#this is an au where everything is exactly the same except tikki and plagg put forth no effort into hiding and still nobody ever sees them

[alexandriaellisart]

hi <3

[persephonescat]

Birds and other supernatural phenomenons

Okay, so I have no control over my life. Fine.

The characters are so out of character it’s funny. I’ve little to no idea about Batman, so I should apologize but I won’t, because I just lost all my remaining brain cells and I blame Tumblr.

Big thanks for LucyyJ26 on AO3 for fixing the Lucky Charm-problem, you should read her work too, its grammar is probably better than mine will ever be, and her stories are amazing. A little explanation: she took the Lucky Charm out of the story and instead, Ladybug’s power is the Miraculous Cure, which can re-do the destruction done during an Akuma-attack and can bring back the ones fallen by the villain’s actions. She’s changed other things in the Miraculous-world too, but this is the only one I’m going to use, except that in this story, it’s called Lucky Cure (don’t ask). For further explanation, visit her story: Miraculous: Darker Origins. The Daminette AU.

This is also posted on my AO3 account, under the same name.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21187025/chapters/50433170

Follow #Birds and Other Supernatural Phenomenons if you don’t want to miss any of the new chapters. ;) 

Anyway, enjoy, I guess.

Next    Masterpost    AO3

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Ch. 1: The Inevitable Doom

Field trips should be fun.

Except if you’re Marinette Dupain-Cheng, of course.

The Dupon was the best high school in Paris, so the fact that they managed to plan a school trip to freaking Gotham out of all of America had to say a lot about Parisian schools. Or so Marinette thought. (Apparently, she was the only one.)

The best of all? Her classmates didn’t even notice the irony of it all. Well, Adrien did, but she was way more bitter than to give him that.

“Kids, I have great news!” - clapped Mrs. Bustier (happily married since last summer) cheerfully. “We’ve won the competition! We’re going to Gotham!”

The whole class broke out into excited chattering as Marinette glanced at Adrien sitting next to her. He was the only one besides from Marinette who didn’t seem very happy from the news. They locked eyes, and the girl could see the worry and exhaustion on his face.

***

/Two months, seventeen days and nine hours earlier/

With every day passing, the weather in Paris got colder. The Ladybug suit provided enough warmth even on the most algid nights but walking to school in the mornings or going home in the afternoons was getting more and more difficult for Marinette. She really didn’t understand why out of all things a ladybug could do, the only thing she got was the urge to hibernate. She didn’t have wings. No antennas. No four extra legs. Even Tikki wasn’t anywhere near similar to a ladybug. Basically, other than her name and the colors, Marinette was just as far from resembling a ladybug as one could be.

But no, she had to get ill and tired every time the weather was cool. Fantastic.

“Ladybug?”

Chat’s voice brought her back to reality. She was sitting on the roof of Adrien’s house, at one in the morning, with the stars shining at them brightly from the sky’s soft black. The stars always calmed Marinette. They reminded her that there was a whole universe out there, that she was small and didn’t matter compared to the real world. These kinds of thoughts usually terrified people, but not her. If nothing really matters then the best you can do is making sure you’re happy, right?

She turned towards her partner’s shadowy figure standing on the other side of the roof.

“Hi,” she started with a barely visible smile. “Is everything okay? You weren’t there yesterday when Glassterix attacked and it’s okay, but you missed school too and we were getting a little worried.” Well, it wasn’t entirely ‘okay’. It took her over two hours to defeat the Akuma and her Lucky Cure had to bring back twenty-three people from the dead, but she wasn’t mad at him. It wasn’t the first time one of them couldn’t show up, they learned to be patient with each other a long time ago. After all, they were best friends, especially since they knew each other’s identity.

About that: yeah, it was a wild ride. It happened the month before, and it still caused her nightmares sometimes. The way Ryuko was crying as a group of civilians fell from the Eiffel tower right before her eyes (she couldn’t save them) and Carapace’s screams when the Champs Elysées’ asphalt shattered into pieces sending flying cars all over the place was haunting her every time she closed her eyes. At some point, Rena Rouge’s costume was splattered with someone else’s blood and she freaked out so bad, she took a wrong step off the roof, dislocated her ankle and fell five stories before Ladybug could catch her. Marinette swore she was never going to ask for the other heroes’ help again unless it was absolutely necessary. When Chat’s ring started ticking in the middle of the fight and she saw the fear creeping to his face, making all his anger disappear, she grabbed his arm and took him to a relatively safe alley. For a moment, the green light made the shadows look like long, faceless opponents, but is passed just as fast as it came and Adrien was left standing there, panicking. Marinette wasn’t too surprised, she’s suspected it for a while and judging from Adrien’s face after she transformed back to her plain old self, he did too. She succeeded in calming him down enough so his breathing was mostly even and she told him to get Plagg something to eat (that seemed to clear his mind a little), but then she had to go back to fight. Half an hour later Chat was once again helping Viperion evacuate the civilians.

She stood up and took a step towards Chat Noir, who for some reason seemed to stop far away from her.

“There’s something I have to talk to you about,” he said, and Marinette once again felt the smell of inevitable doom lingering around them, but she stayed calm.

“Okay,” she told him carefully.

He stepped out of the shadows and now she could see he wasn’t wearing his costume. She felt a little panic in her throat, but he seemed fine, just… hesitant, maybe.

“I was thinking about… everything, really, and the thing is, I want to go to college. I would like to go to Cambridge, or maybe Yale, I haven’t actually decided yet, but the point is, that wherever I go, it won’t be in Paris. It won’t be in France.”

Marinette’s heart sunk and for the first time in months, her eyes started stinging a little. She hated to cry, but she didn’t want him to leave. All year, she kept telling herself that they were just in eleventh grade, that college was far, but she knew it wasn’t entirely true. Almost everyone in her class has already decided where they were going to go. The United Kingdom? America? No, these places were too far, too big, too scary to think about. Why would he want to go there?

“I know it sounds a bit overconfident, but I think I can make it. However, I’ve to learn. A lot. And I’ve to make sure I do enough work outside of school that I can put in my applications and I have to do a lot of things, I still don’t exactly know everything about it but the point is…” he stopped speaking and took a few steps towards her, so now the distance between them was normal but he was still avoiding her gaze.

“The point is,” he continued cautiously, “-that I thought long and hard about it, and I can’t be Chat Noir anymore.” He looked her in the eyes for a moment, but seeing her expression, he turned his gaze to the ground.

For a second that seemed like a lifetime, Marinette was just staring at him. She thought it was a joke, or a dream, or a fucked-up prank because it couldn’t have been real. It wasn’t possible, right?

Then she slowly opened her mouth to protest, to do anything, but Adrien was quicker.

“And it isn’t just that. I mean, the college.” He shook his head and sighed, annoyed at himself. In different circumstances, it would’ve been satisfying to see him not finding the right words for once. “It isn’t just about college. Marinette, I would like to live an actual life. It’s selfish, I know, but if I don’t quit now, I’m never going to be able to. I won’t be able to have a family, a job I like, I’m never going to have a dog because there’s always going to be something that keeps me from being home. I love being Chat Noir, but during the past two years, I learned, that the main reason that I like it is that it helps people. But it’s not the life I want to live in. I’m going to find another way to help, one that lets me be happy.”

It was a promise, and they both knew it. 'I’m going to be a good person. I’m going to help. I’m going to be happy. I promise.’

Marinette saw the world shatter all around them as he spoke. Her world. She knew that at the same time, he saw it grow and evolve, and the irony didn’t go over her head.

“I’m not going to leave you alone,” he told her, looking into her eyes. “In fact, I’m happy to help you or Ladybug anytime you want, but only as Adrien.” He grabbed her hand softly and dropped the Black Cat ring into her palm. “I’m sorry.”

And with that, he was gone, leaving Marinette standing on his roof at one in the morning under the black blanket of the night. She wiped the tears that never fell out of her eyes and welcomed the numbness in her soul. She looked up to the sky one last time before swinging around the city until dawn. The stars no longer seemed so bright.

Later that night, wandering back and forth in his room, Adrien wondered if Marinette picked up everything he meant, but left unsaid.

'I’m going to be a good person. I’m going to help. I’m going to be happy. I’m here for you. I want you to be happy. I promise.’

He decided, that probably not.

_________________

Next    Masterpost    AO3

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Princess Justice2

Second Part of my “What if” AU of Episode: Ladybug.

A got a bit wordy, sorry!

In AO3

-

“Master Fu, our worst nightmare has come true!” yelled Plagg as soon as they were inside Master Fu’s house. Wayzz looked at him with a sarcastic expression.

“Adrien feed you the wrong kind of cheese?”

“Our second worst nightmare has come true!” Plagg corrected himself. Master Fu and Wayzz stopped in their tracks and looked at the two newcomers seriously.

“Hawk Moth has gone scarlet again and…”

“Marinette has been akumatized” whispered Adrien.

Master Fu fell to his knees. Wayzz fell from the air and into a table.

“She…”

“She managed to take off her earrings before that.”

“So you know her identity”

Adrien avoided his eyes. He knew the rules, and this meant they both would be replaced.

“We need to act quickly. Hopefully Marinette will be able to hide who she is, even akumatized, and Tikki… where is Tikki?”

“Leading a rebellion with the rest of Marinette’s friends. Queen Bee and the others seemed very keen on rescuing her.”

“So you came for the Miraculous…”

“That or advice. This is too much, if I had been akumatized, I’m sure Lady… I’m sure Marinette would have found a way to bring me back, but I…”

“You are going to bring her back” said Master Fu, in a reassuring tone. “She trusts you, and I trust you too.” He went to the gramophone and took out the Miraculous Box, opening it.

“Adrien Abigail Agreste, this is a dire time, you must pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you on this mission. Choose wisely; such powers are meant to serve the greater good. Once the mission is over, you will get the Miraculous back from them and return it to me.”

“Take them all!” begged Plagg “We’re going against Marinette! We will need as much help as we can get!”

“Is that allowed?”

“Normally I wouldn’t allow it, but Plagg is right. Marinette can, and will, be a formidable opponent, and you will need everything you have to go against her.”

Adrien picked every Miraculous, including the Turtle, and placed them in his bag.

“Please be safe. And remember that Marinette is not herself. Whatever happens, don’t hold it against her… But also, don’t hesitate to fight her, she’s counting on you.”

Adrien nods solemnly, realizing that he might need to go hand to hand against his La… against Marinette.

“Plagg, Claws out!”

-

In what felt like an eternity, Chat Noir reached the rooftop of the Le Grand Hotel Paris, then he went to Chloe’s room, where everyone was already reunited. Kagami and Luka were already there, and Chloe and Tikki seemed to be giving the others instructions. That’s when he noticed everyone was wearing a purse, pouch or designer bag, all apparently from Chloe’s collection. He also noticed Chloe had gotten installed a whiteboard with “Operation: Save Marinette” written at the top, and other squiggles he didn’t manage to read before Chloe called him.

“Glad you decided to show up!” teased Chloe. She then bit her lip when she realized what she had said. “Sorry, didn’t mean it like that.”

“Were you successful?” asked Tikki. Before he could answer, Kagami got up and was all in his face.

“Wow, it’s so obvious now. I can’t believe I was fooled before”

Adrien smiled. “Sorry, keeping our identities secret was a top priority. I didn’t even knew who was ladybug”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious now too” teased Alya. Once they rescued Marinette, she was in for the biggest surprise of her life.

Tikki cleared her throat. “Oh yeah. Plagg, Claws in!” Chat Noir transformed into Adrien before everyone’s eyes. He put out his bag and started giving everyone their miraculous. “You know the drill. Use these for good, don’t be a dick, return them after we’re done.” Chloe gave him a purse after receiving the Bee hairpin. “What’s with the bags?”

“We raided the kitchen. We don’t know how long the battle will last, and Tikki pointed out some of us might need to recharge, so each bag contains food for our specific kwami, and some extras for the others, just in case.”

“… This is your designer collection” noted Adrien. Chloe blushed when everyone started looking at the purses she had given them.

“Well, yeah, I had no time to get some cheap knock offs… And I wouldn’t know where  to buy them anyway” she added with a haughty tone. Adrien smiled. Even if she didn’t want to admit, she was worried about Marinette, and was willing to sacrifice her very valuable collection for her.

Chloe gave Pollen a sweet made of honey, which she thanked her for. The others did the same, Alya giving Trixx grape jelly donuts, Nino giving Wayzz pistachios, Xuppu stealing a banana from Kim, Max and Alix giving Kaalki and Fluff some carrots, Kagami giving Longg some peppers and Luka giving Sass some biscuits.

Adrien noted how the others were looking at their friends and their Kwamis in awe. He took a deep breath and reached inside the bag.

“Mylene Haprele, here is the Miraculous of the Mouse, which grants the power of Multiplying.” He gave the mouse necklace to Mylene, and then approached Ivan. “Ivan Bruel, here is the Miraculous of the Ox, which grants the power of strength.” He gave the nose ring to Ivan, who looked at it with curiosity. “Don’t worry, it’s a clip on, it stays with magic” Adrien approached Nathaniel. “Nathaniel Kurtzberg, here is the Miraculous of the Rooster, which grants the power of enlightment. “ He gave Nathaniel a thumb ring. “And Marc Anciel, here is the Miraculous of Goat, which grants the power of…”

“Thanks, but I already have a Miraculous”

“what”

“Yeah, we were thinking about it, and it would be highly suspicious if Ladybug doesn’t show up to fight Akumanette” Adrien made a mental note to ask who had made up that punny name.

“And Marc is the one that looks the most like Marinette” Adrien looked at Kagami instinctively.

“Yeah, my personality doesn’t match hers at all, I’m more blunt and serious, and not to mention it would be also suspicious if everyone else shows up except Ryuuko.”

“And I already read his Ladybug diary” teased Tikki, flying around Marc and landing on his head. “It was spot on” she giggled.  

“Wouldn’t Hawk Moth notice a pair of things… different?” asked Adrien looking at Marc’s chest.

“Well yeah, but Tikki said that if I focus when transforming I will look like her.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Losing Marinette to Akumatization bothers me more than looking like a girl”

“And if he doesn’t look exactly like Ladybug, Marcbug will use my ladybug suit over his” said Chloe, pointing out at her secret close, were her replica of the Ladybug suit was held. Adrien was always a little creeped out by that, but now it might come in handy.

“Sounds like a plan… OH! You guys, I trust you, but you have to know that once this is over the Miraculous must return to hiding.”

Everyone in the room nodded. The newly chosen were feeding their Kwamis, while they explained how to transform and what their powers would be.

“We all can use our powers just once, and then we have 5 minutes left on our transformations” lectured Adrien. “If that happens, find a safe place to detransform, feed your kwami and transform again to rejoin the battle. Try to keep your identity secret, but that’s not a priority. Guys, I know I’m asking a lot of you, but we might need to transform several times” he addressed the Kwamis, who nodded, as they wanted Marinette back as much as the humans.

“There will be probably more of those butterflies around, so this will be the hardest part.” Chloe took a deep breath. “Don’t lose hope. Have determination. Keep positive, whatever works for you. Marinette, Sabrina, Rose, Juleka… everyone is counting on us. “

“What about Lila?” asked Kim. Chloe glared at him.

“She tried to keep us inside. Is her fault Sabrina is not with us anymore” She took a deep breath, not wanting to attract a butterfly.

“If you run into her, don’t trust anything she says. Get rid of her if needed.”

“If Marinette hasn’t done that already” said Alya, covering her mouth immediately, regretting her words. Nino gave her a hug.

“Yeah…” Nino left out a sigh. “Don’t trust anything any of them say or do.” He looked around their group. “We all have been around akumas before, some do retain some of their host personality, but they’re still dangerous. They’re not themselves, so don’t hesitate to fight them with all you got. They’re counting on us.”

Adrien was amazed at his friend’s words. “The confirmed akumas are: Reflekta. She can transform you into copies of herself, which will make you unable to use your special power. If you can, take off your Miraculous to detransform before you become a copy, that way you can put your miraculous on top and transform again, otherwise, come to me for another Miraculous to keep fighting. She’s one of the less dangerous in the sense that you will retain your personality.”

“What if she tries to trick you to get a Miraculous?”

“Yeah, we need a safe word or something”

“Fine, if you get transformed into a Reflekta copy, come to me and say… ‘Marinette’s macaroons make me mad’”

Everyone nodded, practicing the phrase. It was a weird one that they would never say normally.

“Then there is Princess Fragrance. If you smell her perfume you will get brainwashed into being her slave, so prevent that at all costs. Ladybug’s yoyo and my cheerleader baton can act as respirators, but I don’t know if your weapons will be able to do that. Better nor risk it… Anyway, there’s Zombizou, which all of you know, and Dark Owl, which is a Batman rip-off. He doesn’t have powers, and I’m not sure if he got a super computer this time around, but he will have a lot of ridiculous and over specific gadgets, so beware that.”

“Did anyone else saw another akuma?” asked Chloe.

“Jean became the Magician of Misfortune again, so beware his tricks”

“And Stormy Weather appeared again”

“I think I saw Darkblade”

“Well, at least we know how all of those work. Oh! Marinette’s dad also became Weredad, he is super strong, but that’s his only power. He will most likely try to protect Marinette from us. Ivan, you might need to save your power to fight him”

Ivan nodded. Stompp nudged him affectionately. “You’ll do great”

“And Lila could still be Volpina… so that’s illusions again. Don’t trust her. That leaves us only with Marinette and her mom as the only unknown”

“And Sabrina…” added Chloe with a bit of sadness. “She could be Vanisher or Miraculer. No one is allowed to defeat her but me, is that understood?”

Everyone nodded. If that was Chloe’s weird way to show her affection, then so be it.

“Well, That covers Chloe and Ivan. Luka, I trust you to reset if anything goes wrong and tell us. If the five minutes go up and you transform, feed Sass and do it all over again.” Sass and Luka nodded. “Everyone else, I trust your judgment, just remember that is magic is fickle, so don’t say your special power out loud unless you really mean to use, as saying it could trigger it and your counter. Max and Markov… oh, I almost forgot”

Adrien took another Miraculous from inside his bag. “Markov … Kante? This si the Miraculous of the Dog, which grants the power of Tracking…”

“Wait, I get a Miraculous? But I’m not human…”

“You were able to be akumatized. There is an 87.97% chance that the Miraculous will work with you”

“Then I will do my best!”

Adrien put the Miraculous on Markov, and Barkk materialized from it.

“Our weapons also act as communication devices, and have a lot of other uses too; we have never had a chance to check if they work with you guys too. In case they do… Max, you’ll use Voyage so we can surprise attack the Castle, but will stay here with Markov.”

“What? Why? I’m just as capable of fighting as everyone else is!”

“Yes, but you’re a freaking genius, and with Markov, your capacity goes over 9000, so instead of going with us and doing what everyone else can, you’re going to use your horseshoe and whatever Markov get to hack into as much as you can and find who and where Hawk Moth is.”

Everyone looked at Adrien in surprise.

“I… I’ll do the best I can”

“That’s all I’m asking. Is everyone ready?” They nodded or said it so.

[my-miraculous-headcanons]

The Sorceress AU

In which everything is almost exactly the same... except Marinette was born into a family of sorceresses, and knew about the magical world ever since her abilities bloomed when she was a child.

Background Stuff

     • Tikki was honestly baffled by the Guardian’s decision, at first. A Guardian has never chosen someone already in possession of magical talent— it’s dangerous to even consider it. It’s too much power in the hands of someone who already has power to begin with. 

     • She quickly learns that she shouldn’t have been so wary of the Guardian’s choice. Marinette is an exceptional Ladybug, with a heart of gold, who, despite having such an abundance of power, never lets any of it go to her head. 

     • It’s not really so much as the Guardian’s choice that she’s so wary about now, so much as how the miraculous will... interact with Marinette’s already existing abilities. 

     • In the end, both Tikki and Marinette agree to not use any of her magic while in the Ladybug suit. They don’t really want to test anything out, since magic is... well. Dangerous. Experimentation with magic is especially dangerous. 

     • However, that doesn’t stop Marinette from experimenting outside the mask. In fact, her family is known for experimentation. The Cheng family in particular has a long history of discovering and creating new magic spells, whilst the Dupain family has a book filled with the different potions that had been created with each generation. 

     • Marinette made her first spell when she was four. She shows it to Tikki— the spell that plucks stars out of the sky and weaves them into your hair, turning it into the night itself. Nearly a decade later, and it’s still her favourite spell. She’s trying to figure out how to alter it so she can use it on a dress she’s making.

     • Marinette made her first potion when she was seven. She lovingly calls it the “Muse Potion,” a potion that conjures the perfect image in a waft of smoke that inspires any person who sees it. It has certainly helped her through design slumps.

     • Ladybug never tells Chat Noir or anyone that she’s a sorceress (in training). Chat Noir remains oblivious to her abilities, since she never uses it in battle. (Even when she’s really, really tempted to, sometimes.) 

     • Marinette never tells anyone as a civilian either, not even Alya. There’s strict rules on keeping the nonmagical out of the magical community. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t use magic often— in fact she uses it all the time, sometimes unconsciously. For example, she had accidentally infused the lucky charm she gave Adrien with a minor good luck spell. 

     • After becoming Ladybug, Marinette had discovered a purification spell completely by accident. She saw an akuma flying about the park, and as it passed her while she sat under a tree, she reached out and grabbed it by the wing. It turned white where the wing and her fingers touched, spread, and suddenly the evil color was just... gone.

     • This gets Marinette wondering what other spells from her Ladybug life she can replicate. Tikki usually wouldn’t ever allow this, but as long as Marinette doesn’t record these particular spells, she will let it slide. 

     • Marinette created almost a perfect replica of the Ladybug Lucky Charm spell, except the items she gets are completely red, never spotted. She also created a Miraculous Cure spell, except it’s nowhere near as powerful as Ladybug’s, and it doesn’t specifically focus on damage caused by akuma. She used it on her room, and it fixed pretty much everything that was broken, soiled, etc. 

Story time!

     • Ladybug’s secret as a sorceress remains intact, but... it turns out as a civilian, she’s not as lucky.

     • Marinette performs a purification spell on an Akuma she finds fluttering about in the school hallway, thinking that no one is around to see her. False. Adrien, who had just got back from a photoshoot, sees her, and nearly has an aneurysm. 

     • Adrien quickly hides under the stairs and watches as Marinette walks back into the classroom, and has a silent freak out. He asks Plagg if Ladybug can purify akumas outside of the suit, to which the kwami replies hell no, which just makes the whole thing a thousand times more confusing. 

     • He asks if Hawkmoth can purify his own akuma. Plagg says yeah, technically, and Adrien is even further dying because omg is Marinette Hawkmoth and if she is why the fuck did she just purify her own akuma??? WAS THAT OLD MAN’S FACE AND VOICE FROM THE BEGINNING JUST A COVERUP SO THAT NO ONE WOULD SUSPECT HER??? HOW COULD THE SWEETEST GIRL IN THE WORLD BE A TERRORIST WHAT IS GOING ON???

     • Adrien has to walk into class, sit down, and go through the rest of the day pretending as if absolutely nothing is wrong. Plagg, for some reason, finds this entire thing hilarious, but Adrien is not fucking laughing. 

     • At the end of the day, he transforms into Chat Noir, runs to her place, sees her in front of the bakery, and pretty much kidnaps Marinette. Like, straight up snatches her off the street. 

     • She has quite a few Words for Chat Noir when he finally puts her down on some random rooftop a far distance away from her home, but he doesn’t really let her start, instead immediately interrogating her.

     • “Are you Hawkmoth? What are your reasons for terrorizing Paris? How did you come into possession of the butterfly miraculous? Why on earth would someone as kind as you ever twist the negative emotions of the very people you care about? What—”

     • “I’m sorry, but what the fuck?”

     • Marinette is furious. Furious enough that she just fucking decks the superhero in the face, and attempts to stomp away, because she refuses to deal with a fucking idiot. Unfortunate, the cat has other plans, so he grabs her wrist and keeps her in place.

     • “Let me go!” “Answer my questions!” “I’M NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS OF AN IDIOT WHO’S ACCUSING ME OF BEING SOMETHING I’M NOT WITHOUT ANY PROOF OR REASON!” “YOU ABSORBED THE ENERGY OF A FREAKING AKUMA IN YOUR SCHOOL HALLWAY!”

     • Everything’s quiet for a moment while Marinette settles that information in her head. She lets out a quiet, but heartfelt ‘fuck’ from under her breath. Chat takes this as a sign of admission and demands that she hands over the butterfly miraculous.

     • So... at this point, if she wants to clear her name, she really doesn’t have any other option than to... out herself. And technically, the rules apply to nonmagical people, and Chat Noir... has magic. So it’s not really breaking the rules, right?

     • “Chat. It was a spell. I performed a spell. I don’t have the butterfly miraculous, I’m the fucking real-life version of Matilda here. I figured out a spell replicating Ladybug’s purification magic. I’m a sorceress, Chat.”

     • Chat’s response is “You’re a what?” Quite frankly, this is beginning to sound eerily similar to Harry Potter, except the conversation is somehow inverted.

     • “The Dupain and Cheng families are two extensive families with a knack for magic, and are both well-known in the magical community. I’m a sorceress in training.”

     • Okay. So. He may have a magical ring, and he may run around Paris in a magical skintight leather catsuit, but this is a little too much. So, in response, he demands that Marinette proves it. On a random rooftop. In public. With people down below taking pictures of their local superhero. Yeah, great idea Chat, you fucking moron—

     • She proves it by zipping his lips shut and refusing to undo it until he brings her back home. Not before loudly wondering if she would do Paris a favour by leaving him like that. (In her defense, he seriously pissed her off.)

     • She undoes it the moment her feet meets the floorboards of her balcony. 

     • “I believe you now.”

     • “I’d call you a fucking idiot if you didn’t believe me at this point.”

     • Chat Noir goes home that day and proceeds to scream into his pillow.

Adrien Knows Now

     • Turns out, hiding the fact that you know someone else’s secret is, like, a million times harder than keeping your own secret. He can’t help but focus on Marinette wherever she goes now, because, well... What other magic has she been doing without anyone noticing? 

     • He notices that she talks to her bag sometimes, which would be weird if he noticed that before he found out she’s basically a witch. (Sorceress, she said, but really? She’s a witch. It’s easier to call her a witch. Just... not to her face.) He wonders if she has some magical being in there, or a familiar, or maybe she even enchanted her bag so it has a soul or— or something. 

     • He catches her conjuring up a mock-up version of Lucky Charm and nearly has a heart attack. The item isn’t spotted, so he knows it’s not a real one, but that’s still... wow. 

     • He realises one day after leaving his Marinette Lucky Charm at home by accident that his luck all of a sudden got worse... And then he comes to the abrupt realisation that it may actually be fucking lucky. Marinette gave him an ACTUAL good luck charm. 

     • Does Alya know? He keeps trying to make sly conversation with Alya about what... other things Marinette can do, but he’s come to the conclusion that Alya definitely doesn’t know. In fact, he’s pretty sure he accidentally gave her the impression that he was asking if Marinette can do... stuff in the bedroom, which is why Alya’s been high-key hating him since that conversation. She doesn’t let him go anywhere near Marinette now. (Plagg finds this hilarious. Plagg can shut the fuck up.)

     • He corrects the misunderstanding later by saying he was asking if Marinette can crochet, too, and that he forgot the word for it. Alya believes him, but he’s on thin fucking ice now. Watch yourself, Agreste.

     • Now every time he tries to talk to Marinette, Alya’s glaring at him over her shoulder. Which makes things infinitely harder, because at this point, he doesn’t think he can keep the fact that he knows Marinette’s secret from her any longer. He needs to tell her but... How is he supposed to do that with Alya always there, silently threatening to skin him alive???

     • He finds his answer shortly after. He knocks on the Dupain-Cheng’s front door, gets invited in, and— and apparently, they forgot that they had a floating flowerpot beside their window. He doesn’t need to confront Marinette at all. He just needed to catch her parents in the act. 

     • They’re freaking the hell out, and Adrien realises now that he doesn’t really need to make up an excuse as to how he figured out Marinette is a witch. (Sorceress. Whatever.) He’s pretty sure if he confronted her about cleansing the Akuma, she might suspect that he’s Chat Noir. Because she’s smart like that. (Lmao Adrien... you have no idea how oblivious this girl is.)

     • M. and Mme. Dupain-Cheng give him a lesson on their history and stress the importance of keeping this a secret. In fact, they go into detail about their family and it’s— it’s fascinating. Holy hell is it fascinating. Marinette is, like, magic royalty or something, not just “well known.” And a prodigy, at that. Each member of the Cheng family even have their own titles, all written down in some ancient book with an unlimited amount of pages, including the achievements of each member. Marinette doesn’t have a title yet, she will when she completes an important “test,” but she has... a whole page worth’s of achievements under her name. Apparently, she’s beaten the record for inventing the most spells. “She’s just so creative,” Sabine says. “She’s always coming up with ideas, and she doesn’t like to leave a single one unfinished. She’ll always keep trying until she brings her idea to life.”

     • Marinette comes home to find Adrien flipping through her family’s super fucking secret ancestry book in front of her parents and nearly has a straight up heart attack. So. Her crush knows now. Along with the beloved Parisian cat superhero, but her parents don’t know that nor will they ever. She can,,, she can deal with this. 

     • She can’t deal with this. She has two different blond boys attacking her with questions at different times of day and, honestly, she never thought she could lose her patience with either one of them so quickly and horribly. Especially with Adrien. She’s three seconds away from snapping at him for asking her a question in public again. It’s a secret for a reason, you dumb sunshine child!!! You’re so lucky I love you!!!

     • Alya is baffled as to why Marinette is trying so hard to avoid Adrien now. It’s a... very new development. Her suspicions with him grow, like, 100000% and she goes to ask him what the FUCK did he pull with her best friend, and he desperately tries to convince her that he didn’t do anything for fuck’s sake Alya stop scARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME I SWEAR I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING

     • Chat Noir is trickier to avoid. In fact, she can’t avoid him. He comes to her and either kidnaps her off the streets or from school, or waits on her balcony and receptively knocks on her glass window until she gets so annoyed that she has no choice but to let him in, for the sake of her own sanity. 

     • She gets used to Chat Noir leaning his head on her shoulder while she makes potions for her training and tests. In fact, his purring is calming, although she’d never admit that to him. He only really knows for sure that Marinette actually enjoys his company when she invites him to her milestone ceremony, where she finally earns her permanent title through a test. It was an exciting night.

The Reveal

     • The reveal happens when Ladybug decides to break her promise to Tikki and perform magic whilst in the mask. She didn’t want to, but it was an emergency situation— her miraculous almost got destroyed. Oh, and, uh, herself too. She almost died along with the miraculous. Obviously, she had to do something. Tikki will understand.

     • She pulled the spell off without a hitch, but she does admit that it felt... very strange. She can’t put her finger on it. But whatever, she stopped the time surrounding a destructive beam, suspending it midair. She turns, ready to take on the akuma, and then she sees Chat’s face and— and there’s realisation there. He knows. He’s spent enough time with Marinette to know how a sorceress performs her spells. 

     • It doesn’t take long for him to piece together her identity. And it doesn’t take long for him to have an absolute freak out over it. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, remarkable sorceress, designer of a Jagged Stone album cover and glasses, winner of a Gabriel Agreste fashion contest, class president... and also, apparently, the fucking superhero of Paris. She is... so ridiculously far out of his league, it’s not even funny. He’s screwed. SCREWED. It’s over. He’s going to die alone, with, like, a million cats. (Hah.)

     • Once Adrien gets over his complete meltdown, he and Marinette are able to talk to each other. She sits him down in her room, wraps him in a blanket, gives him a mug of hot cocoa and a plate of cookies, and lets him meet Tikki. Everything is a lot less terrifying and awkward after that. They end up staying up late, Marinette now feeling as if she can share everything with Chat.

     • "My lady... Don’t you want to know who I am, too?” “You don’t need to reveal anything right now, chaton. Tell me when you think it’s the perfect moment. I don’t wanna overwhelm you. Or me. Either of us.”

     • He tells her after she finally gains her title, and asks her out on a date. Her answer is a resounding hell yes— except he shouldn’t be too excited, because apparently he’s been twice as annoying as she thought he was being, so he’s not allowed to see her at night for the next month. This is what he gets for badgering her as both Adrien and Chat Noir.

     • Alya is very, very confused by how Marinette suddenly goes from one day completely avoiding Adrien’s very existence, to telling her she and him are dating. What the hell happened, here?

I hope you guys liked this AU for Spoopy Month. If you’re wondering about Sabine and Marinette’s titles, it’s Sabine the Decisive and Marinette the Creative.

I can see Adrien as being the type to create... huge misunderstandings bc he keeps saying things that accidentally sound offensive, suggestive, or passive aggressive without meaning to. It’s a personal hc of mine. 

I had an entirely different draft for this exact AU with a different storyline, one that I may post in like... the far future. But for now, I like the way this one turned out. The other draft is significantly less organised. (Although, the other draft has sorceress reveals for ALL of Marinette’s friends, and it’s great. Uuuugh, I was so conflicted over which one to post. I might call the other one the Witch AU and keep this one the Sorceress AU.)

[lady-charinette]

The Cute Suspect Chapter 4 - Adrienette AU Cop!

Chapter 4

“Miss Dupain-Cheng? I’m Captain Bourgeois, your new babysitter.”

Marinette swallowed, eyes locked onto cold blue ones, “Babysitter?”

The blonde flicked her hair over her shoulder, the sudden slam and locking of the door making her wince, “Precisely, I’ll be making sure you behave while officer Agreste is at work.” Without any hesitation, the woman took off her shoes and hat, before guiding Marinette by her elbow towards the living room.

Marinette clumsily followed, frowning at the slight pressure on her elbow, but begrudgingly following to not aggravate the female policewoman. It was obvious she meant business and Marinette was never one to mess with the law.

Well….until…that incident.

Marinette was deposited on the couch, while the captain strolled into the kitchen. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Plagg watching her, he seemed relaxed enough, but not overly affectionate as he was towards his owner or Marinette.

The captain stopped beside the black cat, scrunching her nose, “Someone needs a bath.”

Plagg hissed, but it was no serious threat, his tail was still relaxed, back not hunched and he promptly walked over to Marinette, who gently scratched his head. He laid down near Marinette’s feet, as if to guard her against the blonde woman.

Marinette wondered what relationship the woman had to Plagg, to Mr. Agreste in general. He called her a friend, but she seemed so casual in his home, as if she knew exactly where everything was, as if she practically lived there.

As it turned out, she did. The blonde woman opened cupboards and drawers Marinette hadn’t explored yet, effortlessly taking out ingredients, utensils and setting up water to boil.

The sleeves of her uniform were meticulously rolled up, folded, before she set to work on the cutting board.

The minute Marinette’s chains rattled when she wanted to stand up and ask if she could help, the rhythmic sounds from the knife hitting the cutting board stopped and the woman’s back grew even more rigid if possible, her head tilted so she caught a glimpse of the suspect from the corner of her eyes.

The dark-haired woman froze, feeling like a deer caught in headlights, before her trembling lips finally stilled enough to speak, “Uhm…do…do you need help-“

“No, thank you.”

The answer was curt, sharp and painless.

The woman suspected this was how the rest of her day with the captain would go.

Mr. Agreste mentioned the woman was a friend, how could such a kind man like him possibly be friends with someone like her?

“Ice queen.” Marinette’s thoughts halted abruptly when the captain moved her head, as if actually hearing her thoughts, before she dumped what looked like chopped up vegetables into the pot filled with water.

Exhaling in relief, Marinette felt her body sag back against the couch. She saw Plagg jump onto the empty spot next to her, cuddling up to her side and purring contently, his head resting on the side of her stomach.

Marinette petted his head, feeling slightly more reassured about her situation, it remined her of Tikki nuzzling her to comfort her whenever she had deadlines to meet or an overload of work on her designs.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng,” the authoritative voice caused Marinette to straighten automatically, “Have you or have you not been responsible for the robbery at the store?”

She didn’t expect the straightforward question, weren’t police officers supposed to interrogate her first? Maybe use sly tactics or intimidation or a play with words to butter her up? Did only detectives do that?

She swallowed, stiffening, lips set into a thin line.

She wouldn’t, she gave her word.

After another moment of silence, captain Bourgeois finished cleaning the knife and cutting board and set it aside, stirring the pot, not once turning to face the suspect, “I see.” She paused briefly, as if thinking, “Armed robbery gets you either three years in jail or up to eight in repeat and especially violent offenses. According to the background check we did of you, you’re not a repeat offender, which will lessen your sentence. Your sentence will also be lessened if you confess the identity of the other offenders involved.”

Marinette sat still, listening to the captain recite it so easily, like a bullet from a shotgun, quick, precise, fast. Her stomach churned, she couldn’t rat out the others, but she was the only one caught, she would be the one sent to prison. What would maman and papa think? What of her job at the designing company?

A shaky breath left her lips, feet nervously shifting against the carpet, “I-I know what you’re doing, I won’t tell anything.” She didn’t dare look at the woman’s back, least she turned and pierced her soul with those icy eyes.

The captain huffed, but gave no other reaction to her statement, except, “Suit yourself, Miss Dupain.”

Something hardened within Marinette and she spoke through grit teeth, a fierceness to her voice that wasn’t there before, “It’s Dupain-Cheng, Miss Bourgeois.”

“That’s Captain Bourgeois, to you Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

Despite her harsh tone, there was a small smile on the blonde’s lips.

Adrien’s eyes scanned the information written on the piece of paper, lips captured between his teeth as he calculated the distance between the precinct and the address.

“Hey! Heading out?” Wayhem strolled by with a fresh stack of papers in his hands, probably another case, or research materials for an old one.

Adrien smiled weakly, “Yeah.”

The brunet rose an eyebrow curiously, “Hey, what’s up Mr. Sunshine?”

Adrien sighed, leaning his head back against his chair, “You think she’s involved beyond a reluctant accomplice?”

Wayhem glanced at the paper in his friend’s hand, before he gaze swept over the files of the recent robbery and he stuck his bottom lip out, “Well….hard to say. Do you have evidence denying it?”

The conflicted look on his face told Wayhem all he had to know, “So, what makes you so sure she was forced to tag along? I mean, she still refuses to say any names, right?”

The blond straightened in his chair and ran a hand through his hair, “Yes, but… she’s not in our files, not even for a speeding ticket. She never did any sort of offense in her life, suddenly diving headfirst into robbery doesn’t seem logical. Not to mention, what would drive a young woman such as her to do this? She seems jumpy, a bit clumsy and nervous, not exactly the usual profile of the people we throw into the cell.”

Wayhem gave a loud, drawn out sigh, getting annoyed looks from some of their colleagues, Adrien smiled apologetically at them and they turned their heads to concentrate back on their work, “Maybe it’s just an act? To get you off her trail?”

Adrien shook his head, “I don’t think so, earlier this morning, when I surprised her in the kitchen, she was like a scared deer. A seasoned criminal would react differently, or at least someone who’s committed a crime before. Also, I gave her enough openings to surprise me or just attempt to escape. She took none of them, I don’t think she even noticed any of them. She could’ve attempted to flee when my back was turned, try to break the window during the night, anything. She didn’t do anything Wayhem, she behaves like a scared civilian held hostage.”

Wayhem pursed his lips, rubbing his chin, “Hmm….there’s that.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously, “Wait, how is Plagg reacting?”

Adrien shrugged, “Plagg loves her. He showers her with affection. Hasn’t hissed even once. He didn’t even react in the morning when she was in the kitchen and I asleep. He was laying right next to me, as if we were alone.”

“Fur standing on end?”

“Nope.”

“Did he try to bite her when she got near his cheese stash?”

Adrien gasped, “Not once! Not even once, Wayhem! He has his cheese stash in multiple places, right? She walked near it at least several times, but he never reacted.” The man ran his hands down his face in frustration, “She must be innocent Wayhem!”

The brunet looked exasperated, “But-but why?! Ugh, there’s nothing going on! I need her to be a little guilty just to spice things up a bit!” he pouted like a child, “Just imagine, handsome cop living with dangerous criminal? Hunk of a cop forced to share living quarters with deadly woman looking to slit his throat-“

Adrien pushed his overzealous face away from him, expression flat, “First, stop describing me so weirdly. Second, she’s barely an amateur criminal. Slitting my throat? She jumped when I opened the door, I can’t imagine her sneaking around anywhere with a dagger in her hands.” The blond stood up, grabbing his jacket off his stool and putting it on.

Wayhem followed him towards the exit, gesticulating wildly with his hands, “You know how female criminals can get, no hate, but they often employ charm and the innocent, defenseless act to fool. It happened before Adrien, we have a few psychopaths in the cell for that you know.” He would need to be an octopus to be able to count how many times they’ve arrested females, and males, who employed various practices of deceit and false charm to get their way out of a jail sentence.

“You know, it’s always the quiet ones!” Adrien leveled Wayhem with a half tired, half amused look.

“Yeah…I know, Wayhem.” With that, Adrien left through the double doors and towards the elevator, an amused smirk on his lips from recalling memories of Wayhem a few years ago, the quiet, shy recruit who was scared of everything and anything.

————

12 Rue Gotlib, 21st arrondissement

Adrien looked at the paper in his hand, before he looked upon the building he now stood in front of.

It definitely was the same address.

Pocketing the piece of paper, Adrien made his way inside.

The bell chime above his head alerted the patrons within of his arrival. Almost immediately, a shorter woman of Chinese descent greeted him with a bright, warm smile, “Welcome!”

A tall, large man emerged from behind what Adrien deduced was a kitchen, waving friendlily at him, “Good day, young man!”

Adrien paused, inhaling the sweet scent of baked goods and the warm, inviting atmosphere around him.

He had expected many things, a small apartment, a rundown, cheap building, a small house, anything.

What he hadn’t expected was to run into a bakery, much less one of the best ones in Paris.

Adrien put on a friendly smile, tone polite and soft, “Bonjour.”

Thanks for reading and I’m sorry for the short chapter!

@mariladrichatinette

[plagg-o]

Better Together

Jumping onto this @auyeahaugust train with an idea I had and might continue later!

Day 4 - Enemies [Hacker AU]

Growing up homeschooled and alone, Adrien Agreste was never allowed to have a normal life. Eventually, he found his ‘freedom’ in the form of hacking, starting his career by infiltrating and taking down evil corporations from the inside and ending up with many clients running from another hacker with the codename HawkMoth. But then someone better came along.

Words: 3,125

He hadn’t meant to make an enemy of her. She’d stolen a client from him once; he’d sent her a virus in return. An impulsive move, he admitted, and for a while he wasn’t sure what had come over him. Jealousy, maybe? It wasn’t that he cared about losing money — he had enough of that to spare. But it had been a hit to his pride, this new hacker upstart coming in and taking a job he’d been working on for days right from under his nose. And so he’d taken it out on her. Two days later she sent him a tweaked version, signed with a heart.

Annoying, but harmless. You’ll get along well. -L

Adrien wasn’t quite sure what to make of Plagg at first. Codename ‘Ladybug’ had taken the VI virus he’d implanted to mess with her system and turned it, somehow, into an AI that never shut up — but also didn’t ever do damage. And, while the note had most certainly been a jab at his abilities — Ladybug hadn’t been wrong. He and Plagg did get along well…weirdly enough. At first, he couldn’t get past the safeguards she’d put in place to disable it — and then, he stopped trying. He liked the company.

From the day he sent her that virus, Ladybug never left him alone. And he never left her alone, either. They ended up always dipping into the same pool of clients, always in competition even though they were trying to accomplish the same things. He had spent countless hours hacking into her system, trying his best to gain the upper hand, trying to win back clients. Ladybug’s counterattacks seemed to exist simply to mock him; she was always trolling him, driving him up the wall — and little notes she sent along seemed meant to taunt him further.

Nice try, Chaton. Try this instead. -L

You almost got me with that one! Almost. -L

I fixed it for you. -L

Hey, that wasn’t very nice, Chaton. Have fun re-downloading all those files. -L

Plagg got a new update last night! Enjoy. ;) -L

It was infuriating, and confusing, but his biggest concern was that Ladybug was better than he was. No matter what he tried, she turned it on him within days, with modifications and upgrades and things he would never even think of. But it was never damaging or irreversible. Sure, she’d sometimes slip into his system in the dead of night and delete games he’d spent hours downloading or disable every web browser but Internet Explorer, but nothing that actually prevented him from doing his work.

He hadn’t meant to make an enemy of her, but he’d always found himself antagonizing her — or trying to. Perhaps the way with which she handled it kept drawing him back to her. They were well known in the community for being pitted against each other — the rumors had spread, and now he was facing a conversation he had never wanted to begin.

Adrien’s eyes rested on the screen, cursor blinking impatiently at his hesitation.

[HawkMoth]: I’m still waiting for an answer.

[HawkMoth]: We could take her down together. No one would have to know.

[HawkMoth]: After it’s done, everything can go back to the way it was before.

[HawkMoth]: You’ll have no competition.

[HawkMoth]: You could be done with all of this.

How crazy had he gotten, to think that Adrien would say yes? Then again — HawkMoth was capable of destroying his entire system in fifteen minutes flat, as well as wiping out his account. He couldn’t exactly say no right off the bat, or it would all be gone.

[Chat Noir]: Let me think about it. Give me a few days.

[HawkMoth]: …You have 24 hours.

[Chat Noir]: Fine. More generous than usual, anyway.

[HawkMoth]: I can be patient. You have no other options, after all.

//hawkmoth has disconnected.

After checking his defense and making sure his activity couldn’t be traced, he took a deep breath. Now or never. It took him a good three minutes just to press send.

[Chat Noir]: Hey, can you imagine how annoying it might be to have to find a new picture of Camembert every thirty minutes for three years?

Her reply was near-instant, much to Adrien’s relief.

[Ladybug]: That was Plagg’s idea, actually. ;)

[Ladybug]: Every thirty minutes is a bit much, tbh. You’re spoiling him. I’m smiling!

[Ladybug]: Tikki likes cookies.

[Chat Noir]: You named the virus I sent you Tikki?

[Ladybug]: It fits.

[Ladybug]: Not a virus anymore, btw.

[Ladybug]: I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever actually talk to me.

[Chat Noir]: Are you always this friendly with your enemies?

[Chat Noir]: I can’t say this is what I was expecting.

[Ladybug]: Is that how you see us?

[Ladybug]: I think ‘rivals’ is more fitting, personally.

[Ladybug]: I’ve always enjoyed a little friendly competition.

Ladybug was…not like he expected. And it made his life way easier — tonight, anyway.

[Ladybug]: You still with me, Chaton?

[Chat Noir]: We need to talk — somewhere secure.

[Ladybug]: Ah.

[Ladybug]: Go offline and then talk to Plagg.

//ladybug has disconnected.

Adrien blinked. He’d approached her with caution and she had immediately taken him at his word, had not even questioned it. He supposed he should do the same. He shut everything down except for Plagg. The image of the little black cat floated in the middle of the darkened screen, smirking.

‘OH, FINALLY.’ Apparently much more in the loop than Adrien was, Plagg didn’t hesitate. ‘GIVE ME YOUR PHONE.’

Hesitantly, Adrien stood up. “Plagg. You don’t actually have hands.” Suddenly, Plagg’s voice was coming from behind him, much quieter than usual.

‘Yeah, no kidding, genius.’

Whirling around, Adrien snatched up his phone, eyes widening to see he’d taken over the screen. “You can jump into my phone?! How long have you been able to do that???”

Snickering, Plagg shrugged. ‘Since the beginning? Ladybug didn’t think it would take this long. I don’t think she knew just how stubborn you were.’

“Do you mean to tell me that Ladybug had planned for this from the beginning? That we’d meet?”

‘Guess you’ll have to ask her when you get there.’ Just as Plagg said that, the phone beeped: a text from a blocked number with an address and short instructions.

11 pm by the fountain. Cover your face.

————

Adrien’s stomach was in knots as he arrived in the darkened park, black hoodie and scarf successfully obscuring his identity. He’d spent years fighting with this girl, albeit not quite the ‘enemy’ he’d dubbed her, and in all honesty before tonight — he’d never even considered meeting her. To find that she had planned this all along was — what, exactly? He didn’t even know.

‘Calm down, kid. She’s not gonna murder you.’ Despite the fact that his phone was firmly in his pocket, he could almost see the eye-roll.

“Don’t make me regret the ear piece, Plagg. And that’s not — I didn’t think she was.” Not until Plagg had said that, anyway. But it was a fear he could fairly easily push aside — after all, they might be rivals, but they were both doing good work, even if they weren’t exactly going by the law to do it. After a few moments of steeling his resolve, he made his way to the fountain, sitting on the edge with nothing to do but wait and hope.

“You’re early!” Adrien nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice coming seemingly out of nowhere behind him. The very loud voice, for their very discreet meeting. And then she was giggling. “Oh, you even jump like a cat when scared. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you!” When he finally calmed his heart enough to turn around and face her, he was met with more giggling.

Again, Ladybug was not what he was expecting.

She was wearing a red hoodie with fabric that covered her face; the only thing he could see were her striking blue eyes. Eyes that were smiling at him — she was still laughing. And he found himself quickly covering his embarrassment with a huff. “Anyone would have jumped at that.” His voice didn’t come out quite as friendly as he’d intended — especially considering why he had asked her here — but it did nothing to dampen her mood, apparently.

“Oh no, I’m—” Ladybug stifled another giggle as she shook her head, waving her hands in front of her enthusiastically. “I just didn’t expect your hoodie to have cat ears. I didn’t see them until you turned around.” She shook her head, finally recovering, and he could see the laughter fade into determination in her gaze. It almost captivated him for a moment — almost. Plagg must have noticed, somehow, because he could hear the snickering in his ear. That’s when Adrien took the ear piece out.

“I know we just met, and I know you don’t know me. But I need you to trust me for a minute. I need you to close your eyes.” Ladybug took a step forward, arm reaching out almost as if she was going to touch him, but it dropped to her side almost as quickly, as if she had thought better of it.

Adrien didn’t know why, precisely, but he trusted her — and so he did. He felt slender fingers wrap around his hand, then, and without a second thought he found himself sliding his fingers through hers. She began to lead him, and he followed for what felt like hours before he felt her stop and open up a door, leading them both through it. The room lit up around him and she released his hand. “Okay, you can open your eyes.” Her voice sounded more timid now, and he did as she said.

His eyes hadn’t even fully adjusted to the light when he started sputtering in surprise. “T-this is…?!”

“Where I do my work.” She laughed a little shyly as she extended her hands, gesturing to the large room. It wasn’t just full of computers, but also pictures and mannequins and scraps of fabric and half-finished clothing everywhere. “I, uh, spend most of my time in here so other things have bled into it, but you won’t find a safer spot to talk in all of Paris.” She shook her head. “Sorry about having you close your eyes. I didn’t want to give away the location just yet.”

“No, it’s uh — that makes sense,” Adrien murmured, a little at a loss for what to say. “Um, sorry I didn’t really expect…” His voice trailed off. Honestly, he’d had no idea what to expect, but this girl didn’t seem like the trolling hacking machine he’d once thought she was.

Ladybug’s eyes darted to the side, and she shrugged. “So, um — you needed to talk somewhere secure?” She was looking at him again, and this time it was Adrien looking away. “Does this have to do with HawkMoth?”

She was giving him every opening he needed to start talking, but he found himself stumbling over his words, what he had planned to say vanishing from his mind as soon as he opened his mouth. “Y-yeah, good intuition,” he finally managed, and found himself sinking into one of the desk chairs. “He’s trying to get me to team up with him to take you down.” Once he got started, it had been easier to say than he was expecting.

“Oooh. I didn’t expect that.” For all the girl’s words, she didn’t actually sound terribly surprised. In fact, she was already halfway across the room, flipping over her dry erase board to reveal the back — an extensive record of HawkMoth and his methods, codes, and possible plans. She was already jotting the information down in one of the few bare spots on the board, tucked away in a small corner. “I mean, I knew he wanted to get rid of me, obviously, but he always works alone and trusts no one so that strategy is a little surprising, you know? I mean, not that I’m an expert, but I’ve been tracking his actions over the past few years and I—”

“Whoa, this is insane,” he cut in, now standing next to her and examining the board. He only felt a little bad about cutting her off…he felt that might be the only way he got a word in edgewise. “You realize this looks like one of those crazy conspiracy theorist boards?”

Ladybug laughed. “Well, at this point, it kind of is? I mean, I don’t really know what he’s after. But everyone that comes to us is trying to escape from him, aren’t they?” She grabbed his arm, suddenly serious again. Her moods seemed to shift on a whim, and Adrien couldn’t help but be fascinated by it. “Chat, you need to say yes.”

And now his jaw had dropped, not that she could see it beneath the fabric. Was this girl actually insane? But she didn’t look crazy — she looked determined. “I — you’re serious?”

“If he lets you in, even a little bit, wouldn’t that be a chance to learn enough to take him down? We can work with this!” Ladybug did not seem to have a grasp on the potential dangers of the situation, and Adrien felt himself slipping into a weird sort of panic on her behalf.

“What…what kind of things could we even learn from that? There’s way too many chances for it to backfire. No way.” He shook his head, finding it hard to hold her gaze when it was so earnest. Why did it have to be her eyes that he could see? “I came to you to avoid that.”

Her eyes were pleading with him now, and he had to break away from her touch before she hypnotized him. “If we could learn his identity, I’m sure we could find a way to connect everything with him and—”

“That is not an issue.” Adrien gritted his teeth. Now or never. “I already know his identity.” There’s no going back.

Ladybug froze, her eyes widening. For a moment, he could swear he saw the fear of the worst flashing through her eyes before she recovered enough to prompt him. “…oh?”

Adrien sighed. “HawkMoth is my father.”

“Oh…oh.” Ladybug’s voice was soft, but it wasn’t pity he felt from her. She was touching his hand, now, and somehow he felt like she was sharing every bit of the pain he’d felt when having to say those words out loud. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that is.” Before he’d realized she’d done it, she had led him over to the couch, sitting them both down on it, hand still on his.

She didn’t ask about his father’s identity.

After a few moments, she spoke, hesitantly. “I admit I noticed some…similarities. At first, I was suspicious, but when I confirmed that you definitely weren’t — well, him — I … I had thought maybe that you would be the key to bringing him down for good.”

“He taught me everything I know,” he murmured half bitterly, leaning back. He didn’t make any move to remove her hand…hers was a comforting touch, and Adrien didn’t know how much he had needed that until tonight. “You really think we could bring him down?”

When she didn’t immediately respond, he looked at her curiously. “Are you…sure that’s what you want?” She shook her head. “I—I mean, HawkMoth needs to be stopped but I can understand if you don’t want to be involved in that, it’s—”

“Yes, it’s what I want.” He sounded more confident than he felt. “But — he taught me everything I know,” he said again. “He’s got me outmatched, and when I don’t say yes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to cut me off from everything.”

Ladybug shook her head, and her hold on his hand tightened slightly. “You say that, but the way you code—” She stopped mid-sentence, shaking her head again; it looked as if she was having trouble getting her words out. “Would it make any sense if I said it had more heart?” She laughed. “No, I just — I need you to understand how good you are. I’ve been freaking out over it for like, three years, okay?”

And now, Adrien was having trouble keeping up again. “You’ve improved and outdone everything I’ve ever sent to you.”

“Yes! No,” she corrected herself almost immediately, her voice speeding up excitedly. “No that’s just it! That virus you sent me, the very first time. It had something in it I’d never seen before, not in anything HawkMoth has done, not in anything my master taught me — it was completely unique. I can’t explain it, but it’s been in everything you’ve sent me. The only reason I’ve been able to make the things I have is because I was building off of your code.” She had released his hand now, only to gesture excitedly with both of hers — still, he found himself missing that warmth. And he was definitely blushing now.

“I, uh…didn’t…notice…” he mumbled awkwardly, unable to meet her eyes again — although now she, too, was looking away.

A little calmer now, she started again. “There’s something about putting our minds together that just…works. I think we could do it, if we were working together.” She paused for a moment. “Is that — what you wanted when you came?”

Adrien gave a barely perceptible nod. “I messaged you earlier hoping to ask you to help me defeat him, yeah.” Even so, he felt himself somehow swept away by how the evening had unfolded so far.

“Then…we need to trust each other.” He saw her nod out of the corner of his eyes. “I have a plan, but there’s no way it can work if we’re staying in the shadows — not from each other, anyway.” She sounded hesitant, but resolved. And she didn’t wait for an answer before he saw the hood come down. Adrien’s head whipped towards her more quickly than he thought physically capable, and he found himself locking eyes with her once more, jaw dropping as his breath caught in his chest. She then pulled down the fabric from around her face and greeted him with a smile much more beautiful than he had dared to expect — then again, Ladybug had a habit of defying his expectations. “My name is Marinette.”

And he smiled. Reaching up to pull down his own hoodie and remove his scarf, he was still smiling when the fabric dropped. Any apprehension he had felt earlier had all but vanished, at least in this moment. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Marinette. I’m Adrien.”

[otakuprincess15]

In Black and White - Day 1: Soulmates - AU Yeah August

Day 1 – Soul Mate AU – In Black and White (@auyeahaugust )

Summary: At thirteen years of age, Marinette has never seen colors, but her parents' love inspires her to dream of it. Adrien’s life is devoid of the colors that he has heard so many people praise, and he isnt sure anyone in his home will ever see them again. Then one fateful day, two small jewelry boxes change both their lives in ways they never expected.

A retelling of the origins episodes.

You can also find it posted on my account on ff.net under penname- marauderluverz

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had only ever seen in black and white. Living in a world where you only saw colors once you found your soulmate. And even then, you could only see colors if you were touching them in some way.

She knew of colors, of course. It had still been taught to her as a child. And what shades of gray tended to correspond to the colors her parents and other people spoke of.

She was inspired by her parents love, and hoped that one day she’d be able to live like them. The couple constantly allowed their hands to brush while working in the family bakery. Sometimes she would walk in and see her mom resting a hand against her dad's back while he carefully decorated a wedding cake. Because of course at a wedding there would be a need for a colorful cake. More than half the people there would be able to appreciate it.

Marinette only hoped that one day, she would have something just as special in her life. After all, designing would be so much more fun with colors. Although, she supposed it could be successful without them too.

Gabriel Agreste had managed as much. Marinette's favorite designer had lost his wife in recent years and all the news reports had said this would be the end of his company, his brand. Instead, he had found inspiration in the monochrome. His designs had become bigger and better even without the color they used to have. The designs sold especially well with the younger generation. It was rare to find your soulmate before sixteen and so the preteen and teen clothing lines were quite popular.

And while Marinette frequently wished to find her soulmate so she could see colors too. Or if she couldn’t have her soulmate yet, for something exciting to happen in her life. This wasn’t exactly what she meant.

She hadn’t wished for one of her classmates to transform into a strange rock monster. And she hadn’t wished for that monster to attack their city. And she most definitely hadn’t wished for a strange bug-mouse creature to appear in her room.

She stared at the strange creature that had appeared out of the jewelry box. It was a… kwami she had said? But what the heck was that even?

“I'm your friend, Marinette. You must trust me,” Tikki told her, “You’re the only one who can stop Stoneheart.”

Marinette shook her head. “This has to be some mistake. The only super power I could possible have is super-awkwardness.” She thought for a moment. If we need a superhero…

“I know! Alya would know. At least, I think she would. She loves superheroes.” Marinette nodded, “She’d totally be up for the job. You should go see her.”

Tikki flew closer, “Marinette, you’re the chosen one.”

Marinette had given in, she had put on the earrings and transformed (albeit by accident) into a superhero. And now she was using a yoyo of all things to swing across Paris.

She yelled as she flew through the air. I knew this was a mistake! I’m gonna crash and die now and-

CRASH!

Marinette’s eyes stayed closed as she felt her body smack into something that surprisingly wasn’t the cement. She opened her eyes to find she and whoever she had crashed into were tangled in her yoyo and hanging upside down.

She looked at the person and found herself staring into the most vivid eyes ever. Except, she could see colors. She wasn’t exactly sure what color his eyes were, shed have to check a color chart later, but that wasn’t what mattered now. What did matter was that she was sure his eyes were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The color made her feel like bolt of electricity had struck her. She took in his hair, the sheer brightness of it made her feel warm inside.

She glanced down and saw that her suit was red. That’s what Tikki said it would be. She looked back up to find that the boy she was currently tangled up with was staring at her, his eyes wide. Well, that was fair, she had just crashed into him.

Adrien had known how awesome life would be as soon as a little cat creature had appeared in his room. Being a superhero was a dream come true. But now something even more amazing had happened. He had found his soulmate and she was beautiful. The way her eyes sparkled in the sunlight. The shock of her costume’s boldness. Beautiful.

He helped them both down from the tangled yoyo and was disappointed when his vision turned back to black and white.

“So, you must be the partner my kwami told me about. I’m…” he thought for a second. “Chat Noir. Yeah, Chat Noir. What’s your name?”

He fought the urge to touch her again. Obviously, she was still adjusting to everything, he didn’t want to freak her out.

“I'm M-” she tugged on the string of her yoyo, until it came loose suddenly, swinging through the air and promptly smacked him on the head. She pulled it to her. “Madly clumsy. I’m so clumsy. Sorry.”

He laughed, “No worries, Clumsy girl. I’m still learning the ropes myself.” He paused for a moment, unsure how to bring up the color that had flooded his vision moments before.

“Did you-” they both started at the same time.

“Sorry.” Both of them again. He could only smile as he gestured for her to talk.

“Did you see what happened just a minute ago?” She asked.

Adrien's smile grew. “So it wasn’t just me?” he held out a hand to her and waited for her to accept it.

Marinette stared down at the black clad hand. She knew now that his costume was actually black. But the thought of taking hold of it scared her. If she did, and if her world filled with color, wouldn’t that mean she’d just found her soulmate?

Her eyes darted up to look at his face and she saw that his smile was fading into an uncertain frown. He pulled his hand back.

“It’s all right,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Everything’s kind of happening fast.”

Marinette nodded sheepishly. Did I really just refuse to hold my soulmate’s hand?

She didn’t get another moment to dwell on it though as the next moment there was a crash as a nearby building toppled.

Chat extended his baton, bounding off in the direction of the crash.

“Where are you going?” she yelled after him.

He glanced back. “To save Paris, of course!”

She stared after him before looking down at her hand again. “Trust yourself. Trust yourself.”

Then she flung her yoyo toward the nearest building and screamed as it pulled her along.

“Pound it!”

The moments their hands touched the stadium lit up in color. And even though she expected it to, Chat Noir’s hand didn’t linger against hers.

She opened her mouth to apologize for before but Chat's ring beeped again as another pad disappeared.

“You need to go before you transform back,” she told him.

He nodded, “See you later Super Bug!” he called out as he leapt away from the stadium.

Marinette stared down at her hand. “See you, Chat Noir.”

The next day at school, Marinette was fuming after her interaction with the new kid in her class. She was already having a rough day after finding out that she hadn’t purified the akuma properly and had therefore put Paris in more danger. But to then come to school and find she would have another bully to worry about was too much. Adrien Agreste seemed every bit as stuck up as Chloe. No wonder they’re friends, she thought to herself as she sat in class.

It was too bad too. With her love of fashion, she was sure they could’ve been good friends. They would’ve had tons to talk about.

Marinette glanced at Adrien. She watched as his eyes flicked in her direction and she quickly averted her gaze with a frown. It really was too bad.

The following day, as Adrien watched Ladybug give her speech atop the Eiffel Tower, he found he couldn’t be any happier that she was his soulmate. She was… miraculous. He smirked at his mental pun.

“All right, Chaton, time for us to go.” She waved before spinning her yoyo to swing away.

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “Wait! Shouldn’t we talk or something? We just found out we’re soulmates.”

Ladybug fidgeted, uncomfortable with how green (she’d since remembered that that’s what the color was) his eyes were. “I- we can’t right now. We have to go before we detransform and I don’t know that I’m ready for us to reveal our identities just yet.”

Adrien nodded, trying to hide his disappointment. “Right. That’s fine. No rush, My Lady. We can talk next time.”

And with that, Ladybug took off into the Paris skyline, leaving Chat to wonder when they'd see each other next.

Adrien walked into class feeling great. They had successfully defeated their first akuma, his dad had decided to allow him to attend public school, and he had found his soulmate. Even if she did seem a bit… reluctant. She'll warm up to me eventually.

He stepped into the classroom and waved to Nino. Then with his hand still raised, he greeted the girls sitting behind them. He watched with dismay as Marinette turned away with a huff.

And she’s still mad at me, he thought, dropping into his seat with a sigh.

“Dude, you wanna make friends, right?” Nino asked. “Then talk to Marinette about the chewing gum.”

“But what should I say to her?”

Nino smiled, “Just be yourself.”

Adrien tried all day to find a moment to talk to Marinette, but she did a good job of avoiding him. He groaned as he threw his books into his bag. “Plagg, how am I ever going to fix things with Marinette if she won’t give me the chance?”

Plagg floated just inside of the locker. “So what? Who cares about pigtails girl anyway? Let’s go get some camembert.”

Adrien rolled his eyes as Plagg zoomed inside of his bag. He stepped out of the locker room realizing he was one of the last people at school for the day. “I guess I’ll just have to try again tomorrow.”

So, the last thing he expected, was to walk out the school door and find Marinette standing just under the awning.

Now is my chance.

“Hey,” he greeted, giving a small wave.

Marinette turned away and Adrien looked down. Guess not.

Adrien pulled out his umbrella. “I just wanted you to know, I was only trying to take the gum off your seat, I swear.” He watched as her eyes were trained on him. “I’ve never been to school before. I’ve never had friends. It’s all sort of new to me.” He shrugged, then turned and held out the umbrella toward her. One last chance to get her to see I'm not a bad guy.

He watched her eyes widen at his gesture. Then her hand reached out slowly to take the umbrella. And when their fingers brushed, the first thing Adrien saw was blue.

“Chaton?” she asked.

Adrien couldn’t help his grin as he answered. “My Lady?”