#slight so slight you might miss it djwifi

[lnc2]

Viral

Summary: The Ladyblog catches a private moment and Marinette is furious.

This story can also be found on FF.net and AO3.

The video was uploaded sometime after midnight early Saturday morning.  

As was usually the case after an akuma attack, Alya Cesaire had been running on a caffeine rush and adrenaline high that made sleep impossible.  The dedicated blogger would not see the back of her eyes until her copy was written, her files rendered, and her newest masterpiece was live for the entire world to see.

Or at least the majority of Paris.  She was young yet.

Fortunately for the aspiring journalist, the Ladyblog’s wide and devoted readership ensured that the hits would rack up quickly regardless of the time of posting.

What no one could have anticipated, however, was just how quickly.

It started with the local news.

Nadja Chamack’s bright-eyed good morning Paris grin punctuated the more somber news of floods, akumas, and politics with the light-hearted clip.  The segment usually reserved for heartwarming fluff pieces about eye-seeing dogs and neighborhood bake sales was instead taken over by the city’s most reliable ratings machine.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were television gold.

From there the clip hit the major news networks and was being broadcast to the whole of France. Then came the talk shows, the copycat blogs, the online articles, Buzzfeed, and more.  When the video hit the front page of Reddit there was no stopping the infection.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, less than three days after the akuma attack and the video going live, Chat Noir had become the laughing stock of Paris, the Internet, and the world.

And Marinette Dupain-Cheng was absolutely furious.

The akuma came first.

A recently humiliated magician on the warpath to take down his former theatre troupe, his embarrassment, rage, and all-consuming desire for vengeance left Paris a card-trick disaster in his wake.

Ladybug was of one mind with Chat Noir that his act was nothing ta-dah for.

However, it wasn’t Hawkmoth’s latest victim that had the whole of Paris tied up in fits.  It wasn’t Ladybug’s short-stint as a lovely volunteer and her near miss with a trick box and saw that was plastered all over the news.  Nor was it Chat Noir’s timely use of cataclysm to free her that had the blogs buzzing.

Not even the fact that the so-called Madgician managed to make the Eiffel-fucking-Tower disappear could distract the most avid of francophiles from this unanticipated dark horse of viral fixation.

No.

Out of every ridiculous rabbit-wielding, bullet-catching, table-of-death-defying moment, it was a 30-second clip caught by one sneaking Alya Cesaire that turned the eyes and ridicule of the world onto her partner.

It was a nothing of a video. Just a brief exchange after the akuma had been purified and the city restored.  It wasn’t even a great shot as the bottom left corner of the screen was obscured by what appeared to be the edge of a dumpster.  As if the person filming had been crouched down in an alleyway, which, knowing Alya, she probably had been.

In fact, the only remarkable thing about it was that she managed to get so close without either of them noticing her.

“So my Lady,” Chat Noir purred, reaching out for his partner’s hand and slowly lifting it to his lips.  “What was your card?”

Ladybug, triumphant, battle-worn, and very much aware of her beeping earrings, frowned.  “Excuse me?”

“Because mine was definitely the king of hearts.” He leaned in, mouth wide and flashing white.

“Oh no, minou.  That last fall must have you confused.” Ladybug freed her hand from his and gently pushed him back by his nose.  “Yours was definitely the joker.”

“Huh.” Chat didn’t seem at all discouraged.  If anything he grinned wider.  “Can’t blame a cat for that.  It was a hare-raising situation.”

“Oh my god,” But she was laughing as she punched him in the shoulder.

And that was it.

Nothing world-ending,

nothing to keep the masses awake at night.

Just her being her and Chat being Chat.

Just them being… them.

Until it wasn’t.

Because Alya’s candid camera work not only broadcast their private moment to the Ladyblog and an already too-invested Paris, but its sudden skyrocketing status put their relationship on blast.

There couldn’t just be Ladybug and Chat Noir now.

Now it was Ladybug, Chat Noir, and an ever-expanding chorus of voices, ridicule, and misplaced concern.

Because of a godforsaken meme.

It started with a fedora and a bad photoshop edit and spiraled out of control from there.  By Sunday evening the discourse had started and suddenly there was an influx of articles bashing Chat Noir as a Nice Guy™ or Ladybug as a tease for leading him on.  

Vindicated men dusting off their fedoras to add leather cat ears and concerned citizens writing articles letting Ladybug know that she didn’t owe her partner anything.

Body language specialists started appearing as guests on local talk shows to show how she liked him, how she didn’t like him, how they were already sleeping together

(Look at the way her shoulders are turned towards his hips. There’s definitely been intimacy there).

It was enough to make a girl scream.

And worst of all, it wasn’t just her.  She knew that Chat would be seeing everything as well.

How could he not.

Marinette had hardly been able to leave her house without hearing some one person or other laughingly throwing out “m’lady” to loved ones, passersby, the goddamn garbage man.

And she just knew this would hurt Chat.  That sensitive, pun-loving flirt.

This would mess with him. Mess with them.

How dare they.

How dare Alya.

“I can’t believe her,” Marinette muttered, furiously shoving her books and homework into her school bag for Monday.  Marinette might not be able to do anything to hurt the nameless online hoard, but she could definitely work out some of her frustrations on her friend.

“Marinette,” Tikki said softly.  “I think you should take tomorrow morning off.”

“I’m fine, Tikki,” She snapped.  When her kwami didn’t respond, she sighed.  “I’m sorry.  You didn’t deserve that.”

“It’s really admirable that you care so much about your partner,” Tikki said, floating from her place on Marinette’s desk so she could look her charge in the eye.  “Chat Noir is lucky to have a Ladybug like you.”

“God he must be so upset right now.  They’re all laughing at him, Tikki.  And Alya-”

“Doesn’t know that she’s hurting you.” Here the little god nuzzled into Marinette’s cheek.  “She’s your friend too, Marinette.  I know you’ll be devastated if you lose sight of that in a moment of anger.”

Ugh.

So now Marinette couldn’t even explain to her friend why she felt so betrayed.

She would have to stand there and listen to Alya as she raved about her hits, her clip being used on real news networks, the assholes who had already ripped her video and tried to claim it as their own.

She would have to nod and smile and be supportive and pretend that something personal and sacred hadn’t just been ripped away and exposed to the world.

Or at least, that was the plan she and Tikki decided on until the Ladyblog posted its newest article. The one capitalizing on its viral hit entitled Is Chat Noir A Nice Guy™ ?: A study in Ladybug and Chat Noir Interactions.

Marinette couldn’t even bring herself to read it in its entirety before she closed her browser and slammed her hands down on her keyboard.

So it was that nine hours later, running on little sleep and Tikki’s words echoing in her ear, that a stormy Marinette Dupain-Cheng stalked through the halls of her lycée.  Turning the corner to the locker room, she caught sight of Nino laughingly bowing over a grinning Alya’s hand and swallowed her infuriated scream.  She didn’t need to hear him to know he was saying “m’lady”.

Opting instead for sanity, Marinette brushed past them to the safety of her locker.  If she was trying to be inconspicuous she failed because Alya caught her immediately.

“Girl, where have you been?” She grabbed Marinette and pulled her in for a bone-crushing side hug that had her stiffening.  Alya was too excited to notice.  “You’ve been MIA all weekend and I’ve been dying to talk to you!  Did you lose your phone again?”

“No.”

“Did you not get my texts?”

Marinette sighed.  “I got your texts, Alya.  I was just busy.”

“Okay…” Alya was looking at her now.  Her excitement momentarily put aside as she took in her friend’s rumpled appearance. Her signature pigtails were in disarray and there were dark circles under her eyes that hinted at a restless night. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine.”

Judging by her concerned frown, Marinette could see that Alya didn’t believe her but wasn’t going to press the issue.  Which was unfortunate really when her change of topic took them back to a place Marinette really didn’t want to go.

“Did you see my video?” Alya held up her phone, opened to the video in question.  “It’s all over the news!”

“Yeah, I saw it.” Here Marinette really couldn’t hide her annoyance. 

“What’s got your tails in a twist?”

“It’s nothing.” Alya rolled her eyes.

“It’s clearly not nothing.  Why don’t you stop stalling and just tell me what bug crawled up your butt and get it over with.”

“Fine,”  She slammed her locker shut, startling a nearby student who took one look at Marinette’s glare and took off down the hall.  “You want to know what my problem is?  It’s you, Alya.  You and that stupid video.”

“Stupid?”

Marinette ignored her.

“It’s only been three days and it’s everywhere.  The entire world is speculating about Ladybug and Chat Noir. How would you like it if people openly discussed whether or not you and Nino were going out?”

“People do openly discuss whether or not Nino and I are going out,” She said hotly.  “You’re my best friend, M.  Out of everyone I thought you would be happy for me.”

“Well maybe that moment was private and now you’ve gone and embarrassed him.”

“Him?”

Marinette scowled. “Not everything is for public consumption, Alya.”

“I’m a journalist, Mari. It’s my job.”

“Well you didn’t have the right!” She snapped and Alya took a step back at the vehemence in her friend’s voice.  “After all of the attention they’ve given you.  The private interviews, the shout outs – it just seems like a shitty way to repay them.”

Alya tapped her foot anxiously against the tile.  “I didn’t mean for people to make fun of them.”

“Yeah, well. It happened.” Marinette blew a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. “And you posting that article last night didn’t help either.”

A small pressure at her hip let her know she needed to calm down.

No matter how angry she was, in Alya’s mind she was Marinette and Marinette had no reason to be this upset.  Marinette would be happy for her.  Marinette would be sharing screenshots and sending champagne emojis with each new view. What Marinette would not be was hurt.

Ladybug however…

“… Marinette?”

There was a question she was not willing to answer.  Marinette crossed her arms against her chest and avoided Alya’s searching gaze

“Just forget it, Alya. Do what you want.” 

And before she could do anything else to put her identity in jeopardy, she turned away and took off down the hall.  Or rather, she tried to take off down the hall but only made it three feet before plowing into one rigid Adrien Agreste.

Her tell tale blush was nearly a habit at this point and she was too angry to care much about it. Marinette barely even had time to take in his own state of dishevelment and sleeplessness before muttering a hoarse sorry and fleeing down the hall.

Fucking perfect.

She sought refuge in an empty hallway.  Class was starting now but she couldn’t really bring herself to care about being tardy or the inevitable note her parents would receive.  Her backpack lay forgotten on the stairs beside her as she fought off the imminent guilt she would feel when her anger ebbed.

She shouldn’t have yelled at Alya like that.

Tikki didn’t say anything, for which Marinette was grateful.  Unwilling to risk coming out of her purse entirely, her kwami merely reached out and gently patted her thigh.

God this was a mess.

So caught up in her own misery Marinette missed the sound of approaching footsteps.  It wasn’t until Adrien was standing directly in front of her with nervous hands that she even realized he was there.

“Hey, um.” He gestured towards the stairs beside her. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Marinette blinked at him slowly as his words broke through her fog of misery and shame.  When they finally registered she sighed.

“I’m sorry, Adrien. I’m probably not the best company right now.”

 “You’re better than everyone else I’ll bet.”

She didn’t saying anything and he took her silence as acceptance and took a seat beside her on the steps.  The halls were quiet, save them, and Marinette closed her eyes as she tried to bring her emotions down to a baseline level.  Adrien seemed to understand her need for distance and just sat with her. Despite the nervous thrum she always felt when she saw him, it was paradoxically calming to have him with her now.

Gradually the tension in her chest and shoulders loosened and Marinette released a deep soul-cleansing sigh.

“Better?”

She nodded, opening her eyes.  Green stared back at her in concern. 

He looked exhausted.

“Thank you.  By the way.” He raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck. A nervous tick that sent a burst of warmth through her chest. “For what you said.”

Marinette didn’t ask him why.

She had her suspicions about her partner.  Strong, well-founded, terrifying suspicions that she wasn’t quite ready to talk to him about.  But the conversation was looming.

“They’re all idiots. Everyone.”

“Yeah,” But he didn’t sound convinced.

Marinette wasn’t sure if he knew her identity yet.  If he didn’t, he was getting there.  Her kitty wasn’t stupid.

“It’s none of their business.”

“Maybe they have a point though,” He watched her from the corner of his eye.  “Maybe it is a stupid nickname.”

“It is not a stupid nickname,” Marinette snapped, startling them both.  “And who are they to decide?  Or you for that matter.  If Ladybug doesn’t mind then who the hell cares what anyone else thinks.”

He was quiet.  She sighed.

“They’re jerks, Adrien.”

“Alya’s not a jerk,” he said half-heartedly.

“Yeah, well she acted pretty thoughtlessly.”

Marinette took in Adrien’s uncharacteristically mussed hair and the dark circles beneath his eyes. His clothes, as always, were immaculate but such was the life of a fashion mogul’s son. 

No, his distress was more subtle than that.  It was in the tightness of his shoulders, the rigidity of his spine, and the way his hands kept fidgeting.  It was like someone had taken a dimmer switch on his soul and turned it all the way down. Watching him, her heart broke all over again.

Pushing aside the voice in her head that screamed this is a bad idea Marinette shifted on the staircase so that she and Adrien were side by side.  She ignored his startled look and grabbed his hand instead.

“You know,” She said, squeezing his hand gently.  “They’re just being assholes because they can’t handle that Chat Noir is smooth enough to use a line like that and get away with it.”

Adrien turned away from her but she could still see the creeping pink on his cheeks.  She released his hand and he rubbed the back of his neck again as if he could force his embarrassment down.

Cute.

“Smooth, huh?”

Marinette grinned.

“Yeah, but don’t let it get back to him,” She bumped his shoulder.  “I hear his ego’s ridiculous enough as it is.”

They fell into a companionable silence.

It was nice. 

To just sit there with him when there wasn’t any akuma, or threat, or secrets (mostly). 

It was also terrifying.

To be Marinette while he was Adrien,

was to be without her suit

to be without her skin

and exposed for everything she was.

And Chat Noir knew her flaws better than most.

She tapped her fingers nervously against the stairs.  “I’m going to have to apologize to Alya, aren’t I?”

“Maybe.”

“Ugh.”

Now it was Adrien who nudged her with his shoulder.  “She didn’t do it to hurt anyone.”

“I know.  I just wish she’d… think beyond the story for once.”  She begrudgingly stood up and wiped the dust off her capris.  “I guess it’s time to pay the piper.”

Marinette looked down at him.  Despite their talk and the small smile pulling at his lips his shoulders were still tense.  Like the dimmer switch was still on.

She didn’t like that. Not when there was something she knew she could do to make it go away.

Well, now’s as good a time as any.

Before she could second guess herself, Marinette leaned forward to ruffle Adrien’s mussed hair into a more properly Chatlike disaster.  The action seemed to almost electrify him and she smiled as she met the questions in his eyes.

“Cheer up, Chaton. Things aren’t as bad as they seem.”

It was worth her miniature heart attack to see his eyes light up with comprehension, confirmation, and triumph as the last link fell into place.  A devastatingly shy grin broke out and transformed him and Marinette found she could not scold her heart into a steady rhythm.

Lord she was in trouble.

But that was a problem for another time.  For now she reached out and took his offered hand as she pulled him to his feet. Meeting his happy grin with one of her own, Marinette squeezed his hand briefly before letting go.

Still beaming, Adrien’s eyes shined as he made a wide sweeping gesture and bowed.  And even though she knew it was coming, her heart still gave a happy stutter when he laughed and said

“After you, my Lady.”

[pessimisticlatte]

Glass Roses ~ Chapter 19

Oh, two updates in one day? Has Hell frozen over? Are pigs flying? No, Rosie is just really bored and weirdly inspired so here ya go, ya filthy animals

Adrienette ~ Lukagami ~ DJWifi/Alynino ~ Chlobrina ~ Tom x Sabine ~ a dash of Julerose ~ Platonic Marigami ~ Platonic Chloinette ~ Platonic Alynette ~ Gabriel x death, because he deserves it

Hand in hand, Adrien and Marinette pushed the kitchen doors open.

“Surprise!” Sabine was standing in the middle of the room holding a small chocolate cake with number candles spelling out ‘18’ and Tom was beside her with a noise maker between his lips and a party popper in his hands. “Happy early birthday, Adrien!”

Sabine carefully placed the cake on one of the polished steel benches beside her as Tom pulled the string on the party popper and sent a small stream of confetti flying over the two teens with a resounding pop. 

“Happy birthday, son,” Gently squeezing Adrien’s shoulder, Tom took the noise maker out of his mouth with a broad, sincere smile. “Mari said that chocolate cake was your favourite so Sabine and I whipped one up for you, Marinette did the decorating.”

“Thank you guys so much,” Allowing Marinette to pull him over to the cake, Adrien’s smile was so broad that his cheeks hurt.

“You’re not forgetting us, are you?” Whipping his head around so quickly his neck cracked, Adrien turned to face Nino, Alya, Chloe, and Kagami as they four of them descended the stairs down into the kitchen. Wrapping Adrien into a hug, Nino squeezed his best friend and lifted him off the ground. “You’re practically geriatric now, man!”

“Ah, thanks, Nino,” Squeezing his best mate back, Adrien reciprocated the force of Nino’s hug despite his feet not being on the ground. “Can you put me down now?”

“Sorry,” Releasing Adrien and putting him down, Nino clapped him on the back gently before ruffling the blonde boy’s hair. “Happy birthday, bro.”

“How did-,” Before he could finish his question Kagami answered for him.

“Were you aware that Chloe could drive because I was not prior to today,” Playing with the end of her ponytail, Chloe looked sheepish as all eyes turned to her as Kagami finished her comment. “Honestly, I’m surprised we’re not dead, she drives like a maniac.”

“‘Gami, you were wearing two out of the three seatbelts in the back,” Chloe sounded completely exasperated, rolling her eyes as Alya’s rich laugh echoed around the kitchen.

“Can we let Adrien look at his cake, guys?” Putting on a joking pout, Mari’s voice cut through the conversation seamlessly. 

“I’m allowed to take photos of the cake before he cuts it, right?” Pulling her phone out of her pocket, the small ladybug charm on the edge of her phone case swinging slightly as she did, and gestured toward the cake with it, Sabine lighting the candles. 

“Yes please,” Grinning, Marinette pushed Adrien toward the cake slightly as their friends moved to gather around the now glowing cake. The cake was beautifully decorated with pale green frosting in swirls and whorls that were stunning and intricate. Launching into singing happy birthday, Tom switched the lights off so the lit candles illuminated Adrien’s face. Phone out, Alya was recording the singing while she joined in at a lower pitch, so as not to ruin the recording. 

Once Adrien had blown the candles out, Tom switched the lights back on as Sabine began cutting the cake and distributing pieces out to the group of teens on small porcelain plates. This might just be the best birthday Adrien had ever had.

~~~~~~~

With the Dupain-Cheng’s settled in the kitchen; Marinette, Alya, Chloe, and Kagami set up in the guest house across the lawn from the main estate; and Nino in the room next door to Adrien, preparations were more than underway for Adrien’s 18th birthday celebration the next day. Gabriel had arrived at some point in the middle of the afternoon but Adrien still had yet to see him, not that he was missing his father that much when he was surrounded by people who actually cared about him. Warm and comfortable in his bed, Adrien tucked away the memories he’d made today beside the happy ones he’d made in the past few weeks before drifting peacefully off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~

Waking up at the crack of dawn the next day to find Nino snoring in the bed beside him, Adrien stretched out his arms and felt his shoulders, wrists and elbows all pop in succession. Unsure of how and when Nino had found his way into the bed, the blonde boy flicked his best friend in the face repeatedly until, with a loud yawn, Nino came to consciousness.

“Bro, what the fuck?” Rolling over to face Adrien with bleary eyes, Nino frowned at him. 

“How did you get here?” 

“Door,”

“Okay, cool, why are you here?”

“‘S cold in my room and weirdly massive. The girls all get to share the guest house and they’re even sharing a room, got lonely, ya know?” 

“So now you’re in my room?”

“Yeah, I’m going back to sleep now,” Nino immediately dropped back into unconsciousness, his snoring beginning all over again.

“You are the weirdest fucking person, Nino Lahiffe, but I’m happy you’re in my life,”

Nino made some form of unintelligible groaning noise before rolling over and almost off the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting in the main common room of the guest house, the group tried to flesh out a plan for tonight for how they’d go about getting Nooroo away from Gabriel. Luka had arrived not too long ago, Juleka and Rose having come with him but somewhere off exploring the grounds together before more and more people started to arrive for the big celebration tonight. The Kwamis were out in the open, Plagg munching on some camembert while all the other Kwamis stayed as far away from him and his stinky cheese as possible. 

“We could use Trixx’s illusion?” Elbows braced on her knees, Kagami tilted her head slightly and looked toward Alya, the other girl currently writing stuff down in a notebook that was balancing on her thigh rather precariously. “Make it look like Ladybug and Chat Noir have arrived, Mr Agreste will try to go after them but we instead follow him to wherever he’s keeping Nooroo, subdue Mr Agreste and take the miraculous?”

“It could work, but there’s always the worry of the illusion dropping before we’re ready,” Leaning back against the chair Marinette was curled in behind him, Adrien furrowed his brow and rubbed his palm across the side of his face. “But we haven’t really come up with anything else have we?”

“If all else fails, we’ve got my second chance,” Luka picked at the chipping black polish on his nails with a slight frown. “Rewind, try again.”

Face palming, Chloe let out a laugh. “I can’t believe we forgot about Luka’s rewind, guys, it’s seriously the most useful power out of all of us, excluding Alya’s illusion that is. The illusion is super helpful,” 

“I guess that’s the plan then, Trixxie and I will make it look like Ladybug and Chat Noir have arrived, and when Gabriel runs off, Mari, Adrien and Nino will follow and get Nooroo. Luka and Chloe will stay in the main area with the guests, Luka primed to rewind if we need to and Chloe with her stinger. Kagami, I’m super sorry about this but you’re going to need to be our support. Don’t transform unless it’s super necessary, I don’t think things are going to get really bad but if they do, we’re going to need you to get all the guests out and to safety before you come back and fight with us,” Closing her notebook with a snap, Alya dropped it to her side and sighed, looking at Kagami with an apologetic frown. “Once we’ve got Nooroo, Mari brought the miraculous box with her, we’ll put him in the box and Luka’ll drive it back into Paris and put it in the agreed upon safe spot.”

“Sounds good,” Chloe had gotten up off the floor at some point while Alya was talking and moved over to one of the covered windows, pushing the gauzy white curtains aside slightly so she could look outside for a moment. “We should wrap up ‘cause there’s stuff goin’ on outside and we don’t want Nathalie coming in here to find us talking superhero stuff. She still doesn’t know, does she, Adrien?”

“Nah, she doesn’t but Chlo is right, we should wrap up because I’m gonna get called into the house soon for god knows what and we all need to start getting ready for tonight,”

“Bro, what’re you talking about? Why do we need to get ready so early?” Frowning, Nino looked at Adrien confused. 

“It’s mainly the girls that’ll need time to get ready but it’ll also take time to do Luka’s hair,” Luka glared at Adrien after he’d made the comment. “But we should get going because I know that Mari has some finishing touches to make to Chloe’s dress and that Chloe is going to need as much space as humanly possible to do everyone’s makeup because, god knows, she owns more makeup than it should be possible to own.”

“Thanks, Adrien,” Chucking a nearby pillow at Adrien, Chloe’s mouth formed a grin as she saw someone approaching the guest house. “Sabby is here, so are Juleka, Rose and Mylene, so you boys might want to skedaddle before this place turns into the salon of your nightmares.”

“Alright, we’re going,” Getting up off the floor, Nino kissed Alya’s temple before offering his hand to Luka to help the dark haired boy up. “Don’t kill each other, girls.”

“We won’t,” Kagami’s smile was something akin to sinister as her eyes met Nino’s and held for much longer than he would’ve liked them to. “Now get out before we kill you.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, Chloe, come on out,” Marinette slipped the pincushion off her wrist carefully, so as not to stab herself with any of the pins stuck in it or knock any loose and scattering to the carpeted ground. “You look amazing, as usual, but you need to show everyone!”

Alya, Sabrina, Juleka, Rose, Mylene, and Kagami were sitting around the room in various states of dress, Alya attempting to line Rose’s eyes without her hand shaking as the small blonde girl hummed along to some song playing in her head. All of them were waiting to see how Chloe looked in the dress Mari had made for her before the most makeup adept of all of them (Chloe) could help them finalise their looks. 

“Alright, I’m coming,” Stepping out of the room hesitantly, Chloe lifted the skirt of her dress slightly (it was longer than it looked but she also wasn’t wearing her heels yet so she wasn’t too worried) and emerged fully into the late afternoon sunlight filtering through the abundant windows of the guest house. Resplendent in the most beautiful shade of yellow silk the girls had ever seen, Chloe’s hair and skin glowed like pure gold as the silver jewellery ornamenting her sparkled. Hugging her hips snugly and falling to the floor in a small pool of shimmering fabric, a long slit cut up to just above her knee and the bodice cut into a long triangle that showcased her delicate collarbone and the sides of her carefully taped breasts, gossamer sleeves hung off her shoulders in fragile ribbons that split (a bit like her skirt) at her elbows and drifted down to her thighs. A chain belt was wrapped around her slim waist, small lengths of it hanging down before connecting back up to the belt itself. “So, how do I look?”

“Y-you look…” Sabrina was at a loss for words as she looked at her girlfriend with the most star-struck eyes Marinette had ever seen. “Incredible.”

“Damn, Mari, you did a good job!” Moving over to Marinette’s side, Alya slung her arm over her best friend’s shoulder and grinned. “You look like a goddess, Chlo.”

“Alya, what did you do to Rose’s face!” Jaw dropping, Chloe flew across the room to Rose’s side and immediately began wiping the black smudging around her eyes away with a cotton pad. “You’re meant to line her eyes, not colour them in!”

~~~~~~TAGLINE~~~~~~ @lady-charinette @aussie-lesbian @imgaydontshoot @hnbutt @camelliaflwr @beauty-and-her-books @mochegato @a-star-with-a-human-name @katieykat513 @maniic-pixie-dream-girl

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[3laxx]

DJWifi December 2k18

Day 14: Secrets

Ao3 / FF.net

Alya’s behavior had changed.

There were just slight, subtle changes, nothing too much, she still seemed like the same old Alya. But Nino had noticed anyway, the way she drew away from him while kissing sometimes, the way she avoided eye contact with some people that she valued a lot.

The way she spoke to people, the way she acted, the way she generally carried herself.

Before, about two weeks before, she had still worn her back straight and her eyes gleeful but Nino had noticed how her shoulders sometimes sagged, he had noticed how her eyes were veiled by a seemingly unnoticeable shadow.

He knew her too well for her to hide something from him.

At first, he let her be. It was her choice to talk to him, her choice if she wanted to tell him if something was wrong.

Maybe something in her family had happened or maybe some message she had received. He knew, after all, that there were some haters of the Ladyblog, for reasons unknown to him.

Nino gave her one week. He waited for one week before dropping hints.

When he hugged her goodbye after school or when he greeted her with a kiss in the morning, he let her know he was there for her. In a hushed whisper or sometimes just a gaze, he let her know that he was there to listen, to support her no matter what.

She seemed to pick the hints up, however she still didn’t do anything about it. Or maybe she hadn’t understood him, or didn’t want him knowing there was something up with her.

He would be fine with that. He would be fine with her not wanting to tell him something.

He himself had a few things he didn’t want her to know about him (at least not yet) and he would completely respect her decision if she deemed this information as not shareable.

That was her decision to make, and he wouldn’t pry.

Though… He was curious.

And he at least wanted to ask her one time. If she told him that either, nothing was wrong, or that she didn’t want to share, he would let it rest.

But asking, that’s what he wanted to do.

When a month had passed since he had noticed something being slightly off about her, he grew anxious. She hadn’t gotten worse, but she hadn’t stopped being just a little different.

He subtly asked Marinette if she had noticed something, over a casual conversation after school, but Marinette, her very best friend, didn’t even seem to have noticed anything.

That’s what caught him off guard. Were the changes so little that only he had realized something was apparently off?

He still waited. For her to open up to him, maybe, for her to make a first step, but it never came. He let her know more obviously that he was there for her, he stuck by her side during Akuma attacks even if his heart always wanted to hide in his pants when he saw an akumatized victim running rampage in the city.

Nino also made sure to cuddle with her more often, even if she called him dork and pushed him away, but in the end, after bickering a bit, she always leant against him and he knew she enjoyed it. He also made sure to let her know he supported her. When Marinette once again tried talking her out of running right into battle for the blog, he now stood up for her, interlacing their fingers and joking that he’d keep her safe. Well, he didn’t want her running in mindlessly either, but at least he had stopped scolding her for that.

Each time he did that he earned a small smile from his girlfriend, and it made his heart swell.

But she stayed different. He tried getting through to her by letting her know subtly and obviously that he was there and open to her. He even shared some of his things that he never told anyone before. That he sometimes stayed up to watch Anime that Adrien had recommended to him, because he actually found a liking in some.

She called him nerd, lovingly, but never shared something from her life.

It began worrying him. He had given her time, had given her space and affection and unconditional love and support. And yet she didn’t seem to be reassured.

He still stayed true to his word that he wouldn’t pry if she didn’t want him to. He really did, he swore that he would let her keep her privacy, he didn’t want to be a control freak.

But he wanted to let her know that he knew something was up and he wanted her to decide if she would tell him or not. If she decided that she didn’t, it’d be fine with him.

So, one evening when they were at her house, he gently closed the door of her room after a nice dinner with her family and turned to look at her lovingly.

He had made sure that her big sister was home, to give her the security of being able to throw him out if she needed to. He also made sure to ask her in her familiar surroundings, not in his home, so that she could send him away and wouldn’t need to go home, still.

He also made sure that her parents were around and that she wouldn’t need to feel anxious.

He even asked her if she wanted the door shut, even if he knew that she definitely did because one rule in the Césaire household was that if a door was closed, the person wanted privacy and would get it until the door was opened again. Even the twins kept that rule.

After a short pause he still kept close to the door, to open it immediately if she wished, and buried his hands in his pockets.

“Alya?”

She looked up from her phone, probably texting Marinette, and smiled.

“Yeah?”

Suddenly, he felt like caging her in. So he quickly sat down on her bed, not to be a threat. He hated thinking of himself that way but something was weighing down on her and he had to make sure to give her all the freedom she needed before asking what was up.

“Are you-…”, he broke off, swallowed thickly, the words like dust in his throat, “… Are you keeping secrets from me?”

That seemed to make her listen up. With a quick swipe, her phone was on her desk, screen down.

“What?”, she asked, her head slightly tilted.

“It’s just-… I noticed you acting differently. I mean, maybe nothing’s up and I’m just imagining but-… I think, over the past month, something changed?”

With a sigh he kept his gaze down, his shoulders sagged.

“I don’t need to know if you don’t wanna tell me.”, he quickly clarified, “I still love you all the same. Whatever it is. I just want you to know that I’m here for you and I want you to know that you can tell me anything, okay?”

A long silence stretched out in which he fidgeted around with his fingers and looked around, just not to his girlfriend, until a sniffle broke it. In a heartbeat he was up and at her desk, his hands hovering over her hips, unsure if he was allowed to touch her, soothe her, as he saw her chin quivering and her eyes glassy.

“Alya? Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to poke too much. You don’t need to tell me anything, I’m just here for you, you can cry if you want to or I can go and-”

“What did I do to deserve you?”, she finally interrupted him with a choked chuckle, her shoulders shaking before she breathed through, straightening her back and taking his hands to caress them, to reassure him that she was fine.

“… Do you need me to go?”, he carefully asked, immediately feeling her fingers tightening around his.

“Please, no…”, and finally, with a sigh, she blinked a few times, smiling almost melancholically, “I-… Didn’t think anyone would notice, to be honest. I did my best not to show. But I guess-… I’m glad you did…”

With a careful nudge of his nose against her forehead he made her look up to him, their gazes locking.

“Wanna talk?”, he softly asked, rubbing the backs of her hands with his thumbs. She smiled and shrugged, tears still glistening in her eyes.

“Well, might as well. I’ll have to tell you someday, anyway. So-…”, he waited as she collected herself, took in a deep breath, straightened her back and squeezed his hands, and when she talked he tried his best to look the most reassuring he could, “… I think I might be bi.”

In an instant, he pulled her into a tight hug and buried his face on her neck, squeezing her tightly.

“Oh gosh I thought something in your family had happened or something happened to you! I thought something really serious was up.”

With a light, relieved giggle she melted against him, the joke in her voice evident since she knew how he had meant it. She always knew.

“Oh, and that isn’t something serious?”

He nuzzled closer to her neck and shook his head, a light grin playing on his lips.

“It is, but it’s nothing life threatening. Most of all, it isn’t something negative. I thought it would be something negative.”

Alya softly ended the embrace as she fished for his hands again, once again leaning against the desk while he stood close to her, his lips pressed to her forehead.

“… Well, it might be… While I knew I could trust you with this I dunno how my family will react…”

He sighed as he nodded, letting her rest her head against him.

“I know… That’s hard. But I know your mom and dad will be fine with it. I’m sure Nora’s a lesbian anyway, so she’ll be more than fine with it. And the twins are kids, they’ll accept it anyway.”

He earned a light smack on his upper arm for that and grinned broader.

“Hey, we don’t know anything about Nora’s sexuality! She’s not the type to talk about feelings and stuff.”, Alya giggled and he shrugged, “But yeah, I thought that for years. It actually surprised me she had a boyfriend back when I didn’t know you guys yet.”

Nino grinned and snuggled her closer, pressing kisses along her temple down to her neck.

“… Well I know for sure that Mari won’t mind. And Adrien’s such a sunshine boy, he can’t have anything against that.”

Alya played with his hands as she hid her face in his shirt.

“Yeah… I’m just scared about my grandparents… They’re pretty… Conservative, you know?”

“They’ll have to accept who you are. And if they can’t, they’ll either learn or they’ll miss out on a great part of you.”, he replied, knowing that he could do nothing to ease the anxiety, but he knew that his words alone would show her his support, “And I’ll love you no matter what.”

That once again triggered her sniffles and she let go of his hands to wrap them around him in a tight embrace.

“… I love you, too.”

They remained like this for a moment and Nino let her collect her thoughts and put them in order while finding warmth in his chest, before speaking again.

“You know what, I think I knew.”

“You did?”, the surprise in her voice almost made him laugh.

“I dunno. You seem like the type.”, he chuckled, once again kissing the soft skin on her neck, “And besides, now I know for sure that we both like boobs.”

This finally made her laugh fully and he didn’t think he could grin any broader as she pulled back, lovingly called him a dork, and pressed a kiss to his lips.

My prompts are based on THIS calendar from @djwifi-december!

[pessimisticlatte]

Glass Roses - Chapter 3

Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic part 3! ~ MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

~Marichat ~ Adrienette ~ Lukagami ~ Marigami (platonic/one-sided crush) ~ Alynino/DJWifi

-Eventual Reveal-

~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette and Adrien walked side by side into the foyer of the cinema. Mari’s cheeks were still flushed with red, making the pale smattering of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose glow like constellations in twilight. Adrien kept sneaking looks at her as they walked, she was so animated as she spoke to Alya, her hands fluttering as she explained something Adrien had long since forgotten about. Her hair was pulled back into her signature pigtails, the midnight strands had grown considerably longer since he’d last seen her in the daylight. Even haloed by the moon, Adrien hadn’t been able to see all the changes both subtle and not that had become so evident in Marinette. He’d scarcely been able to talk to her before; her shyness and the never ending hive of people buzzing around him meant that she became overwhelmed quickly and fled. But she was so much more confident than she used to be, her smile was so much brighter and more open, making her look so much more angelic than she already was.

“What do you think, Adrien?” Mari’s voice cut through this musings. Shaking his head slightly, he met her beautiful blue eyes with an air of confusion. Her smile faltered slightly, the corners of her lips unable to decide if they wanted to keep her face positive or slide into a negative mask. 

“He wasn’t listening, Mari, don’t take it to heart,” Nino laughed, coming around Adrien’s side and placing his hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “How about you girls go pick a movie and we’ll hang here and wait for you?”

“I thought you guys had already chosen a movie?” Marinette’s forehead wrinkled beneath her wispy fringe and the corners of her moth dimpled with confusion.

“We hadn’t, it was just an excuse not to check online for what was showing,” Alya rubbed the back of her neck with an uncomfortable chuckle before grabbing Mari’s arm and dragging her toward the ticket counter.

Nino rounded on Adrien, checking that the girls were out of earshot swiftly before continuing. “You got distracted by her, didn’t you?” Nino’s voice took on a sing-song tone as he teased Adrien. Adrien felt a blush rising in his own cheeks, rolling up his neck in strange waves, making the hair at the base of his neck tingle.

“Uh...is it that obvious?” Adrien hung his head and looked at his feet.

“Well, to me, your bestest bud in the whole world, it’s so obvious, man. You’re like a preschooler with a crush,” Adrien raised his head and held in a laugh at the look on Nino’s face. The other boy had pushed his bottom lip out to an extreme level and was making an expression with his eyes that Adrien could only describe as ‘gooey puppy dog eyes’. “But she definitely didn’t notice, man, so I think that you’re all good in keeping this lil’ crush a secret.”

“You don’t think she noticed?” Looking over at the girls at the ticket counter, Adrien’s heart skipped a beat. The fluorescent lights of the foyer were catching the dark highlights of Mari’s hair as she tipped her head back to look at the digital screen showing all the movies on offer today, he could almost hear her voice as she turned to Alya and suggested something. The redhaired girl bumped Mari with her shoulder and whispered something to her, sending her into a fit of giggles.

“Marinette exists in her own world, man, sometimes she...misses things, but if you keep up making lovey eyes at her, she might catch on before you have a chance to tell her,” Nino was looking at Alya as he shrugged toward Adrien. Alya had wrapped her arm around Marinette’s shoulders and was pointing to something on the screen, both appeared to finally agree on something as they walked up to the clerk. “Mari didn’t realise that Alya and I were dating until Al and I had been together for six months, man. She’s a smart girl, a wonderful girl, but perceptive she tends not to be.”

Adrien nodded his agreement and hoped that she wouldn’t decide that today was the day to be more perceptive. The girls began walking back over to them, tickets held in one of Marinette’s hands as the other one swung, clutching Alya’s, between her and the other girl. 

“Did ya pick a good movie? No chick flicks, I hope,” Nino put his arm out and Alya walked into it, letting him wrap her into a one armed hug as she slipped her arm around his waist. 

“You love chick flicks, Nino, don’t lie,” Alya bumped her shoulder up into Nino’s armpit as he let out a loud laugh. “You made me watch the notebook! You turned off Doctor Strange because it was ‘too scary’ and put the notebook on!”

“Alright, alright, I’m not gonna lie to ya, Al,” Alya smiled like a cat who had just gotten the cream it had been begging for and began to lead the group toward the cinema. Walking side by side, Mari and Adrien followed them, both of them felt a heat rising in their necks as they avoided eye contact with each other and anyone else. Their hands were so close to each other that Adrien had to stop himself from grabbing her hand and holding it. His pinky finger rubbed hers for a split second and sent a jolt up his arm. Unaware, Marinette felt the same jolt and immediately crossed her arms across her stomach; she was still unsure if Adrien knew of her crush on him so she chocked the small touch up to coincidence. 

“So...how have your holidays been, Mari?” Adrien slid his hands into his pockets, he kept the disappointment from his voice about Mari crossing her arms as he spoke.

“Um...they were good…,” She shot him a small, slightly embarrassed smile. “I hung out with Alya and Nino a lot...how was New York. I mean, I know how New York was, we spoke about it a lot, but...was it good spending time with your dad?”

“It was great spending time with him. Since Maman died he hasn’t been the same and had really thrown himself into his work. I know it wasn’t my fault but Nathalie told me about grief and how different people cope with it so I guessed that Dad has just been healing differently. Everyone has always said that I look a lot like Maman, so I can understand why he would have had trouble spending a lot of time with me,” Marinette didn’t exactly understand. She hadn’t lost anyone like Adrien had lost his mother and she’d always been lucky to have parents who would drop everything to spend time with her; she tried to empathise as she heard the slight quaver in his voice. The thought of grief and healing brought her back to the thoughts she’d had the other night about Hawkmoth. 

Adrien couldn’t possibly be Hawkmoth but it made Marinette wonder if the supervillain could possibly be someone like Adrien who had lost one parent after losing another and just wanted that time back. The way Adrien spoke about grief and how his father dealt with it didn’t seem like something a power-hungry villain would do, even in their civilian form. 

“Y’know, I’ve missed spending time with him and I’m thankful for the time I’ve gotten but I wish we hadn’t lost her,” Even as Adrien whispered those solemn words, Marinette knew, deep in her heart, that the neglected boy walking beside her wouldn’t have it in him to tear the rest of the world apart for a parent he barely knew. “He’s my dad and I’ll always love him, when he’s reached the end of his grieving process I just know that he’ll make up for the lost time.”

“I’m sure he will, Adrien, even if he doesn’t show it often I know that he loves you, and that he loves you enough for both himself and your mother,” Mari placed a gentle hand on Adrien’s bicep with a sincere smile. “And, even if she isn’t your mother, Nathalie loves you too. She’d be so proud of you, Adrien, just like your dad and Nathalie already are.

Adrien and Marinette walked down the aisle into their seats behind Nino and Alya. Nino was on Alya’s right and Marinette was on Alya’s left, leaving Adrien to sit on Marinette’s left. Nino opened up his backpack and pulled out a couple of packets of lollies and chocolate as well as some cups and a bottle of iced tea.

“Why iced tea, Nino? You’ve been drinking soft drink religiously for the last few weeks,” Marinette accepted the cup Nino had poured and handed to her before she carefully passed it onto Adrien, accepting the next cup passed by Alya. 

“I told him that he could die of a heart attack if he kept drinking so much so I’ve put him on to tea and this is one of the few iced tea brands he doesn’t argue with me about drinking,” Nino took a sip of the iced tea with a grin as Alya rolled her eyes with a silly smile. 

“I’ve been telling him to cut down on his caffeine intake for months and he only listens when you say it?” Adrien feigned a look of betrayal, his hand pressed over his heart with his mouth dramatically agape. Marinette let a laugh out through her nose, trying not to send the iced tea she’d just taken a sip of spurting out her nostrils. Alya patted Mari gently on the back as the dark haired girl began to choke slightly.

“You know I love you, boo,” Nino reached his hand out toward Adrien behind the two girls backs, Adrien took the other boy’s hand, mimicking the face of a newly engaged woman from a Victorian era movie. “But you’re not a gorgeous redhead with a rockin’ bod and my balls in a nutcracker.”

Alya’s laugh echoed through the slowly filling cinema as Mari began to choke, yet again. A couple of the new people walking into the cinema shot them some very strange looks; a hysterically laughing girl, a choking girl, and two boys holding hands over said girls didn’t look like something they’d expect to see in the audience of a movie. The movie itself was a different story.

Adrien let go of Nino’s hand and patted Mari on the back as the lights in the cinema began to dim and the curtains framing the screen slid away to reveal a larger screen than they had entered to. Once all the lights were off, Mari’s coughing subdued and her breathing returned to normal, the film began to roll on the projector screen before them as classical music filtered through the speakers surrounding them. Marinette had placed her arm on the armrest between her and Adrien, her long fingers tapped along to the melody of the music and her head swayed slightly from side to side with the harmony. He was so distracted by seeing her careful fingers matching the piano chords that the rest of the world slipped away and the room was reduced to him, Marinette and her delicate fingers flowing like water between them.

She’d sat at his piano with him once and listened to him play. It had felt so different then. Adrien hadn’t been aware of the feelings he had for her and having Marinette beside him as he poured the music from his wounded heart into the piano hadn’t felt so intimate. She had been his best friend, a calming and steady presence in his life, and nothing more. But here, in this cinema, surrounded by people, they could have been in the middle of a stampede and it would have felt achingly intimate. Adrien wanted to take her hand and teach her the chords of his favourite song on the piano, he wanted to listen to the music they could make together and know that it wasn’t coming from a wounded heart anymore but a steadily healing one, a heart finally ready to look beyond Ladybug and her dismissal of him as well as the parental influence he’d lacked for so long from his only living biological parent. 

Adrien’s eyes flicked upward and caught the profile of Mari’s face. The screen was illuminated in her eyes, Adrien could almost see the cogs turning in her mind as she processed the story and began to tell one of her own in the beautiful tapestry she called her head. Absentmindedly, Marinette reached up to a loose lock of her hair and tucked it gently behind her ear, the dark strands seemed to absorb the flickering from the screen. For the first time in his life, Adrien found himself inspecting her earrings. They looked strangely familiar but Adrien couldn’t put his finger on why; if his mind hadn’t been so full of thoughts surrounding the slight wave of her hair, the soft plumpness of her lips, the thick curls of her lashes, then maybe he would have been able to dredge up the memory of where he’d seen them before.

~~~~~~~

Mari felt his eyes on the side of her face before he turned away and focused on the movie playing above them. She felt so much more comfortable beside him now than she had before summer had come; she couldn’t place why or what had changed but she was grateful not to be a dorky, blubbering mess in front of him anymore. In the back of her mind, Marinette tucked away the memory of this moment; how it felt to sit beside him in almost complete silence and just exist in his presence. She hoped that she could relive this moment with him again one day, just the two of them though, maybe with their hands clutched together on the armrest between them.

She held in a secret, joyful smile but knew that the slight movements in her lips meant that she hadn’t done as good a job as she thought.

~~~~~~~

After the movie, the friends went and got ice cream together and walked down the Champs-Elysees until they reached a nice, sunny spot and sat on a bench looking out over the park and the Fontaine de la Grille du Coq. The days were long but the time they’d spent together felt short, Adrien had his chauffeur drop Marinette home first, then Alya, leaving Adrien and Nino in the back seat of the limousine together.

“So, did ya have fun?” Nino elbowed Adrien in the ribs.

“Yeah, I missed you guys while I was away,” Adrien pressed a button that closed the partition between the back seat and the driver in the front.

“Missed Mari, you mean?” Adrien glared at the smirk on Nino’s face in the shiny, black partition now close before them.

“Shut up,”

“You know it’s true!” The car started to pull to a stop and the boys heard the driver’s door open, then close. “Well, looks like that’s my cue. Adios, amigo.”

“Adios,” Adrien and Nino bumped fists as the door on Nino’s side opened and the Gorilla waited patiently for him to get out. Nino slid along the seat and climbed out of the car, saluting Adrien a joking goodbye, the Gorilla closed the door and left Adrien, all alone, in the back of the car. Resting his head on the back of the seat as the car slowly began to roll back into motion and race toward the Agreste mansion.

The design of Marinette’s earrings was still puzzling him, out of the three piercings she had in her ear, the one furthest down on her lobe had caught his eye. The tiny ladybug shaped stud in the upper cartilage of her ear and the small golden hoop next to the studs that had confused him were new and foreign. He hadn’t paid attention much to the piercings punched through her ear but he had paid enough to know that she only had one in each ear when he’d seen her last. He hadn’t noticed them when he’d visited her as Chat either, but her hair had been out then. 

Picturing the earrings in his mind’s eye, Adrien didn’t gloss over a single detail as he assessed what he remembered. They seemed so unassuming, a glinting black-brown with tiny, single coloured, matte circles on them, almost like the little black dots on the body of the ladybug stud in her cartilage. Adrien was still exhausted from the trip home from New York but he tucked the analysis he’d gone through into a pocket of his mind to come back to later.

~~~~~~~~

Mari was leaning on the railing of her balcony, her hair loose around her shoulders again. The long, midnight strands tickled her bare shoulders with feathery softness; she’d let it grow longer than she wanted to over the holidays, she’d been meaning to cut it for days now but just hadn’t gotten around to it. She’d swapped her pyjama shirt from last night out for a loose, spaghetti strap singlet, Alya had bought them both a matching set of pyjamas years ago and while Ayla had outgrown them in height and breadth, Marinette had not and she still loved the pyjama set as much as the day Alya had presented them to her. The breeze caused the legs of her three-quarter length pants to rub against her legs and send goosebumps prickling across her skin. Her feet were bare on the concrete of the balcony, but she wasn’t cold. Spending time with Adrien and Alya and Nino today had left her heart warmer than black plastic in the height of summer, the heat of the day that was still branded into the floor helped keep her warm too.

Footsteps thudded behind her but she didn’t turn to see who had joined her on the balcony. Her mother or father would’ve announced their presence as they came through the trapdoor up to her room and she knew that their footfalls wouldn’t have been as heavy as those of the visitor she was expecting tonight.

“You are just as beautiful as the sun setting before you, purr-incess,” Chat Noir leaned beside Marinette on the railing, the wind ruffled his golden hair and separated the delicately curling strands as they blew across his forehead. Mari rolled her eyes.

“It’s good to see you too, Kitty cat,” Mari nudged his elbow with hers, though she held both her elbows in her hands. Almost effectively crossing them but not as severe as fully crossing them might have been taken. “Did you have a good day, Chaton?”

The way Marinette said ‘Chaton’ suddenly sent a deep shock of deja vu thundering through Adrien’s body. The lilt of her voice and the playfulness in her tone was so...so...Ladybug. When Ladybug had first called him Chaton she’d sounded just how Mari did now; so joyful and sweet and carefree, different to the Ladybug he’d patrolled with before he’d gone away. Ladybug had been stressed and overwhelmed, that much had shown in the brittleness of her demeanor when they’d last spoken.

“Chaton?” Marinette’s beautiful, big blue eyes met Adrien’s with concern. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, princesa, I was merely lost in a thought for a moment,” Adrien gave Mari an assuring smile that had her pressing her lips together in mild concern before returning to their full cupid’s bow shape. “I had a wonderful day but I’m not sure if Mi’lady would be overly happy with me spilling the beans and juicy details.”

He wanted to drop hints now. His gut told him that, if what Nino had said to him earlier today about Marinette’s perceptiveness (or lack thereof) was true, she might give away how she knew Ladybug without saying it outright. The amount of time Adrien had spent alone meant that he had become something of an expert in wheedling information out of people without them needing to be blunt, when it came to emotions though he’d never been good at deciphering those.

“Why would Ladybug be unhappy if you told me about your day?” The wind blew Mari’s fringe over her face and obscured her vision, with careful fingers, Chat swept the strands back behind her ear. The hard plastic claws on the tips of his fingers grazed the soft skin of her cheek with gentle precision, he didn’t want to hurt her or mark her, he just wanted to touch her but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to place his uncovered palm on her cheek. Not now anyway.

“Well, she’s your friend, and I know that Mi’lady cares very deeply for her friends, so much so that she and I don’t know who each other outside our masks so we don’t accidentally put our families and friends at risk. If I give away too much, you could be put at risk,” Mari’s head cocked to the side slightly at his words.

“I understand her worry about me, if I was a superhero like her, I’d want to keep my loved ones as safe as I possibly could,” She turned her face away from him and looked back out over the city. His eyes snagged on the round stud in the lobe of her ear again, the light allowed him to inspect them better. The shiny surface of the stud between the matte black dots had an almost red sheen to them. That red sheen looked like it could be so much more vibrant if the earrings were given some attention with some jewellery cleaner.

“Then you’ll have to take my word on how good my day was,” Adrien let some classic Chat Noir mirth seep into his voice as he nudged Mari back.

“I have to admit that I’m curious as to who you are behind that pretty black mask and interesting green contact lenses,” Adrien let out a rich laugh. That was his Marinette, curious but careful. She had more curiosity in her pinky fingernail than Adrien had in his entire body but she was more careful about it than he was, if she wanted to poke around in things she tended not to get herself into deep trouble.

“Of course you are, princesa, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the best friend of Alya Cesaire,”

“How do you know Alya?” Marinette faced him fully again, taking her arms off the railing and leaning against it with her hip.

“Does anyone not know the world’s first and best Ladyblogger?”

“Of course, you’d know about her from the Ladyblog,” A soft laugh escaped Marinette’s lips, almost sending Chat’s heart beating out of his chest. “I didn’t expect that you’d follow a blog about you and Ladybug.”

“Well, I can’t possibly follow a blog about you, can I, princess?” The smile on Mari’s face as Chat said those words was brighter than anything he’d ever seen in his life. To say that the sun dimmed when her smile appeared was far too much of an understatement; the sun wouldn’t need to shine ever again if Marinette never stopped smiling. “Or is there one that I’m not aware of?”

“You flatter me, Kitty, but I’m not that interesting, I wouldn’t have anything to post on a blog solely dedicated to me,”

“I beg to differ! You could tell the world about our chats and they’d still be the least interesting part of your life,”

“I wonder what you actually think I do in my daily life, Chaton,” Mari stuck her tongue out at Chat and giggled. “I think you are making me sound like I do so much more than I actually do.”

“An amazing aspiring fashion designer with designs to rival Gabriel Agreste himself,” Marinette blushed and ducked her head. “A sweet, kind and wonderful friend with boundless love and advice to give. I couldn’t imagine someone I’d want to stalk online more.”

“Oi!’ Mari whacked him in the ribs with her elbow at that comment. “Creepy Chaton.”

“Aww, you love my company, princess, don’t deny it! And I’m sure that you’re very flattered that I, the great Chat Noir, would go out of my way to stalk you online,”

“Think whatever you want, Kitty Cat, I’ll neither confirm nor deny your suggestion,”

“By neither confirming nor denying my suggestion, you’ve inadvertently confirmed it,” Marinette shook her head with a laugh and pulled Chat to sit beside her on the large, round daybed she’d been lounging in last time he visited her.

Chat crossed his legs beneath him on the daybed and fiddled with the end of his tail, curling and uncurling it around his baton as he and Mari sat in comfortable silence.

“I did miss you, you know,” Chat stopped playing with his tail and baton, meeting Mari’s eyes in the now completely dimmed light of day.

“Miss me when? When I was gone today?” 

“No! Not today, Chat! When you went wherever it was you went, I missed you a lot and Ti-,” Mari stopped herself. “Timena, a friend I made online who lives in New Zealand, said that I should tell you.”

Adrien had caught Marinette’s pause before she said ‘Timena’. He’d met the Ladybug Kawmi when he and Ladybug had fought Reflekta. Plagg hadn’t been unable to find him and Tikki hadn’t been able to find Ladybug so they’d swapped Kwami’s for the battle and discreetly swapped back, without seeing each other, after it was over. The pause after she said the first syllable added yet another layer of suspicion to the growing in his mind.

“Timena sounds like a smart guy,” Chat shot Mari a dimpled smirk.

“Timena is a girl, or she was last time I asked her, so I’ll trust her preferred pronouns over your assumed ones,” The sarcasm in Marinette’s voice was thicker than a concrete slab.

“You wound me, princesa,” Chat placed a hand over his heart and pouted at Mari, the pupils of his jade green eyes expanding in an almost comical way as they reflected the twinkling pinpricks in the sky behind her.

“Oh, your poor pride,” Chat ran his hand through his hair, brushing against the cat ears perched on his head as Mari teased him.

“I accept your apology,” Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. They sat in silence again for a little while, the sounds of Paris at night were so melodic to their ears. Snuggling down into the pillows, Mari asked Chat to tell her a story. It didn’t have to be about his life outside the mask, it didn’t even have to be true, but she wanted to listen to his voice. Hearing her ask him to speak to her, just speak and not talk, filled his stomach with butterflies. She liked listening to his voice, she enjoyed hearing him ramble; Adrien didn’t think he’d had a better compliment given to him in his entire life. As Chat spoke, telling a second hand story one of his friends from New York had shared with him, Marinette started to drift off to sleep, she moved around on the daybed and rested her head in Chat’s lap. 

She wasn’t sure why she’d so brazenly put her head in Chat’s lap but it felt right. He kept talking as she gazed up at the sky, her eyes blinking sleepily, reflecting the stars. Chat began to gently massage her scalp with his claws as he spoke, she let out a small groan, almost like a purr, that rattled around in his chest. He felt her breathing slow as she finally, fully drifted into a deep sleep, she looked so beautiful. He didn’t want to wake her up but he also didn’t want to move her off his lap, he was in heaven.

Continuing his story, Chat carefully moved Marinette so he could lift her up and carry her into her room. Holding her like a porcelain doll in his arms, he whispered the story to her as her head rested on his shoulder.

“Plagg, claws in,” Adrien whispered, the Cat Kwami came rocketing out of his ring. Plagg let out a loud yawn which caused Marinette to stir slightly in Adrien’s arms, he wasn’t scared of her waking up though. If she saw him holding her, she may think it only a dream but if she found it as real as it actually was when she woke, he didn’t care that she’d discover who he really was. He trusted Mari with his life, even if she didn’t know it. Ladybug might think her too fragile to know that Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir but something in him told him that Marinette knew who was behind Ladybug’s mask; this quietly strong girl wouldn’t go down without a fight if Hawkmoth came for her and tried to pry his identity from her. Mari hadn’t been akumatized yet and if she was strong enough to resist an Akuma, even with the crappy way Chloe treated her, Hawkmoth would have another thing coming.

Seeing the sleeping girl in Adrien’s arms, Plagg immediately shut his mouth and decided to keep his complaining for camembert until they got back to the Agreste Mansion. A small, red and black plush looking toy was curled on Marinette’s pillow as Adrien got closer to the bed. The small plush suddenly rolled over and blinked as Plagg floated over to Marinette’s desk and accidentally knocked an empty drink bottle off the side of it in his usual, disrespectful manner. Tikki’s huge eyes widened as she saw Adrien holding Marinette in front of her and Plagg, facedown, on Mari’s desk, snoring like the hum of a chainsaw. 

“A-adrien?” Tikki sleepily floated over to Adrien and floated in front of his face. “W-why’re you here?”

“I came to visit Mari...I didn’t expect you to be here,” The sight of Tikki had his heart thundering, his mind refused to accept what he’d been mulling over for a lot longer than the past few days. Marinette was Ladybug, Ladybug was Marinette. The girl that he’d loved for so long, that he’d worked beside and patrolled beside, was the same girl who brought him croissants at school in the morning because she knew he’d skipped breakfast, who had sat beside him in the movie today and who had assured him that his father loved him, was proud of him. Somehow, the thought of Mari keeping her identity as Ladybug a secret from him didn’t make him angry. He thought of how many times she’d told him that they couldn’t reveal who they were for the sake of their loved ones, and it only made the love he had for her grow stronger. Her parents, her grandparents, Alya, Alya’s family, Nino, Mylene, Ivan, Juleka, Luka, Rose, Alix, Max, Kim, they were all so important to her as Marinette, that of course she’d want to keep them safe from Hawkmoth as Ladybug. 

“You can’t tell her you know, Adrien,” Tikki warned, her tiny voice was shaking . “Since Master Fu gave up guardianship, she’s known that she has to reveal herself eventually but you have to give her time. Please let her tell you when she’s ready, Marinette has never wanted to keep this from you but she thought of the people she loved and how devastated she’d be if something happened to them and she didn’t want that to happen to you.”

“I won’t, Tikki,” Adrien balanced Marinette against himself as he pulled the covers of her bed back. “I understand that she needs time and I’ll give it to her, as both Adrien and Chat. She’s done so much for me, the least I can do is do this for her.”

“You love her, don’t you, Adrien?” Adrien gently laid Marinette down on her bed, Tikki floating worriedly beside him.

“I love her as Ladybug and I was developing feelings for her as Marinette, but now that I know that Marinette is Ladybug, I love both sides of her, she’s a very special person,” Marinette stirred slightly as Adrien carefully moved her pillow beneath her head and pulled her sheets up over her. “I couldn’t ask for a better Ladybug, Tikki, or a better Marinette.”

“Give her time,” Adrien pulled back from Mari and watched her roll slightly in her bed, pulling her sheets up around her chin with a soft sigh. “She…..she feels the same way about you, Adrien. But Marinette doesn’t know that it’s you behind Chat Noir’s mask so she’s conflicted; she knows how she feels about you but she doesn’t understand how she feels about Chat. Please, Adrien.”

“I promise you, Tikki, that I won’t tell her who I am until she’s ready. I would want her to do the same for me, if our roles were reversed,” Adrien tucked her hair back behind her ear and pressed a feather light-kiss to her temple. Marinette liked him too, but she’d only accepted him as Adrien. He knew that she’d accept him as Chat too, why wouldn’t she? “Sleep tight, Mari.”

“You should go, Adrien, before Plagg wakes up and starts pointing at his mouth,” With a smile on his lips and a lightness in his heart, Adrien nodded and called his Kwami back into the ring. Slipping out through the open doors to Marinette’s balcony, Adrien glanced at her sleeping form one more time and disappeared out into the night.

~~~~~~~~~TAGLINE~~~~~~

@lady-charinette

@katieykat513

DM me to be added to the tag line to get updates for when I post :P - I currently don’t have any plans to upload this to AO3 or Fanfic.net just yet but I might in the future so keep your eyes peeled!

I hope you enjoyed this! Feel free to leave me some comments on if you liked it and what you liked about it, I’m more than happy to hear what you think I can do better! If you’d like me to write a one-shot or story for you, DM me too because I love writing things for others and I can’t imagine anything better than helping put your headcanons into text (if you like how I write, of course). I won’t be actively trying to fill fan-service with this story so that’s why I’m offering to do one-shots for anyone with different ships (not just for miraculous fans, but DM me to see if I’m a part of the fandom first and if I’m not I will go out of my way to watch/read it.)

Lots of love, Rosie (@/miidgiemoo)