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unmaskedagain · 5 years ago

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Gabriel Agreste Must Die

I have no idea what inspired this but I just thought this would be funny. It Salt towards Gabriel. So enjoy. Warning Gaslighting ahead

Nino never thought that, out of everyone in the entire world, he would be the one to figure out Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth. Granted, it wasn’t like he had done he any searched or used any expert detective or journalism skills. No, instead he had been hanging out at Marinette’s; getting his butt handed to him in Ultimate Mecha Strike III. Alya chilling as she scrolled through her phone. Chloe, who they somehow managed to become friends with, was taking selfies in Marinette’s newest design outfits.

Nino knew it was because the blonde had proven herself to be a good hero and loyal ally. So when Marinette, the new Guardian now that Fu was gone, that more permanent heroes were needed, she brought in Chloe, along with Nino and Alya. It was then that Ladybug and Chat Noir revealed their identities to them and to each other.

It had been one hell of a shock. But they all became really good friends. Though any crushes the original heroes had died. It turned out Marinette thought of Chat Noir as a brother. And Adrien just couldn’t see Marinette in that light. It was for the best. Alya had been pissed about the love square thing.

That had been over a year ago, and the heroes had all become really good friends; banding together against anyone (Lila or Gabriel) who tried to tear them apart.

They had been talking about the recent akuma attacks, when Nino got a text from Adrien apologizing for not being able to hang out.

“Adrien can’t come,” Nino glared at the screen. “His dad’s got him working late.”

“Again?” Alya asked. “He does know what child labor laws are right?”

Chloe scoffed, “Like he cares.”

“Still, we should do something,” Marinette frowned as she rapidly pressed buttons on her controller. “This isn’t right.”

“Like what?” Nino asked, already gracefully accepting yet another defeat. “He’s Gabriel Agreste. He’s as big of an asshole as Hawkmoth; and I didn’t think that was possible.”

As soon as he said those words, something just clicked. Everyone in the room suddenly paused as they processed the words in their minds.

Nino slowly put down her controller, “It’s not possible, is it? That level of asshole-dom can’t possibly be reached by two different people in the same city, at the same time, in the same universe. There’s no way.”

“Even my mom left once Gabriel took power,” Chloe added. “And she’s a total bitch but she knew that Paris couldn’t handle both a Queen Bitch and the King of the Assholes fighting it out.”

Marinette’s eyes narrowed as she considered everything they knew about hawkmoth and Gabriel Agreste, “When did Adrien say he last saw mom.”

“Three years ago,” Chloe answered. “Sometime near the end of January, I remember. It was before Valentine’s day as I had been planning yet another amazing party.”

“Alya, when was the first akuma attack?” Marinette asked.

“One sec, I’ll look,” The glasses-wearing girl said and as she frantically researched. When Alya was done, she looked up at them with a dark expression on her face. “February 4th, three years ago.”

“Gabriel has a book on Kwami,” Marinette told them. “He uses it for ‘inspiration.’”

After that, suddenly they were recalling all the little ‘coincidences’ they overlooked involving anything Agreste related and Hawkmoth; it all added up to something no one could deny.

“Gabriel is Hawkmoth,” Alya whispered stunned. “Adrien’s dad is Hawkmoth. We always said Gabriel was a monster but damn, really?”

“What do we do?” Chloe asked. “What can we do? Hawkmoth is too powerful; especially with Mayura on his side.”

Marinette nodded but there was a thoughtful look on his face, “Hawkmoth is strong but Gabriel is human like the rest of us. He has his flaws, his weaknesses; cracks in his facade.”

“Mom always said Gabriel was nuts,” Chloe said. “On the edge of his sanity. One good push…”

Marinette shrugged, “If we can’t defeat the villain…”

“…Then we break the man behind the mask,” Alya smirked,

Nino growled, “Gabriel Agreste Must Die.”

…

The next day after school; the heroes met up again at Marinette and sat Adrien down to talk.

It turned getting Adrien on board with the plan was difficult. He wasn’t hard to convince him that Gabriel was Hawkmoth, though it did take a while for him to stop throwing up. However, there was thing the blond boy wouldn’t budge on…

“You’re not killing my dad!” Adrien told them.

Nino nodded calmly and folded his hands on his lap, “I get where you’re coming from, dude. I totally do,” He told his best friend. “But hear me out. Your dad? He really sucks.”

Adrien shot his friends an incredulous look, “And you think that’s a good enough reason to kill him?”

“Well, yeah,” Nino shrugged. “I mean we talked about this before.”

Alya pushed her ex-boyfriend turned one of her bestie out of the way, “You’re dad is a megalomaniac magical terrorist that’s been destroying Paris, turning people into monsters, and killing innocents. Sure the damaged gets reversed but the victims, who aren’t Akumatized, still have to deal with the freaking trauma.”

“There are support groups for it,” Marinette said. “People remember dying; drowning, burning, crashing; it’s terrible.” She sighed, “However, we can’t just murder someone. It’s wrong.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It would be wrong not kill him,” Chloe told them. “The amount of time and effort it would save us is nearly too much to count. And the amount of relief all of Paris would feel knowing he was gone is out of this world. We can stop SO many people from getting hurt if I call my mom’s guy Fredro, and Gabriel has a little ‘accident’.”

Nino shot up, “See! Chloe agrees,” He shot a victorious look at Alya and Marinette.

Alya snorted, “Chloe thought burning Gabriel at the stake was good idea.”

“What?!!” Adrien looked at his oldest friend, shock on his face. “What?!!”

Chloe shrugged, “There’s no such thing as a bad idea. And It was a suggestion..”

“A good one,” Nino added. “And why does it sound like your mom has a hitman on speed dial?”

Chloe scoffed, “Hitman? Don’t be so crass. Fredro is former MI6. My mom used to work with him. He’s so good even Shield only had the slightest idea he exists.” She looked at her childhood friend with a softest expression anyone had ever seen on her face. “No one would ever know. If you want, he doesn’t even have to feel like a thing. Gabriel goes to sleep one night, and doesn’t wake up in the morning. It’ll look like a heart attack. Trust me, my mother only works with the best.”

“I have a lot of questions about your mother,” Alya said. “And what type of work she did with a former MI6 agent. But we’re gonna circle back to that. That fact is, Adrien, it’s up to you.”

“He’s your dad,” Marinette agreed. “Plus; its two to two. Me and Alya who don’t want to go to prison. And the two psychos who are more than willing to.”

Nino huffed and moved to stand next to Chloe, “Well, I’m feeling a little called out right now.”

“I told you we should’ve just handled this last night,” Chloe crossed her arms. “Just the two us. Ditch the Halos at home,” She motioned to Marinette, who didn’t like the idea of killing, and Alya, who didn’t want to make the choice with Adrien’s approval. “Bury that asshole alive.”

“Nah, they’d have known it was us,” Nino shook his head. “The second Gabriel doesn’t show up for something he’s supposed to, Marinette’s knocking on my door. I’m always a suspect. Gabriel nearly got killed by a falling headlight during a fashion show in New York, and Alya still gave me suspicious looks for days. Jerk’s literally on the other side of the world, and I’m still the primary suspect.”

Chloe looked contemplative, “…Didn’t you say you had a cousin in New York?”

“You a cop?” Nino asked. “No? Then stop asking so many questions.”

Adrien sighed, “I’m sorry, guys; we can’t kill my dad.”

Alya nodded firmly, “Then option two. We’re rip apart his sanity, destroy his reputation; tear apart everything that makes Gabriel Agreste, Gabriel Agreste until there’s nothing left except the miserable, sorry excuse for man and father, that he really is.”

“Oh but I’m inhumane?” Nino glared. “I was just gonna cut the breaks in Gabriel’s ride. Take him and Nathalie out at the same time. But, yeah, sure, breaking him to the point where he’s ripping out his own hair and locked away in a padded room is a noble cause as any.”

“And yet we’re the evil ones? Really?” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s gaslight the bitch.”

Adrien looked up at the ceiling just so freaking done with world. “What we do first?”

“Your dad’s a total control freak,” Alya said. “We got to make him feel like he’s losing control.”

Marinette looked over Adrien, “You’re gonna need tight leather pants, chapstick… And how do feel about piercings?”

“That they look like they hurt!” Adrien protested.

Chloe shoved his shoulder, “Beauty’s pain, woman up!”

“Why do I need chapstick?” Adrien whined.

“You can’t make out with Scott with dry lips!”

“Make out?” Adrien’s face turned bright red. “And who’s Scott?”

Nino shook his head, “You’re asking a lot of questions for someone who was against the Murder plan.”

It turned out Scott was Marinette’s cousin. His mom Melissa was Tom’s half-sister. He was handsome tall sixteen-year-old with olive brown skin, curly dark brown hair, and a crooked jaw. When Adrien met him he was wearing a leather jacket and big happy smile on his face. Adrien couldn’t stop looking at him.

He had come out as bisexual to his friends months ago but had only briefly experimented with Luka in the kissing department. Marinette had stumbled upon and quickly squeaked, turned red, and scampered off. Though Adrien did have to deal with her grumbles about having dips. To which Adrien replied, “You snooze, you lose.”

Scott was with a brown haired, pale skinned, gangly guy, with lots moles and a rather pretty redhead.

“Oh come on!” The pale guy complained when he saw Adrien. He looked at Scott. “What leprechaun did you sacrifice so that you got the fucking luck in the world? First the Disney princess Alison, then badass ‘she could stab me and I’d thank her’ Kira, and now Apollo’s freaking love child. No! It’s not fair.”

“Dude!” Scott complained. “Stiles, you’re dating Derek.”

Stiles suddenly looked really smug, “Yeah I know,” He smirked. “But this isn’t about us. This is about all the other Scotts and Stiles’ of the world who are still growing out of their loser stage. Give them a chance, bro.”

The redhead rolled her eyes, “Hi I’m Lydia!” She introduced to the young heroes. “The loud moron is Stiles. The moron who’s been drooling since he saw you is Scott.”

Scott reared back, and started to quick wipe his mouth, “Man, am I drooling?”

“A little,” Stiles shrugged. “I just thought it was moon thing, you know?”

Lydia ignored them, “I love your dress. It’s an MDC, yes? Up in coming designer, so chic!”

Marinette smiled, “Thanks. It took forever to design this.”

The redhead paused, “You designed?” She looked stunned for a moment before glaring at Scott. “Is your cousin MDC? Did you not tell me your cousin was MDC?”

It was a little hilarious how quickly Scott stepped back in fear of girl a foot shorter than him.

“About why we’re here,” Alya decided to intervene before blood was drawn. “Adrien, this is Scott. He’ll be your boyfriend for as long as he’s Paris.” She looked between Scott and Adrien and smirked. “And I have no idea who I should congratulate.”

“Me,” Scott let slip as he stared at Adrien in a daze.

Pictures of Adrien Agreste making out with Scott were everywhere an hour later. Adrien tweeted his response, “I’m Bisexual. So what? To quote Taylor Swift: You need to Calm down.”

The tweet was the first thing that made Gabriel realize something was very, very wrong.

Adrien went home and was met the angry expressions of his father and Nathalie. It was time for step to.

Before either could yell at him. “I quit,” Adrien said. “No more modeling. No more anything I don’t want to do. This is not up for debate. I’m not asking. You can’t make me. And if you try to take me out of school; my friends will public with all the evidence of all times you broke child labors. And if you think I’m bluffing, a copy of the evidence was sent to Nathalie’s email.” He gave them hard looks. “You will go to prison. Try me. It’s over,” Adrien told them but didn’t add that it was in more ways that one.

He walked passed them; only sparing a glance to see the stunned looks on their faces.

Adrien knew his father wouldn’t back down. This was only the beginning.

Unfortunately for Gabriel, he would be far too busy putting out the fires of his burning empire to have any time to rein back in his son.

During the middle of the night, while everyone was sleeping, an anonymous user *cough Alya* released videos of Gabriel verbally berating his employees for the smallest things, and firing them. It was not a good look.

The Gabriel brand took a hit. The first of many.

Over the next few weeks; Gabriel found himself forgetting things. First he found a box of imported silk that Nathalie swore he called her himself to have her order, and he saw the call logged in his phone but for the life of him he couldn’t remember making the call. Then it was scheduling meetings, ordering lunches or coffee that he couldn’t remember doing. Then he forgot where put things.

For example, one time Gabriel swore he took out his sketchbook from his briefcase and sat it on his desk and left for a meeting. However, when he returned, it wasn’t there. And He nearly went raving mad trying to find it. Only for Nathalie to take it out of his brief case.

The suit he had laid out for him the night before would be an entirely different color than the one he remembered putting out but then Nathalie would tell him that he ordered her himself to have it pressed.

It was little thing and big little just slightly out of place that started to grate on his nerves.

“The stress,” Nathalie told him. “It’s getting to you. Perhaps a vacation is in order”

“I’m fine,” He waved her off. “How is the plan to pull Adrien back in?

Nathalie frowned, “Nothing. He’s still going strong with his boyfriend, a young Scott McCall. Every time we try anything, a new video of Adrien, uh, at work, is released to the media. CPS and the police knocked on our doors three times already. Next time, I fear, they may take him. Amelie Graham de Vanily has been spotted in town, speaking with several lawyers. My sources say she will attempt for custody if CPS deems you unfit.”

“Nothing of the sort will happen,” Gabriel sneered. “I will not lose my son; not to my sister in law, and not to some American boy. Tell Adrien, we will have dinner together. I will talk some sense into him myself.”

That was his plan at least.

However, Gabriel found himself waking up in the morning, in his pajamas, utterly confused. “Nathalie, when did I go sleep?”

She looked confused, “Around midnight, sir. You had dinner with Adrien, and then had to rush off to take a call from Audrey.”

“I… had dinner with Adrien?” Gabriel asked. “Are you sure? I don’t remember. And I didn’t talk with Audrey, did i?”

Nathalie suddenly looked very concerned. “Sir, I was there. Adrien and you had a lovely conversation about his school and him going back to modeling. Adrien decline. You tried to protest but Audrey called. You two argued for an hour. I was there the entire time. You really don’t remember?”

No, Gabriel didn’t.

A week later, after a series of incidents. One of which apparently he had ordered Nathalie to take him to a salon and walked out with blue hair, but couldn’t remember when he woke up the next day. And swore he hadn’t.

“I’ve scheduled a meeting with doctor,” Nathalie told him. “We’re going to get you looked at, okay.”

It was the first of many, many doctor visits. Until one day Adrien came home and His aunt was there with Nathalie. They told him that his father went on a little “vacation” for a while.

It turned out the vacation was a very luxurious mental institution.

#ml fic #ml salt #gabriel agreste salt #marinette dupain cheng #adrien deserves better #adrien agreste #alya sugar #nino sugar

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galahadwilder · 5 years ago

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Kitty Missed the Message, Pt. 2

Part 1

"There's thousands of people named 'Adrien' in Paris!" Plagg protests from Adrien's inside shirt pocket. "There's no way she meant you."

"And how many of those Adriens does Ladybug know?" Adrien mumbles, gazing down at the lid on his coffee cup. He sits—no, lies—against the front steps of the school, too tired to even bother trying to keep his back straight. Between the thrill of his new love life and the confusion of her dropping his name, he didn't get any sleep last night; he's allowed to slump a little.

"A lot of them, probably!" Plagg says. "She saves lots of people."

"And how many people has she given a Miraculous to?" Adrien says, gritting his teeth as he contemplates his coffee, then throwing back a sip fast enough to miss his tongue entirely—though it still scalds the back of his throat. He gasps, hacking.

He hates the taste of coffee. Even the burning is better.

"Um," Plagg says, squirming. "Ten?"

"Exactly," Adrien rasps, trying to clear his throat. "They can't all be Adrien. And since she knows Chloé..."

Plagg snuggles grumpily into his chest. "Sometimes I wish you weren't so smart," the Kwami says.

"Too bad you're stuck with me," Adrien says, looking down the street contemplatively. Where is Nino? He's fairly certain he impressed on him the urgency of his dilemma.

As bad as Adrien.

"Am I really that oblivious?" he mutters to himself.

"Well you didn't notice me," Nino says from behind him.

Adrien shrieks, leaping from the steps and stumbling onto the sidewalk, all hackles and hissing. He can feel the pressure on his scalp as his hair tries to stand on end, only to get dragged down by its own weight.

"Dude?" Nino says, shock written across his face.

Adrien looks down at where he flung his coffee, trying to straighten himself without meeting Nino's eyes and hiding the blush burning up his cheeks. "I'm fine!" he yelps. Being a cat is so embarrassing sometimes.

"Dude!" Nino cackles. "I haven't seen you jump like that since the thing with the cucumber!"

"I thought I asked you not to bring that up again," Adrien grumbles, splashing the sole of his foot in his spilled coffee and spreading it dejectedly across the sidewalk. A waste of good caffeine, that is.

Nino’s mouth twists. “Ah. Right,” he says, gently taking Adrien’s forearm. “Sorry, bro.”

”It’s fine,” Adrien says with a slight smile. “I did look like a doof, didn’t I?”

”The doofiest,” Nino says with a nod and a grin. He steps back and folds his arms. “What was so urgent that you needed me at the butt-end of the morning?”

Adrien opens his mouth, closes it again. "I, uh..." he begins. "You... remember that girl I keep saying I like? The one I work with?"

Nino raises an eyebrow. "The one who's not interested in you?"

Adrien's stomach bottoms out. "Yeah," he says. "Or, well. No?” He looks down at his feet, scratching at the back of his neck. How to put this? “It's gotten... weird."

Nino crosses his arms with a wry grin, sinking his weight backward into an uncharacteristically sassy sort of pose, the one he’s been doing more often the more time he spends with Alya. "Weird how?"

Adrien closes his eyes, breathes in, breathes out. "According to her,” he says, picking his thumbnails into his fingers, “yesterday was our one-month anniversary."

Nino’s silence is somehow louder than any words would have been. Adrien opens one eye, wincing, bracing for judgement, only to see confused pride on his friend’s face.

"So... wait," Nino finally says, pushing up his glasses and rubbing his sinuses with his fingers. "Let me—let—” He shakes his head. “You're dating her now?"

Adrien shrugs in distress. "Yes?" he says with another wince. "I'm... it's confusing." He raises his fingers to his lips, the memory of the softness of Ladybug's mouth on his own warming his face. "She... did kiss me last night. Unprompted."

Nino's eyes grow wide. "Dude," he says, holding out his fist. "Dap."

Adrien taps his knuckles against Nino's, still a little too confused to properly appreciate the situation.

“Come on,” Nino says. “Let’s head inside, we can talk while sitting.”

Adrien nods, following without really meaning to move his legs at all.

“So what changed?” Nino says as they walk down the hallway toward their lockers.

“What do you mean?” Adrien says, his eyes wandering. His head still feels a little fuzzy, to be honest.

Nino shrugs. “Well, I mean...” he says, “there’s gotta have been some kind of change, right? That led to her changing her mind?”

The side of Adrien’s mouth twists. “I got nothing,” he mumbles.

Nino turns to stare at him, then snorts and rolls his eyes. “Not surprised,” he says. “You’re not always the best at noticing things like that.”

”That’s... actually why I wanted to talk to you,” Adrien says. “Am I... really that oblivious?”

Nino stops walking and sighs. ”I...” He catches his tongue between his teeth. “You know how pretty much everyone we know has had a crush on Marinette at some point?"

Adrien gives a small smile. “Of course,” he says. That’s pretty much a given.

Nino nods. "Did you ever wonder why she never took anyone up on it until last month?"

"Yeah," Adrien says. "She had a guy she liked, right?"

Nino’s shoulders slump. "Yeah," He says. "You."

Adrien's train of thought comes to a screeching halt. "What?" he says.

Nino reaches out and claps Adrien’s shoulder. “She had a crush on you, dude.”

Adrien blinks. “But, her new boyfriend... wasn’t he the guy?”

Nino snorts. “Nope,” he says. “It was you, bro. And you were the only one who never knew.”

Adrien feels like lightning has been rammed into his skull. As bad as Adrien... it couldn’t be, right?

There’s no way.

Class isn’t as difficult as he was expecting. It’s worse. Nino’s words aren’t much to go on—in fact, they’re nothing at all, but it’s the first clue he’s had. So his brain, scrambled from exhaustion and caffeine as it is, can’t stop flitting around Marinette.

First: Kwamibuster. He’d been certain she was Ladybug, all the evidence he’d needed had been there, they were so alike, so brilliant and energetic... and then he’d seen them right next to each other. Different people? Illusion? And then Marinette had suddenly picked up a boyfriend, one who nobody in the class had met, and Adrien had been... so disappointed, but he could never pinpoint why.

When was that, anyway?

Was it a month ago?

He can’t pay any attention to anything that’s happening in front of him—the only thing he can hear is Marinette, Marinette, Marinette. It can’t be her, right? But his brain won’t let it go.

”So, how was your anniversary date?” Alya says with what Adrien can only assume is a sly grin. He can see her exact expression, even though he’s trying desperately not to turn around. Not to let on that he’s listening.

Marinette makes a sound like she’s swallowed her tongue. “Uh! W-weird, actually.”

Alya hums. “Weird how?” He hears the flannel of her shirt slide against the desk as she leans toward Marinette. “How’d the ‘plan’ go?”

Marinette squeaks. Adrien squirms in his seat, staring at his hands, screaming in his head not to turn around. He’s ignoring the way Nino is staring at him, trying to hold still.

”Come on, girl, spill!” Alya whispers. “Did you kiss him?”

”Yep!” Marinette squeaks.

”Oh my god you’re so red!” Alya cackles. Then her voice drops to a hiss. “Tell me everything!”

Marinette swallows. “I mean... it was really weird?” she says. “He... didn’t know we were dating?”

Adrien’s blood rushes to his ears like a vise around his skull, crushing inward. Didn’t know we were dating. That’s—it’s impossible.

Alya snorts. “Girl, are you sure you’re not dating Adrien?”

Adrien doesn’t hear Marinette’s response. He doesn’t hear much of anything until lunchtime, really.

Marinette is Ladybug. He’s going to explode.

“Hi, Mari!” he says as soon as she closes her locker.

She shrieks, leaping backward, scattering her papers on the ground, and Adrien immediately feels a rush of guilt at surprising her—but cats are 60% bastard, and he can’t help taking a little joy in it.

Marinette heaves a breath, pressing her hand to her chest. “Adrien!” she gasps. “You’ve gotta stop doing that!”

Adrien feels a grin spread across his face. “Never,” he drawls, leaning a bit into her space. “You’re too much fun to scare.”

Marinette smirks, pressing a finger to his sternum. “Well maybe I’ll just start sneaking up on you.”

Adrien’s heart begins to beat hard in his chest at her touch, at her smile. Oh, it’s her, it’s her, it’s her. And she’s not scared of him anymore, and now he knows exactly why that is...

”Can—can I talk to you?” he gasps out. “In private?”

Marinette’s eyebrows tighten, concern in her eyes. “Everything okay?”

It strikes him through the ribs, the way she cares about him, the way she makes his problems hers, and he knows she deserves the universe. He’s loved her, both of her, since the day they met, and she’s loved both of him, and if she asked him to steal the sun for her he’d burn himself alive snatching it from the sky. “Everything’s fine!” he says, gripping her arm. “Everything’s... great, actually.” He flashes her a smile, his fan’s favorite smile, hoping to put her at ease.

Instead, she tenses. “That’s your fake smile,” she says, her eyes narrowing.

Adrien blinks. “You can tell?” he says.

Marinette’s eyes widen, and her face goes bright red. “I—uh—”

Adrien bites his lip. Right, she’s been in love with him forever—knowing how she is, how the hammer-force of her attention slams down on everything she cares about, she probably noticed everything about him. It’s a wonder she didn’t figure out his identity.

”It’s fine!” he says. “I was just—trying to put you at ease, you know?”

Marinette sets her jaw and nods, glancing around the locker room, cataloguing everyone in the room the way she does when she’s trying to work out a Lucky Charm. “Classroom’s empty?”

Adrien nods. “Classroom.”

Marinette sits down on his desk, crossing her legs and leaning forward. “What’s up?”

Adrien looks away, breathes in. “How’s things with your boyfriend?”

Marinette blinks. “Adrien?” she says. There’s a note of... something in her voice. Hope? Anger? Disappointment? Maybe all three. You’re paying attention to me now? it seems to say.

“Last night was your anniversary, right?” Adrien says, looking at her. The pigtails. The eyes, bluer than blue. The earrings he’s only ever seen her take off once—the day Lady Noire showed up instead of Ladybug. Everything about her is the same, even the fire in her eyes.

Marinette’s eyes narrow. “Adrien, if this is about—”

”To be fair, My Lady,” he interrupts, slashing a Chat smile across his face, “you never actually told me we were dating.”

Marinette’s face goes slack, her mouth open, her eyes wide. “I—what?” she whispers. “You... no. No way. You—you can’t...” She straightens, breathing in, gathering herself. “Kitty?” she whispers.

Adrien grins, pressing one arm to his waist and throwing the other out wide with a bow. “Always at your service,” he says.

Suddenly he’s halfway to the floor, falling backwards, Marinette’s tiny hands seizing bunches of his lapels, her lips strawberry-sweet on his. They slam against the ground, together, entwined, gasping, together. Peppering each other with kisses.

“Kitty—”

“My Lady—”

“Princess—”

”Adrien—”

”Marinette—”

”I love you,” he gasps, clutching her chest against his own, and she stiffens.

”I... have been waiting to—to hear you say that... for—for two years,” she stammers.

He presses a kiss to her temple. “I’ve been saying it in private every day,” he says. “And I will say it to you every day for as long as you want it.”

Plagg snorts. “I can confirm,” he says. “Every frickin’ day with this kid. Both identities, too!”

Marinette giggles. “You should hear some of the stuff I said about you,” she says. Then her eyes widen. “Or—maybe not, please don’t—”

Tikki giggles from inside her purse. “I’m telling him anyway!”

Marinette’s eyes shoot to her bag. “Betrayal!” she hisses.

Adrien giggles, and Marinette laughs too, and the two of them just dissolve into laughter. Then, suddenly, Marinette stops.

”Oh,” she says. “Oh, no.”

Adrien blinks. “My Lady?”

Marinette fixes her burning gaze on his eyes. “What are we going to tell Alya?”

#miraculous ladybug #my fic #fanfic #original content #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ladynoir #adrienette #adrinette #plagg #nino lahiffe #alya cesaire #fic #ml fic #ml fanfic #fluff #identity reveal

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thewritewolf · 5 years ago

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Running to Catch An Airplane Trope

Adrien has lost just about everything now that his father has been unmasked as Hawkmoth. But he isn't about to lose her too.

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

Adrien watched as Nino walked up to the podium and took his diploma, to general applause and the loud cheers of his family.

His hand tightened around his own diploma. There hadn’t been much of either when Adrien walked up, the first name called.

Barely any applause. Mostly just whispers. Some worried. Some… accusing. He supposed he couldn’t blame them, after everything that had happened still so fresh in the mind of the public.

There weren’t any loud cheers from his family. Mostly because there wasn’t much of one left anyway. He’d known for years that his father would never attend something as plebeian as a high school graduation, but…

Adrien hadn’t thought it would be like this. He’d had no clue at all about any of it.

It had taken all five of them - Ladybug, Chat Noir, Carapace, Rena Rouge, even Queen Bee - but they’d finally done it. Hawkmoth and Mayura, unmasked for all the world to see. No going back, no sneaky tricks to get away from it.

The only cost? Adrien’s family. His father and Nathalie, jailed. His mother, gone for a second time. His home, leveled in the pitched battle that followed. All his life except for his heartbeat is what it took to bring Hawkmoth to justice.

His teammates still didn’t know why he’d left so quickly afterwards, how he’d immediately detransformed and broken down. For most of them, they would never know. After all, no need for the secondary heroes now that the terrible Hawkmoth had been unmasked. Paris would rest easy under Ladybug and Chat Noir’s watch.

There is more clapping and Adrien mechanically joins in, only to be startled when everyone begins standing up around him. The ceremony is over, just like his days of childhood. His classmates are chatting excitedly amongst each other as they head across the street. It takes him a moment to gather the strength to stand up, but when he does, he is surrounded by his real friends.

Nino. Alya. And…

“How are you feeling?” Marinette asked softly.

This was the worst part. It was their graduation! Everyone should be happy and celebrating and here he was, dragging down the mood with his own misery. Just like always. It wasn’t fair to them, not in the least. Swallowing his emotions, he offered a strained smile.

“I’m doing better,” he lied.

Marinette didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t say anything. Nino threw his arm around Adrien’s shoulder and they all followed after the rest of their class. For a moment, the prospect of having Dupain-Cheng pastries was almost enough to make Adrien forget it all. It was a good choice of venue for them - what better place to end their time together than the site of so many of their happiest memories?

Adrien was just about to sink his teeth into a passion fruit macaron when he started listening into what his former classmates were saying.

“-Going to school for botany, so I can open my own flower shop!” Rose said, giving Juleka a hug out of excitement.

Adrien shoved the macaron in his mouth and walked toward another part of the shop to find another. There, he overheard what Alix was saying.

“Yeah I got a plan to skate with the best in my new university. Gonna try to keep the family tradition of historians alive since clearly big bro ain’t up to it with all his conspiracy stuff. But that doesn't mean I gotta be a stick in the mud about it.”

Eventually, Adrien found a place in a corner, a good ways away from the rest of his friends. Some of them cast glances his way, but no one made a move to talk to him. What could they say anyway? ‘Sorry your dad was the magic terrorist that turned every single one of us into super villains at one point or another?’

And he certainly wasn’t about to approach them either. Not if they were going to be talking about the future. They all sounded so hopeful and excited, he didn’t want to bring them down with his uncertainty.

Having his entire life charted out in meticulous, color-coded detail, he wasn’t very confident in his own planning abilities. Even in his superhero career he was more often than not following someone else’s plan. What was he going to do with his life now, when even his superheroics weren’t necessary?

The party was still going on when Adrien sneaked out. He was sure nobody would miss him from there. No doubt the mood might even lighten once he was gone. Nino and Marinette would at least have a better time now that he wasn’t bringing everything down.

The only good thing he could say about his father now was that at least he’d actually paid Adrien for his modeling. Even if Adrien only recently got access to that bank account, it meant that he could afford a house to rent now that his childhood home was cinders.

Turning the lights on as he entered, he shuffled over to the television and hesitated. He used to like turning it on to have some background noise, but it was hard to escape the news about his family these days. Backing away from the TV, he opted instead to turn on a music playlist.

Adrien collapsed onto the couch, the weight of his loneliness bearing down on him now more than ever. Maybe he could have handled everything else, but on top of all of it, the defeat of Hawkmoth meant that Ladybug had basically gone off the grid. No akuma battles, no late night patrols.

His mind wandered - Where was Ladybug? What she was doing?

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

Long after the party had died down, Marinette went up to her room and pulled out a letter that she had hidden away months ago. It almost felt like another lifetime when she had sent out that application. She had sent it not because she had intended to go but because it was something she was expected to do.

Someone like her, with her hopes and dreams worn on her sleeve since she was twelve, didn’t just ‘forget’ to send out her university applications. It would’ve looked suspicious. So she sent the letters, knowing in her heart that she would never be able to leave Paris because walking away from it would mean leaving it defenseless.

But now the danger was gone. She didn’t need to protect her beloved city anymore.

Holding the acceptance letter to a semester long fashion internship in Milan, her heart pounded in excitement. After so long, she could finally start living her life again.

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

There weren’t a lot of people left in Adrien’s life.

He’d never been super close to most of his classmates, so that wasn’t a huge loss to him. But the retiring of most of the super hero team, plus Nino, Alya, and Marinette being super busy these days did cut deep.

But, as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop as Chat Noir, he reflected that at least he had Ladybug. Getting a call from her out of the blue was surprising, but he jumped at the chance to see her again after the maddening quiet of the last couple months.

A part of him was worried, however. Why did she want to see him? Ladybug didn’t do anything without good reason. And what good reasons were there left for them in a post-Hawkmoth world? Did she want his miraculous…? His hand brushed over his ring. No, she would never. She knew how much being Chat Noir meant to him. Besides, if she wanted to disband all of them, she would’ve taken his ring along with the other miraculous.

Heart pounding for more reasons than one, Chat Noir landed on their favorite meeting spot in one of the towers of Notre Dame. As he spots her iconic red and black outfit, he pushes aside his worries. Everything else aside, Ladybug was here - that alone was a huge load of his shoulders.

She turns around at the sound of his boots landing on the ground.

“Just the cat I was waiting on,” she said with a smile.

“I hope I didn’t keep such a beautiful woman waiting for long,” Chat replied, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to it. “What’s up, bugaboo?”

“I’ll get right to the point, chaton.” Ladybug took a deep breath. “I’m going to be going away for a few months. I got an internship in Milan. I’ll be leaving next week.”

His heart dropped and he took both of her hands in his. Eyes locked onto their interlocked hands, he murmured, “Lovebug, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it that long…”

She freed one hand to cup his chin, pushing it up until they were looking eye to eye. There was a soft but sad smile on her face.

“I know its a whole new world for us, and I’m sure its been rough for you. So I’ll make you a promise-”

“A purromise?” He punned half-heartedly.

“...sure, a purromise,” she replied. “The first time I see you after I get back, chaton, we'll blow this whole thing wide open.”

He frowned. She couldn’t mean…?

“We'll reveal our identities, I swear." To prove her sincerity, she held out her pinky.

“But… why can’t we do that now?”

"To give you something to look forward to, of course," she said with a smile. “So what do you say?”

Staring at her pinky for a long time, he eventually grabbed it with his own pinky. The promise had been made.

They chatted for a little while after that, but eventually Ladybug had to leave. People would notice she was missing if she was gone for too long.

Chat watched her leave, turning into a dot on the horizon. After all, who was going to notice, even if he was out for an hour more?

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

The days run by, lost in a blur of video games and books and other distractions that kept him in his room. There was no Nathalie to force him into his usual activities. No father to breathe down his neck. Just him slowly losing track of time as the days ticked past, unnoticed by Adrien. He didn’t even realize it was the day that Ladybug had said she was going to be leaving for Milan until his phone lit up for the first time in days.

It was Nino, of course. He was practically the only one calling him these days, except for the group chats that he was in. And even then, the last few calls had been a bit of a blur, running on autopilot like he was.

Adrien answers the phone. “Hey, bro, what’s up?”

“More like - what’s out? And the answer is me. I’m outside. Open the door, my bro.”

Nino hung up, leaving Adrien to blink in the darkness of his living room, illuminated only by the light of his paused game. Standing up, he rushed over to the door and opened it a crack. Sure enough, Nino was standing there.

“‘Sup dude?” He pushed open the door, letting the sunlight filter into Adrien’s house for the first time in days. Nino scrunched up his eyebrows in concern. “T-shirt and sweatpants this late in the day, my dude? You feelin’ alright?”

“Same as usual, I guess,” Adrien said with a shrug. “What’s the occasion?”

Nino let himself in and pulled open Adrien’s curtains. “Don’t really need one to hang with my best bro, do I?” He saw Adrien’s face. “Okay, okay, so I needed some time outta the house. Can you blame me? With everything going down with Marinette, I could use some space away from that bummer fest to take my mind off things.”

“Things going down with Marinette?” Adrien asked. Did something happen?

“Yeah man, Alya was a wreck last night. We helped Marinette pack up and honestly, watching those two say goodbye just about made me tear up." Nino tugged at his cap, getting ragged from the years.

Adrien takes a moment to shake off the gray stupor that's been hanging over him for months, that had been doubled because of Ladybug’s absence.

“Uh... what? Is Marinette going somewhere?” That is someone he should make more effort to keep in touch with, if he's being honest with himself. Maybe once she comes back from her vacation or whatever, they can get coffee.

"Dude, you never listen to anything I say anymore,” Nino said, clicking his tongue and rolling his eyes disapprovingly. “I know it's tough with your dad and all, dude, but you've got to get out of your own head. Marinette's leaving."

"What? Leaving? Like, leaving leaving?"

"Might as well be, dude. She's getting on a plane this afternoon and not coming back for 6 months." Adrien got stuck by deja vu. Something about that time frame sounds familiar... "She wanted me to tell you she'll miss you while she's gone."

"I... can't believe I didn't say goodbye. Where is she going? Why is she going?" He’s more alert than he has been for months. He took a seat next to Nino, leaning forward a little as he hung on Nino’s words.

"A sweet fashion internship dude. Way over in Milan."

And it clicks. Internship. Milan. The whole semester. There’s no way… it can’t be a coincidence.

If Adrien is wrong, he doesn't lose anything. He'll see his lady and his friend when they both return. But if he's right - and he's got to be right! - then she's gone. She's gone and he won't get to say goodbye, to tell her that he loves her, that he's always loved her.

Nino's still chatting away in the background, "...and to be honest, I'm surprised she didn't come see you before she left. Alya said she wanted to clear the air about that massive crush she had on you in high school-"

"I'm sorry WHAT?" Adrien tries and fails to keep his voice level.

Nino raises his eyebrows. "Dude, I thought you knew by now.” He shakes his head. “Everybody knew."

That raises far too many questions for Adrien’s liking, but he is too focused to be sidetracked now. He leans into Nino’s space, clarity in his eyes for the first time in a long time, one question on his mind.

"When does her plane leave?"

"What? Like in, an hour or so, dude.” Nino’s eyes widened as he realizes what Adrien might be planning. “But there's no way-"

"-igottagoniceseeingyouninobye!"

Adrien throws on a pair of converse sneakers, tongues sticking out in his haste out the door, untied laces flying. Nino is shouting something behind him, but Adrien doesn’t have the time to listen. Once he was out of his friend’s line of sight, he transformed and ran. He runs faster than he ever had in his entire life, his rooftop blurring under his feet as they carried him across the city.

He can't believe it took all this for him to figure it out. At this point, he doesn't care that she might reject him. The only thing that matters is that he has to know for sure. Nothing was more important to him in this moment than to look in those bluebell eyes and tell her he's figured it out. Figured her out.

He can't have her disappear for six months and forget about him. About what they could be.

Getting to the airport took longer than expected. Getting across the whole of Paris wasn’t easy, but he did it. Even if he had to stop way outside his destination to detransform. Nothing was about to stop him. Not even his own body, wheezing and protesting the sudden activity after a summer of slacking could slow him down. There was something more powerful than muscle and sinew at work here.

The airport was busy and Adrien froze at the front door, catching more than a few odd looks from people. He didn’t have any time to spare for them, however. His eyes, his heart, were too busy frantically searching the crowd for just the barest sign of her. Despair that he was too late had begun to lace its tendrils around his heart when the crowd parted for a split second.

He saw her.

Not just Marinette, in a cute floral summer dress, hair tied back and lugging her bags behind her.

No. In that half of a moment, he saw Ladybug and Marinette as one. The strength behind her eyes, the determined squaring of her shoulders even though he knew she was scared. If he had any doubts before, they were gone like mist before the sun. He was only barely aware of himself bolting towards her, parting the crowd in front of him to a tune of a host of disgruntled French travelers.

His hand snags her wrist just before she reaches the security checkpoint. She turns, part of surprise, part out of curiosity. Her eyes widen when she sees him, but he doesn’t have the chance to savor it. He’s already pulled her into a hug, pouring all the love he’s bottled up inside himself into it.

Hand cradling her head, his mouth close to her ear, he can barely manage to pant out a few words, the exhaustion of pressing himself so hard so fast finally catching up with him.

"M'lady.... princess....found you..."

In a voice so quiet only his senses, made keen by years of using the black cat miraculous, can make out, she whispered, “...Chaton?”

He grins, gasping, and nods. Her eyes tear up and she hugs him back twice as hard. "How did you know?"

"Internship in Milan. Had to say goodbye. Had to tell you...Mari, I love you."

She's stunned for a moment, and pulls back to look him in the face. Matching her gaze, he feels himself falling inescapably into those bright blue eyes. He never thought he could fall even more in love, but today seemed to be the day for revelations. The moment broke only when she rolled forward on her tiptoes, placed her arms around his neck for leverage, and pressed her lips to his.

Time began again when a booming voice called out a flight number overhead. Marinette, kiss-drunk, pulled back and bit her lip, making Adrien’s heart do a backflip.

“That’s mine.” She pouts, then brightens and smirks, "You know, I hear Milan is lovely this time of year. You should come visit me sometime, Mr. Moneybags."

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

Two months later

Adrien rose with the sun, one of the few habits from his teenage years he’d never managed to shake off. Marinette was a few rooms over, taking the guest bedroom of his Italian villa while they lived in Milan. He started to make breakfast.

It wasn’t a miraculous cure - their relationship, her being here with him. His life was still in shambles. There were moments where he couldn’t be strong. He still felt lost most of the time.

But she was a constant. He could build a life around her - together. She was there when he needed to be weak. And her steady determination that he’d find his way was more often than not enough to ground him.

He put his breakfast on a plate and left Marinette’s on the kitchen counter, knowing the smell would do more to coax her out of bed than any amount of knocking or reminders. In the meantime, he pulled out his laptop to get a head start on his online class work for the day. It was just general requirements, but it gave him time to test the waters, see what he liked and what he didn’t.

No matter what, though, he knew she was going to be there every step of the way, cheering him on just like he knew he would be right there for her. A perfect team, just like they’d always been.

Yesterday was rough. Today would be better. And tomorrow? Adrien smiled as he heard Marinette's morning grumblings down the hall. Tomorrow shone bright with possibilities for both of them.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #Chat Noir #Ladybug #Ladynoir #Nino Lahiffe #ml fanfiction #my writing #Running To Catch An Airplane Trope

686 notes · View notes

spooky-z · 5 years ago

Text

College Françoise Dupont’s talent show [5/5]

• 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 4.1 • 5 • 5.1 •

Warning: suicide mention at the final

@ozmav @maribat-archive

Damian was not one bit happy with the wistful eyes of Adrien for Marinette.

Since the confrontation with the class, Wayne noticed that the blonde did not take the eyes of his bride. Perhaps he was not even blinking. He could barely see the boy breathing!

“Damian, control your temper.” Tim nudged him. “Looks like you’re going to jump the golden boy’s neck anytime.”

They were sitting in the auditorium, lights on, people searching their seats. The whole family sitting in the third row of the main set of chairs, occupying the entire row.

The order being from the far left starting with Alfred, Bruce, Dick, Kori, Jason, Tim, Damian, Sabine, Tom, Chloe, Kagami, Allan, Allegra and Claude.

Jagged and Penny had been taken into the cabin, accompanied by Chloe’s parents and Kagami’s mother.

Adrien and the rest of the class, sitting in the second row. The blonde standing right in front of him, not disguising the fact that he was facing Marinette, who was on stage talking quietly with Felix and the director.

“If he doesn’t stop eating her with his eyes, I’ll…” and clenched his fist, imagining Agreste’s head in the middle of it.

Sabine, who had heard the exchange, laughed softly. Her son-in-law was so cute.

“Honey, it’s like we say: they may look, but they can’t have it,” she says, her hand on Damian’s fist. “My daughter looks beautiful. If no one looked at her twice, I would have been offended on her behalf.”

He bites his lip in conflict, but seems to decide that his mother-in-law was right and looked away from the blonde, preferring the sight of his angel.

“Good evening everyone.” The director says in the microphone, Marinette and Felix at his right side, microphones in their hands. “Today we mark the end of the talent week and also the end of the semester.” He pauses with the sound of the applause “this week was indeed amazing. Many talents discovered; many laughs obtained. It was wonderful.“

The audience shouts in agreement. Damian frowns with the particularly high-pitched scream in his ear and glances quickly at Tim.

“Today, as you can see, I have two guests with me” the director says again “Marinette Dupain-Cheng-”

“Hello!” Marinette sings into the microphone, a sweet smile on her face.

“-And Felix Aguillard.” Felix bows to the audience “Our first graders of the year.” More applause.

At the sound of the applause, Damian was able to hear a loud "What ?!” coming from the row in front of him, but could not recognize the voice because of the noise.

“It’s been a year since they’ve been studying at both Dupont and a prestigious university.” General choke “Marinette at ESMOD and Felix at INSEAD-”

“WHAT?!” Lila shouts in surprise, cutting off the director. She sits up quickly when she realizes that she has lost control in front of everyone. “Sorry, I was just surprised.”

Chloe scoffs before shouting to the stage “THAT’S MY GIRL!”

Marinette laughs “And Fe? He’s your boy too, isn’t he?” Teases into the microphone.

Felix looks at her, the pained expression on his face.

Chloe scowls at them and screams once again, “I’m sorry, but I’m SUPER GAY.” And the audience laughs out loud at the antics. The director looks unsure of what to do.

“Ahem,” he catches everyone’s attention, the laughter calming down. “Continuing what I was saying- Today marks their last high school day, so nothing fairer than them being our special guests of the night. The two will open for today’s participants, but they will not be part of the competition.” And ends, waving to the two talk something before they begin.

Felix shakes his head, saying he doesn’t want to say anything and follows him off the stage, but Marinette takes the lead, microphone tight in her hands.

“Good evening everyone.” She says, “Like Principal Damocles said, my name is Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I want a little of your time.” Her eyes gauge each of the audience, not stopping at anyone for long.

“Today has been a particularly special day for me.” It starts “But I’ll start with last month. Last month I was able to go a step further in my career. I received an undeniable proposal and now my things must be arriving at Gotham, my old and new residence.” She notices some violent reactions in the ranks of her former class. Alya. “Today… today I was proposed by the man I love. Today I have friends supporting me, I have my family by my side, I’m having you all now.” Her slightly wet eyes, Damian notes, wanting more than anything to be by her side right now.

“But it wasn’t always like that.” His tone a little bitter. “There was a time, like, about three years ago, that I had people in my life that I thought were there to support me. To be my friends. To support me when I’m not well…” she sighs “But I was wrong. So wrong.”

“I came to such a low point, so dark, that time has stopped. Like this. I had lost my will, my motivation. I was alive but not living.” Sabine, who had been holding back tears, could no longer and cried silently “But hey! This is not a sad story. It’s not because I found good people. Great friends. A great boyfriend. It was not easy at first. There have been relapses. Days I wanted to do nothing more than sleep and sleep. But I did it.” She winked at Lila, who seemed to have eaten something bad.

“I’m reaching my goals. Saying goodbye to most of you, see you soon to others and a ‘I hope I never have to see you again’ for the ones left.” She says sweet, so sweet that her teeth hurt.

“It was thinking about this past, this dark spot of my life, that I wrote a song … Yeah! I know! You were expecting a fashion show, but here I am, ready to sing.” Jokes with the general surprise.

She looks at the side edge of the stage. Luka was waiting for the signal to be able to enter. She blinks at him and he smiles, the guitar positioned in his hands.

“To sing this song I would need support, so a friend volunteered for this role.” She turns to the audience. “Please, a round of applause for Luka Couffaine, my best friend.”

///

Alya was… She didn’t know how she was feeling at that moment.

She had stopped trying to understand what had been going on since Chloe had appeared with Kagami two nights ago to pick up Marinette at the theater.

That was so frustrating! How, when … The three had become friends. How Marintte could forgive Chloe. When Marinette had overcome her rivalries with Kagami.

Alya didn’t understand. Alya didn’t know.

Alya didn’t remember when it was the last time she’d talked to Marinette. Her best friend.

But she remembered the last time she’d screamed at the brunette about being mean. About how after so many years, she still hasn’t gotten over her jealousy of Lila. How Adrien would never love her if she continued this behavior.

She remembered the teary blueberries, the flushed cheeks (of shame or anger she didn’t know) and the weak voice asking to leave her alone.

But it wasn’t her fault! She just wanted the brunette to grow up, take her head off the Adrien world, and live. Give Lila a chance.

What did not happen. Marinette just walked away.

She would come to school, attend classes, and then disappear. No one knew where she was going at breaks. During classes, she hardly interacted with others.

Just Chloe.

And Alya still couldn’t understand. Didn’t understand what Marinette was saying on that stage. Didn’t know what she was talking about. She was trying. Really. But it was all in vain to see Luka Couffaine come on stage.

His slightly longer, unruly hair combed anyway, torn black jeans, shiny boots, and a black T-shirt under a mossy green leather jacket. A guitar in his arms.

His eyes wrapped in a thick layer of khol.

He bent slightly toward Marinette’s microphone, a polite smile on his lips.

“Good night, Dupont. I’m Luka and I’m here today to help Minette in one or two songs.” He says “God knows how bad she is with the guitar.” He laughs when Marinette jokes him playfully.

She takes his microphone and says again "I think we should start, what do you think ?!”

A projector screen descends behind them and they begin.

No, I think I’ll stay in tonight

Skip the conversations and the “Oh, I’m fines”

No, I’m no stranger to surprise

This paper town has let me down too many times

And, man. She was good.

Alya was surprised, scared even.

Why do I even try? Give me a reason why

I thought that I could trust you, never mind

Why all the switching sides? Where do I draw the line?

I guess I’m too naive to read the signs

Adrien shifted uncomfortably beside Nino. His gravelly face.

He was sure the music was for them, the class.

For him.

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

The screen behind them began to pass photos.

Photos of Marinette that no one in the class had ever seen before.

All they ever do is let me down

Every time I let somebody in

The first photo to appear contained Luka and Marinette hugging each other. Her arms around his neck, their cheeks glued together and his arms around her waist.

The unknown background landscapes. The sun shining bright.

Luka was wearing only a black T-shirt, his hair a mess and the tongue sticking out. Marinette in a black cropped with blue accents, her hair in a bun, eyes closed and a huge smile.

She looked so happy.

Adrien cringed.

Then I find out what they’re all about

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

In the next picture, Chloe and the brunette were sleeping together on a futon, probably in Mari’s room.

Chloe wearing Ladybug pajamas being the small spoon and Marinette Abeille being the big spoon.

Alya tasted the blood.

Wonder where they’re all hidin’ out

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

Gotta get up out of this town

In the third photo, Marinette was sitting on Kagami’s lap while they were taking selfies. The two making funny faces.

Kagami’s hands steady around Marinette.

And that was a shock to Nino.

The ice queen being funny and protective of someone.

Oh, oh

Oh, ah

A picture of the four of them together at a sleepover in what looked like Chloe’s room. Luka had a face mask, Chloe’s hair stuck in bobs, Kagami painting her nails, and Marinette reading a fashion magazine.

All of them on the bedroom floor, sweets and snacks spread and a television on in a black and white film.

The photo was taken by a fifth unknown person.

I stay up, talkin’ to the moon

Been feelin’ so alone in every crowded room

Can’t help but feel like something’s wrong, yeah

'Cause the place I’m livin’ in just doesn’t feel like home

This time it was a video of Marinette in what looked like a kitchen. A huge kitchen. Wearing a black shirt too big to be hers, probably making breakfast.

She had a spatula in her hand, distracted, using it as a microphone while singing something.

The man who had arrived with Bruce Wayne, the one with the black and white hair, joins her singing. They start dancing like crazy around the kitchen.

The video ends with him slipping and falling, Marinette laughing out loud before falling too.

It didn’t even last 20 seconds.

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

All they ever do is let me down

Every time I let somebody in

Then I find out what they’re all about

Another video came, this time Marinette is sitting on the grass, surrounded by puppies. Two Great Dane resting their heads on her lap while she pats them.

Damian Wayne joins her and she rests against him.

He looks at the person filming and the filming quickly ends.

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

Wonder where they’re all hidin’ out

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

Gotta get up out of this town

The next picture had Marinette in a gym, leggings, black top, hair in a ponytail.

Another of the men who came in with Bruce Wayne, on her shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

She was all skinny muscle.

Nino heard Adrien choke and cough.

I just wanna talk about nothin’

With somebody that means somethin’

Spell the names of all our dreams and demons

For the times that I don’t understand

Marinette this time was in the same kitchen (video), an old man beside her watching her beat the dough in the bowl.

The crowded bench with Damian, Bruce and the other three men, Chloe, Kagami, Luka and… Félix?!

Tell me what’s the point of a moon like this

When I’m alone again

Can I run away to somewhere beautiful

Where nobody knows my name?

There was a joint gagging of class with the pool photo.

Damian felt jealous boil again.

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

All they ever do is let me down

I let somebody in

But I find out what they’re all about

The next photo had Jagged Stone, Penny Rolling, Clara Nightingale, Prince Ali, and XY at a picnic. All dressed informally, looking comfortable, smiling at Marinette who was playing with Fang in the background.

And that’s how Ms. Bustier’s class seemed to remember that Jagged didn’t have a cat but a crocodile.

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

All they ever do is let me down

I’m just lookin’ for some real friends

Gotta get up out of this town, yeah

The last picture was of everyone together.

Dupain-Cheng, Waynes, Chloe, Kagami, Luka, Felix, Claude, Allegra, Allan, Jagged, Penny, Clara, Ali, XY. Even Fang and the Great Danes.

Everyone was looking at the camera, smiling excitedly. Marinette in Damian’s arms and a banner with “Joyeux anniversaire, Marinette” in the background.

Oh, oh

Oh, ah

Marinette and Luka ended the song’s last chord when a video, this time with sound, played on the big screen.

“… Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!”

Marinette turns horrified to the big screen.

“This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!” Marinette on the big screen screams along with the music.

The girl throws her arms up, jumping on the bed. The Batman themed pajamas.

“Oh my god, Minette…” the recording person laughs softly so the girl doesn’t hear.

Marinette continues to scream the lyrics, unaware that she is being recorded, until the recording person starts laughing out loud and she gets scared.

“… Jason?” She has a confused expression on her face until she notices the camera and her face becomes homicidal. “Were you recording…?”

The man seems to be scared because the laughter soon dies.

“… No?” he tries.

“Really? So, you don’t mind me taking a look at your phone, do you?” She gets off the bed and goes toward him.

“… Listen, I think Alfred is calling me. Bye!” He runs from her, but doesn’t finish recording.

With him running, the phone only films the confused shapes of the house, but everyone is still able to hear Marinette running after him.

“BACK HERE TODD!”

"NOT! I DON’T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!”

Shooting continues for another two seconds and then ends abruptly.

Luka was laughing openly on stage, Marinette still with her back to the audience, blushing embarrassed and the audience laughing.

And that was how the last night of the Talent Show began.

///

Lila was waiting for her at the backstage.

Marinette knew that an hour would have to face the girl, but did not think she would attack in such an open and public place.

But objectively, this was the only chance she had, since Marinette was leaving Paris that night.

“Should I congratulate you on the engagement, Dupain-Cheng? Or should we talk about your poor attempt to come out on top?” Lila scoffs, the smugness on her face. “Because it didn’t work. They are still eating in the palm of my hand.”

Marinette sighs already tired.

"What do you want, Lila?”

“I just came to brag. I like to throw salt on the wound.”

“That’s good! Because I like it too.” Marinette says, her tone becoming sharp. “Do you really think I would go away and do nothing to unmask you, Lila Rossi?” Lila stiffens the smile. “Or rather, Volpina, the accomplice of Hawkmoth.”

The girl steps back as Marinette approaches.

"What are you talking about?” She countered. “Are you going crazy?”

“Crazy? I? No.” Marinette laughs “I just think it’s funny that you think there would be no consequences helping a terrorist. And no use denying, I know you have been helping Hawkmoth and Mayura all these years. Your best friend, Ladybug, told me.”

The two do not notice Adrien, Nino and Alya coming. Adrien, noticing the situation, prevents Alya from trying to help Lila and forces them both to hear the conversation hidden behind some wood panels.

“… So, what if I helped Hawkmoth?” They hear Lila say. Adrien feels his blood run cold. “I was a minor. A child. You have nothing against me.”

There is a break and Marinette respond.

“That’s where you’re wrong Lila. Gabriel Agreste may have been arrested and refused to speak, but the evidence, Lila, speaks for itself.” Her firm voice “One year, Lila. A year gathering evidence against you and look, I was surprised to learn that I wasn’t the only person you emotionally abused.”

“… What?” Lila whispers looking scared.

“Emilia Shawn’s suicide.” Marinette’s voice comes out like lightning. “Don’t you remember her, Lila? The girl you bullied so much she couldn’t stand and threw herself off the roof of your school in Italy?” Alya was crying on Nino’s shoulder.

“No problem you don’t remember Emilia!” Marinette says very cheerfully “As long as you remember Cassandra. Or Phillip. Marie… Rico.”

“How do you… how do you know those names?” Lila shouts.

“Because unlike you and our lovely classmates, Lila, families didn’t believe their children were abusive monsters and committed suicide because they were sorry.”

There are footsteps, Adrien gets up enough to see what was going on and recognizes Agent Raincomprix with the National Police, surrounding Marinette and Lila.

Damian Wayne appears along with Bruce Wayne alongside Marinette.

“You cannot do that! I was just a child! Children make mistakes!” Lila begins to freak out when she realizes the situation.

“No, Lila. This is murder and terrorism. And you will pay for what you did.” Marinette says.

Damian hugs the brunette in support and she squeezes his arms in thanks.

"Lila Aloisi Rossi, you are arrested for accomplice of murder and terrorism.” The Raincomprix agent says as he holds Lila in handcuffs “You have the right to remain silent. Whatever you say can and will be used against you.”

"What? NO! LET ME GO!” Lila shouts, going crazy as she struggles.

The police soon have to help the agent contain her and before they leave, he turns to Marinette and the Waynes.

“Bruce Wayne, Marinette. Thanks for your help.” He nods. “It’s up to us now.” And leaves.

“Thank you mr. Raincomprix.” Marinette says.

"I’ll go with you guys,” Bruce says and joins the agents.

Meanwhile, Lila was still screaming and kicking through the theater corridors, people leaving to find out what was going on.

Ms. Bustier’s whole class watching.

“YOU HAVE TO UNLEASH ME! I HAVE DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!” She shouted.

Bruce Wayne, who was right behind the National Police surrounding Lila, looked smug when he spoke.

“Your country has withdrawn your immunity after we have presented the evidence of your crimes, Lila Rossi.” Lila widened her eyes, the panic evident. “You will face justice in full rights.”

Damian believes that all of Paris was able to hear the scream that the Italian gave.

He turned the woman in his arms, needing to look her in the eye.

“It’s over, angel.” He whispers to her, noticing the tear in her eyes.

Marinette sighs, relaxing against him.

“It’s over, Dami. Ended.“

[tag list]

@mystery-5-5 @spicybelladonna @iglowinggemma28 @crazylittlemunchkin@lunaraquaenby @maude-zarella @mooshoon @kuroko26@littleredrobinhoodlum @fanboy7794 @shadowberrybinch @k-rena-k@captainmac6 @clumsy-owl-4178 @tazanna-blythe @vixen-uchiha @zebrabaker @chloe-bourgeois-is-big-gay @artxyra @ellerahs @minightrose@redscarlet95 @soaringowlsstuff @xxkelsey39

#marinete dupain cheng #maribat #damian x marinette #talent show au #lila rossi #ml salt #daminette #damian

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gotmilk5101520 · 4 years ago

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Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia Watch Episode 14 Return of the Trollhunter

Now we begin the second half of season 1 (It’s actually season 2 but we don’t talk about that)

“Holy moly!”

Toby survives that.

“What the heck was-?”

“Huh?” We now return to your daily schedule bizarre adventures.

“Hop on!”

“Adios, fire cat”

“Hey, maybe save the jokes for when we aren’t gonna die” Well it sounded cool in his head.

“I can’t believe you took that stupid rock to your science class!”

“First, it’s not a rock. It’s a volcanic slag”

“And how was i suppose to know there was a flaming monster hiding in it?”

“You bought a magic rock off a troll named “Marvin the Monster Dealer” What did you think would happen, Tobes?” What happened before this moment?

“Um, Master Jim, you said this was a luminaire”

“When that is obviously an infernal hellheeti” Getting away with saying hell.

“Should i punch it?”

“Can i punch it?”

“Yes!” “No!”

“I was going to add, make sure you do not feed the fire by attacking it!”

“Opps” Punching doesn’t solve everything.

Jim uses Water Breathing. Tanjiro would be proud.

“Uh, guys, the fire hydrant-”

“Close enough”

Just keep walking.

Why is the opening still the same, even though Bular is dead now?

“Morning mom”

“Hi”

“Made your favorite breakfast”

“Sorry, kiddo, in a rush”

Should i be glad that Miraculous Ladybug doesn’t have something like this? It would be painful to watch. Fortunately, everyone in Miraculous Ladybug is stupid.

“I mean, it’s been like a month” Wait it’s been a month since last episode? So what have they been doing in a month?

“I don’t know how to fix this unless i tell her the truth”

“But if i do, they’ll send me to the crazy house” Hey, you told Claire, and she didn’t send you to the crazy house. Well she was tempted to do that cause you weren’t making any sense, but she didn’t.

“They fixed your tooth” Why did it take this long for Steve’s tooth to get fixed? I doubt all of the first half happened in a single month.

“I heard he was run out of town by the mob”

“I heard he got a mail-order bride and moved to North Korea”

“As if. Where do you think Mr. Strickler went, Jimmy-Jam. After all, he was dating your mom”

“Why does everyone keep bringing this up?!”

“Guys, this is my brother, and NotEnrique’s driving me nuts”

“You know how many times i have to change him?”

“He knows how to use a toilet”

“He chooses the diaper” “Yeah? Well at least you didn’t have to shove your hand in stinking diapers, and have it still stink to this day” “Ugh. Why does it still still stink? Have you washed your hands?” “Yes! 100 times since i got home with my cold McDonald’s French Fries” “Well excuse me, prince” “It’s well excuse me, princess!” “Are you two gonna kiss right now?” “Shut up Toby!”

“You spend so much time with Lake, you’re practically swimming in him” That’s what she said.

“We’re just friends. End of story” Wait, did- Did Claire just Adrien Agrested Jim? Goddamn it Adrien! Your Just a Friending made it’s way to Arcadia and got Claire. I hope you’re happy.

“Okay, people, who can tell me what happened in the year 1989?”

“No, seriously, i don’t remember. It was a crazy year” Let’s see. What video games came out that year.

“Really, Palchuk? That’s it. I’m dating your mom” “No, no, wait!”

Okay hold on. Why does it take a month for Claire to see Trollmarket? Out-of-Universe reason i can understand. You want to do a one month skip, and we all want to Claire’s reaction to Trollmarket. Could you imagine Claire going to Trollmarket off-screen? We get a few mentions of it here and there, but we never see her full reaction. I can understand the out of universe reason. But what i don’t understand is the In-Universe reason. Like Jim told Claire the truth a month ago. There’s no reason to keep anything a secret with her. Like why? A month to progress all of this? Cause i think it would take Claire a week at most to take it all in. Slower than when J- Never mind.

“Now, you’re gonna want to start drawing a semi-circle”

“Oh! You have it. Okay, never mind” Easier than me drawing an actually circle.

“It’s... It’s lively. Shit that’s Aja’s thing!”

He pets.

“Jim told me you helped him face Draal”

“And slay Bular” Wait Jim explained the entire first half of the season to Claire? Where are the fucking fanfics?

“And that Vespa!”

“Best birthday ever. Except for the part where Jim gets chased by a Stalkling” “That is something i want to forget”

“You’ve read A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore?”

“Volumes 1 through 47 It took me a while to decipher the symbols”

“But once i got past the Fifth Declension, i started to get the hang of it” It’s embarrassing when your (Not yet, almost, but not really, not for another season) girlfriend knows more about Troll Lore than you.

“She read the book!”

“She read the book! Master Jim, i love my daughter in law!” “Wait what?”

“She’s a flower” Mood.

Always have a drink before you continue.

“I accepted a human Trollhunter’

“And allowed the pudgy one to stay for moral support” Toby is the moral support boyfriend. Claire is the moral support girlfriend. See? Two different roles.

“But this? A third?”

“It’s an infestation!” Hey they’re not rabbits where they multiple every 5 seconds. Then again, Jim and Claire- Never mind again.

*Talks in Troll*

“She speaks Troll”

“And Trollmarket is honored to have you as well”

“Oh, Blinkous! If only the amulet had chosen such a learned and delightful fleshbag”

“Hey!” Trollhunter Claire au.

“That was awesome, Claire”

“Vendel loves you and he hates everyone!” I said it once, and i’ll say it again: Vendel is the most relatable character in this series.

Where did this light came from?

“Hopefully, this will give the girl some closure”

“She does understand why we cannot allow the bridge to open?”

“Well, you said it yourself, we’d be fools to open the bridge and risk letting Gunmar out”

“Right, Jim?”

“Oh, of course”

“We’d be crazy to do that“ Yeah... A crazy fool, heheheheh...

“Hey buddy, it’s your sis”

”Don’t you start thinking i’ve forgotten about you”

“We’re gonna get you back. I promise”

“See you soon, little chicharron”

*Cries in Troll*

“I need to share a word with our Trollhunter” That’s what it’‘s like when dad wants to talk to you alone. Then again, i don’t have a dad so...

“Hey, Draal? It’s strange, but i feel like i’ve seen you before. Have we met?” “Uh...”

“No. You must’ve mistaken me for someone else”

“Hate to be there when we have to rebuild Jim, right?”

“What a mess”

“Well, i just grossed myself out” We’ll see about that in Wizards.

“You fight in an arena surrounded by the remains of dead Trollhunters?”

“That is...”

“The most heroic thing i’ve ever seen. If their ghosts talked, then it be like Mulan”

“Sometimes, the heart leads you down paths you should not cross”

“How did you-?”

“Figure it out?”

“Your devotion to this girl is as obvious as Marinette’s feelings for Adrien. WHICH IS STILL DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!”

“But you know the danger”

“If you went in alone, you’d be killed”

“Which is why we will answer every call”

“You said i have to answer every call. Now-“

“Wait, did you just say “We”?”

“Aaarrrgghh and i discussed it. We knew you were going in, with or without our approval”

“But... If Claire’s brother is important to you, then he’s important to us”

“For folly or for fraught”

“We are a team”

*Cries in Troll again*

“Is this normal?”

“Nothing’s normal around here”

“Get used to it, sister” Translation: “Welcome to your new life”

“But only a Trollhunter can wield Daylight”

“We are Trollhunters!”

“Oh, man! Now, i’m dead!”

“That stupid Soothscryer killed me in the Forge” He thought Bular would kill him. But nope, instead it’s the fucking Soothscryer.

“What do you mean, he’s in the Void?”

“The Void sounds like a very empty word. A bad word” I hear the Void is very welcoming.

“Yeah. And are these happy ghosts we’re talking about here”

“Or Mulan’s ghost family?”

“He is now under the spiritual guidance of”

“Master Trollhunters”

“Ghost guidance counselors?”

“So, it is like Mulan”

“Wow! So trolls and ghosts exist”

“What’s next? A Midsummer Night’s Dream?”

“Fairies?”

“Fairies? Preposterous!”

“Fairies lost the war to the pixies centuries ago” Hate to meet these pixies, right?

“But if we’re going in, they said the only way we’re getting out alive is if we kill Gunmar” Well that’s a bigger lie than any lie Lila can make.

“And with Strickler gone, maybe we have a chance”

Speak of the devil. Or changeling.

If i ever seem dead, be sure to throw rocks at me to be sure.

“Who has awakened me?”

This is me and my sister.

“You know my name”

“A shame i will never know yours”

Angor Rot had to deal with the goblins wrath.

“My ring”

“My flesh”

“Yield to me!”

“For i wear the One Ring”

“You have killed thousands”

“You are chaos incarnate”

“And you”

“are...

“mine”

“Hahahahaha!”

The second half of season 1 (Actually season 2) is off to a great start.

Shit, what do i say that has something to do with next episode? Uh... See you next episode?

#trollhunters #milk watches trollhunters #tales of arcadia

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ethelphantom · 5 years ago

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perhaps the worst of timings and ideas (but I’ll still do it ‘cause I’ll do it with you)

Uh yeah I know this is day late but it’s still the prompt fill for day 22, wedding because well. It was meant to be a drabble but then seemed to decide that no, it wanted to be an actual, almost 3k oneshot. Maybe you’ll survive. The first almost 1,5k are just some people making Jon and Adrien’s life insufferable.

Ao3

______

So, perhaps they should have thought it through before all… this.

Whether that meant Marinette and Damian or Adrien and Jon, well, no one was sure.

If it was Marinette and Damian, then this would be about how much they regretted agreeing to help with the wedding, that they both promised to be the Best Woman and the Best Man of their respective best friends. The stress the organisation caused was endless, and that on top of their hero work and university was a lot to handle.

But, as it is, talking about how stressed someone is is rather boring, so no. Maybe we should talk about why Jon and Adrien regretted ever asking their best friends to do any of this instead. They should have just asked them to attend the wedding and perhaps do a short speech.

Not that they didn’t do the speeches anyway. Marinette simply didn’t make a short one and Damian, well, Jon was wishing he had explicitly told his best friend to just keep his mouth shut. To make matters worse, the two of them were doing the speech together, because how else.

“Dear everyone here, it’s certainly lovely to see you all here celebrating these two dumbasses who only took three years to ask each other out after mutual pining and our suffering. It’s certainly a little surprising that after seven years of telling them they actually like each other and goddamnit Adrien yes Jon is genuinely in love with you alright, now can you please propose to him so we’ll be done with your worries, we’re finally here at their wedding reception,” Marinette had said at the very beginning of their speech, earning groans from the happy just married couple and laughs from most of the audience. That, and a “moan all you want about how unfair this is, Adrien, but she’s right, we did have to suffer for years!” from Chloé, along with affirmative nods from Kagami who sat next to her.

Yeah, the only ones invited there who were from Paris were Chloé, Kagami, Marinette, Luka and Félix. Everyone else had at last announced out loud they weren’t friends a few years back, and neither Marinette or Adrien had looked back. Alya was definitely going to call them once she heard Lois Lane was at the wedding as well, but neither cared. It wasn’t like they were going to even answer to her.

“I’m honoured Jon made the mistake of letting me speak at his and Adrien’s wedding,” was how Damian had started. At that point, Jon had already looked like he was ready to run away from his own wedding, or perhaps it would work better if he just threw Damian out.

Not that either of those actually happened.

“As my lovely girlfriend already said, we indeed had to spend years watching these two dance around each other before they even asked one another out. It took us less time to start dating, and we actually met through them — which reminds me, perhaps I should thank you, Jon. If you hadn’t tried to break through my window and hurt yourself at the process when you wanted to moan about how he brought his ‘cute girlfriend’ with him to the States, I might not have ever met the love of my life you at the time thought was dating her very much platonic best friend.”

Dick started laughing (“so that’s why little D asked us to replace his windows with something unbreakable while muttering something about idiot best friends from under his breath”) and couldn’t stop before Kagami threatened to drag him out by his ear to calm down. It was clear the happy couple wanted the Earth to swallow them alive, preferably right that second.

Then the two ended up giving yet another set of shovel talks to their respective best friends’ husbands, and perhaps the only reason they hadn’t been dragged off the stage and away from the microphones one and half minutes into it was probably the fact neither Jon or Adrien were capable of standing up from their embarrassment and both the Paris Crew and the Batfamily and Conner, Clark and Lois were having too much fun listening to it.

Well. If that wasn’t all, once they got out of the main hall they were using as the dining room, the wedding reception started to look more like a chaos than anything. Nothing bad happened, really, but it was bemusing and a little frustrating, the least to say.

One of the main halls was filled with fake rats, as a very confused Clark tried to explain to his son and son-in-law, and by saying “filled”, he really did mean filled — even Mar’i could only barely fit into the room what with all the stuffed toys in there. Dick was absolutely baffled as he dragged his baby brother (“I’m not your baby brother, you dick”, Jason had yelled as he was being pulled by his collar towards the toom) to help him empty the room.

There were supposed to be filled water glasses in the cafeteria area of the mansion ready to just be taken and drunk. Instead, over half of them were upside down — yet filled with water — along with a computer written note “Have fun cleaning up! Or, try to turn them around without spilling any water. Love you!”

Needless to say, the mess that followed was enormous. Adrien wanted to fling himself off a cliff or maybe a window, but Jon stopped him just in time.

Then there was the area just in front of most of the toilets. Filled with plastic cups full of water, all of them.

Adrien buried his head in his hands, resigning to his fate.

Once they did get to the toilets, some of the soaps were coated in dried clear nail polish. The only reason they figured it out was because Chloé was there and she was able to recognise it without missing a beat.

One of the smaller dining rooms was covered with rather embarrassing pictures of Adrien and Jon. Chloé, Luka, Dick and Tim were all immediately able to find some that they had taken in the past years. It threw Bruce completely off because then who was the culprit?

By then Jon was ready to follow Adrien to jump down from the highest room in the mansion.

Alfred sat them both down, gave them two glasses, a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolate and tissues.

Conner found out some of the caramel apples were replaced by caramel onions.

Neither Adrien or Jon were ever told about it to save them from more chaos.

No one knew who to blame for all of this.

By the time they got back to the main dining hall, two of the biggest tables were covered in post-it notes — and it seemed that all the leftover post-it notes had been attached to the windows lazily once the culprit got bored. Cass took one look at it before she turned around and simply left to breathe some fresh air, dragging Stephanie with her.

Turns out, that was rather impossible since all their jackets were taped to the ceiling — which was rather high up there — and only Kagami and Cass could really get them since everyone else that was a superhero or a vigilante had to play normal nothing-to-see-here to the few non-superheroes in the entire celebration.

And finally, in the very back cold room they found a gorgeous wedding cake — more beautiful and definitely bigger than any of them had ever seen — waiting, which Tim approached with high alert. It was suspicious as it was not supposed to be there, but well. It was a cake. Then again, considering everything else that had happened, it was still far too dangerous to go without being careful. There was a note attached to the wall next to it.

Sorry. Maybe this compensates for all the other stuff. No pranks this time, I swear. Just a delicious cake baked by yours truly. Your favourite flavours. Sorry again. We just needed a getaway plan. Love you, and Adrien, do not try to find us or you’ll find your apartment in less than perfect condition once you visit it again~

You two must be baffled by now, but I have to say I do not find myself too apologetic right now. You’ve caused us enough suffering in the past few years, this is merely a simple payback of equal value, is it not? Have a lovely rest of the evening, Jon. You may want to keep your husband from trying to race to wherever we may be in approximately ten seconds, and it would be preferable if you didn’t try to do so as well.

A beat.

Then, a confused whisper full of suspicion echoed in the dark room, “…where are Marinette and Damian?” It was soon followed by two loud, irritated and frustrated screams of “Marinette! Damian! Get back here!” which could be heard throughout the mansion they rented and the forest surrounding them.

⬷۵⤐

“Thanks Kaalki, here are some sugar cubes for you as thanks,” Marinette said smiling tiredly and yawned. Then her eyes landed on the flowers she had taken with her and she laughed.“I wonder how long it will take them before they realise I stole Adrien’s bouquet before he can throw it over his shoulder.”

Marinette leaned against her boyfriend and let him pick her up to carry her to the bedroom. It had been a stressful and tiring few weeks, and considering it was past midnight in Paris already, she decided that it was completely reasonable for them to go sleep already. Even if they had just spent the past two weeks in Gotham and Metropolis and her internal clock should correspond to theirs instead of Paris’.

They had first gone to The Seine to calm down and to breathe for a while. Damian had searched up the exact coordinates of their wanted location before simply taking the Miraculous from Marinette and transforming himself. There was no way he could have let his far too exhausted girlfriend to handle this — there was a good chance they’d end up in The Seine instead of next to it.

After that, Damian had transformed once more to take them to Adrien’s apartment, and the only reason they ended up in front of the building instead of inside it was because Marinette had insisted she wanted to open the door with the keys Adrien had given her the previous summer. Both could have bet he was regretting doing that more than anything right now, but that was fine.

Damian set her gently to the bed before helping her change into her pajamas so that they could just go to sleep. He had plans for the day that his best friend had almost ruined for him by deciding he wanted to get married the day before, and now that Damian had a chance to go through with his plans anyway, there was no way he was going to let his Angel exhaust herself even more. He needed her awake for the morning.

Once he was sure Marinette had fallen asleep, he took both their phones and simply turned them off, knowing that soon enough they would be blown up with messages and he would rather not have his Father or Drake to hack their phones to turn up the volume again. After all, there was a real chance they would do just that. Harder to do it to a phone that’s just simply off.

⬷۵⤐

“Good morning, habibti. I hope you slept well. I made breakfast, please dress and get to the kitchen,” Damian said, waking her up from her peaceful slumber. He kissed her forehead gently before turning around and leaving to give her some space.

Marinette buried her face to her pillow before smelling the amazing scent that came from the kitchen. Damnit. Now she really couldn’t just continue sleeping. Damn her boyfriend for being a sneaky bastard and making sure she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep.

So, Marinette opened one of the luggage, not really caring which one of them owned it, and took the first sweater she could find and pulled it over her head. Then she stood up and walked to the kitchen, following the wonderful scent in favour of ignoring the need to brush her teeth.

“Good morning, mon tresor,” she said, leaning against the door frame and watched her dear boyfriend cook them something to eat. Once he turned around, he simply stopped in his tracks, staring at her. “What is it? Did I dress up in something dirty?”

Damian shook his head and smiled at her. “No, it’s not that. It’s just, I can’t believe you’re actually wearing my clothes,” he replied, taking a few strides across the room to get to her. He swept her up into his arms and squeezed her. “You’re too adorable for your own good,” he told her as blush crept to her cheeks.

When Damian finally returned her back to her feet, she pulled him down by his collar and pressed a kiss on his nose, only then letting him return to whatever it was he had been doing. Marinette rubbed her still sleepy eyes, yawning before she slumped on the chair closest to her. Burying her head to her arms, ready to fall asleep at the table again, she sighed happily as Damian reached out to comb her hair a little. It was nice and comforting. Well, up until he found a tangled area and had to use a little more force to untangle it. Marinette winced and stiffed, only relaxing when Damian kissed her head.

“I apologise, love. I did not mean to cause you pain,” he said, his hands never leaving her hair.

“It’s alright. Just, please, be more careful.”

“I will.”

Damian continued for a short while more before declaring he was done and went to get her a plate full of food. She sighed happily at the delicious smell of it all. Without thinking, Marinette put a forkful of the scrambled eggs in her mouth, only to then realise it was still hot. Damian laughed at her as he went to fetch her a glass of cold water.

As they ate, they talked about the previous day. Marinette wondered why she hadn’t gotten any messages from them — they should have realised she was a part of the scheming, unless they hadn’t found the cake — but then Damian told her it was because he had turned both their phones off. But, perhaps there weren’t that many messages from everyone waiting for them. Hopefully, anyway.

“Isn’t this our third anniversary already?” Marinette suddenly asked. Damian nodded.

“Yes. Isn’t it strange how time flies?”

“Yep, definitely. Especially since it feels like we’ve been together forever. I honestly cannot get over how a few years back I wanted to learn your name and now I’m having breakfast with you in your sweater,” Marinette said chuckling and leaned against her palm. She watched how he stared at her before digging something from his pocket.

Damian walked around to her and cleared his throat. “I understand the sentiment,” he said, playing with a strand of her hair. “Personally, I can not believe how miraculous it is I got the first date and even the first year, let alone these wonderful three years I’ve now had with you.”

Then he dropped on one knee and showed her what he had taken out of his pocket. A beautiful silver ring with a sapphire and a double halo. Marinette gasped and felt tears prickling in her eyes, all of the exhaustion gone from her. “So, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, habibti, my dearest angel, will you do me the honour and stay by my side until death do us part?”

“Yes! A thousand times yes!” she breathed out and launched herself at her boyfriend — fiancé? —, tackling him to the ground as she embraced him.

Damian returned the embrace, squeezing her tight against his chest as she kissed his forehead, hair, eyes, nose, anything she could easily reach.

Her fiancé had a horrible sense of timing, but that was fine with her. So what if they ended up getting engaged the day after their best friends got married? They would live.

A few hours later, they finally turned their phones on to tell their families of their engagement. As they had guessed, they had hundreds of notifications, both worried and frustrated messages. And about three hundred missed calls each. Oops?

If they had hoped telling them of their engagement would have helped them calm down, they were horribly wrong.

The messages that followed that absolutely flooded their phones.

Maybe the akumas could wait a little until Adrien was less done with her, and the villains in the states could wait until Jon was ready to face Damian without wanting to launch him directly at the sun and his family was ready to not start a screaming match about him proposing to her somewhere they could not see it happen.

Perhaps they should stay away from all of them for the next few days… or weeks.

Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

__________

@ladysblackcat @daminett4life @tinyterror333 @annabellabrookes @7-sage-7 @theyellowfeverexperience @thethirdwheelfriend @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @kris-pines04 @daminette-december2019 @bluerosette23

#daminette #daminette december #damian x marinette #maridami #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #damian al ghul #fanfic #fanfiction #ml x dc #DC #ml #miraculous ladybug #Ethel's writing

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flightfoot · 4 years ago

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Divergent Points: ML Salt - Epilogue

AO3/FFN

…

Hm…?

A softness beneath her.

Heavy weight to her body.

Light filtering through closed eyelids.

She cracked her eyes open.

AH AH AH AH TOO LIGHT TOO LIGHT TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF

“Tunitoff” she muttered, making a halfhearted effort to move some limb to block out the accursed light.

Noise rustled next to her.

“Honey come over here, take a look!”

“What is it dear- Marinette!”

Instinctively she turned her head to the side, cracking open her eyes once again.

Two fuzzy shapes dominated her vision, sharpening into familiar figures.

“Maman…? Papa…?”

“We’re here.”

Wait, why would her parents be here waiting for her to wake up?

And…

Wait.

Where was ‘here’?

“What- what happened to me?” she asked, her voice thin and reedy.

Her mom answered her. “We’re not sure. This nice old man found you and your friends passed out on a rooftop. None of the doctors could find anything wrong with you, you just… none of you would wake up.”

Her friends…?

Reassuring Alya after experiencing her Nightmare World.

Nino explaining his encounter with the warped version of herself.

Adrien believing in her, telling her that she’d never go as far as her copy.

And that copy trying her hardest to convince her to give up on them.

She bolted upright, lethargy forgotten. “ARE THEY OKAY WHERE ARE THEY-”

A nurse opened the door. “What’s going on- oh you’re awake.”

Her head whipped around. “The people who were with me, are they okay?!”

It sounded like ‘Marinette’ was agreeing to free them before, but she’d never explicitly said she would, and with how much she hated them? She wasn’t counting on them being in good shape even if they WERE freed. Heck, she didn’t even know whether they were okay just after she’d been pulled through that portal and separated from them in the first place!

A commotion came from the hall. “WHERE’S MARINETTE?!”

The nurse sighed. “That makes the fourth one. I appreciate that you’re all worried about each other, but there ARE other patients in this ward trying to rest.”

The fourth…? So then..!

Her heart pounded. “They’re all awake too?”

“Yes, the first of you woke up just a few minutes ago, then another a minute later, and well, sounds like the last one’s up too.”

They were awake.

They were alive.

And judging from that outcry a moment ago? They were themselves.

She fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes, allowing herself a moment of rest.

They were safe.

“Can I see them?”

Her mom looked at her, concerned. “Honey you just woke up, and we don’t even know what - actually, can you tell us what happened?”

Huh.

Well at least she could be truthful.

“I’m not sure. One minute we were all having a picnic, then some white stuff came down from the sky and then… I guess we passed out?”

Her mom frowned. “An akuma maybe? We didn’t hear anything on the news, but some of them aren’t widely known and it’d explain why all of you woke up at once - never seen Ladybug and Chat Noir take that long to defeat one though. I hope they’re okay.”

Marinette just hummed.

Not an akuma, but probably safer to let everyone think that was the culprit.

Besides, she didn’t actually know what’d happened.

She sat up, trying to move to a more upright position once again.

Which was when she discovered all the tubes sticking out from her that she’d been too worried and exhausted to notice before.

“...How long was I out?”

“Somewhere between 22 and 24 hours, depending on how long you four were unconscious before you were discovered.”

Well that explained the need for all the tubes, especially with them not knowing how long she was gonna need them. She still needed nutrients, water, and to…

She blushed. “Uh… could we get all these tubes out of me? Please?”

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

After an examination by some doctors and being declared healthy, they removed the equipment. She promptly made a break for the bathroom. Didn’t help much since there wasn’t actually anything to get rid of, but it felt better afterwards at least. Catheters were NOT fun.

Her friends were similarly getting prepared to be able to leave. She didn’t get to see them unfortunately - by the time everything was done it was pretty late, and all of them were leaving pretty soon after being declared healthy.

It worried her and she didn’t think she’d feel truly satisfied until she saw them again.

She touched her earrings.

Luckily, that didn’t have to be very long.

MARINETTE may need to go home for the day.

LADYBUG had other plans.

First though, there was something she’d been wondering about. She hadn’t really had time to ask during the only time she’d had alone before this in the bathroom (plus she REALLY didn’t want to talk about anything at that time).

Safely upstairs in her bedroom though?

“Tikki? Are you there?”

The little ladybug kwami flew out from her purse. “Marinette!”

“Tikki!”

She hugged her kwami as best she could, Tikki snuggling up against her. She’d worried about her kwami before with all their Miraculous missing, and while after she woke up she’d figured it was just because Tikki wasn’t affected by whatever-that-was and so wasn’t in the dream state, without being able to actually see her? Part of her just didn’t quite believe it.

After a moment they separated slightly, Tikki floating a foot away.

“Tikki, what happened?”

“After you all collapsed we all spent a few minutes trying to wake you up, even getting… creative.”

“Creative?”

Did she WANT to know?

Tikki read her expression. She made a face. “Plagg thought that true love’s kiss might wake Adrien up. So he kissed him. On the lips.”

Well.

Points for Plagg being willing to go to great lengths to help Adrien she guessed?

“Luckily the salt stuff doesn’t affect us apparently. Plagg didn’t think to brush it off before kissing him.”

“Wait, salt stuff?”

Tikki shrugged. “That’s what Plagg said it tasted like.”

She continued. “Anyway after a few more minutes of that kind of thing, Wayzz flew off and got Master Fu. When he couldn’t figure it out either he contacted your parents, claiming he recognized you from when he’s seen you run out of the bakery. He didn’t even need to lie about that; he just recounted that time he chose you when you ‘saved’ him from walking into the road. From there your parents were able to contact everyone else’s parents and got you all shipped to the hospital.”

So that explained how they all got there. She’d figured as much, but it was good to hear it confirmed.

But it wasn’t what she meant.

“No, I mean, what was that salty stuff? Why were we out? And what was up with that dream world were in?”

“Dream world?”

Tikki didn’t seem surprised exactly, more thoughtful.

“Yeah. All of us were in it together - well not at first and I got separated at the end, but for most of it.”

The kwami hummed for a moment. “Can you tell me exactly what happened? I have some ideas, but that’ll help pin it down.”

She recounted the whole thing. Tikki nodded periodically, occasionally comforting her when she mentioned something disturbing, but didn’t interrupt.

At last she finished with Saltinette’s snap(after hearing of Plagg’s experience she figured it was a good nickname and it beat calling her ‘imposter’ all the time).

Tikki closed her eyes and crossed her arms for a minute.

“...Well?” Marinette asked.

Tikki opened her eyes again. “I suspect you four were pulled into some sort of rift energy between the dimensions.”

What?

“I have no idea what that means.”

“It’s like... “

She flew off, retrieving some pieces of paper Marinette had cut up earlier for a project.

She started moving the pieces around. “Normally different dimensions stay separate. But sometimes they collide.”

The paper ran into each other, crinkling both pieces.

“When that happens sometimes they’ll stick together briefly, and with the collision… well, sometimes things can leak from one world into another.”

Marinette frowned. “But these weren’t normal, full worlds. And Saltinette mentioned something about a ‘Source Universe’?”

Tikki nodded. “These dimensions aren’t always the same kind as this one. Some can be a bit more… ethereal. Conceptual.

As for the Source Universe thing, Saltinette was right. I noticed we separated as soon as that akuma appeared that revealed everyone’s identities. It doesn’t really affect us much per se, but it DOES mean that whatever we do will stay mostly localized to just this universe - a Source Universe creates and affects an endless multitude of universes that spawned from it, often even after those universes separated.”

“So then… what WAS Saltinette? And why’d she go after us?”

“I’m not totally sure, but I think she might’ve been an offshoot from several other universes that split off from the Source, particularly of their negativity. If enough negative energy coalesces… well, you know how powerful that can be. Papillon uses that to warp and control people. If enough of it floats off of dimensions? They can make an entirely new dimensional being.”

“So she WAS the dimension?”

“Probably. She may not have had full control of all aspects though; she’d be more of an emerging consciousness rather than one that created everything from scratch. Plus well, it’s not like you consciously control or are even aware of everything your own body does, it just does it.”

That explained why she hadn’t been more effective at thwarting the four of them at least.

She frowned. “Wait, if her dimension was more ethereal and if she just captured our minds… what would’ve happened if we’d stayed? If she hadn’t let us go?”

Tikki looked uncomfortable. “None of you would’ve woken up. Ever. And with your minds disconnected from your bodies, even your bodies perishing wouldn’t have freed you.”

WHAT.

“...I’m gonna try not to think about the implications of that.”

Tikki nodded vigorously. “Good idea! Maybe do something a little happier?”

Something happier…

Oh yeah!

“Hey Tikki, you up for transforming?”

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

Ladybug soared through the city.

This joy, this freedom, she’d come so close to never knowing it again - not really. Not truly.

Maybe Saltinette could’ve made a Miraculous facsimile for her to pretend with. Would’ve created an entire fawning population to base their whole lives around her, to ensure that any ‘wrong’ committed against her was repaid a thousand-fold.

But those facsimilies wouldn’t have been real.

Those people wouldn’t have been real.

They’d have just been a fantasy, and ultimately?

Her only company would’ve been a twisted version of herself.

Interacting with others carried risks.

Misunderstandings happened.

Some people were even malicious.

Feelings could fray, people could lash out, say and do things they’d later regret.

But ultimately?

Ultimately it was worth it.

She alighted on the designated rooftop, Chat Noir, Carapace, and Rena Rouge already there looking worried.

They turned at the sound.

Ecstatic, raw joy filling their expressions as they realized she was there.

That she was okay.

Rushing over to her.

And mobbing her in a bone-crushing group hug.

She returned it as best she could, stretching her arms out in an attempt to encircle all three of them.

They were here.

They were okay.

If Saltinette had decided to keep them…!

...Maybe she couldn’t have.

Even during the short time they were there they kept breaking through her manipulations.

Through her control.

They always shown through.

#Divergent Points #ml fanfic #ml fandom salt #fandom salt

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familyagrestefanblog · 5 years ago

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Identity theory to the Black Cat knight in “Feast”- Part 1

There is one detail in “Feast” that has me almost upset because of my own short coming. Not because it’s badly written, out of nowhere or anything, quite the opposite, its brilliant! It’s the detail of the former cat miraculous holder, the knight

You know why this has me almost upset? I had this as serious theory since one evening I rewatched “Darkblade” and researched the historical background given there, since miraculous takes real life history and changes it to fit into their universe. The people and events are more or less accurate (as we know from episodes like “the pharaoh”). But I never completed the research nor did I made my theory into a post.

Well anyway. I guess it’s never to late to present my theory to who this former cat was.

This is Part 1, here I will cover: Who is the black knight? And the entire basis for the theory

Part 2 is about: The flag comparison is “Darkblade” and “Feast”

And part 3: Are the Cat Miraculous holder knight and Darkblade the same people?

Alright guys buckel up, it’s history time and these are gonna get LONG

Part 1 - Who is the Black knight?

I was and am pretty sure this Black cat knight we are being presented here is Edward of Woodstock.

Prince of Wales, born 1330 and known through history as the “Black Prince”. Why he’s called that is not known for sure. One theory is that he’s called the “Black” prince because of the color of his battle amour (which would fit the miraculous painting above) and badge but frankly no one can say with any certainty at all that he ever wore black amour.

Theory two is much more likely in my opinion. Edward was the first born son of Eduard lll, one of the most significant rulers of England in medieval times. And my GOD, Prince Edward was a game changer in the beginning of the hundred years war between Britain and France for the right to wear the French crown. He was one heck of a great (read: BRUTAL) medieval military leader, archiving his very first grand victory for England against the French at the incredibly young age of 16 (an age fitting to the trend in Miraculous giving powers to minors). This victory brought the 16 years old Edward a lifetime of glory as a formidable knight and army leader. Meaning: in my opinion he is most likely called the “Black Prince” because of his brutal and deadly campaigns through France.

Concidering that Miraculous is a French show also taking place in France, I think it’s completely fine depicting him with the Cats miraculous, the power to destroy everything and kill anyone with a single touch. From a French point of view, yeah that’s fine (he wasn’t nicknamed “le terrible Prince/ Homme Noir” (The terrible/gruesome black prince/man) by 1400s France for no reason I may say) I’m completely down with that and think myself that he would be a very fitting Cat who used his miraculous’ power more to its brutal limits (Not every Cat in the past was a pacifist like our present Chat Noir, Adrien, mostly is).

Cuz in general, through his status as Prince, army leader and knight of the order of the garter, an order of charity founded by his father, Edwards life mostly prioritized fighting and waging war. Dude was down with some serious slaughter. Still one has to say that even though he basically was raised and encouraged to become a killing beast, one can’t say he was outright a monster or something.

To keep this shorter, he genuinely showed respect and mercy to fallen and captured royalty. One example for this was after the victorious battle of Crécy (were he was 16) he walked across the battle field and found the fallen king John of Bohemia. King John was blind but always fought alongside his army (very successful if my may add) and when Edward found his corpse he honored him by adopting John’s motto “Ich diene” (“I serve”) and used and honored it for the rest of his life on his badge. Every prince of Wales after him used it too, keeping this legacy alive.

My reason for believing its Edward of Woodstock who the miraculous crew chose as this former Cat miraculous holder in the painting come down to four mayor factors.

1. One of the most famous objects Edward owned that is still available to the public today is this piece of jewelry

Would you look at that it’s his ring. I’m gonna spare you with the details to it because the only thing really of importance is the fact that HE HAD A RING.

But you know what else? Take a guess where this ring is located today

Jup, in the capital city of France, our very own miraculous Paris. In the freaking Louvre.Giving us not only a perfect reallife history, material match with the Cat ring but also a connection back to France, Paris, where the show takes place.

2. Through “Startrain”/the train we have a straight connection to England the show can and definitely will use in the future. At the end of “Startrain” we got this:

Meaning England/London is not only acknowledged in a side sentence in the Miraculous universe, the Miraculous crew already remodelled the city in CGI and believe me, CGI is hard work. They wouldn’t just put all this work into recreating London (yes even for a small shot like this they would have to recreate much more) if they didn’t had bigger plans coming. And that means, England/London is gonna be a future Location, this makes finding out the origins of a former English miraculous holder quite a possibility. It was also said by Thomas Astruc that in the movie to season 5 we will find out more about former holders, so even if the Show doesn’t include many of the actual historical identities, there is still the promising movie which can go more in detail with them. Especially if the movie picks the miraculous history as one of its main themes which imo is actually very likely.

3. The fact that, well, we are still watching a Tv show here. Imagine you were the creator of a Show like Miraculous were characters get magical jewellery to turn into superheroes and now your task is it to choose historical figures you can include into your show as former holders. You most likely wouldn’t use unknown people. That’s the point where you drop at least two or three recognisable names on significance to make the history of your show more interesting. Here you choose the myths, the legends, the people who went down in history as heroes of their countries. Or at very least you choose the figures with interesting names.

Edward of Woodstock may not be a myth or a legend but he sure counts as a national hero of English history and also a well known figure in France and in French history (giving him once again significance in a French show) and lets be real here, “The black Prince” is just too much of an awesome title of a historical person to pass by for story writing purposes like the ones we are looking for right now. Plus with (well) known names your audience already has a connection to go on with and you don’t have to start from scratch.

4. And this is my favourite reason! Lets talk about: The Black Princes connection with Jeanne de Arc. Oh yes guys, I’m going there. I went nuts on the research and I found a very interesting detail.

As most probably know by now, Thomas Astruc himself declared Jeanne de Arc as a former Ladybug. Jeanne de Arc is a French national heroin and martyr so him honoring her as a Ladybug is of no surprise and makes sense.

While Edward of Woodstock and Jeanne de Arc never lived in the same time (she was born in 1412 while he died in 1376) these two historical figures have a downright fascinating connection.

Their game changing roles in the hundred years war between England and France.

As I said before, Edward basically run into France with his army and won battle after battle. If you were to ask me which people influenced and started the beginning of the hundred years war, Edwards name would definitely fall as one of the first even if he was “only” a prince. Through the immense damage and loss France suffered through him, France was quite… down even after the black prince died (of course France like England had ups as well as downs but the whole war was so complex I’ll not explain it here and keep things really simple, I don’t wanna misinform).

In the time around 1412 where the 18 year old (once again just like Edward very young) peasant girl just a normal girl with a normal life Jeanne de arc lived, France was pretty much hold at gun point and at loss of their hope. History says that she, through unknown (miraculous) ways, was able to convince the french King Charles VII to let her join the battle and support him. The battles with her included were widely successful which paved the way for France’s future victory. In 1430 she was captured and was burned at the stake after being declared guilty of several charges. And to quote Nationalgeographic.com here (because I literally couldn’t put this any better)

“Once her ashes had been scattered in the Seine River, Jeanne’s detractors hoped her name would be erased from history, but her name has burned more brightly in the hearts and minds of the French ever since then. The humble farm girl turned the tide for the French in the closing years of the Hundred Years’ War.”

So while the black prince Edward of Woodstock (the cat) brought great destruction and a war to France around 1346 for a hundred years, for his homeland England and father, the king

Jeanne de Arc (the Ladybug) was the one who gave her defeated homeland France back their hope and strength to end and win the war in 1453

Confirming Names and Miraculous for former Holders + Change of title for the Black Prince

Alright last point of the basics.

But now you may ask yourself why the show refers to him as “Black Knight” and not the “Black Prince” if he really were Edward of Woodstock. To this I would say that there two huge factors that come into play here.

1. The show up to this point doesn’t want to out right say actual names or identities, expect for a few. There are a few more paintings and sculptures Alya goes through while pointing out the former miraculous holder in this episode and frankly, the fact that Alya never mentions names (beside Hercules) stuck out kinda odd to me considering that they are in a museum and she should be able to figure out some names from some of them, bringing a bit more of historical knowledge and facts into the show. But Alya and the show focus solely on the hero identities.This I think is happening because giving us the appearance, the typ of Miraculous AND a definite Identity/name would be too much to just throw at the audience without a proper pay off in near future.

I mean imagine if all these Miraculous holders from “Feast” the Grimoire, the little hero montage in the beginning of Origins part 1 or in this shot from “Le Befana”

had been given an official name, identity and the Miraculous type right of the bat. Don’t get me wrong it would have been NEAT no doubt, but BOAH…dude…too much information, TOO MUCH INFORMATION. What am I supposed to DO with these information’s now while the show is still in the “introductory” state and we will be dealing with the former Miraculous holder on a much later point?? Frankly, nothing. So yeah, its good that the show is being vaguer about the former holders while introducing them. That’s the right way to go.

Interestingly enough though, like I mentioned above, Hercules for example is confirmed to us not only by name, but also that he was the LION miraculous holder. He is the very first holder of the past of whom we have EVERYTHING confirmed. But I don’t think hes the only past holder we have gotten the canon name from already. I’m also 100% convinced that Akhenaton (in the English dub Tutankhamun for some reason???Oh no nononononono xD) and Nefertiti from “the Pharaoh” are former Ladybug and Cat miraculous holders too. This is a theory worthy or it’s own post with quite some points to explain so I’ll not digress here. Just know that they fit into the pattern I theorize with the past and current Cat and Ladybug miraculous holders.

Without too much digressing (I know its to late for that but shhhhhhhhhh) if we do take Akhenaton as Cat, Nefertiti as Ladybug and Hercules as Lion then we actually can pin point a difference down why these three holders were already introduced with names and others (like Knight Noir) aren’t.

Hercules for one is a legend and a myth, a figure you definitely connect more with stories than actual history. And while, yes, we acknowledge Nefertiti and Akhenaton/Tutankhamun as historical figures, they are so, SO so far away in the past that once again we don’t really see them as people who have once lived. Theyre more… concepts of people of the past with names. The fact that they are often used and portrayed in pop culture, Tv shows, movies, books ect in various inaccurate portrayals even furthers the “dehumanization”.

While historical figures like Edward of Woodstock or the Three Musketeer Ladybug above for example are not too far away from us today. We can still identify with them, their lifestyle and their environment in some sorts and as I stated above, in why I think Edward is the former Cat, the influence and meaning these people have to their national history is still great, which brings me to the second factor

2. I’m not sure if Miraculous would even be allowed to call the Black Knight the “Black Prince/Prince Noir (in French)” because as best depicted in the point of his connection with Jeanne de Arc, in a french show taking place in France he would and probably SHOULD not be portrayed in a 100% positive light. Considering what he has done to the French in real life, what his canon actions were in past in the ml universe (more to this in Part 3) I think anything but at least problematic anti-hero with good heart deep down would be historically and canonly… inappropriate. And this is where the problem lies.

Because yes, this is a french show taking place in France made by a french creator but they still cant just take an important ENGLISH historical figure pair him with an important FRENCH hero, let them both (like in real life) influence the same gigantic real life war between two real life nations and then just say: “Your legit english national hero is the bad guy and our legit french national heroin is good.” That’s just nothing they can pull.

With Jeanne de Arc yes, because she is and will undoubtedly be portrait in a good and heroic light (reflecting her real-life actions and influence on the hundred years war) but calling Edward of Woodstock out with his name, in circumstances like these while portraying him as the bad guy of the two (which he was, don’t get me wrong) is just.. it’s in bad taste and would probably offend quite some english people. And that is not something they can risk.

So what I think what they are doing here is that they changed his title from “Black Prince” to “Black Knight” because even though history remembers him as Prince, calling him a Knight is frankly anything but wrong. As I mentioned right in the beginning where I introduced Edward to you, he was one of the original Knights of the order of the garter, an order of charity founded by his father, the king. And man, he was one HELL of a Knight. So yeah, if you cant depict Edward of Woodstock as Prince then you are really not wrong off honouring his Knighthood (which the show does, like DAMN). This way, even though he isn’t called Black Prince he’s still recognisable to the people and historians who know him without much cheating considering his title or outright pointing at him and calling him a butthole (still, kudos to the show for basically doing it in “Darkblade” xD)

Puh Alright, the basics are out of th way.

Next is Part 2:The flag comparison is “Darkblade” and “Feast”

and Part 3: Are the Cat Miraculous holder knight and Darkblade the same people?

#Miraculous #Miraculous Ladybug #ml theory #past miraculous holders #former Chat Noir #ml feast #ml season 3 #ml season 1 #ml Darkblade #Cat miraculous holder in feast #Cat Noir #Chat Noir #guardians of the miraculous #ml spoilers

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thenovelartist · 6 years ago

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Falling for the Dork, set 7

<<Previous set Next set>>

22. Aged-up

Marinette was the happiest woman in the world. Attending her dream college on a partial scholarship was amazing. She was loved by her teachers for her dedication to learn and grow. She had a top fashion designer telling her which elective classes she should take to give herself the best chance once she graduated.

And she had the best boyfriend in the history of ever.

She got out of class only to see him waiting around for her, and she couldn’t help but squeal in excitement.

The moment she ran into his arms, he picked her up and swung her around once before… not putting her back on the ground.

“Hey,” she said, rubbing her nose against his. “What are you doing here?”

“The professor let everyone out early today so I ran over here as quickly as I could to pick you up.”

She giggled as he slowly lowered her to the ground. “I know the perfect café we could grab some lunch at.”

“Wherever you want to go,” he said.

With her hand in his, they walked to Adrien’s car, then drove over to the café.

“I like how you’ve been wearing your hair, recently,” Marinette commented.

“Yeah?” Adrien asked, running a hand through it.

“Yeah,” Marinette said. “Not that I don’t like the bedhead, but the side-swept look has a little more class to it. Now, to get rid of the cat pun tees.”

Adrien gasped in mock offence. “How dare you say such a thing!”

Marinette giggled. “You know I’m teasing. Though, I do appreciate that you’re starting to wear some other clothes, too.”

“My girlfriend is a fashion designer,” he said. “I had to clean up my act a little.”

“Your father is a fashion designer, and you didn’t clean up for him.”

“You’re different,” Adrien said, squeezing her hand and bringing it up to his lips to kiss. “I actually want to look like I’m worthy to stand next to you.”

Marinette scoffed. “Please. I’m the one that needs to stand up to you.”

“Yeah, right,” Adrien huffed. “As if.”

They made it to the shop, and ever the gentleman, Adrien opened the door for her.

“After you, my princess.”

She shook her head, cheeks warm. Just shy of two years of dating and he still got her flustered.

Not that she didn’t love it.

Marinette ordered for the both of them with a “trust me, you’ll love it.” And then pouted when Adrien got his card out before her.

His grin was too smug, gosh darn it.

After eating and causing a minor scene with her shoving food in Adrien’s smug mouth, the two debated if they were going to go to her house or his. Adrien said that he forgot something at his house, henceforth, to the Agreste Mansion it was.

Besides, playing UMS IV on his high definition big screen was always fun.

“Do you want to set up the game while I grab what I need?” Adrien asked

“Sure.” She knew by heart where he kept the game, so setting it up was a cinch. She then pulled both controllers over to the couch just as Adrien was approaching. “Ready to get your butt handed to—”

She froze, completely unable to finish her sentence. Because Adrien had knelt down beside her with a ring in his hand.

“I remember when we started dating that you said you didn’t want to rush into a marriage with university and all that,” he began. “But I have just been so, so happy that the thought of not marrying you isn’t even comprehendible. And we basically see each other every day even if we just sit in silence and do homework together, and… I just have to take the risk and ask you, because you’re worth it and you’ll always be worth it. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you marry me?”

Her eyes bounced between him and the ring, her poor, fried mind slowly catching up to her. Eventually, her hand found its way over her gaping mouth. “Yes,” she said, mind finally working again. “Yes. Of course, yes!”

With a grin, Adrien reached out for her hand which she quickly threw in front of him. He chuckled, grabbing hold of her hand and sliding the ruby ring on her finger.

He didn’t let go, instead using it to pull her closer to him.

She didn’t resist, leaning closer and closer until he was able to wrap his hand around the back of her head and pull her in for a long kiss.

23. Fashion Show

Adrien knew it had to be done, so he enlisted his fiancée—his fiancée! Even after four months, he still couldn’t quite get over that—to assist him.

“I managed to pair everything else down so that we could fit it in the apartment,” Adrien began. “I went through everything and took only what I wanted. However, the closet is another monster entirely.”

Marinette stared at the closet. “Yeah,” she said. “Because you saw the apartment we want to rent: the closet is…”

“Too small,” Adrien said.

Marinette nodded. “For a fashion designer and her cat-pun-shirt-loving soon-to-be husband, yes.”

Adrien couldn’t resist wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against his side. “I have no clue where to start.”

Marinette paused in thought. “Okay. So, rule: if I haven’t seen you in it in the past, like, two months, you don’t get to keep it. Even if I don’t remember seeing you in it, you don’t get to keep it. You get to keep half the cat pun shirts—”

“What?” Adrien cried.

Marinette gave him a sympathetic smile. “Adrien, honey, I love you. I love you a lot. But if I remember correctly, you have sixty-seven cat pun shirts. You don’t get to keep all them.”

Adrien pouted, but he supposed she was right. “Seventy-two.”

“Case and point,” she said. “So how about we start there. Rules: if it has holes, it’s gone. If it’s overly faded and worn, it’s gone. If I rarely see you in it, it’s gone. And then we’ll see how many are left.”

Adrien pouted. “There’s a ripped seam in my anime kitty shirt.”

Marinette sighed. “I’m not gonna fight you on that one. I’ll fix it. Everything else, though!”

“Understood.”

One by one, Marinette pulled out each shirt and examined it. If it fit the ‘dump’ criteria, then she automatically tossed it before Adrien could say a word. In the end, there was a pile of thirty-one shirts he got to keep.

“I am immensely proud of you,” Marinette said.

With a pout, Adrien dropped his forehead onto her shoulder. “My heart.”

She patted his back. “You’ll live. Now, pull out any other clothes that you wear on a regular basis.”

A couple rounds later, Adrien had pulled out all the clothes that Marinette had told him to.

“And the rest can go,” Adrien commented, looking at the still surprisingly full closet.

“Yup,” Marinette agreed. “There are more clothes in here than there are at a fashion show.”

“To be fair,” Adrien said. “I really don’t remember the last time I cleaned out my closet.”

Marinette hummed. “That’s actually not surprising. And as much as I’d love to stay and help you clean out the rest—”

“You have to go,” Adrien finished. He grabbed her cheeks, pulling her in to press a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you so much for coming to help.”

“My pleasure,” she said, grabbing his own cheeks and getting a good angle to kiss him. “I’ll see you later.”

“I’ve got to help you take all the clothes you stole down to the car,” Adrien countered. “I am not completely saying good-bye yet. And that was not a proper good-bye kiss.”

She smirked. “Fair enough.”

…

For Christmas, Marinette’s gift to Adrien consisted of a rather large gift box. “For you, my love.”

Adrien eagerly opened it, only to nearly scream in excitement at the quilt Marinette made with all his old cat-pun tee shirts.

“Did I mention you are the most wonderful woman in the whole world and that I am the absolute luckiest man alive to be marrying you?”

“Hmm… once or twice. Now put me down; you’re squishing me.”

24. Bridal Style

Marinette had never planned on having a winter wedding—she was not a cold weather person—but having her wedding after the holidays allowed nearly all her and Adrien’s old classmates to come since they were already back in Paris for winter break. Everyone was overjoyed for them, of course because, in the words of Alya, “you’re the best ship ever.”

When the reception came to a close, Marinette and Adrien bolted for the limo, with people throwing rice and sending wolf whistles their way.

The night was young, but Marinette and Adrien had spent the day busy freaking out in the morning, then standing at the alter and crying as they exchanged vows, then throwing a wildly fun reception. They were ready to retreat to their new apartment that they had slowly moved into yet hadn’t lived in a day yet. They decided that they would christen it tonight as a very special occasion.

After all, it was their wedding night.

“I swear, I am the luckiest man in the world,” Adrien said, cupping the back of her neck so he could pull her head close and lean their foreheads together.

“And I’m the luckiest woman in the world,” Marinette countered, placing her free hand over his heart. “I still can’t believe… wow, we just got married.”

Adrien nodded.

“We’re husband and wife.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Mrs. Agreste.”

Smirking, Adrien growled. “Yes, you are.”

Marinette giggled, her brain barely functioning.

The limo stopped in front of their apartment building, meaning the two thanked the driver and Adrien assisted Marinette, in her full-skirted wedding dress, out of the limo.

Together, they scurried to their apartment, hand in hand, grinning like giddy school kids. They slid to a stop in front of their apartment door, Adrien pulling out the key. He stuck it into the lock, and Marinette put her hand over his. Together, they turned the key to their home. Their home. The thought warmed Marinette’s heart. She was here, baring the love of her life’s last name, opening up the door to the home they now shared together.

It was perfect.

Suddenly, Marinette felt herself being lifted into the air. She squealed, reflexively wrapping her arms around Adrien’s neck. He chuckled, shifting her closer to press his forehead against hers. “I love you, my bride.”

Marinette relaxed in his arms. “I love you, too, my groom.”

He turned sideways as he entered the door so as to avoid walking her into the door frame, then kicked the door shut behind him. He turned to lock the door, but Marinette got it before he could.

“Thank you,” he said, starting toward the bedroom.

“Well, you kinda have your hands full,” Marinette said with a wink.

“Out of all the things to have my hands full with, your certainly my favorite.”

Marinette snorted amusedly, but her cheeks felt hot at the insinuation.

They got to their bedroom, and Adrien set her on the ground. They stared at the bed, one they had bought together but never used.

“So,” Adrien began, clearing his throat and calling her attention. His cheeks were bright red, probably as red as hers. “So how’s this ‘night of passion’ supposed to work?”

The words held just enough lightness in them to be funny, and Marinette couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of her. “Isn’t the husband supposed to, like… I don’t know, strip is wife out of her dress and make passionate love to her?”

Adrien flashed a new shade of bright red before smirking. “You mean, like get down on his knees and say ‘Oh, my darling!’” He was now on his knees, his head tossed back in an exaggerated attempt to be suave. “’How ravishing you look. Let me undress you in some sensual way—‘”

By now, Marinette was bent over laughing at his antics.

“’—and sweep you up in my arms, only to dump you on the plushest of beds imaginable and ravish you on the silk sheets.”

“They’re cotton.”

Adrien broke character, toppling over on the floor and holding his gut in laugher

After a while, the duo was able to settle down. “Okay, okay,” Marinette began, her voice still high from her laughter. “First, I do need you to unzip my dress. And then we’ll figure it out from there.”

Smile still on his face, Adrien stood from the ground, walking behind her to unzip the dress. “Now, don’t you let it just drop to the floor to reveal some super sexy lingerie or something?”

Marinette snorted a laugh, quickly covering her mouth again. Adrien was laughing, too, clearly teasing yet again. “You are such a dork,” Marinette said, still holding her dress up to her chest. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Undress me and use me as you please.”

Marinette barked another laugh as Adrien slipped out of his tuxedo jacket. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Honestly,” Adrien said, his tone growing a little more sober. “I’m just nervous.”

Marinette’s amusement died down, too. “Same,” she said. “I mean… we spent so long just taking things slow and not wanting things to get overcomplicated. I didn’t mind not, you know, falling into bed with you every other night as some couples seemingly do. I really just… enjoyed being with you.”

Adrien’s smile was soft and sweet. “I did, too. That is… not to say I didn’t think about it, but…” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No, I get it,” Marinette said, approaching him and taking his hands in hers. “And now we have tonight.”

He nodded. “And now we have tonight.”

They stared at each other a while longer before Adrien pulled her in close and kissed her, gently and sweetly.

She responded in kind, enjoying the sweet touches that caused her heart to skip like a schoolgirl.

“We take the night slow,” Adrien said between kisses. “And we just… figure everything out as we go.”

“I think that sounds like a good idea,” she said, leaning in to kiss her husband once again.

#miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #adrienette april 2019 #adrienette #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #married fluff #romance #but still dorky

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forkanna · 5 years ago

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[AO3 LINK] [WATTPAD] [QUOTEV]

NOTE: This fanfic was commissioned by Anonymous. Happy Easter or something!

SIDE NOTE: Yes, I am alive. No, I do not have Covid-19; all good on my end and I'm being safe. I just have been wrapped up in a lot of other projects. Obviously my commissions are still open. But I promise-promise, other fics you may be daydreaming about will return. Soon!

Jessex

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"WAAAUUAAAAAAAHHH!"

Chloe Bourgeois counted herself lucky that she had been on the way to the wedding of her one-time object of affection, Adrien Agreste, when she heard the outcry. The antics of Crepe Of Wrath had gone completely unnoticed by the future fashion magnate because she was too busy making sure her hair and makeup were flawless. If she was going to let go of Adrien once and for all, she was going to make sure he would know what he was missing when he glanced in her direction.

And now, some ninny was screaming and interrupting her mental preparations for finding someone new to crush on. Rolling down the window of her limo, she began to shout, "HEY! WHAT IS THE IDEA OF-"

Oh no.

What the hell was Marinette Dupain-Cheng doing flying through the air — especially in that billowy wedding gown, all white poofs and elegance? Maybe she would hit the pavement and become a greasy splatter. What else was going to lift her spirits than seeing her rival for Adrien's affections meeting an untimely demise?

But no such luck. Chat Noir sailed out of nowhere and snagged her out of the air before she could strike ground. Fine. As much as that would have simplified her life, she couldn't deny that in the back of her mind she actually was glad that she didn't witness one of her Françoise Dupont High schoolmates die - at least, right in front of her. That would have been gross.

Besides, Marinette might have deserved to lose Adrien, but not death. Even someone as irritating as her was a human being.

When the limo finally came to a stop in front of the church, she saw Marinette rushing up to the crowd congregated out front. There was some kind of discussion, tears were shed… boring. Because it wasn't about her. Just as Chloe opened her door to exit the limo, too impatient for her servant to do the honors-

"CHLOE!"

Before she had enough time to do anything more than squeak out "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, just what on Earth do you-", she found herself being shoved backward into the vehicle again as a well-dressed bride climbed in after her.

"Chloe, I will let you put a picture of my underwear all over the internet if you drive away right now!"

Oh, that was too good to pass up. Chloe bade her driver to take off from the curb, even though a couple of fists had begun to pound on the windows just then. What did she care? Money would take care of their commoner fingerprints.

"Well, I did what you wanted, you insane pleb. When do you cough up payment?"

"What?" Marinette was still too busy gasping for breath and fanning her face, trying to evaporate the sweat that was beginning to break out all over her pale skin. Disgusting. "I… what do you mean?"

Rolling her eyes, the blond primadonna folded her arms over her slight chest. "Are you even stupider than I thought? The deal was that I helped you make a getaway from whatever, and I get to post nudes. Your reputation is history, Dupain-Cheng."

Drooping visibly, she whined, "Aww… come on, Chloe, have a heart. I just really wanted to get away from there, I…" Her eyes started to water. "He didn't show up."

He didn't? How horrible. Marinette must have been devastated. Well, Chloe was fresh out of hearts — at least, ones that bled for people who put themselves in situations like these by marrying someone who couldn't possibly love her when Chloe Bourgeois existed on the same planet. The way she saw it, the universe was correcting a cosmic mistake. "Boo hoo. Cry me a river. Start getting naked or I'll even make you take off your underwear."

"That's awful! And how are you going to make me do anything? All I have to do is jump out of this limo."

"Go ahead." Marinette tried. And failed. "The locks are controlled by my driver for safety reasons. Only I know the secret code to open them from back here. But don't worry; I will be very glad to kick you out. Just as soon as you live up to your end of our little deal."

The irritation in her rival's dopey face was priceless. Chloe lived for that. Even better when Marinette began struggling out of the wedding gown, grumbling and swearing under her breath all the while. Though probably not actually swearing; that didn't seem like the little goody two shoes at all.

However… the mayor's daughter's feelings begin to shift the more of Marinette's trim body she saw. Maybe she wasn't being entirely objective when she called her "ugly". Once the slip came off, Chloe found herself clearing her throat and looking away. Why? Wasn't this exactly what she wanted? To humiliate the object of all her rage and disgust?

"Okay, hurry up," the girl grumbled. "I just want you to drop me off at my place so I can forget this day ever happened."

When Chloe turned and raised her phone, she had been expecting to see something cute, like strawberry patterns or pink bows. Juvenile, like Marinette. Why was she so shocked to see the red-and-black lace? It wasn't that weird — especially considering it was supposed to be the brat's wedding night.

"Chloe? Um…" Marinette was shifting awkwardly, cheeks beginning to turn red. "Can you hurry up and take the picture, if you're going to?"

"R-right! Of course, let's make sure you're humiliated everywhere." But her finger hesitated over the shutter button. Why? She couldn't possibly have been feeling any kind of sympathy for this pustule on the face of society.

Nope. Marinette deserved it several times over. So she took a couple of pictures. "That's it… now turn around and let me see that nonexistent derriere of yours."

The absolutely flushed baker-slash-designer did as she was asked, her high heels clattering to the floorboard of the limo as she knelt on the seat. Hips shifting awkwardly from side to side. Chloe felt her heart racing now; this was obscene. And why on Earth was her body reacting to it? What was wrong with her?!

"Well? Did you get it?"

"Don't… rush me…" Click. Now she felt like a total pervert for taking these pictures, even though she knew the purpose was to humiliate this dunce whom had been a thorn in her side throughout her entire school career.

Wasn't it?

"Chloe, you really are the worst," she breathed, eyes brimming with tears as she looked off out the window. As if trying to distract herself.

"No, you're the worst." But the whole situation had her second-guessing herself so badly that she sighed and bit her lip. "Looking like that… making it weird."

"What do you mean, I'm making it weird?! You're taking pictures of my butt!"

"I-I am not!" She was. "Okay, but they're for blackmail purposes! Or something!"

"I thought they were as payment for the escape…?"

"Sh-shut up!" Sighing, she put her phone away, still staring at Marinette's pert little rear. For some reason. "I'm… oh, just get out of this limo before I actually do post these."

Marinette was clearly stunned when she turned and sat down, looking at Chloe. "Wait… I thought you already did. And whoa, why are you blushing?!"

"I'm not blushing, you're blushing."

"Well, yeah! But you are, too. Is everything alri-"

"Shut UP! Just shut up, alright?! Making everything difficult, always ticking me off and- j-just GO AWAY!"

Marinette started trying to struggle back into her dress, clearly panicked by the irate tone of her rival. And of course, she was so klutzy that every movement basically set her back to the start; she dropped her shoes, picked up her dress, slipped on her slip and dropped everything again. But something about the way she was crying and undressed, and the way she finally collapsed into sobs because nothing was going right…

Chloe… wasn't laughing at her. For some reason.

"It's alright," she finally sighed irritably, kneeling next to her on the floorboards and patting her shoulder awkwardly. "You can't help that you're stupid, and lame, and Adrien obviously realised he was making a mista-"

Her words cut off when she felt arms flinging themselves around her body. Marinette was sobbing into her shoulder. Just because of that insignificant shred of sympathy?! Clearly this dumb girl was overwrought, and not even the queen of the school could bring herself to push her away because the sobs were just so pathetic.

And… her back was really soft. She smelled sweet, like macarons and sunshine. Chloe felt her brow furrowing as she embraced her a little tighter.

"I'm sorry," Marinette finally breathed brokenly as she clutched at her back hard.

"W-watch it, this is a Versace blouse." She cleared her throat, petting over her soft raven locks. "It's worth more than your life, you boob."

"S-sorry for that, too, then. Aughhhh…" She drew back, swiping hard at her eyes. Why did she miss that hug already? "Thanks for getting me out of there, and like… p-putting up with my breakdown."

"This was bound to happen. But… yeah. Um, and you should get out of here before I change my mind."

"It doesn't matter," Marinette sighed as she started struggling back into her dress in the confined space. At some point, a foot smooshed into Chloe's face, and she sputtered and squealed words that were incoherent due to the high volume. "Ngh… you still have the pics, you can blackmail me anytime. Doesn't matter."

"Oh yeah? That's what's bothering you? Gimme your stupid phone, stupid."

Marinette did. And Chloe snapped a quick selfie from a very low angle and handed it back. The dumbfounded girl whispered, "Did you just… take a… a p-p-"

"I believe it is called an 'upskirt'," Chloe grunted, even as her cheeks burned brilliant crimson. "And you're such a goody-two-shoes that you would never post it anywhere unless provoked. So there; it's insurance. Get out of here."

They were quiet as Marinette finished dressing, though she still looked disheveled. The limo dropped her off in front of the bakery. Just as Chloe moved to close the door, the ex-bride suddenly asked a pertinent question.

"Wait - why didn't you just delete my pictures? Why take one of your underwear on my phone, instead, Chloe?"

"That's… I'm-" Why did she have to have a valid point? "DON'T YOU EVER SHUT UP?!" She slammed the door shut and snapped, "Drive!"

The answer, of course, was that she had no idea. But given the way that she kept taking out her phone to glance at Marinette's lithe form, Chloe Bourgeois had an inkling - one that she was going to stubbornly ignore until it went away. Hopefully.

"I hate you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," the panicking princess muttered as her heart thudded loudly in her chest, thumbs caressing up and down the sides of her phone screen. "Hate you with a passion."

~ Le Fin…? ~

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #forkanna writes #chloenette #marinette dupain cheng #chloe bourgeois #jess the writer

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purrincess-chat · 6 years ago

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Marinette and the Lost Temple CH3

Finally finished typing this up. Would have gone faster if my cat didn’t sleep on me for two hours and then crawl over me the whole time I was typing it. Things are about to change next chapter ;) Get your bodies ready

Read on AO3

Chapter 3

“Is this really all you’re going to do on this vacation?” Plagg’s voice in her ear startled her into dropping her shovel as he peeked out of one of her pigtails. “You’re just digging in the dirt all day.”

“I’m spending time with my grandmother,” she hissed, casting a nervous glance across the garden to where Grandma Cheng was clipping damaged leaves from her pepper plants. “And we’re not just ‘digging’ it’s called gardening.”

“It’s boring! When are we gonna do something fun?” Plagg whined.

“You told me yesterday to relax, and I happen to find gardening very relaxing,” she said matter-of-factly, retrieving her phone when it dinged in her bag. “Ah, here’s something that should cheer you up. Grandma, I’m gonna take a break and go explore town a little.”

“Alright. We can pick back up this evening when it cools off again,” Grandma Cheng said, waving her on as Marinette removed her gloves.

“Where are we going?” Plagg asked as she cleaned up, and a small smile curled on her lips.

“You’ll see,” she winked. “Mama, I’m gonna go walk around town and mail some post cards to my friends.”

“Okay, sweetie. Lunch should be ready when you get back,” Sabine said as she trotted for the door.

“Is this field trip going to actually be fun, or are you just saying that so I’ll come along?” Plagg poked his head out as they biked up the dirt road.

“As if you have a choice,” Marinette laughed. “I think you’ll find it pretty enjoyable.”

The post-office was only a few minutes away, and she leaned the bike against the side of the building before heading inside. She passed the man at the counter a card that Master Fu had written for her, and he disappeared into the back, returning a few moments later with a box. Marinette thanked him awkwardly before shuffling back outside. Stuffing the box inside her basket, she rode a short ways up the road to a secluded bench along the street to open her gift. Plagg poked his head out the moment she broke the tape, sniffing excitedly.

“Could it be? My precious Camembert!” He flitted from her hair into the box as she retrieved a folded letter taped inside.

Dear Bugaboo- She rolled her eyes.

Here is a portion of Plagg’s Camembert stash. To prevent him from greedily eating his entire allowance for the week in one sitting, I’ve arranged for packages to be delivered each day of your trip. I hope you have a purrfect vacation, and I eagerly await your return to Paris.

With Love,

Your dearest Chat Noir

P.S. Don’t go falling for anyone! I am your one and only soulmate.

“That cat is so full of himself,” she sighed, flipping the letter over. “Nice stationary though, and he has surprisingly excellent penmanship. I wonder how he can afford so much Camembert.”

“His family is super rich,” Plagg said around a mouthful. “I really do have it made.”

“Hey, no personal details!” She covered her ears with a scowl.

“Lots of people are super rich, it doesn’t prove anything,” Plagg waved it away. “Personal details would be telling that his phone is full of pictures of Ladybug.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” She sighed, leaning against her fist. “That cat is so obsessed.”

“It’s hardly different from your wall of photos of that model boy,” Plagg said pointedly with a belch, patting his swollen belly.

“Okay, but that’s-” she started, but when Plagg cocked a brow, she deflated. “Touché.”

“You’re both lovesick, and personally, I find it revolting,” he stuck out his tongue, and Marinette suppressed a giggle.

“C’mon, let’s ride around and see the sights a little,” Marinette prodded him with her finger.

“Eh, you’ve seen one tree and rustic building, you’ve seen them all. I’m gonna take a nap in your bag,” Plagg squirmed away and phased through the box down into her purse, and Marinette rolled her eyes before standing up and loading her bike.

The countryside really was beautiful, but it did make her a little homesick. She hoped that everything was going okay in Paris…

***

“Tikki, can I ask you something?”

Adrien leaned against his fist glumly, swiveling side to side in his chair as he turned a Chinese notecard over in one hand. The small kwami floated over from the bed where she was reading and came to rest next to his stack of cards with a prompting smile.

“Do I have any chance with Ladybug?” He asked, and Tikki averted her gaze. “I keep hoping that she’ll fall for me, but it seems like she’s just getting more and more fed up with me lately.”

“Well, you do tend to flirt during important battles,” Tikki said pointedly.

“I know, but if I don’t flirt during the fight then I don’t get another chance. She always rushes off as soon as the battle is finished. We barely have time to talk,” he said leaning back in his chair with a pout. “Does she ever talk about me?”

“Well,” Tikki rubbed the back of her head, and Adrien deflated. “Ladybug takes her job very seriously, and I think she feels like you don’t take it seriously when you crack jokes and flirt all the time. If you want to win her over then just show her that you’re serious and focus on being her partner, not her boyfriend.”

“It’s not that I don’t take our job seriously, I just…she makes me a little crazy. She’s so smart and incredible, and I just want her to look at me,” he sighed.

“You really do love her,” Tikki remarked, and Adrien’s cheeks flushed.

“She’s the most amazing girl I’ve ever met,” he rubbed the back of his neck with a small smile.

“Just be patient and don’t push. Show her that you can be soft and caring too, and don’t blame her if she doesn’t reciprocate,” Tikki advised. “Doing so is only going to push her away from you.”

“You’re right, Tikki,” Adrien said, shifting his gaze to his lap. “I guess I’m just not good at this stuff.”

“You’re young and learning. Just think of it this way, there are probably people in your life looking at you the way you look at her who feel the same way you do right now,” Tikki said. “The boy Ladybug loves doesn’t see her civilian self either, but she can’t help her feelings any more than you can.”

“What kind of boy could be so blind? How could anyone ignore the most amazing girl in the world?” Adrien scoffed in annoyance, and Tikki averted her gaze.

“Just lay off the heavy flirting during akuma battles, and be patient. I’m sure she will be far less annoyed with you,” Tikki said before hovering back over to her book.

She’d been alive since the creation of the universe, but truthfully, it took every ounce of her will power not to bury her face and scream. Hopefully Marinette’s journey would speed up their fight with Hawkmoth, so they could hurry up and reveal themselves. She wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.

***

Marinette’s vacation was going swimmingly.

She and her grandmother were getting along, the scenery was giving her all kinds of inspiration for new designs, and for the first time in a long time, she was able to relax. Every morning she woke up and checked the news in Paris to ensure that things were going okay and was relieved each time her partners defeated another akuma themselves. Chat continued to include love letters in each box of cheese he sent for Plagg, but she didn’t mind it so much. It gave her a laugh each time and reminded her of home.

But time was running out, and she still had Master Fu’s request to fulfill. With only a couple days left on her trip, she knew that she would have to make the journey soon.

“Plagg?” She prodded him awake one evening after her shower.

“What?” The black cat moaned groggily.

“We need to come up with a plan to find Fu’s place soon,” she whispered, and Plagg sat up with a yawn.

“Oh yeah, that,” he said, stretching his limbs. “I almost forgot.”

“I’ve relaxed enough, we should go tomorrow,” she insisted, and to her surprise, Plagg didn’t argue.

“We’ll go after breakfast. Tell your family you’re going on a nature walk through that trail your aunt mentioned to get some inspiration for your designs. I’ll take you to the place,” he said with a seriousness she’d never seen from him before, but just as quickly as it had come, it faded. “Got any Camembert left?”

“Not until tomorrow,” Marinette rolled her eyes as a knock sounded on the door. “Come in!”

Plagg darted under the pillows as Grandma Cheng poked her head in.

“I brought you some tea to relax you before bed,” she explained, setting the tray on the old vanity and preparing a cup. “Have you been enjoying your stay?”

“I have,” Marinette said, accepting the cup and taking a sip.

“I know it’s not as exciting as the city, but I’ve loved spending time with you,” she set the pot down and picked up an intricately carved brush. “May I?”

Marinette nodded, turning her back as her grandmother ran the brush through her wet hair, gently combing through tangles.

“Your mother used to love having her hair brushed when she was little. Every night she would come sit in my lap, and I’d brush her hair until she fell asleep,” she said with a small smile. “I see a lot of her in you, and not just in your pretty face.”

“Maman used to brush my hair too. She’d tell me stories about visiting her grandparents in China,” Marinette said, closing her eyes. “Sometimes I wish I could be closer to my Chinese heritage.”

“You are still young, my dear, it is never too late to learn,” Marinette smiled at that, breathing deeply as her grandmother’s hands worked through her hair. She felt like a little girl again, listening to stories before bed.

The next day, Marinette packed a bag in preparation for her journey, silently hoping that no one questioned her too much.

“Marinette.” She jumped at the sound of her own name, spinning around to find her grandmother standing in the doorway. “I’ve been saving something for you for quite some time.”

Marinette tilted her head to the side as her grandmother laid a dark pink cheongsam on the bed.

“It was your mother’s when she was your age. Your great-grandmother sent it as a gift for her birthday. Why don’t you try it on?”

Marinette’s heart lurched, a warm smile curling on her lips as her grandmother helped her into it. She paced over to the mirror and turned side to side to see every angle. It was beautiful, and she felt a sense of pride wearing it.

“Fits like a glove,” her grandmother said proudly. “Normally we only wear them on special occasions, but you should wear it today.”

“Are you sure? I was planning to go on that nature walk Aunt Jie told me about,” Marinette ran her hands along one of her pigtails. “I’m such a klutz, I would hate to ruin it.”

“I’m sure you will be fine. I’ll pack you a lunch in case you get hungry along the way. You’ve got a long road ahead of you,” Grandma Cheng cupped her cheek before retreating from the room.

Marinette turned back to the mirror with a smile before pulling down her hair and tying it up into buns. When she emerged with her backpack, Grandma Cheng was wrapping a small lunch box for her.

“The dress looks so good on you, Marinette,” Aunt Jie remarked. “You really do resemble Sabine.”

“Thanks,” Marinette’s cheeks flushed.

“Try not to get lost,” her mother pulled her in for a hug.

“Don’t worry. I have my phone,” Marinette patted her purse.

“Have fun, sweetie!”

Marinette set out up the road, and after she’d put a considerable distance between them and the house, she dug out her instructions. Plagg floated out lazily as she read over them with pursed lips.

“What do you need these for? I know where we’re going,” he said, sticking his head through the paper.

“You said it had been a while since you’ve been there. Things may have changed,” she said pointedly, and Plagg pressed a paw to his chest.

“You don’t trust me!” He gasped accusingly. “After I’ve put my neck on the line for you, and this is the thanks I get? I am speechless.”

“No, no, it’s not that I just-” Plagg turned away stubbornly, and she sighed, tucking the note away and smiling. “Okay, Plagg. I trust you. Lead the way.”

“This way, if you don’t mind,” he instructed pointing in the direction of the woods. “Or was it that way…”

Plagg led her on a long, winding journey filled with lots of wrong turns and dead-ends. After an hour, she was beginning to suspect that he’d forgotten the way after all until his expression grew solemn.

“We’re getting close,” he said with a tone she’d never heard from him.

“We’ve been wandering around in the woods for a long time, and there hasn’t been anything but trees,” she said with a hint of skepticism.

“That’s because the place we are going is hidden by magic. Only those with a Miraculous can get in,” Plagg said, stopping short and causing Marinette to nearly bump into him. “We’re here.”

Marinette surveyed the overhanging trees with a creased brow as Plagg led the way forward, and as they traveled deeper down the grove, the scenery began to shift and change before her eyes, the ring on her finger glowing green.

“Welcome to the temple of the Order of the Guardians,” Plagg said, holding his arms out to encompass the remaining archway and stone slab. “What’s left of it anyway.”

“So, this is the temple that got destroyed because of Master Fu’s mistake?” Marinette’s eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, he really messed up,” Plagg said, placing his arms behind his head and crossing one leg over the other. “I’m starving after all that walking; did you bring any cheese?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and pulled her purse over her head, setting it down on a nearby stump.

“In there. I’m gonna look around a little, okay?” She said, glancing over her shoulder as Plagg dug out a wedge of Camembert.

“Sure thing,” he waved her on, watching as she cautiously crept forward, and in a flash of light, she disappeared the moment she stepped through the arch.

“Good luck, Marinette.”

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #plagg #adrien agreste #tikki #marinette march #my writing

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whitebear-ofthe-watertribe · 5 years ago

Text

That Which Holds Us - Chapter 6

Pairing(s): Adrien / Marinette, Nino / Alya

Summary: It has been several months since Ladybug and Chat Noir discovered their true identities. Now that they are not trapped by secrets, they can finally be their full selves around each other and have never been closer. Marinette is going into her final year at university, Adrien is exploring new classes and passions, and their friends Alya and Nino seem to be moving towards a happy future together. It all feels like things could not be better.

But of course, nothing in life is quite so perfect.

When Adrien starts having vivid nightmares and visions about his mother, old questions begin to resurface. Will he be able to find the answers, or will these ghosts from the past tear apart the heroes of Paris for good?

Reminder, you can also read / follow this fic at AO3 here, and FF.net here.

Previous Chapters

Chapter Word Count: 6,909

Enjoy!!!

Alighting onto the roof of a building across from student housing, Ladybug paused.

Chat Noir stopped beside her, his cat ears swiveling as they picked up on the screams of people bolting from one of the apartments.

“What in the –” Ladybug began, but before she could finish, an explosion brought them both to their knees.

An entire wing of the apartment’s third floor had been blasted open. Great plumes of dust and debris billowed onto the street. Another round of screams echoed from the people below.

Without hesitating, Ladybug stood up again and launched herself over to the explosion site, soaring through the wreckage of what used to be an exterior wall.

Chat Noir was right on her heels.

Ladybug coughed, covering her mouth and nose as she peered through the thick cloud.

“Hello?” she called. “Hey, is anybody –”

Click-click.

“Look out!” Chat barked.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her back as a small flock of odd white birds suddenly appeared from the rubble.

They hovered before them for a heartbeat. Then, letting loose an eerie cry, they attacked.

Chat whipped out his staff and spun it lightening quick, creating a shield against the birds.

One by one, they smacked against the room’s remaining wall and fluttered to the ground.

Ladybug squinted at the birds. There was something strange about them. Something… not quite alive.

Click-click.

Ears perking at the noise, Ladybug craned her neck towards the hall, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from.

Click-click. Click-click.

“Well, I suppose I should be flattered to have the two most renowned superheroes of Paris in my room,” came a voice. “But honestly at this point, it just drives home my humiliation.”

A young woman stepped through the battered doorframe and turned to face them with a glower.

She looked to be made entirely out of parchment. Inky dark circles hollowed the skin beneath her eyes and ran down her cheeks like tear stains. Her hands and forearms were stained as well, the ink rolling down her fingers and dribbling into a murky pool on the ground, almost as if she stood in her own blood.

Click-click. Click-click.

The Akuma played with something small in her hands.

Ladybug guessed that whatever it was must be the source of the clicking.

“We’re here to help you,” she said, raising her hands placatingly. “We don’t want to hurt you, and I’m sure you don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“Oh! So now it matters what I want?”

Click-click. Click-click.

The Akuma let out a laugh that bordered on hysteria.

“It sure as hell didn’t matter to my professor when they rejected my theses as plagiarism this morning! It didn’t matter that I’ve spent weeks researching everything and killing myself to get everything written in time! But no. All it took was some asshole turning in my own work right before I could, and suddenly none of it matters!”

Click-click. Click-click.

“I’m sorry,” Chat Noir said, taking a hesitant step forward, his eyes sympathetic. “I can’t imagine how much that hurts.”

“I don’t want your pity,” the Akuma spat, her inky hands balling into fists. “I am Plagiaress, and I will take back the words that were stolen from me.”

Click-click.

With a snarl, Plagiaress raised her arms and the birds, which had been laying motionless on the ground, suddenly rose to attention.

‘Not birds,’ Ladybug realized, getting a better look at them. ‘Paper airplanes!’

But before she could think more on it, the planes had shot forward and blasted them both through the wall.

Ladybug spun blindly through the air. The airplanes whirled around her, blocking her vision and causing dozens of paper cuts across her face. With a shriek of frustration, she whipped her yo-yo out and flung it in a direction she desperately hoped was up.

For a heart stopping second, she fell.

Then, with a violent tug, the string of her yo-yo snapped tight; it had caught on the roof of the dorm building. Ladybug soared out of the cloud of paper as the ground rushed up to meet her. Stumbling onto the cobblestones, she spun around just in time to see Chat Noir’s startled face before – WHAM!

He plowed into her.

The wind left her with an “Oompf!” as her back hit the ground. The part of her mind that wasn’t ringing in pain expected the sharp edges of paper airplanes to tear them apart. But after a moment of nothing, she opened her eye.

Chat Noir had bolted to his feet. He spun his staff rapidly, fending off the whirlwind of paper that had them surrounded.

“Sorry about that!” he called over the loud flapping. “You alright, M’lady?”

“Yeah,” she muttered weakly, wincing as she got to her feet. “Just peachy.”

“Any thoughts on how to stop these things?” he said, putting his back to hers as she started spinning her yo-yo.

“I don’t know! Did you see anything that the Akuma might be inside?”

“Did you see what she was holding before she –”

Click-click. Click-click.

A furious bellow rang in Ladybug’s ears, drowning out Chat’s words. Something slammed into her, knocking the breath out of her once more as she tumbled through the whirling airplanes. She looked up just in time to avoid another direct hit from Plagiaress.

A pen in the Akuma’s hand caught Ladybug’s attention as she righted herself again to block another jab.

Plagiaress was brandishing the pen like a pocket knife.

Click-click.

Ladybug didn’t know what would happen if Plagiaress managed to cut her with the pen, and she certainly didn’t want to find out.

“Ladybug!” Chat shouted, struggling to cover his flank once more as her absence left him vulnerable to the airplanes.

“It’s her pen, Chat!” she shouted, dodging another swipe, which was difficult as a new wave of planes circled around her once more.

“Give me your Miraculous!” Plagiaress cried, twirling the pen and stabbing out at Ladybug’s ribs. She missed and tried again for an arm.

“How is my Miraculous supposed to help your situation?” Ladybug said breathlessly, her attention torn between the planes and the Akuma.

“How the hell should I know?!” Plagiaress snarled. “Obviously, life isn’t fair, Bug. I’m just trying to get by like everyone else. But at least getting your Miraculous is a tangible goal! And I won’t fail this one.”

With a snarl, Ladybug kicked at the Akuma’s shins.

Plagiaress lost her footing and toppled to the ground.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug cried, seizing her chance and tossing her yo-yo high into the air. A strange rubber bag fell back into her hands. In an instant, she realized that she now held a polka-dotted hot water bottle.

Plagiaress jumped back to her feet, her expression murderous.

A dark shadow behind the Akuma caught Ladybug’s eye. She glanced up to see Chat launch himself forward, his hand swirling with Cataclysmic energy.

But Ladybug’s distraction was all the warning Plagiaress needed.

With a snarl, the Akuma spun on her heel and flung her arm out at him.

The tornado of airplanes shot forward and blew Chat away. With a dreadful THUD, he hit the wall of the half-destroyed dorm building. Cracks spiraled across the stone where his Cataclysm had made contact.

Ladybug winced.

“Chat! Are you ok – ?”

It was then that she saw it happen. Something in Chat Noir’s expression changed. No longer were his bright green eyes focused on the battle. Now his pupils had turned to slits, and his entire face paled.

Ladybug’s stomach plummeted.

“Chat?!” she shouted. “Chat Noir!”

With a snarl, Chat Noir’s eyes closed, and he clutched at his head as if his very skull were about to crack. His snarl turned into a scream.

‘No!’ she thought with a horrified realization. ‘No, not again! Not now!’

She stumbled forward. She didn’t know how she could help him, but she had to try.

Before she could take two steps, Plagiaress lashed out.

The tip of the Akuma’s pen lanced across her left wrist, and a searing pain shot through her.

Looking down, Ladybug saw a dark stain blossoming from the place that hurt most.

‘Blood?’ she thought in alarm.

But no… not blood, ink. Just like the ink that dripped from the Akuma’s arms and stained her cheeks.

Ladybug’s hand seized up, and she felt the muscles turn as brittle as paper. The sensation slowly began to creep up her forearm as the ink stain grew.

“Chat!” she screamed again, panic growing in her chest.

Chat Noir had fallen to his knees, still holding his head as if trying to stop it from splitting open.

Plagiaress lunged forward once more, narrowly missing Ladybug’s neck. She called upon her airplanes, and the whirlwind that had barraged Chat now returned to attack her in full force.

“Chat, snap out of it!” Ladybug cried, her voice breaking in desperation as she flung her yo-yo about her, trying to keep the Akuma at bay while hundreds of airplanes pelted her, stabbing like needles. “Chat, please! Help me!”

“He can’t help you now,” Plagiaress said with a wicked grin. “Monsieur Hawkmoth has other plans for him.”

Ladybug’s heart shuddered at the Akuma’s words as she realized she was truly alone in this.

‘I need to destroy the Akuma,’ her mind raced as fast as her yo-yo. ‘I’ll get to Chat when I destroy the Akuma.’

Everything that followed became a blur.

In desperation, Ladybug pushed against the onslaught and began her own attack. Her left arm grew limp and useless as the ink stained its way past her elbow. Each of the razor-sharp airplanes sliced at her, but she gritted her teeth and ignored the searing pain.

Her single focus became destroying the vile Akuma.

‘Destroy the Akuma, get to Chat.’ The words ran through her head, over and over, the two goals intrinsically linked. ‘Destroy the Akuma, get to Chat. DESTROY THE AKUMA, SAVE CHAT NOIR.’

A deafening rumble sounded as the ground shook beneath them. Clouds of dust rose out from the dorm building that Chat had Cataclysmed. Its foundation was collapsing.

Ladybug ignored it. She could fix it with her Lucky Charm. She could fix everything. She could save Chat Noir. She had to.

The Akuma charged, brandishing her deadly pen with a crazed scream.

Ladybug flung the hot water bottle out with her good arm and caught the pen inside the small opening at the top. Using Plagiaress’ momentum, she spun with the Akuma in a wide circle and yanked the hot water bottle upwards.

With a snap, the pen broke.

All around her, hundreds of razor-sharp airplanes froze before fluttering to the ground. A small, dark butterfly emerged from the pen’s broken pieces.

Ladybug quickly tossed her yo-yo forward to capture it. In the span of two heartbeats, the insect was cleansed of its vile magic.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” she said, flinging the hot water bottle high above her. A glittering cloud of familiar magic surged around her, healing her arm and restoring the surrounding buildings to their original state.

The young girl – now transformed back into her normal self – sat on the cobblestones looking around in a daze. Catching sight of Ladybug, her eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth in horrified realization.

But for once, Ladybug couldn’t bring herself to bother with the Akumatized victim.

A few yards away, Chat Noir was kneeling on the ground, his head still in his hands and his shoulders trembling.

Hurrying over, Ladybug frantically crouched beside him to find his eyes blown wide in alarm.

“Chat,” she whispered, running her hands along his arms helplessly. “Are you ok? What do you need, how can I help you?”

“I – I’m sorry,” he said, his voice cracking as he stared past her. “Th-this is… it happened again…”

“Ladybug!” someone called her name, and she looked up to find that a small crowd was forming as people came out of hiding. Most of them were the students that had fled their apartments during the beginning of the attack. A lot of them were still in pajamas.

“Chat Noir, if I may ask you both some questions!”

A reporter was pushing past others to get close to them, his camera held high.

“Chat Noir! Why did you collapse like that?” came another shout from behind them, and turning, Ladybug saw three more people with their own cameras pressing in.

“It looked like you were holding your head! Were you under psychic attack?”

“Is this a repeat of what happened to you last night?”

A couple of the cameras flashed.

Ladybug felt Chat flinch as they went off. He tried unsuccessfully to turn away from them.

“Ladybug, do you feel let down by Chat Noir?”

“C’mon,” Ladybug murmured. She stood and gently pulled Chat up with her. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Chat Noir, are you even still fit to be fighting monsters?”

“Do you still feel up to defending Paris?”

“Is the pressure of years of fighting finally causing you to have a breakdown?”

“I’m sorry,” Ladybug raised her voice to be heard over their chatter. “We don’t have time to answer any questions right now. There’s important business we need to attend to!”

Chat had his head ducked down as he held on tight to her arm.

She wrapped her fingers securely around his.

“Please,” she tried to back away from the onslaught, pulling Chat with her. “We really need to go, please let us go, now!”

“You heard her!” came a voice, ringing just as loud as her own. “Back off! Please allow our heroes to move along.”

Ladybug looked around to see a young man sporting bright ginger hair carving a path through the people surrounding them. Taking in his uniform, she recognized him as the recently appointed Chief of Police, Monsieur Thomas Benoit. He was flanked by several fellow officers who were giving stern looks to the reporters.

“Clear off, everyone. Go about your business. Move along!”

The officers were holding their arms up, working together to form a small path for the two of them.

Ladybug hurried past them with Chat pressed against her side. She shot Benoit a grateful look, and he nodded in return.

Together, she and Chat Noir launched themselves out of the square and hurried across several rooftops before stopping some ways away from the commotion.

Ladybug turned to Chat as he began pacing and running his hand agitatedly through his hair.

“I’m so sorry that happened,” he said finally, turning towards her.

She could see the panic pulsing in his wide green eyes.

“I don’t even know where to begin… I… I don’t know what triggers it or how to make it stop, I just…”

He slumped down against the roof’s railing, pressing his face into his hands.

Ladybug’s breath caught in her chest. She moved towards him and put her hand on his shoulder.

When he looked up at her, he was on the verge of tears.

“I’m so sorry for letting you down,” he said, his voice breaking.

Ladybug’s mouth falling open.

“Excuse me?”

Chat’s hands fell to his sides as he stared down at his feet.

“I was useless out there. More than useless. I should have been able to have your back but instead I just… put you in more danger.”

“No!” Ladybug said hastily, gripping his shoulder tighter and giving it a small shake. “No, no! You’re not useless! Don’t you dare listen to what those people were saying, they don’t –”

“I was a liability,” Chat said firmly, avoiding her gaze. “You had to do twice the amount of work because of me, and it almost got people hurt.”

“N-no! Chat, I… Everything turned out ok!” Ladybug spluttered. “You were under attack, it couldn’t be helped –”

Her protests were cut short. A loud clanging bell rang out just then, making them both jump. Looking around for the source of the noise, they spotted a clocktower a couple blocks down.

Ladybug looked back around to see Chat close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Damn,” he muttered. “I’d forgotten I was supposed to meet with the group from Valentino this morning.”

Ladybug stared at him incredulously.

“You’re leaving?”

“I’m sorry, I need to go –”

“I kinda think that dealing with what just happened takes precedence!”

Chat shook his head sadly, never once looking directly at her as he pulled away. “I know, I – I know. But I can’t –”

“Wait, no!” Ladybug reached for his hand and held it firmly within both of hers, trying to pull him back. “Chat, we need to talk about this! Can’t anyone else do it? Call Zacharias –”

“You heard them last night, they insisted on meeting with me. They’re only here for today, and I’m responsible for it…” He gently extracted himself from her grip. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just… I feel like I’m suddenly losing my grip on life, I can’t let this be ruined too.”

“Chat Noir you CANNOT just leave like this!”

Ladybug took a step towards him, preparing to tackle him to the ground if that’s what it took.

Beep-beep!

She froze in her tracks, a hand instinctively reaching up to her Miraculous.

Chat finally looked back at her.

“You’re about to detransform,” he said, a sad smile tugging the corners of his mouth.

“Well, so are you,” she angrily gestured at his ring, which displayed that he had only a couple minutes left.

“Tonight,” he said. “Before we head over to Nino’s, we’ll talk. I promise.”

“Chat, wait!”

“I’ll leave early this afternoon, I promise we’ll talk more about it later.”

“CHAT!”

But he had already gone.

Ladybug gazed after him as he disappeared over the rooftops. She had half a mind to just throw caution to the wind and chase him down. They could probably catch one another if they ran out of time, right?

Beep-beep!

With a heavy sigh, she turned and slid down the side of the roof and leapt down to the alley below. Detransforming, she caught Tikki up in her hands and gently helped her into the bag at her side.

“Do you think he’s going to be ok?” Marinette asked, walking along the alley towards the busier road ahead.

Tikki looked up at her, wide eyes filled with worry.

“I don’t know,” she said, her voice small. “I haven’t seen this before. Something is definitely wrong.”

“I hope he gets done with work early. I’ll bet he and Plagg are just as exhausted as we are, they really shouldn’t push it.”

Tikki just nodded before ducking out of sight.

Shoving her hands into her jacket pockets, Marinette made her way out of the alley and onto the street. Her feet carried her in the direction of the nearest café. Glancing through the large windows, she saw that it bustled with activity. She pushed the door open, catching the strong whiff of roasting espresso.

The line up to the counter moved slower than she had anticipated.

Letting out a sigh, she let her mind wander back to Adrien. Her stomach twisted with anxiety as she wracked her brain, trying to come up with any solution to these nightmares and hallucinations. But in all their years of wielding their Miraculous, she had never experienced what he was up against.

‘It’s all Hawkmoth’s fault,’ she thought, gritting her teeth.

He was the one making Adrien suffer. She could hardly stand it, knowing how much Adrien had already been through, how much he’d fought past the loneliness and fear to get to a place of happiness. And now, that villain was slowly trying to strip it away.

“… at the sight of the most recent Akuma attack, where Ladybug and Chat Noir recently left the scene.”

Marinette looked up.

Several people at a table nearby were crowding around someone’s laptop, which had a live newsreel playing at full volume. One of the reporters from earlier was speaking to the camera in front of the student housing building, now restored to its original structural intregrity.

“Eyewitness reports have stated that something rather strange seemed to be happening to our feline hero.”

“It looked like he was having some sort of episode,” came another voice.

Marinette strained her neck to see the reporter was now interviewing a couple students. It was a student that spoke into the mic now.

“He just froze up and wouldn’t respond when Ladybug was screaming at him to help. I dunno, I don’t think we’d be so worried if this hadn’t apparently happened last night too.”

“Do you have concerns about Chat Noir being able to properly defend civilians now?”

“I don’t want to be concerned,” said another student. “But if this sort of thing keeps happening to him, then there might be something seriously wrong, you know?”

“Well, you heard it here first,” said the reporter as he turned back to the camera. “The people of Paris are afraid. Is Chat Noir still fit to protect us from the evils that plague our city? Tune in for more at ten.”

Utterly floored, Marinette starred as the group pulled away from the screen and began whispering amongst themselves.

Was this what other people were thinking? Did it only take a couple missteps for them to turn their back on him? Should she have said something to those reporters when she had the chance?

“It looks like the ol’ Chat Noir isn’t doing his job so well anymore.”

Marinette frowned. Raising her chin, she glanced around, trying to see who belonged to that voice.

“Well, it seems he was under some sort of attack more than anything else,” another voice responded. “Who’s to say he wasn’t fighting off an Akuma mind trick?”

Marinette turned to stare at two men who were waiting off to the side of the counter for their order. They, much like herself, had clearly been near enough to that group to hear everything in that news report.

“If it’s happened twice in a row it just seems a bit suspicious,” the shorter man was saying while his companion frowned. “If we need someone defending us against all these crazed monsters, I think I want people who are actually fit for the job.”

“I dunno, man,” the taller one said. “They’ve done their best up till now, shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt?”

“Well, their ‘best’ still has us left with effing Akuma attacks every week! Obviously their ‘best’ isn’t going to stop it all anytime soon. Maybe this is a sign we need some new heroes, who are mentally stable and actually competent!”

Marinette grit her teeth.

“Oh, come now,” sighed the tall man. “Who would you possibly replace them with?”

“All I’m saying is we shouldn’t have to risk our safety on a superhero who can’t even avoid a mental breakdown in the middle of an attack!”

Marinette caught the shorter man’s eye, and her steady glare made him shift around uncomfortably.

Their order was called just then, and – doing his best to avoid her gaze – the man ushered his companion along. They hurried out of the café before she could think of how to confront them.

Breathing hard, Marinette clenched her fists around her bag’s shoulder strap.

First those reporters, and now this? They all had no idea, no idea how hard Chat Noir fought for them! All those times he’d risked his life to save innocent people, and they can’t even be bothered to give him a little grace?

She suddenly found herself at the front of the line, gazing into the face of an expectant barista. Blinking, she opened her mouth for a long moment, before bowing her head apologetically and shifting back out of line.

She wasn’t in the mood for coffee anymore. Her blood was already boiling.

Turning, she made her way through the throng of people and hurried back onto the street in the direction of her studio.

She knew these latest attacks would be all anyone could talk about now. And imagining how Adrien would feel once he heard what they were saying made her stomach churn.

Climbing the stairs up to her class’s floor, she shoved open the door and stalked over to her usual corner. She was the only one there so far, which turned out to be lucky, for when she pulled her bag off her shoulder and threw it onto her desk, Tikki let out an indignant squeak.

“Sorry, Tikki,” Marinette mumbled, slumping down onto her chair and wheeling it over to the mannequin that sported her half-completed dress.

Tikki peeked her head out of the pocket she hid in, and seeing the empty room, she floated out to sit on the mannequin’s shoulder.

Marinette rubbed at one of her temples.

“He’s going to be ok,” Tikki said softly.

Taking in a deep breath, Marinette straightened up to look at her.

Tikki gazed down at her sympathetically.

“I hope so…” Marinette said finally, releasing her breath in a long sigh. “I’m just worried that the people of Paris won’t give him that chance.”

“You can’t control what people think and say,” said Tikki. “You can only keep doing what’s right.”

Marinette didn’t respond. She wasn’t in the mood to think about how easily Paris was persuaded to doubt and mock someone who had done nothing but give so much to them.

Rolling her stool back over to her desk, she dug a pair of earphones out of her bag and set some loud music on her phone.

Tikki gazed at her for a long moment before settling down out of sight once more.

Marinette threw herself into her work, desperate for distraction.

She and Mathis had made a surprising amount of progress in the last few weeks, despite butting heads every five minutes. They collaborated only when necessary. For both their sakes, it was easier to remain as far apart as possible. To his credit, Mathis had behaved better recently than she had ever seen him in all their years of school. But every time she considered giving him the benefit of the doubt, memories of what he had done to her the previous year flashed across her mind, convincing her to keep her guard up.

Fortunately, between Mathis’ unparalleled skills in clean lines and perfect construction, and her own flair for the dramatic, they had cobbled together a series of dresses that even she had to admit were impressive.

The dresses were structured in ways that fit the forms of their models like nothing Marinette had ever made before. Mathis had constructed swirls of material that shimmered like burnished metal and floated along the runway like liquid smoke. She had then come up with embroidered patterns that gave off the impression of molten steel in a forge. Upon closer inspection, however, one would see the intricate details of countless flowers and stars whirling through the folds of fabric.

Three dresses had been mostly completed. A fourth now hung on Marinette’s mannequin, and the beginnings of a fifth lay atop Mathis’ desk across the room.

Pulling out spools of crimson and gold thread, Marinette hunched over the latest garment – a short and simple asymmetrical dress with a dramatic cloak that draped across the shoulders – and carefully stitched a starlight pattern into the fabric. All five fingers on her left hand were guarded by thimbles; growing up, she’d had more than enough experience accidently stabbing herself with needles.

As the morning turned to afternoon, the studio filled up around her with fellow students.

Meesh and Alec both arrived at some point, but Marinette barely spared them a nod. The needlework was involved enough that she was finally able to quiet her worried thoughts for Adrien, focusing instead on each of the tiny details. The stress still sat at the back of her mind, but her music was almost able to drown it all out.

Almost.

“Well, well, Marinette,” a familiar snide voice said over the song playing through her earphones. “It looks like your super-feline friend isn’t doing so hot lately.”

Frowning, Marinette looked up to see Mathis standing casually beside her, his cold grey eyes inspecting her embroidery.

“What are you talking about, Mathis?” she sighed, removing her earphones and raising an eyebrow pointedly.

“Have you not been paying attention to the news?” he asked, incredulous. Coming from him, the concern in his tone sounded particularly mocking. “The videos have been playing everywhere.”

Pulling out his phone, he flipped to the local news and scrolled down to the day’s headlines, holding it out for her to see.

Marinette stared. The first article read:

CHAT NOIR CAUSES CATASTROPHE

And below that:

LADYBUG LET DOWN: CAN OUR BELOVED HEROINE STILL COUNT ON HER SIDEKICK?

Images of the morning’s attack were coupled with those from the fight during the party.

Marinette’s jaw tightened as she watched shaky footage of Chat Noir collapsing to the ground. A fresh wave of pain stabbed through her heart as he cradled his head in his hands, his entire body trembling. In the background, she saw herself desperately battling the Akuma while shrieking for Chat to snap out of it.

She finally tore her gaze away as the footage clipped to a news anchor comparing the two attacks. Staring down at the pile of thread and fabric in her lap, she clenched her hands into fists to stop them shaking.

“Yes, I’ve seen it,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Hmm…” Mathis murmured. “I would have thought that you might care a bit more about this. After all, he was the one who saved your collection last year from that terrible intruder.”

Marinette stiffened, remembering how Chat Noir had come to her room several months prior, carrying the garment bags that held both her Gala collection and Meesh’s. Chat had told her of a masked person who had broken into their studio and would’ve destroyed their collections had he not been there to fight them off.

At the time, there hadn’t been enough evidence to prove Mathis was behind it, but whether it had been Mathis himself or someone he hired, they remained convinced he was the one to blame.

“I mean, of course I hope he’s ok,” Marinette said stiffly. “But I’m sure it’ll all be fine. For all the media knows, it could have just been part of the Akuma attacks. Weirder things have happened.”

“I don’t know,” Mathis said, shrugging. His expression might’ve been sympathetic if it had actually reached his eyes. “It all seems a bit strange to me, seeing as how nothing similar happened to Ladybug.”

Marinette shrugged.

“Well, who knows?” she said dismissively, biting down on the many colorful retorts that ran through her head. “Listen, I have a lot I want to get done today. Is there something you need?”

Mathis sneered down at her. Clearly, he had been hoping to get more of a reaction from her about Chat Noir.

“No,” he finally said after a long moment. “I’ll be at my desk if you need to discuss anything.”

Marinette nodded, without looking back up at him. After a moment, she saw him turn and walk away out of the corner of her eye.

Letting out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, Marinette gathered the thread in her lap and began to insert a new piece through the needle.

The tension she’d tried to ignore all morning was back again in full force. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the image of Chat Noir helplessly fighting an invisible enemy out of her head. It took a tremendous amount of effort to try and focus back in on the pattern she was embordering.

“Hey, were you guys just talking about the Akuma attacks?” someone said, and Marinette looked around to see Meesh peering curiously over her own work. “Whatever was going on with Chat Noir seems pretty odd, right?”

Marinette frowned and opened her mouth to speak.

“Oh man, that footage was crazy!” Alec chimed in before she could reply. “I mean the guy went straight out of commission!”

“Oh, I suppose you both are doubting his abilities too, huh?” Marinette snapped, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“I didn’t say that,” Meesh said, surprised. “I just thought it all seems pretty weird. I mean, am I wrong?”

“No, something is definitely off,” Alec nodded emphatically.

“It’s not his fault!” Marinette clenched her garment’s fabric tightly as she glared at them.

“But you have to look at the facts, Mar,” Alec continued. “I mean, clearly something is wrong with him!”

“I can’t hear this.”

Marinette spun her stool around so her back was to her friends.

As much as their words irritated her, she held her tongue. She supposed they at least didn’t mean anything by it. Even if they, like everyone else, didn’t have the advantage of knowing Chat Noir like she did, both Meesh and Alec had also grown up in other countries. They didn’t have years of seeing him fight on their behalf; to them, he was just some intangible comic book figure come to life.

“Hey Mar?”

She jumped.

Meesh had come up beside her.

“Are you ok? You seem pretty upset.”

“I’m fine,” Marinette shrugged. What else could she say?

“Are you sure?” Meesh asked, dropping her voice and leaning forward slightly. “I mean I’m worried about Chat Noir too. But you know you can talk to me, right?”

“I –” Marinette opened her mouth hesitantly. Unfortunately, as much as she trusted Meesh as a friend, she could never share the truth. “I just have a lot of… work to get done.”

Meesh gazed down at her with concern before finally nodding. Reaching out briefly to give Marinette’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, she turned and made her way back to her desk.

Marinette sighed as she went back to her own work. But her eyes no longer saw the embroidery she held. Instead, the images of Chat, so helpless and in pain, kept replaying across her vision.

Clenching her jaw, she squoze her eyes shut and shook her head vehemently. No, she couldn’t bear to think of it anymore, not while there was nothing she could do to help him. If she could just focus on her work for a little while longer, Adrien would be coming to get her, and she’d finally be able to leave.

But her efforts proved useless. Now that she had removed her earphones, she became increasingly aware that Chat Noir and the most recent attacks were all anyone in the studio was talking about.

“It’s hard to say,” she heard someone nearby mutter. “I mean it sounds like no one really knows what’s going on.”

“Have you seen the videos?” another voice responded.

“Yeah, it looks like the guy is having a mental break, right?”

“I dunno… I’m worried about him, you know?” a third voice chimed in. “What if something’s happened to him and he can’t help Ladybug anymore?”

Marinette grit her teeth, trying to tune out the conversations around her. Could no one talk about anything else for even five minutes?

“Well this is two times in a row now that he’s gone all weird like that. Ladybug’s been lucky so far with defeating the Akumas by herself, but how long do we expect that luck to hold?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I hope the guy comes out of this ok. I just don’t think he’s cut out for the superhero stuff anymore, you know?”

“Yeah, I mean how is some crackpot going to be able to save lives when he can’t even save himself?”

“Well, I s’pose you do have a point there.”

“Let’s face it, Chat Noir isn’t useful to anyone like this.”

“We need to be able to rely on the city’s heroes, not be worried that they’ll slip up. Someone could die like that.”

“Ladybug needs to move on to someone better.”

“Yeah, I agree!”

“ENOUGH!”

The entire studio fell silent, turning to look at Marinette as she stood, breathing hard, before the group who had been talking. Her embroidery needle was still gripped tight in her hand.

“What’s the matter with you people?!” she growled, her voice shaking with rage. “How dare you talk about Chat Noir like that! He’s spent half his life defending this city, defending people like you every single day! And the second something happens, you’re all ready to just turn your backs on him? To just reject him and say you want someone else for the role instead?”

“Marinette,” one of the boys who had been speaking against Chat broke in. “All we’re saying is that if someone is going to help protect everyone, he needs to be fully reliable.”

“Yeah!” said another girl. “Ladybug deserves a partner who won’t let her down like that! She needed his help and all he did was lay down for the Akuma to pummel them both.”

“Ladybug figured it out!” Marinette said, advancing toward them. “They’ve been in much worse situations and they always find a way to save everyone!”

“Not always,” Mathis said from across the room. Everyone turned to look at him, so he shrugged and continued. “They haven’t always been able to set everything back to normal, and people have gotten hurt. I thought you would’ve been the last person to forget that, Marinette.”

She balled her fists tighter. The needle she held stabbed into the palm of her hand, but she hardly felt it over the rushing in her ears.

It was true, they hadn’t always been able to miraculously restore everything – the scars hidden along her hairline where proof of that. If it weren’t for Chat’s sacrifices, she would be dead.

But how dare Mathis, of all people, bring that up? If it hadn’t been for his attack as the Puppet Master, none of this would be happening. Chat would never have had to absorb the Akuma’s darkness, and Adrien would not be suffering from the nightmares and hallucinations now.

Mathis’ expression was unreadable as Marinette glared at him, though she thought she saw the smallest hint of amusement tug at the corner of his mouth.

“Regardless of what went down before, something really weird is going on now,” someone finally said, drawing murmurs of agreement from their classmates. “If Ladybug hadn’t been there, her sidekick would’ve been toast.”

“And so would everyone else, for that matter.”

“Chat Noir isn’t Ladybug’s sidekick, they are equals! Partners!” Marinette’s voice rose to a shout as she spun back on them.

“Then she deserves a better partner!”

“Marinette?” came a quiet voice from behind her.

Marinette whipped around and froze.

Adrien was standing just inside the studio door. From the look on his face, she could guess that he had heard more than enough of the argument.

“You about ready to go?” he said, putting on a pleasant smile.

To anyone else, he might look perfectly relaxed, but Marinette caught how the corners of his eyes tightened.

“Yeah,” she said finally, nodding. “I just have a few things to clean up.”

“Kay, I’ll wait downstairs, then,” he said, bowing his head and turning back towards the door to the stairwell.

Marinette watched him go, her heart clenching in her chest as she saw his shoulders droop. Then, shooting a venomous glance back at her silent classmates – Mathis was watching her with a raised eyebrow – she swiftly returned to her desk to gather her belongings.

The needle she had been gripping so tightly was lodged far deeper in her palm than she’d realized, and it went in at an unfortunate angle. Pain jolted sharply through her hand as she pulled it out, and a dull sore throbbing replaced it as a trickle of blood began to flow. Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she grabbed a small piece of scrap fabric and held it tightly to help staunch the bleeding.

The murmur of voices had returned as people began discussing the superheroes’ troubles once more, but Marinette couldn’t be bothered with them anymore.

Meesh and Alec offered her small smiles as she made her way towards the door. Meesh especially looked sympathetic.

Marinette gave them a farewell nod in return as she pushed the door open and hurried down the stairs.

Adrien stood leaning against the railing on the bottom landing. He offered her a small smile, which she might’ve returned had she not felt so sick with worry.

“So, your day seemed a bit tense,” he said lightly, pushing himself off the railing and moving to hold the door open for her. “People seem to be pretty upset about this whole Chat Noir thing, huh?”

“Adrien…” she sighed, following his lead and stepping outside.

“It’s fine, Mar,” he said shrugging. “Really, I’ve been hearing it all day.”

“That doesn’t make it fine,” she retorted as they began walking through the quad. “I can’t believe the things people are saying!”

“Can’t you?” Adrien shot her a sidelong look.

“Stop it,” she snapped.

He shrugged but said nothing more.

“Are you sure you’re up for tonight?” Marinette asked after a moment as he yawned. “You haven’t exactly been able to rest much lately, maybe you should take it easy…”

Adrien paused thoughtfully.

“I want to go,” he finally said with a resolute nod. “I could use a bit of normalcy in my life right about now.”

Look at that! ME?! Actually updating when I said I would??! AND in just a week instead of a year and a half like last time??!? I dunno, seems fake.

Haha I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! And never forget, I’m a slut for comments! ;D Love you all, and thank you SO MUCH for reading!!!

PS: I also just got a brand spankin new computer!! It definitely cost more than three months of my rent, but it’s been a long time coming. The important thing is that I can FINALLY use my drawing tablet again and start making art to go with this story! Also (no promises) I’m seriously thinking about doing a short animation for one of the scenes from chapter 12... Keep an eye on the #TWHU fic tag!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fic #adrinette #marichat #ladynoir #ladrien #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #twhu fic

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dragonfairy1231 · 6 years ago

Text

Reversed Quartet

This was partially made for and very much so inspired by queenofhearts7378. Please check them out, they and thier Secret Quartet side blog are amazing!

Chapter 1. Heroines in New York?

“Ugh!” A teenage girl with bright violet eyes, pitch black hair and a fair complexion groaned into her phone, on which was a three way call to her best friends.

“It-It’s not that bad Sam.” Danny Fenton, son of local town (formerly thought to be mad) scientists and known as the boy with his head in the stars around the small town, tried to placate his irate friend.

“Not that bad?!” The girl shot back, springing back up from the bed she’d just laid down on.

“Danny, I’ll be going to New-freaking-York. Just so that my mother can go see the newest fashions revealed. And I’ll be gone for a week! What if something major happens?” She frantically questioned him. Should someone have been listening in, they may have thought she was referring to the Ghost Attacks the small town of Amity Park suffered from nigh daily. However, you would have then been very confused, considering any ordinarily rational person would want to be as far away from those attacks as possible. Yet, Samantha Manson, who’d tell you yes, is usually quite rational, wasn’t a particularly ordinary person. This is thanks to an accident involving the Fenton’s portal into the Ghost Realm a little less than a year ago; the purple eyed girl was, quite literally, only half alive.

Or, more accurately, a Halfa. Half ghost, half human. Her ghostly self was known as Sam Wraith*, Amity’s own superheroine against the other ghosts that came through the Fenton’s portal in order to start and stir up trouble. Sam has made it her job to make sure Amity Park was safe from the more ill-intended ghosts, while calming and even befriending those who were merely sprites born of being wronged in their own life or afterlife.

Thanks to her mother’s plans of going to New York, and dragging her husband and daughter with her though, Sam would not be able to do her job for an entire week, more than long enough for the town to be destroyed. The other voice on the phone call snapped Sam from her thoughts with a scoff.

“Well geez, thanks for the faith, Sam.” Tucker Foley shot back, the Techno Goth of the Trio, who knew how to solve most of the team’s problems either by technology or the dark mythology he so enjoyed. Sam rolled her eyes as she let out a puff of exasperation.

“It’s not like I don’t trust you guys, I just don’t trust karma, fate, chance and all those other universal forces to not send the biggest baddie here the minute after I’m out of state.” She refuted. She heard Danny giggle softly over the phone and resisted the urge to clutch at her heart at the sound, despite neither boy nor anyone else being able to see her. ‘Stupid crush!’ She cursed as Danny began to speak up again.

“Sam, we can deal with a little bit of trouble. If it gets that bad than we have Jazz, Marth*, my parents and even Valerie helping out. The town will survive, promise. Besides, even superheroines deserve a week off every once in a while. And yeah, I know that a fashion week isn’t really your scene, but it’s New York. There has to be plenty of things to do. Not to mention all the different cultures.” Sam bit back a groan and gritted her teeth. He was tempting and daring her now.

Yet, Danny has always been able to do that, he knew just what to say, always. Whether her and Tucker were fighting about Veggies VS Meat, or she was riled up because of Skulker’s bragging of his ‘accomplishments’ in hunting down others. It was probably bad he had so much power with just a few words, but he never abused it against anyone. That was just part of who he was. As always, Sam let out a sigh.

“Yeah… okay…” Sam relented, “but only because Marth is around.” Danny and Tucker laughed.

“Of course.” She could hear Tucker’s smirk over the phone and solidly decided she’d pinch his ear next time she saw her goth friend.

“Well, I’ve got the last bit of Lancer’s essay to power through, so I need to let you lovebirds go.” Tucker told them.

“WE’RE NOT LOVEBIRDS!” Came the automatic angry yell from Sam and the embarrassed one from Danny. Tucker just laughed as he hung up as he said goodnight, leaving his two friends alone on the line.

“I have to go too, Jazz and I need to make sure all the ghost gear is turned off so none of it finds Marth in the night or morning.” Danny told her, the shyness he never quite could be rid of evident in his voice, and Sam smiled.

“Okay, night Danny. And, thanks again.” She told him.

“You all are always welcome here Sam, goodnight.” Danny responded as he hung up. Sam sighed again as she stared at her ceiling. She shook her head as she got changed into her PJs and headed off to sleep.

‘Who knows. Maybe a week off could do me some good.’ Sam thought before the halfa drifted off to sleep.

*I choose Wraith to be Sam’s transformed last name because of the switched from M to W is easier to correlate and similar to the F to P of Fenton to Phantom.

*Marth is this AU’s version of Danielle (Trust me, I’m sobbing that’s she’s gone too). His full name is Samarth Manson/Wraith, but he prefers going by Marth to make himself feel more different from his ‘original.’ And, unlike Danielle who could definitely be just Danny’s clone and a girl because of XY genes for male and XX genes for female, Marth got his Y gene from Danny, which is why he stays at Danny’s house instead of with Sam when visiting Amity. That and the fact that he’d have two people looking out for him and if he is sighted or his signature found it can be more easily played off by being in a ghost hot spot. And, yes, Vlad is around in this AU, and his goals still include the death of Jack and Maddie for his wife, as well as Danny as his son because of the boy’s intelligence and skills with ghost weapons. He wants Sam as his protege, the one to which he will teach all of his skills to. However, Danny and Sam both vehemently refused. So it’s actually a bit ambiguous if Marth got Danny’s DNA in him on purpose or accident.

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“Marinette! Are you ready?” Sabine Cheng called out to her daughter, her and her husband’s suitcases besides her.

“Almost, Maman!” Her daughter called back. Said girl already had her suitcase packed, and was now looking for her portable charger that she knew was somewhere for the plane ride.

“Ugh! Plagg, could you please help me?” The blue eyed girl begged the small black kwami that floated above her desk, currently eating his apple and camembert cake.

“I could, but… I could also keep eating this.” The black cat countered,cackling as he took another bite of his cheesy cake. Marinette sighed and shook her head, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. As troublesome as her kwami could be, she couldn’t help but love the mischievous cat-like being.

You see, most people would peg Marinette as a normal girl, with a normal life. Marinette herself would be the first to say as much. But, she had a secret. She was one of Paris’ two main heroes, Chat Noir! With her Kwami Plagg’s help, she was able to transform into the superheroine with the power of destruction at her fingertips with only a word needed to give the command. Her partner, the ever handsome Ladybug, and her had saved the city more times than one could count on both hands from Hawkmoth and his Akumatized victims.

Right now, however, Marinette was going to visit her mother’s cousins along with her parents, the Longs. The Longs lived all the way in New York City, New York, America. Which brought Marinette to her current problem. The aspiring fashion designer could’ve sworn she placed her portable charger on her desk just last night, but it was now misplaced. Which seemed just her luck.

Speaking of… her phone began to ring, and a quick check revealed it to be one of her best friends, Adrien Agreste. Adrien was usually extraordinarily busy, being a model for his father’s fashion line, taking fencing, piano and Chinese lessons, on top of school and basketball. However, all of this had not stopped the green eyed blonde and the clumsy dark haired girl from becoming equally extraordinarily fast friends, almost to the same level as her and her nearly life long friend Alya Césaire. Marinette put the phone to her ear and smiled as she continued to search for her charger.

“Hey Adrien!” She answered happily.

“Morning, Bluebell!” He responded, calling her the same nickname he’d had for her since the sweet valentine he’d shyly given her. “How’re you doing today?” The blonde asked her. Marinette gave a half-hearted groan as she began to check the floor by her closest.

“Well, we need to leave in half an hour, I still haven’t eaten breakfast and the infamous Marinette luck has struck again, this time against my charger.” She jokingly complained. Adrien laughed and Mari had to smile at the noise, he didn’t laugh enough. And honestly, no one could deny the sound was practically sunshine. ‘Just like a certain spot of pure sunshine.’ She thought dreamily before shaking out of her fantasies and back into the present.

“Where have you checked so far?” Adrien asked her. Marinette hummed as she thought.

“Computer desk, where I thought I left it, floor around said desk, corners, fashion desk and floor around there, and now closet.” She listed.

“How about under your bed?” He suggested. Marinette blinked and shrugged.

“Okay, but I don’t see how it’d end u-what the heck?!” She exclaimed as she put her hand under her bed and almost immediately found her charger. Adrien laughed again and Marinette shook her head.

“Adrien Agreste, the everworking lucky charm.” She giggled.

“Aww, you flatter me Bluebell.” Adrien flirted back jokingly.

“So, what were you up to beforehand?” Marinette wondered as she placed the charger (after checking to make sure it was charged) into her travel bag, along with her drawing pad.

“Three guesses.” He responded dryly.

“Model shoot?”

“And she gets it in one!” Marinette laughed at her friend’s dramatic announcer voice.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the shoots, but sometimes I wish I could just sleep in for a little bit. Once I’m up, I’m up until night.” He told her.

“Yeah, I’ve seen and marveled at that.” Marinette replied.

“Marinette? You ready to go?” Sabine’s voice called again.

“Oui maman!” Marinette called down as she grabbed her suitcase and bag.

“You’re going to visit your cousins, right?” Adrien questioned.

“Yep. Oh, hold on a second, Alya is calling. I’ll just make a four way call between us and our favorite couple.” She giggled as Adrien chuckled. Marinette saw it was now time for her family to leave, lest they be late to the airport. As the phone was still ringing Marinette spoke to her Kwami.

“Come on Plagg! We’re going to be late!” The black cat sighed before zipping to Marinette’s inner jacket pocket that she made for him, making a pleasantly surprised purr at finding it newly lined, and with some of the decorative yarn hanging from the edges. Marinette giggled at the vibrations against her heart, and began to make her way down the stairs as Adrien and Alya answered again, Nino joining the call a few seconds later.

“Hey girl! Hey Nino, Adrien!” Alya’s voice called out.

“Sup Alya, dude and dudette!” Nino greeted.

“Hi you guys.” Adrien responded.

“Morning Alya, Nino. And I was already talking to you, Agreste.” The four laughed, calling each other by last names had long since been a running joke. “My parents and I are about to be heading out to catch our flight.” Marinette told them.

“Well, you seem to be going to New York at a wonderful time for you, Mari.” Marinette could practically hear her friend’s smirk over the phone.

“And why is that?” She questioned her friend suspiciously.

“Yeah, I’m confused too.” Nino told his girlfriend.

“Oh! I remember now. My dad had gotten an invite but he turned it down in order to prepare for Paris’ next month.” Adrien added. Marinette raised an eyebrow and waved at her parents, accepting a cream cheese and berry danish from her father with a smile and mouthed “thank you.”

“Well don’t keep us in the dark, dude! Spill!” Nino implored. Marinette hummed her agreement with her friend through her mouthful of danish. Adrien and Alya laughed and Adrien said Alya could tell.

“You’ll be arriving at the same time New York’s fashion week starts girl!” Alya told her. Marinette was very glad she had just finished swallowing because her mouth had flew open and, if not for her willpower to avoid awakening her napping Kwami, she would’ve bounced in place.

“You’re kidding?!” Marinette nearly squealed, using her napkin to set her danish down. Her parents gave her questioning looks and she mouthed “NY Fashion Week!” with a large grin. Sabine gave a start and a giggle as she checked her phone, seeing that her cousin Susan had just texted a certain question. Tom gave his own deep laugh as he rubbed his enthusiastic daughter’s head.

“I can’t believe I’m actually going to be in New York during it’s fashion week! Maman, Papa, I know we’re going to see family but can we please, please pretty please just take a little peak?” Marinette begged her parents. Sabine giggled as she showed her daughter her phone, which showed her Aunt Susan asking

Susan: Hey Sabine, your daughter wants to be a fashion designer, right? Would she be interested in helping me out with some catering things for NY’s fashion week? It comes with free tickets.

Marinette couldn’t control it now, and did bounce in place, rushing to give her mother a hug and rambling to explain to her friends. It seemed as though her trip to America wouldn’t be able to get any better!

* Okay so… Adrien likes Marinette as way more than “just a friend” (I’m calling you out Agreste!!!), and I put this in through the nickname of Bluebell, the same way canon Chat calls canon Ladybug My Lady. AU Ladybug (Since male Ladybugs are still called Ladybugs, and with his general reaction to the stereotypically feminine things, I feel like Adrien wouldn’t really mind being called Ladybug. Plus it still allows for a lot of puns.) will playfully call AU Chat Purrincess (because this is still Adrien being a superhero. Just because he’s not Chat Noir doesn’t mean he won’t crack puns every five seconds.) and Chaton, but he likes his partner in a one hundred percent ‘platonic’ way. Or, at least as platonically as Canon!Mari likes Canon!Chat. This Marinette, on the other hand, likes her hero partner a lot, even if he does crack silly puns all the time at her expense as well as his own. And she’s completely oblivious to Adrien’s feelings for her, and will always deny Alya’s claims that the blonde does like her romantically despite his flirting that she always takes as joking. So… the Love Square. It’s still here. Yay! And! Mari likes to pamper her Kwami when he behaves himself. Plagg is anything but complaining when he finds all the little surprises Mari will leave for him, such as small balls of yarn, small knitted blanket piles, camembert treats and cubes, and little softly lined pocket in her purse and jacket so that he can be close by but take all the catnaps he wants.

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Theresa Fowler groaned as she popped her back. The flight from her hometown of Norrisville, Oklahoma to New York City, New York, was a tiring one.

“You alright, kiddo?” Her dad questioned her. Theresa smiled back.

“I’m okay dad. My back just hurts from those chairs. They were totally wonk.” She told him. He chuckled and shook his head.

“I will never get your generation’s slang, ‘resa.” He told her. Theresa just grinned back as she blew violet and indigo strands out of her eyes.

“Alright, your mom should be picking us up soon. Why don’t you use the ladies’ room while I call her and get us some food to go. I’ll send you a picture of the menu. After that, we can go to baggage.” He told her.

“Alright, thanks daddy. See you in a bit.” Theresa then jogged off to find the bathroom, the red glow coming from her bag brightening, causing Theresa to almost curse. Grabbing her cell, she put it up to her ear as she talked to the centuries old book.

“Okay, yes I know, just another minute. I’m trying to find the bathroom Nomi, would you calm down?” She told it. The glow died down and she rolled her eyes.

‘So dramatic!’ She thought. Finally, she found the bathroom. And by some miracle, a stall was empty. After putting a paper down so she could sit (do you know how dirty airport bathrooms are???)

“Okay, what’ve you got for me Nomicon?” She questioned as she shloomped into Nomicom’s lesson world.

Shadowy figures filled her view. One was very familiar, being herself. Well, herself in costume, at least. The Norrisville Ninja’s figure was with two other feminine ones, and one that was a frickin DRAGON, so that was cool. One of the female figures didn't have legs, rather a wispy sort of tail. The other was just a cat girl as far as Theresa could tell. A catgirl with a staff, but still, catgirl. The neon words then filled her view, as the four figure faced off against another figure, this one with a much meaner aura.

“Four heroes, with Power from times ancient, shall face a darkness reawakened. A bond between the Shadow Walker, Fire Breather, Nature Specter, and Sable Destroyer alone can withstand the restless Myth.” Theresa read. She blinked furiously as she looked at the five figures, trying to make out the Nomicon’s strange prophecy.

“Nomi, wha-” She felt herself starting to be tossed out and bit back a curse.

“Oh come on! At least explain it better than that! Nomi!” She yelled before being thrown back into the real world.

Theresa sighed, disgruntled. Sure, she loved being a heroine and all, but why did prophecies have to be so convoluted?

*Yep. Rather than Randy, the Messenger choose Theresa in this AU. I’m not actually sure if the Ninja has ever been female, as the only past ones we see were male, but it has now happened.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Rose sighed as she stared at her ceiling. This Saturday was so far kind of boring. Sun said that there didn’t seem to be any trouble so far, and that Rose should take today to catch up on her homework. Her sister had even agreed, saying she could take care of any problem that came up in the community. Rose was grateful for that, but it was seven o’clock when that happened (curse her internal alarm!), and it was now two p.m.. Safe to say, Rose Penson was very bored. Trixie was visiting a hospital that was allowing high schoolers a chance to see how some surgical procedures were done, and Spud was… well he hadn’t picked up his phone so she assumed he was busy. Which only left…

“Hey Rose.” A very familiar voice greeted softly from her window. Rose’s face lit up as she saw her boyfriend sitting on her open window sill.

“Jake!” She grinned, bouncing off her bed to hug the green haired boy. Jake chuckled as Rose pulled him into her room, as Jake would often come in this way. After all, if anyone from the Huntsclan saw him just walk through the door, Rose and Raquel’s parents and identities would be in quite a bit of danger.

“Sorry I haven’t been able to come in a while.” Jake grinned sheepishly. Rose shook her head as she pecked him on the cheek.

“It’s fine, I understand. I’m just glad you were able to come over. I was kinda bored.” The blonde giggled.

“Aww, my dragoness was left all by herself? How cruel.” Jake teased. Rose laughed again.

“Dork.” She told him. Jake dramatically put a hand over his heart.

“Oh! How the lady wounds me!” He whisper-exclaimed as he fell onto his girlfriend’s bed. Rose couldn’t help laughing again, and Jake mentally clapped himself on the back. He knew it was cheesy, but man, did he love that sound. Rose sat down next to him, and ran her hands through his surprising soft hair.

“No gel? I thought your hair looked a bit deflated.” She whispered. Jake took her other hand and kissed the back of it.

“Just finished attempting to train 88 and 89 again. It was either hair gel, or you. I think I made the right choice.” Rose hummed, unable to keep her own smile off her face.

“I think so too…” she kissed the top of Jake’s forehead, and the couple just smiled at each other. Both inwardly sighed, content to just relax with the other close by. Jake and Rose may have had more rough patches than most couples, because of what they were. The fire that rested in Rose’s lungs, and the magic in her veins, being the first of her kind to be born with such in America, her role was clear. Being the American Dragon was her fate.

The mark that the swirled around Jake’s hand, visible only when he didn’t gloves or hide it with powder, pronounced that he was to be a slayer of dragons. To kill even the one he knew he loved. Even though Jake had refused, sometimes, he wondered just what Fate and Destiny had in store for them. He just hoped they would be on their side.

It was moments like this, that he remembered why he wanted that so badly. To go against everything he was taught and raised to believe. When he could see the flaxen haired, blue eyed beauty above him. Even when she had turned into a dragon, with sky colored eyes and slit pupils, with glinting scales and hair spun of gold, he couldn’t help but to be awed by her. Likewise, Rose adored him, this was her hunter. With hair dyed green by gel, and eyes so dark a brown they looked like two black holes that would just suck her in. She didn’t care that she was taller than him, it just made it easier to tease him and kiss his forehead and cheeks. They were each other’s first love, after all. And with how much they had been through, they believed that, just maybe, they were in love.

The sound of a phone ringing cut off their moment, and Jake groaned when he saw the number.

“Hello?” He questioned as he picked it up, gesturing for Rose to keep quiet.

“Yes. … No. … Yes sir. … I’ll be there shortly.” He said emotionlessly, hanging up his cell. Rose looked at her boyfriend, who had assumed a rigid upright position since he answered the phone. She watched him deflate and she put her hand gently on his shoulder.

“Do you have to go?” She asked him. He gave a half smile half frown.

“Sorry lovely, but we can’t have them getting suspicious. I much prefer your head where it is to be frank.” He stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead. She walked him to the still open window, and as he climbed out, she grabbed the front of his shirt, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.

“Come back soon, Hunter Boy.” He grinned.

“As you wish, Dragon Girl.” And he was off. Rose sighed before shaking her head. Geez, sometimes she really did feel like a silly, love struck teenager. Of course, at least her boyfriend was no better. She walked over to her laptop and pulled up a site of what was going on this week.

“Huh. There’s a fair in downtown Manhattan? Sounds interesting enough.” The blonde shrugged. A knock on her door, which Rose answered with a “come in!”

“Hey Rosie, do you have any plans for today?” Her mother poked her head into her elder daughter’s room. Rose has just closed her laptop and was heading to her closet to pick out a hoodie to ward off the spring chill, even if her inner fire usually worked plenty enough to provide her with enough heat.

“There’s a fair going on in Downtown Manhattan. Figured I’d let ‘quel, Trix and Spud know than start heading down there myself.” Rose told her. Amaryllis Penson hummed.

“Well, tomorrow is the beginning of New York’s fashion week. I know you’re not super into the latest fashions, but I figured some mother-daughter bonding wouldn’t hurt.” The elder blonde offered. Rose narrowed her eyes, a small smile playing on her face.

“Raquel said no already, didn’t she?” She folded her arms as her mother groaned.

“Really sweetie? Just have to call me out like that?” Rose laughed as she nodded.

“Yeah mom, I don’t have any plans for tomorrow anyway. It sounds fun.” Rose told her. Amaryllis grinned as she hugged her elder daughter.

“Oh, here. For the fair. You know they’re really expensive, and working at Mr.Long’s* shop only gets you so much.” Amaryllis said as she pressed five twenties in her daughter’s hand.

“That’s for your sister too by the way.” She told Rose. After putting the money in her wallet, and her wallet in her handbag, she gave her mother a quick “thanks” and a hug before rushing down the stairs with her helmet and grabbing her skateboard.

“Later mom!” She called.

So far, today seemed like it’d be a pretty good day.

*so the Longs (and by extension, the Changs) still have Dragon Blood, but they haven’t had the actual transformation in many generations. Lao Shi decided that unless his grandchildren were dragons, the secret wouldn’t be passed on, hence why he still knows of the magical world and has Fu Dog, but isn’t the Chinese Dragon. He just accidentally found out Rose is the American Dragon, and offered her a cover job. She does help out in the store and work there, and Jake has been over a few times and met the man. Lao Shi thinks that his employee’s boyfriend looks an awful lot like what his grandson could’ve, but doesn’t act on any suspicions incase they’re wrong, and he would only cause more harm to his daughter.

#four way crossover #secret quartet #reverse!AU #for queenofhearts7378

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thewritewolf · 5 years ago

Text

Eating Habits Chapter 3: Worry

A month into Marinette’s first semester at university, Adrien works a shift at the bakery before meeting Marinette for a date at their favorite restaurant.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. My ko-fi.

“...And that’s the best technique for kneading the bread, son! Any questions?”

Adrien felt Tom’s gaze on him as he worked the dough, his tongue sticking out a little as he concentrated. The past few shifts at the bakery had been very enlightening. Mostly for figuring out how Tom became so big and strong - the giant sacks of flour and the constant kneading of dough had already starting wearing Adrien down. And he’d had years of superheroics to toughen him up!

“No, I think I’ve got it this time.” Adrien glanced at the lumpy, slightly burnt excuse of a loaf of bread that he’d made earlier that day. “...Right?”

A giant hand patted him on the back. “I’m sure, son. You’re doing much better this time around.” After they’d set it aside to let it rise, Tom dusted off his hands. “It’s good of you to want to learn to cook. It’s a skill that everyone should have.”

They each picked up a platter of freshly baked croissants and walked out to the front of the bakery. The midday rush had just run its course and most of the shelves had been picked clean. It was the ideal time for them to restock with the lack of customers.

Sabine patted him on the shoulder as he passed. “Thank you for helping, sweetheart. It’s always wonderful having you around the bakery.”

“Aw, really?” Even after all these years, it was difficult to fully grasp sometimes - adults that actually enjoyed his company!

“Of course, son!” Tom laughed. “Heck, we were worried we’d be seeing you a lot less now that our little cupcake has moved out.”

Adrien smiled as he restocked the macaroons. “You won’t be getting rid of me that easily!”

“That’s great to hear.” Tom moved swiftly between display cases, much faster than Adrien was plodding along. “We’ll be needing all the help we can get around here.”

“Why’s that?”

“The bakery has been doing wonderfully,” Sabine said. “In fact…” She looked at Tom meaningfully.

The large baker’s eyes lit up. “In fact, we were even considering opening a second location.” They both glanced at Adrien. “It won’t be anytime soon, of course, but…”

“...But it’s certainly something to consider,” Sabine finished. “And we can’t be in multiple places at once, so we’d need extra help.”

Adrien wasn’t dense. Well, he wasn’t as dense as he used to be. He understood what they were getting at, but he still wasn’t sure about anything. Any thoughts about careers or education or businesses… that was all still in the air. Would he continue modeling? Would he pursue one of the many hobbies he’d be forced to collect during his lycee years? Who knows?

So, for now, he dodged the question by changing it to everyone’s favorite topic.

“Have you guys spoken with Marinette much recently?”

If they noticed his blatant evasion, they didn’t mention it.

“She tries to come over for dinner during the weekends,” Sabine said. “But other than that, no.”

“We aren’t that surprised, though.” Tom tucked the empty platter under his arm and leaned against the counter. “She always was the sort to throw herself into something with all her heart. Whenever we do get a chance to talk, she goes on about all the projects she’s working on.”

“And the organizations she’s joined?,” Adrien prodded.

“Not to mention how she’s become the head of some of them.” Sabine smiled proudly. “Our little girl was always a natural born leader. Even if she sometimes had a crisis of confidence, she always managed to find a way.”

Adrien smiled slyly as he finished stacking fresh baked goods. They were proud of her for being a leader, but they didn’t even know the half of it. Marinette lead more than classes and student bodies - she inspired the city and lead superheroes into battle. Adrien knew that he, at least, would follow her wherever she led.

And today, that meant letting her choose the venue of their date for today. He pulled out his phone. Still two hours to go, but…

“Do you mind if I clock out now? I’m meeting Marinette for dinner.”

“Of course, son. You’ve done more than enough for today..” As Adrien set one foot outside the store, Tom yelled after him, “I’ll let you know how your bread turns out, too. Say hello to her from us!”

Adrien flashed them a smile. “Don’t worry, I will!”

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

A shower, a change of clothes, and a kwami feeding later and Adrien was out the door of his apartment and heading for a nice little Italian restaurant that they both loved.

He’d been looking forward to this for days now. Finding the time for a date had proven to be very tricky ever since Marinette had started university. Not that he blamed her. He wasn’t sure about all of what university entailed, especially for a design student, but he knew that she wouldn’t leave him hanging intentionally. And he was patient. He was more than willing to wait for a date, just like when he’d tried to get that first date with her all those years ago.

His pleasant memories were disrupted by a jarring sight. Marinette was waiting for him, but there was a certain… dimmed quality to her, if that made sense. She was less vibrant. Paler. She’d done amazing work covering it up with make up, but he’d spent his entire life around the finest makeup artists in the business. Even if he hadn't see through it, there was an exhaustion in her eyes that no amount of concealer can hide.

Adrien pulled out the seat opposite her, his hand immediately reaching for hers. Her forced smile flickered and faded when she saw the worried expression on his face. She sighed.

“Yeah, I know. The semester has been a bitch.”

“But… you’re only a month in, bugaboo!” His eyebrows scrunched together in concern. “Are things really that tough over there?” He looked into her eyes. “Is there any way I can help?”

A smile - real, this time - lit up her face. “That’s very sweet of you to offer, but no. I don’t think there is.” She sighed. “Unless you want to spend a few hours holding fabrics for me, but even then-”

“Tonight? Sure, I can do that.”

“Kitty, I know you want to help, but this’ll be pretty boring.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But at least I’ll be with you, right? That’ll at least make things go a little faster.”

“I…” She bit her lower lip, a little bit of the light returning to her eyes. “Thanks. I’d actually really love the company.”

He took her hand and squeezed it. “Me too. Now,” he raised an eyebrow, “would I be right in assuming you’ve gotten so caught up in work that you haven’t been eating?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and took back her hand. “Now you’re sounding like Tikki. I promise I’m eating, Adrien. It might not be three course meals, but it keeps me going.” She distracted herself by looking at the menu again. As if she would be ordering anything but her favorite.

Adrien took the opportunity to look her over again. He was reminded of the times during summer photo shoots when his normally strict diet became even more restrictive. The way he thinned out might have looked good on the camera as he modeled swimsuits, but he remembered how awful he felt during that time. It wasn’t healthy when he did it back then, and it wasn’t any better for his girlfriend now.

Maybe it was just a transitionary period. Maybe once she had a grip on her new workload, her eating habits would return to normal. But for now, something needed to be done.

While he was plotting, the waiter arrived for their orders. While Marinette asked for her usual of arrabbiata pasta, Adrien ordered two plates of his meal, plus extra appetizers. It earned him a strange look from Marinette, but he had a plan.

They chatted over their dinner. Mostly it was Adrien letting Marinette talk - about commissions, about classes, about the other students, whatever was weighing on her mind. He asked questions when he could to keep her going, offered advice whenever he could. It was gradual, but he could see the weight slowly lifting from her shoulders as she unloaded on him. It warmed his heart to see her start to come alive again.

But eventually, their meals were eaten. Marinette shot another curious look at his second plate, which had gone completely untouched. The mystery was solved when Adrien asked for it to be boxed up.

As they walked out of the restaurant, she asked in a teasing tone, “Don’t trust me to feed you while you’re over?”

Adrien chuckled. “This,” he tapped the box, “is for you, lovebug. I want to be sure you’ll at least have one good meal after I leave.” He winked at her. “Besides, we both know I’ll be the one cooking breakfast tomorrow.”

“It’s not my fault you get up at sunrise like some sort of monster,” she grumbled, but he could see her fighting down a smile. Adrien couldn’t cook much, but breakfast was something he had down pat.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. “You’re welcome.”

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

They got to her apartment and Adrien was surprised to notice that it wasn’t much different than when he had helped her unpack. It was as if she gave up on decorating partway through and her projects had taken over. And given that they moved her in not long before the school year started, that might very well have been the case.

They were barely in the door when Marinette let her hair down.

“Make yourself at home, sunshine. I’m going to slip out of this dress and into some pajamas.”

Adrien opened her refrigerator to stash the leftovers away and waited for the door to Marinette’s room to close. Once he heard the click, he opened up her purse and revealed a tiny red kwami.

Tikki blinked up at him in bemusement, a macaroon halfway to her mouth. “Um… hello, Adrien. How can I help you?”

“I can promise you Dupain-Cheng cookies if you give me the information I need.”

The kwami’s eyes widened as a calculating look passed over her face. Plagg may have been the more gluttonous of the two, but Tikki had her weaknesses. And there really wasn’t any better baked goods anywhere else.

Tikki floated out of the purse and glanced back at Marinette’s room. “You better ask quick, then.”

“Has she been eating?”

“Barely,” Tikki rolled her eyes. “If you can get her to eat more, please do. She skips meals all the time to get work done.”

“Is she taking on too much?”

Tikki shrugged. “You know how she gets. It’s a lot, but she is used to dealing with a lot.”

He’ll count that as a definite ‘maybe’ then. “How about-” Marinette’s bedroom door creaked open and Tikki flew away. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Not something reassuring, but at least now he had a sense of what he was dealing with. He walked around the couch and sifted through Marinette’s DVDs.

“Want to watch a movie while we work, bugaboo?”

Marinette sighed, a content smile on her face as she relaxed in her baggy sweater and yoga pants. “I would love to, kitty.”

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

Saturday morning and Alya was already frustrated with Marinette’s apartment as she trudged up three flights of stairs. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as taxing as half the things she did as Rena Rouge, but it was the principle of the matter.

It was as she was angrily trudging up the stairs that she nearly collided with someone going the opposite direction. She managed to keep her grasp on her phone. Years of hanging out around Marinette had made sure that reflex was deeply instilled. After a quick second to confirm that she hadn’t dropped anything, she looked up at the person she’d nearly been bowled over by.

“Well, if it isn’t centerfold himself!” A wide grin crossed her face. “How’re you doing? Did you make a nocturnal visit, hm?” She waggled her eyebrows.

As hoped, Adrien blushed. “No- Well, I mean, yes, I did come over last night, but that’s not- we didn’t-”

She chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder. “Relax, sunshine. I’m teasing. Care to give me the news on what’s up with our favorite girl?”

Alya listened to Adrien as a frown slowly deepened on her face. It sounded a lot like half a dozen times Marinette had started to get too caught up in something before. Her work for Kitty Section. The many events she’d pulled off as class president for years. The weeks following Hawkmoth’s reveal. Compared to those times, this wasn’t that bad… yet. But knowing Marinette, they’d need to nip this in the bud before it blossomed into a big problem.

“...You see why I’m worried, right? It might not be serious now, but if this is how she keeps going for her entire college education…” He trailed off, nervously stepping from one foot to the other as he watched Alya.

“I get what you mean. I’ll see if I can talk some sense into her, but you know how she can be…”

Adrien seemed crestfallen. “Yeah, I know.”

“Still, thanks for the update. Don’t worry, I’m sure this is just her getting used to these big changes. See ya, later, hot shot.” Alya squeezed his arm reassuringly as they passed, already forming a game plan. She knocked on her best friend’s door.

Marinette answered. “Alya!” She smiled and wrapped her up in a hug. “I didn’t realize you’d be here so early.”

Alya smirked as she followed Marinette into her apartment. “Is that why I passed your lover in the halls? Should I give you a little warning so you can sneak him out earlier?”

Much like her boyfriend before her, Marinette blushed in embarrassment. “Alya…” she whined.

“You two are too easy,” Alya said with a snicker. She took the opportunity to put her nosy journalist skills to good work as Marinette returned to the piece she was working on.

The breakfast on the table - mostly untouched - definitely had Adrien’s hallmarks on it. The boy only knew how to make like three dishes well. All three were breakfast foods and she suspected some hairbrained advice from her boyfriend was to blame for that. She frowned when she saw that only a few bites had been taken out of it.

“Your breakfast is gonna get cold, M.”

Marinette groaned. “Now you’re sounding like Adrien. It’ll still be there when I’m done with this, I promise. I just need to-”

“Just need to have breakfast before your best friend force feeds it to you? Couldn’t agree more, M.” Alya put on a sickly sweet smile and Marinette dragged herself over to the counter. Alya joined her and sipped at the coffee she’d picked up on her way. “Now, what’s going on in Marinette land?”

While Marinette told her about a few tickets Jagged Stone had sent her for the Parisian concert, Alya dutifully listened. She had started mentally juggling her schedule to let her spend more time with Marinette. Alya was not one to let her friends suffer alone.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #post reveal #Sabine Cheng #Tom Dupain #Alya Cesaire #Tikki #ml fanfiction #my writing #Eating Habits #The Lucky One series

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