#where Marinette is seen as the ''true'' personality because Ladybug is too perfect or whatever

[baenyth]

My Takes on the Miraculous MC Ships because Why Not

More specifically the big ones. Not stuff like Marirose or Marikim.

Adrienette/The Love Square as a whole: I've already done a post on each facet of the Love Square but I'm adding on this: I think no matter which way you slice it, Adrienette is a doomed relationship and the best case scenario is for them to break up asap. They're made for eachother in that if they get married the it will unleash the Chaos Heart and consequently create the Void to end all realities.

Alyanette: Had an incredible amount of potential back in season 1! Based on Dark Cupid I'm pretty sure Alya was crushing on Marinette, and I could see it working out. The two match eachother's freaks. Alya is literally the Lois Lane to Marinette's Superman, and it could be great.

Adrino: For whatever reason I can't see it. I can see both Adrien and Nino dating men, but I guess my brain's hooked on the two being just friends.

Ninette: I can see this, however. I'm not sure if Marinette and Nino being childhood friends is something the fandom made up or canon but I can see it and adore it. I love a good childhood friend romance.

Chlodrien: Chloe's a lesbian dating Sabrina, even if she doesn't know it yet.

Chloenette: Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Chloe's targeting of Marinette was a crush she has yet to compartmentalize. I doubt it would happen, though.

Liladrien: Nah, Adrien's been through enough.

Lilanette: This seems completely impossible, but I have a specific idea for it that's super-toxic yuri. Lila somehow manages to succeed in isolating Marinette from her friends, and then shifts gears to fuck with Marinette's psyche by intentionally getting exposed and "bonding" with Marinette, isolating her from her classmates even more. I feel like this will inevitably end in Marinette dying, though.

Lukanette: Oh baby we've reached the romantic rivals! Two of my favorite characters. They're so cool! But yeah. Lukanette. Marinette hooks up with someone she isn't obsessed with to a stalkerish degree. He'd act as a grounding anchor to her, too. Marinette could be anxiety spiraling and Luka would just play a few chords to set her back in the real world. He's dreamy, he's kindhearted, he's understanding, he's patient, he plays guitar, he dances, he has a sense of humor, he's got daddy issues, you get Juleka as a sister-in-law, what's not to love? That he ain't in a perfume ad? That he didn't hand you an umbrella when it was raining? Marinette fumbled the perfect boy. What the fuck.

Adrigami: Kagami, my beloved. Adrigami too, my beloved. I'm not at Tomoe levels of hyping up this ship, but it's still great. The difference between Kagami and Marinette, Lila, and Chloe is that Kagami loves Adrien for who he is. She doesn't love Adrien as a popular model or status symbol, but as a human being. The "get to know Adrien" scene in the breakup episode was evidence of it. Yes, she was a little forceful but I don't think Adrien Agreste or Chat Noir are who Adrien really is. If Adrien figured out who he truly is, he'd trans her gender. And Kagami would be there for her. She's bi, she's happy to see the true Adrien, it would be yuri. Now if Adrien could just realize Kagami's has all the girlbossing skills of Ladybug but actually loves him, grumblegrumble.

Zoenette: Unfortunately doesn't have much going for me. I think the issue is that I still don't feel like I know Zoe like I know the other characters. It always feels like not even she knows her identity. I know she likes acting and hid her personality from others, but that's about it. Maybe it would be like Marinette helping Zoe figure out her identity but Marinette already has enough on her plate.

Felinette: I can't see this either aside from an alternate timeline where Felix gets the black cat instead of Adrien. And even then it would be unhealthy as hell based on what we've seen of Felix. The Donatello Versus of Miraculous.

Lukadrien: Oh baby we are so fucking back Ahem. Out of all the big MC ships, Lukadrien's definitely my favorite. I used to be a staunch supporter of Lukanette and Adrigami primarily, but the more I thought about it, the more I gravitated towards the gay variants. It came to me when I was analyzing Luka's character and adding depth where it might not be there and I ended up coming to the conclusion that Luka and Adrien have a lot in common to bond over. They're both kindhearted, but also depressed at least partly from their deadbeat dad. With the two of them dating, they both get the companionship they desperately need. Plus Adrien can be part of Kitty Section as he should! And there's parallels to Julerose, the best ship in Miraculous! Not to mention when Adrien comes out as trans Luka will definitely be there for her! Luka uses any pronouns. When you have the psychic ability to hear people's inner songs, gender doesn't matter much. This too, is yuri.

Marigami: The counterpart to Lukadrien, and I'll admit I didn't see it at first. I know Kagami and Marinette have feelings for eachother, even if Mari doesn't realize it, but what makes it so peak, Bethany? It dawned on me eventually that Marigami is like Alyanette but I like it even more. Kagami matches Marinette's freak, as well as an anchor for Marinette's anxiety, plus I feel Kagami would push Marinette to be better than Alya does. I love Alya but she can be an enabler for Marinette's bad actions at points.

Lukadrienette: We've reached the polycules, ladies, gentlemen, and the Third Party. And it's amazing. Who knew all you had to do to get me into canon Adrienette is throw someone else in there? Luka anchor's Marinette's anxiety and cools her before she can do anything reckless, as well as being there for Adrien, and he gets two people that love him in return! My only concern is what happens to Kagami? Who will she find love with?

Adrigaminette: The foil to Adrigaminette. All three of them are in love with eachother (well, if Adrien discovers Marinette is Ladybug or we're in the reversal or something.) Kagami and Adrien gain companionship while Marinette gets someone to anchor and better her. Although like with Lukadrienette, I have to wonder what Luka's doing. I came to the conclusion that he's severely depressed, does he have someone of his own? Or at least a good friend group?

Lukadrigaminette: And finally, the big one. All four of them are here. It's got the benefits of Lukadrienette and Adrigaminette together. Plus, even if Luka or Kagami alone can't prevent Adrien and Marinette from getting toxic and causing the apocalypse, maybe they can do it together! It's my favorite out of all these ships! The only issue I have is that I can't really see the Lukagami portion working out, but who knows? Maybe they can charm eachother as well.

[purrincess-chat]

I think this fandom just really hates Adrienette, but I can't figure out the reason (but your theory of the fandom not taking them seriously because they're kids may be true). They write post-s5 break-up "fix it" fics, they say Adrienette should break up to restore the balance (not sure what balance they're talking about). Jeez, Adrienette is literally the cutest cartoon couple I've ever seen, and I've been rooting for them since day one. How can someone want them to break up? Why can't the fandom just be happy for them?

It's literally so baffling to me, nonny. There have been people who have been rooting against them since before they were even official in s5. And for why? For me, them getting together made sense after s4 bc, to me, s4 demonstrated why it couldn't have been LadyNoir. (Actually even as far back as s3 when we had Chat Blanc) And that's why I don't think it will be LadyNoir in the future either even if they did break up. The show has put too much emphasis on how everything goes wrong when the heroes pair up. They both get distracted and tragedy strikes. I don't forsee it being MC or Ladrien either bc MC literally agreed they can't be together, and I think that would go for Ladrien as well. And Marinette already gets enough shit from people for being a "stalker" to Adrien, and it would only get worse if they broke up, and she turned around and dated him again as Ladybug when he doesnt know it's her. I can already see the salt posts about how she's so obsessive and won't move on and how she's taking advantage of him and tricking him.

Adrinette is the side that worked, that's why they went that route. It allows the heroes to be heroes and the kids to be kids. We can still get meaningful interactions with the other sides while they are dating as civilians. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how the dynamics evolve in future seasons. I wanna see MC and Ladrien half-requited with the heroes privately swooning over their bf/gf personally. We got a little bit of it in s5 with Chat swooning over Marinette when she was being a boss bitch. I want that in Ladrien, please.

I don't know why people hate Adrinette being together so much. I don't know where people get the idea that it's boring or problematic or detrimental to their characters or whatever fucking complaint they have against it. The Adrinette we got in s5 was great and so meaningful, and I'm happy that they did what they did. They could have just stuck them together in s5 and been like okay all of their problems are solved, and they're totally perfect and in love, but that's not what happened. They weren't perfect. They had to work together to make it work. They both recognized their traumas and respected each other's boundaries until they found something that worked for both of them. They really fought so damn hard to be together last season, but people just don't fucking care. My heart broke for them when they finally shared their first kiss, and it wasn't the perfect romantic moment they imagined. It was desperate, longing, afraid. All they wanted all season was just to be together, and now they finally have that. And we got that in a kids cartoon! So often love is treated as a fantasy where everything is perfect, and the couple gets together in the end and rides off into the sunset and lives happily ever after. But that wasn't their story, and I applaud them for that. I love that this show depicted the messier but crucially important sides of love about setting boundaries, addressing trauma so you don't hurt the other person, being patient and understanding while the other person is working through something because those things are hard in a relationship. A lot of those things are make or break in relationships, but the ones that want to be together will put in the work, and I think it's so important to show that in an age appropriate way to kids.

So, yeah, fuck anyone rooting for their downfall. Fuck anyone who thinks that the 4 sides are competing with each other and that Adrinette being together is an affront to their favorite side. Fuck anyone who thinks Adrinette being together is bad. It's not, and anyone who thinks it is can feel free to block me.

Maybe instead of rooting for Adrinette to break up, people should be rooting for a reveal. That's how we get the other sides, babes. That's how we should want to get the other sides. But this fandom isn't ready for a reveal tbh. They'd just bitch about how the sides are all the same now, and it's so boring. Can't win for fucking losing in this show.

[halcyyonnwrites]

I just see it as Chat Noir is what Adrien would be like on the internet

‘Chat Noir is Adrien’s true personality.‘

[me4ml]

Why don't you like Maribat? Why do you think it's a spite or salt ship?

This is presumably because of my Adrigaminette post or the whole Maribat being on the ship list thing.

Quick disclaimer: if you read/ship/write/like Maribat, cool! This is not an attack. This is me answering why I, personally, do not like it. It’s tagged anti, and salt, so it should be filtered. Please don’t harass me over it.

Another note before we start: a lot of what I’m about to write is based on what I’ve read, fic wise or meta, and I blocked off the Maribat tag and fandom a long time ago. It may have changed over there-I doubt it, and I have zero desire to go and look-but this is based on what I’ve seen and read about.

There are, principally, three reasons I can’t stand Maribat, why I think it’s a spite/salt ship.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written in Maribat.

3). Maribat is a mutated salt fic.

If you want to see my reasons why, the rest is under the read more.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

Damian’s not just my least favorite Robin, ranking behind any of the others who have born the name. He’s my least favorite Batfam sidekick overall.

Part of this is his introduction, where he’s a violent, murderous, arrogant, entitled, snotty little brat of a thug. Lest we forget, one of his first acts is to go out, kill a guy, cut off his head, stuff a grenade into the decapitated head’s mouth, and try to blow up Tim. This is his introduction! There are a number of other occasions, including how he treats Jon, his best friend, and the rest of his siblings.

Another part is that he believes that he deserves to be Robin simply because he’s Bruce’s son, and therefore has the blood right to be Robin, to become Batman, and damn anyone else, who are all pretenders. Doesn’t matter that those characters might have a right to become Robin, or the future Batman, he’s the bio son, he deserves it!

Additionally, Damian feels.....not unnecessary, but repetitive, in his actions/characterization. There are other characters who can perform pretty much the same way for whatever storyline is necessary, without including Damian.

Trained by an abusive family to be the best, as an assassin and warrior? Cassandra.

A killer who breaks the main rule of his mentor, which causes tension and strain in the family? Jason.

Incredibly intelligent and talented? Tim.

Damian isn’t unique in what he does, and while that can make him an interesting character, it can also make the focus on him unnecessary.

As well, so much of Damian’s actions and motivations feels like he gets away with stuff, in-universe, because he’s Bruce’s biological son, and so Bruce gives him too much slack, and out-universe, because the writers let him/the fans will defend him. He gets woobified, or leather pantsed. Which leads to:

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written for Maribat.

For all his (numerous) faults, when written well, Damian can be an interesting character. For example: How does he deal with being deeply insecure? By putting on a mask of arrogance and overconfidence.

Some more examples: How does Damian act like an actual child, when he’s never had a childhood? How can he be a hero, if he’s been trained to be a killer? Can he ever catch up to his siblings, or will he feel like they’re always better than him?

Damian’s sense of being Batman’s son, of being the heir to the Cowl, slams right up against the idea of the Batfam: that there are people who have just as much of a right to call Batman their father/father figure, people who are just as talented and skilled and capable as Damian himself is, if not more. Watching Damian develop, when he’s written right, is actually enjoyable; mainly because when it’s done right, it shows Damian actually progressing and growing, becoming more of a person, with friends and interests. Most times, seeing Damian with his pets can be adorable, same with when he hangs out with Jon.

Is he still a brat? Still sometimes a bit too much of a Demon, an al-Ghul? Yes, but that’s always going to be part of him, and as long as he’s shown to try and grow, or gets called out on that, it’s less of an issue (There’s a completely different rant to be written about how DC likes to chuck character development or backstory into the trash when it suits them for a new run. Damian gets hit with this, as does Tim, or they get handed the idiot/conflict ball, but not the space for it).

Maribat hurls this all out the window. Damian’s bad traits are all “fixed” offscreen-he’s developed, matured, gotten better, whatever you want to call it. It’s basically a writer’s hand wave to make Damian into the character who will be the lead of the story, perfectly suited for his main role of being Marinette’s boyfriend and utterly devoted to her every whim and will. He’s enchanted by her at first glimpse, and defends her against everyone who hates her, because no one can understand her like he can!

Uh, what? This is not Damian Wayne. Even at his best, he’s no broody boy, pulled from his “dark path” by the love of a gentle girl. He’s a Jerk with a Heart of Gold-emphasis on the Jerk. There’s a reason his nickname usually involves “Demon.” Is Damian trying to get better? Yes. But even then, he’s not the type to immediately fall in love. He takes a while to warm up to people, for them to earn his trust, and Marinette would not be like that?

Let’s say that Robin is in Paris for a case, he runs into Ladybug and Chat, and after they explains what’s going on, Robin gives them a stare over his mask, and goes “TT! What a worthless hero, I would have caught him already.” LB and Chat would probably want to deck him, and that’s before he keeps talking.

Same with if Damian transfers to the class, or they meet on a field trip to Gotham. Damian’s not gonna care about some random French teenagers on a tour, or if he was transferred he’s gonna be trying to figure out why his father sent him to Paris, and be focused on the mission, not making friends.

Of all of the Robins, the ones that would be the most likely to capture Marinette’s interest would be Dick or Tim, not Damian. He would remind her too much of Chloe, as Damian, and as Robin, he would be dismissive of Ladybug’s abilities, which would absolutely piss her, and Chat Noir, off.

In characters that aren’t Damian, no one seems to be written properly over in Maribatland. One huge example is that Marinette is so beloved, so pure, that she can make any character fall in love with her, and reform by her pure goodness, including a fic where the Joker-THE JOKER!-becomes her “Uncle J,” and pranks Lila on her behalf.

Uh-huh. Sure. Completely and totally something that one of the biggest, most sadistic twisted, notorious villains in pop culture would do. Maribat winds up worshipping the ground that Marinette walks on, cause she’s “Teh best evar!”

Which then leads to my third and final point:

3). The whole Maribat concept is a mutated salt fic.

Most of the themes you’ll find in Maribat? You will find in nearly every salt fic.

Maybe my biggest issue with the whole Maribat idea is that it doesn’t feel like a proper crossover, which, at their best, explore how characters from one universe and their rules would interact with characters from another universe, and the rules of that one. Putting ML and DC together is a rich opportunity to play with concepts in both worlds!

And yet, it’s mainly used to bash ML characters who the writers despise, predominantly Adrien, Alya, and Lila, with members of the class thrown in depending on feeling, and potentially even Marinette’s parents! The only “good” ML characters are the ones who are on Marinette’s side, usually Luka, Kagami, a Chloe who for some reason has been redeemed and is now Marinette’s best friend, and whatever members of the class the writer decides to throw in there.

You’ll notice it’s not called “MiracuBat”, or LadyBat and Bat Noir-it’s MariBat. It’s meant as a focus on Marinette, making her-the hero of the Miraculous Ladybug franchise, someone in-story in story who is incredibly smart and talented and the leader of her team, future Guardian-even more awesome.....by beating down everyone else around her.

Marinette is simultaneously treated as an beaten-up, beaten-down walked-on carpet, and the best person to ever exist ever, go who only needs a group of new, different, better people to recognize that and save her from the clutches of those greedy and ungrateful assholes! That doesn’t include the fics where she’s the unknown child of a superhero or supervillain, making her even more special.

It’s Chameleon salt, class salt, with pointy ears and a cape on.

Some specific examples.

Adrien: Adrien is a spineless doormat who prioritizes Lila over Marinette, or an entitled bastard sexual harasser, only fixated on Ladybug, or even both. Sometimes it’ll get worse, as Adrien will threaten or abandon Marinette if she steps off of his “high road,” and Chat will be a budding rapist, stalking or capturing Marinette after he’s learned she’s Ladybug, while ignoring her prior to that. He will, of course, have his ring stripped and handed off to Damian, who is the “true” soul of Destruction and so therefore a “perfect match” to Marinette’s Creation soul. Occasionally it will be Jason, or Tim, or Dick, but the key thing is that it’s not Adrien!

While Damian’s issues are magically fixed, Adrien gets no such courtesy. Adrien has been abused, just like Damian, and while Damian’s abuse is more extensive and extreme, abuse is abuse. If anything, if Damian met Adrien, he would probably see another abused kid, and want to be his friend/have his “adopt stray person!” Instincts go off. I can much more imagine Damian dragging a bewildered Adrien into the Batcave and yelling “Father I’ve found another one for you to adopt!” than I can Damian immediately hating Adrien, or Chat, simply for breathing.

We never see Clark taking Adrien under his wing, or Bruce, or any of the other Batfam; nor any of the other Justice Leaguers. We never see Selina try to fight Bruce over the kid, because he’s cat-themed, and Selina can train him, this one’s hers Bat, get off!

Adrien’s never treated as a kid, or given actual development. A major complaint among salters is that Adrien is treated as perfect and never develops, and in fic, rather than developing him, Adrien either remains static, with his flaws narratively exploded, or is developed negatively. He’s there to be beaten up on and punished by the writers, if not actually physically beaten up by characters in the fic.

Alya: the not-so-good friend, the cheap excuse for a journalist, the awful person who abandons Marinette for Lila and her “connections.” Never mind that Alya was Marinette’s friend from the beginning, or that Marinette’s chosen her multiple times for a Miraculous. One instance of questioning Marinette about Lila, and Alya’s a backstabbing bitch.

Maribat treats Alya as neglectful, bossy, domineering and submissive at the same time to Marinette and Lila respectively, and as a journalist, the worst of the worst. She’s played as a two-bit paparazzo, and once again, the DCU is used to punish her. We don’t see Alya get mentored by Lois or Clark-indeed, if they notice her, it’s with disdain or disappointment. Often, they’re crushing her under their heel, calling her not only a bad journalist, but a bad friend/person. This forgetting, of course, that Alya runs her blog as a hobby so far, she’s only a teenager, and that she’s had Marinette’s back against Chloe and Lila.

The Class: the dupes or allies as needed. Class salt levels depend on what the writer needs. If they’re pro-class, they’re all on Marinette’s side, aside from Alya Adrien and Lila. Chloe, for some ungodly reason, is “redeemed” nigh instantaneously, and often will become Marinette’s best friend, if that isn’t Kagami already. Kagami will drop Adrien like a wet tissue, never trying to reconcile him with the clas, or encourage him to stand up for himself, or if she does, Adrien, of course, will not listen.

If the writer is anti-class, whoo boy. Openly mentally, emotionally, physically abusive to Marinette, the worst gang of people you would ever have the displeasure of meeting, they all need to be in Arkham.

We never see any of the class make friends with the Batfam, the Titans, Young Justice-unless they’re on Marinette’s side, of course. There’s no Alix stopping Selina at the Louvre, for instance, or Max hanging out with Babs. It’s all based on how Marinette is treated as to whether or not the class is portrayed as being worse than the worst of the Rogues Gallery.

Wrapping it all up, Maribat has made me dislike the entire concept of a DC/ML crossover.

Even if someone had written an non-salt, in-character crossover, I don’t know if I would read it, simply because the well has been that poisoned.

[vgckwb]

ML: Isolation Chapter 23: Like Clockwork

It was Friday, the day of the charity auction. While Adrien was hoping for a surprise this evening, something happened after school that took the entire class by storm. “Um Mylene?” Ivan asked. Mylene looked up. “Um, before we head to the shelter today, I...oh boy, I need to say something.”

Mylene grabbed Ivan’s hand. “What is it Ivan?”

Ivan’s face grew beat red. “Um, well, uh….” He took a breath. “I know I’m a bit rough around the edges, and sometimes I find it hard to say what I mean, and I can be intimidating, but I’ve felt like this for a while now and spending time together only amplified everything. So um, what I’m saying is, um, Mylene, would you...be my girlfriend?”

Mylene was now blushing. The entire class was looking at her. She gazed upon Ivan. His size was imposing, but she knew him well enough to know that this wasn’t to be intimidating. She looked at his bashful smile and found her answer. Mylene hugged Ivan. “Oh Ivan,” she began, “of course I will.”

Ivan was surprised, but smiled, and hugged her back. The entire class started cheering. As they cheered, Ivan and Mylene stopped hugging fully, looked into each other’s eyes, and gave each other a kiss. They leaned on each other and headed out.

Adrien smiled as they left. What a lovely couple. Hopefully, things will go just as smoothly with Marinette. Of course, I have to wait. Tonight… He turned to see Lila. She waved. He waved back. Tonight I have to handle her. Let’s hope it goes well.

While that was happening, Lila was thinking. Hmm, I guess Ivan was braver than I thought. No matter. They can be a couple. After all… Lila noticed Adrien’s eyes were on her. She waved seductively. Adrien waved back. I’ve got my eyes on a bigger prize. Adrien and I would make a great power couple. I just gotta make him see that. Still, I’m sure he’ll see things my way soon enough. Especially after tonight. Soon after, the entire class disbursed.

Everyone was getting ready for the big night. Adrien had just finished putting on his formal wear. There was a knock at the door. “Come in, I’m proper!” he said. Nathalie walked in. “Oh, hi Nathalie,” he said, “ are you attending as well?”

“Yes Adrien” Nathalie said.

“Good” Adrien responded.

“Although I am wondering why you decided to come along” Nathalie interjected. “When this was first brought up, you seemed hesitant.”

Adrien froze. Right… I forgot to tell Nathlaie about all of this. After being taken aback, he just said the first thing that popped into his mind. “So um do you want the truth?”

Nathalie facepalmed. “Adrien… Please tell me you’re not doing a Cat Noir thing.”

“Well, I’m not” Adrien said, “but Kagami is.” Nathalie sighed. “I’m just there to suss out information.”

Nathalie looked up from her palm. She glared at Adrien, then walked to the door to lock it. She walked back. “We have half an hour before your parents are ready to leave, so start talking.”

Adrien was nervous, but he had total faith in Nathalie. He sighed, calmed down, and explained the entirety of the plan. After Adrien explained the ins and outs of what tonight would entail, Nathalie looked at him. She sighed. “Honestly, sometimes it seems like this is more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Trust me Nathalie” Adrien said, full of confidence, “it’s worth as much trouble as it takes.”

“What makes you so sure?” Nathalie said.

“Because…” Adrien began. “I know what it’s like to be truly and wholly alone. And I don’t want anyone to feel like that. So, I’ll do whatever it takes to help Marinette out of this.”

Nathalie smiled. She nodded. “Very well. I just wish you would have told me so I could help you more.”

“Sorry” Adrien said. “I’ve been a bit distracted with a few things. We would have liked your help tonight.”

“Oh, I’ll still help,” Nathalie said. Adrien was surprised. “I’m not your father’s assistant for nothing.” She walked to the door, unlocked it, and opened it. Before she left fully, she asked “Are you coming?” Adrien was befuddled, but upon hearing the question nodded and hurried out the door as well.

Meanwhile, as Tom and Sabine were packing up to deliver their treats, Marinette approached them in her going out look, carrying a duffle bag filled with Kagami’s costume, as well as the sign. This took them by surprise. “Sweetie…” Sabine said.

“Hey…” Marinette replied. She stopped.

After a few seconds, Sabine asked “What’s going on?”

Marinette hesitated a little, but then said “So, um, I guess I haven’t told you yet…”

“Told us what?” Tom asked.

“Well…” Marinette began. She then proceeded to stumble through an explanation of what was going on. “So, yeah… That’s, um, that’s been happening…”

Tom and Sabine were shocked. Marinette was a little ashamed and embarrassed. However, her parents gave her a hug. “We’re so proud of you,” Sabine said.

“I’m glad you’re starting to experience the world again,” Tom added.

Marinette felt immensely relieved. She gave her parents a hug back. “Thank you. For always being there for me.”

They broke the hug. “And don’t worry,” Tom said. “I’ll make sure that that Adrien boy likes you back.”

“DAAAAAAAD” Marinette said, embarrassed.

Sabine giggled. “Well, I think it’s time we get going. Are you ready?” Marinette nodded. Tom and Sabine finished loading their desserts up, while Marinette snuck into the car.  Just by chance, she checked her phone.

Adrien: Hey, uh, Nathalie is in on this as well now.

Chloe: Your dad’s secretary?!

Chloe: How?

Marinete: She’s known about this for a little bit.

Chloe: Oh…

Kagami: What does that mean?

Adrien: I’m not 100% sure myself…

Adrien: BUT she did say she would help somehow tonight.

Kagami: Well that’s...good I guess.

Marinette: I like it.

Marinette: I like having another layer to this.

Marinette: That way if anything goes wrong, we’ll have more protection.

Chloe: Well, when you put it like that…

Kagami: It never hurts to be a little more prepared.

Adrien: True.

Adrien: Well, best of luck everyone.

Kagami: Thank you.

Marinette: Thanks.

Chloe: Thanks.

They put away their phones, as they set off to fulfill their mission.

Marinette’s parents were unloading their sweets, while Marinette herself snuck into the Louvre. She was careful enough to not get noticed by any of the staff, as they were preoccupied with many other things.

However, just as she was almost to the ladies’ room, she heard a voice from behind her. “Ladybug?” they called out. Marinette turned around. It was Ondine, Kim’s girlfriend, dressed to the nines in an elegant dress. “Is that actually you?”

Marinette panicked for a moment. “Umm, yeah” she answered. Why did I say anything? She’ll figure me out for sure!

“What are you doing here?” Ondine asked.

Marinette was confused. Oh, right, Ondine doesn’t really know who I am… “Well, uh, I’m helping Cat Noir” she answered nervously.

“Cat Noir? He’s here?” Ondine inquired.

“Well, he’s going to be,” Marinette responded. “I’m going to be laying in wait until the perfect moment presents itself.” Why am I saying all of this? I mean, it seems to be working, but still…

“Cool” Ondine said. “Um, why is Cat Noir coming here?”

“Well, that’s kind of complicated,” Marinette explained. “Basically, something happened a while ago where something went missing, and Cat Noir is investigating to see if he can find it.”

“I see…” Ondine responded. “Why not investigate during normal hours of operation?”

“Well, that’s also a little complicated…” Marinette stumbled. “But, I guess the best way to put it without ruining the surprise would be that the opportunity presented itself.”

“Woah,” Ondine said. She got energized. “This sounds amazing!”

“Well I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing” Marinette unloaded. “We’re not sure if we’ll be able to find anything, but we’re giving it a try.”

“Well, good luck,” Ondine said. Marinette nodded. As she was about to head into the bathroom, Ondine asked “Is there something I can do to help?”

Well, she’s already this far in. Might as well bring it on home. “Actually yes. Follow me.” Marinette led Ondine into the restroom. They approached one of the stalls. Marinette rummaged through her back and pulled out the Out of Order sign and some tape. “Here.Once I’m inside, could you tape this to the door?”

Ondine nodded. “Sure thing Ladybug! But, um, what’s this for?”

“Oh, well, this is going to be my hiding place,” Marinette explained. “Cat Noir is going to meet with me here once everything is set.”

Ondine seemed confused. “I mean, I can’t say I don’t understand the logic. No one would expect Cat Noir in the women’s restroom, but um, isn’t this a bit too bold?”

“Well, this whole plan is bold, so we figured ‘let’s go the whole nine yards’, you know?” Marinette rationalized.

Ondine smiled. “I get it.” Marinette smiled and nodded. She entered the stall and Ondine placed the sign on the door. “There.”  She slid the tape under the tall. Marinette picked it up.

Ondine got a little embarrassed. “You know, I have to thank you.” Marinette was intrigued. Ondine smiled. She started fidgeting. “For a while, people have only seen me as being, well, sporty. And I agree that that’s a part of me, but I never really felt...cute. I always thought that since I wasn’t like the typical cute girl, I thought I couldn’t be.

But then I saw one of your designs. I was amazed. I tried it on, and for the first time ever, I felt adorable. I felt like I could be the person who I always wanted to be. Sporty, yes, but also cute and adorable, and well, girly at times too. It was such an eye opener. And even this dress I’m wearing now is a Ladybug original, and I feel like I couldn’t look cuter if I tried.

And that confidence instilled in me gave me the courage to say yes when Kim finally asked me out. I’ve been pining for him forever, but until I tried on your designs, I thought it was a dream that could never be. So, thank you. For everything.”

Marinette’s eyes were welling up. She sniffed. “Thank you,” she said.

Ondine was a little surprised, but quickly understood that that kind of compliment was something Ladybug needed to her. She smiled and said “You’re welcome Ladybug.” She started walking out. “And good luck on this endeavor with Cat Noir.” She left.

Marinette sniffed again. “Yeah.”

As the charity auction began, more guests started appearing. Soon, the Agrestes arrived. Adrien looked at the Louvre with a smile on his face, and determination in his heart. His father noticed. “Well, this is certainly a surprise.”

“Indeed” his mother added. “I haven’t seen you smiling at an event like this unless you were trying to run away from it.”

“Tell me son,” Gabriel asked, “what about this event makes you feel like this?”

“Well, uh” Adrien began, not knowing how to answer.

Nathalie placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s not necessarily the event itself” she answered for Adrien. “As good a cause as this is, this is also Adrien’s first high society outing since you let him attend school publicly. Adrien has a new found energy he can bring to events like this.”

Gabriel and Emilie were stunned. “Oh. I see” said Gabriel.

“Well, if Adrien’s this excited, I think we made the right choice” Emilie added.

Gabriel smiled. “I should have figured. Remember how fed up you were with events like this until we had Adrien?”

“Gabriel” Emilie whined. Gabriel laughed.

“You didn’t like these kinds of events either?” Adrien said.

Emilie turned to her son. “Well, maybe a little. But I never did any of the shenanigans you used to pull.”

“The closest she got to anything like you did was drag me into a closet” Gabriel mocked.

“Gabriel!” Emilie whined more sternly.

Gabriel laughed slightly. “I’m sorry.”

Emilie smiled. She kissed Gabriel on the cheek. “I forgive you.” She moved in closer and whispered “You know, I’m not opposed to the closet idea tonight either.” Gabriel chuckled, delighted, and pulled Emilie in for a tight embrace. Adrien was confused, but decided to leave it be. The family continued walking in.

Soon, the evening was in full swing. People were socializing left and right. People were enjoying the provided food, and in particular, people were starting to realize just how much they missed the desserts from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

Meanwhile, Adrien was wandering around. “Adrien!” Lila called out. Adrien turned around, saw Lila, and proceeded to walk over to her. “I’m so glad I found you. I can’t wait to show you around.” She reached out, then stopped. “Um, may I grab your arm?”

Adrien smiled. “By all means, lead the way.”

Lila smiled, grabbed onto Adrien’s arm, and said “Great! Let’s go!” Lila started walking, and Adrien followed in step.

Alright Adrien. This is all to figure out where she may have hidden the piece. Just endure it like you have before. Besides, he thought about Marinette, he looked at Lila, they say it’s always darkest before the dawn. Tonight is about facing this darkness, so I can face the beautiful dawn of tomorrow. The two kept walking.

As this was happening, Chloe was walking around as well. She was comparing the guard’s positions to her notes. She noticed nothing out of the ordinary and was relieved. “Chloe?” Sabrina said, sneaking up on her.

“Ah, Sabrina!” Chloe yelped, turning to face her. “Eh heh.”

Sabrina smiled. “Are you working on that thing you told me about?”

Chloe smiled nervously. “Ha ha, yeah.”

“I hope it goes well” Sabirna said sweetly with a smile. Chole was surprised and started blushing. “Where is Cat Noir anyway?” Sabrina had a look of realization. “Oops. I wasn’t supposed to say his name, was I?”

Chloe relaxed and smiled. “You’re fine. I don’t think anyone heard you.” She looked at Sabrina. She thought about Lila’s threat. She was scared for a second, but then thought No, it’s OK. I’m working with other people to make sure that doesn’t happen. … “Other people” huh…

Chloe reflected on this. The only other person that would even think of helping her before all of this was right in front of her. But now? She has the support of a small circle of friends. And they had hers as well. I guess I really am growing.

“Chloe?” Sabrina asked. “Is everything alright? You seem kind of worried.

Chloe shook herself back to reality for a bit. “Ah, yes, well, this mission is kind of stressful.There’s a lot to it, you know.”

Sabrina simply smiled and said “It’s OK.” She picked up Chloe’s hand. “I believe in you.”

Chloe was stunned. She relaxed a little, and then said “Thanks.” I can’t. Not now anyways. She looked back at Sabrina. But soon.

As the night progressed, the auction started. Meanwhile, Lila led Adrien around to some places around the Louvre, describing things she enjoyed. While Adrien was smiling on the outside, inside he was dying. Ugh! This is awful. Lila is just plain miserable. She’s describing everything here as if she were the authority on it, but has as much knowledge of history and art as a Capuchin monkey. Maybe less.

He glanced at Lila as she was explaining something, smiled, and let out a chuckle. Lila let out one in return. I know misery likes company, but I don’t think company likes misery back.

Despite his best efforts to pay attention, nothing Lila pointed out seemed like she had an affinity to it. It was just stuff she liked. Maybe this was a dud. Ugh. While Lila was explaining something, Adrien interrupted. “Ahem.” Lila turned her attention towards him. “Maybe we should head back.” He checked his phone. “The auction’s been going for a bit. Our parents might be worried if we’re not back before it’s all done.”

Lila smiled. “You’re right. Thanks for keeping me in check.” They started walking. “I just love art and history so much, I can’t help but get lost in it.

I wish! Adrien thought to himself.

“Still, we should come again sometime. I haven’t even shown you my favorite piece.”

Adrien was alerted. “Favorite piece”? That’s something. “What is it?”

“Well, I don’t wanna ruin the surprise…” Lila said. “Oh, what the heck. My favorite piece is the portrait of Napoleon in his regalia.”

“Why is that?” Adrien said.

“Well, I feel like it just has this energy to it, you know?” Lila answered. “Like, he is the thing he embodies in that image. The power, the prestige. It’s just amazing. Just looking at it, I find something new every time. It has many secrets, you know?”

And that was enough for Adrien to feel confident enough to pursue this lead. He smiled. “I think I do.”

Lila giggled. “I’m glad. Let’s keep going.” Lila started walking. Adrien got out his phone and started walking as well, while messaging everyone.

Adrien: I think I have something.

Adrien: The portrait of Napoleon in regalia.

Chloe: Ugh, finally. Took you long enough.

Adrien: Normally I’d shrug that off, but I’m not in the mood right now.

Adrien: You don’t know what I had to do to get this.

Kagami: That bad, huh?

Adrien: It was awful.

Chloe: ...Sorry

Adiren: It’s fine.

Adrien: Kagami, do you know where to go?

Kagami: Roger!

Adrien: Great. I leave the rest to you and Chloe.

Marinette: And ME!

Marinette: Don’t forget about me.

Adrien paused for a moment.

Adrien: Right. Sorry.

Marinette: Thanks.

Adrien put his phone down and continued walking back. Once he got to his table, he noticed it was only Nathalie there. “Where are my parents?” he asked.

“They followed through on their earlier plans” Nathalie explained. Adrien seemed confused. “Don’t worry about it.”

Meanwhile, Kagami broke off from her table. “I’m going to use the restroom,” she told her mother. “Is that alright?” Tomoe nodded. “Thanks.” She proceeded to leave. She made her way to the specific restroom Marinette was hiding in. Once inside, she found the stall and knocked on it. “Marinette, it’s me.”

Marinette opened the door. Kagami slipped in and closed the door. She started undressing. Once her dress was off, she looked at Marinette. Marinette was blocking her view with the bag. “Marinette, it’s fine. Besides, I need you to see so you can hand me my disguise.”

Marinette lowered the bag. She was blushing. “Oh, uh, OK.” She unzipped the bag and started handing Kagami her costume piece by piece.

“Thank you” said a still half-naked Kagami. She handed Marinette her dress. “Here. Be careful with that.”

“Of course,” Marinette said. “What kind of a fashion designer would I be to ruin something like this?” Kagami nodded. She got changed into her Cat Noir outfit. She grunted in confidence and headed out.

While making her way to the painting, Kagami messaged Chloe.

Kagami: I’m en route. Anything I should look out for?

Chloe: At the moment, not really. There are a few guards, but you should be able to avoid them just fine.

Kagami: Thanks.

Kagami kept moving. She encountered one or two guards, but was able to sneak past them with ease. She made it to the picture Adrien had mentioned. She looked at it for a second. Of course it wouldn’t be in plain sight. She began to feel around the frame. As she lifted it, something fell to the ground with a light ting. Kagami let go of the picture and looked down. She picked up the piece, and recognized it as part of a pocket watch. Bingo!

“Hey! Who’s there?!” A guard yelled. Kagami looked at where the voice was coming from, and then headed the opposite way.

Meanwhile, the auction was going off, and Gabriel and Emilie had returned looking a bit messy. Alix’s dad was heading the auction, while Alix and her brother sat at his side. “Alright everyone, it’s time for our final piece of the night.” Some handlers brought it out. “This is an 18th century grandfather clock, adorned with gold. It was commissioned by a count, and it still works. Let’s start the bidding at 75,000 Euros.” The bids started going up. Once it reached its apex, Mr. Kubdel said “Going once...going twice…”

Before he could bang his gavel, Kagami came rushing in. One by one, everyone was glancing at the figure running through the Louvre. Behind her, a pair of guards were chasing her. Kagami grinned. Almost there. She dramatically leapt onto the stage where the Kubdels were. She dashed over to Alix.

Alix looked up. “Cat Noir?” Kagami took the piece out of her pocket and showed Alix. Alix was in awe. She grabbed the piece. “Where did you find this?”

Kagami smiled. With her voice modulator on, she said “I found it behind a ruler.” Alix was slightly confused, but didn’t have time to process it before Kagami left the stage and started running again.

“What is it?” Alix’s dad asked her.

Alix was still in shock, so it took her a few seconds to answer. “It’s the missing piece,” she said. “Cat Noir found it.”

Mr. Kubdel was shocked. “You mean, from the watch?” Alix nodded. “HA! I don’t believe it!”

“Neither do I” Alix said. She looked at it and smiled. “But it’s right here.”

“Well this is splendid!” Mr. Kubdel said. Just as the guards were continuing to follow Kagami, Mr. Kubdel stopped them. “Halt!” The guards looked at him. “Where did that person come from?”

“Ehe?” the guard answered. “Um, we found them messing with one of the Napoleon portraits.”

“I see” Mr. Kubdel said. “Remember that incident from a year ago?” They nodded. “Well, it seems the missing piece has been found by that mysterious Cat Noir.”

“Oh!” said the guard.

“Although we don’t know how it ended up there” Mr. Kubdel said. “Please, investigate this as soon as possible.”

“But sir. Wasn’t it the young girl who broke it?” the guard asked.

“No” Alix said, surprising the people around her. “Our focus was on her the entire time. She had no time to hide it.” Alix looked a little frustrated.

“...I guess that’s true” the guard responded.

“Now then, we should look into what really happened” Mr. Kubdel said.

“Roger sir!’ the guard said. They headed off.

Mr. Kubdel turned his attention back to the audience. “Well, pardon the interruption everyone, but I think we can agree that that was worth it. Or at least better than last time.” The audience chuckled. “Now then, where were we?”

Kagami was rushing to the restroom. At this point, no guard was following her, but she was feeling it. She made it back and again, slipped into the stall Marinette was in. “How’d it go?”

“Perfect” Kagami siad, as she started to change out of her Cat Noir costume and back into her dress. “I’ll come pick up the costume at a later date.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Marinette said. Kagami left.

Just as Marinette was about to leave, she got a text from Nathalie. “Marinette. Don’t leave just yet.”

Marinette texted back “OK”.

After the auction was over, everyone started leaving. Alix was still staring at the piece. “Isn’t it just great that Cat Noir found it?” Mr. Kubdel asked.

“Huh?” Alix said, caught off guard. “Oh. Yeah. Of course.”

“Here” Mr. Kubdel said, holding his hand out. “I’ll fix it up right away.” Alix smiled and gave the piece to her father.

At the Agreste family table, Nathalie got up. “I’m heading to the bathroom before we go” she said. She left abruptly.

Adrien smiled. “Adrien!” Lila said. Adrien turned around. Lila rushed up to him. “I had a wonderful evening. I can’t wait to do something like this again.”

Adrien smiled. He could tell Lila was throw off a little bit. I’m not sure if she’s suspicious of me, so maybe I should just add a little more charm to throw her off the scent for a bit. “Neither can I” he said. He grabbed Lila’s hand, and gave it a kiss.

Lila blushed. “Oh my.”

“Farewell” Adrien said. Lila walked off to meet up with her mother.

Meanwhile, Gabreil turned to Emilie and said “They seem cute together, don’t they?” Emilie giggled.

In the restroom, Marinette heard a knock. “It’s me,” Nathalie said.

Marinette opened the door. “What are you doing here?”

“Move” Nathalie said. Marinette did. Nathalie revealed a hidden wrench she had on her. She got down and toyed around with the toilet. “There.”

“Um, why did you do that?” Marinette asked.

“To throw people off further,” Nathalie said. “We can leave the sign up, and the people who saw this sign will think it’s for that instead of nothing, should anyone b suspicious after what happened tonight.”

“Oh I see,” Marinette said.

“Anyways, people are leaving now,” Nathalie said. “It’ll be the perfect time to get away.”

Marinette nodded. “Thank you Nathalie.” Marinette ran off. Nathalie left soon after.

As soon as Adrien got home he rushed to his room. His parents were a little slower going to their room, as they were gearing up to continue what they were doing in the closet. Nathalie stayed downstairs to work on a few things.

Once Adrien got to his bedroom, he headed to his bathroom, found a bottle of mouthwash, and started gulping it down. After five or six gulps, he had to breathe. “Blagh! I can’t believe I kissed Lila’s hand like that.” He downed some more mouthwash. He breathed again. “No matter. Tomorrow, I’m meeting with Marinette.” He smiled. “Let’s hope it goes better than tonight.” He changed into his pajamas and went to bed.

[2manyfandoms2count]

You can count on me (I will be there for you)

Hi, I’m Elle, and I have absolutely no idea how you can hack into a computer beyond the usual *typing sounds* “I’m in” you see in movies. I have therefore decided to leave Max and Markov do their thing backstage while I focus on a little mother-son moment (which there’ll be more of later, of course). Enjoy! xx

Also, small warning: there’s swearing on the last line. I think it’s justified.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | AO3

---

Chapter 7

Ladybug shivers as they step out of the Voyage portal. Chat Noir pinpointed a blind spot area in a corner of the Mansion’s lobby from which they could hack into the house’s elaborate security system, and Max managed to get all three of them in exactly the right place. Apparently Gabriel Agreste didn't think much could happen beside the grand staircase; remembering the time she'd had to transform there, the spotted lady thinks it's just as well.

While her travel companions huddle around Max’s computer to deactivate the cameras, she takes a look around the space, making sure to stay within the boundaries Chat Noir indicated. How Adrien managed to grow up into the warm and vibrant person he is, while living in this austere place will always be beyond her. Whoever thought that displaying a giant mourning painting in an already colourless room was a good idea clearly doesn’t live here. She supposes it could be alright, were the place a museum, but as a house? It doesn’t help the large volumes feel homey in the least.

“Alright, cameras are looped, we can move around now.” Pegasus closes his computer and stands a little taller. “So, what exactly are we looking for, and how should we go about it?”

“Physically, purple butterfly-themed stationary, and anything that could compromise Ladybug or suggest a tie with Hawkmoth,” Chat Noir lists. “Even though I think we have a better chance of finding the latter two on a protected file. It’s not like my- Mr Agreste to leave things lying around in the open.”

Ladybug nods along. “Where do you think we’re most likely to find those?”

“My best guess would be Gabriel’s atelier, and Nathalie’s room. She’s been keeping quite a lot of paperwork there, since her illness a couple of years ago.” Her partner shrugs. “And I think anything numerical would definitely be on Gabriel’s computer.”

“If that's okay, I think I'll try to access the data from Adrien’s computer, if he still has it in his room? I seem to recall seeing some links last time we connected to it, and there’ll probably be less security to bypass.” Max suggests.

“And less risk of leaving fingerprints, or anything that could make Gabriel suspect anything was touched during his absence.” Chat Noir muses. “Good call, Max. How about you go to Adrien’s room with Markov, LB, you go to Nathalie’s room, and I check the study?”

“Sounds good to me.” Ladybug smiles.

“Perfect.” Pegasus nods. “Should I detransform?”

“Maybe that would be wise. Let’s give Kaalki some time to recharge so we’re good to go later on.” She nods, and hands him a box of macarons she managed to ‘steal’ before they left. It’s not the Kwami’s favourite food, but it will have to do.

Chat Noir watches the both of them run up the stairs and separate at the top, smiling as Ladybug’s newest costume addition flutters with her movements. Tikki must have really liked the veil for it to stick through the transformation. It looks good, and it’s a good reminder that they don’t have all the time in the world.

He takes a deep breath and opens the double doors that lead to his father’s study.

The room hasn’t changed over the years. Some designers, Marinette included, like to sprawl their ideas out in giant mood boards, pictures, sketches and fabric swatches gradually invading the walls as their collection takes shape. Gabriel Agreste isn’t one of these people. The decoration is as stark as ever, despite an upcoming fashion show, pictures of Adrien pulled up from different ads, and marble statues seemingly being the only personal touches. The only real spark of colour is his mother’s golden portrait, at the far end of the room. He often wondered why it hung there, and not on the mantelpiece, or anywhere else in the room where his father could see it while working. He can’t see her not being a source of inspiration.

He walks up to the painting and swivels it to reveal the family safe. It seems like a good place to start.

“Plagg, claws in.” He whispers.

The dark figure swirls out of his ring and spins around a little, taking in his surroundings.

“Gotta say, kiddo, I’m glad that we’re moving out soon. This place always gave me the creeps.” Plagg floats up to the pictures lining the walls. Adrien can’t tell if there’s a hint of nostalgia in his eyes as he takes in the shots of him that were taken around the time they met.

“I thought the Spirit of Destruction knew no fear?” His lips curl into an amused smile.

“I didn’t say I was afraid, just that I didn’t like this place.” Plagg refrains himself very hard from knocking over, or straight up Cataclysming, Adrien can't tell, a frame showing a very proud Gabriel, probably at the end of one of his first fashion shows. “Anyway, what are you doing, detransforming in the middle of you top secret mission? What if your lover walks in?” He asks mischievously.

“She’s my wife now, actually.” Adrien grins, still giddy at the thought.

“I know, just wanted to give you the satisfaction of saying it out loud.” He grins back. “Consider it your wedding present from me; you get to be sappy for the day. Not too much, though, or I’ll end up retching on your father’s stuff.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t come to that. I just need you to open the safe, like you did that one time? Then I’ll retransform, on the off-chance Marinette does decide to come and check on things.”

“No problem.” Plagg zoomed through the heavy metal door, and was back out again a couple of minutes later. “Whew- I don't know if it’s because I’m getting old, but it felt a lot easier the first time around. Got a little Camembert for my troubles?” He pouted.

“That’s weird.” Adrien frowns as he pulls out the cheese box from his suit pocket and tosses him a piece.

“Eh, I wouldn’t sweat it. It was, what? Ten years ago? More? I lose count.” The Kwami catches the cheese and gobbles it down. “Anyway, technologies have evolved since then, and you know your progenitor likes to keep up.”

“True.” Adrien replies pensively as they take a look at the contents of the safe.

The contents looks pretty much identical to the last time they’d broken into it. The same books are stored on the lower shelves, with a couple wads of cash. At eye level, the book about Tibet still sits next to his mother’s picture. The Miraculous Grimoire that had gotten him into so much trouble is gone, he notices, but he doesn't worry too much about it. It could just mean that his father is using it for his next collection.

There’s something else missing, though. He seems to recall that there was a flash of colour around his mother, but maybe he’s remembering it wrong.

He shakes his head to clear the feeling that it's something important as he closes the safe, and calls his transformation phrase.

Swivelling the panel back to its original place, he sighs as he takes in Emilie’s portrait once more.

“Oh, Maman, I wish you were still here.” He says softly. It breaks his heart, but the more time passes, the less he can remember her face. Sure, the paintings and pictures remind him of what she looked like, but picturing her spontaneously in his memories is becoming a struggle.

It’s actually this painting he generally sees when he thinks about her. It’s vibrant, warm, solar, just like she was. He wishes she could have met Marinette. She would have adored her, he knows. She would’ve treated her like the daughter she never had.

“If only you could’ve seen us today. I’m sure you would’ve been a much easier guest than Father’s turning out to be.” He lets out a nervous chuckle, and gently touches the painting’s surface. It’s something his father always forbade him from doing, but he isn’t there, it’s his wedding day, and one of the most important people in his life isn't there to celebrate with him.

As he slides his fingers over the elaborate dress, wondering if she ever wore one like this, and if so, if his father kept it, he notices that there are some spots which are smooth, almost cool, in the midst of the paint asperities. He frowns, and touches them again; they’re definitely metal, glinting a little in the afternoon light.

Tentatively, he pushes down on one of them. The button sinks below the surface, but nothing happens.

He tries pressing on two groups, located approximately at eye level. This time, there’s a slight whirring sound, and he feels the ground move under his feet.

He’s too stunned to jump out when he starts to descend below ground level, his hands automatically slamming to the sides of the tube, eyes widening in panic.

“Chat Noir!” Ladybug and Max burst through the doors just before he is completely engulfed by darkness. She’s pale as she watches him disappear, clutching purple envelopes and something else in her hands. Max doesn’t look too good either.

“Shit” is the last thing he hears as he travels to whatever dark corner of the Mansion the tube is taking him to. He's not sure who said it, but something tells him they all did.

[hateswifi]

Rising from the Ashes: Of Icecream and Teleportaion

So this is Part Three here is to my Master List and Part Two. Enjoy!!

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

Now it is Sunday, the week after the gala and her parents' death, she had been staying in different friend's houses to keep suspicion lower. Today was the funeral she was wearing the typical white mask to keep away germs and or hide part of a face, grey contacts to cover her beautiful blues, a wavy black wig that went to her shoulders, and a traditional long white cheongsam with black accents. White is the color of mourning in Chinese culture and she wanted to respect her heritage. 

She had learned Mandarin while training to become the guardian with Master Fu. She would speak Mandarin to change herself even more due to the fact nobody but her closest friends knew of her ability to speak it no one will hopefully suspect her. She got dressed quickly and heads to the church. 

She sat closer to the back and realized her class was decent enough to show up to pay their respects. The funeral was very moving and she just couldn't believe they were gone. Adrien, Gami, Luka, and Chlo couldn't sit with her due to the fact it would raise too much suspicion. She missed not having anyone to lean on, but when she was supposed to be dead then she had to play dead. 

After the burial, they were told to go to Chloe's hotel for refreshments. She saw everyone from afar but did not engage unless they engaged her first. Lila approached her at the hotel with a sneer and glare.

"You're not supposed to wear white at a funeral that's disrespectful," Lila stated, Adrien must have seen the queen of lies approaching Marinette, so he started heading her way.

"I'm sorry I don't speak French," Marinette answered in a sweet voice in perfect Mandarin. "And stop talking about stuff you don't know you lying snake. White is a traditional mourning color in Chinese culture, which you would know if you weren't uncultured swine."

By now Adrien reached them and translated for Mar, "She says she only speaks Mandarin and that white is a traditional mourning color."

"I know what she said Adrihoney," Lila cooed, grabbing his arm. "I speak fluent Mandarin after I lived there for part of my childhood."

"You hear the Buginette? She speaks fluent Mandarin! I would love to see her reaction if she really knew what you said," Adrien laughed after he finished speaking in Mandarin.

"Stop, Adrien. I don't want to break character. Right now I'm a stranger named, Bridgette mourning the death of her aunt, uncle, and cousin," Marinette replied still in Mandarin.

"Are you going to join in the conversation Lila?" Adrien asked, smugly looking at the lost Italian girl.

"Umm.. I. I just can't believe she's gone!" Lila cried louder, getting more people's attention. "I know she was my bully, but I did not want her to die."

"Seriously, at my funeral? I haven't even been dead two weeks and she's already making my 'death' about her," Marinette whispered to Adrien in Mandarin.��

"Liars, am I right," Adrien answered.

"I suggest you two stop before one of the relatives hears it," Kagami said joining in on the whisper fest while they all spoke Mandarin. 

"She was not a bully; she just didn't put up with your bull!" Chlo said, joining the circle of people surrounding "poor sad Lila".

"Guys, not the place to do this," Luka said, hushing everyone down. "Keep your lies at school. I have a feeling if these people hear you talking trash, especially over people they just lost, it will be more ugly than your sausage looking hair."

After that everything was calmer except for glares thrown by Alya and Lila. No one bothered her much after that and she could mourn in peace, it would be the last time she would be in Paris for a while so she left to go on a stroll.

The morning after Chloe went to school and left Marinette to herself. By lunchtime, she had everything her friends had gotten from her will and finished packing. She would be leaving when all her friends got to the hotel via the horse miraculous and Kaalki. She would let the miraculous take her wherever fate brought her. 

She got dressed up as Bridgette again with the black hair, mask, and grey contacts. For clothes, she wore a blue sweater that looked braided with a black skater skirt and white converse her hair was just down. She had borrowed some of Chloe’s clothes this past week after she insisted Marinette didn’t waste money on clothes. Chloe and Gami were kind and gave Marinette some clothes to be worn after she left. 

She strolls around, sees her old home burnt to ashes after it collapsed. She sees her old school still in session and decides to head to André’s ice-cream. 

“Hello young lady,” André said looking at her. 

Mar nodded in response not wanting to speak French just in case someone heard but didn’t want to speak Mandarin. 

“I see almond for his lips and skin, mint for his piercing green eyes, and dark chocolate for his dark past and black hair,” André foretold looking at the almost familiar girl. “Are you Ladybug?”

“Thank you, but I guess it doesn’t matter, I'm leaving soon anyway,” Marinette answered, sticking out her hand, which he shook, then she looked through her purse. “I’m Ladybug hero of Paris. How much for the ice-cream?” 

“Free of charge for all of Paris’ heroes. May I ask why you’re leaving?” André asked, wiping his hands. 

“My house burned down,” she started but he interrupted. 

“They couldn’t find the daughter’s body, well your body, because you were at the gala as Ladybug,” he realized. 

“I lost my parents. There’s no family here for me. I already graduated and Paris is saved. How was I going to explain that I’m alive?” Marinette asked, taking a scoop of ice-cream. “And I feel like I need a new start, ya know? Everyone here thinks I’m a bully because of a liar. I have trauma from the akumas. One of the reasons I stayed was for my parents, but they’re gone now so why not?”

“Well I wish you the best of luck, Ladybug,” André said with a sad smile. 

“Thank you, Monsieur André,” Marinette said before looking at her ice-cream and thought about her mysterious future love. 

She walks to the park by the school and starts sketching under one of the trees. She sat quietly sketching till she heard the bell from her friend’s school. She decides to go back to Chloe’s hotel to meet her friends, but as she’s leaving the park Lila and her posse saw her. 

“Bridgette? What are you still doing here?” Lila asked, approaching Bridgette as an animal approaches its prey. 

“The funeral was only yesterday you sausage-hair freak. I’m catching a flight home tonight,” Marinette answered, in Mandarin. 

“Awww she said she wanted to apologize for what Luka said,” Lila cooed and got others to do the same. 

“That’s not what she said,” Adrien said, stepping in again. “She said the funeral was only yesterday; she’s flying out tonight, but wanted to see some of Paris before she left.”

“I can confirm that what Adrien translated is true,” Kagami confirmed, kissing Adrien on her cheek. 

“Ummm... why’d you put your crusty lips on my boyfriend’s cheek?” Lila asked, in disbelief.

“Why are you questioning my actions towards my boyfriend?” Kagami asked, looking at Lila’s shocked face, while she wrapped her hand around his arm. “He told you he had a girlfriend and that she wasn’t you.” 

“But… Adrihoney you’ve been with me for six months!! Why would you cheat on me?” Lila cried into the closest person’s shoulder.

“I’ve been dating since Marinette set us up years ago because we were best friends,” Adrien agreed with Kagami kissing the top of her head.

Lila got angry and stormed off followed by her posse; they were trying to calm her down. One of her lies had been exposed and Marinette couldn’t be happier that she witnessed it. They continue to speak in Mandarin as they were leaving because some of her former classmates were in the park.

“So I have everything packed, well the little number of items I have and some of the clothes Chloe and you, Kagamigave to me along with the Miracle Box," Marinette explained as they walked towards the hotel.

"That's it? I can't believe you're leaving," Kagami said. Adrien and Kagami were just holding hands now after leaving the park. The couple wasn’t big on public displays of affection with paparazzi always around. She just wanted to help him by trying to get rid of Lila's clingy nature.

"I guess everyone thinks I'm dead and I don't want to go around as Bridgette all the time," she sighed, looking at the almost ominous-looking hotel as if she was walking to her doom instead of a new beginning.

"It's okay Buginette I understand and we'll support you any way possible. We'll be here when you want our help if you need it of course. We'll still be best friends because we are family and nothing can break that," Adrien said.

"Of course, no one could replace you guys because you're the only family I have left,” Marinette said as they hugged now standing in the lobby. Marinette then leaves out the entrance because she can't go upstairs as Bridgette. She transforms into Ladybug and jumps onto Chloe's balcony, where she can see her friends already waiting inside. She signs sadly and drops her transformation as she enters the room she had grown accustomed to.

"Hey, guys I'm ready to go," she said, sadly looking at them.

"Why don't we eat dinner before you go? You never know what time it's going to be when you get there. Better safe than sorry, right?" Chloe said.

“Yes, you’re right. I’m not going to be gone that long though. Whatever country I end up in Master Fu promised to get me correct papers to live there. I’ll maybe be back at the end of the week,” Marinette said, taking off her wig and contacts and put them in her backpack. 

“Steak and Frites for our last meal together for a while?” Chloe asked as she looked to call her butler. 

“Yes that sounds great,” they agreed as the put on an anime. After they finished eating, Marinette now stands before them transformed as Mare with her suitcase and backpack ready to go through. 

“Goodbye, you guys. I’ll call you by the end of the week. I want you to know it was an honor working with you and no one will ever be able to replace you,” Marinette said, hugging her friends. “I’ll miss you.”

“Why can’t you stay till after Christmas?” Luka asked. 

“It’s only two weeks away,” Kagami finished. 

“Well I don’t want to be a burden and the sooner I get settled he better,” Marinette said, turning her back on her friends as tears start rolling down her cheeks. “Full Forth”

She turns to look at her friends one last time. They’re crying and hugging each other. She stares for a moment before backing in the portal.

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

Tag list (Open):

@northernbluetongue @melhuney @ladysblackcat @sturchling @otaku4312 @g-arya @smolplantmum @bluefyoto94 @echpr @moonlightstar64 @thesunanditsangel @cutechip @heaven428 @elmokingkong

[agrestebug]

Marichat May 2020

Hey everyone! On with the show with another one-shot! Cross-posted on Fanfiction, and please, don’t repost on another site without permission! I hope you enjoy!

Day 17 - Paparazzi

"ADRIEEEEEEEEN!"

He groaned, hearing his name being screamed from multiple sources behind him as he ran from the crowd of people trying to catch him.

It was like the 'Adrien the Fragrance' ad all over again. He knew doing that twenty page spread for the Gabriel magazine was going to come back to bite him, and here was the result, fans chasing him throughout all of Paris.

He turned a corner and was startled by multiple brilliant flashes of light, taking a few steps back as he shielded his eyes.

Damn it. - He thought. Paparazzi.

"Adrien!" "Adrien!" "Did you mean what you said in the interview with the spread released last week?"

"Is there really only one girl who has ever caught your eye?"

"Who is she?"

"How long have you known her?"

"What's her name?!"

"Will we be seeing the two of you out together anytime soon?"

"No comment." He answered automatically, backing up away from the paparazzi while trying to avoid backing up into the crowd of girls that had been following him.

"Is that where you are going now? To go see her?" Another of the paparazzi asked.

"No comment!" He said a little firmer, hating how they never took the hint. He was starting to really regret his decision to stay quiet. When his father told him about the spread, he should have never agreed so easily.

He felt something grab his middle and he was suddenly lifted off of his feet straight into the air. His arms instinctually wrapped around the nearest thing, which happened to be a red and black spotted suit.

"L-Ladybug?!" He said bewildered as they dropped onto a rooftop and out of view from both the hoard of fangirls, and the paparazzi.

Ladybug gave him a small smile, "I'm sorry about tackling you like that. I know I shouldn't have interfered but,"

"NO!" He said too loudly in his relief, hugging her tightly without realizing what he was doing, "Thank you. Thank you so much for pulling me out of there."

She hugged him back, glad that she had managed to find him when she did, "You're welcome. I'm sorry you're going through this. It must be tough."

He dropped his arms suddenly and took a step back, blushing profusely as he put a hand to the back of his neck, "It's not the first time something like this has happened. I think the interview really did me in. Fans are one thing, hounding paparazzi are another."

Ladybug frowned, "No, I get that. Believe me, I get it."

They shared knowing smiles before Ladybug asked, "Would you care for a lift home?"

"No, I don't want to trouble you Ladybug. You already saved me from that mob." He told her, embarrassed that she had to save him in the first place. "If you could just, let me down off the roof, preferably somewhere no one will notice, I can make my own way back."

She smirked, "It's no trouble, and I'd hate to have you get chased all over the city all over again." She looked up in thought before asking curiously, "Isn't there somewhere nearby you could maybe go to hide out for a bit? Maybe with a friend or something?"

He glanced around, "Honestly, I don't even know where I am. I've been taking random turns just trying to lose everyone." He peered carefully over the edge of the roof and saw that he was just a few blocks away from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Marinette. She'd let him hide out at her place for sure, and maybe he'd be able to sneak a few treats in while he was there.

"Actually, I think I have the perfect place and it's not too far from here." He told her happily.

She nodded, but couldn't hide her concern, "And you are sure you can make it on your own?"

He nodded instantly, "Without a doubt. You've already done more than enough by going out of your way to help me." He asked a little curious, "Did I miss an akuma attack or something? I don't think anyone's ever really seen you out unless there was one."

Her cheeks just under her mask turned pink, "O-oh, uh, I wasn't doing anything spectacular or anything, and there wasn't an akuma." She chewed her lower lip, admitting it sounding embarrassed, "I was actually walking home when I saw the paparazzi catch you at the corner. Then the fan-mob came up behind you, and you really looked like you wished you were anywhere but there so,"

He felt his heart flutter happily, "You transformed, just to save me?"

She nodded sheepishly and he hugged her again, simply because he couldn't help himself, "Thank you. I know that could have been risky for you."

"No one was paying attention to me. All eyes were on you." She said it a little softer, "It helps that my civilian self is easily looked over anyways."

"I seriously doubt that." He told her instantly, staring into her eyes. "Your civilian self is probably just as amazing as the way you are now. You may wear a mask, but you are still you. The only difference is a few spots." He touched her mask carefully, and she took a small step back, her voice shaking as she told him, "Y-You're very sweet Adrien, but trust me, you'd never notice me as my civilian self. That I can promise you."

"I've been told I have pretty good eyesight." He teased, smiling brightly when she let out a small laugh that rang through his entire being.

"Let me get you out of here mister twenty-page spread." She teased back, putting her arm around his waist. He hoped she couldn't feel his heart thundering against his ribcage as she lowered them slowly into the nearby alley. She really looked reluctant to leave but he told her with a smile, "I'll be okay, honest. Thank you again Ladybug."

She nodded, "Be safe Adrien. I hope this all dies down soon, for your sake."

She yo-yoed away and he sighed, telling her softly after she disappeared, "You always find a way to make me fall in love with you more, don't you M'lady?"

Plagg floated out from the pocket of his shirt, shaking his head, "You want to get caught by that mob don't you?"

Adrien shivered, "Not a chance. Plagg, Claws Out." He felt the transformation take hold and pulled his baton, vaulting back up to the rooftops. He headed straight towards the bakery, clearing the distance in a few short minutes and glad that he had taken the route with a view. At three of the four corners he would have had to take if he'd gone on foot, there were MORE paparazzi and fans hanging out looking for him.

He dropped onto Marinette's balcony with a relieved sigh, hearing a squeak of surprise coming from below before her head popped up out of the skylight, "C-Chat Noir? What are you doing here?"

He instantly fell to his knees and begged her, "Please purrincess, please let me hang out here for a little while."

She eyed him concerned, "Why? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, and I can't explain but I really just need some place to hide out for a little while. Please?" He asked hopefully, giving her the biggest pleading eyes he could.

She didn't look remotely phased, "Why don't you just go home?"

He fidgeted nervously, "Uh, I can't, explain that either, not without revealing my identity."

She started to frown at that, and he told her softly, "You are the only person I can trust. Please Marinette?"

Her frown softened until it turned into a smile, "Fine, come on you pouty kitty."

He smiled brightly and followed her down into her room. He instantly spread out on her floor, stretching out before letting his arms stay splayed out at his sides, "You are a lifesaver purrincess."

She rolled her eyes, watching the tension leave his shoulders. "You owe me one Kitty, and I intend to collect."

He told her quickly, "Whatever the purrincess desires, it is yours!"

She held back her laugh and sat in her desk chair, asking curious, "Really Chat, are you sure you are okay?"

He let out a heavy sigh, staring at her ceiling, "It's just, been a long day." He corrected himself, "It's been a long week actually."

"Guess it's going around." Marinette muttered to herself, but with his sensitive hearing he'd heard her clearly. He sat up and perched on all fours on the floor, tilting his head slightly as he asked curiously, "What do you mean? You've had a long week too?"

"Something like that." She admitted, flipping the page of whatever book she was looking through. He stood and walked over to her, flinching at the sight of the fashion magazine that was causing all this hell. He tried to play off his hatred of the dreadful magazine by asking lightly with a smile planted on his face, "Hey, that's the Gabriel Magazine right? The one with the designer's sons spread?"

Marinette nodded a bit sadly, "Yeah, this is the one that's causing him all kinds of grief."

He asked as though he didn't know exactly what she meant, "Grief? Is the spread no good?"

"The spread is fine. Adrien looks handsome as always," a slight frown crept onto her face as she stared at one of the pictures, "I prefer his real smile, but that's just me."

He peered over her shoulder, honestly confused this time as he commented, "He's smiling in the picture though."

She looked up at him with a shy smile, "Yes, but that," she pointed to the picture on the page, "is his 'model' smile."

"Why does it sound like you have quotes around the word model?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

She giggled slightly, "I guess it did come out that way huh? This smile is the one he shows everyone. It's automatic and to anyone who doesn't know him, they believe it when they see it."

He stared at the seriousness of her face as he said it, knowing it was true, "But you don't."

She shook her head, "No, I don't." She looked back down at the magazine, "I don't know how to explain it, but I can just, tell. His real smile is so much brighter than this one. His eyes shine and he looks so genuinely happy." She said it heavily, "I wish I had a way to make sure he could smile like that all the time."

Chat felt his heart warm and he smiled, "He means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

It left her before she could stop it, "More than a lot, I love him."

He felt his knee's shake, "You, love him?"

She told him quickly, "I know, it's ridiculous right? You probably think it's just some silly crush from a crazy fangirl."

"No!" He said too quickly in his nervousness, seeing her look surprised before he explained, "I, I'd like to think I know you well enough to know that you mean it, when you say you're in l-love with him."

She smiled sadly, "Thanks Kitty, but you don't have to try and make me feel better." She stared down at the magazine longingly, "Someone like Adrien, he'd never notice me as anything more than a friend." She swiveled in her chair, making sure she could still see Chat Noir and the magazine lying on her desk.

"I'm glad to be his friend, I really am," she laid her head on one of her arms without turning her back to Chat, "I just wish he wouldn't look me over so easily, so that he could see how much he really means to me."

She reached out and fidgeted with the framed picture on her desk of her and Alya, with him and Nino standing on either side of them, tipping it back and forth lightly with a finger.

He tried to pull himself together, her words echoing inside him. Marinette, loved him. But she, she had always denied that she felt something more for him. He had always felt amazingly lucky that he could even call her his friend, and she actually, cared about him so much more than that.

"When did you, fall in love with him?" He asked, trying not to let his nerves show.

She kept fiddling with the picture frame, sighing heavily, "It wasn't one moment really. He surprises me with his kindness, and in the same second can surprise me with his fierceness when it comes to protecting his friends. I get all tongue-tied and can barely stay on my feet when I see him, and he's so sweet. He doesn't ever mention how awkward I am around him. He probably thinks I'm a lunatic."

"I'm sure he doesn't." He told her kindly, her words touching his heart. Usually the first thing people talked about were his looks, and then all the 'great' talents he'd been forced to learn. She didn't mention either, and he had a feeling she wasn't going to bring them up. It sent his heart into a pounding flurry, beating against his chest. How could this incredible girl have so much love in her heart for him? How could he have never realized her feelings when they were as clear as a crystal sky now? He must have really been blind.

"And he's brave," she said with a small smile as she stared at the picture, "he pushed me out of the way of an akuma more than once, when he could have gotten hurt himself. Sometimes when he looks at me, I feel like maybe he sees me, just a little bit. My heart flutters like a hummingbird, and I start to feel all warm inside." She sat up and looked over to the corner of her room where a black umbrella sat leaning up against the wall.

"I guess, it really all started with that." She pointed to the umbrella and Chat looked at it in surprise, recognizing it instantly. "After I treated him so terribly when we first met, he offered me his umbrella even though he'd be without one. He had this look in his eyes, this, something, that just drew me to him instantly. He wasn't anything like what I expected or originally thought, and now that I've had the chance to really get to know him, I know that he's so much more than the face that everyone sees."

She frowned slightly, glancing towards her window, "I hope he's doing okay. All week his bodyguard has been practically escorting him into school because of how bad the paparazzi have gotten. He doesn't deserve to be treated that way. I hate that everyone forgets that he's not just a model or a face on a magazine, he's a person who just wants to be able to hang out with his friends without causing a riot."

"Well, you probably aren't wrong." He managed to get out normally, his eyes glued to the beautiful girl who saw past the glamor and name to who he was underneath. She was probably the only girl in all of Paris who really did.

"He's lucky." He said simply, drawing her attention instantly, "That someone as beautiful inside as she is outside, cares about someone like him at all."

She smiled at him, "He needs people to care about him, not just fawn over him or want to be his friend because he's famous." She let out a soft sigh, "Maybe one day he'll start to see me the way I see him, but even if he never notices me, my feelings will never change. That I can promise you."

'Y-You're very sweet Adrien, but trust me, you'd never notice me as my civilian self. That I can promise you.'

"Ladybug." He whispered, feeling like everything in the world was falling into place.

"Ladybug?" Marinette repeated confused.

He stared into her eyes, the same beautiful bluebell eyes that had captured his heart without her even knowing it. He had to correct her, just like he had before.

"You're wrong you know." He said, wanting nothing more than to close the gap between them.

"Kitty I have no idea what you are talking about." She deadpanned seriously.

He grinned. He wasn't going to keep it from her that he knew, and at the same time, he was going to make sure she knew the truth too. "You're not someone who is easily overlooked. You are beautiful and kind, and caring." He motioned to her wall of designs, "You are crazy talented," he smiled softly, "and you are amazing exactly the way you are now."

He reached up and cupped her cheek, his fingertips resting along the space where her mask would be, not knowing when his feet had carried him over to her. Her eyes widened as she instinctively moved back, her voice shaking, "Y-You're very sweet Kitty but..." she stopped, her voice catching as a lump formed. This... this was just like the conversation she had just had with...

He saw the realization fill her eyes, and told her again, "You may wear a mask, but you are still you. The only difference is a few spots."

It came out as nothing more than a whisper, "Adrien."

He held her face in his hands, making sure she understood, "I told you I had pretty good eyesight."

Her shock turned to pure joy, her eyes tearing up as she said it excitedly, "ADRIEN!" She threw her arms around his neck and he held her instantly, reveling in the way they fit perfectly against each other.

"That went better than I thought." He happily mused out loud.

She pulled back and her face turned white right in front of him, "Oh my god. OH MY GOD! I JUST TOLD ADRIEN HOW I FELT!"

He stood unmoving, watching as she started pacing around her room, rambling so quickly about... the end of the world? She pulled on her pigtails, groaning before adding it nearly in tears, "Oh my god my life is over."

He chuckled softly, watching as she crouched into herself. He went over and crouched in front of her, "I don't think this is going to cause the end of the world, and your life is nowhere near over purrincess."

She shot him a glare at the pun, but he merely grinned, "What? It's true. I think this was a miraculous way to find each other, don't you?"

He told her a little softer, feeling his cheeks warm, "And, I love you too, with or without your spots."

She blushed nearly scarlet, asking with a small frown, "But, you never,"

"Fought with myself, about the most courageous, most daring, girl I've ever met and the beautifully kind, most amazing friend I've ever had?" He told her the truth, "More than once, and for a lot longer than you'd probably believe."

"Try me." She said instantly.

"Adrien the Fragrance." He said sheepishly, watching her eyes widen in shock. "You helped me then too. For hours we ran around Paris, and the whole time I kept thinking, this girl is amazing. I can't believe she's doing this for me. I'm literally dragging her into the chaos and she's not the least bit affected." He started to smirk, "And in her pajamas no less!"

Her face burned and she pushed him hard on the shoulder, watching with immense satisfaction as he fell straight on his behind, "Serves you right for teasing!"

He smiled at her lovingly, acting as though nothing had happened, "That was the first time I realized that being around you made me feel different than I did with anyone else. I was, incredibly happy, despite everything that was going on, and ever since then, I noticed it happening more and more. As long as you were around, nothing could ruin my day."

He moved to his knees leaning towards her so he could rest his forehead against hers, "You've always been the direction my compass has pointed me to, if... if I'm not too late."

He felt her soft lips press against his with a passion that sparked every nerve ending to life. His hands found her waist and she moved closer, practically sitting in his lap as she kissed him senseless.

Her hands moved through his hair, causing a deep rumble through his chest as he felt his way up her back. She arched into him, rising up slightly so that she was in control of the kiss, and he wasn't complaining. The tips of his claws cut into the ties holding her hair, and some small part of his brain that was still registering information warned him to be careful or he'd end up hurting her by accident. That was the last thing he wanted.

He whispered it quickly against her lips, "Plagg claws in." His transformation dropped but his lips were back on hers before it fell completely. He put his now clawless hand to the back of her neck, feeling her loose tresses skim like silk across the back of his hand. She hummed appreciatively, adding fuel to the wild fire already raging inside him.

Tikki had her hand over Plagg's mouth, practically holding him in a headlock to keep him quiet as he squirmed to get away from her. The second he was free of the ring, she had pounced. She knew he'd ruin this moment for her and she would NOT let him ruin what she had been waiting over a year for!

She shushed him again as he mumbled unintelligibly, probably something along the lines about gross emotions and needing camembert. She was overjoyed watching their chosen get lost in each other, oblivious to the world around them.

...Bonus...

Neither of them are sure of when they moved to the chaise from the floor, but it sure was more comfortable.

"IT'S COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!" Plagg yelled at Adrien, who merely rolled his eyes and tightened his hold on his new girlfriend lying in his arms, both of them trying to catch their breath. Marinette giggled, making his smile turn loving as he looked at where she had her head resting on his chest. The second their eyes made contact, she gave him another small kiss that made his heart flutter all over again.

"TWO HOURS! YOU'VE BEEN KISSING FOR TWO HOURS!" Plagg whined angrily before they could start again, "WHAT ABOUT MY CHEESE!?"

[mierinette]

day 30 - roommates

promise me you’ll stay, beyond the sunrise.

tumblr month: @auyeahaugust

links: ao3 | ff.net

i.

MARINETTE doesn't know how he got her address.

She'd only moved in that day, after a haphazard decision to do so for independence and freedom in her own work. (Though the whole Ladybug-and-unexplained-disappearances thing when living her parents was a huge factor, too.)

Scratch that, it's probably the onlyfactor.

If it weren't for her parents' growing suspicion and concern due to her heroic escapades, Marinette would still choose to stay at home and with them; or at the very least, stay nearby.

She had to move a good distance away— a bus ride or so, in order to rationalize with her parents why she had to move out. ("But why do you have to leave?" "Moving would be easier for me to do my work! It cuts down on transportation time a lot.")

Never mind that as Ladybug, she can move from one side of Paris to another in mere minutes.

The apartment itself is quite modest, with enough space for her to live comfortably (but not much for anything else). Nino, Alya, and Adrien had helped her move in all her stuff, though quite a few were still left untouched inside their boxes.

It's more a reflection of Marinette's need for privacy than their helpfulness as friends, though— since a hefty amount of the items in those containers hold her carefully-curated collection of Adrien Agreste collectibles, limited edition items, and posters.

So. Many. Posters.

(It's been years, but her crush on him has only grown all the more intensely. She's grown out of her stuttering phase, fortunately, but the butterflies in her stomach don't fade, either.)

Exhaustedly, Marinette lies on her mattress.

They only left an hour ago… is it okay to miss them this much?

She's not accustomed to the quiet, especially with the bustling energy of her family and the customers that arrive for their daily dose of caffeine in the early mornings. The lack of aromatic scents of freshly-baked breads and desserts as she lays down is a stark reminder that she's not home anymore.

Marinette sighs to herself.

Maybe she's lonely.

Just a little bit.

It's in that exact moment someone comes knocking on her balcony door. The balcony is a good amount smaller than the one she had at home, only really enough for a few plants and one person—

Or one disguised cat-themed hero.

His smile's bright as she pushes away the curtain and opens the sliding door.

Chat Noir doesn't even wait for a verbal invitation; he walks inside, looking around in wonder.

"Wow, you've already unpacked a lot," he starts, noticing her sewing machine set up on a desk nearby. "You already took it out?"

An eyebrow raised. "Yeah… why?"

"I thought you were setting up your sewing area last," he starts, before absurdly coughing to himself at her suspicious glance. "I mean, considering that it's the only one without a designated space… I thought you'd do everything else first, because it's common sense, right?"

Hmmm.

"That was the original plan," she finally admits. "But I have commissions to work on, so I decided to keep it there. Temporarily, at the very least." Chat Noir nods, before Marinette gestures at him. "So… how did you find out about here?"

"What do you mean?"

"My apartment?" She asks, leaning upon the door frame. "I don't recall telling you where I was moving."

"Oh…," he pauses, sifting through her boxes. "Uh, superhero, remember? Ladybug and I make it a point to know where everybody is at all times. To protect the citizens of Paris and all that!"

Well, that's not even the slightest bit true, but it's not as if Marinette can rebuff him.

So, she nods in fake understanding instead and shrugs.

"That doesn't explain what you're doing here, though?"

Chat Noir smiles. "I figured that you'd meowss the company. You moved pretty far from your friends." He sounds almost sad at that revelation, and Marinette almost feels sorry.

(What would he be so sad for? It's not like she moved far away from him.

Though she wouldn't really know, if she did.)

"Well, I can't say that I don't appreciate you showing up." She smiles, eyes bright.

It's a sweet moment.

Until:

"You can help me unpack everything else."

(They spend the rest of the night unpacking things, but Marinette insists that one box be left alone. When Chat Noir accidentally sees a peak of an all-too-familiar model's poster flap out from its cover…

he thankfully decides against mentioning it.)

.

.

ii.

Chat Noir makes it a point to regularly stop by her apartment.

(Even at times he should be busy and on patrol— though more often than not, Marinette can't find it in herself to be angry at him.)

She still doesn't see her friends and family that often, but being with him, she finds, lessens the loneliness a lot; to the point that she finds herself more fulfilled, if anything.

At first, she figured that he'd get tired of him— seeing him both as Ladybug and Marinette, and so often, but it's the complete opposite. They talk about and do everything together, with her learning so much more about him than she'd ever expected to.

If anything, Chat Noir is good and fun company, even though she'll never admit it to his face.

It's a few months into their arrangement of random meetings when Marinette makes the mistake of going to her apartment straight home as Ladybug.

"… milady? What are you doing here?"

She pauses as she reaches for the balcony door, belatedly noticing that Chat Noir follows right after her. He's perched on the balcony railings, staring at her with confusion and almost suspicion.

Oops.

"Chat?! What are you doing here?" She points at him accusingly, almost stumbling backward. "I thought you said you were going straight home after the akuma!"

"Yeah…," he starts, eyebrows knitting together. "But I always stop by Marinette's to check on her if she's doing okay. She just moved away recently, and I just want to make sure she doesn't feel lonely or sad or anything." He pauses, realizing how his statement may sound. "I mean, speaking as a superhero, you know… I can't risk her getting akumatized! Especially since she's Multimouse and all…"

"That's actually… pretty sweet of you Chat."

He smiles softly, before suddenly narrowing his eyes. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here, though?"

She halts, evidently caught off-guard. "I— uh—"

"Ladybug… visiting Marinette… in her apartment… that means…"

"Wait, don't connect the dots—"

"Marinette's planning a surprise for me!"

"I'm not—

Wait. What?"

She's never seen Chat Noir look so excited.

"I knew she was planning something for me! You know, last time I came over, we were talking about birthdays, and I told her it was some time around this month… is that what the two of you were planning all this time? Ack, this is pawsitvely exciting my tails on end!"

Ladybug wonders how he can be so smart but so dumb at the same time.

(Well, whatever the case— it works out well for her.)

Ladybug smiles. "You know I can' tell you that!" Her voice is a notch higher than usual, as she playfully and awkwardly punches his shoulder. "… pal! Now go home and let us plan your surprise, okay?"

"Can I get a hint?!"

"Uh. Cats." She stops, almost similar to the way a robot would if they were to malfunction. "Yup. Cats. Like you. Now that's all!"

She pushes at him, before he finally relents and leaves the balcony.

The next day, Chat Noir comes to Marinette's apartment, and sees his surprise:

A cat-themed party.

Marinette looks absolutely exhausted, but seeing Chat Noir's bright smile— she doesn't quite mind it.

"Happy birthday, kitty: however old you are, and whenever your birthday really is!"

They spend the rest of the night celebrating together.

(Adrien's birthday happens a week later, and she's surprised to find out that he wants to spend it treating her out, just the two of them. She wonders why he doesn't want a birthday party, and he explains that he already had one— and nothing could top how perfect it was.

They spend the day going around together, and end it as he drops her off at her apartment. Alya and Nino insist it's a date.

Marinette vaguely wonders to herself if it was.)

.

.

iii.

Chat Noir stops by when Adrien doesn't.

Marinette rereads the text over and over again:

I'm so, so, sorry, Mari. My dad's not letting me out until I finish all the work I do. Let's hang out another time, okay? Miss you, Alya, and Nino a lot!

She sighs, walking over to turn off the oven. The scent of passionfruit macarons makes their way around the apartment, as she carefully puts them into a container. Her outfit, a nicely-fitted red dress— the one Alya calls the first date dress, shines in the room light.

It's a strong inner debate as to whether Marinette should call her friends, but she ultimately decides against it.

(It'd be mean to burst into their lives with last-minute plans, and she especially doesn't want to disappoint them with the news that her dinner-with-Adrien-and-confess-your-love plan had failed spectacularly— before she could even do anything about it.

Marinette figures that she'll just disappoint them later on.)

She raises the container of sweets to her face. "So, what should I do with this…?"

"I'd like to try them."

She almost drops the macarons as a sudden voice bounces off the walls, clutching her heart in evident surprise. "Chat? What the heck, don't scare me like that! How long were you standing there?"

He looks almost sheepish. "A few minutes… I tried knocking, but you seemed so distracted in your thoughts so I just came in." His expression turns concerned. "Are you okay?"

She shrugs. "Just a little upset, but nothing new, really."

"I'm sorry."

Marinette shakes her head. "What are you sorry for? It's not your fault." She sighs to herself, before offering the container to him. "Anyway, do you want to try this? I'm not sure if you'll like it because it's passionfruit, but…"

"Are you kidding me, I love passionfruit! It's my favorite flavor!"

He beams, before quickly taking a bite of the snack, and breathing dreamily to himself. "These taste amazing." Then, a pause. "But are you sure I should eat this? Didn't you make it for someone?"

Marinette laughs softly, then walks over to sit on the couch, gesturing for him to come next to him.

"Chat, do you love anyone?"

The question is upfront and straightforward, and he's evidently surprised by it.

After the initial shock, though, he smiles to himself. "Of course I do. She's the purrfect girl, andI think about her a lot more than I should," he says, staring at her for a good moment.

Marinette doesn't know how to describe how his stare makes her feel.

"I love someone too," she finally admits.

The words hang in the air, and Chat Noir doesn't know what to say.

"He's a lucky guy," he finally breathes, a sad look in his eyes.

"You'd think," she laughs to herself, almost bitterly. "But I don't think he feels the same way, or if he ever will."

"What do you mean— who wouldn't fall in love with you?! You're kind, and sweet, and pretty on a regular day but tonight you're absolutely stunning…"

"Haha, thanks kitty," she mutters, before holding on to her dress. "I even dressed up for him today…"

A quiet pause.

"Wait… the guy you were supposed to meet today is the one you're in love with?'

She nods silently. "Adrien Agreste. He's a good friend of mine, it's just that my feelings are something so much more than that…"

Marinette isn't looking at him directly, so she's surprised to notice him abruptly stand up.

"Sorry, I have to go."

"Chat? I'm sorry if this was too much but…"

"I'll see you around, Marinette."

It's the lack of a playful nickname that gets her.

Almost frozen, she somehow manages to nod.

And Chat Noir disappears into the night.

.

.

iv.

The next time they patrol, Chat Noir tells Ladybug they need to talk.

"Are you sure I can't reveal my true identity to anyone?"

Her answer is instantaneous. "Of course. It's too risky." She pauses, then almost careful: "Why do you ask?"

(Things have become more awkward since the last time Chat Noir went to her apartment; when he just left her without explanation and stopped showing up completely. They still meet as heroes, but it's become much more strained since then.)

He sighs to himself. "It's just… I'm in love." Chat Noir pauses, then immediately backtracks. "Not with you, of course. Not anymore. I respect that you love someone else, and I've finally fallen for someone different. And I don't want to reveal too much but… she loves me back."

Marinette feels happy for him, of course, but can't quite explain why her stomach churns uncomfortably at the idea of him being in love with someone else.

"Then, what's the problem?"

He laughs bitterly to himself. "She fell for my civilian identity."

Oh.

"So you want her to know you're the same person?"

Chat Noir pauses for a moment, as if in thought, then shakes his head. "No," he finally says. "I just want to be sure she loves the entire me, and not just the perfect character I keep up in real life. I want her to fall in love with Chat Noir, too. Because this identity's just as much a part of me as Adr— as my civilian self is."

Silence, again.

"As a superhero and the Guardian, I cannot stress the importance of keeping your identity secret. Even if it is someone you love." He winces, and she presses on. "But as your friend, I want you to be happy, kitty. So, do what you must." She smiles at him. "I know you'll do what's right."

The superhero smiles back, then abruptly gets up.

"Then if you don't mind, milady… I have somewhere to be."

By the time Chat Noir arrives at Marinette's apartment, she's already home.

"What are you doing here, Chat?"

"… for two things. Do you mind if I come in?"

She doesn't exactly willing to do so, but lets him in anyway.

"The first part is an apology." He looks at her, evidently ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry I just left like that back then. I shouldn't have left without an explanation, and it was one of the worst things I've ever done. I'm so sorry."

"As you should be," she only says, before sighing to herself. "And the second part?"

"An explanation."

"Better keep it short."

"I can summarize it in three words."

She looks up at him, suddenly intrigued. "Which is?"

"I love you."

(The dots connect themselves even without Marinette willing them to, and she catches on before Chat Noir even realizes the situation they're in.

Knowing about her address, his birthday celebrations, his love for passionfruit, the mysterious person he was in love with—is in love with, and his abrupt disappearance after her confession…

How did she not realize it before?)

The faces of two people Marinette love dearly start blending into one.

She never knew it would be possible to feel so much for one person.

Marinette starts laughing, tears in her eyes, as everything becomes that much clearer.

She smiles.

"I love you too—

Adrien."

(He almost falls off the balcony.

Fortunately, however— this time there's somebody around to catch him.)

.

.

v.

He knocks on the correct door, this time around.

And with him, a ton of boxes and containers that tower almost menacingly around his figure.

"Sorry I had to use this door," he starts. "But my stuff wouldn't fit through the balcony."

Marinette laughs, before putting her hands to fold in front of her chest.

"That's a lot of boxes," she observes. "I don't recall you having that much of a problem with my stuff back then."

"That's because I only stayed the night."

"And now?"

He smiles, then presses a sudden kiss to her lips.

"Hopefully, I'm staying the rest of my life."

She huffs at the sudden surprise, then smiles back softly.

"I wouldn't be opposed to that."

[tsuki-chibi]

Blackberries (Adrinette April) Day 27: Naps

Or see it on AO3: Blackberries

--------

“Wait, you know what Adrien’s words are?” Nino said, looking surprised.

“Of course I do. We compared words when we were kids,” Chloé said, folding her arms across her chest. What she was saying was true: Adrien remembered that moment well. He had been disappointed at the time to see that Chloé had the words ‘excuse me, you dropped your cell phone’ written across her chest. More distinctive than most, but still no where near what he had first said to her.

‘Chloé hasn’t found her soulmate yet, right?’ Marinette thought, her eyes flicking around the room to track the rest of their classmates’ reactions.

‘Not as far as I know, and I’m positive that she would’ve told me if she had,’ Adrien thought, following Marinette’s glance. Mostly everyone looked somewhere between surprised and curious at Chloé’s outburst, and he realized that it was a good thing Lila had already left. There would’ve been a lot of fuel added to the fire had Lila still been in the room.

“Why didn’t you say so before?” Alya demanded.

“I didn’t think I had to considering that Adrien himself told you all that Lila didn’t say his words,” Chloé said. “Or did you forget about that?”

Alya opened her mouth and then closed it before looking over at Adrien. “Umm…”

“Wait, so you and Lila really aren’t soulmates?” Rose said, looking disappointed.

“No,” Adrien, Chloé and Marinette all said in perfect unison.

“And you’re sure you’re not just saying that because you’re worried about your father?” Nino asked. “Because Dude, we’d all do whatever was necessary to help you if that was the case.”

Adrien sighed, more touched by that than he wanted to let on. “Nino, I am absolutely, 100% sure that Lila Rossi is not my soulmate. I don’t know what Lila thought she felt, but I have never felt anything towards her. And before anyone says anything, my father did not put blocks on me,” he added sharply, shooting a glare at Max. Max had the decency to look a little guilty, considering that he was the one who had suggested that in the first place.

“He’s also not lying because of Marinette before anyone bothers to use that as an excuse,” Chloé said flatly, staring Alya down. “Believe me, if that were the case, I’d be the first to support anything that makes Adrien and Marinette break up.”

‘You know, I don’t think that’s so true anymore,’ Adrien thought. ‘Chloé likes you.’

‘I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I’m starting to like her too,’ Marinette thought back. ‘Turns out a little mutual hatred over someone goes a long way.’

“I’m not willing to let anyone see my words,” Adrien said, because he was pretty sure that Alya was gearing up again to ask for just that. “It’s too risky. If my fans caught wind of what they were –” He cut himself off and shuddered. He had seen other celebrities far bigger than him fall into that trap, and it was always disastrous. People had even gone so far as to tattoo words on their bodies just to make themselves seem like a celebrity’s soulmates. Some of his fans could be a little too dedicated.

“No one is going to ask you to do that,” Nino said, shooting Alya firm look. “We believe you.”

“Good. Then I think it’s time that this stupid rumor was officially dropped,” Chloé said. “Because if it gets back to Gabriel Agreste, then it’s going to cause a lot of trouble for Adrikins.” She very slowly looked around the classroom, pinning each of their classmates with a cold glare until they squirmed and looked away. Alya was the last person that Chloé made eye contact with, and Alya held out the longest but eventually even she dropped her gaze.

“I also think everyone owes Adrien an apology,” Marinette spoke up.

‘Mari!’ Adrien thought. ‘That’s not necessary!’

Naturally, Marinette ignored that and added, “Adrien told everyone that Lila wasn’t his soulmate, but all of you assumed that he had to be lying. You took the word of someone you barely know over your friend and now those rumors have spread through the whole school, which isn’t fair to him.”

“You’re right. We’re sorry,” Nino said.

“Sorry, Adrien,” Rose piped up, looking guilty, and everyone else murmured their apologies too. Alya sighed.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too. I guess I got caught up in the idea of having three soulmate pairs in one class,” she said. “Lila must have been mistaken.”

“Yeah… mistaken,” Marinette said, and Adrien could see the way that she exchanged a glance with Chloé.

“It’s okay. But I would appreciate it if you would set everyone else straight too. Chloé’s right. If any of this got back to my father, he would be very upset,” Adrien said. “Frankly, it’s a miracle that he hasn’t heard yet.” Or rather, that Nathalie hadn’t heard and spread word back to Gabriel.

“We’ll spread the word at lunch time,” Alix said.

“Thank you,” Adrien said, relieved. He really hoped that this would be the end of people believing Lila’s lies – well, at least when it came to the two of them being soulmates. He wasn’t optimistic enough to think that this would be the start of people realizing that Lila had been lying about everything.

“You know,” Chloé began.

“Chloé, don’t,” Adrien said instantly. Naturally, she ignored him.

“Rossi owes you an apology too,” Chloé said stubbornly. “She helped to perpetuate that rumor even after you told her that you weren’t her soulmate. I even heard her telling people that Marinette was forcing you to lie.”

“What?!” Alya exclaimed. “You must have misheard her. Lila wouldn’t do that.”

Chloé looked very much like she was going to tell Alya exactly how far Lila had already gone, but Madame Bustier chose to walk into the classroom at that very moment and, unaware of the topic of conversation, told them all to get out their math books. Adrien couldn’t decide if he was glad for their teacher’s timing or not. He really didn’t want to see Alya and Chloé get into a fight over what Lila had done so far. It was enough for him, for now, that their classmates finally believed that Lila wasn’t his soulmate.

‘You’re too nice sometimes, Adrien,’ Marinette thought.

‘I’m not being nice. I just don’t want to see Chloé get in trouble,’ Adrien thought back as he pulled his math book out. ‘She has no proof that Lila said that, and people will be naturally skeptical to believe her just because it’s Chloé saying it and they know what she’s like.’

Marinette paused, then sighed. ‘I guess you’re right. Everyone is still too willing to give Lila the benefit of the doubt. I can’t wait for the day more of her lies blow up in her face.’

“Okay class, I’m going to start with attendance and then we’re going to move right into your math homework,” Madame Bustier said. “Now let’s see, who –”

“Holy shit!” Alya blurted out suddenly.

“Alya!” Madame Bustier said.

“Sorry Madame, but there’s a new akuma!” Alya sounded much more excited about the news than she really should have. “Please, could I –”

“No,” Madame Bustier interrupted, holding up a hand.

“But – ”

“We’ve talked about this, Alya. I can’t keep letting you leave class just to film akumas,” Madame Bustier said, sounding exasperated. “If you got hurt, the school be held liable. And no, I don’t care that Ladybug eventually heals everyone.”

Adrien glanced over at Marinette. Their eyes met, and they really didn’t need a telepathic bond to know what each other was thinking. Marinette stood up.

“Madame Bustier, Lila didn’t come back to the classroom and now there’s an akuma. As class president, I volunteer to go find her and tell her about the situation!” she said, making a dash for the door.

“You shouldn’t go alone. I’ll go with you!” Adrien said, leaping to his feet and following.

“Marinette! Adrien!” Madame Bustier shouted after them. That was shortly followed by a loud crash and a scream. Chloé’s scream. Adrien slowed.

‘No, don’t. If it’s the akuma, we can’t help her the way we are,’ Marinette thought, grabbing his hand. She pulled him along, heading for the art room. At this time of the morning, it would be empty. They ducked inside and Adrien pulled the door shut.

“Oh dear, this is really bad,” Tikki exclaimed, bursting out of Marinette’s purse.

Plagg emerged from Adrien’s pocket far more slowly, yawning. “Ugh, I was having a good nap,” he whined. “Must we?”

“Yes, we must,” Adrien said tersely. “Plagg, claws out!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

As the green and red lights faded, Chat looked at his partner. “I’ll say one thing. It’s really nice to not have to make an excuse to separate to transform,” he said, thinking back to when they’d faced Animan. That had been really frustrating.

Ladybug smiled. “It sure saves a lot of time,” she said. “Now come on, Chaton. Let’s do our thing!”

[ladyanput]

A Hurtful Prank Pt.2

The second part to the fic inspired by @vivilakitty (I know this isn’t exactly what you said, I’m sorry)

Felix strode down the street of Paris. At the age of twenty, he hadn’t been back since that whole incident with Marinette, not that he hadn’t wanted to. But when it came out that Hawkmoth had been defeated and he turned out to be Felix’s own uncle was the villian that had caused havoc on the city, one small, cruel part of him had haughty thought that Adrien and his father weren’t so perfect after all. But as soon as that thought had struck, guilt ate at him, only imagining what his cousin must have went through, finding out that his own father was a villain and his mother was kept in a glass coffin beneath the house. He had been certain that the news must have crushed his cousin. Felix had reached out, but he had never received a response.

So here he was, two years after the incident, looking for his idiot cousin. As stubborn as Adrien might be, Felix had found out that he was staying in an apartment in Paris, living with a girlfriend. He never found out the girl’s name, but a small part of him said that it must have been Marinette. The thought alone made his heart ache.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the person headed his way, also lost in her thoughts. The two of them collided and went stumbling back. Felix shout his hand out, grabbing the  woman by the wrist and steadying her before she could go falling onto the sidewalk.

“I am so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going! I didn’t mean-” The words died on his lips as soon as the woman stood and met his gaze with large, beautiful blue eyes. “Ma- Marinette…?”

Marinette stood there, looking rather stunned as she stared up at him. She had grown into a beautiful woman, her soft lips a beautiful rose, those jewel blue eyes of hers framed by long, dark lashes. She was about a head shorter than Felix, her shapely body clothed in a white blouse and black pencil shirt. She looked so.. So womanly, almost nothing like the stuttering girl he knew years ago. 

“Wha- Felix? Is that you?” She sounded stunned as her hand tightened on the umbrella she was carrying. He wondered if she wanted to beat him with it. He wouldn’t have stopped her. To his surprise, her face broke out into a breathtaking smile. “Felix, how are you? You’re looking great. Wait, weren’t your eyes green when I last saw you?”

“I-I usually wore green contacts.” He explained. His mother had always hated his grey-blue eyes, saying they weren’t as perfect as Adrien’s. So she had always forced him to wear contacts, and he had done so without complaint, until he had moved out of the house and moved into his own place. He had felt so free. “You’re looking great, I see you outgrew your pigtails.”

“Yeah, I thought when I got into lycée, I could use a change.” Marinette reached up and touched a lock of her dark hair, which now brushed against the base of her back. Felix had been right, she looked beautiful with her hair down. 

Soon the two adults just stood there in awkward silence, not looking at each other. Cars drove by, and people brushed past. The silence was almost deafening to Felix, he wanted to continue this conversation, but didn’t know where to take it. Besides, who would want to talk to a guy who hurt you so badly in the past?

“Would you want to grab a coffee?” Marinette reached out a gently touched his arm, the smile returning to her face. Felix felt the blood begin to pound through his veins, rushing to his ears, making him feel as if he were about to go deaf. Completely oblivious, Marinette continued to rush out the words. “I mean, you’re probably busy, but I wanted to catch up, you know, since we haven’t seen each other in so long.”

“Coffee would be great.” Felix spoke up before she could sputter out more and embarrass herself. He took her hand without thinking, only to quickly drop it, visibly flinching. “I'm sorry.”

“Felix…” Marinette stared up at him, reached out for him, but he stepped away. 

“Let’s go get that coffee, shall we?” He muttered, turning on his heel and walking away. His heart ached with every step, but he had to remind himself that she was with Adrien, and who would want a monster like Felix?

…

The two of them got their coffee and walked around as they drank and chatted. Marinette told him about how she was an up and coming designer in France, Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone being the biggest amongst her celebrity clients. Felix had known she was the infamous MDC, a designer that had taken the world by storm with her designs that made anyone rush to buy them. He even had a few of her designs in his closet. Felix went on about telling her how his family had suffered much because of the scandal of Hawkmoth, that they were basically shunned by the world, even though they had had no part in what Gabriel had done. He had quit modeling, much to his relief, and now was still trying to figure his life out, to not be on the path his mother had tried to carve for him.

“I’m sorry… About your uncle.” Marinette whispered,  taking a sip of her coffee loaded with sugar. Felix rose a brow at her, and she flushed. “I mean, it must have hurt, to realize that he was a villain.”

“I couldn’t care less about my uncle. He was a selfish bastard that only thought about himself and his needs, he didn’t care about anyone else. His goals as Hawkmoth made that very clear. I just hope Adrien had gotten that memo.” He shrugged, tossing his now empty cup in a nearby trash can. Marinette chugged down the remainder of her coffee before doing the same. “How is my cousin, by the way? I couldn’t get a hold of him.”

“Oh… I haven’t seen Adrien in two years, since… Since his father was arrested.” Mari whispered, fiddling with her hands as she stared down at her boots.

“What? I thought you were living with him…”

“What?” The word came out in a laugh when Marinette met his gaze. There was an amused twinkle in her eyes. “Where in the world did you hear that?”

“W-well, I heard that he was living with a girlfriend. Since you’re in love with him, I only assumed…” Felix trailed off, closing his eyes tightly in regret. 

“Felix…”

He remained quiet.

“Felix, look at me.”

He opened his eyes, and realized where they were standing. 

On the very bridge where he had kissed her and had hurt her so greatly.

Regret came rushing back.

“Felix, I stopped loving Adrien years ago. I… I fell in love with someone else. I realized that Adrien would never saw me as anything more than just a friend.” She whispered as she reached out and took his hand.

Marinette thought back to the final battle with Hawkmoth, to Chat Noir’s reaction when Ladybug, as the Guardian of the Miraculous, had ripped the pin out of Hawkmoth’s shirt and Gabriel Agreste had been sitting in his place. He saw the despair in pain in his eyes, and it clicked who her partner had been. But she had remained silent, letting the police take the man away, and had done her best to comfort the sobbing Chat Noir.

A week later, he had messaged her, telling her to meet him at the top of the Eiffel Tower. She had, and he had demanded that since Hawkmoth had been defeated, they should reveal their identities to each other. They weren’t in any danger anymore, what was the point with the secrets now?

Ladybug had smiled sadly at him, but agreed. Grinning. Chat Noir dropped his transformation and Adrien held out his arms wide, as if to make a spectacle of what Ladybug already knew. But the confirmation had only made the wounds on her heart sting more.

“Isn’t it amazing, my lady? Now we can finally be together, like we were destined to be! We can live happily ever after now, and have a big wedding, as well as-”

“Adrien, I can’t love you. I don’t love you, because you don’t love me.” Marinette smiled sadly at the model. He turned to her, a look of confusion on his face.

“What do you mean, my lady? I’ve always said that I love you, I never once lied.” He urged, reaching out for her hand. But she took a step back, widening the distance between them. 

“Because you said to me that you could never love me. That I was only a friend, and that was all I could ever be.” She whispered, meeting his gaze. She watched the wheels spin in his head, before the horror filled his eyes and he slowly shook his head.

“No… Please, no, don’t tell me…”

A flash of pink light and Marinette stood before him, a bittersweet smile on her face. Adrien looked ill as he reached out for her.

“I’m sorry, kitty, but… I was in love with you. With you, Adrien, I had been since the first day we met. But on the day Felix came, I realized that you’d never love me for me. You were too lost in a fantasy of Ladybug that even if I told you who I was, you’d never want me. You’d only want Ladybug.”

“No… No, my lady, I love you!” Adrien frantically grabbed her hand, pulling her close. “This is all Felix’s fault! He was always jealous of me, because everyone compared him to me! He was saying stuff because he was jealous, my lady, whatever he said was a lie!”

“He didn’t say anything! In fact, I think he was more honest with me, even when he was pretending to be you!” Marinette snapped as she tried to tear herself free from his grasp, to no avail.

“What, don’t tell me you actually love that monster! He lied to you, my lady, he didn’t care about you for a second! He used you for a cruel joke, then when he got caught, he played all sorrowful, but he’ll always be the same, selfish, pompous asshole of a cousin that I had, who acts out like a brat because he’s jealous!” Adrien gave Marinette a hard shake. “I love you, he doesn’t! He probably doesn’t even remember you, most likely trailing along some other girls for a laugh! You’re nothing to him!”

“Adrien, you’re hurting me, stop!” Marinette felt hot tears prick her eyes at Adrien’s words, but knew they weren’t true. If it had all been a joke, he wouldn’t have taken the time to come to her home and apologize, right? He had cared in a way… Right?

“I love you, Ladybug!” He shouted, sounding frantic now.

And Marinette stared at him with large, teary eyes, before a bittersweet smile spread across her face. She hugged him, holding him close, before moving to grasp his hand. Adrien visibly relaxed.

“You see, my lady? I love you more than anything, I’ll do anything to protect you, as your knight in shining armor…” He whispered.

“I’m so sorry, kitty.” She whispered back, taking a step away,his ring firmly in her grasp. Her blue eyes then hardened and she transformed back into Ladybug. “As the Guardian of the Miraculous, I hereby strip you, Adrien Agreste, of your Miraculous. While you fought nobly, you have never taken your duties seriously. You often treated it as a game. I understand, Adrien, why you did. It was a freedom to you, but you never fully realized how big of a job it was. Hawkmoth is now defeated, and Paris is finally at peace. I thank you for your aide, Adrien.”

“N-no, you can’t do that! I am the true Black Cat holder, we are soulmates! We are meant to be, Ladybug, please!” The boy begged, reaching out for the ring, only for Ladybug to jump up onto the railing, keeping the ring out of his reach.

“You were never a true Black Cat, Adrien. I’m sorry, I really am… But I think right now, with all that has happened, it is too much for you. You’ve become unhinged due to grief, and I wish you well, and hope you build yourself a lovely, peaceful future, Adrien..” 

Adrien screamed after her as she left him on the Eiffel Tower. Later that night, she cried herself to sleep. He had tried to get the ring back, but things got so intense, she had threatened to get a restraining order. Adrien had backed off right then and there.

Marinette blinked, being brought back to the present, before  she shrugged, her smile sad, but she gave Felix’s hand a squeeze. 

“I found myself thinking about someone else. Someone who I really shouldn’t have. I thought I didn’t know him, since he lied to me, but then I thought back to my conversations with him on the date he took me on. About how he loved classic literature, how he loved big dogs and wanted as many as he could get, once he got his own place. A guy who probably felt… So Neglected, because everyone was comparing him to the cousin they thought was so perfect, when he actually wasn’t.” 

Felix felt his throat tighten and his eyes burn as sudden tears welled up. Then he cupped her cheek in his hand.

“Mari… I thought about you every day since I left. I hurt you so badly, Marinette, I was awful and selfish and spiteful. My family never let me live it down, yet you’re here, so nice and forgiving… Why? Why are you forgiving me, I don’t deserve that forgiveness!” Felix’s was thick with tears as he pulled her closer, resting his forehead against hers.

“I don’t know. But… You could definitely make it up to me, by letting me know you. The real you. Not Adrien, not the Felix your family tried to mould you into, just you.” 

“How a-about a date?” Felix whispered, a shaky laugh leaving him. “A movie, and some ice cream?”

“I think that sounds great.” Marinette beamed, but glanced up when thunder boomed overhead. Rain began to pour, and both broke out into laughter. “Here, hold on.”

Marinette opened the black umbrella and held it over the two of them. Felix smiled, and pulled Marinette against him. Sharing a smile, he pulled the woman who had taken a hold of his heart into a warm kiss, a kiss that meant he wanted to build something with her. Something genuine and true. Her returning the kiss made his heart soar and he knew he had found someone who finally wanted him, Felix Agreste, for himself.

Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @kuroko26 @theatreandcomicfreak @poshplumcot @bluerosette23 @ladylb @riarkle-felinettelove

[ominousunflower]

Crazy Composed: Chapter 1

Written for Day 1 (Eye Contact) of @luxyweek

Fic summary: Luka Couffaine is known for his saint-like composure, but five seconds with Xavier-Yves Roth is enough to make him completely lose his cool. And yet, after the two meet again at Le Grand Paris, they somehow find themselves spending more time together—which either means that something is going on between them, or Luka Couffaine has officially gone crazy. (According to his friends, it’s a bit of both.)

Rating: T Word count: 4545

___________________________________

“Thanks for staying to help,” Marinette murmurs to Luka, as she picks up a macaron with a pair of tongs and sets it on a businessman's plate. “I know you only came to the hotel to make a delivery.”

“It’s fine,” Luka says. Pouring another glass of punch, he smiles awkwardly at the businessman, then sets the glass alongside a dozen others. “You needed help, so I’m happy to be here.”

Normally, Luka would stay as far away from a catering event as possible. These sorts of things are always crowded and cramped, loud with chattering, and he tends to prefer quieter, emptier spaces. But the moment he’d walked into the hotel and seen Marinette off to the side wearing a half-smile-half-grimace, he’d resolved to stay and make her job easier.

So far, nothing too bad has happened. From what Marinette has told him, it’s some sort of business conference, which would explain why everyone is wearing suits and ties. Luka feels woefully underdressed in his hoodie and sneakers, but Marinette has assured him that no one will notice what he’s wearing underneath the apron.

The calm shatters when a familiar magenta-haired woman rushes up to the table, slipping between two people in line.

“Oh, Marinette,” Penny says. “Thank goodness. I thought I saw you down here earlier.”

“Penny!” Marinette says, eyes wide. “Um, what is it? Does Jagged need something?”

“There was a meeting earlier with some music folks. Somehow, Jagged and XY ended up in the same room, and…” Penny sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Well, Bob Roth is in another meeting, and neither one of them are listening to me. I assume since you’ve dealt with both of them before…?”

Marinette offers Penny a strained smile. “Say no more! I’ll see what I can do.” She glances at Luka. “Do you want to come? I know you’re a fan of Jagged, but…”

But you got akumatized the last time you spoke to Xavier-Yves Roth and his father. That’s probably what Marinette is too nice to say out loud.

Luka clenches his jaw. “I’ll come with you. Maybe the sight of my face will remind XY to watch himself.” Belatedly, he remembers that Penny is still standing there. He clears his throat. “I’m not going to cause any trouble, I promise.”

Penny just smiles. “I’m sure you two can handle them. Oh, and here—give me that apron, Marinette. I’ll take over while you deal with the problem upstairs.”

Marinette slips off the apron and passes it over to Penny. “What floor?”

“Fourth,” Penny says. “Room 412.”

“Got it.”

Marinette takes off at a sprint toward the elevators, leaving Luka to throw his apron on the table and follow her. They stick to the perimeter of the room, avoiding the crowds of people milling around the center.

“You don’t have to help, you know,” Marinette says, as they wait for the elevator. “I know you and XY aren’t on great terms.”

Luka folds his arms across his chest. He’s used to people thinking that he’s calm and collected, so he doesn’t appreciate the implication that he can’t handle a confrontation with someone who has two letters for a name.

Well, technically it’s just a stage name, but still. How does no one else see how stupid it is?

“I’m fine,” Luka assures her. “I know I didn’t handle things well last time. But I’ve learned from that mistake—I won’t let the Roths get under my skin.”

The elevator dings, and he and Marinette step inside.

Silence falls between them. Now, of all times, Luka is reminded of the fact that Marinette never really responded to his confession. He hasn’t exactly retracted it, and she hasn’t explicitly rejected it, so where do they stand, exactly?

While he’s sure that he still has a crush on her, anyone with half a brain can see that she and Adrien are a perfect match. (Of course, anyone with half a brain could also see that the two of them are probably Ladybug and Chat Noir, so maybe the people of Paris just aren’t that smart.) Luka has a feeling that any romance he starts with Marinette will ultimately lead to her realizing that Adrien is the one for her, and he’s not too interested in being a relationship catalyst.

But Luka is also someone who says what he means, so he’s not going to take back a confession that’s still technically true. Unfortunately, that has resulted in the current awkward silence, where Luka can feel the anxiety rolling off Marinette in waves. No doubt she’s worried that he’ll try to make a move.

Should he say something? No, because what if she’s not thinking that? Then he’ll just seem weird and anxious.

Luka sighs to himself. He wishes that people were easier to understand. Do they really think that his musical talent makes up for the fact that other human beings are a mystery to him? It’s a good cover, he supposes: being able to play a few bars based on a person’s aura, in a smooth way that makes them think he understands them. Why, yes, fellow human, I completely understand you! Listen to this G-major chord! I heard it in your heart.

It’s not a lie, though—Luka does understand emotions. He just doesn’t understand the thoughts that come with them.

Fortunately, Luka’s musings fill up the time it takes to get to Room 412, sparing him from any awkward exchanges with Marinette.

“Yeah, Fang!” an accented voice—unmistakably Jagged Stone’s—yells. “You want this cell phone? Been a while since you had some crunchy technology, huh?”

“Give it back!” another voice whines. Luka rolls his eyes. There’s no question that’s Xavier-Yves Roth.  

Marinette glances at Luka, then knocks on the door.

“Why should I give it back?” Jagged snaps. “You were going to post a picture of me with the caption Ragged Stone. I’m not a has-been! I’m rock-‘n-roll!”

Luka sighs. “Is he always like this?”

“Pretty much,” Marinette says. Her foot taps rapidly against the carpeted floor, and she knocks again. “Uh, Jagged! It’s Marinette Dupain—”

The door flies open, and Luka’s sort-of-idol Jagged Stone is standing on the other side, signature guitar slung over his shoulder. “Marinette!” he says, his accent butchering the r in her name. He grabs her shoulder and shoots her a finger gun. “Great! I’m so glad you’re here. Deux-letters here is trying to harass me with his Instagram or whatever. Do me a favor and keep an eye on him? I’m all fired up now, so I need to get a drink or something.”

“Um.” Marinette leans around Jagged and peers inside. “You didn’t actually feed XY’s cell phone to Fang, did you?”

“Nah. I’ve got it right here. I only destroy my property, you know? I’m not a vandal.” Jagged pulls the phone from his pocket and drops it into Marinette’s hand. Then his eyes fall on Luka. “Oh, hey! You’re Marinette’s guitar friend. Luka, right? Sorry for arguing with your mom that one time. You’ve got talent. We should work together sometime! Any friend of Marinette’s is a friend of mine.”

He pats Luka on the shoulder, then squeezes between him and Marinette. Grabbing his guitar, he starts playing it as he walks toward the elevator, filling the hallway with the sound of rock ‘n roll.

Luka stares after him, slightly dazed. “Did he just say he wanted to work with me sometime?”

“He did!” Marinette says. “And he’ll keep his promise, too. Jagged is a good guy.” She purses her lips and puffs out a breath. “But we’ve got a bigger problem.”

“Right,” Luka says, sighing. “Babysitting XY?”

“And Fang,” Marinette says. “Jagged left him here, and I doubt he and XY get along.”

Grimacing, Luka looks through the doorway at Jagged’s pet crocodile. Fang is lounging on a sofa, yellow eyes fixed on XY, who’s draped across an armchair on the other side of the coffee table. XY looks every bit as infuriating as Luka remembers; his lazy pose makes Luka’s fists clench involuntarily.  

“Stupid crocodile,” XY says, pouting. He grabs a pillow from behind his back and chucks it at Fang.

Fang growls and catches the pillow in his mouth, his large teeth instantly ripping it to shreds. Soon, all that’s left is a few shreds of fabric and stuffing that have fluttered to the ground.

Luka glares at XY. “Why would you throw something at a crocodile?”

XY shrugs. “It’s just a dumb lizard. Hey, are you room service? I want something to eat.”

Luka deeply inhales through his nose, calling on years of meditation to keep himself calm. “No, I…” He trails off as Fang crawls off the couch and starts plodding toward XY. “Uh.”

Marinette presses XY’s phone into Luka’s hand and rushes forward. “Fang!” she says, in the high-pitched way a person might talk to a puppy. “Hey, there! Who’s a good crocodile?”

Bizarrely, Fang stops and almost seems to smile at her. The song “Never Smile at a Crocodile” plays in Luka’s head, and even though he trusts Marinette to handle things, he can’t help but be slightly concerned.

Marinette pats her thighs and beckons Fang toward her, then starts backing toward a door off to the side. “Fang, do you want a bath? Some nice water? I bet that would feel nice. Why don’t we get you in the bath while we wait for Jagged?”

Apparently bath and Jagged are two of the words Fang knows, because he changes course and walks after Marinette to the bathroom.

“That was unbelievably stupid,” Luka tells XY.

“What do you mean?” XY says, waving a hand as he stares at the carpet. He doesn’t even have the decency to make eye contact with Luka when they’re talking. “Your girlfriend’s got it handled. I figured she would.”

“She’s not my—never mind. I’m not talking to you. It will just make me angry.”

Luka folds his arms across his chest and scans the room, waiting for Marinette to finish drawing Fang’s bath. He can hear the sound of running water echoing from the bathroom, though the noise isn’t as soothing as it could be when he knows it’s for a crocodile bath.

“How am I making you angry?” XY asks. “I’m just sitting here.”

It’s the WAY you’re sitting, Luka almost says, before he realizes how dumb that sounds. Instead, he just shrugs and stares at what little he can see of the bathroom through the open door. All he can make out is Marinette’s shoe and a giant crocodile tail, but it’s better than looking at XY’s face.

“Hey, can I have my phone?” XY asks.

“Why are you asking me?” Luka snaps.

“Because you’re holding it?”

Luka glances down at his hand, where sure enough, he is holding the phone Marinette gave him. The case is covered in some sort of obnoxious bling that makes Luka’s eyes burn. “Oh. Sorry.” Luka crosses over to XY’s chair and holds out the phone. “Here.”

XY grabs it from his hand without looking at him. “Thanks.”

Immediately, XY’s phone starts beeping, and a second later, an alarm tone goes off on Luka’s own cell phone. He digs it out of his pocket and sighs.

“What was that?” Marinette asks, running out of the bathroom with water dripping from her hands.

“Akuma alert,” Luka says flatly.

If his suspicions are correct, he knows exactly how this is about to go.

Marinette squeaks. “I, um—have to—macarons! Penny has no idea how to hold the macarons, and I…need to…go teach her.” She sprints across the room and pauses in the doorway, shifting from one foot to the other. “I’m really sorry, Luka. I hate to leave you two—”

“Go ahead,” Luka says, trying not to sound too resigned. “I know the…uh, macarons are important.”

With a nod, Marinette runs into the hallway and pulls the door shut behind her.

Luka wanders across the room to glance out the ornate hotel window. From this spot on the fourth floor, he can see part of the Place des Vosgues, along with some familiar houses and stores.

As he looks outside, though, he can feel eyes on him. It’s hard to describe—similar to when he senses a person’s mood—but someone is definitely staring at him.

Praying that it is not a hungry crocodile, he slowly turns around.

XY’s blue eyes are fixed on him, staring out from beneath his ridiculous blond hair. His brow is creased ever so slightly, almost with an expression of trepidation. But, well, why would XY be afraid of Luka? Luka’s the one whose career could be ended in an instant by XY’s capricious father. Luka doesn’t have the power to do anything to XY.

Luka stares back, hoping that XY gets the message. Don’t mess with me or my friends.

XY nods slowly and goes back to fiddling with his phone.

Luka’s fingers itch for his guitar, but of course, he didn’t bring it with him, since he thought this would be a quick delivery stop. Mirroring XY, he pulls out his own phone and pulls up his contacts. Surely there’s someone he can text to pass the time…

Adrien Agreste’s name stares back at him from the top of the list. Luka considers it—Adrien is pretty fun to talk to, and would definitely sympathize with Luka’s current plight—but then he realizes that if Adrien is Chat Noir, he’s probably busy fighting the akuma right now.

XY clears his throat. “Uh, you play bass?”

Luka scrolls further through his contacts, because surely XY isn’t talking to him. But when he glances up, XY’s eyes are fixed on him again.

“Me?” Luka says. “I play guitar.”

“Right,” XY says. “That’s the one with six strings.”

Luka barely resists rolling his eyes. “Yeah.”

XY doesn’t respond, so Luka goes back to his phone. He pulls up the Ladyblog and skims it for updates: apparently the akuma is some sort of food-themed monster stomping throughout the city, and Ladybug has yet to summon her Lucky Charm. Based on past data, Alya has projected the battle to last twenty minutes, and advises civilians to stay inside to avoid being trampled.

Really, though, wouldn’t it be better outside? XY isn’t outside. Luka will gladly risk getting crushed by an angry hamburger man if it means escaping this awkwardness.

“And you, uh,” XY says. “You’re in that cat band?”

Luka sighs, keeping his eyes on his phone. “Kitty Section, yeah.”

He braces himself for some taunt about the name—which Luka will fiercely defend, because cats are excellent, thank you very much—but instead XY just says, “Oh, that rings a bell.”

“It should,” Luka says, gritting his teeth, “since we’re the band you and your father stole from.”

“Stole is kind of harsh,” XY says. “I prefer inspired by.”

Luka glares at him. “Is that a joke?”

XY shrugs.

“Have you ever had an original musical thought?” Luka asks, before he can stop himself.

To his frustration, XY gives another shrug. “Eh. Everything’s unoriginal, you know?”

Technically, that’s true, and Luka would agree if the phrase was coming from an actual artist. But it’s coming from XY. Scowling, Luka says, “There’s a difference between unoriginal and plagiarized, you know.”

In Luka’s head and in front of his bathroom mirror, he’s played out this scenario dozens of times, and in those imaginary conversations, he has said much more insulting things to XY. Of course, Luka would never actually say any of those cruel things…but XY is testing his patience.

When he thinks about it, though, XY hasn’t done anything wildly offensive today, except make very unwanted small talk. And that’s infuriating in its own way. Luka wishes he would do something bad, so that his irritation felt more justified.

“Yeah, sorry,” XY says. “I didn’t realize that was illegal.”

“It’s not the illegal part that bothers me,” Luka says. He wonders if he should even bother trying to explain what’s actually wrong. “It’s that my friends and I worked hard on that song, and Marinette worked hard on those costumes, and your father threatened us and undermined our work. But it makes sense that legality is all you two are concerned about. After all, you can’t make as much money if your father is in jail.”

He bites down on his tongue the moment the words are out. Does XY just bring out the worst in Luka? Or does Luka have less self-control than he thought?

“I mean, yeah, we wouldn’t want to get sued,” XY says. He’s now tossing a TV remote up and down, catching it with one hand. He won’t meet Luka’s eyes, which might be for the better; if he did, he’d see Luka’s brief moment of guilt over snapping at him. “Besides, coming up with stuff is hard.”

“So you understand why we were upset,” Luka says slowly.

What, exactly, did he do to deserve this conversation? Is it the fact that he’s flirted with both Marinette and Adrien? Is the universe somehow blaming him for keeping those two apart? Because, if so, that’s wildly unfair. Marinette and Adrien could be the last two people on earth, and they’d still find a way to be oblivious about their feelings for each other.

“You could have been flattered,” XY says. “We thought your stuff was good enough to steal—um, borrow. Or…yeah.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Luka asks in disbelief.

Maybe XY is wearing noise-cancelling earbuds that Luka can’t see. Maybe that’s how he manages to be so utterly tone-deaf.

“Yeah,” XY says. “Why? Am I talking too loud?”

Luka sighs. “You’re surrounded by music. You perform all the time. You must be able to come up with something on your own.”

Distantly, he thinks maybe he should give up on this conversation. He’s wasting his energy on XY. There are some people who just don’t get it, and this wouldn’t be the first time Luka has exhausted himself for a lost cause. (For instance: trying to convince his mother that maybe some laws are worth following for the public good, and that it might be a bad idea to install actual cannons on the Liberty.)

“Maybe,” XY says with another shrug. Luka thinks his shoulders must be pretty toned from all the shrugging he does. “But why bother, you know? The computers write lyrics and tunes that people like. Guaranteed success. Seems stupid to write my own stuff.”

If success was all that mattered when it came to music, maybe—and for XY and his father, that’s probably the case.

Luka’s curiosity gets the best of him, and he asks, “Have you ever tried to write your own songs?”

“Yeah, once.”

Luka frowns. Is this the set-up for a joke? Is there a punchline? XY doesn’t seem clever enough to set up a joke, given that Ragged Stone was the best insult he could come up with.

XY stops tossing the remote and holds it in his hand, fiddling with the buttons. “When I was eleven, I wrote a few songs and showed them to my dad.” Luka almost asks, Then why didn’t you keep doing that? but XY answers him in the next breath. “He said they were garbage. And I mean, he’d know, right? He’s, like, a music genius.”

Luka has doubts about how much of a music genius Bob Roth is, but he supposes it makes sense that eleven year-old XY would think that. Even now, XY probably conflates success and money with ingenuity.

But Luka’s mind is hung up on one word, blaring in his ears on repeat: GARBAGE.

Luka doesn’t want to have sympathy for XY. Sometimes, people are just rude and nasty, and they don’t deserve Luka’s pity. Unbidden, though, his brain is conjuring up a scene: a little blond kid with less-ridiculous hair, wide-eyed and hopeful, showing his father his songs—only to be told that they’re horrible.

Maybe that’s not how it went down. Maybe XY didn’t care about the rejection. But Luka has a feeling that, deep under XY’s blaisé exterior, he still remembers the pain of being told that his creations were worthless.

Damn it. Now Luka has sympathy for XY.

“That’s ridiculous,” Luka says. He tells himself that he’s just angry on behalf of a fellow musician—because technically, XY is a fellow musician. “I can only imagine if my mom told me that my songs were garbage when I was eleven. I mean, they probably weren’t that good, but—”

“Your songs?” XY interrupts. Luka’s sympathy ebbs, replaced by the irritation he feels every time XY opens his mouth. Luka shouldn’t have mentioned his own music; now XY is going to criticize it, and of course his opinion doesn’t mean anything, but Luka will still be annoyed. “Nah, I don’t believe that. Your music’s good.”

It’s certainly not the most glowing compliment Luka has ever received, and it’s delivered with a shrug—and yet, Luka finds his cheeks warming slightly at the comment. Maybe because he never expected XY to actually compliment someone besides himself.

“Have you…heard my music?” Luka asks.

“Just the one song you played on that broadcast. The one we tried to…” XY trails off, and Luka stares at the side of his head, silently demanding him to finish the sentence. “You know.” Frowning, XY tosses the TV remote onto the sofa where Fang was previously sitting. “At least my dad thought your music was good enough to use.”

Luka winces. “I’m sorry.”

The moment the words leave his mouth, he can’t believe he said them. Did he just tell XY that he feels sorry for him?

“Don’t be sorry that you’re good,” XY says. “He knows talent when he sees it, right?”

“But that’s—that’s stupid,” Luka says, taking a step toward the couch. XY doesn’t look up at him. “Your father should have encouraged your music, or helped you to make it better. He shouldn’t have just—” He growls. “I’m not a big fan of him, so of course I’m not surprised, but that’s still unfair.”

XY tilts his head toward Luka, though he still doesn’t quite make eye contact. “So you’re a fan of me, then?”

“No,” Luka says flatly.

XY nods, seeming unbothered. “Anyway, that’s cool. No one’s ever gotten mad for me. Well, my dad yells at people to make them do things for me, I guess. Does that count?”

Luka resists the urge to facepalm. The way XY says such spoiled things so casually—is this how Adrien feels, dealing with Chloé all the time? Then again, Adrien and Chloé are friends, and Luka and XY certainly aren’t.

Although, if Adrien can be friends with Chloé, does that mean Luka could befriend someone like…?

No. Luka refuses to consider it. He’s not getting involved with someone this rude and high-maintenance. People might think Luka has the patience of a saint, but in fact, he does not. And why would he take XY under his wing, after he and his father tried to screw over Kitty Section? XY’s personal issues aren’t Luka’s problem, and it’s certainly not his responsibility to nurture XY’s creative side.

Xavier-Yves Roth is young, Luka’s conscience says. Of course he makes mistakes. His brain isn’t fully developed yet.

Neither is mine, Luka thinks back. Which is probably why I’m even considering something this stupid.

“You know,” Luka says slowly. “If you…did write another song, and wanted to run it by someone…”

XY is silent for a moment, and then he finally looks up at Luka with a quizzical expression. “You? You’ve never sold albums or topped a chart. You wouldn’t have any useful feedback.”

Ah. Yes. This is why Luka wasn’t going to get involved with XY. Luka sympathized with XY for having his father tell him his offerings were worthless—and then XY turned around and said the same insensitive thing to Luka.

So what if Luka hasn’t topped the charts with an album full of banal, soulless songs? At least he makes music he’s passionate about.

It occurs to Luka that XY isn’t looking at him with scorn in his eyes. He just looks confused, which means he doesn’t even realize that what he just said was insulting.

Since Luka is feeling charitable—and XY’s words are meaningless—he decides to shrug off the comment. “I’m not interested in songs that sell,” Luka says. “I was just offering a second set of ears.”

“Oh.” XY blinks. “I don’t really see what’s in it for me…but, yeah, I guess it could be good practice for you. You know, learning how to work with someone in the industry.”

This is not worth it, Luka thinks. You will gain nothing from helping him.

Be a charitable person, his conscience insists. Do something good without expecting anything in return.

Luka snorts to himself. He’s already helped Ladybug and Chat Noir save Paris several times as Viperion. Isn’t that enough charity for the year?

“What’s so funny?” XY asks.

“Nothing,” Luka says. “I was thinking of something else. I’ll…keep your offer in mind.”

“Sure,” XY says, going back to his phone. “I’m not usually this generous, so, you know—it’s a special offer. I bet a lot of people would be jealous.”

Luka sighs. XY might not know much about music, but he’s certainly talented at infuriating people.

Before Luka manages to think of a response that doesn’t involve scathing sarcasm, there’s a loud knock on the door.

“Luka? XY? It’s Marinette!”

Luka rushes over to the door, checking his phone as he does. According to the Ladyblog, the akuma was defeated about a minute ago.

He opens the door and Marinette runs inside, panting. “Sorry, the, uh—the…”

“Macarons,” Luka supplies.

“Right! Yes,” Marinette says. “But then I got distracted, and, uh—there was an akuma, did you hear? Crazy! I mean, not crazy, because Paris has had a lot of akumas, but, you know…”

“I’m glad you’re back,” Luka says.

Marinette nods, then leans forward and whispers, “How was XY?”

Luka shrugs. “About what you’d expect.”

That feels a bit disingenuous, though. Because XY isn’t quite what Luka expected. Yes, his attitude is infuriating, and he oozes upper-class shallowness—but Luka’s starting to realize that there might be a reason that XY acts the way he does.

Not that Luka intends to stick around long enough to find out.

XY groans and stands. “I guess that lame rock star isn’t coming back for his dumb lizard. You two can watch him. I’m going downstairs to get food or something.”

He crosses the room and brushes past Luka and Marinette without a word. His eyes meet Luka’s as he leaves—and there it is, again, that look of almost wariness.

Then he shrugs and leaves, and Luka and Marinette are alone with a crocodile in a bathtub.

“Thanks for not feeding him to the crocodile,” Marinette says.          

“Yeah, well.” Luka shrugs. “I didn’t want to give my favorite rock star’s pet indigestion.”  

A second later, they hear a grunt and a crack, followed by a tidal-wave splash; and for the moment, at least, Luka’s thoughts of Xavier-Yves Roth are forgotten.

[flightfoot]

Divergent Points - ML Salt Ch. 4

So here’s the chapter that one anon described as “bone-chilling”. I can understand why.

AO3/FFN

“You’re just jealous! Seriously Marinette, I thought you were a decent person, but my new best friend Lila’s shown me the TRUTH.”

Nino blinked, looking around.

His classmates were all ringed around Lila. Not too unusual, though that had gone down after the first week Lila’d been back – the novelty of having her around wore off, and while his classmates found her stories interesting (though they thought they were real rather than fictional), they drifted away from her after that. She just never really connected with them, though everyone was still friendly with her (except for their own little group of course, and Chloe, because she barely got along with anyone).

Then Nino processed Alya’s words.

What the hell?

Was this some new plan to take down Lila? They’d discussed some ideas, but none had been very realistic (as satisfying as just posting a list of every lie she’d told and documentation on the truth would be, it’d be unlikely to actually get her in much trouble, and she could cry crocodile tears and claim they were out to get her – which wasn’t totally a lie.)

Alya tended to be rather impulsive and liked to improvise, but something like this? He’d expect at least a hint of a plan!

Was she seriously expecting anyone to buy this?! That she’d just turn around and throw Marinette to the curb in favor of LILA?

“You’re such a BULLY Marinette!”

“Going after poor, poor Lila? How much do you need to hurt her before you’re satisfied?”

“She only asked that you do a few little things for her! That’s what friends do! But you’re not a very good friend, are you?”

Nino reared back, staring at his “friends”. All of them glared at Marinette.

This… something didn’t seem right. Lila’d ensnared some of them before, sure, but to the extent that she’d convinced them that Marinette’s a bully? That she was a bad, malicious person?

They’d been afraid of Lila trying something since she’d made her threat, but if anything, she’d just… faded away into the background.

Maybe she’d been doing something behind the scenes? Some sort of long con that’d slowly eroded their trust in Marinette in ways they hadn’t even noticed?

But that didn’t explain Alya. Or…

He looked at Adrien. Normally he’d at least be trying to defuse the situation, calm everyone down,  restore rationality.

But he was glaring along with the others, looking vaguely disappointed. “I expected better from you, Marinette. I thought you were one of the kindest, most selfless people I know. I guess I was wrong.”

Wait, WHAT?

Ok, no.

This wasn’t just some people being tricked and manipulated, or going along with a plan. His bro was an ok actor, but NOT when it came to his feelings towards Marinette. The only reason their classmates hadn’t caught on that he and Marinette were dating was that he’d been giving Marinette those lovesick kitty eyes for awhile, long before he found out she was Ladybug. Though Nino had a feeling that at least a few of them heavily suspected – notably, they’d mostly stopped pushing Marinette to confess to Adrien, or steering her towards Luka.

(At least according to Alya. He wasn’t privy to most of the girl squad meetings, but it’s not like they were these big secrets.)

Adrien couldn’t fake anger and disappointment THAT well – not towards Marinette. Especially not with her looking so upset and withdrawn.

Which meant he was serious.

But… HOW?

It almost sounded like a sick parody of his initial advice to Alya when she tried to confront Lila for the second time, if someone had plugged their ears and only saw “Adrien says something” and “Alya backs down”.

He hadn’t wanted her to confront Lila straight-up because even if exposing her lie WORKED – and that was a big if – Lila would still probably be in their class, since simply telling a few lies to make herself sound better wasn’t exactly enough to expel her over, and while her threats to Marinette and Alya MIGHT be enough to get her suspended at least, they didn’t have any proof of those threats, so it was just their word against Lila’s. Not good enough on its own. Especially with Marinette and Alya being close friends. It would be easy to believe that they’d lie for each other.

And if they couldn’t actually get rid of her, or make her powerless to the point that she wasn’t a threat anymore… well, cornered animals tended to bite hardest, plus they’d already experienced that Lila could hold one HELL of a grudge.

Maybe if he didn’t know that Lila’d threatened Marinette and Alya, maybe if he just thought that Lila was a liar, but had no outright malicious intentions and hadn’t deliberately caused harm, maybe then he could see Adrien disapproving of Marinette going after Lila for her lies, if he didn’t know that it wasn’t JUST her not liking Lila being a liar.

But even then, Adrien mostly just tried to defuse situations, keep them from escalating out of control, tried to minimize people getting hurt. Considering the environment he’d grown up in, where conflict escalation often meant Gabriel yelling at Adrien and cutting him off from social contact and the things he enjoyed, where any wrong move could lead to the loss of everything and everyone he valued, he’d had to get good at defusing conflict.

He wouldn’t join in on dogpiling Marinette. He didn’t even approve of that with CHLOE and LILA. He might try to redirect everyone somewhere else and then try to find a more long-term way of defusing the conflict behind the scenes with as little damage to anyone as possible, but THIS? Nuh uh.

Something was very, very wrong here.

Marinette walked away, ignoring the jeers from the rest of the class, her face impassive.

Nino hurried after her. Maybe she knew what was going on. Maybe she had a plan.

At the very least, she was the only one who hadn’t been proven to be caught up in whatever this… this messed up THING was.

She ducked into an empty classroom and closed the door, giving him an appraising look.

“So. You wised up?”

He frowned. “Wised up to what? I know everyone’s acting really weird, especially around Lila. You know what’s going on?”

“Oh, I know what’s going on.”

He didn’t like the glint in Marinette’s eyes, the ire in her voice.

“’What’s going on’ is I finally realized that it’s not worth being friends with these people. For what that ‘friendship’ is worth. That I slave away for them, make object after object at their request, pouring hours and hours of my life, my money, my very SOUL into these ‘commissions’, and for what? To be ignored, to be mocked? For them to EXPECT me to do their bidding, to give them ‘gifts’, and expect to not have the barest glimmer of loyalty? They just take. And take. And TAKE.”

….What?

(Nino was getting very tired of that thought).

(He had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time he’d have that reaction though.)

Marinette made things for others sometimes – that was true. But it wasn’t that common!

She’d made a banner for that race Kim and Alix had a few months ago, and he’d heard that she’d fixed up Mylene’s dad’s hat for him which he’d apparently been quite thrilled with when he picked it up from her. But that was months ago as well.

But aside from that?

She’d done some commissions for Jagged Stone. Those tended to be pretty stressful, with him being such a big name. She’d worried about not making something up to his standards before and poured hours into trying to produce the perfect design. He could see that maybe getting overwhelming, but she didn’t seem to be talking about that. She specifically singled out their classmates.

Hmm… the only other thing he’d heard about recently…

“Has Kitty Section been putting you under that much pressure? I know designing and creating those costumes for them must be a lot of work, but I’m sure that everyone-“

Oh yeah, the entire class seemed to be under a mass delusion of some sort, or maybe flat-out mind control that made them think Marinette was worse than even CHLOE.

“Ok, so LUKA at least would probably back off. He’s seemed pretty nice and chill from what I’ve seen, I doubt he wants you to be under any sort of stress. Just tell him how you feel and I’m sure he’ll back off.”

She stared at him like he was insane. “Kitty Section…? Kitty Section’s fine! Luka would never do anything to put me through the slightest bit of distress! He soothes the wounds my so-called ‘friends’ have inflicted on me! In fact… he seemed up to helping me with some of my plans.”

Nino slowly backed away.

Whatever this… THING was, Marinette seemed to be affected too.

But he needed more info first.

“Then what’re you talking about?”

How deep did this rabbit hole go?

“The endless outfits I’ve created for everyone! Tailoring everything to their specifications! Repairing bags and purses and hats and stuffed animals! And do they show me any gratitude? None! They just take it and shame me if I try to say I’m too busy! And they expect me to do it for free!”

Yeah, he was pretty sure that hadn’t happened.

Well… not like that at least.

He vaguely remembered Sabrina nicely requesting Marinette to stitch together a teddy bear she’d assumed was Chloe’s, but people constantly ragging on her to make or repair or modify things for them? Not so much.

Just… stuff that’d actually happened being exaggerated and distorted with some flat-out made-up stuff being thrown in, until it became something else. Something malevolent. Something toxic.

It was a lot like with Adrien’s chastising Marinette earlier.

And… even that bit with Alya, actually.

Alya’d fallen for Lila’s lies when she first came to the school, and continued thinking she was generally truthful until she’d had the same evidence Marinette had that Lila was a liar – that she’d lied about being Ladybug’s best friend. She’d even thought that Marinette might have it out for Lila in particular because she was jealous of her getting close to Adrien.

But this being had distorted and exaggerated those actions and beliefs into her kicking Marinette to the curb entirely and practically worshipping Lila.

“Oh… but they’ll see. They’ll learn what happens when you push Marinette Dupain-Cheng too far!”

Nino quickly scanned for exits. Unfortunately Marinette was blocking the door… maybe the windows? They were on the second story though, and he’d have to break the glass. He’d have to transform into Carapace to escape that way.

…Maybe as a last resort.

He tried to fiddle with the Turtle bracelet.

And met bare skin.

IT WASN’T THERE.

Ooooooh crap.

“All those school trips? The HOURS I spent organizing them, setting up accommodations, arranging funding? Well they’d better hope that Lila’s as competent as they think she is, because she can be in charge of aaaaaaall of that. I’ll just cancel everything I’d planned and let HER handle it from scratch! Oh, and she can be the one who appeals to the school board for funding, gets everyone the best equipment in the school, gets them to approve grants! Let’s see whether the awesome and stupendously amazing Lila Rossi is anywhere near as competent as I am.”

Ok, so none of that was remotely feasible. Marinette was Class Representative, not a member of the school board or a teacher. Also, she was FREAKING FOURTEEN. He was pretty sure there’d be liability issues with her making arrangements for field trips. And she didn’t have much of a say in school funding; she could let the teacher know of any problems she’d encountered that Ms. Bustier could then try to fix, or ask a higher authority for help fixing, but appealing to the school board directly? Not so much.

“Oh, they’ll pay… they’ll PAY.”

Her eyes took on a crazed look as an insane smile spread across her face.

“Alya? She wants me to CHECK MY SOURCES? I’ll show her checking sources . She didn’t bother verifying that interview with Lila months ago, and I’m sure she’s posted more gossip from her wonderful and amazing friend Lila since then. I’ll just let slip to Nadja that the Ladyblog isn’t a completely reliable source, and she can turn the spotlight so the rest of the media and all of Paris can EAT HER ALIVE. She wants to be an investigative journalist? TOUGH LUCK. No one’ll be willing to hire her or train her, not when she posted some unsubstantiated statements when she was fourteen! This’ll follow her for the rest of her life, and she’ll DESERVE IT.”

Nino was pretty sure that wasn’t true, but reality had pretty clearly left the building awhile ago.

“Oh, and then there’s Adrien. Sweet, naïve little Adrien. Adrien who knows Lila’s a liar, but isn’t willing to out her for me! Who has the nerve – THE NERVE! – to advise on NOT trying to publicly humiliate and tear Lila down like the piece of garbage she is. To be willing to just let her lie, and not yell at her and do everything in his power to defend me against her vicious attack… I can’t believe I was so much of an IDIOT as to ever care for him.

He wants to take the high road? To sit passively by and not interfere? Let’s see how he likes it when Lila’s constantly around him, touching him and hanging off him. He wants to be passive? I’ll just suggest another seating rearrangement before I resign as class representative to place them next to each other! I know how much difficulty he has making himself shove her off. Oooh… but I can do MORE. Wonder how he’d like a rumor that he’s dating Lila? I’m sure she’d be all over it. And if that spineless pussy BITCH can’t stand up for me, and he can’t stand up for himself either… she might even get to kiss him and date him without him being able to say no! He wants to not make waves? He can just stand still and TAKE IT like a good little toy .”

“WHAT?!”

This… this being wearing Marinette’s skin (this was not Marinette, this was very much not Marinette ) took a step towards him.

He reared back, putting as much space as possible between him and the entity.

He really, REALLY wished he had Wayzz right now.

She breathed harder, her eyes bugging out. “You on my side? Are you going to grovel for forgiveness? Maybe I’ll spare you if you get down on your knees and repent for ever believing that BITCH Lila and for not doing more to stop her. Or… maybe I won’t. Depends on how I feel, and if you’re willing to help me drag everyone else into a pit of torment for all the PAIN AND SUFFERING they’ve put me through. It’s too late for Adrien – he’s known for awhile and hasn’t fought her or the rest of the class tooth and nail to defend me – but I might, just possibly, give you a shot at redemption.”

“What have you done with Marinette?!”

Because this being wasn’t just some deluded or brain-washed Marinette. Her destruction of everything Marinette was, every semblance of her self was too warped beyond recognition. At most, some other being might be puppeting her body around.

He hoped not. He already wanted to throw up just from her description of what she wanted to do with Adrien. And if she was aware of what this being was making her say…

GOD he hoped she wasn’t conscious in there.

“Oh, I’m still Marinette. I’m just not the sweet little SLAVE you were so fond of. And I can go very, very low. I wonder… all those ‘gifts’ I gave out over the years? How much do you think they were worth? Because I’ll bet it was hundreds of dollars. Time for everyone to PAY UP! Ooh, or those bake sales my parents held to raise funds for the school? What if they suddenly started demanding payment for them? Maybe then you and the others would appreciate how much I’ve done for you, how I’ve carried this school on my back when everything I’ve graciously given out of the goodness of my heart is RIPPED AWAY from you all!”

Most of that had never happened and he was pretty sure that demanding repayment for gifts already given wasn’t remotely feasible, but logic had clearly looked around, seen this insanity, and went back to sleep for six more weeks, so he wasn’t going to expect a little thing like THAT to stop this being.

He set his jaw. “You aren’t Marinette. Not really. And those people out there weren’t my friends. Not in their right minds anyway. This isn’t right. This isn’t true. This doesn’t even make sense!”

The being glared at him. He shuddered, but didn’t break eye contact.

She lunged.

He dodged.

The world shattered.

[nerdypanda3126]

It’s Complicated - Ch. 4

Read on Ao3 Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch.3 Ch. 5

Chapter 4: Pattern Clashing

He did it! He had slipped his bodyguard and now he’s free. True, it had taken ducking into an alley and transforming and running as fast as he could across the rooftops to put as much distance as he could between him and the Gorilla, and then detransforming at a subway station, but it’ll all be worth it. Marinette is going to be so surprised to see him. His stomach does a little flip at the thought.

He meets Kagami by the Ponts des Arts and takes her hand before he starts to run along the riverbank, just for the fun of it. For the freedom of it. He can hear her laughing behind him. It turns into a race between them, each trying to gain a lead on the other while still keeping their hands linked. Adrien falls back purposefully, letting her go to the full extent of their combined reach before he puts on a burst of speed, turning his head as he passes her to catch a glimpse of her face. Her eyes narrow at him and she smiles, accepting his challenge. The only thing missing is her fencing mask.

The race begins in earnest then, as she matches him almost step for step. The houseboat is coming into view, the last stretch. He sneaks a glance at her and she’s intensely focused on the goal, her eyes fixed to the destination. It startles him how quickly his game had become serious for her. He realizes he had been thinking of his races along the rooftops with Ladybug. The ones where there is no point really, no destination in mind, just a give and take between them, challenging each other while they played, declaring a "winner" only when they were tired.

With his head out of the game, he falls behind her by a few steps as they come up on the houseboat. They come to a stop together, both out of breath. He can feel the thin sheen of sweat that had broken out on his forehead. Maybe running here wasn’t the best idea. Kagami’s smiling at him, her eyes alight. She squeezes his hand lightly. The race had been fun for her, of course, mostly because she won.

Marinette’s voice floats down to him from the deck.

“Hey, Luka. I, uh… I brought you something.”

Without thinking about it, his hand tightens around Kagami’s. Marinette sounds so nervous. She finished it, then. He wonders what the final product will look like. Marinette is so talented, it’s bound to be something unexpected and perfect for Luka. She probably signed it somewhere hidden, like she did for his derby hat. When did he start clenching his teeth? He makes an effort to relax his jaw.

He catches Kagami’s eyes and smirks at her.

“Catch your breath yet?” She blinks back at him. Had he said something wrong? No, not wrong, just not Adrien. He had defaulted to his Chat mannerisms. He fixes his expression into something softer.  

“Ready whenever you are.” She answers him evenly. For some reason he gets the sense, like he usually does with her, that there’s something else behind her words. Something that he’s supposed to understand. He leads the way up the steps.

And Luka is shrugging on the jacket. It stops him in his tracks. Luka’s showing the design off for Marinette, twisting and stretching out his arms. She must’ve hit some sort of inspiration after Chat left her the other night. It’s a piece of art. He can see Luka’s stage character in the coloring of it, and the studs on his shoulders, but in the subtlety of the design he can also just see Luka. She had found the balance she was looking for.

Marinette circles around Luka then, and Adrien can see her face. She’s grinning. She’s lit up. She pulls something out of Luka’s hood, his stage mask, and Luka looks back at her. It feels like Adrien is witnessing something private, something personal, as Marinette’s cheeks turn pink. He’s clenching his jaw again. When Luka lays his hand on Marinette’s, something flares inside him, some ugly fire that works its way up from the pit of his stomach to squeeze around his heart. His feet finish the steps by themselves.  

“Hey, guys, mind if we come aboard?” His voice sounds wrong somehow, and he realizes it’s because his throat feels like it’s constricting. He feels a small satisfaction when Marinette pulls away from Luka. She does look surprised, that’s for sure. But she doesn’t look happy to see him.

Then she squeaks and steps back behind Luka, hiding her face into his back. Luka tucks one arm back behind himself and around her, almost like he’s shielding her, before he waves at them. The fact that Marinette would need comforting after just seeing Adrien claws at him. He bites the inside of his cheek and turns back to Kagami. Her expression is carefully neutral. She steps up next to him and threads her arm through his, curling her hand around his bicep.

He nearly chokes on whatever mix of emotions he’s sorting through. Kagami’s intention is crystal clear; she’s claiming him. He sets aside the discomfort he feels at that. But why would she feel a need to?

He can feel the tension on the Liberty. Everyone is glancing between him and Kagami and Marinette and Luka, and they seem to be holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. Nino takes a few steps off the ladder he’s on, and Alya moves closer to Marinette. They are protecting her, all of them. He feels like he’s intruded, somehow. Maybe he should just go.

Marinette steps out from behind Luka, then, and her shock seems to have settled. She smiles and waves, the same restrained smile she gives him in class, and starts to walk towards them. But as she does, she trips on something and tumbles face first, flailing her arms wildly to try to catch herself. Adrien steps forward automatically, breaking Kagami's grip, to catch Marinette before she falls.

"Are you okay?"

She looks up at him, stunned, before pushing off his chest to right herself. He catches a glimpse of her bright red cheeks before she looks away to hide her face. He’s seen that look before. The other night when he was teasing her about the hearts on her sketch. Is she embarrassed that she fell into him? That would make sense. But then why does he still feel the warmth from where her hands were on his chest, spreading through him and calming his nerves?

His hand is still on her elbow. He should probably move, pull away, give her space, something.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She meets his eyes, finally, and her blush has cleared. She smiles at him. Her real, Marinette smile. The one he’s missed. He could float away, buoyed by her happiness. Marinette isn’t mad at him. The relief washes over him and he can breathe again.

“Dude! You made it!” Nino has made it over to them, and he pulls Adrien into a quick hug. Marinette rushes forward to take Kagami’s hand and pulls her over to the stage, and the girls are quickly laughing together. Whatever tension had been there when he arrived, whatever that was, had dissipated. Adrien nods along as Nino talks him through the plan for the concert, his mind tumbling. He doesn’t notice when Nino shakes his head and walks away.

The keyboard is set up for him already. He runs his fingers over the keys lightly.

“Glad you could join the band again.” Luka’s soft voice startles him. When Adrien looks up, Luka is offering him a hand. Adrien takes it, and forces himself to smile. Luka is infuriatingly impassive. He hasn’t taken the jacket off, and it doesn’t look like he plans to.

“Thanks for having me,” Adrien hears himself say. The appropriate response, he knows, the polite response. Luka retreats from the handshake first, tucking his hands into the pockets of his new jacket. Adrien nods to it.

“Is that one of Marinette’s?” Why is he making conversation about this? And can someone please come to get him out of it?

Luka smiles, and Adrien would almost call it wistful. Like Luka knows something Adrien doesn’t. Had Marinette confessed about the hearts to him? Or maybe Luka knows, like Adrien knows, how much it means that Marinette made him something special like that. Maybe he likes that Marinette had been thinking about him. For days, Adrien notes, eyeing the details he can see up close now. That jacket was definitely not a one night project. Marinette had lost sleep over it. He makes a fist by his side and squeezes as tight as he can before he lets it relax. It doesn’t escape Luka’s notice.

“Yeah, it is,” Luka meets Adrien’s eyes calmly, but it feels more like a challenge. “She’s incredibly talented, isn’t she?”

Adrien swallows past the lump in his throat. “You know, she signs her designs.” Damn his burning curiosity. He just has to know. Luka nods, opening the left side of the jacket for Adrien to see. There it is, the curled script of Marinette’s unmistakable signature. She had embroidered it on the inside breast pocket. A good hiding spot. Also right next to Luka’s heart. Adrien feels sick.

He turns to look over to the group of girls, taking selfies. Marinette has her arm around Kagami, her other arm holding the phone out to take the picture. Kagami has relaxed, as much as Kagami relaxes, and she’s smiling. Marinette has that ability with people, to bring them out of their shells, to make them shine. Adrien wonders if he lights up like that around her, too. If any of Marinette’s spark has rubbed off on him, just by being her friend.

When he turns back, Luka has slipped away as quietly as he came. He’s sitting off the edge of the stage now, idly strumming on his guitar, his back turned to everything.

Adrien realizes when he sees the Kitty Section logo that this isn’t something he can do all night long. He can’t keep noticing the care that Marinette put into her work. He can’t play the keyboard with Luka in front of him, not flaunting exactly, but definitely basking in Marinette’s attention. Who wouldn’t bask in her attention?

But he can’t just leave. He came here with Kagami. She wanted to see him play. And if he stays and performs, even if Marinette does have her eyes on Luka, she might happen to glance over to Adrien. She might wave to him. She might dance to the band’s music. He pulls his eyes back to the keyboard in front of him. He had offered to play with the band. That’s why he was here.

He senses movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turns his head again, Kagami is waving to him from across the stage. He waves back automatically. She nods her head back towards the group, a silent invitation to come sit next to her. But his feet just feel glued to the stage. Marinette follows Kagami’s gaze until her eyes land on him. He can feel his cheeks heat up and his hand goes to the nape of his neck. His heart is pounding.

The only one he’s ever felt this giddy around has always been Ladybug. But he’s always needed the mask with her. He’s always needed to put up his front with Ladybug and keep his civilian life closed off from her. And he would have to, if he wanted to keep being Chat Noir. Not that anything with anyone else would be any easier, having to hide his superhero activities.

It hits him then that all he wants to do is transform and run. He needs to think. He needs to sort himself out. Maybe if he just goes for a quick run in the suit, it’ll give him the strength to do the second set with the band. Maybe he could ask Ladybug to meet him. If his feelings have changed, he’ll know as soon as he sees her. She’s his best friend, the one he trusts with his life. She would show up for him, he knows.

He taps Nino on the shoulder to get his attention.

“I’m not feeling well, can you cover for me for a minute?”

Nino nods, barely looking up from the sound system. “Yeah, dude, I’ll let the others know. Think you’ll be back by showtime?”

“I think I can make the second set.”

Nino nods again, and Adrien scurries off the deck as fast as he can without looking like he’s running. Why does he always seem to be running away from Marinette?

He calls for his transformation as soon as he’s ducked into a quiet alley. He pings Ladybug and takes a deep breath before he extends his baton to start his run over the rooftops towards the Eiffel Tower.

***

@celestethegoddess

[vampexx]

Thoughts on Luka and in general

Well, I have been working on an analysis for Luka’s character for a little while now and every time I worked on it, I just didn’t like the way it was turning out. As in, it wasn’t flowing well, it was super messy and patchy, and it was so long that I was losing track of all of the points I was planning on making....yes, that long. SO, I thought I would not only spare myself the headache, but that I would spare you guys too lol.  So I just threw this together hoping it would sit better with me and luckily, it does :) .

I was going to make this post some grand master-analysis on my theories, thoughts and opinions of everything from characters, theories, different ships, etc. and yikes, that idea was scratched pretty quickly because someone who rambles as much as I do, that’s the worst decision ever lol I do not have the time nor patience for any of that mess lol.

Besides, most of what was in this post before I scrapped it has all been said before so I didn’t want to be repetitive.

So instead, I have decided to include mainly my new thoughts on Luka since coming to a different conclusion and stance on his character. The rest will be included, yes, but in the form of links to my other theories and opinions that I was planning including originally to some degree for anyone who may care what my opinion is.

With all that being said, let’s talk about my new found opinion of Luka.

I have always agreed with those that said that Luka’s character was flat, 2-dimensional and too “perfect” to be true. Now here’s the thing, while I was writing the scrapped analysis that was essentially going to reiterate those same things, I came to the conclusion that Luka is, in fact, not perfect. 

For instance:

In the episode, “Silencer,” Marinette and Luka go to XY and his manager to defend Kitty Section when discovering their style and song were wrongfully stolen/ copied. Of course, Luka is a very reserved and subdued character so his flaws are more easily unnoticed at first glance. To spot his flaws, you have to look less at what he is doing (writing melodies, being compassionate, etc. you know, things that make him “perfect.”) and look more at what he is not doing. Back to my point in, “Silencer.” So, Marinette, as she normally does, is quick to defend and argue over the wrongful use of Kitty Section’s style and song. She ends up in a pretty heated argument with XY’s manager. Where is Luka, you ask? While he is in indeed angry like Marinette, but he is standing in the background not really helping nor backing her up in said argument when he arguably should have. Now, this is in fact a flaw. It is due to his non-confrontational and reserved nature that he does not get involved in the argument, neither to back up / defend Marinette, but also not to defend Kitty Section, his own band. He just let’s Marinette do all the arguing and talking while he’s just there watching, getting angrier and angrier, eventually being akumatized. 

Granted, Luka has shown to be not as good with words as say maybe someone like Marinette. What I mean by that is, he usually seems to speak via music so maybe he struggles with verbal expression although that would contradict his poetic words in, “Silencer,” and compassionate words in, “Felix.” Not that expression primarily through music is a bad thing, it is easily endearing to his character however it can also be viewed as another “flaw,” being that he is not a communicator unlike Marinette, who sometimes over communicates lol. It’s pretty clear that Luka does have some nice choice of words to say, however when he does talk, he doesn’t say a whole lot as in, it’s fairly brief. Otherwise, he keeps to himself it seems. Now Luka’s lack of communication can be foreseen as kryptonite to the Lukanette ship, just as I have said above, Marinette is a communicator and not Luka. For someone like Marinette, that could easily be a “turn off” for her, who is a very (sometimes overly) outwardly expressive person, although sometimes not by choice lol.

I may not have found many flaws for Luka, however I feel it’s enough to combat the statement of his character being too “perfect.” I agree, he seems that way at first. Due to his “laid back,” and “go with the flow,” type nature, it’s easy to potentially misinterpret him as a “too good to be true,” type of character. To reiterate, his flaws can be more easily found in what he is not doing, rather than what he is doing. For comparison, a good example of someone having flaws based off of what they do/ their actions (as opposed to inaction) would be Kagami, basing this statement off of her vastly differing personality from Luka. 

To sum up regarding Luka’s flaws, the ones that I have found so far are inaction, seemingly distant and disinterested (mentioned more in depth in link #2) and lack of general communication. Why he possesses those flaws are open to anyone’s interpretation. I for one, am not digging that deep.

Thus being why I have changed my opinion of Luka from being neither good nor bad, just generally indifferent to his character, to actually now being a Luka stan. Now, I’m not necessarily his biggest fan and I am certainly not a fan of Lukanette, but I’m ok with his character and  I do stan Lukagami because they are both Adrien and Marinette’s mirrors, therefore they are also arguably yin and yang like Adrien and Marinette.

Now this post is titled, “Thoughts on Luka and in general.” Meaning, there are some other things I wanted to include that don’t necessarily involve Luka’s character. 

1st being - As of the season 3 finale, I would like to state that no one is officially dating. Nothing official has happened. No one even kissed. 90% of Lukanette’s actions were essentially friendly, nothing too romantic. Marinette does not appear to really reciprocate Luka’s feelings (as backed by, “Luka as seen by Marinette,” video where she never mentions returning his feelings). Also, Adrigami didn’t officially happen either. Although a kiss was attempted, it did in fact fail on Adrien’s end. Some kids sat next to each other, hung out  and ate ice cream which normally doesn’t suggest that people are dating. If anything at all romantic happened in the very end of the finale, it’s that the two pairs are in the, “testing the waters,” phase at best. No more no less, in my opinion.

Remember: The theme of the finale was, “You don’t always get what you want.” That doesn’t just apply to Adrien, Marinette and especially the fandom. It also applies to Kagami, Luka, Chloe, Hawkmoth, Mayra and hell, even Andre lol.

Let’s be honest, we’re not even guaranteed to pick up where we left off in the season 3 finale when season 4 starts.

2nd thing - Now that the peacock miraculous is fixed, I will be shocked if we don’t see the butterfly and peacock miraculous unified, and whatever fresh hell that will bring lol.

Third thing - The kiss in season 2 finale was not just friendly unless when a friend kisses you on the cheek, you look at them like this...

To which I must ask....are they just a friend lmao? (Lol sorry, don't @ me, trying to make a MLB pun....)

4th  thing - I really don’t know which love square ship will be primary in season 4. Like, Adrien still loves Ladybug, obviously, and always will but seems to be taking a break from pursuing her romantically. It is also made crystal clear via a forgotten confession in, “Chat Blanc,” and through increasingly prominent heart eyes from Adrien that his, “more than friends,” feelings for Marinette are growing so much and so fast that they’re quickly reaching the point for him to no longer be able to ignore it. So Adrien, “changing his target,” will not shift to Kagami, rather it will shift to Marinette. I mean, there was no mention of Adrigami vs. Adrinette having a decided victor in season 4 like Lukanette vs. Adrinette, which leads me to think they will not only end first, but also end pretty early on in the season if the ship takes off officially at all, which is still unknown. Next, we have Marinette who is in a more complicated position. She believes that she cannot love Chat due to thinking, for what she knows to be some outrageous reason that she refuses to look into, “will end the world.” She is also trying to move on from Adrien, who obviously she will also never get over. So for Marinette it’s trickier because she feels like she can’t have either, while Adrien seems to get a simple shift in “targets.” 

So how this love square business is going to play out in season 4 is kind of up in the air for me. Marichat is a possible route, where Adrien is pining for Marinette as Chat and Marinette is pining for Chat (while believing they can’t be together) however that makes it seem less likely. It could also be Adrinette, which I feel might be the most sensible route, because Adrien pining for Marinette after finally coming to terms with his feelings for her, and Marinette I guess then deciding to give them a shot romantically assuming Adrien confesses, otherwise if she is still trying to move on without knowing Adriens feelings for her, then I don’t know how well that would work. Ladrien I guess could work, like an unrequited love type deal although I don’t know how likely that is to happen given both main character’s head spaces. Ladynoir I expect, at least for most of the season, to be mostly platonic temporarily. Ladynoir, in my opinion, will probably be the last corner of the love square to be resolved, which I think will take place in the movie after season 4. So, yeah.....more than likely to be played out either via Marichat or Adrinette in my opinion.

That’s all I have to talk about for now....I have just been kind of sitting on those thoughts for a while. Now I will include the links as mentioned earlier:

Link 1) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/190128222840/just-my-opinion

Link 2) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/190054338050/uh-ohi-used-my-brain-againget-ready-lol

Link 3) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/189482028990/just-a-thought-there-are-spoilers-in-case

Link 4) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/189856458390/alright-sorry-but-im-gonna-be-salty-real

Sorry this was lengthy, but believe me, this is way better than what this post would have been originally lol. I’m still so tired after all that though...oh well. Worth it I guess.

Have a miraculous day and thank you for your patience! 

[geekgirles]

Lila, Mayura and the Big Bad.

This is something I’ve been meaning to address for quite some time now.

Do you all remember when, back at SDCC2016, the Miraculous staff announced a villain far worse than Hawk Moth would appear in season 3?

Back then, we all assumed it’d be Mayura. But as of late, I began to believe they actually meant Lila.

I know, I know, they said they’d debut in season 3; but if you think about it, Lila’s true potential as a villain has started to be fully explored since Chameleon, A.K.A Season 3, episode 1.

Compared to Nathalie, who’s basically Gabriel’s assistant in and out of the suit, Lila’s had far more moments that hint on this.

Back in Volpina, it could be argued that she was indeed just a new girl who wanted to make friends the easy way because she moved a lot. The key word being ‘could’, since that episode threw a lot of hints too of Lila being far more dangerous than just that. 

The fact that she refused to forgive Ladybug proved her stubbornness since it had also been her fault that she’d been humiliated, for she’d lied and defamed the superheroine in the first place.

This leads us to the several hints thrown at us about her during her debut:

Hawk Moth himself said her anger hadn’t disappeared and that Volpina would return.

While back then it was her choice to refuse Ladybug’s apology, it also gave us a glimpse on one of her most defining traits; her incapability to acknowledge her misdeeds and feel remorse for them.

Volpina portrayed her as someone who doesn’t care about the lengths she has to go to to achieve her goals, be it lying, spending money, bad-mouthing others or putting first her selfish wishes over far more important matters.

Whereas, Mayura so far seems to be a loyal ally to Gabriel, working as a field agent or giving him advice on how to take down LB and CN, unlike Lila. Despite her own romantic feelings for her boss, the side effects that come/will come with the damaged peacock miraculous or her apparent change in attitude when transformed; Nathalie knows her main goal is and will always be help Gabriel to take down our heroes and bring Emilie back.

 As for Lila and Gabriel... although it’s true they’ve teamed up several times to antagonise our heroes, Lila seems to think she’s using Gabriel just like she uses everybody else. 

Their interaction in Oni-chan is the best proof of that.

 If you pay close attention, you can notice Lila’s choice of words are still lies; in the short timespan they’re in each other’s presence, Lila lies about her intentions with Adrien to his father, compliments his (incredibly flawed) parenting, tells him everything he wants to hear about what Adrien needs… Those are all tactics to get on someone’s good side!

On a side note, she also played a role (although minor) in Heroes’ Day, the same special where Mayura was first introduced. Quoting one of our all time favourite quotes; coincidence? I think not!

And now it’s time to talk about Chameleon, which, in my honest opinion, could get the show’s award for most hated episode, to be honest…

Here we finally start to see part of Lila’s true colours. According to this episode (and the ones that follow), Lila doesn’t lie just because she’s lonely, she lies because that’s the method she’s developed to get her way with whatever she wants!

Now, I won’t deny her decision might’ve been a result of her mother’s busy schedule, but I will not deny either that Lila actually takes full advantage on her mother’s absence to lie to her heart’s content with no one to stop her.

But back to the point. 

Chameleon showed a Lila that has no sympathy for whoever it is she uses and for what she uses them. We’ve seen her take full advantage of her peers’ kindness to get the pettiest, most selfish things; she’s faked injuries and diseases to get a seat next to Adrien, to get her classmates to bring her her food, and to try and spend more time with Adrien while he plays piano. 

If that weren’t worrying enough, the level of narcissism she displays is; she clearly thinks herself superior and far more intelligent  than Miss Bustier’s class (and the fact that they believed her in this particular episode doesn’t help), seeing them as nothing but pawns; means to an end.

And let’s not forget about her declaration of war at Marinette. I am going to say this just once; cornering someone in a bathroom and threatening to put an end to their social life unless they do your bidding is straight up harassment.

Not to mention, Marinette never actually picked a side, it was Lila who declared war at her. And why? Because Adrien had chosen Marinette over her. So, instead of aiming her contempt at the boy she likes, a boy who’d expressed in that very same episode his discomfort at being around her if she kept on lying, she decides making the girl he prefers over her suffer is better.

It should also be noted that in this episode Lila herself grabbed the akuma and contacted Hawk Moth to destroy Ladybug. When Nathalie, the only person who knows her boss’ secret, only took the akuma in Catalyst because it was all part of their plan and, later on, the peacock miraculous because Gabriel was losing and wanted to help him. She did it because their original plan was all for naught, not because the boy she likes had asked her, in the nicest way possible, to stop lying to his face like it’s no big deal.

The best part of this is that it is not a one-time thing. Oni-chan revolves around Lila manipulating people like it’s not big deal. And I obviously don’t mean just Gabriel, as I mentioned before.

Let’s go check that list, shall we?

Lila manipulated Nino into talking with Adrien to help her with schoolwork.

As a result of the previous point, she made Adrien spend time with her instead of doing what they were supposed to (the homework).

She used Nathalie to get inside the house twice in the timespan of a few minutes.

She lied to Roger about LB and CN not appearing to save her when Oni-chan appeared to get away from Kagami.

She put Sabine and Tom in danger.

She used Oni-chan to do her dirty work.

She lied to Chat Noir to get rid of Ladybug, even if they were actually trying to save her of all people.

And if this is not enough, let’s move on to Miraculer. As @lexysama once pointed out in one of their posts, even if Gabriel went to Lila, it was never him who told her to lie to Chloé and make her doubt Ladybug; that was all her! And why? Because she couldn’t stand the idea of Chloé being friends with Adrien. Because her jealousy pushed her to hurt Chloé. Because she cannot stand the idea of not being Adrien’s one and only. And that same jealousy and desire for total control over him is what leads her to dislike Marinette and Nino too. I mean, considering Marinette doesn’t hesitate to tell her to fuck off, it makes sense, BUT NINO?!?!?!

This episode also portrays Lila as someone who doesn’t care if the person she’s hurting has actually wronged her or not, because if Chloé not recognising her is anything to go by, it’s painfully obvious that she just couldn’t have messed with her to deserve such scorn. Which is… low. It’s very low. And don’t get me wrong! Chloé is far, far from perfect, but she still has more morals than Lila, so messing with her when she’s at her lowest, just like messing with anybody in such circumstances, it’s pretty twisted.

To summarise, if this whole post is not enough to, at least, explain why I think Lila is the one that’s supposed to be far worse than Hawk Moth and Mayura, then why does she have to appear in Timetagger at all?! An episode in which it was established Gabriel won’t always be Hawk Moth. If that’s not a hint, I don’t know what is...