#so Adrien would wear the ladybug scarf around his head..

[miraculosus]

Hi @alcnolien ‼️Sorry I’m so late with the @mlsecretsanta qvq..

Hope the new year is treating you well ^w^ here’s to fun times with friends 🙏🏼

[mostmagical]

for @zodoods, I hope this lives up to expectations 🙏

Words: 4k Summary:

Marinette knew she tended to get tunnel vision when she was focused, but luckily her boyfriend Chat Noir was always there to watch her back as they fought Monarch. With their enemy having disappeared, however, they decided together that it was finally time to reveal themselves. In public. Face to face. It's a little silly to have to introduce yourself to your own boyfriend, but after all, it wasn’t Marinette’s fault that she never knew her boyfriend’s name. (Adrien has never been to school, and Marinette doesn't know him.)

Marinette hadn’t known her smile could be so wide. Staring at herself in the reflection, she couldn’t be bothered to worry about the awful dark circles under her eyes, or the frizzy mess of her hair. Everything could be covered or smoothed over, after all. None of that really mattered. Not when her whole world was about to change.

Today was the day.

“Today,” she breathed the word to herself. “Tikki, can you believe it’s today?” she asked, turning around to look towards her kwami.

Tikki giggled from where she sat atop the dresser. “You and Chat Noir have only been planning it forever,” she replied.

The smile was beginning to make Marinette’s cheeks ache. “We have.”

For months following the disappearance of Monarch, Ladybug and Chat Noir had been planning and mentally preparing to finally reveal their identities to one another, eventually coming to the conclusion that they were both ready for it just a week prior. She could still see Chat’s goofy smile in her mind’s eye, clear as day.

“So, we’re really doing this?” he had asked as they sat atop a rooftop together. “For real?”

“For real,” she had replied, excitedly nodding her head. Taking his hand in hers, she had pressed three rapid kisses to the back of it, trying to impress all of her enthusiasm and all of her love into his skin through the suit. “I can’t wait to meet you, mon Chaton,” she had promised him.

His face was rosy, with that big, beautiful smile of his stretching out his cheeks. “Neither can I, my Lady.”

Marinette let out a low squeal at the not-so-distant memory, pressing her hands against her hot cheeks.

She was going to meet her boyfriend. For the first time.

Well, not exactly the first time, but first enough.

They had plans to meet at a little café just a few blocks from the Grand Palais. He had surprisingly been a bit apprehensive at first, but she assured him everything would be okay. Marinette promised to wear the rose he had given her in her hair, and she was going to look for the boy wearing the scarf she had made him on his pretend birthday (and then he could tell her his real birthday!).

She couldn’t wait.

This day was a long time coming, and Marinette had plenty of fantasies to prove it. She wanted to hold her boyfriend’s hand in public, kiss him and go to the movies, all without a crowd of people taking photos of them. She wanted to goof off and be silly with him, all without worrying about being a hero, or acting like a good role model. She wanted to take him over to her house, and have him meet her parents, and stay for dinner without the threat of a supervillain interrupting the desert.

And after today, all that could finally be reality.

She got to work applying her makeup and wrangling her hair, not wanting to waste another second. Although she was notoriously late for most events, this was something she hoped to actually arrive early to. The ruby red dress she had laid out the previous night while she should have been sleeping was the last to slip over her head, perfectly matching the scarlet of Chat’s rose tucked behind her ear. The knee-length skirt fluttered to and fro as she took one last scrutinizing look in the mirror. Everything had to be perfect for her not-so-first impression.

Once she was finally satisfied, Marinette tossed her purse over her head. As soon as Tikki was settled and comfortable, she at last headed out.

There was a skip in her step the entirety of the walk, completely out of her control.

Although excitement was certainly at the forefront of her emotions, she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge that little seed of nervousness. What if he didn’t like her? (He would.) What if he wasn’t as kind as she thought, and his personality was nothing more than a front? (Impossible.) What if his nerves got the best of him, and he didn’t show?

With her heart thundering in her chest, she turned the last corner to bring the café into view.

Her eyes zoned in on a mop of blond hair instantly. It was neat and combed back— completely at odds with the wild wind-blown look she was used to seeing on her boyfriend, but something in the way her stomach twisted and swooped inside of her told her that she may have spotted him. Taking slow steps closer, she traced the curve of his posture with her eyes as he sat hunched over the tiny café table, gasping slightly as she located the familiar shade of blue peeking from his collar.

It had to be him. It had to.

A chorus of giggles broke her concentration, drawing her eyes to a gaggle of girls a couple tables over. They were whispering excitedly and pointing in the direction of the same mop of blond hair, all with cell phones raised. A sudden wave of heat ran up Marinette’s spine as she realized they were ogling him.

She wasn’t surprised that girls were looking at him. Chat Noir was the cutest, most handsomest boy in the world, so of course they would. But that was her cutest and most handsomest boy in the world.

Her slow steps quickly evolved into a fast walk until she was right beside him, at which she practically threw herself onto the table, bodyblocking the girls’ view. The boy visibly jumped at her entrance. She glanced at his face for his reaction, but his eyes were covered by large sunglasses, effectively hiding any expression of recognition. Face feeling suddenly warm, Marinette stood back up straight and cleared her throat, casually drumming her fingers against the laminate surface.

“H-hi. I’m looking for my kitten,” she said, uttering the code phrase they had planned to use to confirm each other’s identities.

The boy smiled, instantly easing her worries. “I saw a little bug on the flyer.”

A grin spread across her cheeks before she could stop it, giddiness overflowing to the tips of her fingers. “I found you,” she murmured, just quiet enough to be just for him.

He stood from his seat, still smiling, and Marinette thought he was going in for a hug until he stepped around her. She was only confused for a second before he pulled out the chair on the other side of the table.

“Oh.” So the gentlemanly thing wasn’t an act after all. Accepting the gesture, Marinette turned to sit, feeling him push the chair in behind her as she did so. “Thank you.”

He simply hummed, before returning to his own seat across from her.

“So, um–” Not really sure where to start, (how does one introduce themselves to the boy they’ve been dating for two years?) Marinette figured the basics should go first. She almost wanted to laugh as she realized she was essentially on a blind date with her long-term boyfriend. “I’m Marinette,” she said, tugging at her bangs before pushing them behind her ear.

“Marinette,” he breathed. Breathed, as in he actually sighed her name when he said it. Marinette thought she might melt. “That’s a beautiful name.”

She wondered how dopey her smile must look to him. “Thank you,” she replied. “And you are?”

Thin blond eyebrows raised over the rims of the glasses, before dropping back down out of sight almost as quickly as they appeared. He laughed. “Okay,” he said between chuckles. “I’m Adrien.”

Marinette wasn’t quite sure what was so funny, but his laughter was just as contagious as always. With a giggle, she stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Adrien.”

His returning smile was soft. “Nice to meet you, Marinette.” He took her hand, and turned it to rest atop his on the table, running smooth circles over the back of her palm with his thumb. The feeling of his warm skin on hers was foreign and exciting, setting off yet another flurry of butterflies in her stomach.

“You still wear your pigtails,” he stated.

Naturally, her free hand trailed to her hair. She smiled as her fingers brushed the velvet petals of the rose. “They’re kind of my armor,” she replied with a shrug. “All the better for you to recognize me.”

The corner of his lip twitched, but the soft smile remained unchanged. Part of her wondered if he was still nervous about meeting. Hoping to ease his worries, she grinned.

“And I’m glad to see you don’t wear whiskers,” she joked.

He laughed again, and that seemed to be enough to lower the tension in his shoulders, to Marinette’s relief. “You’re right, I don’t,” he said. “I have a clean public image to maintain, you know.”

Marinette furrowed her brows, trying and most likely failing to hide the confusion on her face. It was surprising; Chat Noir was definitely the type of person who would grow “whiskers” just to commit to the bit. To each their own she supposed. Mustaches did seem to be more supervillain-y than superhero-y, after all.

“I do have to ask, though, what’s with the glasses?” she asked, moving the conversation along. “They’re so big, they’re covering half your face. Any plans to take those off?”

“Well, I–” Adrien’s head turned minutely towards the girls at the table behind her, barely perceptible to anyone who wasn’t looking for it. “I don’t know.” His hand pulled at the scarf where it crossed over his black t-shirt.

“Please,” she insisted, putting on her best baby-doll eyes. “How unfair you get to see all of my face and I can’t see all of yours.” She held his hand tighter, imploring but hopefully he knew it was still light-hearted.

“Marinette, it’s just–”

She pulled out her secret weapon: the pout. His mouth instantly stopped moving.

“I’ve never really seen your eyes before,” she added. At his answering sigh, she felt a bout of pride swell in her chest. Victory.

Hesitantly, he removed the sunglasses and folded them on the table, all the while looking shyly up at her through golden lashes.

Marinette’s pulse quickened as she finally— really— met his eyes. Such strange feelings of déjà vu ran through her when she caught sight of how green they were. It was the first time she had seen his whole face, and yet it already felt so nostalgic and familiar. It was almost as if she had seen him before, and she supposed she had, in her dreams at the least.

“Gorgeous,” she sighed, unable to stop her tongue from embarrassing the rest of her.

All the regret she might have held drained out of her, however, when she saw how pink his cheeks went in response. His dropped jaw slowly curved into a small smile, and those pretty green eyes closed in half moons as he replied, “Thanks for the compliment.”

Was this really the same boy?

Marinette snorted. “What? No cheesy remark about how you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist you?”

“I’m just far too stunned by the beauty in front of me to think straight,” he said, mouth pulled sideways. “I daresay you could outshine me anyday.”

There he is.

She rolled her eyes in response, but she couldn’t deny the coils of warmth that spread across her skin. With a fond shake of her head, she brought one elbow to the top of the table to cradle her chin in her hand.

“You know, you’re taking this really well,” Adrien said, the smirk fading back to a humble smile. It was odd seeing him so reserved. “Better than I thought you would.”

“Taking what well?” she asked. Her heart squeezed in her chest as she recalled his apprehension from the night before. She attempted to keep things light, sliding into a teasing tone as she conspiratorially whispered, “Did you think I wouldn’t like you without the cat ears, mon Chaton?”

“Well, no, that’s not exactly—”

She cut him off, making sure to speak with all the sincerity she could muster, “Because there is no universe where I wouldn’t like you.” With a coy wink, she added, “Believe me. I checked.” She grinned with pride as her fingers squeezed his on the table, feeling as though she had one-upped him in cheesiness.

Again, his mouth hung open slightly as he processed her words, but soon morphed back into the soft smile. His head tilted to the side. “You always know what to say to make me happy, my–” The corners of his lips twitched, his intended endearment clear to both of them— “my Marinette,” he said instead, pulling their joined hands up to brush his lips against the back of her palm.

Dimly, Marinette registered the sound of a squeal from somewhere behind her.

“But, um, no.” His countenance took on a much more nervous expression, his free hand drifting back to play with the nape of his neck. “I meant more–” He paused, waving his hand awkwardly towards himself.

“What?”

His brows furrowed, mouth open and clearly poised to explain himself, but he was interrupted by a waiter arriving to take their orders, and the moment was surreptitiously forgotten.

As the date went on, conversation flowed freely between them. Marinette learned so many of his favorite things, what he was studying in school, that he was an only child just like her, and of course, his birthday, time and year. So many things that she would normally have naturally learned over time, which was something that she took for granted in her other relationships with family and friends. It was odd, but wonderful that this absurd blind date was just another unique experience that they could share together.

She would have been more than happy to talk to him forever if she could, but a trill from Adrien’s phone stopped their conversation short.

His eyebrows turned down as he read the screen. “How did it get so late?” he pouted, just as cute as before when he wore cat ears on his head. “I’m sorry, Marinette, but I have to go.”

Her smile was sympathetic, barely holding herself back from mirroring his pout. “That’s okay,” she replied. “We’ll just have to have our next date sooner.”

The answering smile on his face made it all worth it.

Adrien’s fingers flew across his keyboard for a second, before another trill responded. “My bodyguard says he can take you home, though!” he announced happily. “So we can spend a little more time together.”

Marinette couldn’t stop the confused noise from escaping her mouth. “Your…bodyguard?” she repeated slowly.

“Yeah!” He looked up from his phone, lips softly quirked upwards. “And don’t worry; he may look mean but he’s the kindest man I’ve ever met.”

That certainly wasn’t something Marinette was worried about, but now she felt like she needed to be.

She tried to cross the appropriate wires in her head. Okay, so Chat Noir, famed superhero of Paris and wielder of the power of destruction, had a bodyguard in his everyday life. And that bodyguard apparently drove him places?

Perhaps she needed to collect more evidence.

Too busy thinking to come up with anything to say, Marinette mutely nodded her agreement.

Having already paid the bill— well, Adrien paid, despite her protests—, the two stood from their seats and headed down the sidewalk. Marinette followed Adrien closely, too busy sweeping her eyes across the busy street to spot this ‘mean-looking’ man to notice Adrien’s knuckles bumping into hers. She finally looked up at him when he laced their fingers together and squeezed. His green eyes almost seemed to shimmer as they looked into hers, and Marinette could feel all that wound-up tension melt away in response.

The spell between them was broken by a sudden honk.

Adrien was the first to break eye contact, turning back towards the street. “Oh! There he is.”

Marinette followed his gaze. Her eyes widened as they landed on the sleek sedan that had pulled up to the curb in front of them. She didn’t know much about cars, but she knew enough to identify the logo of a luxury brand. The car was well-washed and shiny, unlike most of the vehicles that parked along the dirty city streets.

A burly man emerged from the driver’s side door, and walked around the car. To Adrien’s credit, he did seem a bit scary, based on sheer size alone, but Marinette supposed her Papa was probably about the same size. She figured if the man smiled a bit more, he would come off much friendlier. He greeted the two of them with little more than a low grunt and a nod, before briskly opening the rear passenger side door.

Marinette froze in place as she waited for one of the others to move. She couldn’t for the life of her understand what was going on. Was Adrien going to drive and this man was graciously letting her have the front seat?

“Marinette?” Adrien cleared his throat. “Are you ready to go?”

She blinked a few times, looking back and forth between the open door and her boyfriend’s face. “Um, yes,” she replied nervously. “I’m ready.”

He bowed his head, gesturing with his free hand towards the open door. “Then, after you, my lady.”

The familiar name quelled the voices in her head long enough for her to step forward. “Thank you, my prince,” she teased in response.

Though she did step in first, she held fast to his hand, pulling him along with her. The inside of the sedan was just as clean as the outside. Small tablets nestled into the back of both front headrests, and a far fancier screen than Marinette had in any of her devices at home was centerstage on the dashboard. She could feel her eyes widening as she took it all in.

Chat Noir was rich.

Chloé Bourgeois rich, maybe.

That was… unexpected. Admittedly, she never imagined Chat to have a high-class upbringing (if she could even call Chloé’s that). She had always envisioned him as a rough and tumble sort of kid. He would take soda over wine any day. Canned tuna over caviar. He had never turned up his nose to fast food, or cheap nosebleed seats at a concert, or acted like he was any better than anyone else.

No, Chat– Adrien— was amiable, gracious, and an appreciator of the little things–

“Marinette?”

She whipped her head around to meet her boyfriend’s gaze, having been yanked from her thoughts. “Yes?”

Adrien seemed to be holding back a laugh, clearly having recognized her thinking face. “Your address?”

“Oh!” She leaned forward in her seat, directing her attention to the driver. “12 Rue Gotlib, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

Adrien’s face lit up in the rearview mirror. “That’s just around the corner from us!”

“Really?” She was reminded of that flash of déjà vu she had felt upon seeing his face for the first time. Maybe they had met before. Most people who lived in the 21st arrondissement got their baked goods from her parents’ bakery, and Marinette often worked the front counter. They must have had at least one encounter before as their civilian selves.

It was almost a shame.

She would have loved to know that her favorite person was just around the corner.

He tightened his grip on her hand as she turned back to face him. “Almost too good to be true,” he said, echoing her thoughts.

All lamentations of lost time were forgotten at that, and she chose instead to be happy in the moment they had now. She smiled, squeezing his hand back.

They were content to spend the short ride in comfortable silence after having spent the majority of their time together with endless conversations. Adrien’s bodyguard didn’t ask any questions after Marinette gave her address, so she saw no reason to try chatting with him when she could cuddle into Adrien’s arm instead. The world was pink and fuzzy, and the only leather pressed against her skin was that of the car seats. Feeling the rise and fall of Chat Noir’s breaths through warm cotton was a wholly different, welcome experience.

The ride was too short, however, and before she knew it, they had pulled up in front of her family’s bakery.

Adrien’s short intake of breath pulled her eyes upwards, and she noticed him staring at the sign with eyes full of wonder. “Whoa, you live so close to the boulangerie,” he noted.

Marinette grinned. “Well, yeah, I live above it,” she said, delighted when his head whipped back to face her. “My parents own it.”

His eyes looked about ready to bulge out of their sockets. “You do?”

She pointed to the sign. “And I designed the logo. Tom and Sabine Boulangerie,” —she turned the finger towards herself— “Tom and Sabine daughter.”

Adrien’s face was painted with the most excitement she had seen from him all day. “That’s so cool! They have the best macarons— I’ve had some at events when we get catering— and I’ve asked Nathalie a few times, but, well–” His face was a bit pink as he paused. “You’re amazing, Marinette.”

“I’ll have to bring you some macarons next time I see you,” she giggled.

His eyebrows danced over his eyes. “Now I know why you’re so sweet.”

“Oh, hush.” She lightly shoved his shoulder. “Takes one to know one.”

Following some pointed clearings of the throat from the driver’s seat, they eventually got out of the car and Adrien walked her to her door. She left him with a quick kiss and a promise to text him later.

The remainder of the day went by in a blissful blur. Dinner, homework, and television with her parents faded into the background as she slipped lovingly into her daydreams. Adrien was too busy to talk, but he had sent her a few hearts and memes throughout the evening, and she looked over all of them with her chest fit to burst. Before she knew it, it was time for bed and they were texting each other good night.

It wasn’t until the next morning that Marinette realized the true shift the world had undergone.

The incessant buzzing of her phone was an unwanted wakeup call. Marinette blindly slapped her hand against the mattress until her fingers met the smooth plastic of her phone case. She slowly cracked her eyes open as the screen lit up again with notifications.

New Message - 🦊Alya🔥(32), Missed Call - 🦊Alya🔥 (2), New Message - Adrien ♥️🐈

Wondering what was so desperate for Alya to be blowing up her phone so early, Marinette quickly responded to Adrien’s “Good morning <3” in kind before opening the floodgates. She was immediately treated to a number of news articles, all caps messages, and photos. Photos of her and Adrien.

Her fingers flew through the slideshow of photographs: Adrien waiting alone with those ridiculous sunglasses, herself haphazardly draped over the table, Adrien kissing her hand, the both of them stepping into his car. She paused on one of the last photos. It was of the two of them, hand-in-hand as they waited for their ride. Adrien’s soft eyes that had mesmerized her up close were just as soft from a careful distance.

She blinked rapidly as she processed it all.

How did Alya get these?

Scrolling back up in her conversation history with Alya, she looked at the articles again, scanning over the headlines: “Adrien Agreste - Dating?” “Adrien Hits the Town with Mystery Girl!” “Who Caught the Eye of Adrien Agreste?” “Agreste Son is Growing Up!”

…Agreste?

The conversation shot down to the bottom as another text from Alya came in: CANT BELIEVE YOU DIDNT TELL ME????

Faster than she could process, Marinette swiped away from her messages to plug “Adrien Agreste'' into her search engine. A shocking thousands of images popped up, all of her boyfriend in various poses and campaigns— including one with the bowler hat she had designed for a competition run by Gabriel Agreste.

A banner notification popped up at the top of her screen, Marinette’s finger tapping it automatically.

Adrien ♥️🐈: I have a photoshoot until around noon, but do you want to get ice cream after?

Marinette dropped the phone as everything suddenly became clear.

Perhaps maybe their civilian relationship wasn’t about to be quite as low-key as she thought.

[miraculousfanworks]

Writing Prompt: The Cruelest Wish

gabriel got his wish: to go into the afterlife with emilie, and to heal nathalie. but both he and nathalie were at death's door, only hours away from perishing, when he made the wish - so his sacrifice of dying a little too early was not enough to balance things out. the wish recognised this, so when it read his heart and soul, it also recognised that gabriel fundamentally was the same as before... and that he still hated ladybug a lot.

the consequence was that marinette was given the same injury. either gabriel's or nathalie's wound was transferred to her, leaving her with a ticking clock that will slowly but surely kill her. and even though the injury was given to her in the earliest stages, she knows it can't be reversed by something so easy as tikki's cure spell.

she tries to mask it at first - by wearing clothes that cover more of her, and scarfing down over-the-counter painkillers. she doesn't tell any of her friends, not even alya or tikki or cat noir or adrien; she knows that if she tells anyone, the scaffold of lies she's built up will crumble. and she doesn't want to worry people. so she goes about her business as normal, or at least as normal as she can with her reduced health. as ladybug, she can still jump around as normal and take punches that would floor an adult man, but she's always more exhausted - and in pain - after detransforming. and she gets winded more easily, and sometimes feels her legs or arms buckle or her head grow faint, which at first everyone reads as just clumsiness.

but as time goes on... her deterioration becomes very noticeable. she gets dizzy spells in class and struggles to climb stairs. after she coughs up blood and faints while out with the girl squad, and wakes up in hospital with alya and rose by her side, she knows she doesn't have much time left. so she goes to su-han and asks if he knows of a cure. and he tells her there is one... but the things she'll need to do to get/make it will be gruelling.

Prompt by: linerle

[bugabella]

I’m too lazy to write a fic so enjoy this rambling.

I’m in love with the idea of ladybug and chat noir giving each other christmas presents. I imagine them not planning it, ladybug just gets him a present without thinking like she does with all her other friends. And then after an akuma attack LB says something like “hey chat we need to meet up later so I can give you your Xmas present” all casual, and CN says ok but inside he’s like wait. what. we’re getting each other presents???

Cue Adrien freaking out because he hasn’t gotten his lady a present, he only has a few hours, and he knows that LB would be ok if he said he didn’t have one but this is his lady and he loves her and this is his opportunity to show her that. Add in the fact that he has very little experience buying gifts for people, he goes out and ends up buying some really expensive jewelry for her.

And because Marinette is Marinette she would definitely get him something hand-made, like a scarf or sweater that she knitted herself. Maybe something that references an inside joke they have.

So they meet up and exchange gifts. Ladybug opens Chat Noir’s gift and stops for a second cuz she’s thinking “….oh. This is really fancy. And probably expensive.” She feels awkward but then she looks up at Chat Noir whose holding the sweater she made him like it’s the most precious thing in the world, literally on the verge of tears because he loves it so much and he loves her so much and he says he’s gonna wear it everyday for the rest of his life. Ladybug thinks he’s just being silly meanwhile Adrien is internally squealing because ladybug herself made this. Ladybug took time out of her day to make something just for him with her own two hands and no one’s really ever done that for him before and this is the girl he loves and he can barely wrap his head around it.

Anyway I just love ladynoir so much merry christmas

[miraculouscontent]

Hi, Adrien is handed things on a silver platter whereas Marinette has to work for them.

First thing’s first is just the concept of the love square. Chat Noir gets to interact with Ladybug no matter what because they’re heroes. Ladybug - who carries the weight and responsibility of heroism without getting benefited from it - is required to go to every battle due to her purification ability, and Chat Noir of course is going to show up because he loves both flirting with Ladybug and the freedom of being a superhero.

In addition, Adrien got his miraculous by helping Master Fu up (something that would be expected out of any semi-decent person; by the way, yes, I know the “””significance””” of the action, and it’s silly), whereas Marinette saved him from being hit by a car.

Adrien was allowed back in school with still no explanation from Gabriel (especially since he’s Hawk Moth) as to why he thought it was a good idea to send his son to a school where the very first akumatization had happened. It was Adrien’s goal for the episode alongside making friends, and Nino offered him friendship out of pity when Adrien sulked about how Chloe was the closest thing to a friend he had.

Chat crushes on Ladybug because she stood up to Hawk Moth in a speech dripping with confidence, caught what seemed like hundreds of akuma, and came up with a plan quick enough to save Mylene and Ivan from falling to their deaths from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Marinette (who Chat fell in love with one side of first, mind you, so already this is to his benefit), meanwhile, crushes on Adrien because the narrative gave her a falsehood about him never having any friends (i.e: no Chloe) and he gave her an umbrella while he was ten meters away from his actual ride (like with Fu, again, any decent person--).

Chat’s crush on Ladybug makes things harder for her because it causes him to throw tantrums mid-battle, get distracted and distract her because he’s busy flirting, all of which make her feel guilty for not returning his feelings. Marinette’s crush on Adrien makes things hard for her again because it causes her to embarrass herself while virtually everyone who knows teases/mocks her for it, their opinions of her even being dragged down due to the crush (see Alya with the Lila situation).

Chat is shipped with Ladybug by Parisians everywhere and Alya delighted in taking a picture of them kissing (that got posted on the Ladyblog without Ladybug’s consent). Likewise, the other LadyNoir kiss (that Ladybug had to do to free Chat from Dark Cupid’s control) was shown on live TV for all watching to see. Marinette’s kisses with Adrien, however, were either wiped from the timeline (in which Adrien got to keep a secret from her so he could date “””Ladybug”””) or used to humiliate her because Adrien was attempting a prank.

Ladybug realizes that Chat is in serious about her, not because he told her himself, but because he relayed it to Marinette who happened to be Ladybug. Marinette, on the other hand, has spent 3+ seasons attempting to confess her feelings to Adrien or make advances on him, all of which ended in some form of failure and some of which through no fault of her own.

Chloe shoved her in “Bubbler” (Adrien didn’t even check on her) and then Nathalie crushed the note she’d written on a scarf that Marinette put tons of time and effort into, leading to Adrien thinking it was from his dad.

“Copycat” was accidental and came on too strong, requiring its deletion.

She got distracted by Alya and forgot to write her name in “Dark Cupid,” her letter only further solidifying Chat’s crush on Ladybug.

She kept getting interrupted in “Gamer” after Alya chided her for using the event to get with Adrien (despite Alya doing the same thing for Marinette during the film in “Horrificator” while Mylene was MIA).

She wasn’t able to tell Adrien about Lila’s thievery in “Volpina” because the grimoire had to remain a secret.

The hat in “A Christmas Special” got given away within minutes and then not even brought back on-screen by Miraculous Ladybug (Adrien never even thanked Marinette personally for it).

Kagami came out of nowhere to take the fencing spot in “Riposte.”

Deciding not to make schemes only led to her embarrassment in “Gigantitan.”

She got made fun of and the notes all conveniently looked the same in “Backwarder,” leading to her mixing them up.

The macaron for Adrien (that Marinette would prepare every week) never got eaten by him and ended up causing the akuma after Chloe had emotionally manipulated Marinette into scheming with her.

Practicing on a statue (as per Tikki’s advice) in “The Puppeteer 2″ humiliated her when Adrien revealed himself as the statue.

She was embarrassed during the party in “Party Crasher” because she was pressured into dancing without her consent.

The timeline had to be reset in “Chat Blanc” and she had to lie to her friends that she hadn’t given Adrien the gift even though she’d actually succeeded, while the hat she made just for Adrien got written off as a gift from a random fan (which is an even worse fate than the scarf).

The confession in “Felix” was deleted by Felix himself before Adrien could see it.

And Adrien, meanwhile? Ohhhh boy, lemme tell you about Adrien.

He gets put into suggestive/close positions with Ladybug on many, many occasions, all for “free.”

He got a kiss from Ladybug in “Dark Cupid” that, remember, got photographed and put on live TV.

He got to goad the audience without consequence about he and Ladybug potentially being in a relationship eventually - gaining the knowledge that all of Paris was invested in LadyNoir to thoroughly stroke his ego - and then Ladybug had to act like they were a couple in “Prime Queen” to the point of holding Chat’s hand and saying that they were in love.

Likewise, “Glaciator” featured Ladybug having to act like a couple with him again, now to the point of kissing his cheek, and then Chat got a blush from her after he’d spent a good chunk of the akuma battle pouting that Ladybug didn’t come to the date he set up (that she hadn’t even known was a date because he purposefully withheld that information) despite her telling him that she’d have to see about it because she had plans.

He was reassured in “Anansi” on being “irreplaceable” after he made an unnecessary comment about being replaced by a turtle (Carapace).

He got to carry Ladybug around bridal style and also save her in “Sandboy” and “Reverser” respectively because she was rendered essentially useless without him, then got to save her again in “Frozer” after giving her the cold shoulder for rejecting his feelings.

He’s the one who got told by Marinette’s own parent not to apologize for how he feels in “Weredad” (note that Marinette herself never got this talk from Sabine, nor Tom, which very much could’ve prevented “Crocoduel”).

He got a cheek kiss from Ladybug in “Desperada” after getting to undo the very-much-against-the-rules identity reveal he made to her via Second Chance.

He got to look good in “Gamer 2.0″ when Ladybug was seeking advice from him despite the fact that her and Chat’s situations hero-wise are absolutely, completely, 100% different and he didn’t even try to take that into account.

He got Ladybug resting her head on his shoulder because of what she saw in a deleted time in which he - unbeknownst to her - lied by omission.

A fake Ladybug tried to kiss him on two separate occasions, “The Puppeteer 2″ and “Ladybug,” much to his delight (something to note is that the fake Adrien who went after Ladybug in both “Chameleon” and “Felix” tried to force themselves on her).

He got the “jealousy” moment from Ladybug in “Heart Hunter” and then a hug from Aquabug in “Miracle Queen.”

He received no repercussions for taking Ladybug out on a date (that she wasn’t aware was going to be a date) in “Gang of Secrets,” at best having to apologize for her behavior to the people around them.

He got reassured that Ladybug “couldn’t do this without him” in “Guiltrip,” even to the point of being told that she “probably doesn’t tell him enough.”

He got told by Ladybug that she would never abandon him in “Hack-San” because he was guilting her sulking about how his not knowing her identity would mean that he’d never see her again if she left him somehow.

And before you think this only extends to the romantic aspects of love square, let me tell you now that it definitely doesn’t.

Marinette entered the bowler hat competition and had to defend her own work to the judge.

She ran for class representative and had to earn the trust and faith of her class in “Darkblade” when put up against Chloe’s bribery.

She did whatever she could to make sure Juleka got her picture taken in “Reflekta.”

She had to actually craft a pair of glasses suitable for Jagged Stone in “Pixelator” and then make a gorgeous album cover for him in “Guitar Villain.” (note that this partially led to “Troublemaker” where she was just happily wanting to advertise her parents’ business, and the writers multiplied her Adrien pictures for the sake humiliating her when it was caught on live TV)

She had to work to get ungrounded by improving her attendance in “Simon Says,” because she had been busy being a hero.

She worked to try and get Nathaniel and Marc to get together on a project, knowing it would be good for both of them.

She set up an entire celebration for her bully to try and make said bully feel good about herself in “Malediktator.”

She did Kitty Section’s designs and costumes in “Silencer” and then had to go protect them from being stolen, along with her friends’ music.

She had to wear multiple miraculouses in “Kwamibuster” in order to go against Kwamibuster and get back both the ladybug earrings and the cat ring.

“Gamer 2.0.” Just... “Gamer 2.0.″

She made a whole complex lockbox to protect the Miracle Box in “Gang of Secrets.”

She worked to reach out to Zoe in “Sole Crusher” even after Zoe trashed her in front of the school, going as far as to try and comfort Zoe’s akumatized form.

She had to stand up for the movie to be fixed in “Queen Banana” because no one else would.

She has to work each and every akuma battle as Ladybug, figuring out Lucky Charms that can range from simple to complicated, while simultaneously dealing with a partner who relies heavily on her plans and will occasionally make things harder by either throwing tantrums mid-battle or distracting her.

And meanwhile...

Chat Noir got to throw the blame onto Ladybug for Theo’s akumatization in “Copycat.”

Marinette covered for him in “The Collector” when he was the one who recklessly lost the grimoire by not being careful with it.

He got handed Fu’s identity in “Syren” after whining to Ladybug, throwing blame on her and trying to bribe Plagg so they’d tell him, threatening to quit while Paris was underwater, and all of this while Marinette herself only got to meet Fu because she had the grimoire on her.

He was given the moral high ground in “Malediktator” despite not having to actually care about Chloe enough to call/check on her.

He got to sit back in “Chameleon” and not concern himself with judgment or comment on the situation with Lila, even going into “Ladybug” where he continues to inform no one about Lila (including Marinette, who briefly believed that Lila came to her senses and was willing to make amends) after Lila got Marinette expelled, despite the complete lack of risk on his part considering who his father is and how harshly Lila would be dragged through the mud if she dared to trash his reputation.

He clumsily trips in “Captain Hardrock” in a fashion that reveals an instrument he happens to play, leading to him getting invited to join Kitty Section within seconds of being on the Liberty. (so when Adrien is clumsy, it’s to his benefit, and when Marinette is clumsy, it’s to her detriment)

He never got called out for distracting Ladybug and digging for details that could relate to her identity in “Kwamibuster” (which, again, forced Marinette to do all the work to fix things).

He got a party thrown for him in “Party Crasher” by Nino, and also guys that Adrien had never put forth effort into interacting with or befriending (Marinette had also been through more with all of them sans Nino).

He got to force Ladybug’s favorite traits of his out of her in “Truth” because she was under the influence of Truth’s powers.

He got off the hook for sacrificing himself in “Lies” by flirting about Ladybug’s “irresistible angry little pout,” and also never got repercussions for flirting with another girl while dating Kagami.

He never had to face consequences for smashing a chimney in “Sentibubbler,” even as he was dismissing the gesture because he knew Miraculous Ladybug would fix it.

He didn’t have to apologize for his behavior in “Hack-San,” whereas Ladybug "had to” for telling someone else her identity (the details of why - i.e: that she was having a mental breakdown and needed a release from it - being completely left out) and not telling him that she was leaving (when she literally hadn’t had time to tell him anything; do note as well that Adrien didn’t have to do the same in either “Backwarder” or “Startrain”).

He received no consequences and was in fact rewarded for allowing the akuma in “Wishmaker” to hit him, a choice that Viperion has to live with because it caused him to see both Ladybug and Chat’s identities (meaning now Luka - someone who, like the guys in “Party Crasher” - Adrien has done virtually nothing for - can support Adrien since he knows).

And I could go on, I really could, but my point is that Adrien is given all of the sympathy and sad points while Marinette basically never is. Just like how he was born swimming in money, fame, and adoring fans, the show hands out praises and all the things he’s ever wanted because he’s sad.

He doesn’t have to try. He can whine and complain and vent to Plagg about how “replaceable” he is because the show will mollycoddle him to the moon and back. They’ll put his crush on Ladybug’s shoulders to make her feel guilty while Marinette is over here having to bust her butt just for a chance at Adrien recognizing any semblance of her feelings, and he goes on being blissfully ignorant of them so he doesn’t have to suffer like Ladybug does.

In addition, Marinette has to either be “““making mistakes”““ or embarrassing herself in order to get screen time because the burden of lessons fails upon her, whereas Adrien can be name-dropped without even doing anything.

It’s not just the love square that’s unbalanced, it’s everything between these two. Ladybug is scolded and punished for the slightest act of selfishness while Adrien is encouraged and rewarded for being selfish and demanding things. Marinette has to work to be noticed (and sometimes won’t even get that much) while all Adrien has to do is put on his best sad face and the show will bend over backwards to either give him exactly what he wants or make him the sympathetic one through the narrative.

Even if Adrien had known about Marinette’s crush at the time that Ladybug knew about Chat’s, it wouldn’t matter, because the tipped scales in how they’re treated would still make it so Marinette is the one at fault for “dumping her feelings onto Adrien” while Ladybug is still forced to interact with Chat even if his advances make her uncomfortable.

[thr-333]

Just Another Class Trip :)

Part 1

No, no ignore the smily face i assure you it means nothing foreboding, nothing foreboding at all.

Next >

---------

“It’s suspicious,” Marinette glares as they leave customs.

“What would that be, Mari?” Chloe yawns, not bothering to dedicate her limited remaining brain power apparently.

“Lila,” She whispers back, “She’s been so quiet all the way here,”

“What about how she weaseled her way into first class?” Chloe yawns again, sleep mask resting on her head.

“Or tried to steal your bag,” Kagami says with venom, her having saved Marinette from that disaster.

“Accused you of giving her the wrong flight time,” Adrien adds, somehow being full awake even after their long flight.

“Slipped metal into your pocket so security would go off,” Chloe downright glares at Adrien, but would never admit to the bags under her eyes.

“Came by and woke you up every time you fell asleep,” Kagami looks at her pointedly, shadows under her eyes being her only give away.

“Too quite,” Marinette whispers, the list going largely ignored as they approach the security scan.

“Just relax Mari,”  Adrien pats her shoulder, not enough to break her concentration, “Lila will be so distracted by being in Gotham she won't have time for you,”

Adrien was wrong.

Of course he was wrong.

This is Lila they're talking about.

“Oh Marinette!” Lila all but yells as Marinette is placing her bag in a tray, “I’m so glad you didn’t go through with it,”

Marinette cringes, the security guards all looking her way as Lila dances off. She just sighs as she is escorted away by the airport security, to the protest of her friends and not much else.

“No sir I am not holding any firearms or weapons,” Marinette answers as monotone as possible, the security guard didn’t deserve her ire not matter how tiresome this was getting.

“We interview the source,” Oh no “Apparently you were discussing terrorist activities,”

“I was not sir, Lila must be mistaken,” Yep big mistake, I’m sure that's all it is , “I’m simply here for a class trip,”

“You’re wearing a bulletproof vest,”

Yeah probably should have left that one at home

“My parents are protective, they know how dangerous Gotham can be,” They were not fans of the horror stories Aunt Selina used to tell her from this city, “They insisted I have it as protection,”

While they most certainly wanted her to be safe the vest was more her idea. It was also more for enabling trouble than avoiding it. At least she was trying to be safe about secret crime fighting.

“Makes sense,” He sighs from across the table, checking through some paperwork, “You’re seventeen, here on a class trip right?”

“Yes sir,”

“Well if you’re here on a Wayne funded trip they probably did and extensive background check,” He pauses for a minute looking deep in thought, “Alright then, you can go,”

That seems kind of lax

“Are you sure?”

“We literally have super villains walking through here every other day,” True that, “You’re holding no weapons and have been endorsed by the Wayne's that's better than most people that have been in here,”

“Well if you’re sure,” Marinette stands awkwardly walking to the door as he waves her off, “Is there anything I need to sign, or…”

“Unless I want to fill out extra paperwork, no,” He seems so tired, Marinette wished she could get back at Lila for making his job harder.

“Have a good day then!” She smiles brightly, getting a small one in return.

She leaves, the security guards handing back her bag, fortunately not mentioning the miracle box or her Kwamis. She smiles brightly, even with Lila trying to ruin her trip she could still enjoy her time here in Gotham- and her phone buzzes with an Akuma alert.

With a sigh, Marinette ducks into the nearest bathroom, locking a stall behind her.

“Kaalki,” The Kwami zips out of her bag, “Tikki, Combine,”

With a flash of light followed by another she appears in Paris dropping Kaalki’s transformation.

She looks over the city, some Akuma attacking the Eiffel tower. At least they didn't seem to be the brainwashing type, she didn’t have Chat Noir there to help with crowd control.

With a flip she jumps, planning to kick the Akuma on the way down. They dodge and she lands in front of them instead.

“Well, well if it isn’t the bug,” The Akuma, in a horrible patch work costume mocks, a purple mask appearing over their face, “Hand over your miraculous!”

How about you come and make me Hawkmoth? I promise to stick that cane up your ass

Oh how she wishes she could say just that, but it wouldn't be very Ladybug of her. Why did the younger her have to have a stick up her butt?

“Not today Hawkmoth,” She says instead, making sure to put the practiced amount of enthusiasm into it, “Or any other day for that matter,”

“How are you going to save Paris without your little kitty cat?”

How are you going to beat me with that terrible fashion sense

Besides Chat Noir deserved a break. At least she hoped he was taking a break, he couldn’t tell because of secret identity reasons. It wasn't like she had any right to stop him, she was having a vacation in Gotham right now, and she was out all the time for work. She could manage without Chat for a while, he deserved that much.

“I will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Paris,” Ladybug remembers to answer the question.

“Hand over your miraculous now!” The Akuma lunges at her

I should have chosen a different persona

She dodges the beam of light that can’t mean anything good. Jumping back to get some distance.

Chat Noir had the right idea

She bites back the cutting remark on the tip of her tongue. Instead throw out her yo to wrap around their arm. The Akuma pulls it forward, sending her through the air. She leans into it swinging around to get a better vantage point, studying the monologuing Akuma below.

Maybe I can for Starling

She has created Starling as a vigilante identity to use in Gotham, if the class was ever in trouble. No not if, when . With a sigh she summons her lucky charm getting a table tennis paddle.

Although I’m only meant to use that identity as a disguise to protect the class

The only thing that stood out was the Akuma's hand, she'd have to gather more information before striking.

Maybe Starling can have a word or two with Lila, that could be fun

She drops down in front of the Akuma. They seemed to like monologuing, maybe all she had to do was probe a little bit.

“Why would you want to side with Hawkmoth?”

“This is my family's greatest heirloom it has been passed from generation to generation for centuries, some fool broke it and I was crushed having disappointed all my ancestors!” The Akuma holds up a broach type jewel, “But Hawkmoth- Hawkmoth brought it back and now my greatest and dearest treasure will forever be-”

Ladybug smacks it to the ground, crushing it underfoot.

The Akuma looks at her shocked, letting out a long drawn out gasp. Marinette does not meet their eye as she catches the Akuma. She throws the paddle she used to smack it out of their hand into the air to cast the cure.

I must be really jet lagged, I’m usually at least a little more creative than that, but it worked

She pretends not to see the reporters coming in for interviews, seeing the victim and their broach in one piece. She makes a speedy exit, needing to transport back to Gotham before the class get too ancy.

“I’m sorry the rented bus left a long time ago,” The attendant informed her, looking sorry for the dishevelled teen.

Marinette groaned, so much for running around the airport for thirty minutes with a dead phone. Thanking the attendant she sulks off to collect her bag instead, she’d have to figure another way to the hotel.

She spends another hour hunting down her bag. Chasing after leads of people who might have mistook it. Checking again with Airport security, who again pulled her aside for having a suspicious missing bag. Luckily the security guard before defended her, she brought him a coffee and two for herself.

“Maybe someone will return it?” Tikki whispers, her and Kaalki hidden in the folds of her scarf.

“It’s fine Tikki,” Marinette sighs, halfway through her first cup in under a minute, “I have replicas of all of them anyway, I’ll just grab some samples from the MDC fashion show,”

She’d have to stop by later, the outfits should have been transported last week along with most of her recent catalogue. The only problem was all the other necessities she lost. But that wasn’t a problem, she carried the miracle box in her backpack and that's all that really matters.

“And some of my… special outfits when we go back home,”

She had altered her current outfit to transform into her vigilante disguise. Her scarf pulled up and could be turned inside out into a mask. Her skirt could be transformed into a cape and hood combo. A zip down the middle of the skirt to split it for the cape and a zip up hood that lay flat along her skirt. She simply turned it inside out and wore it around her shoulders. Combined with a bullet proof vest it wasn't half bad, her belt full of weapons could always be hid under her skirt which was a big plus.

She sighs waiting for a taxi in the cold Gotham air, hating it more than most. Although she supposed superhuman strength was a fair exchange for extra cold fingers. Marinette fought to stay awake, she had also been holding Kaalki for so long she was starting to develop the ability to sleep standing up and would doze off randomly. Certainly helpful at times, but not right now.

“Hello,” Marinette is startled out of her drowsiness.

She looks at the hesitant young man before her, looking just as tired as she is.

“Hello?”

“Is something the matter?” Something sparks at the back of her mind, a feeling she often gets from Chloe whenever she is helpful.

Do I look that bad?

“Just a mix up with transportation,” She smiles, he clearly knows it’s fake.

“Do you need a ride?”

“No I’m-” She sighs, what could go wrong getting in the car of a random person in Gotham, “Yes, I do thank you,”

“Over here, I’m Tim by the way” He stifles a yawn, leading her towards a limousine, the door being opened by a driver.

“Marinette, here,” She hands over the extra coffee, “You look like you need it just as much as me,”

Tim looks at her like a god sent, taking the coffee as they reach the limo.

“Good call Alfred,” Tim whispers to the driver, slipping into the car.

“Hello miss, I am Alfred Pennyworth,” She shakes his hand, something stronger fires at the back of her mind, a true holder perhaps? But Chloe was a true holder right?

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” She smiles, trying to assess what miraculous would suit him.

“Best get inside Miss Dupain-Cheng,” She climbs inside at Alfred's behest, “Gotham is awfully cold for a Lady,”

She gets the feeling that is not chivalry.

“Where to Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Alfred asks, already in the driver's seat.

“Wayne hotel please,” She pulls her backpack onto her lap, still regarding Alfred suspiciously.

“Traveling alone?” Tim asks absentmindedly, still nursing his coffee cup.

“I’m here with my class, they left without-” No that's no good , “I got held up they went ahead,”

“Class… staying at the Wayne hotel…” Tim mumbles to himself.

“I believe what Master Tim is trying to ask is if you are part of the Martha Wayne foundation trip,” Alfred informs from the front seat.

“Yeah that,” Tim takes another scalding gulp of coffee.

“Yes I sent in the submission, I’m still surprised we got it,” Marinette had been thrilled at a trip to Gotham, it is where her Aunt Selina lives after all.

“You seem very responsibility Miss Dupain-Cheng,” Alfred complements, “Almost as if you could shoulder the weight of Paris,”

“I didn’t say where I was from,” Marinette tenses getting more than a little unsettled, he seemed to know something more.

“Not to worry, I have close connections with the Wayne's and was aware this years class was from Paris is all,”

“I see,” Marinette nods along, the possible meaning behind the comment still being concerning.

“We forgot your bags!!!” Tim suddenly yells, jumping up and making Marinette jump, they both curse in sync as they spill coffee on themselves.

“It’s alright!” luckily the coffee landed on her black tights, so no noticeable stains, “My bags were stolen,”

“Oh…” Tim relaxes back, “Wait… that's not alright at all!”

“It’s fine, I already have a plan to get some spare clothes and I just need to run to the store,”

“Right… to the Wayne hotel was it?” Marinette nods and Tim starts tapping away at his phone.

She fishes out some wet wipes from her bag, passing them to Tim, who looks confused until she points out the growing coffee stain. With a smile and a few more taps at the phone he takes them off her.

“Left behind and bags stolen, doesn't sound like your Lucky day,” Alfred presses, and he needs to stop, it could be chance, surely its just chance.

“I guess not,”

You don’t know the half of it.

“Well I hope the rest of your day is much better,” Tim bids as they pull up to the hotel.

“Thank you, and thank you so much for the ride,” Alfred opens the door for her to get out.

“Not a problem,” She waves them off, watching them disappear down the street.

They’re nice, probably wont ever get to see them again, thats a shame

“Dick! Holy fuck!” Tim kicks down the door of his brothers room, “I just met the nicest girl who's had the shittest day on earth,”

“First of all welcome back, how was your trip?” Dick greets hanging from the ceiling as Tim takes his desk chair, “Second, what are you talking about?”

“Met a girl at the Airport who didn’t have a ride, she gave me coffee,”

“That's enough to buy your loyalty,” Dick grins, Tim flips him off.

“Listen, she's part of that Martha Wayne Foundation trip and her class left her at the Airport!”

“What?!” Dick drops from the ceiling onto his bed, “Thats so dangerous, especially in Gotham,”

“Right?! She even had her luggage stolen!” Tim pushes the chair over to Dick, “And she was still so nice, even after an eight hour flight!”

“You said she was part of the Wayne foundation trip?” Dick asks, getting a nod from Tim, “Yeah, we are definitely seeing her again,”

[maggies-scribblings]

Yarning For Her

Adrien is smitten with the girl who's always been there, in the row behind him. But when his plans to ask Marinette out unravel, a secret throws him for a loop…

Written for the Miraculous Writer's Guild April Event 2021: Followers sent five emojis as prompts to the @mlwritersguild Tumblr for the writers to pick one to write for. I chose the emojis sent by @ladycat1: ✨ 😊 👀 👩🏻 🧵

Canon compliant up to Season 4, Episode 4: M. Pigeon 72.

👩🏻

It was finally happening. The event everyone was waiting for… well, everyone except the main protagonist of said event.

Marinette could feel it, though she could hardly believe it. She noticed Adrien looking at her with more intensity, when he thought she wasn’t looking. How he had trouble finding the right words when talking to her. All the tiny gestures of attention, like offering to help with a difficult subject or a complex art project, or praising her outfit every day, even if she’d worn it several times before.

Nino could tell, too: questions about Marinette and her favourite colour, food, flower, or whatever else were whispered in his right ear all day.

Actually, the whole class noticed Adrien’s marked change in behaviour. His cheerful hellos were now stuttered in Marinette’s general direction. His head hid on his shoulders whenever Marinette sighed or yawned, as if his neck couldn’t handle her fresh breaths. Even his athletic skills were now replaced with an unexplained jerkiness. The fact that the weather was warmer and the girls’ gym suits gave way to short shorts and strappy tops might have had something to do with it.

In short, Adrien fell in love with Marinette. Hard.

👀

When it started, Adrien couldn’t exactly tell. Ever since that first day of school, Marinette had held a special space in his heart (most of which had been stolen by Ladybug the previous day). She was one of his first and dearest friends.

But now… after getting to know Marinette, her loving and kind nature, after seeing her helping others without asking for anything back, after finally noticing how pretty she was… he wasn’t so sure.

That day at the pool was definitely a turning point.

First there was that unplanned double dive. During those milliseconds when they were falling, Adrien’s thought process went something like this:

Danger!—Why is Marinette here?—Protect!—Wow, she looks so cute in that swimsuit!

As they hit the water, their arms instinctively reached out to the other as they sank, swirling back up to the surface in a soft embrace — just like that night in New York, when they had danced floating in the air, under the full moon.

And when they were leaving the pool, Adrien was so happy and surprised to see she still had the umbrella he’d given her way back then! Sweet as always, she offered to give it back to him, even though it was raining and she had to walk home.

She was standing next to him (she linked her arm in his!) when that pesky umbrella decided to close on them, and they were pulled even closer for a few seconds. Very close. He could smell the chlorine in her hair mixed with the scent of sweets that always surrounded her. He thought he felt her heart beating faster and faster. Maybe it wasn’t. His heart certainly was. He could feel her warm breath through his shirt, and it drove him a little crazy.

When they said goodbye that day, he could hardly take his eyes off her. He even bumped his head on the car door frame. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the charming, elegant model Adrien Agreste, unable to enter a car (come to think of it, he seemed to have a bit of a problem with doors whenever Marinette was around).

✨

The few weeks that went by did nothing to sort out Adrien’s feelings about the two black-haired girls in his life. His days were mortifying, his nights restless. On one such night, Adrien tossed and turned, but sleep wouldn’t come. The full moon and bright stars shining through the window frames painted his room with grid patterns, a constant reminder of his confined life.

Adding to that, his mind was racing with memories of his (now frequent) clumsiness and embarrassment at school. He recalled the fumble of the day: going into the classroom while trying to look cool, he managed to snag his bag strap on the door handle, causing him to jerk back and hit the ground on his butt in front of the whole class.

Adrien groaned and turned again. Worst thing was, he had no idea how she felt for him. She kept sending mixed signals. Her behaviour towards him wasn’t as weird as it had been, but that didn’t mean a lot. He’d even asked her a couple of times. He remembered the time they visited the wax museum, when she said she didn’t like him like that.

“What’s the matter, kid?” Plagg yawned from his side of the pillow, annoyed by his bearer’s restlessness. “Who is it this time? Spots or bakery girl?”

Adrien didn’t bite, going back into his musings instead.

His mind turned to Ladybug… These days, Spots occupied a much smaller part of his thoughts. He still got the occasional butterflies in his stomach when he saw her, or when she praised him and his humour. She would always be his first love, and not an easy girl to forget… but she was right, of course — she was always right — as long as they had enemies, they couldn’t reveal their identities, much less deepen their relationship. Back when Bunnyx first showed up, they found out that there would be a new Hawkmoth and countless akumas in the future, and who knew when that would end?

Plagg was still grumbling about sleep and cheese. Adrien playfully flicked his kwami’s ear.

“Shut up, Plagg! I’m trying to sleep!”

“Very unsuccessfully, I might say,” Plagg flew out of his reach. “You sighed four-hundred and fifty-eight times in the last hour.”

“Come on… can’t you see I’m in turmoil here?” Adrien turned his back to the kwami. It was no use arguing with a deity, no matter how minuscule.

“Four-hundred and fifty-ni—” Plagg’s teasing was interrupted by a pillow hitting him.

😊

This wouldn’t do. Adrien couldn’t stand his own indecisiveness any more. He decided to ask Marinette out, that very day. After a reviving shower, he got dressed and looked in the mirror. The dark circles around his eyes were evident, but he hated wearing concealer to school. He might as well add a couple of details to his usual get-up: a pair of Gabriel’s new collection sunglasses and his favourite blue scarf.

He arrived at school early, and while most of the class was either chatting in the courtyard or going into the classroom, Marinette was nowhere to be seen. Adrien went into the locker room, and lurked behind the last row of lockers while students got in, got their things and left.

Finally, the hurricane that was late-for-class-Marinette thundered in, scolding herself for oversleeping as she got her books for the morning. When she closed the door, there was Adrien, leaning against the cabinets with his best Chat Noir smirk as he looked over the rim of his sunglasses and greeted her.

“Good morn—”

He didn’t have time to finish his line, as a very startled Marinette squeaked and grabbed his free arm to spin him around and pin him to the lockers with an elbow to his throat.

It took a few moments for Adrien realise exactly what had happened, before she released her hold.

“I’m sorry, I… panicked,” Marinette said, as she stepped back and continued to gesticulate wildly and mumble more awkward apologies.

Still frozen in place, Adrien managed to adjusted his crooked sunglasses.

“Marin—” he had to clear his throat. “No, I— It’s o-ow!”

Adrien tried and failed to step forward, as he heard a ripping sound — his scarf was caught in Marinette’s locker, and the momentum slammed him back into the metal doors with a loud bang.

The proverbial stars that blurred his vision cleared up to show Marinette very close to him, fumbling with the lock to release the scarf.

“Sorry, so sorry, I’m such a klutz!”

“It’s okay, no harm do—”

Adrien stopped talking when he saw that the scarf had a large rip, disappointment obvious upon his face.

“Oh no!” Marinette covered her mouth as she saw the damage. “Your scarf! I ruined it!”

At this point, Adrien would usually smile and say something like ‘it’s okay’ or ‘no worries’, but he couldn’t lie: he really loved that scarf. It was his favourite colour, warm and cosy, yet light enough to wear on a spring day, and a rare thoughtful gift from his father. He pouted a little as his fingers traced the tear.

“I can fix it!”

He lifted his eyes to Marinette as she got on her tiptoes to unwind the scarf from his neck.

“I can make it look as good as new. I know you’re worried, after all it’s your dad’s birthday gift,” she rambled as she delicately folded it, “but I have leftover yarn— I mean, I think I have the same colour, and it’s a simple pattern.”

There was something odd about the way she worded that, but Adrien dismissed it. He must have made a weird face, because now she had a concerned expression.

“I mean, if you trust me with it… I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t after I destroyed it. ”

“No—I mean, don’t be silly, it was an accident… I shouldn’t have sneaked up on you like that!” He managed a relieved little smile. “Still, my father might be upset if he saw I ripped it. Are you sure you can fix it?”

Marinette’s eyes averted his for a moment, as she returned the folded up scarf.

“I’ll do my best! I’m not a pro like your father, but I’m sure I can make it as good as new in no time at all!”

They agreed to go to Marinette’s place after school so that she could start working on it right away, then ran off to class as the second bell rang.

Not exactly the way I planned it, Adrien thought as he scrambled onto his seat, but I guess it worked!

🧵

Adrien reclined in the chaise-longue and looked around Marinette’s bedroom. It was the total opposite of his, huge and aseptic and cold. On the contrary, these walls had warm colours and pictures everywhere, and it smelled amazing, fruity shampoo mixed with glue and ink from her many design projects, mixed with sweets from the bakery, and everything about it was so welcoming and cosy and so… Marinette.

“Yes!” Her delighted voice interrupted his reveries. “I knew I still had it!”

Adrien chuckled as he saw Marinette triumphantly holding a ball of light blue yarn, then get several needles from her yarn basket and sit at her sewing station to start working. He switched seats to her desk chair and rolled close to her.

“Can I help?”

“Sure! Let me just…”

Marinette picked up a long, thin knitting needle and started to thread it on the scarf, just above the tear. She was so concentrated and her movements so careful and precise, she might as well be defusing a bomb. Adrien noticed her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth and wondered what her kisses would taste like.

“There. I have the brakes on, now let’s get going.”

Marinette found the end stitch at the corner of the scarf and cut it. Giving Adrien the end of the yarn, she continued.

“Hold this. Make a ball while I unravel it.”

“Huh? Un-what?” Much as Adrien trusted her skills, he panicked. “Won’t you make it worse?”

“No, because I’m holding the knitting with this,” she pointed at the longer needle she had threaded through the scarf.

Marinette turned her chair, so they were sitting face to face, knees almost touching, and started to quickly unravel the bottom part of the scarf, while he rolled up the thread in a ball, both enjoying the comfortable silence. He noticed a small piece of fabric falling from one of the edges and bent down to pick it up.

“What’s this?” Adrien thought out loud while examining it.

As soon as Marinette lifted her eyes from her work and saw what he was holding, her eyes went wide and her cheeks red.

“Oh, it’s nothing—” she tried unsuccessfully to snatch the fabric from his hand. “Probably just the washing inst—”

It was not an ordinary washing instructions tag. It was tiny and had been woven into the knitting, so discreetly he’d never noticed it before. He turned the fabric over to see a recognisable signature.

Marinette

“Wait— you made this?” Adrien picked up the other end of the scarf from her lap and examined like he’d never seen it before. “Wha—? How? D-did my father buy it off your website?”

So that’s why she was so confident about fixing it. He searched Marinette’s face for an explanation, but she just shook her head and kept looking down, unravelling the loops one by one.

“No— of course not— your site wasn't set up back then, we only took those photos later…”

Adrien thought back to the time Nathalie handed him the present, neatly packed in a box with a ribbon. He’d never seen that kind of care in his father’s presents, just standard gift bags with expensive pens, straight from a corporate catalogue. His train of thought was broken by a couple of tears falling on his hands.

“Marinette…” he murmured, lifting her chin to look into her misty eyes. “Did you make this for me?”

She nodded with a tiny smile. He moved his hand from her chin to cup her cheek, wiping her tears with his thumb.

“Was this supposed to be your present for me?” Another nod. “How did this mess happen then?”

“I…” Marinette had to clear her throat and finally looked at him. Something in her eyes changed from avoidance to determination. “I wanted to give it to you personally, but I couldn’t gather the nerve… then one thing led to another, and I left it in your house, and I even signed it, but…” she shrugged.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just… couldn’t. You were so happy with the present from your dad. I couldn’t ruin it for you.”

Adrien made a mental note to find out exactly what had happened, then set all his negative feelings aside. His heart was too full of love to think about anything other than the girl in front of him.

“Oh, Marinette…” he softly chided as he hugged her. How could this girl be so selfless, on top of everything else? She cared for him, really cared for him, even back then. “I wish you’d told me.”

He released the hug and pulled her closer, into his lap. Marinette set the scarf on the sewing table and put her arms around his neck. Her tears were gone and a hint of a smile played on her lips.

“That way,” Adrien caressed her nose with his, “I would have thanked you properly.”

“Oh yeah?” Marinette breathed, her lips very close to his. “You can thank me now.”

They closed the distance between them, their lips melding into a sweet kiss, then another, and then a few more. Adrien’s heart was beating so fast he could hardly bear it. Then he remembered he should probably breathe at some point.

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

“If that’s the way you thank a person for a present, I’ll start giving them more often,” Marinette joked.

“Not anyone.” He pecked her lips. “Only you.”

They kissed again, this time more passionately. He kissed her eyes, the tip of her nose, her forehead, her neck, then back up to her lips…

The scarf was left forgotten on the sewing table. It could wait a few more hours before repairing.

Fin

Thanks to @hari-writes and @deinde-prandium for the beta read! ❤️

Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated. English is not my first language and I tend to use UK English. If you catch any inconsistencies, please let me know.

My AO3. My Twitter. My Instagram.

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Float Like A Butterfly... Ch.6 ...Sting Like A Bee

Summary: An unexpected ally appears before Marinette. The only problem is, he's stumbled onto something he shouldn't have. And she needs it back.

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

Marinette was having a terrible day.

First she shows up late with the principal accessory of the Gabriel line's Fashion Week showing. Fashion Week! Marinette was looking forward to it all month! 

Next Audrey Bourgeois, Style Queen herself, treats the hat Marinette worked so hard on like gum on the bottom of her shoe. Sure Adrien had been super encouraging but he hadn't seen the look of utter contempt on Audrey Bourgeois face. No one could look that disgusted all the time!

Speaking of Adrien, he didn't make getting over him any easier by being so kind.

And if that wasn't enough Marinette's brain insisted on using Chat Noir's Miraculous to fight the akumatized villain. Again! She didn't want to think about Chat Noir right now because... Because... Marinette blinked rapidly. Deep breath... Because thinking about Chat Noir was painful.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

"Don't worry, Tikki. We'll get the box right after the show," Marinette stage whispered so as to not alert her parents. Who walked not even a meter away.

Tikki let out a concerned whine. Oh, this was a bad idea. She could feel it. Marinette was right that they couldn't get away from her parents beforehand. But that only made Tikki even more anxious to get searching. And Marinette really didn't need something else to worry about on top of... everything else.

She hoped no one found it.

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

Chloe's day was ridiculous. Utterly, ridiculous!

She sat next to her mother as Adrien walked down the runway. Lingering dread squashed and thrown into the very back of her mental walk-in closet where she kept unimportant things. Like shoes she never wore anymore, problematic outfits and lingering guilt that totally wasn't her's. Adrien wasn't slowly disintegrating anymore so why dwell on the past?

Adrien's performance was flawless and Chloe was absolutely certain she appreciated his efforts more than anyone else... Even if Alya Cesaire was livestreaming.

The show went off without a hitch. Adrien seemed fine but then he was almost as good at pretending as she was. Chloe eyed him as Gabriel's lackey, um, assistant pulled him along. Not physically, of course. It was more of a metaphorical pulling.

Ugh, Gabriel Agreste started talking with Chloe's mother through his assistant's tablet. Like, yeah, apologizing to the Queen of Style was a no brainer. But he could have at least come in person! Not like Gabriel was doing anything important besides being the world's richest hermit.

... And Dupain-Cheng was there too. Of course she was. At least her mother would put Dupain-Cheng in her place. Chloe felt herself smirk at the thought.

Adrien raised an eyebrow. As though reading her mind.

Chloe pretended not to notice. No petty satisfactions here! No, sir! But it wasn't like the Queen of Style was going to say anything about Dupain-Cheng's hat except-

"It's the most exceptional thing I've ever seen!" Audrey Bourgeois announced.

Exact- Wait, what!?

"You're a visionary, Marinette! Glitter's had its day..."

Chloe's ears rang, drowning out her mother's voice. Exceptional? Her? Over a- a- a hat!? A vice squeezed Chloe's chest with cruel precision. When her own present was rejected without even unwrapping it!? Chloe's fists shook as she bit her tongue.

"Isn't that nice for your friend, Chloe dearest?" Andre Bourgeois asked.

"It's ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Chloe whirled on her mother. "I've never been to New York with you and you're taking Marinette Dupain-Cheng!?" She spat.

"I'm afraid I have a last minute meeting to attend, my dear Audrey," Gabriel announced from the tablet. "Nathalie, bring Adrien home immediately."

Adrien's attention snapped from Chloe to Gabriel. "But, Father, I-"

"Do not embarrass me in front of the Bourgeois," Gabriel snapped, ending the call.

Jaw clenching shut, Adrien stared at nothing with stormy eyes as Nathalie led him away.

"I'm taking her because she's exceptional, Claudette. Uh- Chloe," Audrey stated matter-of-factly, the Agrestes already forgotten.

"I'm exceptional too!" Chloe shot back.

Audrey inspected her white gloves, bored of this exchange. "The only exceptional thing about you, my dear-" Audrey deigned to glance at her daughter. "-is your mother."

Chloe's blood boiled as she shook off Andre's hands on her shoulders, standing straighter. "I'll show you how exceptional I can be!" she promised.

Just as an akuma entered Chloe's present.

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

Alya was having an amazing day!

Her livestreams hadn't gotten this many new views since she almost got sacrificed by Pharaoh. The Ladyblog's activity was up. And Ladybug chose her as the Black Cat!

Sure it was weird that Ladybug didn't want to talk about it. But still! Black Cat! Alya tried to contain her grin as she thought about being Ladybug's partner for a day...

Her pace on the sidewalk slowed, enthusiasm dampening a little... Setting her face in determination Alya skipped into gear. All the more reason to piece together what happened! And she'd start with-

A burst of yellow light shot forth from the Grand Palais. Jolting Alya out of her thoughts as the newest akuma victim gave their villain speech from the roof.

"I am Queen Glitter! And from now on the only exceptional person in Paris will be me!"

Alya ran... straight for the villain who was obviously Chloe as she summoned a cloud of glitter and shapped it into a collection of accessories. The constructs restricting the movement of whoever they landed on. Scarves wrapping people's legs together or tying them to lampposts. Hats covering people's eyes as they tried to yank them off. There was even someone with his hands stuck in high heels. Queen Glitter made a giant floating scarf to stand on and took off in a random direction; leaving a trail of gaudy accessories in her wake.

Great. It was going to take forever to catch up to her now! Taking cover in an alleyway so Queen Glitter's sparkly formal wear wouldn't notice her, Alya scanned the street. Mentally kicking herself for not having recorded the villain speech for the Ladyblog.

"Looks like you're raring to go," Ladybug observed as she landed next to Alya. A familiar box in her hand.

"Ladybug! Didn't think I'd be helping out again so soon!" Alya held out her palm and Ladybug placed the Black Cat Miraculous in her hands again.

"Y'know the drill, right?" Ladybug's eyes wandered to the people in various states of running-for-their-lives.

"Give it back when we're done and don't take it personally," Alya paraphrased as Plagg emerged in a ball of light when she placed the ring on her finger.

"Ladyblog girl again?” Plagg gave her a once over. Ears flat against his head but swishing tail betraying his apprehension. "Well, at least Alya's not blue boy."

“He wasn’t that-“ Ladybug shook her head. “Y’know what, never mind.”

Glancing between them Alya filed that tidbit away for later. "C'mon, Plagg. We did great together!"

"You were okay," Plagg acknowledged. "Could've used more cat puns."

Alya chuckled. Of course he'd like those. With a -slightly forced- encouraging smile from Ladybug, Alya called out: “Plagg, transforme-moi!”

Green lightning traveled from Chat Noir’s ring across both arms and down her torso. A green sash wrapping around her waist and trailing into a tail. Running her clawed gloves through her hair as cat ears materialized. Said hair puffing up into an afro. Armor padding her shoulders and torso. Alya flexed her fingers to get used to the feeling. Chat Ombre's suit still felt strange on her skin compared to Rena Rouge.

Ladybug leapt onto the rooftops and Chat Ombre followed her lead. Racing towards the villain while avoiding her glitter. "So what's the plan?"

"Queen Glitter is basically a reskin of Style Queen," Ladybug thought aloud.

"But without that annoying habit of turning into a cloud!" Chat Ombre supplied.

Ladybug launched her yo-yo at a pedestrian and yanked him away from Queen Glitter's constructs as they passed by. "But she can spread her power over a wider area."

"Don't worry, Ladybug. We'll be- Look out!" Alya tackled Ladybug out of the way as a trio of glittery top hats zoomed past.

"Your reign is over Ladybug and wannabe Chat Noir!" Queen Glitter announced as she floated over them. Her appearance was similar to Style Queen except her crown was even bigger and gaudier. A foux glitter scarf around her shoulders. "I don't even care if you don't give me your Miraculous! I'll simply immobilize you and take them by force!"

They evaded a flurry of coats by jumping down to the street. "Really?" Chat Ombre called out. "That all you can throw at us? A tacky outfit?"

"Wouldn't be the first time!" Ladybug agreed.

"No one ever appreciates my gifts!" Queen Glitter stomped her foot. "Fine then. Why don't we try something more expensive!" Raising her hands she lifted two cars wrapped with giant bows into the air.

Alya's eyes widened. "Oh, shi-" Chat Ombre evaded Chloe's attacks as the villain played wack-a-chat. Glitter accessories flying in and attempting to restrict their movements as well.

Ladybug wrapped one of the vehicles with her yo-yo and spun it back at Queen Glitter.

The bright red sports car hurled towards her and- She stopped it with the palm of her hand. "You'll have to do better than that if- Where'd you go!?" Queen Glitter scanned the empty street, rising higher for a better vantage point.

Chat Ombre locked eyes with her for a second before a chimney obscured her line of sight. "Somehow I don't think that bought us much time." Alya voiced as a wave of clothing rose over the city.

Ladybug spotted a strip of blue between the rooftops. Thinking quickly, Marinette grabbed Alya's hand and turned them towards the Seine. Diving into its waters with a torrent of glitter in their wake.

Queen Glitter's constructs crashed into the river and washed away with the current.

Chat Ombre made for the surface once it was clear but Ladybug pulled her back. Chat's staff in her hand and yo-yo on her face. Pointing towards the magic tool Ladybug offered it to Alya.

Nodding, Alya quickly pressed it to her lips and took a deep breath, sweet oxygen filling her lungs. Giving Ladybug a thumbs up once she didn't feel like her chest was on fire.

Grabbing her hand Ladybug led Alya further upstream until they found a boat.

Gasping the (relatively) fresh air Alya examined Chat's staff. "I didn't know it could do that."

"Yeah, the Miraculous are full of surprises. And we'll need one of our own to beat Queen Glitter. Lucky Charm!"

A spotted snorkel fell into Ladybug's hands.

"Don't we already have one of those?" Chat Ombre asked.

Ladybug's brow furrowed as she stared at it. "Yeah... Wait, Queen Glitter's powers don't work underwater!"

"So, all we need to do is get her there!" 

Ladybug glanced at a pair of recycling bins. "And I know just how to sneak up on her."

Chat Ombre grinned. She liked this plan.

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

Chat Ombre hated this plan!

It had all gone smoothly. The glitter constructs ignoring the recycling bins they used as disguises. Snake style. Chloe was dumbfounded when she saw them. Enough to let them take the elevator up to the Grand Paris' rooftop where Queen Glitter set up her makeshift throne. Giving them the opportunity to tackle her towards the Seine.

Unfortunately, Queen Glitter could make constructs of any size. Like, for example, a wide brimmed hat big enough to stretch from either bank of the Seine.

"You were going to make me wear this?" Queen Glitter held up the Lucky Charm- "No thanks!" -and struck it across her knee.

Alya winced as the villain broke Ladybug's insta-win button in half. "Please, tell me you have a plan?" Chat Ombre glanced at the spotted hero currently wrapped up in an extra long scarf just like she was. The floating constructs squeezing just a little bit more as Ladybug struggled against them. Alya tried bending her wrist to Cataclysm her restraints but her right hand was held away from the rest of her body.

"No planning! Not that it'll do you any good. I've already won! Me! Queen Glitter! MWAHAHAHAH- Do you mind? I'm trying to savour the moment!" Chloe snapped as Papillon's emblem glowed over her face.

Alya's head turned from an increasingly frantic Ladybug to the annoyed villain.

"Of course I'm going to take their Miraculous! Why wouldn't I take their Miraculous?"

"An excellent question, your Highness!"

Three pairs of eyes snapped towards the source of the unexpected voice.

"... Who the heck are you supposed to be?" Queen Glitter demanded.

"Aristos! At your service!" He bowed with a flourish, giving Alya a good look at the bee shaped comb at the base of his ponytail. Blond hair highlighted with black stripes. Goggles obscuring his face, making his green eyes hard to read despite the grin on his lips. Suit mostly yellow with black, V-shaped stripes on his torso, forearms and lower legs. Three hexagons on his chest giving the impression of honeycombs.

"No no no no no no." Ladybug stared at Aristos, not realizing that she was speaking aloud.

...Well, that can't be good, Alya thought.

"Ha! Did you really think more insects would help, Ladybug?" The villain mocked. Her constructs closing in on the interloper.

Aristos' smile took on a darker edge. "I'm not with her, your Majesty. I'm here to pledge myself to the most exceptional Queen I've ever seen! Really, where does Papillon get off talking to such a glittery figure as your Highness like that?"

Alya blinked. Really? Even Chloe wouldn't fall for-

Raising her hand the villain halted her constructs' advance. "Hmm, well at least you know how to treat royalty." Queen Glitter offered her bejeweled fingers. "I guess you can be my underling."

Ah. Right. Never underestimate the power of Chloe's ego.

The Bee, Alya was ninety-nine percent sure he was the Bee, took Chloe's offered hand and leaned down. Lips hovering over the back of her hand. "Oh! That reminds me your Highness, I have a gift for you."

Queen Glitter's eyes shone. "A present? For me? It better be the latest- Ow! I'm getting to that!" She snapped at Papillon, looking away from the Bee to glare at the absent supervillain.

Aristos removed the striped top Alya recognized as his Miraculous tool from around his waist.

"You didn't beat them! I did!"

Casually, carefully, Aristos placed his top on Queen Glitter's hand. Point against her glittering skin.

"You couldn't do it yourself so you sent me!"

"Venom," the Bee breathed.

"What was-"

Queen Glitter froze as Aristos' top glowed; his power paralyzing her. The constructs bursting into clouds of glitter. Chat Ombre landed in a crouch as her restraints vanished.

"It worked." Aristos sounded as surprised as Alya felt. "It worked! Yes! Nailed it!" He pumped his fist as relief overflowed and- Was he crying?. "Independent hero debut successful!"

"What?" Ladybug was staring at the Bee apprehensively and that didn't help Alya's nerves.

Aristos' mood instantly became more subdued. Blinking rapidly to get the water out of his eyes. "Oh, right. You're still here."

Chat Ombre tried not to take that personally. He did just save them, after all.

Ladybug stepped forward. Voice even, diplomatic. Never mind that she seemed this close to freaking out. "Listen, Aristos was it? I don't know how you found that Miraculous but you have to give it back."

His face was disturbingly neutral. "...Don't I get a 'thank you' for saving the day?"

The tension in Ladybug's shoulders wouldn't budge. "Thank you, but I really need that Miraculous back." She held out her hand.

Aristos stared at Ladybug's hand like it was something alien. Cracks appearing in his facade. "Yeah, pass."  Walking backwards, away from Ladybug and Chat Ombre, he kept them in his field of vision.

"Wh- The- Y-you can't just decide that!" Ladybug sputtered, stepping forward.

"Just did! How do I even know this Miraculous is even yours?" Aristos asked, increasing the distance between them.

Alya got the distinct impression that he was bullshitting them.

"I'm the one who lost it!"

Alya's eyes widened. "You lost a Miraculous?"

"Not helping, Chat!"

Aristos' features twitched, eyes narrowing. "Sure you say it's yours but how do I know that?"

Chat Ombre bristled at the implication. "Ladybug is the Hero of Paris!"

Aristos gave her a once-over, his expression inscrutable, but said nothing.

Wow. Rude.

"That Miraculous belongs to the G- to me."

"That's interesting because I say it belongs to me." Aristos laid a hand on his chest. "Looks like it's your word against mine. Guess which one I'm choosing?"

Ladybug's yo-yo was suddenly spinning in her hand. "I swear, I'm not gonna lose another-"

An insistent beeping from Ladybug's earrings interrupted her.

"Welp! Love to stay and dance but it looks like you two need to buzz off before your precious identities are exposed to little old me."

Why did he sound bitter? Everything about him made Alya's head spin with questions. Not least of which being how the heck someone holding the Bee Miraculous showed up in the first place.

Taking his top, Aristos hopped onto the edge of the Grand Paris' roof. "Might want to deal with her before that happens."

Alya looked to where he was pointing to see Queen Glitter still paralyzed. When she glanced back at the Bee he was gone.

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

Adrien's day sucked.

Paris Fashion Week was always a chore but this year was even worse. Despite having friends around he felt lonelier than ever. Getting to talk to Marinette only helped so much. Adrien was still expected to plaster on a smile and represent 'the brand'.

And that was before he got turned into a freaking statue!

At least it's better than mind control.

Shut up!

He did not want to see Ladybug or her new partner up close and personal! Thank you, very much! But like always what Adrien wanted didn't matter.

Imagine his surprise when a Miraculous practically falls into his lap. A familiar glow blooming in his chest against all reason as Adrien opens the box.

"Hello, my King," the unknown, bee-like kwami greets formally.

There's a turning in his stomach that Adrien tries his best to calm it. "H-hi! I'm Adrien. What's your name?"

"I am Pollen," she bowed. "Kwami of Subjection. An honor to meet you. It has been a long time since I've had a king."

"Just Adrien is fine." Taking the Miraculous, a comb of all things, out of it's box Adrien stares at it. It's disguise all black and only vaguely shaped like a bee compared to the details he glimpsed before Pollen came out.

"Of course, my King."

Adrien sighed. Pollen was nothing like Plagg. Then again, Adrien wasn't sure the world could survive two of him. The lazy little jerk was enough to drive any Guardian mad all by himself... God, he missed Plagg.

"Um, anyway, how does your power work?"

Pollen clapped her small appendages together. "It's very straightforward, my King. You simply call out 'Venom' and your top will activate. Then strike your opponent with the point and they'll be paralyzed for however long you desire." She whooshed toward him for emphasis.

"Paralyze..." That was certainly more straightforward than using Cataclysm.

'Cause you sucked at that, didn't you?

Shut up. This was... What was he doing? When Adrien held the Bee in his hands he felt... Alive. Like a promise that things could be better this time around.

Adrien jumped as insistent knocking on his changing room door startled him out of his thoughts.

"M. Agreste? Mme. Sancoeur says we're back on in five."

"Be right out!" Brushing the Miraculous with his thumb to make sure it was really there Adrien placed it in his pocket. Hesitating for a moment he offered his jacket to Pollen.

Nodding, she zoomed into Plagg's old hiding place.

Taking a deep breath, Adrien opened the door. "Let's get this over with."

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

Adrien ran off as soon as Papillon's mark appeared on Chloe's face. Catching Marinette doing the same from the corner of his eye. Glass raining down as Queen Glitter broke through the Grand Palais' roof.

Pollen zipping out as he tied his hair into a makeshift ponytail. Holding it in place with the Bee Miraculous.

"Quickly, my King! Say 'Pollen, transforme-moi'!"

Adrien stared at her. He could hear screaming as people ran.

"My King!"

His oldest friend just got akumatized for the second time.

"My King!"

All he had to do was speak!

"Adrien!"

His knees shook as his back hit the wall behind him for support. "But... I wasn't chosen."

Pollen floated higher as her eyes widened in surprise. "Weren't you given my Miraculous?"

Adrien shook his head. "I f-found it... After giving up the Black Cat."

This time Pollen dipped as she nearly fell out of the air. "Chat Noir."

Adrien shook his head even more emphatically. Hands going up to cover his face. "N-no! Not him! Can't be him!" he choked.

Pollen laid her hand on his and Adrien tensed at the touch. "My King."

Something in her voice made Adrien look at her.

"You wish to help, do you not?"

"... Yes."

Pollen's eyes softened. "Then help."

Adrien stared at her. So sure that she'd want nothing to do with him once she knew what a failure he was... But that wasn't the case.

Rising shakily to his feet Adrien gave Pollen a grateful smile. "Pollen, transforme-moi'."

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

Aristos panted as he glanced up from the alleyway. Spotting no pursuers. "Pollen, detransforme-moi."

Landing on Adrien's outstretched palms, Pollen beamed tiredly at him. "Excellent work, my King."

Adrien smiled back. "Oh! What do you eat? Plagg loves Camembert but..."

"That would be fine. However, I prefer something sweeter."

"Yeah..." A weight settled on his chest. "Let's see what we can find..."

Pollen frowned. "Is something wrong, my King?"

Adrien avoided her gaze. What was he supposed to say? That disobeying Ladybug felt wrong? That he almost let his guilt and resentment make him say cruel things to his replacement? That his heart wouldn't stop pounding? "It's just... Do you want to go back?"

Pollen blinked.

"You're supposed to listen to the Guardian, right?" Adrien bit his lip as his heart tried jumping up his throat. "It's not fair of me to keep you if you want to go back."

Pollen sat up on his palms. "I have been in the Miracle Box for a long time, my King. I can think of worse things than spending what time I have outside it with you."

Adrien's eyes burned as he wiped away tears. "Thanks, Pollen."

Ladybugs swirled in the sky as they repaired the city.

"Of course, my King," Pollen smiled.

"Call me Adrien."

"Yes, my King."

Adrien sighed. A smile coming to his lips. Looks like Aristos was sticking around for a while.

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

Retroactively giving Black Cat Alya an afro.

[purrincess-chat]

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Remix CH7

Happy Valentine’s weekend, my dears! To make up for missing last week, I’m sharing two chapters today. Maybe if you’re all really good, and I have time I’ll share chapter 8 on Sunday. That’s where the fun begins ;) Are you ready for it?

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Chapter 7: Shake It Out

My dear sweet Marinette,

           How are you, my fairy? I hope that this letter finds you well. When you backpack over Russian mountains, you take whatever mail service you can get. I have so much to tell you about my latest trip, but first I have some exciting news for you!

During my last stay in Africa volunteering to build homes in a humble little village, I ran into a sweet little fairy by the name of Clara Nightingale. She says she met you! Did you know she’s a famous pop star? Anyway, she and I spent a lot of quality time together teaching young children how to read, and I showed her the scarf you knitted me for Christmas. She loved it! She says she will be in Paris again on the 18th and wanted to meet with you about designing for her, so I gave her the address to the bakery. She said she would stop by and see you.

“No way, no way, no way!” Marinette shrieked, kicking her feet. “Clara Nightingale wants me to design for her! I’m gonna faint.”

“This is an amazing opportunity for you, Marinette,” Tikki said as Marinette paced the floor, hugging the letter. “Tomorrow could change your life!”

“I know, Tikki! I’m so excited to- wait.” She stopped abruptly. “Tomorrow?”

“The letter said the 18th,” Tikki said, and Marinette raced over to pull down her calendar. “Isn’t that-”

“Tomorrow! Clara Nightingale is coming to my house. Tomorrow. To look at my designs!” Marinette clutched her cheeks as rapid breaths shook her shoulders. Tikki covered her ears as another scream emitted from Marinette’s throat. “This is a dream come true, Tikki!”

“It’s not that surprising. Gabriel Agreste liked your designs, and Clara attended the show, so it’s not like she’s unfamiliar with your work.” Tikki pointed out. “Plus, you’ve designed for Jagged before too.”

“I know, but getting commissioned by celebrities at 14 isn’t something you just get used to.” Marinette fell onto her chaise with a sigh. “I can’t wait to tell Macy, Eliott, and Martin! They’re gonna freak out.”

“What are you going to do about Chloe?”

Marinette waved it away, reading over the letter again. “I’m going to ignore her. She has no power over me.”

“True…” Tikki said. “But she did have a point. You always look out for your friends.”

“Yeah, but how many of those ‘friends’ came to visit me when I left?” Marinette said pointedly.

“Is that why you left? To see who would come?”

Marinette set the letter down and pursed her lips. “That’s one reason. I wanted to get away, but I also wanted to see who my real friends are,” she said. “I wanted to see who cared enough to chase after me, and I guess Adrien is the only real friend I had after all. Funny how I spent all that time hoping he would notice me when in reality, he’s always been on my side.”

“He thinks really highly of you.” Tikki flitted over to rest beside her.

“I know. My heart was beating so fast when he said those things earlier. Do you think it means he likes me?” Marinette smiled up at her ceiling, biting her lip.

“It definitely means he knows how amazing you are, and I’m sure you can catch his attention romantically too. Especially now that you two are hanging out so much,” Tikki said.

“I feel like all of my dreams are coming true.” Marinette buried her face in the throw pillow with a squeak.

“With everything you give to the city, I think you deserve it,” Tikki said.

“Well, one thing is for sure, I need to defeat Hawkmoth before I become a famous fashion designer and go to New York. That’s priority number one. Chat Noir, Rena- oh-” Marinette sat up abruptly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, Alya and Nino are Rena Rouge and Carapace, but after everything… I don’t know if I still trust them,” she said. “I don’t doubt that they would help Ladybug, but if I know who they are, then it might affect me. Do you think I made a mistake picking people close to me?”

“I think that’s a question for someone with more experience picking.” Tikki advised.

Marinette drummed her fingers on her thigh. “You’re right, Tikki. Let’s go.”

Master Fu was playing cards with Wayzz when Marinette knocked on the door and poked her head in. “Master?”

“Marinette, what brings you here?” He lowered his hand calmly.

“I could use some advice. Do you have a minute?”

Wayzz peeked over his cards with a huff. “We are in the middle of a game,” he said matter-of-factly, but Master Fu cast him a sly smile.

“It’s okay.” He splayed his royal flush for Wayzz to see. “I was just winning. What is on your mind?”

Marinette sat on the mat, hugging her knees to her chest as Wayzz zipped off grumpily. Taking a deep breath, she dove in, sparing no details—Volpina, Lila, her friends, changing schools, leaving Alya. Everything. Master Fu listened patiently while she talked, sipping his tea thoughtfully every now and then.

“I’m sorry, Master, but I think I made a mistake picking my friends to be Rena Rouge and Carapace.” She finished, head hanging low. “I don’t think I’m fit to choose our partners anymore.”

“Marinette,” Master Fu said with one of his kind, grandfatherly smiles. “We cannot blame ourselves for the actions of others. Your friends have made choices outside of your control. That does not mean that your judgment was lacking when you picked them. People change, and that is no one’s fault, just the natural order of things.”

“So, you won’t be mad if I pick someone else next time I need help?” Marinette glanced up at him like a small child waiting to be scolded.

“You must pick allies you can trust—whoever that happens to be in the moment,” he said.

“Thank you, Master.” Her shoulders relaxed. “Sorry to interrupt your game.”

“It’s okay. I have a large lead on Wayzz.” He chuckled. “Come back anytime.”

“I will. And next time, I’ll choose people I know I can count on.”

♪♫♪ StopRewind ♪♫♪

“You’re in an awfully good mood,” Macy remarked as Marinette took her seat in home room.

“Did something good happen? Spill!” Eliott leaned in.

Marinette glanced around the room to ensure their classmates couldn’t hear them. “Can you two keep a secret?”

“Oh, if there’s anything we aristocrats know how to do, it’s keep secrets.” Eliott assured her.

“Yeah, you’re our friend now. You can count on us.” Macy echoed with an encouraging nod.

Marinette bit her lip, leaning in close to whisper, “Clara Nightingale wants me to design for her.”

“No way!” Eliott gasped.

“Marinette, that’s huge.” Macy squealed before regaining her composure. “Don’t worry. We will totally keep it on the down-low, but I can’t wait to see the look on Gabrielle’s face when it goes public.”

“Pretty soon you’ll be buying your own yacht, Marinette,” Eliott said with a laugh. “Speaking of, you still need to see mine.”

“Oh, and we should totally have tea at my house! We just had the theater redone,” Macy added.

“I’d love to,” Marinette said. “Clara is supposed to come over today, so I’ll tell you how it goes.”

“We want all of the details tomorrow,” Macy said as Mr. Mercier entered the room and called for everyone to settle down. “We can rendezvous at my place this weekend.”

“Sounds good.”

When school ended, Marinette rushed home, a giddy smile tugging at her cheeks. What type of design would Clara want? A dress? Or maybe a tasteful pantsuit? Her mind was already buzzing with ideas. Hopefully, she didn’t mess everything up. What if she designed something, and Clara hated it? Or worse what if Audrey Bourgeois slammed her design in the next issue of her magazine because she refused to help Chloe? Then it could ruin Clara’s career, and it would be all Marinette’s fault!

“Hi, sweetie. How was school?” her mom greeted when she entered the bakery.

“Fine, except I have no talent, and I’m going to ruin Clara Nightingale,” she said.

“That’s not true. My daughter has all the talent in the world. She can do anything!” Her dad scooped her into a tight hug. “After all, she comes by it naturally.” He gestured to a large wedding cake resting in the back.

“You’re just nervous, sweetie. You’re going to be great,” her mom said.  

The bell above the door chimed, and a woman wearing a hat and sunglasses entered. Marinette’s father put her down and resumed his post in the back while her mother returned to the cash register.

“Welcome! What can we get for you today?” her mom asked politely.

“What I’m after isn’t a sweet treat; there’s someone here I want to meet.” She lowered her sunglasses to peek over at Marinette. “It’s been some time since we’ve seen one another, but your designs are truly like no other.”

“Clara Nightingale! You’re here!” Marinette gasped.

“I want to ask you a request of mine. I’ll run it by you if you’ve got time.”

“Yes, I have so much time!” Marinette said, then composing herself, gestured to the back door. “Why don’t we chat upstairs?”

“Fine by me. This request is top secret, you see,” Clara said. She followed Marinette up to the apartment, and once they were safely away from the public eye, she removed her disguise with a sigh of relief. “Thank you for meeting with me. I assume you read your grandmother’s letter.”

“I did. It arrived yesterday.” Marinette nodded, putting on a pot of tea.

“Excellent! Then you know why I’m here.”

Marinette turned and found herself face-to-face with Clara, nearly dropping the teabags in surprise.

“Ever since I met you, I felt a connection between us like our destinies were entwined. I loved the hat you designed for Adrien, and Jagged has only ever told me great things about you. Then of course, Gina’s scarf was to die for, so, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you be willing to design for me?” Clara dropped onto one knee.

“Doesn’t Gabriel Agreste usually design your clothes? Wouldn’t you rather see a professional?” Marinette asked.

“Gabriel’s designs are wonderful, but I think you can capture my essence for this. I’ve been nominated for a music award, and I want you to design my dress for the ceremony.” Clara took her hands with a confident smile. “You and I are both passionate about our crafts, and I think you can bring something that Gabriel can’t, so what do you say?”

Clara’s gaze bore into hers hopefully, and Marinette shifted her weight. “I’ll do my best.” Marinette gulped, and Clara bounced in delight.

“Thank you, Marinette! This favor is one I won’t forget!” Clara pulled her in for a tight hug. “Your willingness means so much, and very soon I’ll be in touch.”

Clara trotted out the door happily, hat and sunglasses in hand, leaving Marinette standing in the kitchen, stunned. She blinked out of her trance when the teapot on the stove screeched and set it aside, barely capable of containing her smile.

She couldn’t wait to tell her friends this.

♪♫♪ I’d Love to Break It to You ♪♫♪

Adrien removed his fencing gloves with a sigh. Another long day of watching Lila manipulate everyone. Even he had to admit it was getting old, especially since Nino spent most of his free time helping Alya with her deputy duties, which were really Lila’s class representative duties that she came up with excuses to get out of.

He ripped open his locker and tossed the gloves into his bag, thinking back to Marinette’s anguished sobs the previous evening. Seeing her so upset was nauseating in a way Adrien had never felt before. Maybe it was because Marinette was always positive and upbeat, doing her best to help others even when she had problems of her own. Someone like her being so broken and hurt was painful to watch. He wanted to help her in some way, but how could he? He could barely stand up to Chloe, let alone Lila.

“Why the long face?” Kagami’s voice startled him.

He turned to face her as she leaned against the locker next to his.

“Just tired.” He slung his bag over one shoulder with a shrug.

“You’ve been like this for the past week,” she remarked as he paced up the aisle toward the door. “Ever since Marinette left.”

“It’s been a long week. I’ve had a lot going on,” he said flatly.

“You miss her.”

Adrien stopped short at the end of the row and glanced back at Kagami over one shoulder. “Why wouldn’t I? She’s my friend.”

Kagami shoved away from the locker, approaching him slowly—lithe like a cat stalking her prey. “I wonder why she left so suddenly. Rumor has it that she had a jealousy spat with that Italian girl in your class,” Kagami said. “What was her name again? Lie-la?”

“Yeah,” Adrien said curtly, adjusting the strap of his bag.

“She sure has everyone enamored.” Kagami paused beside him and cocked a hip. “Well, almost everyone.”

“Why do you care?” Adrien’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t.” She shrugged.

“So why bring it up?”

“Because you and I both know the truth, and I suspect Marinette does too.” She tilted her chin to meet his gaze. “She’s a liar.”

Adrien let out a breath, the stiffness in his shoulders fading. “How’d you find out?”

“She claimed that her great grandfather was a world-champion fencer who invented a secret technique, but my family has held the championship title for the last six generations,” Kagami said. “Plus, her stories are so obviously farfetched and self-congratulating.”

“Tell that to everyone else,” he grumbled.  

“It’s not really my place. I don’t even go here.” Kagami shrugged again. “Besides, to everyone here, I’m just the ice queen.”

“So, you’re stuck with this knowledge too.” Adrien deflated with a sigh.

“After what happened with Marinette, I have no interest in confronting her. If your classmates want to be sheep, I say let them,” she said. “No sense in letting it upset you. They could easily figure it out if they applied an ounce of brain power.”

“Well, yeah, but she’s using all of them. I thought her lies were harmless, but she has everyone bending over backwards to help her. Now Marinette left the school hurt… I’m starting to get a little fed up.” Adrien averted his gaze, the wave of nausea returning to his stomach.

“So, call her out then,” Kagami said as if it were obvious. “People trust your word, and you have enough celebrity pull to prove it.”

“Yeah, but…” He winced.

“Adrien, your friends will only continue to suffer if you stay silent. Action is the only way to help them.” When he lowered his head, she rolled her eyes and pushed past him. “I hope your friends see the light eventually. For your sake. See you tomorrow.”

Adrien’s hands clenched into fists as she sauntered from the locker room, biting his tongue as anger swelled in his chest. Letting out a heated breath, he stalked toward the door, blinking in surprise when it opened.

Lila stepped in front of him and wasted no time latching onto his neck. “Adrien, you’ve been avoiding me,” she said with her sugary-sweet lilt. “You promised to help me catch up on my school work.”

“Sorry. I don’t think I can. Why don’t you ask Max?” He unhooked her arms and pushed her away gently.

“But you promised!” She pouted.

Her whiny tone sent a shiver down his spine, and he tried unsuccessfully to mask his grimace. “I’ve got a lot going on, Lila. Photoshoots, private lessons, that sort of stuff.” He took a purposeful step away from her.

“You seem to have enough time to go visit Marinette,” she said pointedly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“Lila-”

“She’s the one who’s lying, ya know. I’m sure she has told you all kinds of nasty things about me, but they’re false,” Lila said. “She’s just trying to turn you against me because she’s jealous.”

“That’s not true, Lila.” Adrien’s anger boiled hotter. “Marinette just wants to move on.”

“Is that why she went to Jagged Stone’s concert just to try to make me look bad?”

“No, that’s not-”

“Alya is still upset over their fight. Marinette ripped her heart out and stomped on it.”

“There’s more to it than tha-”

“Honestly, Marinette is the worst person I’ve ever met.”

Something in Adrien’s chest snapped—a rubber band stretched too far.

“How do I know when I should stand up for myself?”

“I get a feeling in my gut that it’s the right thing to do.”

“Enough, Lila!” he shouted.

She flinched, cupping her hands over her mouth. “Adrien, I-”

“Your lies won’t work on me, and sooner or later everyone else is going to see through you too, and you’ll be left all alone. Is that what you want?” He barely gave her a moment to respond before continuing. “Marinette poured her heart and soul into her friends. She made sacrifices for them and never once asked for anything in return, and now you’ve gone and turned her best friend against her and convinced everyone that she just wanted attention. If anyone here is a terrible person, it’s you.”

Lila’s face hardened, her whole countenance darkening. “I see how it is, Adrien.” Her jaw clenched. “If you choose to side with her over me, then I can’t help what happens to you. I own this school now, and there’s nothing you or Marinette can do about it.”

Turning over her shoulder, she slapped Adrien with her hair on her way out, and he balled his hands into tight fists. A feeling he’d never felt before bubbled in his core that made him restless. Adrien always thought Lila just wanted attention, but purposefully targeting one of his friends was not okay.

A new resolve came over him, and he instructed Gorilla to make a pitstop at the Grand Paris on the way home. His fist pounded against the suite door, breaths short and hot.

Chloe was lounging in a yellow bathrobe, feet soaking in a tub of water when her butler let him in. She raised an eyebrow as he entered. “You know I’m always happy to see you, Adrikins, but I’m in the middle of an herbal soak-”

“I want to help you take down Lila.” He cut her off.

A sinister smirk spread across Chloe’s lips, her shock fading to triumphant glee.

“Excellent.”

[activechataclysme]

TITLE: two truths and a lie.

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Ship: The Love Square - SnekMouse Rating: T [ AO3 ]

Summary:

“For the, uh, game. You said two things,” he said, holding up two fingers. He wiggled one finger.  “That there was a, uh, boy you’ve been in love with for years,” then the other. “And that you want to get over him.”

“I get that,” he said quietly, tapping a rhythm against her shoulder with his fingers. “Do you, uh, do you see him everyday?”

“More than he knows, I think,” she said, her tone a little sly, as if she was sharing an inside joke with herself. “He sits right in front of me in class, actually.”

-o-

“I realised I’m in love with this girl recently, I’m scared to ask her out. She, um, sits in front of me, an-and…” he floundered before finally tacking on a lie. “She knows exactly how I feel.”

... Or in which warm feelings flare in chests, soft gazes are exchanged, blushes are blushed and confessions are made without even intending to.

One of their evening patrols ended with the two of them after patrol on a secluded rooftop, with beer in cheap plastic cups in each of their hands, and two half empty bottles of it between the two of them. They sat on the balustrade, feet swinging as they looked out at the city, chuckling as they played a game of Two Truths and a Lie.

Aspik found that beer, if had in, er, generous amounts , could in fact make one tipsy, as well as loose-lipped. He was sure Multimouse would’ve figured him out if she hadn’t been a little tipsy and out of it herself...

People love photographing me, I hate that they do ( She had looked at him somewhat sadly at that ) and I love shopping for my own clothes.  

My dad’s a dick, Ladybug is the uh worst and my bestfriend is a superhero. ( She had giggled uncontrollably. )

Modelling is my dream job, I enjoy piano and I love our patrols together. ( He suspected, in a very self-satisfied manner, that the flaming of her cheeks didn’t have much to do with the cold. )

…And well, If he didn’t already know Multimouse’s identity, after tonight he definitely would have....

My parents are bakers, I have a DJ friend and I’ve never dated a musician.  

I have a journalist friend, I want to be a… singer and all walls in my room are pink

Chat Noir’s hair is as soft as it looks but don’t tell him I said that ( If Multimouse wondered why Aspik was blushing, she didn’t voice that ) . I like wearing my hair in pigtails and I’m allergic to marigolds. (Hard, because Aspik couldn’t possibly say that he’d seen her eat marigolds; he never questioned it of course.)

“Your previous suit design was awful, I love rose macarons and Chat Noir’s puns are amazing,” she giggled.

Aspike let out an amused snort. “You love rose macarons. And you love Chat Noir’s puns. So the lie obviously, is about my suit. My suit was the best .”

Multinouse giggled harder, cheeks flushed pink under her mask. The beer must be really getting to her, he thoughts, watching as she took another sip. “ False ,” she declared. “Chat Noir’s puns are awful .”

Aspik huffed. “My suit was just fine , little mouse.”

“Sure, snake boy,” she snorted.

“I’ll have you know I’m an expert on fashion,” he sniffed.

“I’m sure you are, Mr. Celebrity,” she laughed.

Multimouse reached over to ruffle his hair, laughing harder at his petulant look as he attempted to flatten his hair. Just as he was attempting to straighten his bangs, he caught her soft blue gaze on him. She was smiling at him warmly, almost a wistful expression on her face.

“What is it?” he asked, tilting his head.

She shook her head, almost as if she was snapping herself out of something. The softness left her face and she gave him a weak smile. “Your turn,” she said, downing her cup.

He watched quietly for a few moments, as she hastily refilled her cup. He cleared his throat and looked away, training his eyes on the city lights.

“I’m thankful to have you in my life and that we’re friends, your suit is super cute, grey and pink? Very you . And uh…” he floundered, when he sensed her wide-eyed blue gaze. “I… Uh, hate passionfruit?”

He heard her let out laughter, and he couldn’t help but turn to look at her. “You don’t hate passion fruit,” she giggled.

He snorted. “Well, how would you know? Maybe your suit is not cute. Maybe you’re not my friend.”

“You’re so silly,” she laughed. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you scarf down the passion fruit macarons I bring occasionally…”

“Well, only a fool would dislike those,” he said petulantly. “I can tell they’re baked with love,” he added teasingly, wagging his eyebrows at her.

She blushed and looked away, nervously patting one of her space buns. “...Er, well, m-my suit is amazing . I only ever wear top notch fashion, th-thank you very much.”

He grinned. “I’m sure you do.”

“And I… We’re…” She seemed to inhale deeply, before her gaze flickered over to his, a little wistful. “Friends. I know we are. You make sure to let me know.” She laughed, though it sounded a little hollow to his ears. “Everyday.”

Her eyes widened a fraction and she chuckled nervously. “I mean, everytime we patrol.”

Aspik frowned at the distant look in her eyes and the nervous fidgeting of her hands. He scooted a little closer to her and hesitantly took her hand in his. She stiffened, but only for a moment before relaxing again with a gentle sigh. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I’m glad we’re friends,” she said softly, and added almost as if to herself. “I’m happy we’re at least that.”

“Me too,” he said, before adding gently. “Your turn.”

“What? Oh, um right,” she said, and he felt her fidget lightly before settling down.

“I’ve been crazy in love with a boy for years,” she started, and Adrien froze. How had he forgotten about that . “I need to get over him, because I know he doesn’t see me that way...”

“He’s an idiot,” huffed Aspik, illiciting a startled laugh out of her.

“He’s not,” she said. “He’s the smartest, sweetest and kindest person I’ve met. Second only to maybe Chat Noir.”

“So Chat Noir is first , huh?” preened Adrien.

“Don’t tell him I said that,” she laughed. “It won’t do his ego any good.”

“Pfft,” said Aspik dismissively. “He’s the humblest hero of them all.”

“Sure,” said Multimouse, rolling her eyes.

“But we digress,” said Aspike. “This debate is on hold until further notice.”

“Whatever you say, li’l snek.”

They were silent for a few minutes before Aspik finally cracked. “You only said two things.”

“What?” she asked, lifting her head off his shoulder to look at him.

“For the, uh, game. You said two things,” he said, holding up two fingers. He wiggled one finger.  “That there was a, uh, boy you’ve been in love with for years,” then the other. “And that you want to get over him.”

“Hm,” she hummed, looking away again before letting out a soft self-depriciating laugh. “It’s going to be so easy to?”

Aspik wrapped a hand around her shoulder to tuck her further into his side, because what an idiot of a guy.

“I get that,” he said quietly, tapping a rhythm against her shoulder with his fingers. “Do you, uh, do you see him everyday?”

“More than he knows, I think,” she said, her tone a little sly, as if she was sharing an inside joke with herself. “He sits right in front of me in class, actually.”

Adrien felt his breath rush out of his lungs, as the world shifted in his mind’s eye. Like a fast replay of everything with a new filter, and he felt his chest start to warm. He tightened his grip around her and pulled her tighter against him.

He cleared his throat. “Have you, um, tried asking him out?”

“Only a hundred times,” she laughed. “It’s always gone wrong. Maybe that was for the best anyway. He doesn’t… He doesn’t see me like that.”

“And how do you know that? If you haven’t asked him out?”

“He says that we’re “just friends” at least once a week.” Marinette snorted. “I am starting to think that’s his way of gently letting me down without really having to reject me. He values friendships too much for that, I think.”

“You should really not make presumptions,” he said nervously, heart racing.

“Pretty sure I know what I’m talking about, Aspik. I’m sure I know what I’m talking about.”

“Including his feelings?”

“Feelings he’s made pretty clear,” she said as she drew circles on the back of his hand.

Aspik sighed, feeling like he was on the precipice of losing something he hadn’t even known he had. He really, really did not want to let go.

“My turn,” he said quietly. “I… There’s this… girl.”

Multimouse seemed to deflate a little next to him, which he couldn’t help but find a little perplexing. But he trudged forth.

“I realised I’m in love with this girl recently, I’m scared to ask her out and…” he floundered before finally tacking on a lie. “She knows exactly how I feel.”

“Well, that’s kind of obvious, snake boy,” she sighed. “I don’t see what you have to be scared about…”

“She… I found out only today that she’s trying hard to move on from me.”

“That means she still does have feelings for you.” Her voice was smaller than he’d like, almost a breathy resignation to it. “You should ask her anyway. I can’t imagine anyone saying no to you.”

“Yeah?”

She lifted her head off his shoulder, her gaze warm, smile fond. “Yeah.”

Aspik hummed. “Even you?”

“Of course! I just told you I- Well, I- I mean, if-if it weren’t for that guy I told you about, then um, yes. Definitely. For sure. Yep.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe I’ll leave a note on her desk when school re-opens after Winter Break. With a bunch of flowers.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’d like that,” sighed Multimouse.

“Actually, maybe not,” he amended thoughtfully. “She sits right behind me, so it’ll be hard for me to see her reaction. And she’s a little prone to easily freaking out,” he chuckled fondly. “Maybe I should enlist my bestfriend’s girlfriend for help. Those two are bestfriends, you know, and she’s a schemer, that one. What do you think I should-”

He stopped when he realised Multimouse’s head wasn’t against his shoulder anymore. He turned to see that she was staring at him with wide eyes, head tilted curiously

“Did you say that she sits behind you? Like right behind you?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh,” she muttered. “Y-You said that she has feelings for you. And that you found out she was trying to get over them.”

Adrien unfortunately had always been just a little slow on the uptake. So he chuckled a little. “Yeah, found out today, in fact.”

“ Today ?”

“Yep, today.”

“She told you herself, did she?”

He really should have noticed the careful neutrality in her tone.  

“Yes, actually,” he nodded vigorously. “But you seem to think there’s still hope, so I… Wait a second .”

He whirled on her, eyes narrowed, to find that she was studying him too.

“Do you…. Know ?” she asked first, eyebrows set in a wary pinch.

Aspik hesitated before leaning closer to her, almost nose to nose now bodies twisted to face each other. He turned completely to her in a moment, one leg folded, the other hanging off the ledge of the roof.

“Do… you know?”

“I asked first, mon é cailles .” The slight twitch of her eye gave away her faux serious facade though.

He smirked as he wrapped a hand under her knee to tug her closer, while her hands came up to hold his shoulders so she could stabilize herself. “Can’t argue with that logic ma petite souris ,” he chuckled, face towering over hers. “But I’m afraid I have the upper hand here.”

With that he kissed the corner of her lips ( Her. Lips. ), just as he decided to hell with it and tugged her onto his lap ( Oh, my god! ) fully.

“A-Aspik!” she squeaked as he looked up at her affectionately, before pressing a kiss to the other corner of her mouth.

“Multimouse,” he said, now his hands wrapped around her hips, zero room between them.

She was watching him with parted lips, face flaming, while her expression was of utter disbelief. Hesitantly, her hand went up to trace his mask, before it settled on cupping his cheek. Blushing, she looked at him with soft eyes before leaning slightly and kissing the apple of his cheek.

“How… How did you find out?” he asked quietly, as she started to draw back.

She looked panicked for a moment before relief seemed to wash over her.

“The game sort of gave you away,” she admitted, not meeting his eyes as one of her hands snaked ( snaked , heh) over his chest and over his shoulder so she could play with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Um, so what gave me away?” she asked shyly.

He froze for only a second before thanking the gods for having Marinette herself present the answer to him.

“The game,” he grinned.

She groaned before deflating in his arms ( In. His. Arms!!! ), forehead resting against his shoulder.

“I knew the beer was a terrible idea,” she whined. “It made us too loose-lipped!”

“Beg to differ,” said Aspik. “Best idea you’ve had, I think.”

Multimouse giggled. “Maybe.”

“Hey, Marinette?”

“Hm?”

“I do love you, you know. I meant that.”

She was quiet for some time before she finally drew away from him to look him in the face. She brushed his hair out of his eyes, dancing with a pure sort of happiness that made his heart burst with joy. She kissed his forehead, and then the tip of his nose, making his face heat up with anticipation.

As he watched, her eyes flickered to his lips, before she looked away nervously, biting her lower lip with worry. Adrien’s heart warmed - what, was this the hundredth time just that night? - and he brushed the tip of his nose against her chin.

“You know, you keep doing that and I might just kiss you,” he said teasingly.

He laughed softly as the tips of her ears turned red. “Well, you won’t hear me complain, mon écaille irisée ,” she muttered.

And well, so he kissed her. She seemed frozen in shock for a fleeting second before melting against him. Her hands locked around the nape of his neck as she pulled him closer, an almost mind-numbing tug at the base of his skull as she tilted his head back to get a better angle. He decided then and there that he wouldn't complain if they never stopped. He tried his best to cull the purr building in his throat because that would be dead giveaway, and wondered briefly if he'd develop snake-like tendencies as well if he wore the miraculous long enough. His teeth grazed her lower lip, where hers had been less than thirty seconds ago, and he bit it gently, greedily swallowing the moan she let out.

They finally parted for breath, and her buns sat skewed on the top of her head, messed up and unkempt, some strands straying loose and falling on her as she stared at him.

“You know, no one’s ever called me iridiscent before,” he said, eyes dancing with mirth as he swept back some of the loose hair off her face.

“Shut up, nicknames aren’t really my forte,” she pouted, leaning into give him another peck against his lips.

“No, I love it,” he assured her, making her look down at him again. “Will you promise to call me that forever?” he asked teasingly, an eyebrow quirked with mirth.

Everytime he thought she couldn’t turn any redder, she proved him wrong. And he loved her for it.

“You’re too much,” she complained. “You and Chat have been spending too much time together!

Adrien only laughed. “But you looooooove me.”

“Yeah I do.”

“I’m glad you didn’t get over me,” he said quietly.

Her smile faded and she looked at him fondly. “Thanks to you, you don’t make it easy, you know.”

“So I’ve heard,” he chuckled.

[bevvydraws]

A Kiss That Feels Like Home

Pairing: Lukanette and mentioned Adrigami!

Word Count: 1.5k! 

Warnings: A slight (?) bit of angst, but really it’s nothing bad. 

Notes: They are both older in this one-shot. Marinette is 19 and Luka is 20. 

This is a one-shot based on this drawing that I made! I hope you enjoy!  

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

“It’s so cold…” Marinette said, stating the obvious as she felt her shivering get worse. There was no way she would be outside at night when it was this cold under normal circumstances. No, if these were normal circumstances, she’d be happily snuggled up in bed watching movies on her phone until she inevitably fell asleep. But she was well aware of the fact that that wasn’t an option right now. Not when she got such a seemingly urgent text from Luka. She opened her phone and looked at the message again, letting out a puff of breath that made a visible cloud. 

“Meet me in the park beside your house. It’s important,” was what the message said. She reads the message over and over again, still confused. Luka didn’t usually text like that, and it was odd that there was no ‘please’ anywhere in the message. That’s what made Marinette hurry to do a little bit of makeup and don her winter coat, earmuffs, gloves and the largest scarf she could find. Marinette hated the cold, something that only increased once she started wearing the Ladybug earrings. Marinette also didn’t normally go through much effort to look nice, but recently she had found herself wanting to always look her best around her dear friend that may or may not have taken hold of her heart. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she looked around the park for any sight of Luka. 

All she saw was the empty and quiet park, illuminated by the lamp posts placed around the perimeter of the park. The light reflecting on the fountain was beautiful, and if it weren’t so cold Marinette might have been tempted to stay here all night to just take it all in. But it was cold, and Marinette was about to call Luka and get some answers as to what all of this was about when she heard a sound that made her face light up despite the shivers still taking hold of her body. It was unmistakably the sound of Luka’s motorbike, having traded his old delivery bike out for it just last year. Marinette smiled at the memory of him excitedly telling her all about it and letting her be the first one he took for a ride. 

Seeing him pull up to the gate of the park, Marinette walked towards him, her arms wrapped around herself slightly. Luka took his helmet off, and replaced it with the beanie Marinette made for him for his last birthday. Once he had his bike situated, his focus was entirely on Marinette, a big smile on his face. “Hey Marinette,” he said almost breathlessly as his gaze quickly passed over her before settling on looking into her eyes. 

“Hey Luka,” Marinette tried to greet him casually, but her voice was shaking from the cold, “what’s the emergency? Is everything alright?” She stopped right in front of him, looking up at him and searching for any sign of distress on his face. 

“I just had a talk with Juleka and realized that I’m the biggest idiot in the entire world, and I just needed to tell you something before I was able to talk myself out of it. It’s really important and I’m sorry it’s so late I’m sure you’re freezing but I--” Luka was rambling and only stopped once Marinette pressed her finger gently to his lips. 

“Luka.. slow down, okay?” she smiled up at him, thankful that the cold had already tinted her cheeks red. “I’m not going anywhere, just take your time.” 

Luka’s much larger hands came up to capture her hand, and he pressed a gentle kiss to the finger that was placed against his lips. Marinette felt her face heat up, suddenly not feeling so cold anymore. “I hope you aren’t going anywhere. That’s actually what I want to talk to you about…” he looked away, almost bashfully, before looking Marinette in the eyes, “Marinette, I love you. I want you to be my girlfriend.” 

Marinette felt her breath hitch in her throat, “H..huh..?” 

Luka smiled in a way that was so genuine Marinette was sure that her legs were going to give out underneath her, “I said… I love you, Marinette.” 

Marinette’s eyes widened as she searched his face for any sign of a joke, any sign that this was some prank or maybe it was all just a really really good dream. There was no way that someone as supportive and caring as Luka could ever love Marinette romantically. Not after spending so long pining after Adrien. Even though she had given up on him after seeing how happy he was with Kagami, she could never shake the guilt she felt when it came to just how desperately she had fought for his attention. She only ever felt guiltier when she thought about how obvious it was how Luka felt, yet chasing after someone who she felt so detached from in a romantic sense. Now, with Adrien and her being good friends, and her feelings for Luka blossoming into something she’s never experienced before, it felt too good to be true for him to confess his love for her. 

“Luka I…” her words refused to work, and she stood there with her mouth open, desperate for anything to come out. She could see Luka’s expression become tinted with sadness, but he still stayed where he was. 

“Juleka and I were talking, and I realized that I never actually pursued you. I made it clear how I felt, but I never tried past that. I didn’t… I didn’t think my feelings were worth it. I was so worried about not pushing you away that I wasn’t honest with myself in what I wanted to do,” Luka’s grip on her hand tightened ever so slightly, and he hung his head in shame.

“What you wanted… to do…?” Marinette managed to get out. 

“Yeah,” Luka nods, still looking at the ground, “Like ask you on proper dates, or buy you flowers, or tell you every opportunity I got just how beautiful I think you are. I wanted so badly to chase after you, to make sure you never doubted my feelings for a second. But I didn’t want you to feel pressured by my affections. I was… so worried about your feelings that I wasn’t true to my own. I was just waiting passively for you to settle for dating me.” 

Shocked by what she was hearing, Marinette carefully tilted Luka’s head up, and through her tear-blurred vision she could see Luka had tears of his own running down his face. She quickly wiped his tears away with her gloved hand, “Oh Luka…” she said softly, “It wouldn’t be settling. Please don’t sell yourself short. You are so amazing, and I’m sorry I made you feel like  you couldn’t be true to your feelings around me,” her own tears started falling harder, “especially after you were always so careful to tell me I could always be true to my feelings around you. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend to you.” 

Luka tried to cut her off, most likely to insist it wasn’t her fault, but Marinette just put her finger to his lips again, “Luka… I love you too. I love you so, so much.” 

A sudden gust of cold wind passed over them and both of them shivered and then laughed softly. Marinette bashfully removed her scarf and wrapped it around Luka and herself. Luka gently put his hand on her lower back and pulled her closer to him, the hand that had been close to his lips now resting on his chest. Luka leaned down to rest his forehead against her own. “I’m not dreaming… am I? Please tell me I’m not dreaming.” 

Marinette giggled softly at his silliness, “Unless we are sharing the same dream, this is real.” As if to prove her point, Marinette placed a little kiss to his cheek, giggling again at the red print left behind. She pressed another, even lighter kiss to the corner of his mouth before pulling away, looking up at him shyly. 

Luka looked back at her with so much love that Marinette almost felt like crying again. She was barely able to register the feeling of him pulling her even closer, his other hand cupping her cheek gently. She happily leaned into his touch, and he chuckled softly. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you are so amazing.” 

“The same could be said for you, Luka Couffaine,” Marinette responded, her voice barely above a whisper as she saw his face slowly drawing closer to her own. 

“Let’s be amazing together then,” he practically whispered, his gaze moving between her lips and her eyes. 

“Nothing would make me happier,” Marinette’s voice was barely audible, but that didn’t matter because then they were kissing. Soft and gentle, a kiss full of love and understanding. A kiss that felt like the warm comforting embrace of home, even as another large gust of winter air passed over them.

-----------

tags: @sleepysloth707

[celestialtitania]

your hand in mine

A secret santa fic for MarinetteAgresteBrand on AO3. Read it on AO3 or FFN! Enjoy!

Ladybug swung her legs back and forth as she sat alone. A voice suddenly called out her name, startling Ladybug so much that she nearly tumbled down from the tree branch she had been perched in.

Quickly, she grasped the tree with her other hand to push herself upwards, as she stood on the tree branch, her head whipping towards the voice. She was just beginning to worry that an akuma had found her but much to her surprise, it was nothing of the sort.

Standing below the tree, wearing a certain blue scarf, stood Adrien Agreste as he gazed up at her. "Are you alright?" He questioned her, a worried expression on his face. With a twist of her wrist, she spun her yoyo and launched herself out of the tree to stand next to him.

"Of course! I've never been better! What makes you ask?" Ladybug lied through her teeth, as she smiled gently at the boy of her dreams.

"You seemed to be thinking about something," Adrien shrugged, turning his gaze towards the ground. "I'm sorry for bothering you, I'm sure you barely know who I am, let alone want to share your thoughts with me." Adrien tried to back away from her, but a sudden flash of panic had Ladybug reaching out to take a hold of his hand instead.

"Adrien, I could never forget you," she whispered gently. He turned to stare at her with a rising blush on his face making Ladybug realize what she had just said. The urge to hit herself on the head had never been stronger. "I-I mean to say that those akumas were pretty memorable, you know?" She laughed nervously hoping he hadn't realized her true meaning.

Adrien had had a small, shy smile growing on his face but it suddenly turned into a frown making Ladybug's panic grow further wondering what she had said to change the atmosphere between them again.

"Adrien?" She questioned softly, biting her lip in worry.

He sighed before he shook his head and gave her a brilliant smile. "Of course, it's not everyday I jump from my bodyguard's hand y'know," he joked with her, a blush coming to both of their faces as they remembered the way she had saved him by carrying him in her arms. "I should probably be getting going though, it was really nice to see you Ladybug."

His smile never wavered but something about his smile was bugging Ladybug too much to just let him go. As he tried to pull away, she only held on tighter, desperately looking for something that would keep Adrien next to her. Her vision flickered, almost like when she had ideas for her lucky charm as she spotted the perfect way to make it up to Adrien.

"Ice-cream!"

"What?" Adrien questioned, looking at Ladybug as if she had gone insane.

In response, Ladybug let out a small laugh. "I mean, look!" She pointed to the bridge behind them where Andre had his cart set up. "Would you like to get some ice-cream with me?" Inwardly, she was fighting off a blush as she remembered her parents' love story.

Adrien seemed to be hesitating as Ladybug peered at him. Finally, she sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be presumptuous. If you're busy, I don't want to make you late."

"No!" Adrien cried out, causing Ladybug to be taken aback.

"R-right, of course. You are busy then," she stammered, the feeling of guilt surging up in her. She was being a terrible superhero keeping Adrien from his previously arranged appointments like that.

She began to take a shaky step backwards but Adrien didn't let her. "I meant, I would love to have some ice-cream with you, Ladybug. I couldn't imagine having ice-cream with anyone else." His honest words made Ladybug's cheeks feel so hot, for a moment she thought she was on fire. She tried not to notice the pinkish hue on Adrien's own face but the giddy feeling inside of her couldn't be stopped.

"Would you like to have a ride?" Ladybug asked, motioning at her yoyo. Adrien nodded before he laughed. "I think you'll have to let go of my hand first though."

Ladybug started, just now realizing that she had been holding on to Adrien's hand this entire time. Feeling a little bold, she tugged him closer and only let go of his hand to put it around her shoulders and grabbed his waist.

"Ready?" She questioned him, trying not to notice how close her face was to his, desperately keeping her eyes off his own. This was no time to be mesmerized! He nodded at her before he put his other arm around her and snuggled into her neck. Ladybug felt as if she had died and gone to heaven.

She must have gone too still because Adrien slowly lifted his head and shot her a questioning glance. Ladybug shook her head and held him a little tighter before tossing her yoyo upwards. Far too soon, she was putting Adrien back down and stepped away from him.

"Let's go get some ice-cream!" She said, forcing cheer into her voice. Adrien's expression turned a little sad for a moment before he nodded and gave her a smile. Ladybug knew Tikki would be upset if she found out about this and she really shouldn't be using her superhero identity to get close to her crush, but before she could think about it any further, Ladybug reached forward and grabbed Adrien's hand again.

He froze, looking first at their clasped hands and then back at her.

"I like the way your hand fits in mine," Ladybug confessed, looking away from him while darting glances at him, trying to gauge his expression all the same. "Is this okay?" She got worried when he didn't respond and was just about to let go when Adrien's grip tightened.

"Me too," he said, his blush so furious it went from his face to the tips of his ears. "I'd really love to get some Sweetheart's Ice-cream with you, Ladybug."

She blinked at him, realizing he was well aware of the legend behind Andre's ice-cream. "Really?" She had to ask, not quite able to believe her own years.

"Absolutely," the smile he gave her this time was absolutely dazzling. Hand in hand, they went to Andre, barely able to tear their eyes from each other.

Andre proclaimed them a beautiful couple but Ladybug wasn't paying attention. For the first time, she could get lost in Adrien's beautiful green eyes with him actually looking back at her. When the ice-cream cone was thrust at them, they both blinked in surprise and turned back to Andre.

"On the house for you two," he smiled and waved them off. They quickly thanked Andre before sitting down and enjoying the sweet treat.

"Mmh, what flavours are these?" Adrien moaned in delight at the first bite.

Ladybug hummed as she tasted it for herself. "Looks like it's strawberry with chocolate chips and pistachio."

"Right, 'not the most likely of pairs but a perfect match,'" Adrien quoted.

"Is that what Andre said?" She asked, tilting her head to look at him better. She caught his gaze before hers dropped down to his lips before she looked up again.

"Y-yeah," Adrien nodded, as he used a finger to pull down the collar of his T-shirt. "I-its kind of hot out here."

Ladybug stared deeper into his eyes, unconsciously straightening her back. "You really are," she murmured. The ice-cream fell from their hands into a sticky puddle on the street, but neither of them could bring themselves to care.

As if they were being pulled together, they continued to lean in towards each other, hesitating just long enough for both of them to convey consent before their lips finally met. As the fireworks went off, all she could taste was strawberries and pistachios.

[quicksilversquared]

The Wavering Peahen: Chapter 2

When Nathalie started feeling oddly ill again, both she and Gabriel were worried that the Peacock Miraculous might somehow (impossibly) be to blame again.

So naturally, they pick someone else to be the Peacock for a bit. You know, as a test subject. Except the new Peacock… doesn’t exactly know that.

links in the reblog

Knocks at her window well after dark and after her mom had gone to bed were rarely a good thing, particularly in a city with that had akumas popping up every other day whenever someone got upset.

Lila knew that she was sitting perched on top of a mountain of lies. If someone somehow found out and got mad, that could more than explain a knock at her window at night. Except...

Well, an akuma wouldn't knock, would they? Smashing through walls was much more their style.

A second knock sounded, clearly much more impatient. Ever-so-cautiously, Lila finally pushed herself off of her bed and approached her window, squinting into the dark outside. A large shape came into focus, and then Lila caught sight of a purple suit and a full-head silver mask.

Hawkmoth.

Grinning, Lila scrambled to open her window and let Hawkmoth in. Maybe most people in Paris would be screaming and running in the opposite direction, but they were weak. Hawkmoth offered power and opportunities, kinds that she would never get otherwise. Whatever he had come for- whatever new opportunity he was offering- she was going to grab onto it with both hands and not let go.

"Ms. Rossi," Hawkmoth greeted her coolly, slipping through the opening. He straightened, and- okay, he was tall. Lila straightened reflexively, hoping not to feel so small next to him, but it didn't do much to close the height gap. "I hope this evening finds you well?"

Lila nodded, trying to keep herself from looking too eager. "I'm doing all right. And you?"

"Well enough." Hawkmoth glanced around, his steely eyes catching on the door. Lila followed his gaze, then immediately picked up on his concern.

"My mom is asleep already," she assured him hastily, not wanting him to decide to leave and not tell her about whatever opportunity he had clearly decided to offer. "And she's the only other one who lives in this apartment. And she's a heavy sleeper, so she shouldn't wake up randomly."

Hawkmoth nodded sharply. "Good."

"So, uh, how can I help you?" Lila asked, wondering if it would be proper etiquette to offer a supervillain a chair. It would make him not tower so much, but she also suspected that he wasn't planning on lingering. It would be better to get straight to the point. It would show respect for his time, and that would help make a good impression. "Do you need an akuma with specific powers or something? I can do that!"

"Not at the moment, but I will keep that in mind for the future. No, what I have in mind is a little more responsibility than that." Hawkmoth reached into a pocket, pulling out a small drawstring bag. "Mayura is unable to come out and join me on the battlefield for a undetermined period of time. Normally, I would simply go back to just sending out akumas. But I don't want to give Ladybug and Chat Noir time to re-build their superhero team more than they already have."

Lila's eyes went wide and she started nodding at once, already putting together what Hawkmoth had come to her for. "Right. And you don't want to give their backup team more time to practice and get better."

"Precisely. So I need a temporary holder until Mayura can return." Hawkmoth stared at her, steely-eyed and intimidating. Lila gulped and straightened up again, trying her best to look reliable. This was an incredible opportunity, and she was not going to let it simply slip by. "So what I want to know is... can I trust you?"

Lila had to stop herself from nodding like a frantic bobblehead doll. She didn't want to come off as an overly-excitable teenager. It was just- well, this was the opportunity to help get back at Ladybug that she hadn't ever expected. She had thought that her only chances were going to be to occasional (or not-so-occasional) akumatizations, where she would maybe be allowed to have some influence in what powers she got. But now, to get a Miraculous- even if it was only for a short while, until whenever Mayura returned- that was amazing.

She would get to go after Ladybug during every fight. And she could dream up the perfect sentimonster to go against the annoying superhero, one that could maybe be the one to take Ladybug down once and for all. If she got to coordinate with Hawkmoth, then they could maybe do a sentimonster-akuma pairing that would be incredibly strong-

-she was getting ahead of herself. Lila had to be calm, and work on gaining Hawkmoth's trust before she started making suggestions. She would have to be more cautious than she was with her classmates, since Hawkmoth was an adult, and probably a proud and paranoid one at that. That meant that he wouldn't be so quick to completely trust her. Trying to maneuver to be a more important part of his team right away would probably just result in her opportunity being ripped away from her.

Besides, he could sense emotions, right? So that meant that she had to be way more careful than usual.

"Of course you can trust me," Lila assured him, refraining from pressing a sincere hand to her heart. It worked at school, but with the supervillain it would probably appear dramatic and over-the-top. And maybe he was probably a bit dramatic and over-the-top (definitely so, if the fact that he had akumas providing a soundtrack for him on Heroes Day was any indication), but something told her that he wouldn't appreciate that in a potential ally.

Besides, he knew that she liked lying and manipulating, and so steering away from those mannerisms during her interactions with him would probably go over better.

"Good." Hawkmoth nodded once, sharply, then passed the drawstring over to her. Lila's fingers trembled as she practically tore the strings open to pull out the pin inside. A blue bubble burst into being as soon as her fingers touched the pin, and then it popped and revealed a blue floating...thing. "This is Duusu. Take good care of him. Now... let's discuss specifics."

  The next morning, Lila added a simple scarf to her outfit to cover the Peacock pin and give Duusu somewhere to hide. It felt a little odd to have a constant companion, but that was the price she had to pay for power.

She could not possibly look forward to the next akuma attack more. She just wanted to get out on the battlefield and kick Ladybug's butt. Lila had even found a generic keychain that she could put the amok in and tucked it in her pocket, so it would stay with her and Ladybug and Chat Noir would have to work harder to defeat the sentimonster.

"Ah, that's a nice scarf, Lila," Mrs. Rossi commented, setting Lila's breakfast down in front of her. "I don't recognize it- is it from one of your friends at school?"

"Oh, it's from Adrien," Lila claimed at once, running one hand down the scarf. It wasn't, of course- it was just something that she had stolen from one of her photoshoots- but since it was Gabriel brand, it was believable enough. "He said it went well with my hair."

"It really does. That's very sweet of him." Mrs. Rossi grabbed her own half-eaten plate from the counter, sitting down across the table to finish her breakfast. "Will you be out with your friends again today after school?"

"Yes, I've been invited to come along to a couple clubs this week and check them out," Lila lied. Or- well, it was a partial lie, at least. Several of her classmates had extended invitations for her to come check out the clubs at the school, but that had happened ages ago and besides, Lila just wasn't interested. It would be more adults that she had to interact with and make excuses to when she was 'on a trip', and while she had been on a roll with the number of adults who were just believing her without any questions it just wasn't worth the risk. "So I'll be busy."

Not that it made any difference to her mom, really. She would be at work regardless. It was just- well, it was good to keep up the illusion that she was always with her friends and 'boyfriend'. And if an akuma attacked and her mom tried to get in contact with her, then she would have an excuse for not picking up, since her mom would expect that she would be busy.

"Fantastic!" Mrs. Rossi smiled, then scraped up the last couple bites of bites on her plate and shoved them in her mouth, rising from the table and carrying her plate to the sink. "I have to get going to the embassy, since the ambassador has a whole pile of paperwork that he needs pulled together for his meeting this morning, but I made lunch for you. It's in the fridge. And if you have any menu requests, just text me during the day. I'm going to make a grocery run after work."

"Okay." Lila smiled at her mom, waiting for her to leave before rolling her eyes. She knew exactly what was in her packed lunch, and she would much rather go out to eat or have whatever was in the cafeteria. But she and her mom had argued about Lila getting lunch money instead of bringing a lunch only a few days ago and she hadn't won the argument- apparently it was cheaper to just bring a sandwich every day, as if that was important. If her mom was actually an ambassador and not just a secretary for the ambassador, then Lila would be able to afford to buy lunch every day.

She would use her earnings from the photoshoots, but she needed that money to buy new outfits. If she didn't stay in fashion and wear nice clothes, then her credibility would start slipping.

Daughters of the ambassadors and friends of celebrities simply didn't wear off-brand clothing after all. And while that maybe forced Lila into the same handful of outfits over and over, she had managed to explain that away by claiming it was for environmental awareness reasons.

Maybe she could claim that about her lunches, too. Except- well, it probably wasn't a good idea to use the same excuses too often. Maybe she could claim that she had decided to divert her lunch money to a charity for child hunger, since there were starving children across the world who could use it more than her. Yes, that sounded like a good excuse.

...it still wouldn't make her sandwich taste any better. Maybe she could at least persuade her mom to pack something better for her lunch if Lila stopped arguing about eating out every day.

With a couple more quick bites, Lila finished up her breakfast and stuck her plate in the sink. It didn't take her long to collect her school things- including her lunch, which was definitely a boring old sandwich- and then head down to the bus stop to ride over to school.

As she waited for the bus, Lila's mind went back to the night before. She was still super excited about the opportunity, even though- well, it came with some risks, Hawkmoth had made that clear. Risks, and also an ally that had made it very clear that he Did Not fully trust her, at least not yet.

There had definitely been some not-so-veiled threats against her mom for if Lila decided to 'take liberties' while she had the Peacock Miraculous. And while Lila was really more or less indifferent about her mom, if anything happened to her and Lila had to be placed with a foster family or something...

Well, that wouldn't be a good thing. But that was fine, because she wasn't planning on pulling anything stupid while she had the Miraculous, like trying to keep it after Mayura became available again or trying to manipulate him to do what she wanted, even if it conflicted with his goals. After all, their goals already lined up- she just wanted to take down Ladybug and get her revenge, even if Ladybug (unfortunately) now wouldn't know who was behind her defeat.

Lila supposed that it didn't really matter if Ladybug knew or not in the end. All that was important was taking her down.

Hopefully the superheroes' defeat would happen while Lila was still involved, before Mayura came back. Maybe the supervillain team's shake-up would be just what they needed to finally make the jump from always narrowly losing to actually winning. Lila could bring in new ideas, new plots, and a new pair of eyes. She didn't even necessarily have to convince Hawkmoth of all of them- some, she could just carry out on her own.

And no, he hadn't forbidden that. If he wanted her to follow his lead, she would. But she also had to be independent, able to fight on her own and act independently when Hawkmoth's focus had to be elsewhere in the battle. She could carry out her ideas then, and maybe they would turn out to be just what Hawkmoth needed. He would get the Miraculous for whatever he needed them for, and- well, he would reward her for her help, right? Maybe she would get another Miraculous to use, one she would get to keep permanently.

Which one would she want? Lila tilted her head, considering. Maybe the Ladybug Miraculous, to really rub it into Ladybug's face. It would be a trophy. And she would go out often, just to rub it in her nemesis' face. But maybe Hawkmoth would need to keep that one and she would have to choose another. Presumably he would be able to retrieve the box of Miraculous from Ladybug after she was defeated, so Lila would be able to take her pick. There would be a lot of choices, a lot of tempting offers.

Her first choice- after the Ladybug Miraculous, for gloating reasons- would be the Fox. Those powers were what she had used most often when she was akumatized, and they were familiar and useful. She could make illusions of herself with all sorts of famous people and take pictures and show them off to further discredit annoying little dissenters. She could make illusions of the aforementioned dissenters doing bad things, just to get them in trouble. It would be super useful, even if the actual Fox Miraculous was apparently a tad more limited in the amount of power it had compared to her akuma self.

Another choice would be the Horse, maybe. She could hop over to other countries and actually call in to her classes from there for added realism when she was off 'traveling'! She might even be able to meet some of the people she was always claiming connections to and actually start forming those connections- though that might be a bit of a stretch. She was smart enough to know that a few chance encounters would not automatically lead to songs written about her and promises to always drop everything to do things on her request. So maybe the Horse wouldn't be quite as useful.

Maybe there was a kwami of manipulation among the ones Ladybug held on to. That would be really useful, something she could use to force the famous people connections and make all of her dreams reality. It would make manipulating her peers easier, too- or at least more foolproof- and that would be really, really helpful. That would be the ideal Miraculous for her, if it even existed.

All she had to do was be the best sidekick Hawkmoth had ever had and defeat Ladybug. And once that was done, and she had her own source of power- an unconditional source, no threats to her (or, she supposed, to her mom's) general well-being- then, well, then would come rewards to her civilian self. And after that?

Well, the world would be open to her, and the possibilities were endless.

The bus pulled up and for once, Lila had a real smile on her face as she got on. Maybe for everyone else on the bus, it was just a normal day. But for her?

It was the start of a new era.

[miraculousmarifan]

Felinette Month 2020 - Day 8: Blind Date

A prompt from @felinettenovember

Part of me imagined a reversed version of the art for this prompt by @emzurl, where they’re leaning together in interest instead! Check that out if you have time!

Aged up AU, I’m picturing early 20s.

Chat!Felix, and Felix is completely unrelated to the Agrestes, just friends with Adrien. 

Around 1500 words

Felix was always early to events and a blind date was no exception. He couldn't believe that Adrien wouldn't even tell him the girl's name, let alone see a picture. "It'll feel more like a natural meeting if you don't know anything beforehand!" and "Isn't it more romantic if all you know is she's wearing a red top and black scarf?" Right Adrien. Because that makes a blind date sooooo much more natural. I would never take a girl to this nice of a restaurant for a first date either. It's obviously better to do something like tea or coffee so we can part quickly if needed.

Felix’s brain stopped so suddenly when he entered the restaurant that he nearly fell as his body ground to a halt. A few tables behind the host stand, near a window, was a lovely woman in a red dress with a black scarf. She had an open book and a flower with her, looking very much like she was waiting for someone before ordering food. He had shown up 15 minutes before the agreed on time to give him time to settle in before she got there. She appeared to have been here for a few minutes already, drink in hand (is that a teacup?) and looking out the window. He had brought a flower for her, to make a good impression, and it happened to be the same kind. Had Adrien told her all about me to make her first impression better?

With a quick word to the host that he believed he saw his date, he began walking towards her chosen table. As he approached, he realized the book was actually a sketchbook. An artist… interesting…

"Hello. I'm supposed to be meeting someone here for a blind date. You wouldn't happen to be waiting as well, would you?" Felix tried to smile warmly, hoping that he hadn't just interrupted a random woman for no reason as he stood across the table from her, one hand on the chair back. She looked over him critically, processing how his green tie fit with the rest of his black and white ensemble, then eying the flower in his hand before answering him.

"I am waiting for someone. Were you given a name for your date?" She cocked her head, smiling gently at him. Felix flushed. Had Adrien given her his name and not vice versa? What about the romance of it? His empty hand reached up to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Actually the friend that set this up didn't tell me her name. He said it would be more like a natural meeting if I didn't know anything about her coming in…" he stared down at the chair in front of him. He could feel the warmth radiating from his face as his smile turned uncomfortable. She laughed. A beautiful sound that drew his eyes up to her face.

"I actually don't know my date's name either! My friend thought it would be more romantic if we just met and connected 'naturally,' even if it was staged! I'm so glad to know we’re in the same boat," she giggled out, a bright genuine smile and a small flush in her cheeks. Felix relaxed, coming to the same conclusion. "I'm sure there wouldn't be two blind dates set up here with almost no information given about the other person! I will admit though that I managed to pry out that you were blond so I could at least rule out anyone with darker hair."

Felix pulled out the chair and sat down across from her, setting the flower on the table between them and leaning on his elbows. Then he thought better of it and held out a hand, "I'm Felix."

"Marinette," her small hand settled into his for a small shake. Felix felt like he could soak up these smiles forever. Oh goodness, I'm already being as sappy as Adrien. The blush in her face increased slightly as Felix held her hand a little too long, still thinking about her smiles. He snapped back to attention and released it, pulling his hand all the way back to his chest and looking away to clear his throat.

"So you're an artist of some type?" Felix hated the awkwardness in his voice but needed to distract from his embarrassment somehow. She appeared startled at his question. 

"Yes… sort of… how did you… oh. Ha. The sketchbook on the table. Yes, I'm a fashion designer, or at least I'm training to become one," she smiled softly again, gently closing her sketchbook and setting it down in her purse before turning her full attention back, elbows resting on the table. "By the way, I like your choice in tie. Themed for our local heroes, I presume?"

She was definitely referring to the small cat prints along one edge of the otherwise plain green tie. It was a gift from Ladybug some time back and the only green tie he owned. Since his date was expecting green and it was fairly subtle unless specifically looked for, he thought it would be appropriate to wear this rather than buy a new one. If he had anticipated a fashion designer, he probably would have bought a new tie… 

"It is actually. A friend made it for me and I thought it might bring me some luck today," Felix smoothly replied, hoping it would appease her critical eye. She grinned slyly, as though she had an inside joke.

"I'm sure your friend would be happy to lend you some luck. And I imagine Chat Noir would be pleased to be represented too," Marinette’s smile deepened and Felix began to feel like a mouse being toyed with by a cat… 

"I'm sure he'd be paws-itively tickled," he hoped the joke would turn her attention away. This felt a little too close to home, even if she couldn't possibly know who made this.

"Did you just make a pun?" She looked shocked. Felix laughed at her expression and the waiter interrupted to inquire about food orders. After placing their orders, the two fell back into easy conversation.

Engaged as they were with the other's company, both missed the entrance of a blond man carrying a large bouquet of flowers. He checked his watch before looking around the room. Not seeing a woman waiting alone with flowers, he was seated at a table further in the dining area, adjacent to the pair.

The entrance of a young woman in a red blouse with a skirt and small black scarf was also missed by the pair five minutes after the originally agreed upon meeting time, however her scan of the dining room had different results than the man's. She swiftly approached the table where Felix and Marinette were talking and holding a single hand across the table.

"Felix! I'm sorry you had to wait for me! I hope you weren't here long! Who is your friend?" The new woman placed her hand on his arm, scrutinizing Marinette. Marinette studied the two with evident confusion. Felix shot an annoyed scowl at the interloper, then slowly removed her hand from his arm. It didn't take him long to put two and two together.

"I'm sorry but I think you have the wrong person. My name isn't Felix," he responded quickly, schooling his expression into a more neutral (though still annoyed) expression. She blinked a few times. Marinette’s confusion turned to suspicion. Hopefully Adrien doesn't kill me for this… "My name is Claude and I'm currently having a phenomenal time with my date so if you wouldn't mind going away, it'd be appreciated."

"Oh… Really? I'm sorry! I mistook you for someone else!" She turned and walked back up to the host stand to ask about another blond man wearing a green tie. Figures that he'd send me out with one of his gullible coworkers. Felix turned his attention back to Marinette with a satisfied grin.

"Claude huh?" Marinette had an eyebrow raised at him, clearly noticing that his story didn't add up. 

"I am definitely having too good of a time with you to cut this off and go eat with a random woman I've never met before. Would you rather I rectify this and go on a date with her so you can find your rightful man?" He put as much bravado into his tone as manageable but his eyes were glued to her, anticipating her answer. If she wanted him to leave so she could find her original date, he would. He would hate it but for her, he'd do it.

"No. I prefer this. If I had to guess, that guy over there--" Marinette subtly gestured to bouquet man "-- was probably supposed to be mine and you seem much more interesting. You definitely have better taste in clothes." She delivered this with a wink that made Felix’s heart skip a beat.

"Can I get your phone number too then?" he blurted out and blushed. He wanted to see her again, possibly every day. Marinette leaned forward with a devilish smile.

"Is Felix your real name?" He gulped as he saw how close she was. She's dangerous… I might just get addicted to her teasing… 

"Of course…" his mouth was so dry that the words were just above a whisper. She smiled and put a hand out for his phone. Dangerous isn’t a strong enough word for her...

[the-delta-42]

Burnt Homes and Burnt Bridges

Based on this Ask by @lenoreofraven

Burnt Homes and Burnt Bridges

Marinette stared at the smouldering remains of the bakery, her home. The Fire Department were going through the remains, looking for anything that may have caused the fire. Marinette hadn’t been there because she had been looking for Adrien.

Marinette had invited Adrien over to play some video games, when he spotted the pictures and the schedule. Adrien had then ranted about how she was nothing more than another stalker who was only interested in being his friend because he was famous. Before Adrien had left, he told her to expect a restraining order in the next week.

Marinette had spent little over an hour crying, before she forced herself to move and find Adrien, with the hopes of performing some damage control and prevent losing him as a friend.

Then the fire started, Marinette had been half-way to the Couffaine houseboat when Luka found her and asked about the smoke. Luka had given Marinette a ride back to the bakery, or what was left of it. Marinette had tried to get inside, only for the police to prevent her from entering.

A Fireman let out a yell, telling everyone in hearing range that he found something, fifteen minutes later, Paramedics removed two burnt bodies from the Bakery, all while Marinette’s world fell apart around her.

A sudden shaking caused Marinette to open her eyes, Alya and Nora standing above her.

“You okay?” Asked Nora, her voice soft, “You were screaming in your sleep.”

Marinette gave a small, shaky nod, making Alya fold her arms across her chest.

“You know we’re not going to believe that.” Said Alya, while Marinette held onto the duvet tightly, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I saw the Bakery.” Mumbled Marinette, tears welling in her eyes, “But this time, I didn’t get in.”

Nora and Alya winced, when Marinette got to the Bakery, she had managed to slip past the Police and saw what remained of her parents. Marinette was still screaming when the Firefighters dragged her out of the building. Marinette didn’t escape unscathed, receiving third degree burns along her arms and side. Marinette had taken to wearing a cover up to hide the burn scars that were forming. Nora had suggested that Marinette grow her hair out to hide the scars.

“You sure you want to go to school tomorrow?” Asked Nora, as Marlena appeared in the doorway.

“Y-yeah, I can’t get behind on my schoolwork.” Said Marinette, looking towards the floor.

“Marinette, I��m sure Mdm. Bustier would understand-” Said Alya, before Marinette cut her off.

“NO! I-I need to do this,” Exclaimed Marinette, her breath coming out in gasps, “i-if I d-don’t, I’ll h-have nothing t-to distract me f-fro-from-”

Marinette broke down in a fresh wave of tears, openly bawling her eyes out, as Nora pulled her close.

“Fine.” Said Marlena, from the doorway, “But the moment you start becoming overwhelmed, you come back here.”

Marinette shakily nodded her head in agreement.

BHaBB

Adrien purposefully looked away from the Bakery where Marinette lived. Plagg had given him enough grief over how he handled the situation, Adrien personally thought he’d been quite tame. Plagg had actually said Adrien was the same with his Ladybug pictures, Adrien disagreed, he actually knew and cared about Ladybug. Adrien felt Marinette was a hypocrite, claiming to hate liars, despite being one herself. He was glad he threw the signed album cover away, seeing as it was based on nothing but a lie.

When Adrien entered the classroom, he saw most of his classmates surrounding a teary Marinette, even Chloe and Lila looked sorry for her. Adrien internally rolled his eyes, no doubt Marinette told some grand tale about how he’d wronged her and make him the bad guy.

So, Adrien was surprised, when Nino greeted him normally.

“Hey, Dude.” Said Nino, his tone sombre, “Marinette’s going through a hard time at the moment.”

Adrien internally groaned, meaning they wanted him to say something to comfort her. His mind set; Adrien decided to go with the classic approach.

“Marinette,” Said Adrien, his tone terse, “How’re your parents?”

There was a joint flinch from everyone in the class as Marinette recoiled as if she’d been physically slapped and a barrage of emotions went through her eyes, pain, grief, despair and, finally, rage. The next anyone knew, Adrien was on the floor with a broken nose and Marinette was running out the door.

“WHAT THE HELL, AGRESTE?!” Yelled Alix, as Alya followed Marinette.

“What’d you mean, what the hell?” Demanded Adrien, his hand going to his nose, “She attacked me!”

“Well, to be honest,” Said Lila, leaning forwards, “I’m not surprised, since her parents are dead.”

“Not funny.” Groused Adrien, accepting a tissue from Chloe.

“I’m not lying,” Said Lila, “you can check out the front if you want.”

Adrien scowled, before Nino groaned.

“You didn’t look at the Bakery, when you came in, did you?” Asked Nino, his fist clenching around Adrien’s shoulder.

Nino dragged Adrien to the front of the school and made him fix his gaze on the burnt remains of the Bakery.

“Someone set it on fire over the weekend.” Said Nino, as Adrien continued to stare at the Bakery, “Marinette only escaped because she was looking for you, in attempt to perform some damage control.”

“What?” Whispered Adrien.

“Adrien, believe it or not, Marinette actually loved you,” Said Nino, his gaze burning into the back of Adrien’s head, “Every time you asked for help with Kagami, it killed her, but she still did it. She even made that scarf your dad stole for your birthday.”

“What?” Adrien whispered again.

“She didn’t love you because you’re a celebrity, or because you’re rich, she loved because she thought you were kind.” Said Nino, his tone even, “And you went and destroyed that belief. She’s grateful that she lived, but we all think she wishes she had died with her parents.”

“What happened?” Asked Adrien, still reeling from the shock that the scarf his father made for him, was actually made by Marinette.

“There was a fire,” Said Nino, slowly, “You’d know that if you’d been listening to me.”

“No, I mean what happened?” Asked Adrien, looking at Nino.

Nino sighed and started to guide Adrien back inside the school.

“Marinette when out looking for you, our guess is to either apologise and attempt to salvage her friendship with you, or to fix things.” Said Nino, “She ran into Luka, who asked her about the smoke, Luka got her back to the Bakery, saw it was on fire and rush in to find her parents.”

“And?” Asked Adrien, hesitantly.

“And saw their burnt corpses and received third degree burns on her arms and along her sides.” Said Nino, looking around, “Now, we just have to find her, before she gets herself hurt.”

“Okay, what do you need me to do?” Asked Adrien, getting Nino to look at him.

“Go back to the class room and keep away from Marinette,” Said Nino, as Adrien felt his heart sink, “I get the feeling that she might not want to see you for a bit, considering the last thing you said to her.”

Nino was about to head off when Alya ran up to them.

“I can’t find Marinette!” Cried Alya, “I’ve looked everywhere, the toilets, the supply cupboards, even the roof and I can’t find her!”

“What?!” Exclaimed Nino, meeting Alya halfway, “Where could she have gone?”

“I don’t know!” Snapped Alya, frustrated, “If I knew, we wouldn’t have this problem!”

“Rhetorical question, babe.” Said Nino, running a hand down his face.

The two stood there, mentally going over all the places Marinette had access to, which was a lot. Alya’s phone buzzed, making the girl glance at it. Alya’s eyes widened a fraction before she swore.

“I found her!” Yelled Alya, running towards the door.

“Wait! Babe! Where is she?” Shouted Nino, as Alya ran off.

“Le Grande Paris!” Yelled Alya, before Nino sighed and returned to the classroom.

“Chloe, does Marinette have access to your Dad’s hotel?” Asked Nino, making Chloe reach for her phone and turn the screen on.

“She shouldn’t, they don’t usually let anyone off the list ent-SHE’S STANDING ON THE ROOF?!” Screamed Chloe, making the classroom go silent.

Nino surged forwards and yanked the phone out of Chloe’s hands, scanning the notification, before watching the clip. Nadja Chamack’s co-host was speaking, while Nadja herself was trying to ger Marinette to come down off the roof. Nino squinted and spotted Alya next to her.

Adrien took the distraction as an opportunity to slip out of the classroom to transform into Chat Noir. A couple of Minutes later, Chat Noir was running across the rooftops, heading to Le Grande Paris Hotel. A couple of roofs away, Chat stopped and frowned. From when Marinette was, she would’ve had to have had a Miraculous to get to the roof of the hotel.

‘Ladybug’s been unusually silent lately.’ Said a voice that sounded a lot like Plagg.

Chat felt ice line his stomach, what if he made his Lady hate him. Chat quickly shook his head, no, Marinette could never be Ladybug.

‘Are you sure?’ asked the voice, making Chat shake his head again.

Marinette didn’t acknowledge Chat when he landed behind her. Chat had to prevent himself from scowling, forcibly reminding himself that the only reason she was up here was because he reminded her about her parents.

“What do you want?” Came Marinette’s broken voice, jarring Chat Noir from his thoughts.

“Normally, I don’t go comforting stalkers,” Said Chat, internally wincing at his choice of words, “but I heard about your parents.”

A scoff came from Marinette, “Why do you care?”

“They were good people, not anyone who deserved to die.” Said Chat, blandly.

“Oh, that is it!” Came a high-pitched voice, before a Kwami flew out from around Marinette, “You claim Marinette is a stalker who’s only interested in your money, while you do nothing but harass her during Akuma battles, you throw tantrum, after tantrum and demand an apology when you don’t need or deserve one!”

“Tikki!” Snapped Marinette, sharply, finally turning around. Her eyes were cold and penetrating.

“M-Marinette,” Stuttered Chat, dumbfounded, “You’re Ladybug.”

Marinette sighed, before getting to her feet and looking at Chat.

“Yeah, surprise, I see that I don’t live up to your ‘standards’.” Said Marinette, walking around, Tikki flying over and landing on her shoulder, “Which also means I’m the Guardian, so no doubt you’ll probably start demanding that I resign and hand it all over to yo-wait, what did Tikki mean by ‘only interested in your money’?”

Chat felt his mouth go dry, while Marinette narrowed her eyes, before they widened, “A-Adrien?”

Chat took a step forwards, making Marinette step backwards and off the roof. Chat ran over to the side of the roof, dumbly watching as Marinette fell. Then, in a flash of light, Ladybug took Marinette’s place, using her yoyo to stop her fall. There was silence, before a camera flashed, bringing the world crashing down into Ladybug.

Without another word, or acknowledgement to anyone, Ladybug swung away, trying to put as much distance between her and Chat as possible.

BHaBB

When Adrien got back to school, Alya was already there.

“Oh, how painfully ironic,” Said Lila, as Adrien walked into the classroom, “you made Ladybug, the person you have a crush on, hate you beyond words.”

“Really?” Deadpanned Adrien, getting a scoff from Alya.

“The only reason she was still hung up on you was because we kept her from moving on.” Said Alya, her eyes burning holes into the desk.

“Besides,” Said Nathaniel, his arms folded, “it’s like you can talk, seeing how you have a shrine, complete with candles, to Ladybug, who we now know as Marinette.”

That got Adrien a few stares, before Nino banged his head against the desk.

“I can’t believe this,” muttered Nino, “you do know that the only reason she had feelings for you was because she thought you were kind?”

“W-what?” Asked Adrien, never seeing Nino so irritated.

“When you apologised after the first day, Marinette fell, because you were kind,” Said Nino, slumping back into his seat, “we never told her that the only reason you apologised was because were told to.”

Adrien tried not to flinch at Nino’s words.

“Oh,” Came Marinette’s voice from behind Adrien, “that’s nice to know.”

Adrien spun around and came face to face with Marinette. Adrien could make out some of the scars that were forming. His mouth suddenly went dry.

“Please, continue,” Said Marinette, dropping her bag down, “I just learnt some very powerful things. Such as, why Hawkmoth wants the miraculous.”

“Wait, really?!” Exclaimed Alya, rushing over to her friend, “Did he attack you? Did you seek him out? What happened?”

“Hawkmoth,” Said Marinette, walking around Adrien, “wants to bring his wife back. Apparently, he thought I’d understand his reasoning.”

Marinette dropped her bag, before fishing her hand into the inside pocket of her jacket and removing the Peacock Miraculous.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get both of them.” Said Marinette, her voice nearly emotionless, “And you know what?”

Everyone was silent, as Marinette looked around the room.

“I did understand his reasoning,” Said Marinette, “the only thing stopping me is the price of the wish.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Asked Rose, nervously leaning forwards.

Marinette smirked, before a blood red butterfly emblem appeared on her face.

“Because I like tearing Hawkmoth’s mind apart.” Said Marinette, her voice taking a sick, delighted tone, “He now knows what it’s like to have his mind torn into, I’m sure I can come up with more reasons.”

“M-Mari, you need to fight it.” Gasped Alya, getting a confused look from Marinette.

“Why?” Asked Marinette, her head tilting to the side, “Hawkmoth has been terrorizing Paris for months. The only other way to prevent Akumas from being created is the destruction of its host.”

“Marinette, please.” Pleaded Alya, taking a step towards her friend.

“Please?” Repeated Marinette, before letting out a humourless laugh, “I’m sure that’s what my parents said, when Hawkmoth sent his little messenger, to try and find my breaking point. And guess what. He found it; he just couldn’t anticipate that I couldn’t be controlled.”

The emblem glowed brighter and Marinette threw her arms out, “And look at me! I fulfilled my promise. Hawkmoth won’t harm anyone ever again! He provoked an animal while it was sleeping and Gabriel couldn’t handle it when it turned around and bit him, I’m practically unbeatable! I know everyone’s fighting styles, their temperament, how to provoke them, how to break them and how to cripple them.”

Adrien felt his throat start to close up, starting to have trouble breathing. Marinette, his Lady, was a different person. A killer, who was sitting at the bottom of her soul, made their way into her through the cracks and breaks he’d made.

“I mean, come one,” Laughed Marinette, the temperature of the room dropping as the door sealed itself shut, “even if you could beat me, you don’t even know where the Akuma is.”

Adrien looked Marinette up and down, before he spotted it. On the ring finger of her right hand, was her mother’s wedding ring, the once rose gold metal now black and purple.

“Plagg,” Said Adrien, hoarsely, “Claws out.”

A flash of green replaced Adrien with Chat Noir.

Marinette hung her head and sighed, “How predictable.”

Marinette spun on her heel and snarled at Adrien, before she started gagging.

“Piss. Off. And. Shut. Up.” Snarled Marinette, her eyes turning purple and the Butterfly emblem glowing brighter.

The glow faded and Marinette’s eyes returned to blue.

“Sorry, but the original is making a racket.” Said Marinette, her tone taking a sugary tone.

“That means she still in there.” Said Chat, spinning his baton.

“Aww, how cute,” sneered Marinette, “the stray wants his obsession back, but doesn’t want her obsessing over him. Do you know how easy it is to get her to back off? You want to know what I show her to make her go away?”

Chat swallowed his mouth dry.

“I show her you,” Said Marinette, her lips curling into a snarl, “I show her you and your hypocritical statements, you as you break down every perception she ever had of you and Chat Noir. Do you know how much pain it causes her?”

Chat bit his lip, his heart sinking.

“It kills her,” Gloated Marinette, giving Chat the smile that Marinette gave her friends.

Chat internally shook his head, no, this wasn’t Marinette, just some monster who taken her over and wearing her skin.

“She wasted so much time on you.” Said the Akuma, Marinette’s head tilting to the side mockingly, “she focused so much on you, she started to lose herself and she keeps saying ‘Chat will save me. He always will.’ I just show her all the things that caused her pain, you, her parents’ deaths, her uncle creeping into her room until he was caught by her father. Even her poor brothers’ death.”

The Akuma mockingly wiped away a fake tear.

“She’s even under the delusion that you’ll figure out where the Akuma is.” Laughed the Akuma, before Chat surged forwards and yanked the ring off the Akuma’s, Marinette’s, hand.

Marinette’s eyes rolled back as she collapsed, Chat broke the ring and cataclysmed the butterfly.

Marinette started to convulse, the choking the Akuma had being much worse with Marinette.

“We need to get her to a hospital.” Said Alya, cradling Marinette’s head to make sure it didn’t hit anything.

“Currently,” Said Max, pushing his glasses up his nose, “Adrien had the fastest mode of transportation.”

Alya looked reluctant, before hesitantly passing Marinette over to Chat, who took the moment to feed Plagg and transform back, before he headed to the window.

“I’ll go as fast as I can.” Then he leapt out the window.

The rest of the class was silent.

“So, Chloe,” Asked Alix, leaning towards the Blonde, “how did it feel to find out your lesbian crush was the girl you bullied for years?”

“And did you try to stop it?” Snapped Chloe, which made Alix lean back, looking sheepish.

Alya was still kneeling where Marinette was, quietly praying that she was okay.

BHaBB

Adrien came back to school with the news that Marinette was currently unconscious at the hospital. Everyone, Adrien, Chloe and Lila included, made the agreement to visit her room.

Now, everyone was looking through the glass, shocked to find Luka and Kagami already in there. Kagami gently stroking Marinette’s hair.

“You might as well come in.” Said Luka, prompting Alya to push the door open.

“How is she?” Asked Alya, watching Kagami.

“They found she’d swallowed the earrings,” Said Kagami, her voice quiet, “probably in an attempt to prevent Hawkmoth getting them.”

“They don’t know how long she’ll be out for.” Said Luka, leaning against the back wall, regretting telling them to come in, he just thought there were four of them, not the entire class.

Adrien remained silent, Marinette looked so pale, so exhausted, as if she was cracking under everything.

“Are you going to say something or are you just going to stand there looking sorry for yourself?” Asked Kagami, giving Adrien and pointed look.

“I can’t think of anything to say.” Said Adrien, his stomach heavy.

There was a quiet groan, before Kagami gasped.

“S-she just squeezed my hand.” Said Kagami, before quickly leaning over and hitting the call button.

The orderlies weren’t happy with the number of people in the room, before turfing them all out. A doctor was shining a light into Marinette’s eyes, as Adrien left, he saw her eye move and her arm feebly trying to bat the light away.

The doctor came back out and looked at the group.

“She’s awake,” Said the doctor, “but she needs rest.”

“What if there’s an Akuma attack?” Asked Alya, making the Doctor sigh.

“The world could be ending, and she’d have to rest.” Said the doctor, before walking off.

“Sunshine right there.” Said Alya, before heading back into the room.

Marinette tiredly looked at the large group.

“Can I have five more minutes to sleep>” Asked Marinette, “The pounding might stop by then.”

“That’s your concussion.” Said Alya, “Apparently you hit your head at some point.”

Adrien hovered by the door, debating on if he should go or not. Marinette glanced at him and sighed.

“Guys, could you leave for a moment?” Asked Marinette, her eyes going to Adrien, “I think Adrien and I have something to talk about.”

Everyone slowly left, leaving Marinette and Adrien alone.

Both remained silent, not daring to break the silence.

“Was it true?” whispered Adrien, his head down.

“Was what true?” Responded Marinette, getting herself into a more comfortable sitting position.

“Everything the Akuma said, about your family, about the pain, about me?” Said Adrien, as Marinette sighed.

“Most of it,” Said Marinette, “Although, Fortune may have embellished some of it.”

“And my father?” Asked Adrien, making Marinette sigh again.

“I don’t know.” Replied Marinette, “By the time that happened, Fortune was already in control. She may have just said that to break you.”

“Is it true that I make you feel uncomfortable?” Asked Adrien, making Marinette roll her eyes.

“Adrien, the only times you’ve made me uncomfortable, is when you’ve jumped in front of an Akuma, other than that, your flirting needed to be better timed.” Said Marinette, wincing slightly.

Adrien continued to stand, until Marinette groaned.

“For gods sake, sit down.” Adrien quietly walked over and sat down in the chair next to her bed.

“I’m not going to lie, we both have serious issues to work out, preferably before we face Hawkmoth again.” Said Marinette, “I’ve already agreed to see a therapist regarding my obsession with you, in the hopes that I’ll be able to ignore it. Although, there is one good thing about this whole situation.”

“Other than having the Peacock Miraculous?”

“Hawkmoth may know who the others are, but he can’t put names to faces.” Said Marinette, making Adrien sit up.

“So, if they came back with a different name and costume,” Said Adrien.

“Hawkmoth won’t know it’s them.” Finished Marinette, leaning in her pillows, “I hope things can be fixed.”

Adrien gave her a small smile, “Me too.”

BHaBB

Ladybug landed in a crouch on the school roof, Alya hopping off as Marinette dropped her transformation.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Exclaimed Alya, making Marinette laugh.

There was a skid a thump behind them, both turned around and spotted Chat face down on the roof. Behind him was Kagami, having to shove her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

“You missed the landing.” Said Marinette, as Chat dropped his transformation.

“No, shit.” Said Adrien, spitting some moss out of his mouth, “Where did you hide the box anyway?”

“You still have to guess~” Said Marinette in a sing-song tone.

Marinette disappeared down the stairs into the school. Adrien was happy things were going back to normal, or as close to normal as things could get anyway.

[macaronsforchat]

ML Christmas in July Day 2 - Mistletoe

@mlchristmasinjuly

read on ao3!

Marinette rang the doorbell, her teeth still chattering from the cold as she admired the decorative wreath on the door. She pressed her hands to the bottom of the plate she was holding, trying to take advantage of the residual warmth from the cookies.

Alya pulled open the door excitedly, grinning and dressed in red and green.

“I’m so glad you could make it, M!” she gushed, pulling her friend in for a tight hug and almost knocking the cookies to the floor. Marinette laughed happily, thankful for the warmth.

“Me too,” she smiled, the two friends kissing each other’s cheeks. Alya invited her in, taking the cookies from her as she shedded her layers and slipped off her wet shoes at the door.

The rest of the class was already inside, but Marinette didn’t mind being the last one to arrive. She watched as everyone smiled brightly, chatting and playing games and just having a good time. It warmed Marinette’s heart.

But when her eyes landed on Adrien, her heart stuttered and struggled to beat again. He had promised that he wouldn’t miss the party for the world, but everyone knew how unpredictable his father could be.

So seeing him there, wearing a pine green button up and laughing with Nino, Marinette swore it was the happiest she’d ever felt.

“Hey,” Alya whispered loudly to her, grabbing her attention again as she pulled her scarf from her neck and hung it up.

“What?” Marinette whispered back, walking down the short entry hallway towards her friend. Alya pointed upwards, and Marinette tilted her head to look, seeing a cluster of mistletoe hanging at the line that divided the hall and the kitchen. Marinette looked back at Alya, her eyes wide.

“Why’d you put that there?” she asked, her stomach clenching. Alya laughed, pushing her friend’s shoulder playfully.

“Because this is your first Christmas as Adrien’s girlfriend! You two have to kiss under it,” she said excitedly, and Marinette couldn’t help the butterflies she felt. She pressed her lips together, watching her boyfriend finally look over and see her.

Seeing his eyes light up at the sight of her was one of her favorite things. To know that he enjoyed her presence, and to see it genuinely displayed on his face, was something she would never take for granted.

Alya touched her arm, winking at her before gently nudging her in the direction of the blonde that was rushing over. Marinette blushed, glancing one last time at the brunette and remembering her words before turning to meet Adrien.

He enveloped her in a big hug, her feet leaving the ground for a second as he scooped her up. She squeaked happily, feeling like she could float if she wanted to. She hugged him back, breathing in his familiar scent and knowing that she was going to thoroughly enjoy the party.

“I’m glad you made it safely,” he smiled as he pulled back from their embrace. She smiled back, admiring the way he’d pinned back some of his hair. It had been growing longer and longer, and she couldn’t deny that it suited him. She smoothed out a wrinkle in his shirt, gazing up at him.

“I’m happy you were able to come,” she said, her cheeks beginning to tingle from smiling so widely. The look he was giving her was warm enough to make her forget all about the chilly wind outside, and it made her feel fuzzy.

“You look really pretty,” he told her, tilting his head a little and pulling away to get a better look at her outfit. She shrugged and smiled, not wanting to tell him that she’d spent way too long thinking about what she would wear. He knew her well enough that he would probably guess as much anyway.

“Thank you,” she replied. His eyes wandered to her lips, and she blushed in response, drawing his eyes back to her own.

“Sorry, I just--” he started, laughing a little. “I like your lip gloss.” She pressed her lips together subconsciously, smiling. His comment brought her mind back to the mistletoe, but she had no idea how she would bring it up casually.

Before she could give it too much thought, he took her hand, wanting her to come say hi to everyone.

Mylène and Ivan were wearing matching sweaters, and they were the reigning champions at Spoons. Max had brought his self-made video game, and Kim was standing on the couch when Marinette passed by.

Sabrina was there as Chloe’s “official representative,” and Adrien told her that Chloe had phoned in for a few minutes just before Marinette arrived. That made her giggle.

Alix and Nathaniel were arguing about the meaning of the symbols of the holiday season, and Marc sat nearby looking unimpressed. Juleka was helping Rose fix some decorations she’d knocked down. Marinette noticed that Lila wasn’t present, but she remembered quickly that the girl had talked about attending a giant family gathering in a grand ballroom in downtown Paris.

Nino had wandered into Alya’s room to find some more records when Adrien had left his side to greet Marinette, and that was where her boyfriend was leading her. Marinette smiled to herself at the Ladybug themed decor, seeing Nino turning to greet them.

“Hey! Glad you could make it,” he grinned, and they moved to kiss each other’s cheeks. Adrien’s hand never left hers, and she squeezed it a little when she returned to his side.

“Are you still good to come over in the morning?” she asked when Alya moved to help Nino in his search. Adrien raised his eyebrows, lifting a finger.

“Oh, yes! About that,” he started, making her furrow her eyebrows. “Should I bring your present over, or should I wait?” he asked her, and she lit up, almost wiggling with excitement. Marinette hadn’t expected or asked for a Christmas gift from her boyfriend, but he had insisted on getting her something anyway, and the thought thrilled her.

“It’s up to you! I don’t mind waiting until New Year’s to open it if you don’t wanna open it the day before Christmas,” she said with a smile, watching him pout at her words.

“I don’t wanna wait,” he whined, blinking at her slowly. She laughed, moving to press a kiss to his cheek softly.

“You’re adorable,” she told him, seeing the accomplished smile on his lips. “I can open it before you leave tomorrow if you want,” she offered, and he nodded, making the light reflect off the lip gloss she’d smudged onto his cheek. She chuckled, using her thumb to wipe it off gently. That simple gesture brought the mistletoe back to mind, and remembering the pout on his lips gave her the confidence she needed to go through with it.

“I’m gonna grab a snack,” she told him, nearly missing the soft look he was giving her. He blinked, releasing her hand hesitantly.

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” he told her, winking at her as she walked back out into the main area of Alya’s apartment.

Her eyes shifted to the hanging decoration, and she became nervous all over again. But she pushed herself forward, popping a small brownie in her mouth as she passed the kitchen table. She positioned herself under the mistletoe, leaning against the wall slightly and waiting.

Adrien and Nino walked out of Alya's room a few moments later, Nino leaving to change the music. Adrien made his way towards her, his eyes wandering to the snacks. He stopped at the kitchen island, looking over all the snacks and ending up choosing one of the bakery’s cookies that she’d brought from home.

“Wanna join me?” she asked, holding her hands behind her back. He nodded, his mouth full of cookie. Once he’d swallowed, he shot her a smile.

“One second,” he told her, taking a brownie and tasting that too. She snickered, enjoying watching her boyfriend and his sweet tooth, although she would admit that she would rather be tasting the desserts on his lips at the moment.

She popped her lips together loudly, trying to catch his attention as she waited. He glanced up at her, narrowing his eyes a little.

“Why are you standing all the way over there?” he wondered, taking a bite of a peach macaron. She rolled her eyes a little, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why aren’t you standing all the way over here with me?” she replied, watching him chuckle and look a little lost. He really hadn’t seen the mistletoe, had he?

“Because the snacks are over here, honey,” he explained animatedly, gesturing to all the food spread out on the counter. She pursed her lips, humming to herself.

“Would you please come over here, honey?” she asked playfully, seeing him tilt his head in questioning. He walked over to stand in front of her, looking her once over and then shaking his head when he didn’t find anything obviously wrong.

“What’s up?” he asked, looking a little worried. She couldn’t help but laugh, standing up from leaning against the wall and stepping closer.

“You know, this might be a good place to stand if there was an earthquake,” she said, looking up at the structure of the walls around them. Adrien shook his head again in confusion, following the path her eyes had taken and finally seeing what she’d been trying to get him to notice. She heard him laugh quietly, his eyes moving back to her and his smile softening.

“I think this is just a good place to stand in general,” he said quietly, a hand coming to rest on her waist. She let him pull her closer, unable to help but grin.

“Only if I’m standing here with you,” she said, making his smile widen before he leaned down and caught her in a sweet kiss. She hummed happily against his lips, letting her hands fall to his chest.

Before she could enjoy the moment too much, she heard the sound of a photo being taken. The couple broke apart gently, both of them turning to look at Alya grinning excitedly. All eyes were on them, making Marinette’s cheeks burn red.

“Sorry!” Alya laughed, putting her phone down sheepishly and eliciting laughter from the whole room.

Marinette looked back at her boyfriend, finding the genuine joy in his eyes to be the best gift she could ever receive.

~~~~~

thank you so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed! i'm having so much listening to christmas music while writing for this event!

stay safe everyone! <3