to expose her right? Why didn't you back her up, as a friend would do? Isn't she also your friend? Why didn't you voice out your concern about this to Marinette? or to me?"

Luka sighed, before backing away from his sister. 

"You said your class hates Chloé for being a bully, but aren't they acting like a bully? Your class, isolated Marinette. I don't know how she managed it. But right now, it might be too late to act, Jules. At the very least, try and fix your mistake..." Luka said before leaving her alone for a moment, and let her think.

Meanwhile, Rose's phone suddenly pinged due to a notification. When she checked it out it was a message from Juleka.

Juleka:  Hey, uhm...

Juleka: Can you do me a favour? Please?

Rose:  Sure! What is it?

Juleka: Please trust me on this... can you ask Prince Ali about his environmental charities and if he knows a certain 'Lila Rossi'?

Rose:  Juleka? Why?

Juleka: Please... please ask him...

Rose was confused by Juleka's request, if she thought about it she was asking just like Marinette did months ago. But Rose decided to shake that thought out of her head, she knew Juleka was not a bully, like Marinette and how she bullies Lila.

Rose decided to trust Juleka and messaged him.

Rose: Hello, Ali! Can I ask a question? A friend of mine, wants to know about your environmental charities with Lila Rossi, I think it's for a project. Thank you! <3

She didn't know why but she felt nervous sending that message. She shrugged it off and put the phone down to continue her scrapbooking. She waited for a few minutes before she heard another notification sound from her phone. And when she read the message, she froze.

Prince Ali: Hello, Rose! I'm sorry, but I only do children charities since the Royal Family doesn't control the environemental ones, it is mostly done by Achu's government, and sorry to disappoint but I do not know a Lila Rossi. Is she a new friend of yours?

Rose was too frozen to not even notice that she had dropped her phone. She kept looking in her hand as if it was all just a dream. That Prince Ali did know Lila Rossi, but when she picked her phone back up and read the text once again, it said the same thing.

'This can't be happening! If this is true... then I bullied Marinette for no reason!'

Rose: Oh! I'm... sorry for my misinformation... Lila's a... classmate of mine. Sorry for the trouble...

Rose didn't notice the tears dripping from her eyes.

She was numb. She couldn't deny this information, it is a direct reply from the Prince of Achu. That he— Prince Ali, doesn't know someone named Lila Rossi. She was lied to. Lila Rossi lied to me. She thought.

And Marinette asked you to ask him months ago, didn't she? She tried to warn you... You didn't listen to her!

There was a sudden voice in the back of her mind, how she ridiculed Marinette for bullying Lila. But it was all a lie. She treated Marinette horribly for a lie...

She hurriedly opened her internet browser and searched for any of Lila's accomplishments only to see a bunch of interviews from the Ladyblog, nowhere else.

Rose: Prince Ali... doesn't do environmental charities, he only does children charities and... he doesn't know a Lila Rossi.

Juleka: ... I'm sorry, Rose.

Juleka: I only realized my mistake after talking to Luka, I'm sorry if I didn't voice out when I was skeptical about her in the beginning...

Rose: She lied... She lied!

Rose: I can't believe her! We treated her as a friend!

Juleka: Rose, please calm down! I don't want you to become an akuma! Please!

Seeing that message she tried so hard to calm down. Juleka was right, she doesn't want Shadowmoth to turn her into an Akuma! She needed to calm down.

After calming down, she messaged Marinette, but there was no reply, then she finally noticed that Marinette wasn't present during class that day. So she tried calling but was sent to voicemail immediately. She tried calling a few times before she stopped.

She'll just talk to her tomorrow, but that didn't happen... and it has been two weeks...

—————

Adrien Agreste was in denial.

He didn't want to believe that Marinette really did transfer schools. He wanted to visit her as Chat, but since he hasn't seen his kwami, he can't transform. And he's growing worried every second. No Plagg, no Akuma, and no Marinette...

His worrisome state affected his fencing classes. He was always immediately defeated by Kagami Tsurugi. She was displeased that he became a wimp in fencing.

"What made you so distracted lately? That's not like you Agreste." Kagami said.

"Nothing... I'm just worried about Marinette, she hasn't been in class lately, and it's been two weeks!" Adrien replied.

What Adrien said, made Kagami's brow shot up, in confusion. She had talked to Marinette one time, and she had shared that she transferred schools, and has been doing well. She also found out about the 'Lila situation' in Dupont and was very angry that Adrien Agreste knew but didn't say anything. It took a whole lot of Marinette's energy to stop Kagami from attacking Agreste with her sword or using her mother's sword!

"Haven't you heard?" Kagami asked.

"Heard what? You've talked to Marinette?!" Adrien asked enthusiastically.

"Yes. She had transferred schools due to unfortunate situations here in Dupont." Kagami answered before walking towards the locker rooms.

Adrien ran up towards her, held her shoulders and made her face him. "You're kidding right?! Marinette is still a student here! She'll come back here!"

Kagami stared at him in bewilderment.

"I-I gotta go... Bye Kagami..." Adrien said.

Kagami can only stare at the boy's retreating back. From Kagami's perspective, she thinks that Agreste was in denial of Marinette transferring schools. He was also oblivious to the aspiring designer's feelings. But this was different... The way he tries to convince himself that Marinette still goes to Dupont is unsettling.

It's as if, he was supposed to have control over her life. It made Kagami's instinct more unsettled.

Adrien was pacing around his room after he got home from fencing classes. He was becoming more nervous by the second.

He tried looking for her social media accounts only to find none of it exists, he swore that he followed her socials.

Even Nathalie noticed how jittery the young Agreste was, she tried finding out the reason why, but couldn't pinpoint it due to being sidetracked.

The peacock miraculous was missing from the safe, and Gabriel Agreste was furious! He already lost the Grimoire book, the previous Guardians' tablet and now the fixed peacock miraculous. They reviewed the footage from his security cameras, and found nothing!

This made him sidetracked about his supervillain duties, he ignored the past powerful emotions the brooch felt, in exchange to search the whole mansion about the missing items of his. Adrien was no help.

Gabriel calmed down for a second and felt a negative emotion to vent and try to find out if Ladybug got the peacock miraculous.

When he found one, he informed Nathalie about privacy and went to his lair. he transformed to Hawkmoth once again due to the lack of the peacock miraculous.

"Ah, the agonizing pain of experiencing a heartbreak..."

A butterfly flew and rested in his palm, while he fills it with negative power. Once he is done he opened his palm and lets the Akuma flap its wings.

"Fly away, my little Akuma, and evilize this brokenhearted woman!"

The Akuma made its way towards a crying woman near the Seine, wearing a wedding dress. It landed on her headpiece.

"Enchanttréx, I am Hawkmoth. You've been betrayed by the person your loved one, I'm giving you the power to expose any secrets that were chosen to be hidden away from the world. In return, you will bring me ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, Hawkmoth."

The purple substance covered the woman in a wedding dress, and when it was gone it left a woman, who has an intricate gold flower-themed headpiece, long black hair that reaches up to her mid-back, a flowy white to black gradient dress, gold strapped heels, white laced gloves that reach up to her forearm and a veil in front of her face.

"It's time to let yourself free from your secrets!" Enchanttréx exclaimed making the nearby Parisians run away in fear and alerting the heroes.

Chapter 5 — Moving Forward: Masterlist — Chapter 7 

[fandomsilhouette]

how’d we sink so low (oh how it blows)

Sometimes you’ll offer to help. Sometimes you’ll know better than to say anything at all. Sometimes you will try to do both and end up doing the most hurtful thing you can manage, and no one will be spared the wreckage. 

Happy @felinettenovember, y’all! Unfortunately for y’all, I only promised one (1) fluff so if this hurts, blame the entire Felinette discord for not extorting more promises out of me :P Or let me know that more fluff is necessary and I’ll see what I can do. 

They weren’t supposed to be together. 

It was a risk, the guardian scolded, ancient moustache turned down in disappointed reproach, it was reckless. Tikki tutted, waved her little paws around, agitated, pacing through the air; even Plagg rearranged his features into something appropriately solemn for the occasion. 

All of this was, in Felix’s opinion, blown well out of proportion. Marinette had been as careful as she could’ve possibly been, and it’s not like Felix was trying to detransform around her. Their personas showed through their masks too, wasn’t that the point? Wasn’t that why they were chosen? For their humanity, for their cleverness, for their observation and calculation and determination? 

Sometimes Maribug’s pattern recognition worked quicker than she could stop it. 

Sometimes, people detransformed next to each other a little too often, because fights started running too close to the end of the timer and they were left with no time to rush far enough away from each other, and there wasn’t any help left to come. 

Sometimes, Felichat was a bit too good at destroying precious things. 

There was nothing, nothing, that Felix wanted to do more than grab his partner’s hand, remind her it wasn’t her fault, hold her close until the trembling subsided. Take the blame on his shoulders if he had to, instead of watching her swallow her shame-guilt-pain and straighten her back under the new burden. 

Oh, he saw who the guardian’s eyes flicked to when he talked about personal responsibility and the consequences that were going to follow. 

But he knows her by now, even if she won’t let him admit it. It will hurt worse to be reminded of a freedom she has no access to any longer. It hurts worse to hear that someone is willing to take this weight when it has sunk so deeply into her skin that sharing it means tearing out of her own body first. So he doesn’t ask. Doesn’t jab needlepoint pricks into the already-sensitive skin, just takes a step to the right, touches her a little less on patrols. Calls her name across the cafeteria a little less. Averts his eyes before they meet hers and catch, because once he remembers how gone for this girl he is (twice, twice, on every account) he won’t be able to let go. 

Both of them are in the same class. It should be a running joke, something to wink about, a way to slip away for hero duty without causing as much chaos, or maybe causing more. 

Instead they maneuver around each other awkwardly, tentatively, and pretend they don’t know. It’s worse that way. He misses his friend. 

They still patrol. Longer routes on the days Hawkmoth sends out enough akuma to make both of them miss school entirely, because there’s always a butterfly or two still fluttering by and Ladybug is lucky enough for all four of them to run into one if they stick around long enough. 

Sometimes they collapse panting on a roof, and don’t tell each other I love you. 

Sometimes they pause at the edge of a jump and refuse to say I miss you. 

Felix tosses Plagg camembert after he detransforms and pretends Marinette isn’t feeding Tikki stale cookies around the corner. The kwami has been oddly, absurdly affectionate, as if the reluctant headbutts of a magic cat and the cause of all his problems and all his freedom is any replacement for a person who has known him in all his masks, seen him inside out and at his worst, given him space to grow, pushed back when he hurt her and chosen to love him anyways. 

Tikki’s high pitched voice has already launched into a new analysis about the fight, and how to optimize Ladybug’s magic, and Felix clenches his fists. She’s Marinette too. She’s Marinette first.

Plagg pushes his head to Felix’s cheek, still reeking of camembert and trash, and whispers, “I love you.” 

Felix scoffs, refuses to track the flash of pink and white that caught his gaze as Marinette slipped away from the corner, from where he stood. “Yeah, well.” He avoids her a moment longer, then steps out of the alley where he hid for so long and turns the other way from where he knows she’s gone. “Love stinks.” 

Monday comes and Felix has picked some blonde girl, tall and brash and so mathematically inclined it hurts. He slips her hand in his and keeps not looking at Marinette. 

[plaggsockpuppets]

So we all remember the almost tragedy of marinette getting briefly akumatized in ladybug. I realized it never showed how Adrien reacted to this, so I made my own conclusion (in the form of a short fic of course) please remember i do not write, literally ever so uh enjoy my garbage debut fan fiction.

——————————————————————————

His heart dropped when he saw Marinettes face. Although he knew she was being falsely accused, that didn’t stop the rest of the class from viewing her as the monster Lila depicted her as. It seemed almost ironic how they believed her so fast. Marinette was their friend, class rep, and biggest supporter all in one! She was the freaking everyday ladybug for crying out loud. Lila had never done anything to prove her loyalty and yet still won the hearts of everyone around her.

Adrien offered his friend a small smile trying to show he believed her above all else, hoping she could gain some sense of security from the tiny gesture. Her eyes shined with tears while she searched the room for a friendly face before landing on him once again. She looked desperate for reassurance but he had already tried, only for mr.Damocles to harshly shut him out. The young girl didn’t say anything more to defend herself when she walked towards the exit. She didn’t have to, her silence spoke volumes to him. Mari was betrayed and truly heartbroken that after everything no one trusted her. With her back facing the crowd of people in the locker room she sighed and opened the door in front of her.

Usually Adrien was really good at picking up on immediate threats. His other persona had leaked into his civilian life in many small ways such as hearing far better than an average person, or seeing better in the dark than any of his friends. However in the second Marinette opened the door and he picked up on the sound of wings beating outside it, he realized his enhanced civilian senses didn’t do much if he was distracted.

Moths coloured in a deep red fluttered violently into the room. Scarlett was everywhere you looked. A vicious feeling in his stomach made him feel sick with worry. Gazing through the chaos he saw some of his classmates being reakumatized. ‘okay Adrien don’t panic, it’s no big deal you can fix this. You’ve fought them before’. The boy was ready to find a place to call on his transformation when he saw it. It made sense, she was standing at the front of it all and had very valid reasons to be upset. Still seeing sweet innocent Marinette with the burning red outline of a moth on her face while she stared off into space lit a rage inside of him he hadn’t felt before.

A small nudge in his shirt pocket made him tear his gaze from the unruly sight laid before him. Plaggs wide green eyes had a new sense of urgency. Now he was really starting to worry, usually the small kwami would whine and actually hold him up for a few minutes at the beginning of attacks. “Why worry your blue haired girlfriend can cover it, besides i’m hungry!” was a direct quote from the cheese loving monster. As well as when Nino was akumatized Adrien had actually been influenced by his friend to let it continue. The point being Plagg was a constant bad influence, so why did he care so much now?

The screams of his peers brought his eyes back up to the general room. Quickly he looked back to Marinette and Mrs.Dupain-Cheng. Marinettes expression had twisted into something sinister. It pained him to see her like this. ‘I have to transform now, I can save her before she causes any damage’. Before he could sneak away to find a safe place she nodded, her evil smile growing wider by the second.

Everything about this was disturbing and extremely confusing. Plaggs small paws still rapidly hitting his chest as a lame attempt to recapture his attention didn’t help with that last part at all. But the most confusing action of them all was what his friend did next. She remained facing forward looking almost triumphant as she removed her hands from her side and reached for her earring. Suddenly it all stopped as soon as it began. All the akuma affects wore off, almost like a spell had been broken. The teen girls arms fell limply to her sides before returning to her ears in a protective manner. Utter terror written across her face.

He wasted no time in rushing to her aid. His feet carried him to her before he realized he was moving. The tears that had previously been glazing her eyes now streamed down her face. “Oh Mari, shh I got you” his arms engulfed her tiny frame in a large hug. He held her for as long as he could before she was ushered out of the room. The attack didn’t change the schools decision about her. She would still be expelled from Francois Dupont. He couldnt hug that problem away.

Later that night Adrien was still bothered by the whole occurrence. None of his questions had been answered. “Hey Plagg, why were you so worried today?” He didn’t recognize his own voice at first. It sounded too fragile to belong to him. “I wasn’t worried just concerned I hadn’t eaten enough to deal with a mass akumatization is all” Plagg waved a paw in Adriens direction as if to shue off any suspicion. He watched his kwami nonchalantly organize his cheese fridge. “You didn’t get that worried on hero’s day. Also why was Marinette so protective of her ears afterwards? anybody who came to close to her upper half made her flinch until she left the building”. Plagg sighed obviously impatient with his chosen. “Hey kid have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat”. Plaggs voice was judging. Adrien scoffed, “I’m not a real cat”. “maybe i’d like you better if you were”. The boy playfully gasped and ponited an accusing finger at the kwami. “I thought I was your favourite Chat Noir” Plagg shrugged and zipped off to the loft, with three pieces of camembert stuffed in his tiny arms.

Everyone was stressed and tired from the days events, so he decided to let the kwami of destruction be. Besides he could wait a little while longer before getting answers. First he would help Marinette the best he could. With that thought, he picked up his phone and dialed Lila’s number. “Hey, can you meet me tomorrow? we need to have a chat”.

[deathbymeow]

Left Unanswered

Ladybug landed on Chloe’s balcony some 48 hours after she managed to open the first letter. It was an emotional goodbye, written the night before he left. With shaking hands, it had taken her an hour to finally open it and after seeing his delicate handwriting for the first time in years another to finally read it.

Dear Marinette,

There are no words to explain how sorry I am. I am a mere coward and do not deserve your forgiveness nor do I ask for it. If I could give my life for his I would without any hesitation.

I’m leaving Paris. My father has chosen to send me to New York to study abroad and live with my aunt. I should stand up to him and demand I stay but I fear if I do, I will only make things harder for you.

That’s what I’ve told myself but deep down I know if I stayed, we would never be the same and I don’t know how to live with that.

I broke us before we really ever had a chance.

I want you to know I may have loved the girl in the mask first, but I fell even harder for the one behind it. The last few years I’ve struggled with my growing feelings for you. I didn’t want to complicate your life with my burden. It turned out my burden was already yours.  

I wish it didn’t take losing what we did to realise what was always in front of me. I’ve wasted so many years and now we may never get our chance. I don’t want you to wait for me. I don’t know if or when I’ll be back.

I will forever love you Marinette and my heart will always belong to you and you alone.

Always yours,

Adrien

She read it over and over until she could no longer see through her tears. Her heart ached and she struggled to regain control before she managed to pull it together and read the rest. All 1128 of them. He’d written something every day he was gone. Some letters were just a paragraph or two, a summary of his day. They all ended the same with him telling her just how much he missed her and still loved her.

About a year in, the letters started to change. Adrien wanted to come home, but he didn’t know how. He was scared that she didn’t want to see him. It was almost as if he was waiting for her permission. It broke her even more to think that he’d been waiting all this time for her to answer.

Ladybug took a deep breath and walked into Chloe’s apartment. She knew her way around the spacious layout even with the lights off. It had become her home away from home. It was ironic really. If you had told her that five years ago, she would have fallen over laughing. Zoe had been a huge influence in Chloe’s life and when she’d left to pursue her acting career Ladybug decided to give Queen Bee another chance. Now there was no denying it, Chloe had become one of her best friends. Her home had become a safe haven from all the memories at the bakery that threatened to pull her back down the dark hole of depression.

“Chloe, are you home?” Ladybug called scanning the room. The only light came from a few candles on the coffee table.

“For fuck sakes LB, people have front doors for a reason.” Chloe’s head popped up from the couch. Her hair was a mess and that’s when Ladybug noticed the clothes scattered around the couch. Sabrina’s head popped up next to Chloe’s and she shyly waved.

“Oh, umm yeah sorry. I umm. Sabrina always good to see you. When did you get back into town? Anyway I’ll… sorry.” Ladybug took a few steps back, but Chloe had already grabbed her robe and gotten off the couch.

“No, don’t you dare. You’ve already interrupted, now move it.” Chloe demanded pointing to her bedroom. “Sorry babe, just give us a minute.” She kissed her girlfriend on the lips then gently shoved Ladybug towards her bedroom.

Chloe closed the door and took Ladybugs hands in hers. “Okay before you say anything Luka called me.”

“Chloe I…”

“No look LB I know you two are… well I don’t exactly know what you are. Anyway, he didn’t go into details, but he told me he fucked up royally and that you would probably end up here, so spill. What’s going on?” Chloe asked as she sat on her oversized bed and pulled Ladybug down next to her.

“Fuck. Chloe, I didn’t know. All this time. Oh my god three years. I…” Tears she didn’t know she had left spilled down her cheeks as she started to sob. She hated losing self-control like this but at this point she’d given up on trying to control the emotions she’d hidden for the last three years. It was as if a flood gate had opened and there was no stopping it now.

Chloe didn’t hesitate. She grabbed onto her friend’s shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. “Okay sweets, you need to breath and then explain what you’re talking about.”

“Letters… Luka… didn’t… give… me… only… two days… ago.” Was all she could choke out.

“You have to be shitting me. How many didn’t you see?” Chloe’s voice was laced with venom that Ladybug knew wasn’t directed at her.

“All… of them.”

Chloe softly lifted Ladybug off her so she could look into her eyes. “You’re telling me you didn’t read any of them until now?”

Finally, Ladybug managed to slow her breathing enough to talk without feeling like she was choking on the words trying to leave her mouth. “Luka said I’d told him I never wanted to talk to Adrien again, so he didn’t give then to me. He said he was waiting for the right time.”

“What the actual fuck. Like he wasn’t benefiting from it.” Chloe looked like she wanted to tear him to shreds.

“In no way am I blaming you, but why didn’t you ask me about them? Why didn’t you tell me to reply? Why didn’t you give them to me?” Ladybug couldn’t look at Chloe anymore. She knew what she was asking the blonde and she knew no matter how she worded it, it would come across as an accusation.

“Oh sweets, I did a few times. You always changed the subject as soon as you heard his name. I didn’t want to be that person. You had enough of them always hounding you about things. I know that’s why you come here, to escape it all. Anyway, Luka was around you the most and I trusted him to give them to you on your good days not three fucken years later.” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Why did Adrien think running away was the only answer, Chloe? I needed him and he wasn’t there. He didn’t even talk to me before he left.” Ladybug stood up and walked over to the window and looked out at the Eiffel Tower.

“You knew Adrien, but you didn’t know the full extent of his home life. His father is nothing but a monster in designer clothes. Gabriel Agreste mentally tortured that boy. He starved Adrien of love and made him feel so inadequate in everything he did no wonder Adrien blamed himself for every bad thing that ever happened.” Chloe grabbed a piece of paper and a pen off her bedside table and wrote something down. “He tries to hide it but he’s hurting. He’s always been quick to make rash decisions thinking he’s doing the right thing but in reality, half the time he’s just running away.”

Ladybug felt every one of her words slice through her. She looked at her own reflection in disgust. What had she become? Why had she been so quick to doubt him?  

She hadn’t noticed Chloe come up behind her until she put her hand on her shoulder.

“He still loves you. I never believed in that type of love until I saw the way he looks at you. The way his eyes light up when he talks about you even though it clearly hurts him. The way your wounds never healed even with every one’s love. It isn’t our love that you need. You need him as much as he needs you, Marinette.” Chloe passed her the piece of paper. “For when you’re ready. Don’t leave it another three years.”

Ladybug eyed the piece of paper before taking it and tucking it into her suit. “Thank you.” She kissed the blonde’s cheek then slipped out the door and disappeared into the night.  

******

Ladybug sat at the top of the Eifel Tower looking at Adrien’s address until the streets below were empty. And then before she knew what had happened, she was standing on his balcony trying to remember how to breath.

Tired and emotionally drained, her thoughts were a jumbled mess. Was this the right time? Could she really forgive him that easily? Could she forgive herself for that matter? He was probably asleep. This was a stupid idea, what was she thinking. She should just go. What would she say anyway?

As she turned to leave the door opened and a hand softly took hers. Her head lowered and a small sob escaped her lips. His hand felt warm against her gloved fingers. What was she doing? Panic started to grip her senses and she took a step towards the edge. A gentle tug on her hand made her turn around and she inhales as the light reflected off his emerald eyes.

Adrien looked broken. It was clear he hadn’t slept in days. His lip was split and bruised from the fight with Luka a few nights earlier and his hair was a mess making him look more Chat like. Ladybug couldn’t help but notice his bare chest and the way his pyjama pants sat low on his toned hips. A blush spread over her cheeks, and she quickly looked away.

“We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to but please don’t go.” He begged gently squeezing her hand.

Ladybug gazed back into his eyes, they seemed to melt into her soul and pull her towards him. She found herself nodding as she let him guide her into his apartment. He let go of her hand to close the door and curtains behind them. Ladybug looked around his dark apartment, Plagg was floating over the kitchen bench, and he gave her a little salute.

“Tikki spots off.” Pink light washed over them and the little Kwami smiled at Marinette before floating over to Plagg and giving him a big hug.  

Adrien hadn’t taken his eyes off her and it wasn’t until she felt the cool night air against her legs that she remembered she was only in an oversized t-shirt and fluffy bed socks.  

“Hey.” He looked almost shy as he smiled down at her. “Can I get you a drink or anything?” he asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Marinette shook her head unable to find the words she wanted to say. A moment passed, neither of them talked as they staired into each other’s eyes. She couldn’t help but notice the tension in Adrien’s shoulders, as if he was afraid, if he moved she would run again.

She hated how the distance between them felt like it was miles instead of a few feet. Before she could analyse the situation anymore, she closed the gap and threw her arms around him. Adrien exhaled like he’d been holding his breath then wrapped his arms around her and snuggled his face into her neck.

The two stood in each other’s arms for what could have been a minute or an hour. Time seemed irrelevant at this point. Marinette felt her eyes getting heavy but the thought of leaving physically hurt. So, she did the only logical thing she could think of.

She let go of his chest and took his hand. His eyes never left hers as she walked over to the couch and flopped down, pulling him down next to her.

“Just need to sleep.” Marinette whispered while looking up at him through her long lashes.

Adrien nodded in agreement, he stood up and grabbed the throw blanket from the back of the couch as Marinette curled up on her side. He gently placed it over her and turned to leave but her small hand grabbed his.

“Please don’t go.” Marinette asked as she lifted the blanket for him to climb under.

“As you wish, princess.” He said as he lay down next to her and wrapped her in his arms.

Marinette’s body relaxed against his as if it knew something she didn’t. Even though all her pain, she felt like a part of her had returned. It felt like coming home.

Listening to his heartbeat and surrounded by his warmth it wasn’t long before she fell into a dreamless sleep for the first time in what felt like forever.

[nobodyfamousposts]

I am in love with adrien's lament. Love the Akuma vipermouse so much! Could you explain how they went evil? Or what it would look like of they were 'saved' by the heroes?

Um...angst times ahead?

________________________

Luka froze. “What?”

“The Miraculous in question is that of the Butterfly.” Sass repeated, slowly. He didn’t appear the slightest bit annoyed or frustrated at his chosen’s confusion. He merely was cautious. Curious even.

There was a look in the young man’s eyes. His expression...

He was worried.

“This...this Butterfly Miraculous...what does it look like?”

Sass frowned, uncertain. “It appears in the form of a brooch or pin. It normally looks like an amethyst with extensions in the form of what could be perceived as wings. It can alter it’s appearance if not in use, appearing to be little more than the stone itself when in its untransformed state.”

The boy...his eyes widened in recognition. And fear.

“Luka?”

“And you’re saying it’s being used?” He demanded, insistently.

Sass nodded. “Yes. I cannot say its power has been put to use or to what extent, we have been able to sense Nooroo’s activation. Someone has claimed ownership of the Miraculous with intent to use it. Though to what purpose, I am afraid we cannot know.”

Luka stared at Sass, his fear even more evident. The kwami frowned. This...this wasn’t normal. This wasn’t fear of facing an enemy or being chosen. This boy...

“Luka, do you perhaps know something?” He asked, warily. Fu was cautious in his choices, especially now that the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous were missing. But he had not completed his Guardian training. And he was human. it was fully possible for the man to have made an error in judgement. But to accidentally entrust him to to an ally of the Butterfly User?

No. The boy was afraid. And it was clear he hadn’t known what was going on. But...if he did know the User and decided to aid them?

Sass watched carefully as Luka took a breath.

“It...it has to be her.”

Sass blinked in surprise. “Her?”

“My sister. Jules. Our mom...she found these things and has been in the hospital ever since. But she left them to us.” Luka shook his head, clearly startled. “But she wouldn’t! She knows better!”

“Luka...”

“Please!” The boy exclaimed, nearly begging. “Just...just let me talk to her! She hasn't done anything yet. She doesn’t know! I can...I can talk to her. Maybe we can work this out. Just...please.”

It did not seem wise to confront the Butterfly User directly. Not before coming into his strength or even meeting his intended partner for this task. And there was a part of the kwami that told him he should have them go to Fu immediately and talk to him first.

But...

The boy was desperate. And he was sincere in his desire for peace.

Sass couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

“Very well.”

He would regret that decision for some time to come.

________________________

He hadn’t wanted to believe it. Some part of his mind was still desperately insisting it wasn’t true.

Even when he remembered the jewelry his Mother had found.

Even when Sass described the Miraculous in question.

Even when he checked his lockbox—known only to himself and his sister, and hidden specifically from his father’s prying eyes—only to find it empty.

He knew.

He just hoped it wasn’t true.

That hope wasn’t simply dashed, but brutally snuffed out when he stormed into where he knew his sister was hiding, and found her there with the Miraculous in its full glory pinned to her chest, big and bright. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought it to be a decorative bow.

“Jules...no...”

She was in a form he had never seen before. Her hair was pulled back and colored a dark purple at the tips. She wore a full dress, shorter in the front but reaching to her ankles in the back. Black lace accenting the outfit’s shoulders and covering her own hands. She gasped at him in horror, a light lavender butterfly half-mask covering her left eye.

“Luka!”

“What are you doing?” He asked her. “You know what that thing did to Mom!”

“It was only the Peacock one responsible!” She explained, hurriedly. “And that’s just because it’s damaged. This one isn’t. It’s fine. And I’m fine, see?” She smiled in a way that was clearly forced, and Luka wasn’t buying it.

“Broken or not, you know those things shouldn’t be used. So why?”

She clenched her fists at that, actually making Luka draw back. He’d never seen her look that angry.

“Jules?”

“I’ve been talking to Nooroo. Trying to find a way to fix things.”

That...that was okay, he reasoned. Nothing wrong with talking to the kwami and learning things, right?

“Did you know?” She bit out harshly. “That there are two Miraculous that when used together can grant a Wish? Any Wish?”

That got his attention. And only made his fear grow.

“You’re not...” He took a breath, nervously. “Jules, you’re not saying you’re thinking of—”

“I’m saying that someone else already has!” She shouted, rage and hurt pouring off her in waves just as the tears started to fall. “Someone made that Wish and OUR Mom paid the price for it! That’s why...! THAT’S why...!”

Luka’s eyes widened in horror. “No.”

That...that couldn’t be true, could it? He wanted to ask Sass and find out for himself, but—

“THAT’S why Mom’s hurt! THAT’S why we’re here! THAT’S why we’re with HIM! THAT’S why I can’t...why I’m going to have to...” She sobbed out. “It’s...it’s THIER fault!”

If what she was saying was true...

How cruel could someone be to inflict this on them?

But...how bad must it have been for that person to drive them to?

“That’s why...I’M going to find them this time!” She swore.

That made his blood freeze.

“I’ll find them! I’m going to find the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous and make the Wish to make things RIGHT this time!”

“Jules, no!” He insisted, stepping closer to her. “There are other ways!”

“What other ways?!” She demanded heatedly. “Mom’s in a coma! Even if she wakes up, she’s not going to be able to take care of us! No court would let her!”

He held up his hands, reassuringly. “I’ve told you, I can get emancipated! And then I’ll get you and—”

“And what are the chances of THAT?!” She shouted, tears only increasing. “How are you going to support yourself? You know he isn’t going to help! What can you actually do to convince the courts to let you live alone and adopt me when he can just as easily bribe people to claim the opposite? And you KNOW he can just pull the plug on Mom at any time!”

“Jules...”

“It’s not FAIR!” She sobbed into her hands. “I don’t know him! I don’t love him! I’ve never met him! And...and he doesn’t even care about me anyway! So why do I have to...”

He took another step towards her and reached forward. “I know. I’m sorry, I know. But this...Jules, this isn’t the way.” Closer now, he took hold of her shoulders in a desperate attempt to comfort her. “Please...just...just take it off. We can talk! We can...try to come up with something else—”

“THERE IS NOTHING ELSE!” She screamed, pushing him away.

The effect of this was two-fold. Not only was he sent to the floor, but the action dislodged Sass, who fell as well.

In full sight of Juleka, who stared at him in shock and growing horror. Her gaze snapped from Sass to Luka and down to the Miraculous on Luka’s wrist.

Immediately, he realized what conclusion she had come to.

“Jules! It’s not what you think!”

“You...you were going to fight me?”

“No! I would never want to fight you! I was just—” What WAS he expecting to do? Talk things out and hope she agreed? The look in her eyes was wild and desperate. He knew she had been suffering, but this latest incident had pushed her over the edge and he KNEW that.

He slowly rose to his feet, hands held out in a peaceful gesture. Sass only looked up at him worriedly. Not that Luka blamed him, because he was terrified at this point himself.

“I just wanted to talk things out! We can solve this! I know we can! No magic. No Miraculous. Just...just you and me. Please!”

She glared up at him at that, furious. “Easy for YOU to say! You’re not the one being forced into a marriage you don’t want! YOU’RE not the one he insults every day! You just follow after him and nod your head and do whatever he tells you!”

“It’s hard on me, too!” Luka insisted, hurt and frustrated. Did she really think he LIKED being forced to be around that man? To have to obey his orders and follow his instructions? To be under constant watch and have EVERYTHING he did critiqued? To be forced to hold up that wall between himself and anyone else?

He hated it.

He hated it!

“At least YOU’RE useful to him!” She shouted. “At least he CARES about you! I’m just...I’m just a tool!”

He didn’t want to.

“Juleka!”

He would forever swear he didn’t want to.

“And you...you’re just like him!”

But he heard those words and his world turned red.

“SASS, SCALES SLITHER!”

He wasn’t anything like that man.

He wasn’t!

Every dark memory flooded his mind. Of the tension of his father’s presence. Every harsh word. Every time he had to see his mother and sister cry. The few instances he got to actually visit his mother in the hospital. The way he was forced to be silent and see his sister broken down. How he was pushed to acts he despised and loathed himself for in their cruelty for that man’s satisfaction. The sole moments of peace he was able to obtain being with his sister and Marinette...

And how he had to make both of them cry.

He hated all of it!

She hated it more.

He wasn’t thinking.

Neither was she.

He just wanted to keep her safe!

She just wanted a chance to save herself.

He charged forward to try and grab the Miraculous.

She defended herself with power she didn’t fully understand how to use.

A butterfly flapped its wings and just as swiftly submerged into his Miraculous.

And suddenly

And suddenly...

Everything ceased to matter.

She had fallen too deep.

[guardiankarenterrier]

S for the ask meme: A New Way by morgxn and Adrinette if you wouldn’t mind? It’s my absolute favorite song and you’re my favorite writer! 💕

(thank you! 💚)  (for this ask meme) (my ao3)

A giggle bursts out of her as Adrien runs past and throws himself onto the hotel bed, squirming around to grin up at her with half his hair stuck to the side of his head.  “I win.”

“We weren’t competing,” Marinette tells him, setting down both their bags.  To her surprise, Adrien travels a lot lighter than the rest of them do, like he can’t quite figure out what he’s supposed to bring with. 

Or like he’d spent more than one night planning around needing to leave in a hurry, but Marinette doesn’t think that she should bring that up.  She can’t tell him why she’d have thought of it, anyway. 

Adrien blows some of his hair out of his face.  He’d quit using any hair products immediately after they’d left Paris, and she thinks he’s trying to let his hair grow out, too.  “I was competing.  And I won." 

"That isn’t how that-” Marinette laughs again, suddenly achingly grateful to Kagami, because she’d never have known that she could be this comfortable around Adrien if Kagami hadn’t wanted to be friends with her first.  She doesn’t know if she’d have been able to let go of her need to impress him if she hadn’t seen how much Kagami worried over not hurting either of them.  “That’s not how that works, Adrien." 

"Sure it is."  Adrien’s grin has more shadows in it than she’s used to seeing, but it’s closer to his normal one than she’d have expected.  "Just accept that I won this round.”

Marinette picks up a notepad from the nearby dresser and throws it at Adrien with unerring accuracy. 

He catches it, the jerk. 

“This is supposed to be mine and Alya’s room, anyway,” Marinette complains, crossing to collapse onto the bed herself.  She leaves plenty of space between them, but since Adrien rolls closer a second later with a muffled sound she could swear is somehow familiar, it doesn’t exactly matter.  “Go find Nino, you’re supposed to share with him." 

Adrien doesn’t move. 

"Adrien, come on,” Marinette pleads, feeling herself flush, because she’s not actually opposed if he decides he’d rather stay here.  “Kagami and Luka already swapped rooms around and so did Max, we can’t all keep doing this." 

"Sure we can,” Adrien mumbles, curling impossibly closer.  “No Hawkmoth.  We can all annoy each other as much as we want." 

Marinette pauses. 

She and Chat Noir hadn’t gone public with Hawkmoth’s identity, and he’d chosen to go to jail under his pseudonym in possibly the first attempt to protect Adrien he’d ever made, but Adrien himself obviously knows.  Even if Marinette and Chat Noir hadn’t immediately agreed to tell him he’d probably have noticed when his father vanished.

It hadn’t been anywhere as hard to keep Hawkmoth’s identity a secret as it probably should have been.  Gabriel Agreste’s been a recluse for so many years that most people have just assumed he’d chosen to withdraw further from the public eye.  The only person who was likely to say otherwise was Nathalie, and she actually had vanished shortly after that final confrontation. 

(Which is worrying, because they don’t know where Mayura is, and Chat Noir at least is positive that Mayura has to be Nathalie).

Marinette frowns, eyes tracking the play of shadows on the ceiling briefly as she tries to ignore Adrien settling more securely at her side.  She hopes Alya’s resigned to a room change, because it doesn’t look like Adrien is planning to move.  

That might be a lot easier on Marinette.  The school trip is- okay, she’s forgotten the official reason.  The real reason is very much to celebrate Hawkmoth’s defeat.  Their class had added Luka and Kagami and Marc and Jalil’s names mostly as a joke, but then they’d managed to actually bring them. 

(The only one unhappy about this is Alix, who’s spent the past two days loudly declaring that she’s an only child and that she’s never met Jalil in her life). 

But Marinette doesn’t like when she has to go for too long without talking to Tikki.  She’s too used to spending time with her kwami to want to stop now.

And now she has Nooroo with her.

She couldn’t very well risk talking to Nooroo or Tikki with Alya in the same room-  Alya’s too observant for her to take that risk.  Adrien, though, tends to run late and disappear at odd times almost as much as Marinette does, and although she’d wondered how much of that was due to his schedule it’s only gotten worse if anything since his father had been caught.  Marinette’s a lot more likely to have chances to spend time with the kwami if she lets this sudden room change happen. 

She tries to pretend that’s her only reason. 

"We should at least see about going to dinner with some of the others,” Marinette tries, but Adrien grumbles pointedly and stays where he is.  Honestly, he’s worse than Chat Noir.  At least Chat would be interested at the mention of food. 

Adrien probably needs to talk to someone just as badly as Nooroo does, and Marinette knows it, but she’s at a loss for how to help.  If Chat Noir were here then she’d ask if he had any advice, because while he doesn’t bring it up very much she knows Chat isn’t on very good terms with his own father, but he’d told her before she’d left that he was going to be out of town for a few days, too.

It had taken a lot of coaxing from Tikki for Marinette not to stay behind, after that. 

They don’t know where Mayura is- but no one knows where Mayura is, and she hasn’t tried to attack once since they’d caught Hawkmoth. They aren’t even sure what her goals are.  After two weeks of silence, though, even Tikki thinks taking a break should be safe enough. 

“Besides, we’re not going that far,” Tikki had pointed out, trying to reassure Marinette.  “Getting back here if we have to shouldn’t be a problem." 

So Marinette had gone, although she hoped Chat was planning to return sooner than she was.  She’d half-considered inviting him along with them, before reluctantly discarding the idea when she couldn’t figure out a way to make it work without putting their identities at risk. 

She wants to talk to Tikki about it first, but she wants to tell Chat Noir who she is when they get back.  She just- doesn’t want to end up telling everyone else who they are.  

They can afford to wait a little longer, anyway.  For the first time since she’d met Tikki, Marinette feels like she has time to breathe. For at least the length of this trip she doesn’t have to be constantly ready to fight and she’s going to take as much advantage of that as she possibly can. 

Marinette sits up at that thought, leaving Adrien to roll into the space she’s vacated.  He sprawls like Chat Noir, too, even to the point of somehow landing in every available scrap of sunlight and soaking it up.  ”I’m going to go join Kagami, at least.  We should see if her mother’s worked out where she is yet.“ 

"She hasn’t,” Adrien says, without opening his eyes.  “We’d know." 

"That’s fair,” Marinette admits with a sigh, getting up to move their bags further into the room.  Guiltily, she drops hers onto the other bed, the one she’d ignored when she’d dropped down next to Adrien instead.  “Kagami would already be in here." 

"She could be in my room instead."  The lazy smirk Adrien turns to her is way too reminiscent of Chat Noir, enough that it makes Marinette’s heart seize for a moment, and just as she’s starting to get her breath back she gets a much bigger shock. 

"I’m not made for being patient, you know,” a familiar voice whines from Adrien’s bag just as Marinette goes to move it.  Plagg pops into view as she’s still reeling, fixing her with a glare.  “Do you have Nooroo with you or not?”

“Plagg?” Marinette breathes. 

She doesn’t remember looking over at Adrien at all, but his eyes are wide open now, fixed on hers. 

Because if he has Plagg, then- then she can stop worrying about not being able to bring Chat Noir with.

And he has to know what it means that she recognises Plagg.

“Um."  Adrien gives her a very, very weak smile.  "Surprise?”

“Surprise-” Marinette isn’t aware she’s raised her hand to her face until it comes away wet.  She doesn’t know how to deal with this revelation.  She wouldn’t have expected tears of relief to be her immediate reaction, but here she is.

No wonder Chat Noir’s been avoiding her awkward requests that he try talking to Adrien.    

(Marinette’s been afraid that if she tries, she’ll only make things worse).

“Yeah, surprise,” Plagg says, zipping into the air and phasing impatiently into Marinette’s belongings.  “Is Nooroo here or not?!" 

Marinette sits down hard where she is, shaking her head even as she stares back at Adrien.  "Nooroo’s here.  Tikki, too." 

”Plagg,“ Tikki says, spiralling out of Marinette’s purse to glare at her counterpart.  "You couldn’t wait a few more hours?" 

"They just argued themselves out of going to dinner, I’m not waiting around for them to figure this out."  Plagg’s voice is muffled.  "Nooroo?" 

Wordlessly, Marinette opens her purse again.  Nooroo edges out of it, dividing wary glances between Adrien and Tikki.  He doesn’t say anything, but Nooroo hasn’t talked very much since he’d come with Marinette, and she hasn’t wanted to push him. 

"Guess I know why you said Nooroo shouldn’t come with you,” Marinette tries out, shakily.  Once the words are out there, acknowledging that her friend and partner are the same person, she can’t take them back. 

Adrien starts to say something and stutters to a halt.  Licking his lips, he twists the blanket under one hand as he mutters, “I didn’t think Nooroo should have to stay at the mansion." 

"Neither should you,” Marinette fires back immediately, feeling her face redden but not wanting to take it back.  This isn’t something she wants to back down on, not when he shouldn’t have to stay there. 

And she’d wanted Chat to talk to him.

“Is there even anyone there with you?” Marinette tries to keep her voice more even, this time.  She’d have thought knowing she was only worrying about one person would be a relief, but instead of lessening her concerns it’s combined them.  “If you need us to tell more people after all-”

“I’m not sure yet."  Adrien sits up, scooting up against the headboard until only his feet are in his previous strip of sunlight.  Marinette catches herself glancing down where she fully expects his tail to wrap around them.  "I was gonna think about it more on this trip.  It’s-” He falters, rubbing the back of his neck.  “It’s kind of hard to think about in the mansion." 

Oh.  Yeah.  Marinette winces at that, thoughts flashing to the way that last battle had taken them through so much of Adrien’s home.  She’s honestly surprised he didn’t find a reason to leave sooner.  Chat Noir’s been out a lot, but not so much more than usual that she’d thought much of it. She has been too, anyway. 

There’s been a lot of speculation on the Ladyblog about that, about whether there’s some other threat they’re preparing for, but the reality is that they’ve just been celebrating.  Having superpowers is fun, and for the first time they can both spend some time enjoying their powers without feeling guilty for it. 

"I’ve got Plagg,” Adrien adds, and she does recognise the hint of defensiveness in his voice from conversations with Chat.  “And the Gorilla stayed.  Some of the staff did, too. It’s not just me.”

“Just mostly,” Plagg cuts in, though he’s looking between Adrien and Nooroo like he doesn’t know which to go to first.  “And no one stays the night." 

Adrien scowls over at the kwami.  ”You do.“ 

"Yeah, and that’s so effective that you leapt at this trip first chance you got,” Plagg snipes, before turning back to Nooroo.

Marinette’s relieved to hear Nooroo responding to him, if so quietly that she can’t make out the words.  Nooroo talks a little, but not much, and never to her.  She hasn’t been able to figure out why, and she hasn’t known how to help.  She’s glad that Plagg apparently can. 

Plagg showed himself deliberately.  Nooroo’s not the only one he’s worried about. 

“At least the trip’s a few days,” Marinette offers, finally getting up to cross back to the bed and take a seat at Adrien’s side.  “But once we’re back- Chloé can’t be the only one with a spare room.  We can find somewhere else for you to stay."  She takes a deep breath, but she’s debated this with Tikki since they’d first started picking up on some of the hints in Chat’s behaviour.  "You can always stay with me.”

“I think your parents might think differently.” Adrien’s voice is uneven. 

“Not if I tell them that I’m Ladybug,” Marinette says quietly, and Adrien stills.  “I don’t think you should still be there anymore than Nooroo should.  Plagg clearly doesn’t think you should.  And we can- I can tell them, now.  We don’t have to fight to make this change.  We can just explain ourselves, this time.”

“Mayura’s still out there."  Adrien is looking at Plagg and Nooroo, but he’s starting to lean against her again. 

Before Marinette can respond, all three kwami flit over to them.  Tikki lands by Marinette’s side and Plagg on Adrien’s shoulder, but Nooroo settles on Adrien’s free hand and looks up at him uncertainly. 

"Another reason you should not be there."  Nooroo’s voice is halting, but it’s the most Marinette’s heard the butterfly kwami speak at one time.  

Adrien closes his eyes briefly.  "It is Nathalie, isn’t it." 

"Yes,” Nooroo admits, not without sympathy.  “She’s known from the start." 

Adrien shifts to cup both hands around Nooroo, gently.  "If you don’t want me around, I’d understand." 

Nooroo rears back slightly, wings fluttering to keep his balance.  "I was about to say the same to you." 

"I’m bringing them both home after this trip,” Marinette tells Tikki, who starts giggling.  “They’re all gonna get in trouble without us." 

Plagg preens. "Like you’re not gonna go ahead and find trouble with us." 

[pandawritespoorly]

With Time: Chapter 21 - A Cat and A Bug

Author’s Note: Sorry the update is a little late today! I had plans I'd forgotten about in the morning and didn't have the chance to post the chapter beforehand. Without further ado, chapter 21: (Heh. I'm posting chapter 21 on the 21st).

Chapter Summary: Adrien and Marinette continue to hang out at her house, dealing with the aftermath of a reveal.

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“Plagg, Claws In.”

Adrien sits in Chat’s place, watching Marinette vigilantly, as though he can stop what has already happened.

“How are you doin’ kid?” Plagg sits next to Tikki on the cat pillow.

“I don’t know Plagg… she’s been right here this whole time. Shouldn’t I have realized? I was - am - so worried and I wanted to be there, and I didn’t even realize I already was there,” he looks to the Kwami, “Shouldn’t I have recognized her?”

“Adrien, the miraculous keeps you from recognizing each other. You still saw that they were similar people. Heck, you called her an ‘everyday Ladybug’. You recognized her as best you could without knowing they were one and the same.”

“Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“I think she’s getting better, and it will help now that you know and are in her everyday life. She’s not entirely better, I mean, sheesh, that paper she wrote…”

“Ladybug wrote that paper. About herself,” he covers his mouth at the realization, glancing down at the sleeping girl, “Oh, Mari…”

He notices the fallen notebook, picking it up. He’s about to put it back, but, well, curiosity killed the cat. It’s not like it’s her diary.

He opens it up.

 Things to Accept:

You messed up.

Everyone Most people at Françoise Dupont hate you

You don’t know how to do friendship properly. 

People want to believe you’re a bad person

You’re a terrible hero, and Paris deserves better.

You’re an obsessive stalker-ish creep.

No one actually likes you.

You shouldn’t be trusted with responsibility

 It just keeps going. He turns the page, hoping for an end, and instead is met with another list.

 Rules To Be Better:

Don’t cry

Smile

Be nice to people

Apologize when you mess up (again)

If someone needs a favor, do it

If asked, you’re doing good

Laugh at jokes, even when tired/sick

When tired/sick, do not show it

Take care of akumas as quickly as possible

Only lie if absolutely necessary - honesty is important

Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don’t make them regret it.

Don’t do anything that could attract an akuma to you

 He feels the tears prick at his eyes and shuts the book, ignoring the rest of the content. He’s seen enough.

“Kid?” Plagg has noticed his distress, “Adrien, what happened?”

Adrien hands him the book wordlessly. The God flips through it, frowning, “She must have kept this from Tikki too. When did she make this?” “How long has that been there?!”

Marinette shuffles in the bed, but shows no other sign of waking.

He looks to her again, he wants nothing more than to scoop her up and take her somewhere safe where those people can’t get to her.

He puts the notebook on the shelf, but at the front, where he can see it. No way he’s leaving without addressing that.

As if he’d be able to forget it.

“Kitten, you should rest.” Plagg, looks at him sincerely.

“But Mari-” “Pigtails is sleeping. It’s winter, she won’t wake up before you. Take a nap.”

“I don’t want to leave her…”

“So don’t! You’re a cat! Flop on top of her. You’re basically a heated blanket, she won’t mind, you’ve done it during patrol before anyways.”

Plagg has a point. Adrien sighs, falling across his friend and blinking at her slowly before he falls asleep too.

--- 

As usual, it doesn’t take much for him to wake up. He hears some shuffling, and shoots up, glancing around him to be sure nothing is wrong.

He notices Marinette first - she’ll always be the one he’s drawn to. She’s almost awake. Now that he knows she’s Ladybug, he knows how to read her even easier. Her room is warm enough now, and with him right there, she’s about as awake as she ever is in the winter.

Well, she will be in a moment.

“Kitten, you should transform, you don’t want to stress her out too much.”

“Plagg’s right. It’s been quite the day, let her know if you’re going to detransform.” Tikki is awake too.

Adrien nods, transforming as she comes to. She doesn’t notice him as she props herself up on an elbow, but he sees the moment everything catches up to her and the tears that come to her anguished face break his heart.

“Mari?” He speaks softly, so as to not startle her.

“Chat?”

“How much do you remember of what happened?” If she doesn’t remember much he’ll try and spare her of the worst bits.

She’s silent, and he can see every expression as she relives what happened. It would seem she remembers quite a bit then. She pauses, frowning in confusion.

“I- Did I- Do you… do you know who I am now?” She sounds almost horrified, and he guesses she’s being too harsh on herself. He wants to tell her this isn’t a bad thing - shout it until it gets through, but that would only turn out badly.

He settles for smiling softly, ”I do. You’re amazing, Princess.”

“A-are you sure?” 

“I am absolutely certain. You are my fa-fur-ite purr-son.” He sneaks some puns in, hoping to draw her away from what must be a negative train of thought.

She scowls at him half-heartedly. She hesitates, looking uncertain, “So, you’re not...you’re not disappointed?” she gets quieter as she speaks, looking away and unable to meet his gaze.

“Oh, Bug. Never.”

She smiles, but she doesn’t seem entirely convinced.

“Do you want to detransform?” “Do you want me to? It’s alright if you don’t want to know.”

She shakes her head, ”No, it’s only fair.”

He nods, willing the transformation away silently.

Adrien sits in front of her, and Plagg flies off to be near Tikki, who has been watching silently. This isn’t for them, it’s between their chosens.

Marinette sees him, and sits shocked for a moment as she processes this.

Something seems to occur to her, and a smile slips onto her face. She covers it with her hand, but the grin only grows, turning into soft giggles, before she’s fully laughing.

It’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard.

“What? Adrien Agreste running around in a cat costume too much for you?”

She shakes her head, still trying to muffle her laughter and hiding her smile behind her hand, “No- no! It’s, it’s- It was a square! The whole time! It was a love square!”

He doesn’t quite get what she’s getting at, cocking his head at her, eyes shining in merriment, “What now?”

“Okay- okay. So-” She’s really trying her best to explain between her fits of laughter, “So. You, liked Ladybug, and Marinette was ‘just a friend’-” she held off the laughter too long and it spills out again.

He waits patiently.

“Ladybug wouldn’t date Chat Noir because she liked Adrien, and we were just-” She speaks through her continued laughter, “Stuck in a love square! We liked the opposite sides of each other- well I liked both -but it’s funny because it’s just so stupid!” she breaks into laughter again.

He takes a moment to process what she said, and he doesn’t ask for confirmation, because it feels right - fitting - that they both liked both sides of each other - and he’d hate to interrupt Marinette’s joyousness. It’s contagious, and soon he’s laughing too.

“I guess the square is a line now.” he says after they’ve begun recovering.

She seems surprised, almost as if she’d assumed he no longer cared for her, “Y-yeah, I guess it is.”

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment, then her eyes land on the notebook, immediately noting its incorrect position. She turns to him - panicked.

“D-did you s-see that?”

“I did. It fell when I came in.”

“I-I-I’m sorry. I-” Her hands are shaking with her voice, he can see the horror on her face.

He cups her hands carefully.

“Marinette. You shouldn’t be apologizing. Not everything is your fault.”

“B-but-”

“Marinette. Trust me. You’re trying to take all this blame and it’s not for you. You haven’t been able to move forward because you’re still dwelling on it - you’re trying to figure out ‘where you went wrong’ but you haven’t been able to figure it out because you didn’t.”

She shakes her head.

He grabs the notebook, opening it up. He points at the first point.

 You messed up.

 “We’re going to go through each of them okay? You’ll explain why it’s there, and I’ll correct it. Can you do that?”

She nods hesitantly, “That one’s obvious. They all turned on me because- because I did something wrong, They’re good people, so I must have done something bad to earn it.”

Oh, he hopes his heart will make it through this.

“Or. They messed up. Good people can make mistakes too.” Not that some of them deserve that title anymore, but if he’s trying to correct her, he can’t shove a bunch of opposites at her, “They made the mistake of believing Lila, because they got so hooked on her stories that they forgot that you matter just as much.”

She looks doubtful, but nods, pointing to the next one.

 Everyone Most people at Françoise Dupont hate you

 “Lila turned everyone there against me. They hate me now.” She says it like it’s just as obvious as the last one.

“Not ‘everyone’. You crossed that out.”

“Well, except for you.”

“Okay, but not even most people there like Lila. It’s only Bustier’s class. The rest of the school is completely indifferent to her. Even most of the class doesn’t hate you.”

“Alya hates me. So does Lila.”

“So that’s, what? Two out of 15?”

“14.”

“15. Markov counts. As for the rest of the school, most people like you! I’ve heard several people still talking about you, they miss you. Everyone thinks my class is completely insane.”

She smiles a little at that, moving to the next one.

 You don’t know how to do friendship properly. 

 “I messed up the only close friendship I had. In a single day.”

“It wasn’t in a single day. It was months of Lila weaseling her way in between you and Alya so that your friendship was weak. She knew she had to separate you two so that she could get to you more easily. If you need more proof that you are capable of being a good friend, I can always text the group chat. Claude would probably find a way to teleport here.”

She smiles, “They probably would. Allegra would start a mob.”

 People want to believe you’re a bad person

 “Lila said she only tells people what they want to hear, and when she told them I bullied her, they believed it.” “That’s how she starts. Frog-in-a-pot style. She says little things that’ll get her attention and sympathy. Once she’s in people’s good graces, she begins dropping small things that are harder to believe. By that point she’s trusted, and she starts small enough that she can build up to bigger things. She had months, Marinette. Months to do all that.”

 You’re a terrible hero, and Paris deserves better.

 “I messed up a bunch. I’ve gotten hit by a bunch of akumas, and I fell off the Eiffel Tower. I keep attracting akumas - that’s the opposite of what I’m supposed to do.”

“I’ve gotten hit even more than you. Does that make me a bad hero?”

“No! Never!” She sounds both horrified and furious, but he continues.

“Exactly. As for the akumas, you’ve fought off every single one. That’s heroic, and as sad as I am that you had to do those things, I’m so proud and impressed. I knew you were amazing.”

She blushes, moving hurriedly to the next one.

 You’re an obsessive stalker-ish creep.

 “I had gifts for you for years. Like, for years into the future. I had your schedule memorized and on a chart, and I had all those pictures…”

“Marinette. You made gifts, and I’m certain they were based around things I liked, not what you wanted me to like. You got rid of them though, so it doesn’t matter right now. You had my schedule memorized, I don’t even have it memorized. You weren’t using it to stalk me, to my knowledge-”

“No! I only used it to figure out when we could hang out! All of us! Since you were always so busy! I only used it to steal your phone once-”

“You what?”

“Moving on-” “That was you?!”

“Moving on!”

 No one actually likes you.

 “People wouldn’t actually want to hang out with-” She cuts herself off.

“What?”

“I think that one is phrased wrong?”

“I think that one is wrong. I told you, people at school miss you. You made an impact - a positive one. Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix love you. I love you! All of Paris loves you!”

She blushes.

 You shouldn’t be trusted with responsibility

 “I’m a bad hero, and I was a bad class president.”

“We’ve already been over the fact that you’re a fantastic hero, and you were a great class president. You listened to what people wanted and tried to fulfill requests. You planned events well.” She nods. Then nods again, slower. He takes in the way she’s slumping slightly, and smiles at her, “Do you want to leave your bed? You can be closer to the heaters if you’re on the floor.

They climb down, and lean against her chaise lounge, he grabs a blanket and their phones, settling it over them. Tikki and Plagg stay on the bed, catching up.

Once he sits again, Marinette leans into him, cuddling as close as she can to his warmth and holding the blanket tightly.

He could look at his phone, but for now, he just wants to sit with her and appreciate the fact that he finally knows who she is.

He loves her so much.

The snow is really coming down now, fully blizzarding. Marinette’s breathing has evened out and her grip on the blanket has loosened.

Their phones ding.

Checking his, he sees an ongoing conversation in the group chat.

 The Mom Friend: is evryone safe inside? theres gunna be a blizzard

The Mom Friend: how r u holding up mari

 Kid Mime: i’m at home!!! im watching a bunch of disney and i have hot chocolate and popcorn!!!!

Kid Mime: ariel could have tried miming

Kid Mime: it realy could hav helpd her

 Melodie: I’m home. Just made hot chocolate for my brothers. I’ve got some too.

 Felix: I am also at home.

 The Mom Friend: same here

The Mom Friend: mari? u sleeping?

The Mom Friend: adrien u still at her place?

 A is for Awesome: Yep!

A is for Awesome: She fell asleep on me while we were doing homework.

 The Mom Friend: ok im glad shes not outside

 Melodie: How long did she last once the snow started?

 A is for Awesome: She fell asleep immediately, then she woke up and we talked for a while, and she fell asleep again.

 Kid Mime: when she wakes up tell her i said hi

Kid Mime: and i love her

Kid Mime: and that shes gud desiner

 A is for Awesome: I will!

 The Mom Friend: remind her 2 eat

The Mom Friend: an everythin claude said

 A is for Awesome: So, um. It may or may not be the case that neither of us have eaten at all today? We may or may not have both completely forgotten.

 The Mom Friend: …

The Mom Friend: wat wud u guys do without me?

 Felix: Die. You and I are the only reasonable ones in this group, but while you intervene, I am content to simply watch them make poor choices.

 Melodie: HEY! I’m reasonable!

 The Mom Friend: u 2 need to eat. same goes to any1 else in this chat that need a reminder

 Kid Mime: wat about /u/ allan????

Kid Mime: have /u/ eatn recntly?????

 The Mom Friend: i am eating a sandwich rite now

 A is for Awesome: I’ll have Mari and I eat something.

 Before he does so, there’s something else he has to do. He separates himself from Marinette carefully. It’s difficult because being a superhero has made her strong and she doesn't want to give up her heat source, but he manages to escape.

She lies on the floor, frowning. He’ll make this quick. He climbs up to her bed, grabbing the notebook, and rips out the pages she’s written on. He carefully writes his own version of the things she’s put in, before putting it back where it belongs.

“Plagg, I’m gonna’ transform quick.” He warns the Kwami, who nods in understanding.

“Claws out!” Chat Noir grips the torn pages and moves to the balcony. The air whips around him violently, his black suit a stark contrast to the white flakes all around him. The city is coated in snow, and he can see his breath when he exhales heavily.

He looks at the revolting papers in his ringed hand. 

“Cataclysm.”

He watches the dust blow away with the wind, then turns back to the trapdoor, letting himself inside.

He releases the transformation before his ring even beeps, and hands Plagg some cheese as he returns to his Lady. She’s still on the floor, laying on her side, seemingly working on waking up, but only squinting and frowning at the ground.

He lays down on his stomach, looking at her.

“Hi Princess.”

She looks up to see he’s returned and her face lights up, though the exhaustion is still clear, “Kitty!”

“Are you hungry? Neither of us have eaten.”

“Don’ need t’ eat.” Maybe the blizzard has gotten to her. She’s on the edge of her ladybug-mindset, thinking she doesn’t need to eat if she’s in hibernation.

“I doubt that. Would you like to get something to eat with me?”

She shakes her head, “‘ugs?” She reaches one hand toward him weakly.

He holds her offered hand in his own, “What if I give you a hug, and then you eat. You can sit next to me.”

She finds this to be an acceptable compromise and nods.

He scoops her up and carries her down the stairs. On the way he comments, “Claude wanted me to say hi to you for him, and that he loves you, and that you’re a good designer Allan agreed, though he also wanted me to remind you to eat.”

“‘re nice.”

He sets her down gently at the table extracting himself from her arms. He sets water in front of her while he makes a sandwich for himself. There’s a variety of fruit in the fridge.

Ha! Winter brings out the ladybug in Marinette, and now that he knows she’s a ladybug, he can play into that. The superhero duo know each other’s tendencies well, and he spent a lot of last year bringing fruit to patrol in case she’d forgotten to eat. It was one of the few foods that the ladybug in her would accept without much fuss.

He gets a small bowl and mixes a variety of fruit together for her, being sure to give her lots of grapes. He gives her the bowl and grabs his sandwich and water to sit next to her.

She’s resting her head against the table, already asleep again. The kitchen isn’t as warm as her room.

“Hey, it’s time to eat.” He nudges her carefully, and she glances over to him drowsily. He points out the bowl to her and when she registers its contents she flashes him a stunning smile, eating slowly.

He eats too, finishing well before her. She’s eaten maybe a quarter of the small bowl before she slows more, tipping towards the table. He moves the dishes out of the way to avoid her face-planting onto them.

He grabs her hand, leading her up to her room again so that the heat can wake her up. For now, he settles for wrapping her up in the blanket again. The Marinette-burrito flops onto his lap.

 A is for Awesome: We ate.

 The Mom Friend: good

 He finishes the rest of his math homework. That’s all he’s got. It’s winter break now (thank goodness, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep from doing something to Alya) so he’s free. At least for the next few hours that is, then he’s back to his jam-packed schedule. He should give himself another assignment…

Adrien thinks for a moment, trying to think of something for him to do while he’s stuck at Marinette’s.

He thinks back to her laughter following his reveal. That’ll be his goal.

Maybe he can record her this time. He loves her laugh.

She’s laughed at puns before, it just takes a lot. He’ll start there.

Poking her a few times until she blinks up at him, he says, “Do you want a brief explanation of what an acorn is? In a nutshell, it’s an oak tree.”

“...okay.”

She’s too serious for this. She missed his pun!

“Mariiiiii!”

She blinks more, “...hi?”

“Here. Sit up.” He gets her to lean against his shoulder. Close enough.

“Why?” She sounds confused, probably because he just woke her up. She’d have woken up soon anyways. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been so easy to get her to look at and talk to him.

“You’ve been sleeping for a while. I want to talk to you.” She moves to sit across from him, squinting at him suspiciously.

“You were bored, weren’t you?”

“Purr-haps.”

She groans, “You woke me up for puns.”

“Actually, I wanted to tell you that I just got over my addiction to marshmallows, chocolate, and peanuts. I’m not gonna lie, it was a rocky road.” She looks out at the blizzard desperately, “Winter take me.”

“I’m a big fan of whiteboards. I find them quite re-markable.

“I asked my friend if she likes to play video games. She said, ‘Wii.’”

“Oh dear Kwami.”

“The machine at the coin factory just suddenly stopped working, with no explanation. It doesn’t make any cents!”

She shakes her head, but she’s too tired to keep the facade up for long. He knows she likes his puns. 

He leans forward, grinning, “I’m only friends with 25 letters of the alphabet. I don’t know Y.”

“Neither do I. Why are you like this?”

She’d added on, he’s certain he’ll catch her soon. He readies his phone out of sight.

“Why can’t you run through a campground?”

She only raises an eyebrow.

“You can only ran, because it’s past tents!” He beams at her innocently, “A man sued an airline company after it lost his luggage. Sadly, he lost his case.”

“Poor guy.” She’s looking away, focusing elsewhere.

“So what if I can’t spell Armageddon? It’s not the end of the world.”

She can’t hold out forever.

“How about bird puns, they’re very egg-citing.”

He’s got plenty of material.

“You don’t seem very emused.”

“Trying to annoy me with bird puns? Well, toucan play at that game!” She retorts.

He gasps delightedly, “You punned at me!”

As expected, the dam soon breaks and she starts snickering, covering her mouth. It evolves further until she’s fully laughing again. He’s been recording her, and encouraging her with dumb faces and jokes too quiet for the camera.

He wants to tell her to stop covering her face, but pointing out the habit will only embarrass her, and then she’d stop laughing. She drops it as the laughs die down, smiling at him.

Noticing his smug face, she shakes her head,“Was that your goal? Really?”

He holds up his phone, “I wanted to be able to hear your laugh whenever. It’s been saved.”

“Oh you did not.”

“I did. And now… it’s been sent to the group chat!”

“We will get no peace.” 

As soon as she says it, their phones go off. Checking it, they see Claude has been the first to view the video.

 Kid Mime: MARINETTE U SOUND ADORABLE Kid Mime: DID ADRIEN ALREADY TELL U THAT I LOVE U Kid Mime: I LOVE UR LAUGH Kid Mime: ADRIEN TEACH ME UR WAYS

 A is for Awesome: Puns.

 Kid Mime: IM ALREADY ON GOOGLE Kid Mime: I NEED EVERY PUN

Kid Mime: E V E R Y P U N

 Melodie: We’ll never get a break now.

Melodie: It’s nice to see you laugh, Marinette.

 Patisserie Princess: im never leaving the house

Patisserie Princess: i laughed at a pun

Patisserie Princess: i /made/ a pun

 Felix: Understandable. I will try to visit often.

Felix: I suspect you have been spending too much time with Claude and Adrien.

 The Mom Friend: aw mari

The Mom Friend: u gotta leave the house eventually

 Patisserie Princess: do I?

 Kid Mime: I WILL COME TO U Kid Mime: ADRIEN HOW MANY PUNS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE HER LAUGH

 A is for Awesome: Depends on how tired she is.

A is for Awesome: Just don’t stop. Don’t give her a chance to recover.

 Kid Mime: ALRIGHT I WILL KEEP THAT IN MIND

 Melodie: The floodgates have been opened.

 Felix: Indeed.

 Kid Mime: IM GONNA RESEARCH PUNS Kid Mime: BYE

Kid Mime: LUV U GUYS

 The Mom Friend: bye

 Melodie: Bye.

 Patisserie Princess: bye!

Felix: Goodbye.

 A is for Awesome: Bye!

---

Author’s Note: These babies are cute. I love them so much.

The next chapter will be Wednesday, for Christmas. Just fluff, the purpose of the chapter is really just for the sake of all of them interacting in an angst-free way. So you get a bonus chapter. That's not all though! I really want to write a interlude of Tikki and Plagg's conversation in this chapter. It wouldn't really fit in here, and adding it as a chapter feels weird seeing as it would be sort of out-of-order. I'll post it as a separate one-shot, and leave a link here when it's up.

Hey! You all remember Honey Bee? Well a lovely little angel drew her! She looks so great, and I love it so much, link is here!

I haven't been writing much this month (apologies to those wanting chapter 2 of A Shy 'Sparrow'), this week in particular has been stressful. With my being on break now, I think I'll be able to write more. I had a few things that really struck me and I wanted to write them so we'll see how things go!

I feel like I'm forgetting something. If I remember it I'll edit this note.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in my ask box, in replies or through reblogs. I love seeing what you think!

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[gryffindorcls]

Chat for a Day:  Chapter 4

I’m Never Going to Leave You

After closing the door behind her, Marinette suddenly felt lightheaded.  The adrenaline rush that had accompanied her exchange with Adrien was starting to wear off.  That coupled with the exhaustion from her sleepless night were starting to take a physical toll on her body.

The nurse picked up on her distress, and she was immediately offered a place to lay down.  Grateful for the opportunity, Marinette climbed onto the bed in the nurse’s office and closed her eyes.

Once the nurse drew a curtain around the bed and returned to her desk on the far side of the office, Tikki emerged from her chosen’s purse.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki asked in a barely audible whisper.

“I’m feeling a little sleepy right now.  My head kind of hurts, too,” Marinette mumbled without opening her eyes.

“You did stay up pretty late last night.”

“Yeah, but it was worth it.  I was confident today, Tikki.”

“Yes, you were.  I’m very proud of you, but it probably helped that Adrien turned out to be Chat Noir though.”

“True.”

“Did I really call Adrien Agreste ‘hot stuff’ and bop him on the nose?”

“Yes, you did.  You also told him that you loved him.”

“Hmmmm...yeah I did.  I’m definitely going to freak out about that later.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Marinette.”

“I think I’m going to rest my eyes for a little…” Marinette cut herself off as she fell fast asleep.

***

Plagg was a Kwami of simple pleasures.  He didn’t require much.  All he ever really wanted was some (well...lots of) camembert, a comfortable place to sleep, and something to keep him occupied when he was awake.  Usually, finding something to do while Adrien was in school was difficult, and he often found himself getting bored inside of his boy’s bag. However, today’s little show had been very interesting to watch.  It was definitely quality entertainment.  

After watching Tikki’s bug deliver what had to have been an Oscar-worthy performance, observing his own chosen’s internal meltdown was simply icing on the proverbial cake.  Before it started, he knew this day was going to be great, but he wasn’t expecting it to be this amazing.  He knew he would be laughing about this for years to come.

While he would never openly admit it, Plagg really did love and care for Adrien.  He didn’t want to see his boy feeling hurt; however, watching him have an existential crisis?  He was totally on board for that.  Not only was it HILARIOUS, but it fulfilled his secret desire to see his chosen happy.  Adrien was finally going to get the girl.  It was the sappy “happily ever after” moment the kid had always dreamed of.

Despite the incredible stunt that bakery girl had pulled, Plagg knew that Tikki’s chosen had a tendency to be a little hesitant around Adrien.  He knew his boy wasn’t perfect (he was probably the most oblivious human being on the planet), but he was afraid that the little bug might get spooked and start avoiding Adrien.  Plagg had seen first hand just how much of a hopeless romantic his holder was, and having Marinette run away would crush him.  

While Plagg typically didn’t get involved in his wielders’ love lives, he refused to see Adrien disappointed...again.  The boy had enough people in his life who consistently let him down, and he didn’t know Marinette well enough to trust that she wouldn’t become one of those people.  He didn’t blame her for turning down Chat’s advances over the past year, but he didn’t want that to bleed into the duo’s civilian relationship.  

In all his years as a Kwami to a miraculous holder, Plagg had never seen two people more perfectly matched.  Without each other, this Ladybug and Chat Noir would never grow into the heroes that they needed to be to defeat Hawkmoth.  This relationship needed to be protected at all costs.  Therefore, as soon as he was able, Plagg zipped out of Adrien’s bag, phased through the wall, and flew down to the nurse’s office.

Plagg hid in an air vent and surveyed the scene below him.  The nurse sat quietly at her desk doing paperwork.  She appeared to be blissfully unaware of the world around her.  He spotted the curtained off section of the room and prayed that Tikki was hiding there with her chosen.

Plagg zoomed into the secluded space and whispered loudly, “Sugarcube?  Are you here?”

Tikki zipped out of Marinette’s bag and shushed her counterpart.  “Quiet, you’ll wake her up.”

He looked at the unconscious girl with a confused expression.  “What happened to her?”

“She didn’t sleep much last night after accepting the challenge from your chosen.  Then, once she found out that Adrien was Chat Noir...actually, I’m not sure what happened.  I think it was the push she needed to get over her anxiety around Adrien.  However, she has a headache now, and she’s been sleeping since she got here.”

“So, she isn’t scared of him anymore?”

“I don’t think she was ever scared of him.  I think she was scared of being rejected by him, but as soon as she found out that Adrien was in love with her...well, that fear got smaller.  I don’t think it took away her all nervousness though.  It took a lot out of her to confess her feelings.”

“I can imagine.  Adrien did it several times.”

“Yeah, he did.  That will probably come up during her private freak out fest later.  At least they found each other.  Wait...your boy figured it out right?”

“Oh, yeah.  He’s already having his own freak out fest.  He’s been catatonic for the past two hours in class.  However, if I know him at all, once he snaps out of it, he will be in full-blown romance mode.  Your girl wasn’t lying when she said that she loves Adrien, right?  Because I don’t think he’ll be able to handle it if she didn’t actually love him.”

“She loves him alright.  You know, she never actually hated Chat Noir.  It’s just that she loved Adrien so much.  Now that she knows they’re the same person, she loves him even more.”

Plagg flew close to Tikki and took her paws in her own.  “We have to make sure this relationship happens.  We can’t let the momentum stop.  These two need each other.”

Tikki giggled.  “Awww, Plagg.  You’re such a big softie.”

“You know I care about all my kittens.  I mess with them because it makes them better heroes in the end.”

“That and you think it’s funny.”

“Yeah, I do,” Plagg said wistfully, “I really do...but that’s not the point!  You and I both know that they will become stronger once they’ve worked on their bond as partners.  They are two sides of the same coin.  Yin and yang.  They complete each other.”

“I know, I know,” Tikki responded, “I was even going to suggest to Marinette that she should reveal her identity soon.  Hawkmoth is getting stronger.  Now, that he has a partner, these two will need each other more than ever.”

“Exactly!  However, these two are in love, and that can be a tricky thing.  We need to ensure that this works out.  Adrien is the most lovesick kitten I’ve ever had, but I’m worried about your chosen.  I know you said she loves him, but can we be sure that she won’t turn him down again or let her nervousness get in the way?”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that.  She seemed pretty determined to get herself a boyfriend earlier today.  Marinette also told me that all she wants is for him to be happy.  She’s still anxious, but I’ve seen her push away fear many times.  Remember how she stood up to Chloe?”

“Okay, that’s good...but we should still help them right?”

“Oh, yeah.  Definitely.”

“Jeez, our kids are a mess this time.”

Tikki smiled and looked at her chosen.  “Yeah, but they’re our messes.”

Plagg sighed, “Alright, so your girl is passed out, and once my boy starts breathing again, he will be looking for an opportunity to get back to her.  We need to make sure that he has that chance.”

“Yes, and we also need to make sure that Alya stays away.  They need alone time.”

“Agreed...BUT your chosen had a full-blown personality change in front of the nosy girl  She was freaking out quite a bit this morning.  She’s probably calmer now, but still.”

“Hmmmm,” Tikki said pursing her lips, “That’s going to be a problem.  Alya is really protective.  If she thinks something is wrong, she’s going to check it out...unless Marinette herself tells her to stay away.  But she can’t exactly do that right now.”

Plagg thought for a moment. “Wait!  I know.  Do you know how to text using your chosen’s phone?”

“Yes, but using her phone without permission is an invasion of privacy!”

“Puh-lease.  You and I both know for a fact that your bug has no boundaries when it comes to cell phones.  May I remind you of that little stunt she pulled with Adrien’s phone?”

Tikki sighed. “No, you’re right.  And that wasn’t the only time she took someone’s phone.  She’ll forgive us.”

“Wait, are you telling me that she’s stolen more than one phone?”  Plagg did his best to hold back his laughter.  (He did not want the nurse to hear him.) “That’s hilarious!  She is a girl after my own heart. Can you imagine if she got the ring instead of the earrings?  She and I would have leveled Paris before Hawkmoth even started sending out Akumas!”

Tikki had already gotten Marinette’s phone out of her purse. “Hush, Plagg! I already agreed with you.  Let’s just get this done.  Who are we texting, and what do we want the messages to say?”

Plagg grinned.

***

Marinette still hadn’t come back from the nurse’s office.  Adrien could feel the emptiness of the seat behind him.  It was not helping him calm down.  

Physically, he was present in Miss Bustier’s classroom that day, but mentally he was gone.  Luckily, there was no lecture.

For the rest of the morning, his brain was flooded with panicked thoughts.  “Ladybug knows who I am.  She knows I’m Chat Noir, and I know that she’s Marinette...and Marinette is Ladybug...and I like Marinette and I like Ladybug.  So, I like both?  No, I only like one girl.  THANK GOD.  But...I left her in the nurse’s office all by herself.  She isn’t back yet...OHMYGOD.  What if something is ACTUALLY wrong?  I left her there, and now she’s dying...no, that’s stupid, Agreste.  She’s fine...but what if she’s not?  That means that I abandoned her in her time of need.  Now she’ll never love me, but wait...no, she already told me that she loved me…”

“She already told me that she loved me,” he whispered to himself.

“And he’s back!  Bro, we thought we lost you!”  Nino exclaimed.

“What did you say, sunshine?”  Alya asked.

Adrien’s eyes locked with Alya’s.  “Marinette told me that she loved me.”

“Yes, she did,” Alya responded while nodding her head, “and that’s just hitting you now?”

“Does...does Marinette like me?”

“I thought that was already established.”

A lovesick smile spread across Adrien’s face. “She likes me.”

“Ladybug likes me,” he thought.

“No, she loves you.  The girl is positively head over heels about you.”

“OHMYGOD! LADYBUG LOVES ME!” his mind screamed.

His brain started to shut down again.  Yes, he had heard Marinette say it earlier, but it was finally hitting him that the girl of his dreams was actually in love with him.  He could feel hot tears prickling the corners of his eyes.  He sniffled, and the tears threatened to fall.  He was at a loss for words.

“Bro,” Nino said putting a hand on his shoulder, “Are you okay?”

Adrien choked back a sob, “I...I’m so happy.  I love her so much.  This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me!  I need a minute...I’ll be fine!”

He took a moment to compose himself.  Words couldn’t begin to describe how blissfully happy he was.  He didn’t know it was possible to fall even more in love with a person, but he was proven wrong.

The world instantly looked brighter.  Ladybug had always been a light in his life.  However, now that he knew that Marinette was also his lady, it was like having his own personal star, and she was at the center of his universe.  He was ready to be with her, but first, he needed to figure out a way to see her again...soon.

“Adrien,” Alya began, “This is a pretty long moment.  Are you okay?  We can’t have two friends wind up going to the nurse.”

His response came quickly.  “I’m fine, but I need to get into that nurse’s office after class.”

“Why?” Alya questioned.

He smirked, “I’m going to ask out Marinette.”

“That’s awesome, dude!” Nino laughed.

Adrien and Nino miraculously finished their assignment before the end of class.  Finally, it was lunchtime, and Adrien desperately needed to talk to Marinette.  

As both boys stood up to hand in their work, Adrien’s phone buzzed.  He opened his device and looked at the name on his screen.  His heart started beating faster.

Marinette- Hey, you! :)

Adrien typed four different responses before hitting send.

Adrien- Hi!  Are you feeling any better?

He anxiously waited for a response.

Marinette- I’m fine. My head was hurting, so the nurse let me lay down.

Adrien- I’m just happy you’re ok

“What’s up, buttercup?”  Alya asked, “Is it Marinette?”

“Yeah, she texted me.  She told me that she’s alright and that she fell asleep in the nurse’s office,” he explained while looking at the message on her phone.

Alya looked relieved. “So that’s why she didn’t come back?”

“I guess so,” he shrugged.

Adrien’s phone buzzed again.

Marinette- Could you do me a favor?

He smiled.

Adrien- Anything for you, Princess.  <3

Marinette- Could you bring my backpack down to the nurse’s office?  I left it by my seat.

Adrien spotted her belongings and slung her bag over his shoulder.  As he did so, another message was delivered to his phone.

Marinette- I only want you to come down with my stuff. ;)

He almost dropped the phone.  Adrien could feel the heat of a blush creeping up his neck and face.  Alya and Nino noticed Adrien’s reaction and exchanged worried glances.

“Adrien, dude, what did she say to you?”  Nino asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

Alya looked at the phone screen and laughed.  “Alone, huh?  I can respect that.  My girl is on fire today.  I still think she hit her head or something, but I guess I can trust you to check up on her for me.  Looks like you got your chance to ask her out, loverboy.

Adrien still didn’t respond.  He stood shellshocked.  Ladybug wanted to see him, and she probably wanted to talk to him.  He knew this was his chance to tell her how he felt, so he stood up straight and reminded himself that he was Chat Noir.  He could do this.  She was his partner...his beautiful, amazing partner.

“Is this going to be a regular occurrence from now on?  Like, are you going to melt on the spot every time she says something to you?  You guys are going to be one of those couples, aren’t you?”  Nino remarked rolling his eyes.

Alya elbowed him.  “Shhhhh!  It’s adorable.  Do you know how long I’ve waited for this moment?  Do not mess up my ship.”

Instead of responding to Nino’s questions, Adrien shrugged and said, “If you guys don’t mind, I’m just going to go see Marinette now.”

“Alright, sunshine.  We’ll see you after lunch.  Tell Marinette she needs to call me later.”  Alya finished her command with a wink.  She then proceeded to take Nino’s hand and drag him out of the classroom.

Moments later, Adrien left the room and started walking towards the nurse’s office.  On the way there, he had a strange mix of nervousness and excitement brewing inside of him.  It felt like an internal thunderstorm.  However, both of those feelings were quickly overpowered by the sheer adoration he felt as he thought about Marinette.  He quickened his pace.  He couldn’t wait to see her again.

Once he arrived, he slowly opened the door, and the nurse greeted him with a smile.  “Hello, young man!  What brings you here today?  Are you feeling well?”

“Oh, yes, ma’am.  I feel fine.  I’m actually here to bring Marinette her things,” Adrien explained politely.

The nurse nodded, “Wonderful.  What a gentleman!  The poor thing must have been feeling awful.  She fell asleep two hours ago, and she hasn’t woken up since.”

“Wait, she’s not awake?”

“No, she’s out like a light.  I was about to go wake her up.  I’ve already called her parents and told them to keep her home for the rest of the day.  They’re expecting her soon.  She’s right over there.”  The nurse pointed to the curtain and walked back to her desk.

Adrien pulled back the curtain and revealed a still very much asleep Marinette.  He looked at his phone to double check that the messages he received were actually from her.

“Perhaps she woke up for a few minutes and then fell back asleep?” Adrien thought.

Plagg then zoomed into view causing Adrien to glare at the tiny being.  Tikki joined him shortly after.  Upon seeing the two of them together, everything became much clearer.

“Or it was the Kwamis.”

Adrien looked at the magical duo.  “Now, before I begin, I’m guessing you’re Tikki?  Ladybug has told me quite a bit about you.”

The red Kwami giggled.  “Yes, I’m Tikki.  It’s nice to meet you, Adrien!”

Adrien smiled, but his expression quickly shifted to concern when he looked at Marinette on the bed.  “Okay, I just need to ask...is she okay?”

Tikki flew over to Adrien and hugged his cheek.  “You’re so sweet!  No wonder she fell in love with you.  She’s fine.  Marinette had a headache and she’s resting now.  You can wake her up.  I know she’ll be thrilled to see you.”

Adrien was flooded with relief.  “Thanks, Tikki.  However, before we let her join our conversation, I need to ask...who texted me?”

Tikki looked guilty and Plagg grinned.  “That’d be me, kid.  Tikki unlocked the phone, but those messages were all me.”

Adrien shot his Kwami an annoyed look.  “Okay, two things.  One...why are you not in my bag?  What if there was an emergency?”

“Kid, trust me.  Coming down here was an emergency.  You needed help that only we could provide.”

“Okay, we will have words about that later...and two...does this mean that I’ve been flirting with you for the past 15 minutes?  You don’t think the winking face was a little much?”

“It had to be believable.  Look, you should be grateful.  I got you some alone time to sort things out with your girlfriend.”

Plagg had called Marinette his girlfriend a few times in the past, so out of habit, Adrien responded by saying, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

Plagg’s grin widened, “Yet.”

Adrien’s expression softened into a lovesick smile.  “Yet,” he repeated in his mind, “She’s not my girlfriend...yet.”

“And there’s the face.  Don’t get all mushy yet,” Plagg said rolling his eyes, “You still need to get your ‘Princess’ home.”

Adrien’s eyes fell on Marinette.  Her arms were cradling her head and tendrils of hair had fallen into her face.  She breathed softly and steadily.  Seeing her under the fluorescent glow of the lights made his heart swell with affection.  At that moment, he knew that he would love her no matter the circumstances.  She was his everything, and he was never going to take her for granted.  If she agreed to be with him, he would do his best to always make her feel loved.

“She still needs to say yes to being with me,” Adrien whispered.

“Well, you’re never going to find out by standing there!” Plagg exclaimed, “Go wake her up.  Talk to her.  Be everything she needs you to be.”

Adrien knelt next to the bed and gently moved the hair out of Marinette’s face.  He rubbed her arm until her eyes fluttered open and locked with his.  She awoke with a smile.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.  Did you have a good nap?” Adrien cooed in her ear.

Marinette blinked the sleep away from her eyes.  “My Prince Charming came back.”

“My lady, I will always come back for you.”

“So you figured it out?”

“You didn’t exactly make it hard,” Adrien laughed, “That was some show you put on.”

Marinette sat up and stretched, “Yeah, I was dying on the inside the entire time, but it’s okay.  Talking to you is much easier now.”

Adrien gave her a sympathetic look and reached for her hand.  “If it’s not too much to ask, what made it hard before?”

Marinette swallowed and maintained eye contact.  “I think...I was afraid that if I ever told you how I felt, you would disappear from my life.  I don’t know if I could have handled that.”

He squeezed her hand reassuringly, leaned over, and lovingly kissed her on the forehead.  This caused Marinette to giggle and blush.  He placed one of his hands on her cheek and she leaned into his touch.

“Marinette, I would have never cut you out of my life.  I’ve always admired you both in and out of the mask.  And to top it all off, you told me that you love me.  I would be crazy to throw something like that away.  I’m never going to leave you.  I’m here to stay.  I love you so much.”

“You do?”  Marinette had tears in her eyes.

“Yes, I do,” he stood up and pulled her to her feet, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I am deeply and madly in love with you, and it would make me the happiest cat on the planet if you would do me the honor of being my girlfriend.”

Marinette laughed, “Always so gallant, Chaton.  Yes, I would love to be your girlfriend.”

Adrien beamed and pulled her into a tight hug.  She pressed her cheek into his chest, and he nuzzled the top of her head.  

He eventually pulled away and took her hands in his own.  “Now, we are still at school, I’m sure that lovely nurse would like us to leave, and your parents are expecting you to be back any minute now.  Would it be okay if I walked you home, Princess?”

Marinette scrunched her nose and giggled again.  “Lead the way, kitty.”

<—Previous   Next—>

AO3

Fanfiction.net

[eat0crow]

Cataclysm

Miraculer left me hungry for world building so here, have at it. How I reason out cataclysm’s effects.

Side note, this has mentions of torture. nothing is explicit just sorta vaguely mentioned but I’m going to warn you anyway.

____

“So,” Adrien says, flopping onto his bed and burying his face into the pillows. “That’s what a cataclysm feels like.” 

It’s been a few hours since they had defeated the Akuma. Since Ladybug had cast her magical cure and reversed all the damage. He’s been healed for a while now and can say with confidence that the mark no longer hurts. No, he doesn’t hurt anymore. He aches. 

 An ache like nothing he’s ever felt in his life, different from fatigue or strain. It cuts down to his very soul. An ache he feels so deeply he isn’t sure just where it starts and where it ends.

“Yeah no. Not so much,” Plagg says, he’s followed Adrien’s example and thrown himself down onto a pillow. Close but far enough not to touch.

“What.” Adrien’s voice comes out muffled.

“I wouldn’t really know, Tikki would,” Plagg sighs, he never likes to have this talk with his kittens. “But kid, Cataclysm has the power to destroy a miraculous. When used on a person, seriously used on a person, not just the watered-down version that Hawkmoth’s Akumas can produce things go much much differently.”

“You mean it’s worse.” Adrien can’t really understand how it could be. Even with the power of  Ladybug’s miraculous cure he still feels the phantom sensations of the magic snaking its way through his body. He still has the black tendrils localized at the point of contact and branching out, reaching and reaching toward his heart.

“Despite how it may seem the butterfly does have limits.” And God, if Plagg isn’t thankful for that. “One of those limits just so happens to be the fact that it can’t truly duplicate the power of another miraculous. The magic just isn’t there.”

Adrien lifts his head and looks up, meeting Plagg’s eye. “What would happen than if I used cataclysm on a person.”

“It depends kid.” It did Plagg’s seen it used so many different ways on the body. Every time he thinks he’s found the limit, every time he thinks that this has to be it, he’ll get a kitten that surprises him.

It’s never a nice surprise.

“On what?” 

“A lot. On intent. On target. On focus. There’s any number of things that affect how cataclysm reacts to a human body. The corruption, that’s not it. Trust me.”

Adrien drags himself up into a sitting position. This is serious, the sort of conversation that requires every ounce of your attention. “So you have to really mean it then, for Cataclysm to kill someone. You have to really want that person dead.”

“You have to mean it. I just have to be careless. The dinosaurs really were an accident, you know.” That’s the greatest difference between the two of them. Chat Noir is destruction concentrated and focused on a single thing. Plagg, he’s destruction in its purest form given shape.

“Why would Ladybug’s kwami know what your power feels like?” Adrien asks.

“Look, kid,” Plagg sighs, trying to think of how to phrase this delicately. He’s not a teacher or at least not a good one. Tikki has firmly held that role for all the millennia he’s known her.

“Plagg why would Tikki know what it feels like for her holder to be cataclysmed if it hasn’t happened before.” It’s the logical conclusion to come to, the only one that makes sense.

That doesn’t mean Plagg is particularly thrilled to explore it.

He will. Because he opened this can of worms. He just won’t be happy about it.

“Do you remember what I told you when you first opened the box.” Plagg has been giving the same speech for the last four centuries. Particularly once he realized just how clueless those who opened his box were.

Would it be too much to ask the guardians to…I don’t know attach a note.

The answer was apparently yes. It was too much to expect them to inform the chosen exactly what they were chosen for.

“You said that my job was to protect the Ladybug,” Adrien says, that’s the thing Plagg has always stressed. No matter how lax the kwami behaves he has always stressed that Chat Noir’s job above all else was to protect the Ladybug.

“Yes well, not all my kittens have taken that to heart.” 

Plagg thinks he’s gotten better over the centuries at pushing this. The look of genuine confusion that crosses Adrien’s face makes him wonder if he’s gotten a bit too good at it.

It’s certainly bred some less than ideal habits into his kitten.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that my cats have killed just as many Ladybugs as they’ve protected.” 

“The Ladybug and Black Cat are two halves of a whole, they can’t be awakened without each other.” Plagg shakes his head and takes a deep breath, “Out of all of us, my miraculous has been misused the most and because of that Ladybugs have found themselves facing Black Cats across the battlefield more times than I would like.”

The color drains from Adrien’s face, he feels sick. “You mean cataclysm has killed a Ladybug before.”

“Cataclysm has been used to do much more than to just kill a Ladybug.” Plagg crosses his fingers and hopes that this won’t upset his kitten too much.

There is a long bloody history between miraculous.

The Ladybug and Black Cats especially.

“Does ladybug know about this? Is this why she’s so against revealing ourselves, she’s scared of me,” Adrien says, he hopes not.

He’s not entirely sure how he can bring himself to face her come the next battle.

“You have to understand kid…what some of my past holders have done…I’m destruction in its purest form and destruction is a temptation that’s hard to ignore.” Plagg wishes he could lie. 

He can’t though, not about this.

“So she is then, she’s scared of me.” It would make sense. It would explain so much about the distance she keeps between them. 

Understanding does little to ease the knots that form in Adrien’s stomach.

“No no, she’s not.” Plagg’s out of his depth. He’s not a comforting presence, he knows. But his kitten looks so crushed…he can try. “She trusts you with her life, anyone with eyes can see that.”

“Then why is she so against knowing who I am?” Adrien’s voice has gotten thicker. He doesn’t want to cry over this. He doesn’t…it just hurts.

It hurts to think that after everything they’ve been through she would fear him. That’s the absolute last thing he would ever want from her. 

“That’s Tikki’s influence. She’s lost so many bugs in some of the most gruesome ways imaginable.” Plagg shakes his head the memories of all the Ladybugs he’s helped to kill are always just there, under the surface but there. 

“I would never.” Adrien’s voice is quiet barely above a whisper.

“I know you wouldn’t. Ladybug knows you wouldn’t. And I’m sure even Tikki knows. But we’ve been around humanity for a long time and old habits die hard.”

“Have things, have things really gotten that bad.”

“You know cataclysm relies on intent right. Well, not all my cats have wanted to kill with it. Some..some just wanted to use it to hurt.” Some of his holders had made death seem like a kindness.

“So cataclysm can be used…,” Adrien gulps and trails off reluctant to say the word.

“To torture yes. It can and has been used for torture more than once.”

“Oh God.” Adrien hunches forward and buries his face into his knees. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to want to hurt someone that badly. To hate someone so strong that death would be a mercy.

He can’t even muster those feelings against Hawkmoth. 

“Kid! Kid listen to me,” Plagg says, coming to rest on top of Adrien’s knees. “It hasn’t just been used against Ladybugs, it’s been used against some of the worst people to ever come into existence.”

“That doesn’t make it better,” Adrien chokes out.

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t but kid times have changed a lot over the last couple of centuries. Death on the battlefield, it wasn’t nearly as big of an issue as it is now.”

“But still how could…how could any black cat want to hurt their ladybug.” There’s just the smallest bit of wonder in Adrien’s voice. He can’t help it. He just can’t imagine ever turning against his partner.

“To be fair, while it hasn’t happened nearly as often it’s still happened. Not all Ladybugs have been saints. Tikki has been misused as well, arguably with even larger consequences than when I have been,” Plagg says.

“What’s it do. When it’s used on someone?”

Plagg doesn’t want to tell Adrien, really he doesn’t, but he’s started this conversation and he has to see it through. “Like I said it depends. The more malice the stronger the cataclysm…it depends on what you want. Do you want to kill them? Do you want to make them suffer? Where do you want to effect? All that changes things.”

“What does it do Plagg.” Adrien’s voice is sharp. 

“It turns them to dust. Eats away at them till there’s nothing left. Like I said it varies. When used to torture I’ve seen it rot down to the bone. I’ve seen it sever limbs and peel away skin. Once…once I even saw it erase someone out of existence.” That had been a particularly memorable use.

A cataclysm so strong that it was as if they had never existed, the very memory destroyed alongside the body.

“I don’t-I would never,” Adrien says, even though deep down, he terrified that he could.

“No, you wouldn’t. Kitten, I know you wouldn’t. You’re a good Black cat. One of the best.” Plagg comes to hover up to Adrien’s face. “You have to really mean it to use cataclysm like this. It’s not something you can do by accident, you have to want to hurt someone, want to make someone suffer down to the very core of your soul. That’s actually one reason the guardians started choosing children younger and younger to wield the miraculous. Kids just don’t have the malice that adults grow into. You don’t have that in you.”

“You’re sure?” Adrien wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt.

“Positive.” and really Plagg is.

[miracle-in-the-eye-of-the-storm]

sorry i’m not perfect, part I

part I (you are here!) | part II | part III taglist; @time-is-a-pain (want to be on the taglist? send me an ask! also yes i know it’s silly to tag when i’ve already posted this chapter a while ago but mlyeh) so, a few things. one, tikki’s normal voice in this isn’t nearly as squeaky as it is in canon; it’s definitely on the higher end of things, since with a body that small, she’s gonna have a leetle itty bitty voice. but since plagg’s voice is pretty average in the french and english dubs, i see no reason why tikki should sound that squeaky. so yeah, she sounds more like a person speaking and not like a remarkably articulate child who’s swallowed some helium. two, i highly doubt that fu would ever treat marinette like this, even with the … questionable canon storyline. so. shrug. also, tikki calls fu “fu wang” because i was pretty sure that it would be surname first, first name second (if this is untrue, please let me know and i will change it!) three, i plan to do more! the other kwami are gonna go to their respective chosen and basically tell them to get their acts together because jfc kids if you think this is heroic behavior maybe you shouldn’t be leaping around in spandex so freely. i think i’m gonna do trixx and alya first, if only because i’m most upset at alya right now. then plagg and adrien, then wayzz, fu, and nino, and then pollen and chloe. four, this is a continuation of this post by @lenoreofraven where fu is an asshat and basically tells marinette to give up being ladybug. anyway tada!

For a moment (that feels like years to Marinette), they can only stare at each other. Marinette thinks at first that maybe she heard wrong. Surely ― surely Master Fu wasn’t telling her that she was in the wrong ― that can’t be true. Right? Surely, she misheard him. But there is his hand right in front of her, faintly trembling, asking for her earrings. Just as Marinette opens her mouth to ask him if he needs any help getting down form his horse, since it’s clearly so high, Tikki zips up in front of his face.    Tikki is glowing, dark red and sparking, like at any moment she might burst into flames. Wayzz, who has so far been staring at his Chosen with a look of bewildered shock, winces and moves back. “How dare you,” Tikki hisses, her normally light voice dark and thunderous. Fu stares back at her with wide eyes, his hand flinching backwards, clearly not expecting her reaction. “How dare you! My Chosen has come to you with legitimate concerns and worries, and your only thought is to spare the Cat? You dare accuse her of being the one at fault here, when you know her only to be hard working and good and determined to do what is right for the people of Paris? How dare you, Fu Wang. I know you never finished your training as a Guardian of the Miraculous. I know you have made mistakes and tried to make amends for them. But this, dismissing Marinette’s feelings simply because ― what? Plagg’s Chosen is somehow more qualified? How, Fu Wang? How is that boy simply more qualified than my Chosen for his role as the Cat, when he has repeatedly shirked his duty to sulk? How is he the better choice for defending Paris from Papillon when he has demonstrated that he takes this no more seriously than a game?” Fu shrinks back, his small frame made even smaller by the kwami’s fury. Marinette stares at her.   She’s seen Tikki upset before, of course she has; the little god had mourned the loss of Alya’s real friendship with her, she had been just as frustrated with her classmates for not seeing past Lila’s claims, and she had cried with her all those sleepless nights as she worried ― Am I really good enough to be Ladybug? Am I a bad person for leaving my friends behind? Did I make the right choice? But this ― Tikki is growing, losing her doll-like shape and her voice deepening with every second. Her paws become hands, her fingers ending in thin black claws. Her legs grow longer and more bug-like. Her head becomes more proportionate to the rest of her body, and her antennae shift into red and black hair, the ends smoldering in a low flame. This is Tikki furious.    “‘I know who he is in his civilian life,’” Tikki continues, “‘and if he lost this it would crush him.’ You forget, Fu Wang, that I know who he is as well.” Fu gapes, pale. Tikki laughs, short and bitter. “Oh, yes, little guardian, I know full well how dearly that boy loves being Chat Noir! But do you know what else I know?” The fire in her hair crackles as she takes a step towards Fu and jabs a claw at his chest. “I know,” she hisses lowly, “that he no longer deserves the freedom Plagg gives him. He has proved this tonight by yet again going off to pout that His Lady would not return his love for her while she needed a partner. If you will not tell him, I will do it for you. If you do not tell him, I will forcibly revoke your status as Guardian, precarious as it already is.”    “You cannot do that!” Fu objects, having finally found his voice. “You were not part of the order, you can’t―”    Tikki’s head bursts into a wreath of flames, and Fu cowers. Marinette doesn’t feel any of the heat she should be, and she almost wants to reach out and touch the fire. “Lest you forget,” Tikki snarles, “I am no mortal bound by your rules. We welcomed your Order’s protection while we slumbered, and we tolerated your failure that lost it, but always remember that the kwami have never needed you specifically to shield us. If you fail again, we will find another.” Tikki takes a step back, breathing evenly and seemingly forcing herself to calm down. “I give you a deadline,” she says coolly, shrinking back to the form Marinette knows best. “You are given three days and three nights to find the Cat, retrieve his Miraculous, and yield Plagg’s ring to me. If you fail to do this, I will know, and I will make sure you are replaced. By someone far more interested in protecting the real victim, rather than the aggressor. Wayzz will enforce this. Have I made myself clear?”    Fu, trembling and on his knees, stares at her for a long moment. Then he nods slowly and rasps, “Yes. I understand, Tikki.”    Tikki nods curtly. “Good. Remember, Fu Wang; three days. Three nights. There will be no third chance.” Tikki turns and flies back to Marinette to hug her cheek. “Let’s go home, Marinette.”    Marinette spares one last glance to Master Fu, who’s staring at the floor with his hands drooped over his knees. Wayzz is hanging back and giving him a look full of disappointed pity. “Okay,” she says, bringing her hand up to hug Tikki back. “Let’s go home.”

[quicksilversquared]

Plagg and the Butterfly Costume: Ch. 10

Plagg is willing to do a lot in order to get more cheese. When he’s spotted one too many times en route to the kitchen, he decides that a disguise is in order. One purple costume later, and Plagg is free to flit down to the kitchen without people thinking that he’s a rat.

And then he gets caught.

(1)  (2)  (3)  (OT:1)  (4)  (5)   (6)  (OT: 2)  (7)  (OT: 3)  (OT: 4) (OT: 5)  (8) (OT: 6)  (OT: 7)  ( 9 )  (OT: 8)  (OT: 9) 

(AO3) (FF.net)

Friday seemed to go by too slowly and too fast all at once, even for Plagg. Adrien seemed unsure if he wanted to be in the middle of everything and hanging out with everyone or if he wanted to be alone. He was exhausting himself with the back-and-forth, and then ended sleeping through most of the lunch break, head pillowed in Marinette's lap.

"I'm tempted to tell him to transform and come over here to sleep tonight," Marinette told the kwamis quietly as Adrien slept. "He's going to be exhausted before we even start fighting."

"If he starts tossing around again I'll tell him to come over," Plagg promised. Normally he didn't do favors without being bribed first- it was too much effort- but he knew that a tired Chosen wasn't a Chosen that could fight very well. And then a Chosen who couldn't fight very well was more likely to get injured, and then an injured Chosen was less likely to give Plagg Camembert as often.

Marinette just gave him a small smile in thanks.

Dinner on Friday was a much more somber affair than it had been the previous day. Plagg tried to not let it affect him too much as he munched on a delicious baked cheese bread bowl up on the counter.

Worrying while eating just gave him indigestion, after all.

Adrien was barely eating, just pushing food around on his plate. Sabine and Tom were sending him concerned looks, and Marinette's free hand was resting lightly on his leg. Master Fu seemed rather unconcerned by the tension, and was busy enjoying the potstickers that Sabine had prepared.

Once everyone (except Adrien) had finished their food, they settled onto the couches in the living room to talk about what their plan was for the next day. Plagg didn't bother to listen- after all, he had heard absolutely all of the planning in the early stages, and the middle stages, and the later stages, too, and now he was 100% absolutely planning-ed out.

And yes, that was totally a word. He was a god. He could make up the rules if he wanted to.

"Sabine's Mirage is really convincing now," Tikki commented, coming to float down next to Plagg. A cookie dangled from her paws. "They aren't see-through at all, they don't have that noticeable funny glow unless you're in low light, and they move normally. She gave up on making Ladybug talk, but I think that was a bit of a futile effort in this amount of time."

Plagg nodded and stuffed another bite of cheese-soaked bread into his mouth as the temporary superheroes transformed.

As expected, a Tom Turtle was a formidable sight. The shell shield at its normal, base size was huge, wider than a doorway and taller than it was wide. Amusingly, it was also taller than Fu, and slightly taller than Sabine as well.

Tom seemed less than impressed by his superhero outfit, even as armored as it was. Plagg thought like Tom rather resembled a hulking green boulder and that no one in their right mind would step in his path as long as he kept a stern expression on his face, but Tom seemed more concerned with how tight the outfit was.

"You look fine," Sabine assured Tom as he plucked at the skintight outfit. "Very imposing."

"I suppose it'll be fine for one fight," Tom sighed, finally abandoning his inspection of the suit in favor of taking a closer look at his shield. "This is quite sturdy. I like it. You said that I could make it larger?"

"I don't know if you would need it much larger," Fu commented, looking at the giant shell shield. "But yes, you just will it larger and- oh my. That is large."

The shield had expanded, growing to nearly Tom's height and nearly the width of the back of a truck. Tom still held it up easily.

"No one would be able to break through that," Sabine said with a laugh. "Though you might end up not being able to see and end up tripping over a crack in the driveway."

Tom shrunk the shield back to normal size, which was still large. "Yeah, this seems more reasonable. Besides, if it's too big then it can look like I'm trying to hide behind it."

Plagg sniggered. He had remembered a few not-particularly-brave gentle giant Turtles in the past who had done just that. They expanded their shields to comically large proportions and charged blindly, hoping to plow over their enemies like that. It was always amusing to watch, though Plagg's Chosens rarely let him enjoy the scene for long before they transformed to go help their teammate out.

Adrien was clearly more relaxed now, laughing as Tom messed with the shield size. He shrunk it down into a size that Fu could wield, and it looked like a tiny toy in his hands, and then he made it grow into a size that even he struggled to hold.

"I'm pretty sure at least three or four people could sleep in that at that size," Sabine said with a laugh as she inspected the oversize shield. "Wow."

"The shield does fly," Fu added helpfully. "So if you wanted to fly while transporting an injured person or three, a shield that size could be helpful. I've had to do that before."

"Or if someone wanted to take a nap while you travel," Marinette added from her spot on the couch. "Though I suppose it wouldn't be very comfortable."

Adrien grinned at her. "Oh, I don't know. Toss in a couple pillows and some blankets, and it would be great for a cat-nap."

Marinette just groaned at him.

Adrien's phone went off then, and Plagg watched as the smile drained off of Adrien's face as he answered. Before he even said anything, though, Plagg knew that it was Nathalie, calling to summon Adrien home.

"Let me pack some food for you, dear," Sabine said as soon as Adrien hung up. "You barely ate anything at dinner. I think your kwami ate more than you did!"

Adrien only nodded silently and took the bag of bread that she offered him.

Plagg could tell that Adrien's nerves were piling up again as soon as he left the Dupain-Cheng house and slid into the waiting car. He fidgeted the whole way home, could barely hold a conversation with Nathalie, and only just managed to pull himself together long enough to bid his father good-night in a relatively normal-sounding voice.

Plagg wondered briefly how long he should wait before telling Adrien about Marinette's offer, and if Adrien would actually be able to sleep any better next to Marinette or if he would just end up keeping her awake as well.

"I can't believe this is all gonna be over tomorrow," Adrien said after he locked his doors and wandered into the bathroom. Like every night prior, the metal shutters were already down over his windows. Thankfully no one had discovered the broken shutter on the bathroom window that Adrien used to go in and out. He started washing his face. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

...okay, maybe telling Adrien sooner rather than later would be a good idea. It would maybe get his mind off of arresting his own father.

"I'm effectively going to be an orphan," Adrien continued. He reached for his toothbrush. "I didn't think that was ever going to happen before this year. I mean, I know I'll be safer with Father behind bars, and Paris will be, too, but..."

For a moment, Plagg was tempted to remind Adrien that Fu's theory about his mother being trapped was confirmed by Mr. Agreste's files. It was very possible that they would be able to recover her, alive, and bring her back. But he didn't want to make Adrien get his hopes up, not now. Fu still hadn't found the spell to release those trapped in the temple booby-traps in the scrolls, and it could be a while before he did.

If it was in those scrolls as all. It was still a pretty big if.

"Things are just gonna be really different," Adrien finished with a sigh. "And at least Nathalie has things arranged so that I could stay here in Paris with her and the Gorilla taking care of me, but I just... I don't know. I just want tomorrow to be over."

Plagg stayed quiet for a moment longer, then blurted, "Marinette said you could go over there to sleep if you didn't think that you could sleep here."

Adrien lit up, even as a heavy blush spread over his cheeks. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

Much to Plagg's surprise, Adrien hesitated. "I don't know if I would be able to sleep any better over there. I would probably just keep Mari awake."

...great, now Adrien was starting up with the cutesy civilian nicknames. In fact, unless Plagg was very much mistaken (and he sorely hoped that he was), he had overheard Adrien call his girlfriend- er, partner and friend- 'Maribug' earlier, because apparently just the cutesy shortening of her name wasn't enough.

"I mean, I love being over there, but..." Adrien was still faltering. "I don't know."

"You slept over there during lunch break," Plagg reminded him. With your head in her lap, Plagg added silently. He could tell already that once Adrien got over his father getting imprisoned and the two superheroes started dating, they would be disgustingly cuddly.

"I mean, yeah, but I was exhausted," Adrien pointed out. He yawned widely. "And I'm tired now, but not tired enough to just fall asleep like I did at lunch."

Plagg waited.

"Though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try," Adrien mused. "But I shouldn't go over until after I'm sure no one would check in on me. Eleven, maybe? Nathalie normally leaves before then, and Father never checks in on me."

Plagg checked the clock. He and Adrien had an hour to kill.

Adrien spent that time pacing, half of the time with his room lights on and the other half with lights off, to make anyone who came to check think that he was asleep.

Plagg hoped that no one who passed by Adrien's room would listen too closely, because he was pretty certain that people who were sound asleep didn't pace back and forth across their room.

"Okay, it's eleven," Adrien said as soon as he spotted his clock blink the time. "Plagg! Transform me!"

Plagg popped out of the ring only minutes later, only to find Marinette ushering a blanket-wrapped Adrien down into her parents' living room. Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng were nowhere to be seen, and Fu had clearly headed home as well.

"I just don't know how I'll ever fall asleep," Adrien was admitting to Marinette. "And I don't know if being over here will help any or not, but Plagg said that you said I could and I figured that it couldn't hurt."

"I could make you some Valerian tea," Marinette suggested, and Plagg perked up and his whiskers twitched in amusement. "Maman makes it sometimes when one of us is having trouble sleeping and it helps make me tired enough to fall asleep."

Adrien shrugged. "It couldn't hurt, I suppose."

Marinette made the tea, and then the two of them curled up on the sofa to watch some cartoons while Adrien sipped at his tea. Plagg perched on the counter in a prime viewing position.

Adrien finished his cup after a few minutes, and then curled up against Marinette's side as the TV played quietly. A minute later, his head drooped onto her shoulder. Not long after, his eyes fluttered completely closed and his breathing evened out and deepened as he fell completely asleep. It didn't take long for Marinette to notice.

"Is he asleep already?" Marinette asked in a whisper as Adrien curled closer. "I've never seen someone react to that tea so fast! It usually takes me twenty minutes."

Plagg sniggered. "Miraculous tendencies. You just gave Valerian tea to a cat. It's like catnip, but more," he added when Marinette just looked confused. "He'll be out like a light until morning."

Marinette gaped at him. "You didn't warn us!"

"'Course not. This was funnier."

Marinette just sighed and turned the TV off.

The next few minutes were even more amusing. Marinette didn't want to leave Adrien on the couch by himself, and so she had to figure out how to get him up to her room by herself. She trotted upstairs to open her trapdoor and clear a path, and then she returned back to the living room to try to pick up Adrien to carry him upstairs.

She failed miserably.

"He won't even budge!" Marinette complained, straining as she tried to lift Adrien up bridal-style. "He's not this heavy normally!"

Plagg cackled. Tikki, who had been woken up by Marinette's rushing around and had come down to see what was going on, just sighed.

"I fling him around all the time as Ladybug," Marinette continued petulantly, pouting as she flopped down on the couch not occupied by Adrien. "And he barely weighs anything then, it seems."

Plagg waited. Tikki seemed about to say something, and he shushed her. It was much funnier to watch a tired Marinette try to puzzle out a solution on her own. Meanwhile, a thoroughly knocked-out Adrien slumbered on.

"Oh!" Marinette suddenly exclaimed, bolting upright. "I could just transform for a minute and bring him upstairs!"

...bugger, Plagg had been hoping that it would take her a little longer to puzzle out the answer.

Moments later, Marinette had transformed and had scooped Adrien up easily. She trotted upstairs with him, and Plagg watched as she deposited him in her bed. Before she headed back downstairs, she set an alarm on her phone.

"He has to be back to the mansion before anyone checks in on him in the morning," Marinette explained to Plagg, setting the phone next to her pillow. She took a moment to reach over and brush Adrien's bangs off of his face. "At least he'll be able to sleep in on Sunday."

Plagg settled down on a pile of fabric scraps next to Tikki and yawned loudly. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for his Chosen, and he had to be rested up.

  Plagg whined loudly as an alarm pierced the air. He rolled over and peered down at the bed, where Adrien and Marinette were curled up next to each other. They both had curiously similar responses to the alarm- Marinette curled up and groaned, and Adrien was trying to pull the blankets over his head. Marinette's arm snaked out and tried to whack the alarm off, just as Adrien reached over as well. He frowned in confusion when his arm had to go around another body, and his eyes finally cracked open.

"Wha- Marinette?"

"Morning, Adrien," Marinette managed around a yawn. She pushed herself up and finally got the alarm shut off. "Wakey wakey."

"I fell asleep?"

Marinette shot an annoyed look at Plagg, who promptly feigned sleep. "Yeah. Someone forgot to tell us that you're more sensitive to Valerian because of your Miraculous. It only took you a couple minutes to fall asleep."

"Still tired," Adrien grumbled, but he pushed himself up. "Maybe less tea next time."

"You can nap at home, kid," Plagg said, giving up on the façade of sleep after a few seconds of consideration. "Ready?"

Adrien just grumbled.

  Adrien was driven over to the Dupain-Cheng house mid-morning, after he had finally shaken off the last lingering effects of the Valerian. Nathalie had given him a look as he left and had briefly suggested that he invite his "girlfriend" over for once instead of always going to her house, making Adrien turn bright red, but otherwise she didn't try to stop him.

Once they arrived at the bakery, they were surprised to find it open. Adrien headed in to find Sabine at the counter, explaining something to a young woman behind the counter. She lit up when she spotted Adrien.

"Am I early?" Adrien asked nervously.

"Oh no, dear," Sabine assured him. "Sarah is just working the counter today, so I was making sure she knew what she was doing. Marinette and Master Fu are upstairs, and Tom will be up soon. Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

Adrien headed up.

"Hopefully this will be over soon so Tom and Sabine can get back to the bakery," Adrien said as he mounted the last few stairs. He was still frowning slightly. "I wasn't expecting them to be working today."

Plagg rolled his eyes. He seriously doubted that Tom and Sabine actually planned on doing any real work today. They needed to have the bakery open, sure, because otherwise it would look weird, but they seemed to have brought in extra help so they could be free for the morning- or more likely, for the day. Surely they knew that Adrien would be upset after his father's arrest and would want to be able to spend the time with him.

"Adrien!" Marinette exclaimed, popping out of the door. "Come in! My parents should be up soon, they just need to make sure that the staff can keep things running for the day without as much supervision as they're used to."

Plagg was almost knocked out of the air by the sheer amount of relief suddenly flooding out from Adrien.

"Greetings, Chat Noir," Fu called from inside the room. "Right on time."

Adrien just managed a weak smile.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Marinette asked as she pulled Adrien and Plagg inside. "Or something to drink? We have cheese for later," she added to Plagg.

"And some for now?" Plagg asked hopefully. Marinette sighed.

"Maybe just a little."

"I think I'll be sick if I eat anything," Adrien admitted. He perched on a stool next to the counter. "I just want to be done."

Marinette set a couple slices of cheese down on the counter for Plagg and headed around the counter to wrap Adrien up in a hug. Plagg perched on his shoulder and attempted a comforting purr around the cheese he had stuffed in his mouth.

"All right, we're ready," Sabine announced, pushing through the door with Tom following behind. Trixx darted around Sabine, clearly eager to get going. "We'll have to check in with Sarah and Jean periodically throughout the day to make sure they stay on track, but otherwise we're free."

Fu smiled, pushing himself off of the couch. He seemed far more relaxed than anyone else in the room. "Fabulous. Now Tom, I'll-"

He was cut off by a shrill sound as several phones around the room rang with an akuma alarm, and they all froze. Plagg bared his teeth and narrowly kept himself from destroying the phones to silence the alarms because really? An akuma attack now? Adrien was only just holding it together this morning, and now they would have an akuma to deal with before they could just get over what was bound to be the worst part of the day for Adrien.

"Great," Marinette complained. "Just when we were ready to go, too!"

"At least Mr. Agreste should be in the office for the rest of the day once you defeat the akuma," Fu pointed out. "We didn't consider what we might do if he were up in his lair before. Why don't the two of you go take care of that akuma, and we'll wait here. I brought some scrolls along that I can translate in the meantime."

All Adrien and Marinette could do was nod and call for their kwamis to transform.

  As soon as Plagg popped out of the ring, hungry, tired, and drained, he knew that it hadn't been an easy fight. It was clearly no longer morning, and both Adrien and Marinette looked exhausted as they slouched at the Dupain-Cheng kitchen table.

"What a way to go out," Marinette commented as her mother slid a bowl of soup in front of them. "Final akuma fight, hopefully. At least Mr. Agreste really won't be expecting us to be out and about again today."

Adrien blinked at her. "We're still doing that today? I mean, I hoped, but then the fight took so long..."

"We don't have much of a choice," Tom told him. "Sabine and I brought in extra help just for today, and it might be difficult to do it again. Sarah and Jean normally work Monday through Wednesday, and while they were willing to do Saturday this week with our normal weekend workers I doubt they would be thrilled to do it two weeks in a row."

Adrien nodded.

While the two tired superheroes ate, Sabine fetched two petits fours for Tikki and a large hunk of Camembert for Plagg so they could recharge as well. By the time Adrien finally swallowed his last bite of broth-soaked bread, everyone was rested up a bit.

"I can go check to see if Mr. Agreste is back in his office yet," Sabine offered, calling up her transformation. "Or if he's still up sulking in his lair."

Fu nodded in approval. "Yes, that would be a good idea. And once you get into position out of sight of Mr. Agreste's office, you can send us a quick message to let us know if he's down or not."

Adrien started to look ill again as Sabine headed out across the rooftops.

(Plagg was really glad that it would be the illusions and not Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves meeting Mr. Agreste face-to-face at the door, because Mr. Agreste would pick up that something was wrong right away and target Chat Noir. Hopefully the man wouldn't even get a good look at Chat Noir's face during the scramble.)

"Are you going to be okay, Adrien?" Tom asked. He stepped forward to rest a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "We'll be right there with you, every step of the way."

"And no matter what, you're never going to be without a family," Marinette said firmly, sliding her hand up to cup Adrien's jaw. "We're here for you, kitty. Always."

Adrien nodded, eyes closed as he pressed his forehead to hers. Plagg watched as he took deep breaths, working to focus. After a moment, he flew up to perch on Adrien's shoulder and let out a small, comforting purr.

Barely a minute later, a small orange blob shot through the window and into the room. It swirled around, then announced, "Mr. Agreste is in his office. Call the police and come on over."

"Time to go," Tom announced. He fiddled with the bracelet wrapped around his wrist, then transformed. He smiled at the teens. "Ready?"

Marinette glanced at Adrien. He took one last deep breath, then stepped back and nodded.

"Let's go."

 /

As soon as he popped out of the ring, Plagg turned to Adrien, frantically scanning for injuries. Adrien hadn't been transformed for long at all, which meant that either the fight hadn't gone for very long, Adrien had decided to back out last minute, or he had gotten injured and had to retreat.

Sometimes Plagg really hated not knowing what was going on when he was transformed.

Adrien's expression didn't tell him much. He looked tired, like he would like nothing better than a nap and a plate full of cookies. He didn't look like he was in pain, though, so that eliminated the possibility of him being injured. Marinette came up next to him, wrapping him in a hug and resting her cheek against his shoulder. The Butterfly Miraculous dangled from her fingers.

The fight was over.

"It went about as well as we could have hoped," Marinette told Tikki and Plagg quietly as Adrien buried his face in her hair. "He didn't spot Adrien or I hidden up above before he went to the door. Nathalie did, but she didn't say anything. Mr. Agreste did try to use his missiles, but they just kind of smoked and fizzled out. We had a bit of an incident with magic backlash after tearing off his Miraculous mid-transformation, but everything worked out in the end."

"I dug in too deep when I was shredding the necktie," Adrien mumbled, his words muffled by Marinette's hair. "I didn't cause any serious injury, I guess, but there was blood. I hurt him."

"He was wriggling around quite a bit," Marinette reminded Adrien quickly before either Plagg or Tikki could say anything. "If he hadn't, maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt. And neck wounds always look worse than they actually are, I think. Mr. Raincomprix said that he thought that it would be fine, but someone more trained in medical stuff would take a look at it once they got back to the police station."

Adrien just nodded.

"And speaking of Mr. Raincomprix, we told him that Adrien was at a friend's house right now," Tom added. "I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up here shortly to, ah, 'break the news' about your father. He would want to do that before the media picks up the news at all."

Adrien made a face.

"Could you- I mean, if one of you is downstairs, could you tell Mr. Raincomprix that Ladybug and Chat Noir already came by to do that?" Marinette asked. She cast a worried look at Adrien, who didn't look like he was going to be able to act as though he hadn't yet heard about his father's arrest yet. "I'm sure he'll still want to come up and talk, but it might just be easier on us to not have to pretend like it's new news."

Tom and Sabine nodded immediately.

"I'll go down," Tom said before Sabine could offer. "I need to check in with how Jean is doing with the final batch of the day, anyway." He rested a gentle hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Do you guys want anything? Cookies? Muffins? Cheesecake? Some croissants?"

Plagg perked up. "Cheesecake?"

Adrien just shook his head. Plagg hastily suppressed the urge to ask if he could have Adrien's share, too. Something told him that this maybe wasn't the time.

Tom nodded, and with one more look at Adrien, he vanished downstairs.

It didn't take long for Officer Raincomprix to show up. He looked supremely uncomfortable as he caught sight of Adrien curled up next to Marinette on the couch, but Plagg could sense some underlying relief there. Clearly the man had been dreading breaking the news to Adrien that his father was a supervillain and had been arrested, and with that taken care of by the superheroes his job was that much easier.

"Adrien," the officer greeted him awkwardly. Plagg briefly wondered if they really didn't have anyone on the force better suited for this kind of thing. It seemed from what Plagg had seen that the man was stiff and not particularly good with kids, which was a bit odd considering that he had a kid of his own. "I, uh- Tom- er, Mr. Dupain- said you had already heard about your father?"

Adrien nodded.

"He's in police custody right now," Raincomprix continued, shifting back and forth. Plagg noticed that his eyes weren't quite resting on Adrien. In fact, the officer was looking almost anywhere but at Adrien. "He had some injuries in the final fight, but they were superficial and got cleaned up as soon as we got back to the station. There won't be any lasting damage from those."

Adrien's shoulders slumped in relief.

"We still have to look and see if there's a plan on file for who will take care of you now." Raincomprix seriously looked like he was about to bolt, and Plagg idly started wondering how long it would take. "But, um..."

"Adrien can stay with us for as long as needed," Sabine said firmly. She stepped over and laid a hand gently on Adrien's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "We'd be happy to have him here."

Raincomprix looked further relieved.

"Okay. That- that's good. Uh, we'll keep you updated, then," Raincomprix said. His eyes darted towards the door, and Plagg bet that he was about to leave. "And we haven't released a press statement of any sort yet because we want to gather as much information as we can first, but we were parked in front of the mansion for a bit and of course the superheroes were there so there will probably be some media attention."

Adrien cringed.

"It'll all be conjecture for a few days, but I wouldn't be surprised if people put it together," Raincomprix added. "So we're planning on having some police presence at the school on Monday to keep reporters from harassing you. And, uh, that's everything, unless you had questions?"

Adrien just shook his head.

Officer Raincomprix nodded, bade a very quick goodbye, and then was gone before they could blink.

"Just a tad uncomfortable, wasn't he?" Plagg sniggered as soon as the door closed behind the officer. "If he had actually had to 'break the news', he probably would have fidgeted a hole in the floor."

That got a smile out of Adrien, as he had known it would. It vanished a second later.

"Well, I'm sure this kind of thing isn't exactly a fun part of their job," Sabine said. She patted Adrien's shoulder lightly, then moved over to the counter. "We'll keep an eye on the news reports flying around for sure, so we can warn you about what people are saying. And if anyone tries bothering you, we'll either have Tom accompany you or we can ask for police escort until the fuss dies down."

"It's not going to take people long to figure out that Father was Hawkmoth," Adrien said, sighing as he sat up on the couch. "I saw people pointing at us when we left, and at the police cars. And if it doesn't click right away, it will when there aren't any more akuma attacks, and it's gonna be big news. I don't think it'll die down fast at all."

Plagg suspected that Adrien was probably right. Hawkmoth had been the biggest news in the city for a while, and his defeat would be big news as well, even without a spectacular battle to go along with it.

"The best I can hope for is people not bothering me too much," Adrien continued with a sigh. "And people at school not blaming me for Father's actions, too. So many of them got akumatized. I just don't know how they'll react."

"I'll bite them if they blame you," Plagg announced. "Even if they taste bad."

That got another small smile out of Adrien.

There was another knock at the door, and they all turned in time to see Fu stepping in the door. The Turtle Miraculous hung from his wrist again, and there was a small smile on his face. There was a sense of excitement coming from him as he beamed at Adrien and Marinette.

"Good job, you two. From what I could see, that was a near-perfect attack. It went fairly smoothly, and now Mr. Agreste is safely in police custody." His gaze slid to Adrien. "But this is not over. We still have to find your mother and return her to you."

Adrien's eyes snapped to Fu, suddenly focused. The old man smiled.

"I found something quite promising in the scrolls today. A spell, to free prisoners caught in the Tibetan temple traps."

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

“Clearing the Friend Zone” - a ML Secret Santa story

Merry Christmas @sombramalamutt !  I'm your @mlsecretsanta this year. I hope you’ll like your gift!

(huge thank you to @cinnamon-apple-roll and Remasa for betaing this)

Read it on AO3 / fanfiction.net

Summary:  When Adrien friendzones Marinette once again, their classmates decide enough is enough and the time has come to do something for the Tripping Queen and King of Denial. This will be their Christmas good deed. Plagg is 100% on board.

He did it again

Plagg was snoring peacefully in Adrien’s locker, when the whispers started.

‘He did that again, didn’t he?’

‘Our Sunshine child? Sure he did.’

The little black cat perked up. That was his Chosen’s nickname. And his Chosen’s classmates.

‘I have honestly had enough. How can he know four languages and Morse code and still be so dense?’

‘My man can’t be best at everything.’

Ah, Plagg thought, that was Bubbles and his girlfriend. What did Adrien do this time?

‘True. But if he keeps this up Marinette will run out of tears and dry like a raisin.’

‘Come on, babe. You know he doesn’t do this on purpose. That’s just his basic reaction. He really is very friendly.’

‘Yeah, yeah, a human equivalent of a Labrador.’

Plagg snickered quietly among Adrien’s clothes. Too bad he didn’t have anyone to take a bet, because he would wager a week's supply of camembert, that his charge declared his eternal friendship for Pigtails again. Probably patted her affectionately over the shoulder or if he was really lightheaded maybe even gave her a hug. The boy was an A-class master of mixed signals if Plagg ever saw one.

There was a clatter of metal and a thud.

‘Oh, crap,’ Bubbles called. ‘It wasn’t me!’

‘Relax,’ Red chuckled. ‘Marinette’s locker sometimes opens itself like that. Apparently her maladroitness rubs off on her things. Just pick it up, will you?’

‘A dictionary?’ The rustle of paper told Plagg the boy did as he was told. ‘Why would Marinette need one in her locker?’

‘Beats me,’ even confined to his current hideout the kwami could hear the girl shrug. ‘Never seen this in her hands before. Just put it back.’

Was it Plagg’s imagination or did he hear an exasperated sigh from Pigtails’s locker?

‘Wait!’ Red exclaimed. ‘Show me that! I think I saw a bookmark.’

The sprite narrowed his eyes. He could definitely pick a scheming vibe. After a few moments of rustling Bubbles cackled and his girlfriend snorted.

‘Friend!’ They both cried.

‘Oh, Nino,’ Red sighed through the laughter. ‘You should put it in Sunshine’s bag. Maybe then he would learn what that word means.’

‘Nah, you could probably hit him with it, and he still would be as oblivious,’ mirth lined the boy’s voice.

‘Hmmm. Maybe we could do something about it?’ Now that was definitely a scheming voice, if you’d ask Plagg. And a tiny squeak of “Yes!” from somewhere near.

Clearly Red wasn’t the only one with a scheme here. And he loved schemes! The little cat chuckled again. He was almost sure it was Tikki’s paw that threw that dictionary out of Pigtails’s locker. So he listened very, very carefully. He already liked this idea. And maybe he could even help a bit. It’s not like he had anything better to do, and he could definitely use more company and a less dense Chosen.

‘We need to establish an automated reaction,’ Red said.

‘A what?’ Bubbles supplied eloquently.

‘We need to create a situation in which we expose and train Adrien to the proper reaction,’ how come this girl had so much patience was beyond Plagg.

‘Girl, my bro is not some Pavlov’s dog,’ the boy gasped, scandalized at her suggestion.

‘Excuse me, but it was you who said he was a human equivalent of a Labrador,’ she scoffed.

‘Okay. A – it was you who said it, and B – you’re sure this is even ethical?’

‘Well…’ Red clearly hesitated, ‘maybe we could think of it as a prank then?’

‘And if this behavioral crap actually works?’ Bubbles clearly still had doubts.

‘Then no one would care. Besides, he’s not that observant in these matters. We are practically doing him a favor.’

‘If you put it this way…’ A scratching sound told Plagg, Nino was probably rubbing his neck.

‘Good. Now we need to have more people aboard.’ Wow, Red was fast.

‘What for?’

‘Actors.’

‘Will we be needing a director too?’ Bubbles asked hopefully.

‘Probably,’ Plagg definitely could hear smirk in Alya’s voice.

‘Then I’m your man,’ Nino stated proudly and the black sprite was sure there was at least one finger gun involved.

‘You are anyway,’ the girl drawled in a seductive voice, definitely moving closer to the boy.

And then the conversation came to an abrupt end and all Plagg could hear to his utmost disgust were the sounds of good old face sucking.

Training the Lab

Nino and Alya needed only one afternoon to work through the details and they set their plan to action the next morning. Unsurprisingly every person they approached agreed to participate, some even enthusiastically. It was clear that everybody had had enough of watching those two idiots dance around each other, especially since it was obvious for everyone bar the said idiots, they would end together. Their classmates thought it would be a good thing to speed things up. It could count as their Christmas good deed. As for their motivation – some, like Kim and Alix did this purely for fun, others like Rose and Juleka would do anything for a blooming love, while Alya and Nino were just really tired of Marinette’s failed attempts to confess and of Adrien’s denial.

Alya’s job was to keep Marinette temporarily out of Adrien’s sight, going by the rule that absence makes the heart grow fonder. She was to keep her friend occupied at all times, so the only occasion Adrien would get to see his just-a-friend would be during classes, where no interaction would be possible and Adrien would be facing another way, so in fact he still wouldn’t get to see much of her.

Nino was responsible for navigating Adrien through the “exposition phase” as Alya called it.

They started even before the first lesson, with Ivan.

‘Hey, Dude!’ Nino greeted his colleague giving him a secret wink to start Operation Ceefizz (“Clearing the Friend Zone”). ‘Watcha doing?’

‘Nuffin,’ Ivan sighed putting on his most love-struck face and looking pointedly at Mylène. The boy wasn’t subtle, but again they were dealing with Adrien here. The blond politely smiled at his classmate.

‘Something’s on your mind. I can see it,’ Nino pressed on to Adrien’s surprise.

‘I’m just thinking,’ Ivan sighed again causing a small whirlwind of dust on the floor.

‘Thinking, huh?’ Nino nudged Adrien in the ribs, but his bro was still patiently waiting for the conversation to run its course.

‘Yeah,’ the huge boy boomed finally tearing his eyes from his crush. ‘Christmas is coming. I’m thinking what I should get for Mylène.’ He took a deep breath and Nino knew what he would say next. ‘You know, she is such a g-r-e-a-t f-r-i-e-n-d,’ he drawled like was talking to a half-brain. Well, in a way he was.

‘But Ivan!’ Nino gasped and stared. ‘Don’t you mean   g i r l f r i e n d? ’

‘That’s what I meant,’ Ivan’s cheeks covered with rosy hue worthy of Marinette and Nino made a mental note to congratulate him on his acting skills as soon as he ditches Adrien, and to cast him in a more significant role in his next film. One that would involve actually showing his facial expressions. Or his face for that matter.

Adrien remained politely quiet throughout the exchange, his features blissfully free of any reflection. Nino sighed. There was still so much work ahead of them. He would have to ask Alya to swap with him sometimes. He wasn’t sure how much of this he would be able to take in before he’d want to strangle his best bud. It wouldn’t hurt to distract Marinette from time to time instead.

Nino arranged the next setup at lunch deciding not to overload his buddy with stimuli. As scheduled Rose and Juleka were waiting for the two of them in the locker room. Them entering was a signal for the girls to start the scene. Juleka smiled at them, gave Rose a cute, shy wave and left for the girls’ bathroom.

‘Thank you!’ Rose called after her and blew her a kiss. ‘Hi guys! What do you think of my new shawl?’ The petite blonde twirled and the silky magenta scarf that she wrapped around her shoulders billowed after her.

‘It’s amazing!’ Adrien commented politely. ‘This must be quality silk. The fake kind doesn’t billow so nicely.’

‘Yeah!’ Nino interrupted. The last thing he needed was a discussion on types of silk, which he had no doubt his friend would happily provide. ‘Looks good on you,’ he complimented Rose and for better measure threw in a couple of finger guns. ‘Is this a gift?’

Their classmate nodded and hugged the shawl to herself. ‘From Juleka,’ she breathed dreamily, although Nino didn’t miss the cheeky sparkle in her eyes. ‘She’s really a  g-r-e-a-t f-r-i-e-n-d .’

Mr. Director and co-schemer smiled at her, both in acknowledgement of a line well delivered and in actual fondness, ‘Don’t you mean   g i r l f r i e n d, Rose?’ He raised a brow at Adrien’s polite blink. Were they getting somewhere?

Rose dissolved into giggles. ‘That’s what I meant,’ she chirped happily.

‘Oh,’ Adrien’s own brows quirked in surprise. ‘I didn’t know it’s official.’

Their classmate smiled sweetly. ‘A recent development,’ she confessed. ‘But we’ve always been close.’

‘Yeah, that’s nice,’ Nino piped in, afraid that Rose going off script might ruin their plan. ‘But don’t you need to go?’ He nodded in the direction of the bathroom and Rose squeaked when she remembered she should follow Juleka now.

‘Yup! Gotta go!’ She exclaimed rushing after her girlfriend. ‘To get some smooches,’ she said under her breath but loud enough for the two boys to hear her. Mr. Polite blushed to the tips of his ears. Nino took that as a good sign.

Adrien’s friends continued enacting that impromptu reality TV, as Max had called it, for the next few days, careful not to go overboard. The expositions took place once, sometimes twice a day. Plagg was utterly amused watching a more and more confused Adrien respectfully listening to various people explaining their relationship status to him. He quickly decided this was his third favorite thing in the world, right after cheese and cat naps.

A great friend

Adrien was having a hard time. It seems lately that not only everybody seemed to be getting girlfriends, but they all decided to rub it in his face too. Oh, how he wished he could acquire one of those for himself. Specifically one spotted red clad heroine that took his heart.

But he couldn’t help it, so he patiently listened to his classmates, and tried to show at least mild interest, although he noticed he started phasing out in such circumstances, his ears barely registering the repeated tune of “great friends” and “girlfriends”, when his mind wandered freely.

After the third person suggested they were thinking about Christmas gifts Adrien recalled the red hat Marinette had given him last year. He regretted a bit that he had passed it on, even if it was in a good cause. It didn’t change the fact that he had to personally cataclysm it to free the akuma, destroying his great friend’s gift. Now it occurred to him that maybe it would be in good tone to reciprocate to his benefactor. That night to Plagg’s silent facepaw he googled “perfect gift for a great friend” and started browsing through search results with a new vigor.

When next day he and Nino witnessed Aurore feeding Jean Luc grapes at lunch (just before pointing out what a good friend she was and being enlightened once again about another couple’s relationship status), he couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun it would be to share food with people he was just friends with. He had had a particularly good chocolate mousse lately and he remembered how Marinette liked chocolate. He wished he could take her to try it out. They hadn’t had lunch together in ages. Which was unfair, because it seemed that although Marinette was usually busy with the girls, she still managed to spend time with Nino. But whenever Adrien wanted to join them, Alya showed up with a scoop or a problem to solve, and she would drag him away from them. Strangely enough soon after they would stumble upon another person blatantly showing off their girlfriend.

One time Alya forced him to go to library in search for a history book that might contain something on the Miraculouses and they found themselves in the middle of Ultra Mecha Strike IV trial show. Those new features and attacks looked really interesting. He idly wondered why Marinette wasn’t there and what would she think about them.

Shortly afterwards Alya abducted him again and to his slight embarrassment they caught Mylène and Ivan in the middle of a cuddle session. At least that’s what it looked like, because Ivan swore he was just cheering Mylène up after a particularly snide remark from Chloé. Of course, she was his-great-friend-don’t-you-mean-g i r l f r i e n d, so it was perfectly understandable to give her a comforting hug. Adrien couldn’t get that image out of his head. Well, to be more precise, he couldn’t get the idea out of his head. For the remaining of the afternoon and evening he pondered upon how he’d like to platonically hug someone too – purely to comfort them, of course. Marinette seemed a bit sad lately. Maybe she could use a friendly cuddle hug? Provided he would actually see her outside of class, that is.

Oh, he surely thought a lot about Marinette theses days, Adrien noticed. Definitely more than Ladybug, even if he said so himself. Somehow Marinette sneaked into his thoughts and took the place usually occupied by his partner. It must have been because of how little time they’d been spending together lately and because of that perfect gift he finally found and couldn’t wait to give to her. These at least were the reasons he came up with when after one particularly affectionate display of feelings between Nino and his “don’t-you-mean- g i r l f r i e n d“ Alya Adrien’s thoughts ran straight to Marinette’s full pink lips presenting him with a detailed analysis of how perfect they seemed for kissing.

Although the explanation about recent difficulties in meeting her seemed totally plausible, Adrien couldn’t really ignore the heat that rose from his heart and crawled onto his face, stopping only at his ears. Maybe he was running a fever?

Don’t you mean g i r l f r i e n d?

To everyone’s relief about a week and a half before Christmas Alya announced the end of exposition phase. It was about time as they had used all their acting skills and those last few scenes came up rather thin. Now it was up to her and Nino to get to the last stage of their plan – inducing reaction. Gift exchange seemed like a perfect opportunity, although Adrien had some objections as he admitted to not feeling very well lately. Alya chalked it up to the training phase proving effective. Besides, if they waited longer, the effects of the exposition could wear off and all that hard work would be wasted.

That’s how the four of them ended up in the courtyard during lunch break and opening gifts. Marinette was on the verge of explosion from excitement. It was probably due to finally seeing Adrien up close after Alya and Nino kept them carefully separated for the time of exposition phase. The bluenette reverently handed Alya and Nino their gifts, complementing them with a hug.

Out of the corner of her eye Alya noticed, with no small amount of satisfaction, that their blond colleague stomped nervously from one foot to the other, a fresh coat of pink adorning his cheeks. He was (im)patiently awaiting his turn, while Alya and Nino opened their presents and Marinette ducked into her backpack to produce his gift. A glimpse of disappointment flashed over his face when their gifts turned out to be hand knitted scarfs. An intricate pattern of musical notes was scattered over staff woven into Nino’s green one, while Alya received a pink triangle shawl covered with ladybug yoyos. Marinette really outdid herself.

Adrien’s hand went to his neck, where a light blue scarf – his favorite – was wrapped in loose loop. Alya hoped Marinette had made something different for him, because he clearly would be in a lot of trouble trying to choose which one he should wear. And the redhead wasn’t disappointed when the girl finally pulled the last gift out of her bag. She smoothed a few wrinkles on the Christmas tree patterned paper and with a shy smile handed it to the boy. He did his best not to tear the wrapping into pieces on the spot, but his rather frantic movements as he fought with the paper were far from his usual calm and composed demeanor.

Adrien pulled the content of the pack out and sighed in awe as he spread the garment over his chest. It was a light blue vest, a few shades darker than his scarf, but complementing it perfectly, embroidered with a string of little ladybugs – along the right side of the collar and the left side of the buttons, including a stray one right over his heart. It was beautiful and Adrien was enchanted, hand sliding over the delicate fabric and ornaments. Marinette stared at their friend analyzing the final result. She seemed quite content.

Nino and Alya grinned so wide, their cheeks hurt. That was their opening.

‘Wow,’ Adrien whispered. ‘Thank you! This is amazing, Marinette!’

‘Yes! Wow!’ Alya interjected, before the blond would launch his trademark sequence. ‘This is amazing!’ She repeated after him.

‘You’re lucky…’ Nino added with a hint of mischief in his voice, and Alya knew what his next line would be. Now they would get to know if their plan had worked. ‘…that Marinette is such a g-r-e-a-t f-r-i-e-n-d …’

‘Don’t you mean girlfriend?’ Adrien supplied dreamily, still one hundred percent absorbed by his gift.

There were two heavy thuds of female bodies hitting the floor. One right in front of them, caused by a stunned Marinette and one right behind, by Chloé who clearly had been eavesdropping on them, while hiding behind the stairs.

‘…What?!’ Adrien was abruptly roused from his reverie at the sound and then his ears caught up with what had been said. ‘Did I just-? Oh my,’ he gasped at the unconscious form of his great-just-a-(girl)-friend at his feet.

That’s what I meant

Chloé was released from ER soon after the ambulance took her in (and after an epic tantrum she threw there). Marinette had to stay for observation as she banged her head really hard, but luckily she was back home the next day. And news traveled fast, so that week there was a surprising amount of angry fangirl akuma targeting her.

Adrien would have never thought the time would come when he would be thankful for so many attacks. They provided him with a perfect excuse to postpone confronting Marinette about his words. Unfortunately they also provided Chat Noir with numerous occasions in which he had to escort her to safety before Ladybug was able to reach the scene. Somehow the red clad heroine was extremely late to every battle that week. And running over the rooftops with Marinette in his arms at least once a day did very funny things to him. He was suddenly very aware of her, his mind helpfully supplying him with flashbacks from all of their previous encounters. Every wink, every smile, every friendly pat on the shoulder. Every hug, every word whispered in her ear, every dance, every occasion they spent time together, just the two of them. He almost face-planted on bare concrete one time, when a particular almost-kiss scene from Nino’s film popped into his head just as he was leaping to Marinette’s rescue once again.

It couldn’t end well and it didn’t.

‘I can’t do this anymore, Plagg,’ the blond whined, confined to his room after the school was closed due to the intensity of the attacks. ‘What am I going to tell her?’

‘Who?’ Plagg raised his head from the wedge of camembert he had been devouring.

‘Marinette!’

‘Your great friend Marinette?’ Plagg asked with a sly grin. An exasperated groan was all the reply he got. ‘Oh,’ he snickered, ‘you mean your great girlfriend Marinette?’

Adrien buried his face in the pillows on his bed.

‘You could, I don’t know,’ Plagg tsked as if considering Adrien’s options, ‘give her the present you picked for her and explain that you didn’t mean that?’

A beat of silence.

‘Unless,’ the black sprite drawled in a low murmur, ‘you did mean that?’ He flew to his Chosen and settled just beside his ear.

‘Admit it,’ he whispered and was rewarded with another groan. ‘Admit that you liiiiiiiiiike her.’

Adrien pressed his face harder into the pillows.

‘Admit that you want to kissssssssssss her…’ Plagg honestly didn’t remember when he had more fun. He turned his back to the boy, hugged himself and started making smooching and sucking noises as his paws travelled up and down his sides and he wiggled his backside. ‘Oh-oh, Marinette, oh-oh,’ he moaned. ‘You’re such a great friend…’

‘Oh, god,’ Adrien growled.

‘You called?’ The black cat turned around. He scooted closer to the blond mop of hair. ‘Admit that you- Holy cats, kid! You have a fever!’ He exclaimed running a tiny paw over that patch of the boy’s forehead that was accessible over the covers. ‘You’re hot as hell!’

Adrien raised his head and looked at his kwami with glassy eyes. ‘I suppose,’ he mumbled swaying a bit. ‘That must have been that time when I went to the battle straight from the shower. All that running over the rooftops in December cold wasn’t doing me any good either.’ He flopped face first to his bed again.

‘Lovesick just gained a new meaning,’ Plagg sighed sourly, covering him with a blanket.

Adrien dreamt of Marinette. Even in the middle of a fever he saw her clearly. Her blue eyes, her midnight blue pigtails, her full lips smiling invitingly. He could smell her scent too. He hadn’t even realized he knew it. But he did. Too well. He definitely had it memorized, even before the last week, when every breath he took as Chat was full of it.

In his dreams he did everything he previously wanted to do with Marinette. He gave her the present. He invited her to lunch and they ate a mountain of chocolate mousse, and chased it with raspberry lemonade. They discussed the new Ultra Mecha Strike features and tested them at her place. He took some pictures of her wearing the hat and gloves he gave her. He comforted her with a hug (and there were cuddles involved too, because his dream - his rules). He walked her home from a stroll down the Seine. He held her hand. He tilted his head to press his lips to hers but just as they were a hair width apart Adrien woke up.

He was clutching the blue vest to his chest. He didn’t remember taking it to bed. It smelled divine. Lavender, vanilla and lemon grass. Marinette.

‘Feeling better, loverboy?’ Plagg greeted him from his perch on the shelf.

‘Yes,’ Adrien realized he did. His head was no longer reeling and he was no longer feverish. He felt better than in days and he knew exactly why. Without any fuss he ran to take a shower and then threw the blue vest over the black Gabriel turtleneck and grabbed Marinette’s gift.

‘What’s the rush,’ the black sprite grumbled yawning ostensibly. ‘Is there a fire somewhere?’ He teased, but Adrien was too lightheaded to notice.

‘We’re leaving, Plagg,’ he announced putting on his coat and scarf.

‘Hey! My cheese!’ The little cat spluttered, as he was unceremoniously separated from a fresh wheel and shoved into Adrien’s pocket. ‘Where are we going anyway?’

His Chosen grinned at him. ‘To see my girlfriend.’

***

Lessons were resumed the next day and Chloé landed in the ER once again, after a fit of fainting spells. All the time she mumbled something about blue vest with ladybugs and pink beanie with cat ears. Which was exactly what the newest couple at school was wearing that day.

* The End *

[littlefrostfox]

Twinkle Bells and Trimmings

Hi @cyanidelemonade !  I - @littlefrostfox19 on tumblr - am your @mlsecretsanta for 2017!

This is my first time writing a fanfiction with the characters from the amazing show, so I apologies profusely if they are out of character in any way. I do hope you enjoy this one shot, and that you and your loved ones have a wonderful festive season, and a brilliant 2018! :)

THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS FIC!

 On ao3 and ff.net

Twinkle Bells and Trimmings - A Miraculous Ladybug Oneshot

Word Count: 3′433

Rating: General / K

“What do you mean I have to be the one to deliver this to him?!”

As she and Alya walked out of the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery, Marinette stared down at the slightly heavy cane basket that had just been shoved into her hands. When Rose had come up with the idea of their class putting together Christmas gift hampers for Ladybug and Chat Noir, like all of her classmates, Marinette had been incredibly inspired by the project. As class president, she’d spent the last five weeks leading up to Christmas helping to coordinate everything in an effort to make it as festive as possible. They had even gotten some donations from other students at the school, as well as community members who had been impacted by the heroics of Paris’ protectors. Marinette had taken every job she’d been given in her stride, even the budgeting, which with her busy schedule both as Marinette and as Ladybug proving somewhat of a challenge to keep track of. However, it was the simple prospect of her having to give Chat Noir his personalised gift basket - as Marinette - and engaging in conversation with the slightly cocky and constantly flirting superhero, that made her the most worried.

“Come on, girl,” Alya told her, as she walked beside her best friend, her head snuggled in amongst her fur rimmed hooded coat. “If you really didn’t want this job, maybe you should have paid more attention during the last meet-up.”

Marinette sighed, as her mind floated back to the day of the mentioned occasion. She had been late to that particular meeting- it was the same time as the conclusion of a gruelling Akuma attack on the outskirts of the city - and when she had arrived, she couldn’t help but fall to a few moments of rough sleep. When she had been awoken by her classmates, asking her what she had thought of a decision, she quickly agreed with them, despite having no clue what they had even agreed on. Only now had she realised the true extent of her personal error.

“Remember, we thought since you were the class president, we thought it only fair that you have the honour of giving it to Chat Noir,” Alya continued. “If you weren’t busy yesterday, you could have done yours when me and Nino gave Ladybug hers. Shame you couldn’t make it…I’m sure you wouldn’t have been THAT awkward in front of Ladybug.”

“More like having to try and pull off being both Marinette and Ladybug at the same time…that would be beyond awkward!” Tikki whispered, the kwami snuggled in a hidden pocket inside Marinette’s christmas scarf, her words soft enough for only her chosen to hear.

Marinette laughed, both at the truth of Tikki’s words and the energy that was overflowing from Alya, her friend unable to keep still from joy. Giving Alya the duty of delivering Ladybug’s hamper to the super-heroine was an easy decision for the group, however it did cause a slight argument between her and Chloe early on in the project. The issue was quickly resolved by Alya’s quick thinking, the girl suggesting that Chloe hold all responsibility over Ladybug’s Christmas card, which she told Chloe was ‘the most vital part of the project’. Upon hearing this, Chloe soon forgot about not being the one to give the gift to Ladybug, already planning what she was going to write to her greatest idol.

“I wish you could have been there to see me give it to her. Luckily Nino filmed the whole thing.” Alya could highly contain her excitement, the memory of the moment still fresh in her mind. “She looked so surprised when I gave it to her! Nothing could happen that could ever ruin the best Christmas ever!”

Marinette had made sure to keep as much distance as possible from knowing the entire contents of the Ladybug side of the present, wanting the moment where she received the gifts as Ladybug to be as genuine as possible. But nothing could have prepared Marinette for how much each of the gifts and notes meant to her. From the home-made chocolate chip cookies, decorated with miniature ladybugs and white butterflies (made by her own parents), to the mix tape filled with original songs to Ladybug (coordinated by Nino), each gift was so well thought out and personal. Even Chloe’s card, which the normally snobbish girl had put some many hours of her own time into, had so much though, love and appreciation into it, the card including masses of messages from people who she had rescued from Akuma's or people whose lives she had changed just by existing. The moment Alya had given it to her, she had struggled to keep it together, the experience bringing tears to her eyes.

“Anyway, enough about my fangirl moment,” Alya laughed, breaking Marinette out of her daze. “Now we need to focus on finding where Chat Noir could be right at this moment.”

Before Alya could even get out her phone, Marinette spoke up. “He’ll be on patrol around the Norte Dame. He’ll be there until lunch, to when he either be heading to the outskirts near Versailles or the Champs de Mars.”

Alya glanced at her quizzically, her eyes wide with confusion and surprise. “And how would you know that? Don’t tell me you’re studying Chat Noir and Ladybug’s patrol schedule like you do Adrien’s, are you?” She raised an eyebrow, a smirk forming on Alya’s face when she saw Marinette start to squirm.

“W-What? No, of course I don’t know! It was just a guess, that’s all! An simple, normal observation!” she stuttered, growing flustered. “I just thought they could be there because…I saw them there…y-yesterday! That’s it! When I was….was going to find some extra…tinsel… for the bag trimmings, remember?” It was a in an feeble attempt to back pedal, not wanting her secret identity to be revealed, but luckily it seemed it to the trick, Alya soon laughing.

“I was just teasing you, girl! In fact, I think I’m more the one who verging on the side of stalking if anything to do with Ladybug is concerned….” Alya put an arm around Marinette’s shoulder’s, relieving the tension from Marinette’s face. She then pulled out her phone, opening an app which Marinette hadn’t seen before. “Max helped me designed it while he was working on the electronic message chips for Chloe’s card. Now I can have updates on Ladybug and Chat Noir’s location, and any social media information on recent Akuma attacks at the touch of a button! It’s just a prototype, but hopefully it could soon take the Ladyblog to the next level.”

Within a few short seconds, Alya’s phone buzzed again, a green dot appearing on the on-screen map. “What do you know…turns out your hunch was right.” As she put her phone away, she pointed across the road. “Looks like he’s around the Square René Viviani right now. Lucky for us we were headed that way anyway.”

As Alya rushed across the park, Marinette had a mental note to herself. I will have to keep that app in mind the next time I transform….as if keeping my secret wasn’t already hard enough…!

Despite the sharp winter winds that filled the air, and the recent bout of heavy snowfall, the Notre Dame still had a reasonable amount of people nearby, the wooden chalets of the Cathedral Christmas markets nearby creating almost a picture-perfect festive atmosphere.

When she had caught up with Alya, she discovered she had already locked her sights on Chat Noir. Not like it was every really hard to spot him amongst the crowds during his regular patrol times, even more so during winter, his black leather suit easily distinguishable against the city’s white snowy backdrop. For this particular instant, the superhero in question, who was just finishing up having a photo taken with a small girl and boy in matching reindeer costumes, managed to spot Alya and Marinette out almost instantly, soon walking over to them.

“Joyeux Noël Chat Noir!” Alya called to him, her phone tightly gripped in her left hand, ready to start filming at the perfect moment. “Quite a….festive hat you’ve got there!”

At the bringing up of the green, red and white swirly Santa hat he was sporting, Chat Noir grinned, adjusting it with pride. “Purr-fect, isn’t it?” He did a small spin, eager to show his festive present off.

“Why the hat Chatton…?!” Marinette muttered under her breath, her partner still wearing the same silly Christmas hat she had seen him keep on his head for the last eight patrols. Despite her constant pleas as Ladybug for him to wear something else, he continued to wear it. The feline hero had proclaimed that he had grown quite attached to the handmade gift, given to them by one of the pair’s smaller fans. The festive puns adoring its brim may have also had something to do with his attachment, which caused a frustrated groan to escape Marinette’s throat at the very thought.

Alya whipped her head in Marinette’s direction, changing the subject. “Mari had a hunch that you guys would be here. Having a break from your daily patrol?”

Chat nodded. “We decided to change up our usual patrol schedule for the holidays. We’ve been handing out gifts for the past few days, and were supposed to be going around the city markets today, but unfortunately Ladybug hasn’t shown up.”

Dammit. Marinette mused, trying to hide her ashamed expression from Chat Noir. I completely forgot that we were supposed to be doing that today…

The idea that Chat had just brought up was of his own creation - a street based campaign of delivering small tokens of Christmas cheer and positivity, by none other that Paris’ most beloved and trusted superhero duo, all in the effort to bring up the holiday spirit in a city that was growing more paranoid with passing Akuma attack. He had pestered Ladybug about it for months, his partner always going back to the same argument that they should focus first on protecting the city against Hawk Moth. But after a little while, and a few annoying Christmas carols, she eventually gave into the idea, seeing its simple merit as well as the passion Chat Noir had put in to the organising of it all. It was simple in nature, but maybe small, constructive actions were the best way to get through this daily battle, and eventually defeat Hawkmoth himself.

“I know that she would have wanted to be here, but sometimes life gets in the way. Paris knows she cares, and so do I,” Chat nodded, smiling softly. “Ladybug, out of all people, needs to make sure she looks after herself. She’ll be back bringing joy to Paris when she’s ready.”

Alya nodded in agreement. “Well, if you two need any help with your campaign, just know that there are plenty of people that would be more than happy to help. You both deserve a break this time of year.” Hawkmoth had grown more ruthless than ever, Akuma attacks increasing to several per week, with the week before Christmas hosting one every day. While greatly rushing the superheroes off their feet, Alya had also become more exhausted with each passing day, her duty as soul reporter of the Ladyblog reaching maximum capacity.

Suddenly, Alya’s phone started blaring out a familiar ringtone, Jagged Stone’s latest tribute to the superhero pair Alya’s latest choice of phone alert. She glanced at her phone, her expression becoming conflicted. “Geez, its Nadja Chamack calling about my internship application at the TV station. Do you mind if I quickly take this?”

“Not at all.” Chat Noir said politely, secretly knowing how much Alya had fought to even be considered for this internship through his interactions with her as Adrien. “Marinette and I can get to know each other better. Can’t we, princess?”

Marinette nodded as well, trying not to let the annoying nickname bother her. “Go on, Alya. I’ll manage with this until you get back.”

After exchanging with her friend a quick thumbs up, Alya moved away, deep into conversation. Marinette turned back to Chat Noir, not quite sure how to continue their conversation. Small talk was more Alya’s domain, and although she had spoken to the superhero many a times - more as Ladybug as opposed to her civilian identity - she had always found it awkward to talk to him. Marinette had expected a witty remark or a show-offish moment from him, but instead was slightly shocked upon seeing Chat Noir standing in complete silence, appearing almost nervous. The pair stood in a silence for a minute or so, Chat Noir giving an occasional fist pump to passing children, or engaging in short conversation with families as he passed them a few Christmas treats from his matching gift sack.

When a lull appeared in the small talk, Marinette looked back to Chat Noir. Fighting against her sometimes hesitant nature, she lifted the cane basket up so she it was cradled in her hands. “The reason we came to see you was….” She slightly spat out, the teenager still trying to come up with her small speech in her head as she spoke. “I…I actually came to give this bag to you. It’s a gift, a sort of thank you present. It’s not mine….I mean, it’s not just from me. My classmates and I from Françoise-Dupont, and some families from across Paris made it.”

“That’s very lovely of you,” he replied, walking with her towards one of the small park benches a few metres away. “I will make Ladybug receives it as soon as—“

“Actually, this one is just for you,” Marinette interrupted, gesturing to the tag tied around the cellophane covered basket, the green writing and paw print stamps distinctively more suiting to Chat Noir’s aesthetic.

Chat Noir’s bountiful steps came to a halt, a shocked form of a smile sliding onto his usual over-the-top act. “I-I-It’s for me? Really?” he whispered, appearing genuinely moved and honoured. When they arrived at the seats, the two softly sitting down, Marinette handed the basket to him. Chat’s eyes widened, his now wonder filled green eyes switching between the collection of gifts and Marinette herself.

Carefully, Chat Noir started undoing the wrapping covering the hamper, the delicate nature of his unwrapping also surprising Marinette. He kept glancing at Marinette, as if to question if these presents were especially for him. He was sometimes left out by the media, all the fame and attention mostly directed to Ladybug, so maybe he had just thought that that would be the same case in this particular situation, Marinette thought. Or possibly, the thought causing Marinette to feel slightly sorry for the superhero, that he believed that he didn’t deserve this sudden spree of appreciation.

Finally, he reached for the first present in the hamper, Chat Noir now proceeding to fidget in anticipation. While she had avoided impacting too much on the contents of Ladybug’s hamper, Marinette had had more of an input into the details of Chat Noir’s, having helped all her classmates in the early phases of the project in the planning of their specific gifts for the feline superhero. However, with the recent collection of Akuma attacks, she hadn’t had much of a chance to see what the final products would be, or know much of the extra gifts added in-between.

Each gift had given a slightly different reaction, all of them linked by the joy he physically exerted upon opening them. The first was a framed portrait drawing of the feline superhero, an original digital art piece created by Nathaniel. While exactly capturing Chat Noir’s humorous and carefree nature, he had styled the superhero in somewhat of a majestic, almost prince-like manner, creating an image of a kind, brave, spirited and selfless protector. Shades of gold, yellow, green and silver, as well as some contrasting touches of purple in between, all displayed a side of Chat which, amongst all the bad puns and crazy antics, sometimes slipped her mind as Ladybug, as well as Marinette.

There was also a custom coffee mug- which apart from the colour scheme exactly matched Ladybug’s- given by Kim, a dictionary of the best puns of all time - a gift from Alix, which Marinette already knew she would come to regret suggesting -, tiny boxes of tissues with cartoon pigeons on them - given as a joke by Alya, which Chat seemed to find especially funny -, as well as lots and lots of Camembert themed treats - which were at first provided by Adrien, and then proceeding to her own parents, who along with providing some Chat Noir and Ladybug themed gingerbread, also donated a entire platter of different variations of local Camembert. She would have to keep that in mind for any future gifts as Ladybug to give to him.

Upon Chat getting to the bottom of the basket, Marinette pulled out a large envelope, which was also addressed to Chat Noir. He carefully opened it, revealing a detailed card, the front filled with photos of people with Chat Noir, as well as some of his well known Cat puns. Inside, he found a song, as well as countless messages and notes, all towards Chat Noir. Chat’s smile wavered, his glance unable to look away from the card.

“I was in charge of designing the card…” Marinette said, not yet noticing Chat’s expression. “Ivan and Myléne wrote the song inside. They’re really talented, aren’t they—“

She turned back to Chat, a soft sniffling reaching her ears. Without warning, Chat Noir wrapped his arms around her in a hug, squeezing her tightly. “Thank you Mari,” he told her, his voice filled to the brim with joy. “The gift and the cards…they’re beautiful…I never had expected to receive anything like this. I am beyond grateful for all the love and time you all put into these gifts. Thank you.”

Not knowing how to respond, Marinette simply smiled, returning the hug. Their tender moment didn’t last long, Alya’s loud voice causing the pair to flinch.

“Marinette! I thought I told you to wait for me before you let him open all the gifts so I could get it on film!”

Quickly, the two split apart, Marinette fighting uncomfortably, trying to explain. Alya smiled, shaking it off. “Ah well… the least you both can do is stay still long enough for a photo. So no running away, got it pussy cat?”

“Chat’s honour! Anything for this hero’s favourite reporter!” Chat Noir smirked, swiftly returning to his typical, cheeky facade. Marinette groaned, which caused Chat Noir to laugh again, before they both turned to face Alya for a few photos.

After engaging in some short conversation, Chat thanking Alya vigorously for the gifts, Marinette and Alya wished him farewell, Alya needing to rush back home to update the Ladyblog before the day’s end. Just as Chat was about to turn and leave, however, Marinette’s mind clicked into gear.

“Chat Noir, wait!”

Chat Noir quickly tuned back to face Marinette, who was rushing back up to him. “I forgot to give you this. It’s my gift to you. I hope you like it!” She carefully handed him a small handmade drawstring bag, which had a similar design to the card.

Chat nodded graciously, returning to the girl a sincere smile. Chat turned away slightly, quietly opening Marinette’s present. His smile widened, lightly chuckling as he pulled out a silver, white and red bell, covered lightly with small black and white paw centred snowflakes. Also in the bag was a soft gold ribbon, which had two small slips on it to allow the bell to be attached onto the spot where his typical gold bell resided. Chat Noir rushed to switch the bells over, carefully putting his old bell in the small bag, and then in his suit pocket for safe keeping.

He gasped lightly upon hearing its ring, the sound lighter and more delicate than his usual bell. He turned back to where the girl’s had been, the pair having left around a minute or so ago. Sighing, he notice a small slip of paper peaking out of the bell’s gaps. Curious, he pulled it out, unfolded it and started to read it.

To Chat Noir. Hope you find this present amusing and positively claw-some for the festive season. From Marinette.

[feeling-freckled]

Breathtaking in Black (Part 4)

A/N: IT’S FINALLY HERE PEOPLE.  I’m sorry I’ve been dead for over a month but here you go :)  This one is significantly longer than the third chapter I promise so enjoy! 

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Part 3

Read it on Ao3

Adrien heard the faint sound of a bell as he pushed open the front door to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.  Thousands of wonderful smells mixed together in the air around him as he approached the couple working behind the counter.  

“Good afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Dupain Cheng,” he greated with a wide smile.  Sabine smiled back at him as Tom continued to stack loaves of bread on the shelf just behind her.  

“Good afternoon Adrien!  Are you by any chance here to see Marinette?” she asked with a subtle wink that he almost missed.  Tom stopped stacking suddenly and turned his attention toward their conversation.

“Well actually yes,” Adrien confessed as the couple exchanged a quick smile.  

“I missed school today for some activities that my dad had arranged for me this morning.” Lie.  “A friend of mine texted me and said that Marinette hadn’t shown up after lunch break, and that she was worried she might be sick.” Also a lie.  “So I figured I would stop by and see how she’s feeling if I had the time.” Less of a lie but still not fully true.  This was only his second time ever talking to Marinette’s parents, and here he was lying to their faces.  He hoped to never make a habit of doing such a thing, but what other option did he have?  He just wanted to see her and to know she was alright.  

“Well,” Tom spoke first.  “I believe she said she needed to lie down for a bit.  She seemed pretty exhausted so she may be sleeping.  If you’d like, you can go on up and wait for her in the living room.  I’m sure she won’t be long.”

Adrien’s expression lit up.  “Yes, I don’t mind waiting at all.  If she’s still asleep after a while I’ll head out, but I’d really like to see her if that’s alright.”

“Of course son, head on up,” Tom said.  Adrien nodded, quickly thanked the couple and headed up the stairs to their apartment.  He knocked gently before letting himself in.  Marinette’s main living space was just as he’d remembered it.  It was so cozy and comfortable in comparison to his large, cold mansion.  

On top of that, her house just looked a lot more lived in than his.  Pictures of her family covered the walls and shelves.  Drawings and school projects that Marinette must have done years ago covered the refrigerator.  This must be what having a real family is like Adrien thought to himself as he took a seat on her living room couch.

After a few minutes, Adrien heard movement coming from the door in the ceiling that he knew lead to her room.  He slowly made his way up her stairs and gently knocked on the door.  “One moment Papa!” he heard her call from the other side of the door.

“Actually, it’s Adrien,” he replied.  Marinette’s heart dropped.  Her hair brush fell to the floor as she froze in place.  “What was that?” Adrien called again from her steps.  These boys are trying to kill me she thought as she shook her head and tried to think of a reply.

“Oh, I um.. I brushed my drop.” smooth.  She cringed silently as she forced herself to continue speaking.  “I’ll be down in a minute,” she managed.  Her heart was beating at an incredible rate as she leaned down to pick her brush up off the floor.  

“Okay I’ll wait down here if that’s alright!” he called up before descending her stairs and sitting down on the couch once more.  Marinette turned to face her mirror.  How did he get in my house?  Why is he here?  Why do blonde haired, green eyed boys enjoy giving me heart attacks so often!? She thought as she ran her brush through her hair a couple of times.  She took a deep breath and began getting dressed.

“Wow marinette, you sure are popular recently?” Tikki teased as she hovered above her chosen’s head.  Marinette glared at her as she pulled her pink capri’s up over her hips and fastened the button.  Normally, she would swoon at the idea of Adrien popping over for a casual visit.  However, she was in no condition to even pretend she could be casual around him.  She had been up all night thinking about him and Chat Noir and trying to figure out her feelings.  Just when she gets a moment to rest and clear her head, he shows up unannounced.  

“Tikki this isn’t funny.  What am I going to do?  I can’t just go down there and casually have a conversation with him.  I suck at being casual,” she admitted with a huff.

“Just be yourself Marinette.  He skipped school to come see if you were alright.  Obviously he cares about you.”  Marinette closed her eyes and took a deep breath before putting on a brave smile.  She nodded at her kwami and headed for her door.  She was going to survive this.

Adrien’s ears perked up as he heard the sound of her door opening.  He quickly turned his head to see her smiling back at him as she walked down the steps.  “Well this sure is a surprise” Marinette remarked.  “I could have sworn you were supposed to be in school right about now.”  Adrien smirked and stood up from her couch.

“I could say the same to you,” he added playfully.  She smiled at him and walked past him to sit down on the couch.  Marinette looked up at him and hesitantly patted the seat next to her, inviting him to sit.  Adrien returned her warm smile and settled down beside her.  Marinette took in a deep breath and tried to figure out how much she could tell him without giving away too much.

“To tell you the truth I’m not sick.  I’ve kind of just been stressed out for a couple of days.” Marinette spoke slowly; thinking about each word before she stated it.  Adrien’s expression seemed very worried.  She didn’t want him to be concerned over her personal issues, but at the same time she found his interest to be heart warming.  “It’s not really something you need to worry about Adrien, but thanks for coming to check on me.”

She was wrong.  He had every right to be concerned.  He had made her uncomfortable and stressed to the point where she was skipping school to catch up on sleep.  She had bags under her eyes and was clearly shaking and it was all his fault.  All because he had a bad habit of getting carried away when the suit was on.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” he asked.  “You don’t have to tell me everything of course, but it might help to get some of it off of your chest.”  This statement only seemed to stress Marinette out more.  She broke eye contact with him and began tapping her fingers nervously as she tried to piece together sentences in her head.  Adrien waited patiently as she silently scripted everything out.

“Okay well there is this guy who I am really close friends with,” she began.  “He and I have been becoming pretty close recently, but now he wants to tell me this huge secret about himself and I’m worried about how that secret will affect our friendship.”  Adrien hung on every word as she spoke.  “He has been leaving me clues and my head is just a whirlwind of unanswered questions that I’m not even sure I have the right to ask.”

Marinette’s whole body was shaking.  Her fingers nervous tapped against her thigh.  He was so close to her, but now wasn’t the time to turn into a stuttering, blubbering mess.  She suddenly felt her hand stop moving as a warm pressure was gently applied to the back of it.  Adrien was holding her hand.  He took it gently in his in a way that was strangely familiar and began instinctively rubbing small circles against her palm.  Her heart skipped a beat at the gesture, but she allowed herself to calm down slightly as she wrapped her fingers around his palm in order to let him know the gesture was appreciated.

“Basically, I can’t tell why he suddenly feels the need to open up about something so personal to me.  I want to think it’s because he trusts me, but it honestly feels like he’s just toying with my brain.”  

That stung.  Adrien froze and almost dropped her hand completely.  She thought he was toying with her.  She thought he had purposely devised a plan just to stress her out and fill her head with questions.  This was the exact opposite of what he wanted.  He just wanted to be able to share his identity with someone he trusted.  Of course ladybug would have been his first choice, but she had made it very clear that she wanted no part of an identity reveal so he chose the other important girl in his life.  He never meant to hurt her.  Adrien took in a breath and prepared to justify his own actions.

“You said that you considered this guy to be a close friend of yours right?” he began.  Marinette nodded with a small smile that he almost missed.  “If he’s really your friend then I don’t think he would intentionally do anything to make you upset or stressed out.”  Marinette knew he was right, but hearing it out loud still felt better than thinking it.  She turned her eyes back to his and took a moment to absorb his kind expression.  She really did still love him.

“Yeah you’re right” she admitted as she allowed her shoulders to relax and her shaking to slow.  “It’s just, there’s some stuff that I haven’t been completely honest with him about either.”  Adrien’s eyes widened at this.  She had a secret?  He had never once considered the idea that he wasn’t the only one keeping secrets in their friendship.  

“If he’s really your friend, then he wouldn’t pressure you into sharing anything you weren’t prepared to,” Adrien added.  Marinette nodded as the same small smile from before found its way across her face.  She knew everything he was saying was true.  The Chat Noir she had fought beside for the past two years would never force her into revealing her identity and he would never intentionally cause her unnecessary stress.  She had been over thinking things as usual.  

“Thank you Adrien,” she whispered as she beamed back at him.  He felt his face get warm as he watched her smile grow.  She had clearly calmed down. The pink that he had come to adore spread across her cheeks as they continued to smile at each other.  No matter how wonderfully flattering that color was on her, he couldn’t get the picture of her in all black out of his head.  It truly was his new favorite color on her.

Adrien gently shook his head as he felt himself beginning to blush.  His heart was fluttering in his chest.  He really had become fond of Marinette in the few months they had spent getting to know one another.  He felt comfortable and safe around her.  This was a feeling he certainly never felt at his own home.  Maybe that was why he preferred her house so much.

“Well I’ll let you get back to resting.  Wouldn’t want you to miss another day of school just because I kept you up,” he said as he rose from the couch.  Marinette stood up after him and walked him over her to her door.

“Thank you so much for stopping by” she mumbled with a slight bow as she opened the door for him.  Adrien paused for a moment and then took a step toward her.  He wrapped his arms around her waist in a tight embrace and held her close against his chest.  Marinette froze in shock, but then slowly returned his hug.  They held each other in silence for only a few seconds before Adrien reluctantly released her.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he declared as he turned toward her door.

“Y-yeah.  See y-you tomorrow,” she stuttered out.  As she watched the door close behind him, she could still feel his arms around her waist.  She definitely still had strong feelings for him.  How could she not?  He was kind, polite, honest and an amazing friend.  Not to mention the fact that he was growing more and more attractive each day.

“That settles it!” Marinette proclaimed as she turned from the door.

“Settles what?” tikki asked as she flew out from her hiding spot in Marinette’s jacket.

“I’ll admit that you may have been right about me developing some feelings for Chat Noir.  Obviously, I have a thing for blondes.” Tikki snickered.  “But my feelings for Adrien are still very strong and I’m not ready to give up on that.  I’ve made up my mind,” Marinette declared.  

Tikki didn’t appear half as convinced as her chosen.  “So you’re just going to give up on your feelings for him because your feelings for Adrien haven’t gone away?” the tiny creature asked puzzled.  

“No of course not, but no matter who Chat ends up being behind that mask, he’s my friend first and that’s a relationship I can’t risk losing,”  Marinette clarified as she began walking back up the stairs to her room.  “Whatever happens after the dance happens, but right now I need to focus on doing what’s best for my mental sanity.  Right now, my mental sanity requires another nap.”

Tikki rolled her eyes but gave her chosen a soft smile.  “Your mental sanity just woke up from a nap,” she reminded Marinette.  

“It would appear that my sanity is easily overwhelmed by the presence of blonde boys with green eyes.” Marinette and Tikki exchanged laughter as Mari closed her trap door beneath her and lied back down on her bed. From now on, she wasn’t going to let herself spend all hours of the day worrying about future events that were out of her control. Adrien was right. Chat was her friend first and that was a bond that could never be broken.

Part 5

[nobodyfamousposts]

Missing Interlude - Plagg

So remember when I said that the Missing Interlude was just a one time thing?

Yeah...my muse disagreed.

Contrary to popular opinion, Plagg was not simply the lazy and foolish kwami that most people believed him to be. Sure, part of that may be his fault, as he wasn’t about to go out of his way to correct people’s assumptions about him if he didn’t need to. After all, if people think he’s lackadaisical and silly, they tend to not expect much from him, which worked doubly in his favor in either convincing people to leave him alone or allow him the element of surprise if they wouldn’t. After all, most people generally didn’t worry whether he was plotting to kill them if they thought he was simply sleeping most of the time.

Plagg…admittedly hadn’t had many good wielders in the past. Fu referred to them as owners, but the very thought of the title grated at him something fierce. By their very nature, cats weren’t ‘owned’. They would stay with people. Go to those who fed them or treated them well. But they claimed their humans, not the other way around.

Even if that weren’t the case, most of his wielders had been…not the best of people. He joked about Hawk Moth and didn’t take his akumas seriously because honestly, how could he? It was ultimately the equivalent of a child playing with toys in comparison to some of the things he had been forced to do. He pitied Nooroo for his current unfortunate situation, certainly. The butterfly kwami was gentle by nature and while he wouldn’t wish such misuse on any of his brethren, Nooroo was especially sensitive. But it still said something that he found himself envying him more.

Cartoonish characters who made people burst into song or controlled birds were always preferable over serial killers, war mongers, and so-called ‘visionaries’ that saw fit to topple an entire nation to rebuild it to fit their ideals.

Atlantis was a joke. The Leaning Tower was an accident. The dinosaurs…well, those jerks actually had it coming. But still, each incident was almost minimal compared to the acts caused by some of the people he had been unfortunate enough to be discovered by over the millennia. It was part of why he played up his destructive and cat-like tendencies for the monks when he’d finally been retrieved, if only in hopes that they’d seal him up so he’d be left alone for a few centuries and just not have to deal with any of it.

There was a part of him that questioned Fu’s wisdom in sending him of all the kwamis out to face Hawk Moth. Especially when his power was one of the two that the villain was specifically after.

Ladybug made sense. Tikki was practically built for purifying, healing people, and undoing damage. Like a cosmic reset-button that allowed the akuma battles to be a temporary disruption of the norm rather than a literal matter of life and death. And sure, Tikki was always willing to be useful.

But Plagg had wanted to sleep. He had wanted to be left alone. He wanted to NOT be reminded of things he really REALLY wanted to forget. And he couldn’t even have that.

Cheese was a nice distraction from these darker thoughts—as well as part of the reason he demanded it so often since he knew he had a chosen who could manage it. Yet strangely enough, his chosen had also started to become a good distraction in his own way. An annoying one at times, sure. But a good one. It was why he even put up with listening to the kid waxing poetic about Ladybug. That plus the realization that the Ladybug he was crazy about was actually his little girlfriend who was secretly just as crazy about him?

Gold. Pure gold. It was like a movie that practically wrote itself!

At this point, he was honestly just waiting for the day the two finally had the big reveal for themselves just so he could imprint their expressions in his mind for the next century. Maybe even millennium. His only wish was that he would have a camera when it happened that he could show the rest of the kwamis.

Plus he knew Tikki would love it, even if she would lecture him for it.

Still…

Adrien was a good kid. He regretted not being able to trust him fully because he was at least somewhat certain that the boy wouldn’t follow in those ever darkened footsteps of his predecessors, but…

He sighed internally.

Plagg liked Adrien, he really did. But Adrien was young and immature in a lot of ways. Sure, he was a hero now. But would he stay that way? The future was always left to be determined. There had been a lot of Black Cats before Adrien Agreste. Too many that had gotten his hopes up only to let him down in the end.

Maybe that was why he worried so much for his current holder. The way that Adrien opened up to him so quickly and easily was less a testament of their bond and more indicative of his desperation just to have someone he could talk to.

Plagg couldn’t help but pity the kid. It was also why he didn’t try to fight the way the kid started to grow on him, either. Even despite the puns. And the lovesickness. And his at times stupidly over the top gestures and complete disregard for his own well being that Plagg was going to break him out of mark his words!

Adrien still had a lot of growing to do, and for all that Plagg let his impulses get the better of him, he was also surprisingly patient—in this case patient enough to help Adrien grow and give any sort of nudge the boy may need to do so. Because he knew the boy had potential.

The problem was the numerous stumbling blocks that were getting in the way.

There was his father—and stars, how Plagg despised that man. Always watching but never there. The undeserving focus of a completely one-sided relationship. If Adrien’s passivity and other “quirks” were signs, the fact that the nightmare Sandboy conjured for Adrien was a cage was practically glowing neon.

There were also the other girls who kept clinging to him, giving his boy the impression that he was not allowed to have personal boundaries. That not making other people upset mattered more than making himself heard when they did something to make him uncomfortable.

There was the overfilled schedule that stole away the precious little time Adrien would have to find himself and just enjoy life before it was over all too quickly. Humans were such short-lived creatures, after all…

There were the regular akuma battles. And Hawk Moth. The constant danger they and Paris as a whole were constantly in.

And then there was this latest upset…Marinette’s “disappearance”.

It was…strange. He honestly didn’t know what to think.

Plagg had known that Marinette was Ladybug since Dark Owl. He’d gotten a good long laugh out of it, too. Later. Much later. Couldn’t let Adrien in on the joke too soon, after all.

Watching those two dance around each other became a whole new form of entertainment that it took everything he had at times to not burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

It also had the other side effect of making him want to bang his head against a wall most days because his current wielder was so oblivious it was downright painful at times. It hurt when he watched the kid be so blind to how much she adored him. And then there were the instances where she all but TOLD him—gaah! He was starting to understand why humans loved romantic tripe so much. It wasn’t the ooey-gooey kiss-fests, it was the anticipation of when the people involved would finally get their heads straight so they could bonk lips the right way.

And wasn’t it just hilarious that both his kid and Tikki’s were pretty much their own rivals? Even their own worst enemies in keeping them from getting together? Well, hilarious and frustrating. It really depended on the day and the antics involved.

Of course, the other problem was that the antics involved had started to be other people.

Chloe was one thing. Adrien wasn’t interested but they were at least friends. Whatever feelings of affection she had could be tapered off and tempered with time. She would likely even try to support Adrien more if she knew. And the girl had…at least somewhat started to grow up. Ladybug was a surprisingly big help with that, given how much her civilian self was often on the receiving end of the other girl’s cruelty.

Kagami was…interesting. But really little better in the long run. Less antagonistic, sure. Not nearly as harsh or cruel. But she was just as aggressive and controlling, from her demands for a duel with Adrien and insistence on winning when they first met to talking over Adrien at the ice rink. He would grant that she at least respected him and didn’t infringe on his personal space, but she still saw his passivity for what it was and took it upon herself to step in on his behalf—or what she thought was his behalf at any rate. Adrien already had enough of that in his life. What he needed wasn’t someone to make his decisions for him, it was someone who would encourage him to make his own.

That was why he had been rooting for Marinette. Even if she hadn’t turned out to be Tikki’s newest bug, she would be good for him. She had dreams about him, certainly, but any of her plans seemed to at least involve taking his kid’s feelings into account. Whatever lengths she went to in order to get his attention were less about pushing him to go her way and more about just trying to push for a chance to go the same way together. It was endearing. A little cringy at times, but overall endearing. And it had seemed they were finally making progress after the Heroes Day incident. 

But then there was Lila…

Oh, he had a few choice words for Adrien after the whole Volpina incident. Blindly following the new hero over his own partner? Overlooking how downright impractical it was for her to take out a meteor that literally NOBODY saw coming before it reached the earth and was closing in on the city? Ignoring his partner’s very valid suspicions and writing her off as jealous for not wanting to trust a supposed ‘hero’ they only just met? FLIRTING WITH HER?!

Ladybug’s behavior towards Lila may have been harsh, but Adrien damn well KNEW better than to immediately take her word at face value. He’s been around socialites and the power-hungry ‘elite’ for Tikki’s sake! Best friends with Ladybug? Fox Miraculous? Descendant of the Fox user? Adrien actually KNEW Ladybug and about the Miraculous! How was he actually BUYING any of that? How did he not clue in that Lila was the reason his book was missing? And the way he looked so disappointed when Ladybug revealed the truth—to the point of being more upset with Ladybug for outing the girl rather than the girl for lying in the first place?

This kid was too kind and trusting for his own good. And it was probably going to be the death of Plagg just from the sheer stress of it all. Honestly, he could feel his fur thinning out because of it.

It seemed like it was a short lived problem since the girl left soon after. But then she came back. And worse than ever, being akumatized at least twice more since then. One of which involved putting Adrien in an enchanted sleep that Plagg only just got to avoid kissing him out of. The other which involved witnessing Adrien…disappearing in a way that Plagg was still having to try very VERY hard not to think about at risk of revisiting other less than pleasant memories thankyouverymuch!

It made one thing clear: Lila wasn’t just a pest. She was a threat. One he really wanted to see gone.

So it was really no surprise that Plagg wasn’t happy about his kid choosing the ‘moral high road’ in this situation, since the poor idiot didn’t understand what the high road was even supposed to be. It was so easy for him to say, especially since Adrien wasn’t the one really being affected by the lies.

No, it was clearly Marinette being affected, and she was also the one Lila seemed to have it out for since she, at least, was willing to call the other girl out on her lies. Adrien thought that staying quiet and keeping his head down was the best option because for him, that’s how any conflict was resolved. It was a bad habit that Plagg had been hoping to break him out of, but that progress was slow going. His passivity was too strong and only bolstered by his relentless optimism and belief in others as well as the way that others would tend to push him down.

Plagg sighed. The kid just didn’t get it. This class of serial liar and manipulator couldn’t be dealt with by letting her continue unopposed.

So he understood at least why the Ladybug girl had been so upset. And he even sympathized with her, he truly did. But she was the sort of person to meet a challenge head on, and if an attempt failed, she simply looked for another way to deal with it. She didn’t bow her head. She didn’t turn tail and run away. And though there was conflict and it was having an effect on her, things were hardly so bad as to warrant an extreme reaction.

Like say, having her civilian self “disappear”.

If he hadn’t known she was Ladybug, he would be confused. But with that knowledge of her identity…he was only more confused. He didn’t understand why she was pretending to be missing.

Had something happened?

Was she in danger?

Did someone discover her identity?

Sure, maybe being Ladybug full time might be more productive, but given how protective she was over her civilian life, he couldn’t see her simply giving it up if she didn’t have to.

He didn’t buy for a minute that she would simply pull a vanishing act for the hell of it, even if her classmates were being mind-numbingly stupid. He knew he’d said before that these people were blind, but to just automatically accept all those tales was sheer lunacy! They certainly deserved some sort of reprimand, but not by making them think their friend might be dead! And even if they did, she would never do it to them.

The girl took her role as Ladybug seriously. Other than a few missteps, she treated the title with all the caution and importance that it warranted. He’d met her in person as himself, and even had the chance to work with her. He could understand why Tikki felt it justifiable to reveal Fu to her. And as much as he wanted to think well of his kid, he couldn’t deny that of the two of them, she was the better suited for handling the secret and bearing the responsibility that came with it.

So what happened?

When he first discovered she was still out and about as Ladybug after hearing that initial report, he wanted to forcefully end the transformation and confront her outright. He even considered slipping away when Adrien was busy and tracking her down to get some answers. Because Plagg may be patient, but he really needed an explanation for this.

He stopped, feeling that tingling energy of a Cataclysm waiting to happen and realizing that he was getting worked up again. He took a breath and forced himself to calm.

Observe first, Plagg reminded himself. Stalk your target. Watch. Wait. Gather information before making a move. Something had to have happened to warrant such a drastic change. He needed to find out what was going on.

And if she was doing this for giggles?

They would be having words.