#you could also get this cool moment where our Adrien helps claw noir by giving him ond of his rings to break free (if it works like that?) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

iamdunn · 4 years ago

Text

Sorry for removing this again but the spelling errors drove me insane 😅

Miraculous Follow up: Where’s Your Heart

A Truth & Lies Follow up Fan-Fic

Written By

AJ Dunn

Cat Noir lept from rooftop to rooftop until he slipped between two buildings and sat down in an alleyway not far from the Sien. It had been a long day and night, with two back to back akumatizations. First was his friend Luka who was also his friend Marinette’s boyfriend and a fellow band member. He was always a cool headed guy so what caused him to lose control and start demanding people tell him the truth. He knew it had something to do with Marinette because they ended up chasing him all the way to her bedroom where they finally saved him. He had even struck her parents with his Truth power. What was he trying to figure out?

The second was Kagami, his own girlfriend, and now he was sure that was coming to an end. He felt bad because he should have felt worse for causing their break up, but his feelings for her weren’t that strong. One girl held his heart, Ladybug. Though dating a superhero wasn’t easy, they would never be able to make it work without knowing each other's secret identities. He knew why Kagami was akumatized, but he still wondered about Luka.

He didn’t feel like going home so he transformed to give Plagg a rest and a snack.

“Sorry Plagg, this is the last one.” He said, tossing a tiny chunk of Camembert into the air where the Kwami gulped it down.

“Well, I forgive you, we didn’t get a chance to go home before having to save Kagami.” Plagg was acting a lot more reasonable than normal. “But don’t let it happen again.” He crossed his arms and turned away as he hovered in the air acting offended. Adrien smirked at his friend who cast a half smile back over his shoulder.

“There’s something I need to do before we head home, Plagg.” Adrien said standing up. “Plagg, Claws out.” Plagg zipped through the air merging with the silver ring on Adriens hand causing it to turn black and expose the cat paw print on the round surface piece. Adrien's body began to change, his clothes replaced with his black leather suit and a mask emerged covering his eyes. A simple disguise but it seemed to be rather effective at covering his identity. For a model, it was a breath of fresh air to be able to not be himself but also feel more like himself then ever.

Cat Noir grabbed his staff holding it vertically as he clicked the button on the pawprint and extended the staff thrusting himself into the air where he leapt onto the roof. He made his way down towards the Seine where the Liberty was usually moored.�� He crouched on the bridge looking around to make sure no one could see him.

“Plagg, claws in.” he said as he sat down. The sound of a stringed instrument played out a sad solo on the bow of the ship. Adrien stood up and walked off the bridge and made his way to the gangplank. He saw Luka sitting alone on the makeshift stage they used for their rehearsals. He didn’t look up as Adrien took his spot at the keyboard and began to play in tune with Luka’s sad melody. They played together in silence as if both were feeling the melancholy of the day reverating in each other's hearts. The tune came to a close and Adrien watched Luka hang his head with silent tears streaming down his cheeks.

“I don’t know what happened today, or why you are feeling this way.” Adrien said, sitting down next to him and hanging his head. “Did it have something to do with Marinette?” He dared ask.

“We broke up.” Luka finally said then began to pick at the guitar strings without any melody behind it. “She can’t tell me the truth.”

“What truth is that?” Adrien asked.

“She is in love with someone else.” Luka sniffled. “I knew she loved him but I thought that I could be patient and wait for her, I underestimated her feelings for him.”

“Who...does she love?” Adrien gulped. He never would have expected that after seeing the two of them at the ice rink. They looked so in love or maybe it was just Luka.

“That is not my secret to tell.” Luka looked up at Adrien and smiled. It was a knowing smile, calm and peaceful yet sorrowful. “But I can tell you he has no idea what he's missing out on.” Adrien remembered his, or Cat Noir’s conversation with Marinette on her balcony that one night when Ladybug had stood him up. Marinette had said she had her heart broken too.

“So, he turned her down?” Adrien asked.

“No, he doesn’t even know she loves him.” Luka looked back down to his guitar and began playing a thumbing tune. “Her heart sounds like this when she’s around him. But her head is like this.” He began playing a chaotic sound.

“Do I know this boy?” Adrien asked but Luka just smiled at him.

“What brings you here, this late Adrien? Did something happen?” Luka played a slow tune feeling the unease in Adrien’s heart.

“I think me and Kagami broke up.” He started. “I’m not sure what I did. But I think it has something to do with the lucky charm Marinette gave me. I lost it after we left here to go to the party.” Adrien knew he couldn’t tell Luka the whole truth, although something inside him made him feel so comfortable that he knew he could tell him, it was the thought of Ladybug that made him keep the secret.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Luka said, still strumming the slow tune.

“Don’t be, I was lying to myself that I could have a relationship with anyone besides the girl I love.” Adrien hung his head.

“What’s stopping you from being with her?” Luka asked

“The same thing that broke you and Marinette up.” he smirked. “She’s in love with someone else.” They both exchanged the same knowing look as Luka set his guitar to the side.

“Do you know who she’s in love with?” Luka asked.

“No, and it’s silly because I don’t know who she is either.” Adrien hung his head again. “She’s Ladybug.” Luka’s face went dim, he tried to imagine what it would be like to be in love with someone who you could never be with in the light of day.

“That is rough.” Luka finally said. “I guess you could ask yourself what is it about her that made you fall in love.” Luka picked up his guitar and began playing a haphazard tune. “Is she a little bit clumsy with a graceful smile?” Adrien smiled remembering their first encounter when she crashed into him. The graceful way she swung through the city and how she flicked his bell.

“Yeah, she is.” Adrien mused. Luka began playing a rock tune.

“Is she tough, standing up against bullies and never backing down?” Adrien remembered the way Ladybug stood atop the Eiffel Tower and fought back against Hawk Moth’s first attack only to promise the people of Paris that they would protect them.

“That is definitely her.” Adrien’s smile brightened. Luka began to play a classical tune.

“Is she always there to lend a hand, to help a friend in need, or just lend an ear or a hug?” Luka asked

“She always seems to know when I need to talk, or when I am not feeling myself. She always takes time to help out an akumatized victim if she has the time.” Adrien beamed. He looked up at Luka, he stopped playing and hung his head.

“Is she sensitive, have you ever seen her at her weakest moments, when all hope seemed lost?” Adrien nodded. “But she still picked herself back up and kept fighting?” Luka added. Adrien agreed with every word Luka had said.

“That’s my lady you just described there.” Adrien straightened his back, squaring his shoulders. “Are you in love with Ladybug too?” Luka laughed.

“I just described Marinette.” Luka smiled at Adrien as a look of shock crossed his mind. He hadn’t thought about it, but Luka was right. “She’s always doing stuff for other people even at the cost of her own happiness.” Luka looked up at the stars, setting his guitar to the side again. Leaning back placing his palms on the box he was sitting one and gazed up longingly as if the source of his love danced among the stars. Adrien watched his face glow in a blissful daze, then copied his actions. The two sat in silence for a while.

“I hope he figures out she loves him soon, and either accepts her love or let’s her down softly.” Luka said softly. “I don’t want her heart to get broken if he doesn't love her, but I will always be here for her.”

“What about you if it turns out he does love her?” Adrien asked, looking at him, his eyes filled with concern but not just for Luka, he was in the same boat literally and metaphorically.

“We’re still young, we have our entire lives ahead of us to discover who we are meant to be and who we are meant to be with.” Luka looked at Adrien lifting his right hand palm up as if offering something precious to the sky. “I may not have met her yet, or maybe, you haven’t.” Luka added.

“And… even if we had, maybe we are too blinded by our current feelings to see her?” Adrien asked.

“Exactly buddy.” Luka pointed to him and winked. “But, you be sure to stop by here anytime Adrien, it’s nice to have a friend in the same boat.” He sat up, holding his arms out jestering the pun that now rocked with the current of the water. They both laughed knowingly.

“I better go, I have school tomorrow.” Adrien said standing and heading for the gang plank.

“Adrien.” Luka called before he stepped off the gangplank. “Where's your heart?” It was an odd question, but he knew what Luka meant.

“Where’s your heart?” he smiled and headed for the stairs to the bridge.

The next day at school Adrien’s attention was on Marinette more than usual. Watching her mannerisms and her speech. She was usually late, and tripped over invisible objects. He watched how she interacted with their friends. She was always such a leader and inspired others around her.

Lunch time came and Adrien made his way to the locker room. Before he could enter the door swung open and Marinette crashed into him. They landed on the floor, Adrien on his back with Marinette belly to belly on top of him. Her face lit up in a glow of red, her mouth stretched into an awkward grin and she struggled to stand back up. As she pulled herself off of him she tripped over his feet and landed,sitting on his lap as he now sat on the floor. Adrien wrapped his arms around her waist holding her side to him and laid his head on her shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The smell of the bakery was all over her. Sugar, vanilla, and… passionfruit? He placed a hand on her head.

“Calm down.” He tried to hold his composure wonderin how Luka would handle this situation. He copied what he had seen Luka doing on the boat whenever Marinette went on a crazy klutz marathon. “Take a deep breath and try again.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers. She was frozen in shock. Her face softened and she smiled at him. Letting out a nervous chuckle as she slowly slid off his lap. They stood up together as she composed herself.

“I am so gorry I didn’t mean to fall in love with I mean on you.” Marinette grimaced. Adrien placed a finger on his lips.

“Take a deep breath.” He said. He could see her face relax as she did as he said. She closed her eyes then opened them.

“I am so sorry Adrien, I am madly clumsy.” She chuckled nervously again. Adrien sighed. He could see how Luka could be so in love with her.

“Are you going to come to the barge and watch us practice after school?” Adrien smiled. Marinette went tight, her face grimaced and she began to play with her fingers nervously.

“I uh, I can’t.” She looked down at her fingers. “I have some uh, I have way too much homework to do and I don’t think I will be able to come watch you guys for a while.” She didn’t stumble this time but she also wasn't looking at Adrien. He thought that maybe she was averting her eyes to avoid him seeing the hurt that he heard in her voice.

“If you're that far behind, maybe I should come over and help you.” Adrien offered. Marinette looked flighty as she grimaced.

“No no no, you just uh, you go practice, why spend your free time doing schoolwork.” She smiled awkwardly then stepped to the side slowly as if trying to escape a hungry panther. “Coming Alya.” She said over his shoulder and ran off to catch up with her best friend. Adrien wondered if that was true, or if Marinette was hiding something. He tried to imagine how she was with Luka. he was trying to figure out how he could get the two of them back together, or figure out who this boy was. Even if he couldn’t have the one he loved, maybe at least Luka deserved to be happy.

“Where is your heart Marinette?” Adrien whispered to no one.

“Human emotions are too complicated.” A whisper came from his pocket. “Now cheese, you can always know the right one, just by looking at it, how it smells and how it feels when you hold it.” Plagg’s cheese analogies were usually so corny, but this time, it made more sense. Adrien thought about how it felt holding Marinette so close to him and how good she smelt.

Sitting in class his mind wandered to Tom and Sabine’s bakery. The smell of the pastries and the taste of the macarons Marinette would bring to class. Tom had asked Cat Noir if he ever wanted to retire from being a superhero and learn the trade from him. Plagg would be happy, all the bread he could couple with his cheese. But Marinette smelled specifically of passionfruit, which was his favorite, but how would she know that?

After school he spied his bodyguards’ car in it’s usual parking spot outside of the school. He froze, it wasn’t too late to sneak by him. He saw Marinette and Alya walking towards the sidewalk in the direction of the car. He sighed and headed in the same direction.

“What’s up my dude, you haven’t been acting like yourself today.” Nino said, wrapping an arm around Adriens’ shoulders.

“I heard, uh, someone talking about Marinette.” Adrien dared to breach the topic with his best friend. He was Alya’s boyfriend and so he must know something about Marinette. “They said she was in love with someone, I just assumed it was Luka, but it wasn’t.” he looked up at Nino, “Do you know who she is in love with?” Nino went stiff, removing his arm from his friends shoulders and glanced nervously at Alya.

“Sorry man, I got to go, Alya is waiting.” He ran off without answering. Adrien could tell he knew something.

“Don’t ask a question you're not ready to know the answer to.” A tiny voice came from behind him. He recognized it to be Juleka as he turned around to see her and Rose standing there. Juleka didn’t look happy, infact, she looked angry. Rose looked concerned but not for him, for Juleka. “Maybe you should just walk away, too many people get hurt by people who are too oblivious to see what’s right in front of them.” Juleka never spoke so clearly, something had her very upset.

Adrien looked around, Alya and Nino were still standing near his body guard’s car but Marinette must have already gone home. He snuck past Alya and Nino hoping his body guard hadn’t seen him and headed towards the bakery across the street. He heard a car pull up to the cross walk and beep. He walked up to the window.

“I just wanted to get a snack before going home.” Adrien chuckled, his body guard nodded then snorted a warning. “I’ll be right back.” he ran across the street to the front door to the bakery. Sabine was helping some customers as Tom brought out a tray of fresh hot chocolate croissants.

“It smells great Mr. Dupain.” Adrien said politely. “I’m here to help Marinette with homework.” Tom smiled at him, putting two croissants into a bag then handing it to him.

“She’s upstairs, take these with you, she never accepts snacks from me when you're here.” Tom winked. Adrien remembered the time they were practicing for the Mecha Strike III tournament and Tom had offered so many goodies and pastries to make him salivate for a year. Adrien headed up stairs with the bag. He made his way to the Dupain-Cheng apartment then up the stairs to Marinette's room. He knocked on the trap door to her room. He could hear talking coming from the other side so he slowly slid the door open. Suddenly Plagg escaped his pocket and flew through the ceiling into her room. He pushed the door open and entered her room.

“She’s not here.” Plagg hovered in the middle of the empty room, hands upward in an ‘i don’t know’ pose.

“Plagg you can’t just fly into her room like that, what if she had seen you?” Adrien scolded.

“I was careful.” Plagg smirked.

“Why would you do that anyway?” Adrien asked, looking around her room. He had been her many times but never by himself. It felt awkward.

“I wanted to make sure … you weren’t walking in on her doing something...embarrassing.” Plagg offered. Adrien's face flushed, she might have changed her clothes or written in a diary. Adrien looked around the room, she still had pictures of him everywhere. She had once told him she had them because she loved fashion, but what if she loved him and just didn’t want to admit it.

“Plagg, what if she really is in love with me?” Adrien asked quietly as he looked around the room. “I know I heard voices talking up here.” He noticed the hatch above her bed was open, so he climbed the ladder to her bed. He tried not to step all over her bed as he climbed through the hatch. You almost had to bounce off the bed to get up to the balcony. There was no one there either. Adrien was confused. He dropped back onto her bed and walked over to her desk.

“She said she had so much homework to do, but she left it here on her desk.” Adrien set the bag down then took a pen and wrote a note on it.

‘If you need help with your homework, please call me.’ he drew a cat paw on it then realized what he had done. It was too late to fix it, it was a permanent pen. He grimaced then took one of the croissants and climbed back to the balcony.

“Plagg, Claws out.”

Ladybug was especially anxious as they patrolled the city. He couldn’t understand why she didn’t even stop to take a breath or give a fist bump. She didn’t even chastise him for being late or using flirtatious corny puns. They had gone to watch a movie and she made a huge scene. He thought it must have something to do with the guy she likes because it was a romantic comedy and she ruined it with a rant about how romance is a waste of time.

“Ladybug, can I ask you something?” Cat Noir asked before they went their separate ways. Ladybug looked at him with concern as he hung his head. She nodded to him. “You see, a friend of mine told me that we are still too young to know who we want to be with, but I can’t help how I feel and I know you can’t either. So…” He scratched the back of his neck. “Where... do girls go when they like someone, but they can’t tell them. Who do they talk to?” Ladybug was taken aback. She thought he was going to ask again who she was in love with. Ladybug sighed.

“Most of the time, girls tell their best friends, but sometimes, they keep it a secret from everyone.” She sat down and sulked. Cat Noir sat down next to her.

“How is it so easy for you to say things to me, tell me you love me. We can’t just show up at each other's house for Sunday brunch or play Mega Strike III together when we’re not Ladybug and Cat Noir.” She rested her head in her hands as her elbows dug into her thighs. “I want to have a real boyfriend, not one I have to keep secrets from or that I can only see when I am powered up.” Cat understood now why Ladybug and Cat Noir couldn’t be together.

“And we can’t know our secret identities because…” He didn’t really know why but didn’t want to seem like he was asking again.

“Because, Hawk Moth can use us to hurt each other. Remember when Dark Cupid hit you with his arrow.” How could he forget, it would have been his first kiss ever and with Ladybug none the less but instead it’s a memory he’ll never have, and he had attacked Ladybug. “What if you knew who I was, and Truth asked you, If I hadn’t been there, he would have found out, he almost found out who I AM.” She sobbed “This is bigger than you and me Cat, and maybe we’re not mature enough yet to handle our super hero lives and a relationship with anyone.” She leapt to her feet unhooking her yo-yo.

“It’s best we just focus on our jobs, doing homework and saving Paris.” She swung away before he could stop her.

“Where’s your heart Ladybug.” He whispered to himself.

#miraculous fandom #ladynoir #miraculous chat noir #adrienette #miraculous ladybug #marichat

22 notes · View notes

inkjackets · 4 years ago

Text

Shattered Sunshine

This piece was written for the @mlwriterzine

I was so grateful to be part of such a fantastic zine with so many amazing writers! (Do check out the works by everyone else, they’re all so good!!) Also big thanks to the mods for all their hard work in making honestly such a beautiful zine.

AO3

Paris glistened under the glorious summer sun; the skies shimmered blue overhead. Yet Marinette felt only ice swirl in her gut as she and Alya reached the top of the mountain.

She placed her basket down with a thump and inhaled the summer air, attempting to alleviate her anxiety. But it was hot and stifling and burned through her lungs, only succeeding in magnifying her emotions.

She brushed her fringe back. “I hate summer,” she muttered, glancing at her friend. With her short-shorts, loose buttoned shirt, and hair swept into a high ponytail, Alya Césaire looked the epitome of cool.

“No, you don’t,” Alya said, not unkindly, as she unravelled the picnic blanket. “You’re just nervous.” Marinette bit her lip and took the sides, helping her friend lie it flat. “Though I don’t know why,” Alya continued as they both crawled onto the rug, “I thought you’d be excited to see our ray of sunshine again.”

Marinette averted her gaze. Sunshine, sunshine, Paris’s perfect ray of sunshine. Yet the thought of him made her turn cold.

She grabbed the basket and unloaded the food while Alya laid the drinks on the blanket, but she tensed when she opened the box of Dupain-Cheng pastries, full of croissants and cookies …

And passionfruit macarons.

“It’s been five years, Alya,” Marinette said quietly. “What if everything’s changed?”

Alya cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you hope it has?”

Marinette clenched the box tight. Apprehension curled in her stomach and fear clawed its way through her as she gazed over Paris sprawled out far beneath them: iron rooftops gleaming; the Seine glittering; Sacré-Cœur shining like a beacon on the horizon; and backdrop to it all, the brilliant sun. Sweat trickled slowly down her back.

Nino’s distinct voice hit her ears followed by Adrien’s unmistakable laugh. Sickness and trepidation surged within her. She looked at Alya with panic, but her friend had already jumped up to greet the boys. Marinette scrambled to her feet and stared wide-eyed at Adrien—currently enveloping Alya in a hug. They broke apart. He turned to her. Her heart pounded.

For, in his white shirt, with that smile, and his eyes golden-green, Adrien Agreste was breathtaking.

“Hey,” he said, giving a small smile and a wave.

Marinette went to wave back, but she realised she was still holding the box of pastries. She frowned at herself. Why was it still in her hands?

“H-hey,” she then managed to get out.

They both stared at each other, unsure of how to proceed. He looked down at the box she was holding.

“Are those passionfruit macarons?” Adrien asked, wide-eyed.

“Uh, yeah,” she thrust the box forward. “Want one?”

His eyes lit up. Marinette’s heart warmed, and then it sank. She didn’t want to feel for him.

Adrien took a macaron, bit into it, and moaned. “God, I’ve missed your bakery.”

Marinette internally scowled at the heat that rose in her cheeks.

“Dudes!” Nino leapt in and wrapped his arms around them both, pulling them in so close they almost banged heads.

“Smile!” Alya grinned, readying her phone for a group selfie.

Adrien laughed, and he and Nino both pulled a stupid face. Marinette forced herself to smile. Alya snapped the picture.

“It’s been too long since the four of us have been together,” Alya said, grinning up at them all as Nino released her and Adrien.

Marinette felt Adrien’s eyes on her. She swallowed and glanced at him, not wanting those green eyes to make her heart flutter as it did. He gave a hesitant smile. She stared back. She didn’t smile.

“Dude! Are those Dupain-Cheng pastries?” Nino cried, ripping the box from her hands.

Marinette tore her eyes from Adrien and grinned. “Baked fresh this morning!”

Nino sat down and shoved a croissant into his mouth. “Ermagoh, oh goo!” he exclaimed, mouth overflowing with pastry. They all laughed and settled around him.

But while the other’s dove into the picnic and conversation, Marinette barely ate a thing and simply let the conversation wash over her.

She plucked blades of grass as the blazing sun burned her neck, and the start of a headache began pounding behind her eyes. And every time Adrien spoke, the chill in her stomach spread, worming its snaky tendrils right through her.

Yet, she couldn’t help but stare at him.

For he looked good—healthy even—relaxed and at ease. His smile was wide, and laugh loud, and hair more rugged than it used to be, lying somewhere between how he’d worn it at school, and how it’d been styled as his alter-ego, Chat Noir. A smile rose on her face; it suited him. However, with each flicker of his eyes and each smile that stretched just a little too wide, she could see his facade was cracking.

Because something was off.

Of course it was.

A part of her was desperate to comfort him and tell him everything was all right. But instead, she grabbed a can of Sprite and rolled it in her hands, squashing that part of her down. For there was a wall between her and Adrien. A wall she didn’t know how to—no. A wall she didn’t know she even wanted to break.

She spun the can faster.

“So what have you been up to, Marinette?”

Marinette tensed as those green eyes turned to her.

“I went to fashion school,” she said, simple and quiet.

“I always knew you would,” Adrien said, and Marinette’s heart fluttered at his soft smile. “How was it?”

She clenched the can of Sprite, desperate to hide her shaking hands.

“It was really good! I learnt so much.” She forced herself to smile.

Adrien’s smile faltered.

And Marinette wanted to laugh at the bitterness thrumming through her. Even after all these years, he could see right through her.

“Hey, did Alya tell you she’s got an internship with Le Monde ?” she then said quickly.

Pain flashed behind Adrien’s eyes, so quick she barely saw it. “No?” He turned to Alya, incredulous. “That’s amazing!”

Marinette scowled at the Sprite can and flipped it in her hands, pointedly ignoring Alya and Nino’s questioning glances. Unease gnawed at her insides; tears burned the back of her eyes. She couldn’t do this.

Seeing him again had been a mistake.

With a burst of anger, she ripped the can open, intending to take a huge gulp to drown the bitter taste in her mouth. However, froth exploded from the top, fizzing everywhere. She yelped, threw the can in her panic, and splashed it all over Alya.

There was a moment of stunned silence as Alya took in what had happened, gazing down at her sticky, sodden clothes. She looked up; Marinette squeaked.

“I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, hands at her mouth, “I didn’t realise it was shaken and it took me by surprise andIdidn’tmeantothrowitonyouohmygosh! I’m so sor—” She froze when her friend’s lip curled.

“Nino!” Alya said, a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Got you, babe.”

Marinette squealed and tried to scrabble out the way as Nino went to tip an entire bottle of water over her head. But she was whisked away at the last second and thrown to the side.

Marinette laughed, amazed she was still dry. But when she turned, she saw Nino, empty bottle in his hand, staring wide-eyed at a soaking wet Adrien.

“Ah, shit,” Nino swore under his breath.

For a moment, the only sound was the soft pat-pat of drips running off Adrien onto the blanket. Then he slowly raised his head with a jagged grin on his face.

Nino yelped and ran, but Adrien dove on top of him and forced water down his shirt. However, he’d only emptied half the bottle when Alya, with mock outrage, pulled him off her boyfriend. He laughed and tipped the rest of the bottle over her, quickly regretting it when she splashed him back in the face.

Marinette watched them from the sidelines, smiling at their fun, until suddenly all three rounded on her.

She shrieked with laughter as they showered her in water. But then, spying an opening, she dove and swiped a nearby bottle before spinning and aiming it threateningly at her attackers. Their smiles instantly dropped. Screaming and laughing, they scattered in all directions as Marinette enacted her revenge.

Once the last bottle had been emptied, they all flopped to the ground, chests heaving and scattered laughter ringing out.

Warmth and happiness thrummed through Marinette as she wrung out her dress and then leant back to gaze at the sky, smiling at the fluffy clouds that had decided to drift over. Her only regret was not drinking some water before it’d gotten weaponised; her headache was still there, and her throat was getting dry.

Adrien, too, leant back, placing his hands so close to hers they almost touched. He then rolled his head back and gazed at her with his soft, lazy smile.

Her heart clenched. Then, ever so slowly, she relaxed her shoulders and returned his smile with a soft one of her own. Adrien sucked in his breath; his eyes shone with hope. And Marinette’s breath caught in her throat as the tension began to evaporate between them, disappearing up into the clouds like the water.

“I’ve missed this,” Nino said. “Just the four of us, like old times.”

Adrien froze. Marinette stiffened. The tension came crashing back. She pulled her hand away from his and curled in on herself, cold seeping under her skin despite the heat.

Alya flopped onto her back. “You know what I miss?” she said, reaching for the sky, “Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Marinette tensed. “Like after Gabriel got put away—which I’m so sorry about, Adrien—they just vanished. Poof! Right into thin air.” Her fingers trailed the sky. “Like what happened to them? Where are they now? What are they doing?” Marinette felt Adrien’s gaze on her, but when she looked at him, he was staring with glazed eyes at the grass. Alya’s hand flopped to the ground. “I hope they’re okay.”

Regret simmered within Marinette as Adrien slowly raised his eyes to meet her’s, pain shining so clear it pierced her heart.

“I hope so too,” he said quietly.

Marinette clenched her jaw. She turned away. She closed her eyes and tried not to grimace, fighting the tears that stung her eyelids.

For she wanted to be okay. She wanted them both to be okay. She opened her eyes and slowly exhaled. But they weren’t.

“Ice-cream!” Alya suddenly exclaimed making Marinette jump. “I want ice-cream! Nino, come with!” She leapt to her feet and tugged her yelping boyfriend.

Panic flared in Marinette’s gut. “Wait, Alya, no!” She didn’t want to be left with Adrien.

Alya swooped in. “You need to fix whatever this is,” she hissed in her ear, glancing at Adrien, before pulling back and running off with Nino in tow.

“W-wait!” Marinette spluttered. “No, Alya!”

Alya gave a wave of her hand as Nino glanced back and shrugged helplessly.

“They didn’t even take our order,” Adrien noted, eyes glittering with amusement as he watched their friends disappear before turning to her. Marinette stared. His grin widened. And that image of Chat Noir slammed into her mind; of that smile he used to give her, high up on the Eiffel tower …

She scrambled to her feet and clutched her middle; confusion and nausea swirled within her.

“Marinette?”

She gritted her teeth and turned away as Adrien got up and stepped towards her.

“M’Lady?” he asked softly, reaching out.

“Don’t call me that!” she hissed. Adrien flinched and snatched his hand back. “You lost that privilege the day you left.”

She wrapped her arms around herself as Adrien tightened his jaw.

“We were seventeen, Marinette. I had no choice as to whether I could stay or not.”

Rage blossomed within her. “You could have told me!” she yelled, whipping around, hair flying. “You could’ve at least said goodbye! Instead, I got told by Nino, by Nino , that you’d gone and moved to London!”

Adrien drew in on himself and averted his eyes.

“You abandoned Paris,” she continued, a lump rising in her throat. “You abandoned me .” Her voice cracked. She took a shuddering breath to quell her emotions, but the air was so hot that it stirred them instead.

Adrien swallowed and shook his head as pain rose on his face. “It was all too much,” he whispered, voice hoarse with memories. “You were Ladybug. And Dad was—” he blanched, “and then Mum …”

Guilt stabbed Marinette in the gut as Adrien’s eyes glazed over; she didn’t want to send him back to those days.

“I thought of you every day,” Adrien said quietly.

“Then why didn’t you call?”

“I—” Adrien choked, “I didn’t know what to say.”

Marinette’s blood boiled, her headache pounded between her eyes. “Anything!” she yelled, her throat raw and burning. “Anything would have been better than five years of silence!”

“I know! I KNOW!” Adrien cried with frustration. “Okay, I KNOW , but I couldn’t .”

“What the hell does that mean?” Her hands shook and vision blurred.

He grabbed his hair in distress. “I just couldn’t , alright!”

“No!” she screamed, “ I don’t understa —”

“HE WAS HAWK MOTH !” Adrien roared, stunning her into silence. “MY FATHER WAS A TERRORIST WHO TRIED TO BRING BACK MY MOTHER AND DESTROYED ALL OF PARIS TO DO SO!”

Adrien’s chest heaved, tears shimmered in his eyes. And Marinette stared, her own chest growing tight.

“I know,” she whispered, voice hoarse and aching, “That’s why I—”

“I lived with him, Marinette!” His words glimmered with pain. “I lived with him my whole life, and I had no idea. I should’ve known!” Hysteria rose within him. “I should’ve known !”

“No, that’s not …” She tried to speak, but her tongue was heavy in her mouth. “You can’t—” Her breathing quickened.

“He hurt you!” Adrien continued, voice cracking with pain, “He hurt everyone. I hurt everyone.” He shook his head and covered his mouth, tears spilling down his cheeks as those dark days returned with a vengeance. “How could you love me after that?”

Marinette blinked back the blinding sun; her vision started swimming. “Adrien, you’re—” she faltered, “you were my partner.” Tears burned her eyes, but they wouldn’t spill over. “My best friend!” She felt faint and lightheaded. “You know I—” She shook her head. “I—” She tried to take a step forward, but the world spun around her.

Adrien lowered his hands, eyes wide with panic. “Marinette?” His voice sounded distant.

She clutched her head as her headache exploded. Adrien’s mouth moved, but no sound hit her ears.

She staggered. The world tilted.

Everything went black.

~~~

Marinette groaned. She opened her eyes, squinting at the sunshine before focusing on the two pairs of golden-brown eyes above her.

“Oh, thank God. You okay, girl?”

Marinette grimaced and pushed herself to a sitting position, leaning back against the tree she was under.

“What happened?” she said, voice dry and raspy.

“You fainted, dude,” Nino said, “But you were out for like a minute, max.”

“We got back just in time to see Adrien catch you. Then he carried you here, to the shade.” Alya gave her a small smile.

Marinette looked around as Nino and Alya’s words sank in, eyeing the four ice-creams lying face down in the dirt. She then looked back at the brown eyes in front of her and realised what was missing.

“Where’s Adrien?” she cried, panic flaring within her. She tried to get to her feet, pushing back against the hands that were stopping her.

“Chill, Mari! He’s gone to get water. We used all ours in the—” Alya cut off as Adrien appeared behind her. Wide-eyed and flushed with a bottle of water in each hand, he’d clearly run as fast he could.

His face broke with relief when he saw she was awake. He swiftly knelt, uncapped a bottle, and handed it to her.

Marinette sipped, and then gulped down the water, sighing as her headache immediately lessened and energy flooded through her.

“How are you feeling?” Adrien asked softly as she finished the bottle.

“Much better. Thank you,” she replied, just as quiet, and looked up.

The moment hung between them, unresolved emotions bled into the tension, but those green eyes remained ever constant.

In the corner of her vision, she saw Alya tug Nino’s hand—“Come on, let’s give them space.”—and lead him away.

But Marinette just stared into those eyes.

A breeze ruffled Adrien’s shirt. Hairs tickled the back of her neck. Then suddenly the tears fell, thick and fast, down her cheeks; her emotions were finally able to spill over.

Sobs wracked her body. Her breath hitched in her throat. And when Adrien wrapped his arms around her, she wailed into his chest. His own tears dripped onto her shoulders.

“I’m so sorry,” Adrien whispered into her hair, and it was like a shot to the chest.

She pulled back, hands still on his chest. “Don’t say that.” Her voice was deathly quiet. “You don’t—you can’t—” She swallowed the guilt clawing her throat. “A-After Nino told me …” she trailed off, filling with regret, “I-I should have called you too.” Adrien sucked in his breath. “I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked.

Adrien shook his head as fresh tears streamed down his face.

She reached out her hand and gently placed it on his cheek. He leant into her and closed his eyes, and her heart warmed as she gently wiped away his tears with her thumb.

Adrien took her hand in his own and held it in his lap; tingles shot up her spine at his soft, ginger touch.

“What do you say we start again?” he said, his voice quiet. His eyes pierced hers and a small smile tugged at his lips.

Marinette stopped breathing. Tears spilled down her cheeks. She shifted her hand in his grip so her fingers entwined his.

“I’d like that,” she whispered.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #ml fic #angst #ml angst #angst with a happy ending #my writing #shattered sunshine #ml writer zine #mlwriterzine

95 notes · View notes

miraculouscontent · 4 years ago

Text

“Didn’t Need Burrow” Masterpost (February)

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: Finally, it will be revealed that Adrien is the main character and that Marinette was merely the narrator of his story (or history of their love).

The thing that we already know and won’t be a surprise.

Adrien didn’t have enough attention already but they were tired of using Marinette as their camera to his story.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need burrow: Kagami wil decide to stay in Japan at the end of the Tokyo special. Prompting Chat Noir to start pursuing Ladybug again.

I doubt they’d make the specials official canon but I also don’t doubt Kagami getting sidelined so easily.

Anonymous said:

Alternative didn’t need burrow: Kagami won’t even be in the Japan special and all cultural knowledge will be explained by Adrien

Oh my gooooood.

*flashes back to Adrien and Gabriel greeting Kagami and Tomoe in Japanese*

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: It will be revealed that Chloe is actually an innocent and naive little girl who acted like a malicious bully because she was manipulated and intimidated by Sabrina all the time. And it was Sabrina who made her bully the rest of the class and act as if everything had to revolve around her. And it will be retcon that Chloe did not abuse everyone to impress Audrey, but because Sabrina made her do it. (Note: I'm Anon that joked about Sabrina being more dangerous than Chloe)

fdjkhgjdfgfd welcome back, for sure.

I wasn’t ready for the Sabrina part since I was taking it 100% seriously up until then.

In before they say that Sabrina is just indulging Chloe and Chloe is how she is because Sabrina won’t do anything about it.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that if there is finally a white little kid gets introduced to the show, he or she(though let's be honest, most often a he) will be a sweet little angel of sunshine who's always on their best behavior and never does anything wrong, unlike all those rowdy black children(barf). Bonus if the kid has blonde hair and blue/green/grey eyes. Double bonus if someone(say, Marinette or Nadja) says to one of the other kids "See, why can't you behave like they do?" Rolling my eyes.

OMG SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT. BLESS YOU.

I always feel so awkward hating on all the kid characters for that reason but it really does come down to they’re kids and I don’t like kids. Most of them are just written as “kid” and nothing else.

Friendly piece of advice to people writing children and are afraid of doing what this show does where the personality is just “stereotypical child”...

Write characters as if they’re teenagers first, and then “age them down.” It’s the difference between writing Mylene (for example) with the personality of “child,” and writing Mylene as a younger version of herself.

It also will make it less jarring if the character happens to grow up and become a teen at some point in the story, where their personality is better established; they’ll come off as a developed person rather than someone with a completely different personality from when they were little.

(If you’re having trouble imagining said child character as a teenager/adult, there’s definitely a step missing.)

Anonymous said:

Don't Need Burrow to know that when all the kids in Marinette and Adrien's class inevitably get Miraculouses of their own, only the girls will get theirs taken from them for one reason or another, either because someone else figured out their identity or they do something stupid and risk people knowing(or people actually do know), while the boys get to keep theirs permanently and Ladybug becomes the token Smurfette on her superhero team. Rena Rouge might be the exception to this.

G I R L P O W E R

+ I mean, for Rena, Marinette’s already regretted giving her the miraculous at least once, so yeah.

Anonymous said:

Don't Need Burrow to know that when Marinette and Adrien inevitably discover each others' identities, defeat Hawk Moth and Mayura(the only good thing about this whole scenario), and gEt ToGeThEr, it(the latter, at least) will only be in the last episode of the last season, and we will get no time to see their development from "who dis?" to friends, to lovers. Love=ma^2 shippers will punch the nearest wall, while me and everyone else will sip our salty tea and ask what the fuck they expected.

If Season 4 decides the split between Lukanette and Adrimi, that means Season 5 is just going to be a love square shipping fuel fest of absolute and complete obnoxiousness with angst that’ll lead to reverse love square at best and then nothing more.

The tea will, however, be delicious.

Anonymous said:

Don't Need Burrow to know that Adrien will continue to steadfastly insist that Marinette is "just a friend"(such as saying so when Alya or Nino confronts him on it, or saying romantic sounding things to Marinette herself that are just intended as shipper-fanservice-bait, before adding something anticlimatic like "you're a really good FRIEND")...up until the moment when the plot decides to push them together and he'll magically change his tune and say that she was always more than just a friend.

How convenient~

Yeah, the plot has this habit of just changing things so immediately that it gives you whiplash, because they’ve never built anything up. I remember that it did that for me with the Miracle Box opening in “Sapotis” to reveal all the zodiacs.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that Alya(and possibly the rest of the girl squad, but lets face it, most likely Alya so that she can be the Black Best Friend) will be used solely as a plot device to get Adrien and Marinette together(against Marinette's protests, if I may add), and Marinette will get almost no chances to make a move on Adrien on her own. I know you salt on Alya a lot but you gotta admit it kinda feels bad to potentially have her pushed aside to only support the love square.

No no, I totally agree! I don’t like Alya but I obviously feel bad that her and Nino have just become love square/plot pushers. Add in Rena Rouge and eugh, no thanks.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t Need Burrow to know when Marinette finally tells Adrien she’s in love with him, he’ll reject her, and when Marinette gets over him and gets together with Luka, then he’ll probably get akumatised because of it, and it’s all Marinettes fault for getting over him(EVEN THO HE MADE IT CLEAR HE WASNT INTERESTED!!!) and entering a healthy relationship.

This one sent me through a whirlwind of emotions.

Also, inevitable "only notice the girl who’s wanted you forever because now she has a boyfriend,” because yay.

Anonymous said:

Didn't need Burrow: Ms Bustiers pregnancy is going to be handled one of two ways, but they'll both lead to the same outcome: either

1) her pregnancy will be ignored and she'll look the same as she always has until the one episode where it's plot relevant, and she'll suddenly look nine months pregnant, or

2) she'll go from looking the way she does in the New York Special to looking nine months pregnant in the first episode of S4, possibly with the addition of cringy pregnancy jokes peppered in throughout the season until the episode where her being pregnant is plot relevant.

The inevitable outcome of this whole 'pregnant teacher' subplot will be an episode where Ms Bustier goes into labor during an Akuma attack that she (and possibly the entire class) are caught in the middle of for whatever reason, she'll give birth either during or right after said Akuma attack. LB will have to juggle both fighting the Akuma and delivering the baby, Chat will be useless during the pregnancy subplot (50/50 that he won't be much help during the Akuma attack), and there will be a moment where the two heroes are both cooing over the baby, and someone will make a remark about how they'll be such good parents one day.

I know this is probably too specific to actually pan out, but I'm confident that at least part of this will line up with what happens in the show

dfkhgjdfkgdfg oh my god, Ladybug helping deliver a baby, please kill me.

The “good parents” line absolutely made me cringe because they’d totally do that.

The thing about how Bustier will look is also 150% accurate and it pains me to say so. Her looking pregnant is the most “fleshing out” that we’ll ever get from her.

I could also see her getting a substitute instead (I originally was going to shorten it to “sub” but then I just imagined Miss Bustier eating a sub sandwich) and then coming back at some point like “oh I already had the baby, here he/she is,” and that’s how they avoid making a model for her being pregnant.

Anonymous said:

Don't Need Burrow: A character will have a bad day and get increasingly mad whenever things continue to go bad for them/when other people annoy them, but he or she will still manage to keep it cool. Only when MARINETTE does something wrong will that person finally SNAP and get akumatized, and of course, Marinette will be blamed for it despite everything already going bad for the character to begin with. It's like the writers try so hard to make things her fault when she's barely a part of it.

oh my god

This is also totally Santa Claws/Bother Christmas but with Marinette instead of Ladybug. Gotta get both sides in there, you know?

#Didn't Need Burrow

36 notes · View notes

graaythekwami · 4 years ago

Text

Crimson and Noire - Ch 1

Kwami swap & reverse crush AU

Summary: When Marinette found a magical ring and a cat god of chaos in her room, she knew her life was going to be turned upside down. Protecting Paris seems like something she should love, especially with her handsome partner Crimson by her side, but with the city fearful and untrusting of Lady Noire’s destructive powers the stress slowly begins tearing her up from the inside out.

Adrien thought going to school would be the big change of his life, but a kwami called Tikki and the villain Monarch swiftly proves to be the adventure he never even dreamed of having. Being Crimson Beetle gives him the freedom he’s always wanted, and while he’s used to being in the spotlight being hailed the leader and savior is something entirely new. It’s nearly as overwhelming as his crush on Marinette– but at least that’s a normal teenage thing.

***

Also read on ao3 (x) and FFN (x)!

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

"Woah, are you like the genie in the lamp?"

Tikki loved getting new holders. It was always a thrilling experience, getting to meet the one she'd be with for the next who-knows-how long. A decade seemed to be the average, but she would be happy to spend a lifetime with each one. She stretched as she was fully released from the earrings, giggling as a finger came towards her curiously.

"I'm a kwami," she said with a smile, grabbing the finger with both of her paws, giving it a small shake. "My name is Tikki, and it's really nice to meet you, Adrien."

Adrien stared at her, looking almost starstruck. His eyes were a brilliant green, reminding her of a certain fellow kwami. He slowly withdrew his finger, looking between her and the small box that contained her earrings, before moving a step closer.

"What's a kwami?" he asked. "And how do you know my name?"

"Hmm, I guess I'm what you might call a sprite," Tikki replied after a moment of thought. "Kwamis are magical creatures that embody a certain concept. For example, I represent Creation. As for how I know your name, you can say you were chosen."

"Chosen?" Adrien echoed. "Me? For what?"

Tikki zipped over towards the large television screen, where a live report of Stoneheart was playing. She stared at it for a few moments, still awed even after so many centuries of what humans could do with technology, before waving a paw at the moving image.

"Stoneheart is an innocent person that's been infected with negative energy by a Miraculous," Tikki explained. "Under that magic is a human that needs our help. What you're holding in your hands is my Miraculous, and together we can transform to save both Stoneheart and Paris."

His eyes widened. "You mean like a superhero?"

"Exactly!" Tikki beamed. "One of my powers would grant you the ability to rid him of the energy corrupting him–"

"How do we transform?" Adrien asked, cutting her off as he seized the earrings in his hands, which turned silver to his touch. He was already slipping them on, eyes locked on her in excitement. "Let's–"

"Adrien!" Tikki said firmly, flying towards him. "We can't rush into this!"

"But he's attacking the city!" He protested. "And I can get out of here, and help him, and–"

"Sit down," Tikki said, pointing to the couch. "Or else I won't tell you how to transform." Never mind that he could just order her to tell him, but he didn't seem like the type. "If we don't do this right we can end up making this worse. As soon as we transform I won't be able to speak to you, so you need to pay attention now!"

He sat down instantly, and Tikki was startled to find his happy expression was gone. She hadn't been too harsh– had she? Just a bit firm to counter his excitement, which was of course a natural reaction to receiving one's Miraculous.

"Sorry," he whispered as he sank onto the couch. "I just– I just want to help. And get out of here. And– and I'll just be quiet now."

He was determined and had a good heart– he was going to be a wonderful Ladybug, Tikki could already see it now. She zipped up to him, rubbing up against his cheek, and she was grateful to hear him let out a small laugh.

"Nothing to apologize for, Adrien, that attitude will make you a good hero," she said, pulling back. "Okay, so listen closely. You're going to be using three of my abilities in battle, and you'll want to use them right."

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

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Plagg hated getting new holders. It was always a strenuous experience, getting to meet the one he'd be stuck with for the next who-knows-how long. A decade if he was lucky, but considering he was misfortune incarnate he would probably be with this one for a lifetime. He let out a loud yawn as he was released from his ring, ignoring the screams of his next chosen.

"Why is everything pink?" He asked with a groan as he looked about the room, everything splattered with the offending color. He crinkled his nose, already not liking his new surroundings. "And do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."

It had been a whole three hours since he had last eaten– what a crime.

"Eep!" The girl yelped, jumping back, dropping the box that contained his Miraculous. "The cat-mouse thing talks!"

"Yep," he said, and a gleam of light caught his eyes. "Ooo, shiny," he muttered, diving towards the object, which was cool to the touch. "Can I eat this?"

A bite into the metal scissors revealed that he in fact could not, and with a sneer he pushed it away. He then zipped off to another part of the room, the girl letting out a nervous whimper, but there were few objects he recognized compared to the last era he had a holder in. The girl was saying something, which he ignored, at least until something came flying in his direction.

"Hey!" He snapped, dodging the textbook, only for a pin cushion to be thrown at his face. He skillfully avoided that flying object as well, but his new holder (Marinette or something? He didn't remember what Master had said) seemed to have an endless supply of things. She seemed to be getting more panicked by the moment, and with a grin he zipped towards her, easily avoiding each airborne item.

"Gah!" She cried, grabbing a glass from her vanity, bringing it down over him. She was panting, craning her head closer to get a better look at him. "What... what are you? You're talking, and flying, and... appeared from nowhere!"

"Oh no," Plagg cried dramatically, paw draped over his forehead. "I'm trapped, whatever shall I do?" A smirk spread across his face. "No wait– I'm not!"

He phased right through the cup, charging right at her face. The shriek she let out was hilarious, and he let out a cackle as she scrambled back. He hovered there in the air for a moment, wondering just what kind of Black Cat she would be. She seemed to be on the nervous side, but of course most humans were when first exposed to magic, and the shock tended to wear off quickly. He wondered if he could scare her again, when he heard footsteps coming from below them.

"Marinette, are you okay?" A worried voice called.

Plagg's gaze hardened, and he turned towards her. "Tell her you're okay," he demanded– he was not dealing with the secret being leaked this early. "And don't let her come in here, got it?"

Fortunately, Marinette listened. "I'm– I'm fine, Mom. I just saw a spider? But I got it? So I'm okay now?"

Her mother let out a chuckle. "Well maybe this wouldn't happen if you'd keep your room clean."

Plagg glanced around her room, which was currently littered with even more objects from her throwing-frenzy, and he snickered. He zipped over to his fallen Miraculous as he heard her mother's footsteps retreating, scooping up the ring before flying back over towards her. She was watching him with wide eyes, though she seemed much more calm than when she had first seen him.

"What are you?" She asked again, slowly pushing herself to her feet.

"I'm a kwami," he said dryly. "We grant powers. Yours is Destruction. We need to go fight. Got it?"

"Huh?" She said, blinking.

"Meh, please, don't make this harder than it has to be," he waved a paw towards her computer screen, which was showing a live report of Stoneheart. "See that guy? It's our job to stop him. Now do you have anything to eat?"

"Woah, woah, slow down–" she said, and her eyes once again went wide. "You have the wrong person, I can tell you that– you'd have to be crazy to want to go after that thing."

Plagg grinned, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, you'd pretty much have to be. But when it comes to Miraculouses, crazy is what you're going to get," he tossed the ring up into the air, catching it with his tail. "But hey, you get powers out of it, and that seems to be a good enough deal for most people."

"Powers?" She said, before shaking her head. "No, I can't have powers, the only power I'd have is super-clumsiness or something."

"The transformation will take care of that and stuff," he flipped upside down. "Oh yeah, 'claws out', that's how you transform. That and the ring."

She stared at him, and he chucked the Miraculous at her. She fumbled to catch it, black turning to a rosegold in her hand. Marinette clearly didn't seem to know what to make of this, and it seemed logical that he should use this time to explain everything. He'd rather go find some cheese... but a Miraculous in the hands of someone without knowledge was never a good idea.

"But..."

"Look kid, the name's Plagg. Let's just start at the beginning, okay?"

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

Marinette had never exactly had high hopes for the first day of school– but she hadn't expected it to be this bad.

She could make a list of what had gone wrong, and it wasn't even lunch time yet. Everything from spilling her breakfast to nearly being hit by a speeding car to having to deal with Chloe for another year. Oh yeah– and there was the fact that her classmate had somehow been turned into a giant stone monster and was attacking the city.

And she was the one in the cat costume going to fight him.

"You got this," she told herself as she stood on the edge of her balcony, a silver baton in hand. "You're magic now, you saw it for yourself, magic is real."

That still wasn't enough to convince herself to jump off of the side of her balcony though. This was all happening too quickly– and there was nothing she could do to slow it down. She swallowed, hands tightening around her baton as she looked at the distance between here and the ground. Her fingers were tipped with what appeared to be metal claws, but they didn't hurt as they dug into her palms, which was covered with the same black material of her suit. It looked a bit like leather, but was too thin and too flexible to be that. Her costume went from her neck down to the tips of her feet, highlighted with green tubing that gave an illusion of gloves, boots, and a belt.

She didn't even know what to make of the cat ears and mask on her head– which had no way of staying on, yet weren't falling off either. Her pigtails had been replaced with a single dark braid, which fell down to past her ankles, swaying behind her despite the lack of a breeze, but she wasn't even going to think about that right now.

She looked over her baton again, which was silver just like her claws, and featured a neon green paw print on the front. It was the same symbol on the so-called 'Miraculous' she had found, which Plagg had been sucked into as soon as she called on a transformation. The cat-kwami-creature hadn't been all that convincing with his words and what he wanted her to do, in the end it had been the image of Alya biking after Stoneheart that had pressed her into at least attempting to do something.

With that thought in mind she took in a deep breath, and tapped one of the pads of the paw print. The button soundlessly clicked under her finger, and she yelped as the baton expanded in her grasp. She blinked, before pressing it again, watching as the weapon continued expanding in length as her finger held down the button. She had pressed it without thought, and yet it had felt so natural.

Even though her mind was screaming 'no', she decided to follow these instincts, and carefully climbed up onto her railing. She let out a small giggle at how easy it felt, balancing on the metal bar with ease when she should have been stumbling and flailing, and she aimed the baton towards the ground, expanding it once more. She watched as it grew, a faint clink that she shouldn't have heard reaching her ears as it hit the ground. She then closed her eyes, bracing herself– and jumped.

The wind tore at her as she vaulted from her balcony, eyes remaining firmly closed. Panic was building up in her, yet it all felt so liberating at the same time. Her feet landed on a rooftop, and she opened her eyes to find that she had survived. A spark of confidence settled into her heart, finger sliding over to the second paw pad to shrink the baton back into a more manageable size as she made her way across the roofs.

And so she repeated these actions, carefully vaulting between buildings and streets while carefully making her way on top of roofs, not quite sure of where she was heading, but at least she was making progress. Her hesitation didn't surface again until she found herself approaching a more busy road, a much larger gap now standing in her way. She hesitated on the ledge for a moment, ignoring the few people pointing up at her, wondering if this was something she could clear with her baton.

"You just have to go for it, Marinette," she told herself as she backed up, deciding that a running start would be her best bet. She had made it this far, after all, so why should a larger jump be the thing to stop her? Her finger hovered over the expand button, charging towards the edge and closing her eyes as she tapped it, hoping the momentum would be all she needed to clear the street.

She failed to see the blur of red swinging right towards her as she vaulted, slamming right into him as their paths crossed.

"Gah!" She cried, eyes flying open as she slammed into the red figure, her baton becoming entangled in the wire he had been swinging from. Her stomach twisted as they fell together, and her finger slammed down onto the expand button once more in hopes that would somehow save them from crashing into the cement below.

And it did, sort of. The pole sprung out, catching between two buildings, but it slipped out of her hand. Luckily the string was what caught them, though it had wrapped around both hers and the stranger's entire bodies, pulling them into a tangled mess as it snagged on her baton, leaving them dangling just feet from the ground. She found her face mere inches from another, bright green eyes regarding her in surprise.

"I guess that's one way to come crashing in," the boy said, wincing slightly in pain, but still managing to smile. "Um, here, Tikki said this can retract at will–? Ah, here we go–!"

She heard a zip, and felt the wire untangling from around her– and she and the boy went tumbling to the ground. She let out a groan, shakily pushing herself to her knees, looking up to find a yoyo retracting to his hand. She stared at it for a moment, before realizing he had been using it as a grappling hook. He gave her an apologetic smile, swiftly holding out a hand to her.

"I'm so sorry," he said hastily, pulling her to her feet. "I didn't mean to do that! Here, let me get your stick-thing–"

"It's okay," she muttered, slightly dazed. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one that crashed into you."

He swung his yoyo up at her baton, giving it a sharp tug, and it came crashing down. She jumped as it hit the road, before hurrying over and trying to find the button to shrink it down. She let out a shaky sigh of relief as it was once again a normal size, and hooked it on her hip. It seemed to be magnetic, just sticking to her side– or maybe it was just more magic. She then turned towards the boy, finally getting a proper look at him.

Plagg had told her there would be one other hero to help her out, which was a good thing because there was no way she could do this by herself. He was in a bright red suit, which was covered in scattered black dots. More patches of black highlighted his costume– on his hands, going down his sides to his legs, and on his collar. His shoulders were padded, and a mask similar to hers sat across his face. His eyes were a brilliant green, watching her curiously, and his hair a light blond– wild and unkept. Two strands of hair stuck up from the top of his head, dyed red.

"A ladybug?" She said, easily recognizing what animal he was supposed to be.

"Huh?" He asked, blinking.

"Your costume," she said. "You're a ladybug. I guess I didn't expect that for an animal themed hero?"

Maybe a wolf or a hawk or something, but a bug just hadn't been what she expected.

"I'm no ladybug," he said, a smile flickering on his face, and to her surprise he gave her a bow. "You're the lady," he glanced up. "Can I call you that? Lady? Or does that sound rude?"

"Lady works," she said. "And if you're not ladybug then what should I call you?"

"Hmm," he sat up, considering this. "Lordbug, maybe? Misterbug? Nah, 'bug' doesn't work for me. How about beetle? Red Beetle, or maybe–"

He was interrupted but the sound of a large crash, and they both looked up to see a building collapsing in the distance. The friendly atmosphere melted away instantly, reminding them why they had been sent out here. Beetle-boy spun his yoyo a few times, before sending it flying up towards the rooftops. It wrapped around a chimney, and with a tug it pulled him up into the air.

"Wait–!" She called, taking a step towards him, and he glanced back at her.

"We don't have time to wait!" He said. "We're supposed to go save Paris, right?"

And with that he let his yoyo fly again, swinging off towards the threat. She wasn't anywhere near ready for the responsibility that had been shoved onto her shoulders, but still she backed up with baton in hand– taking a running start before leaping after him. It was easy to follow Beetle, the red of his suit standing out against the cityscape, but even then she could just follow the trail of destruction if she lost track of him.

Stoneheart had made his way to a football stadium, and it seemed he had been seeking out Kim– who had taken shelter near the bleachers. Everyone else seemed to have evacuated the stands and the field, though she could make out Alya's figure near Kim's, having faithfully followed after Stoneheart, her phone recording the whole thing. She was bouncing on her heels, eagerly filming as Beetle leapt after the stone monster, yoyo flying.

Marinette found herself parazyled on top of the stands, watching as her apparent partner fearlessly took on Stoneheart, but she couldn't move. Magic was one thing. Jumping from buildings was another. But purposely going after something so large with the intentions to hurt her... that was another thing entirely. Her braid lashed out behind her as if responding to the terror pouring through her, and in her mind a little voice chanted to wake up– because this had to be a dream.

Yet she didn't wake up, the whole arena shaking as Beetle danced out of the way of Stoneheart's fists as they came crashing down. She flinched as one came dangerously close, the edge of his knuckles grazing Beetle's chest, knocking him to the ground. Stoneheart sneered, picking up a football net and chucking it at him. Beetle rolled out of the way, and the net continued on, right towards Alya and a fleeing Kim.

"No!" Beetle shouted, flinging his yoyo, wrapping it around the edge of the net, pulling it away moments before it crashed into Alya, but those few moments were all Stoneheart needed to grab Beetle. He struggled in the giant's grasp, but it proved to be secure. A glowing purple mask surrounded Stoneheart's face, who brought Beetle closer.

She couldn't just stand here. She had to do something. She looked down at her ring, reminding herself she had powers that Plagg had given to her. He had promised her a partner– and she assumed the same had been true for Beetle. She couldn't let him do this alone, not when the same would be too much for her.

So with her baton in hand she charged, vaulting down into the stadium, ringed hand raised. Plagg had said the words had to be activated with meaning behind them, so she mustered every ounce of will she could gather, focusing on the Miraculous on her hand as she slammed it down into the ground, crying:

"Cataclysm!"

Black energy bubbled out from her claw-tips, sinking into the earth with ease. She watched as the grass turned black at her touch, the energy webbing out from where she had struck. Cracks formed in the ground as Destruction surged out from her Miraculous, the ground beginning to crumble under Stoneheart's feet. He let out a grunt as he found he was no longer on stable turf, falling into the sinkhole, dropping Beetle as he fell.

That had been her intention, yet it seemed the Cataclysm had its own goal in mind. The darkness rushed out, instantly killing the grass as it surged out towards the stands. Marinette watched in awe and horror as the Cataclysm engulfed the seats and stadium, it all turning to ash as it crumbled. Hunks of metal fell, leaving her ears ringing, the area looking like a wasteland.

"I..." Marinette whispered, shocked. "I didn't mean..."

Beetle pushed himself to his feet, grinning. "That was awesome."

"Awesome?!" She cried. "I– I just leveled the whole place! I just meant for him to drop you, I didn't mean–"

"Don't worry, Lady," he said, drawing his yoyo once more as Stoneheart began to climb out of the hole she created. "One of my powers apparently fixes everything up. Let's just worry about catching that butterfly, okay?"

Right. The corrupted object they needed to find and break. Stoneheart would remain empowered as long as it remained intact. She gave a small nod, trying to make herself focus, though her head spun at what her power had just done. A small chirping reached her ears, and she looked down to see one of the paw pads on her ring had vanished.

"Taking your sweet time, huh?" Beetle called to Stoneheart as he dragged himself out of the sinkhole. "Can't handle the earth– I thought that's what you're made of!"

Beetle did have a point, while catching him off guard, the fissure she had created wasn't unreasonably deep compared to Stoneheart. She watched as he finally pulled himself out of the hole, pushing himself to his knees, and her eyes narrowed.

"His hand," she said, pointing. "It's been closed the entire time, he didn't even use it to climb out."

Beetle blinked. "Huh?"

"The object," Marinette said, both of them darting across the field as Stoneheart came charging at them. "That must be where it's hiding, where else on his body could it be? We need to get him to open his hands!"

"Do you have a plan?"

"Er–" She glanced around, trying to see if there was anything they could use. Just dust and debris littered the land around them, and Alya recorded the fight with wide eyes. A fountain of water sprouted up, the waterline broken from when she had brought the stadium down.

He grinned. "Guess it's my turn then– Lucky Charm!"

He tossed his yoyo up, pink light surrounding the weapon. Marinette watched as it solidified into a bright red sphere, covered with black spots. It came crashing down, Beetle grunting as he caught the bowling ball. It was a decent size, larger than what you'd find at an alley. He stared at it for a moment, blinking.

"Miraculouses!" Stoneheart bellowed as he came charging at them.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Beetle cried as they took off running once more, and thankfully their enhanced strength allowed him to keep pace despite the bowling ball in his arms.

Marinette glanced back at Stoneheart, mind racing. They couldn't throw it at his legs to trip him, she had basically done the same thing with her Cataclysm and it had only slowed him down for a moment. It was fairly large, but according to the news report hitting him with something had only made him bigger. It couldn't be used to defeat Stoneheart himself, they needed to use it to get the object...

"Throw it at him!" Lady cried.

"What good will that do?" Beetle asked as they jumped over the hole she had created earlier.

"Just trust me!" She called back, as she didn't have time to fully explain her plan– especially not without Stoneheart overhearing it. Beetle hesitated for one second, before chucking the bowling ball up and at him as hard as he could. Stoneheart grunted, opening up his free hand and catching it like a baseball. Beetle threw her a look as if to say 'now what?', and she smiled at him apologetically. "Sorry!"

She then placed the tip of her baton against his chest, hitting the expand button– launching him straight towards an incoming Stoneheart. Green eyes widened in confusion as he found himself flying at their enemy, its other rocky hand opening up to catch the hero. Beetle let out a grunt as he found himself trapped once more, and Marinette smirked as she saw something purple fall out of Stoneheart's hand.

She charged over towards it, finding it to be what looked like a crumpled up piece of paper, though it was as hard as rock in her hands. She turned it over once, before Stoneheart looked over at her with wide eyes, that glowing mask appearing over his face once more as he charged towards her.

"I got it!" She cried to Beetle, hoping he wasn't too upset for using him as bait, before dropping the object to the ground. She brought her baton down on it, shattering it into pieces, and a small black butterfly came fluttering out from the remains.

Black energy bubbled around Stoneheart, and with a flash of light the rocky creature began to crumble. Beetle and the bowling ball were freed from his grasp, and a very confused Ivan was left in the wake of things. The large teenager rubbed his head, looking about at his surroundings, eyes wide. Beetle had landed on his feet, staring at Lady with an unreadable expression.

"What... what's happening?" Ivan asked weakly, and Beetle pulled out his yoyo. "Who are you...? How did I get here?"

"Where do you think you're going?" Beetle asked in a playful tone, eyes looking up as he flicked his finger across his yoyo, which opened up like a pair of elytra. Glowing white light poured out from inside the magical weapon, which he lashed out at the fleeing butterfly, trapping it inside. He brought the yoyo back towards him, and Marinette could feel something shift deep inside her– and she somehow knew it was the energy that had been in the butterfly– dark energy turning to light.

Beetle tapped the yoyo, and sure enough a little white butterfly came fluttering out instead. There was a huge grin on his face as he watched it fly up into the sky, unaware of the chaos it had caused. Beetle then turned towards Ivan, offering a hand out to him.

"Long story short, you were basically mind controlled," Beetle said, helping him to his feet as Marinette made her way over towards him. "But you don't need to worry, we freed you from it– do you know what happened?"

"I..." He rubbed his head. "I... I was sent to the principal's office for something I didn't do. Then... then suddenly I was angry, really angry, and I think I heard a voice in my head...? I don't remember what she said though."

"It's over now," Marinette said as she joined them, and Beetle threw her a grin.

"Awesome plan, Lady," he said. "I had no idea what you were doing in the moment... but it turned out awesomely!" He scratched the back of his neck, before offering her an extended fist. "Pound it?"

"Pound it," she said with a smile, bumping her own fist up against his. She felt... so alive– barely able to believe what she had just done. She had fought a giant, and had won! "Sorry for throwing you like that, I didn't really have time to explain."

"No sweat, Lady," Beetle said, and his eyes turned towards the bowling ball. "What do you say we clean up the mess we made, huh?" He picked up the sphere, shifting to get a good grip on it, before throwing it up into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The Lucky Charm turned into a burst of pink light, which rushed out in a wave of energy. Marinette held out her hands as the light danced about her, and she found the soreness from the battle vanish as it touched her. It was a stunning sight, the lights flowing about them and the stadium. Withered grass surged to a bright green, and the fissure she had created sealed itself as if it had never been there.

She turned, watching as the ashes and rubble from the stadium began to rebuild itself as the light of the Miraculous Ladybug touched it, not even leaving a crack behind as it was restored.

"Beautiful," Marinette breathed out, watching as the rest of the energy swirled above the stadium, before flowing out across the city, hopefully to repair the rest of the damage Stoneheart had inflicted.

Ivan seemed to have no recollection of his time as Stoneheart, which probably explained the raw awe on his face, this probably being the first of the magic he had seen today. He rubbed at his eyes, slowly turning to look at the area he had watched reform in front of his very own eyes.

Marinette's gaze was drawn to the object she had broken, the paper once again whole. She picked it up, unfolding it as she read over it. It seemed to be a message from Kim, and she felt her heart twisting. No wonder Ivan had been upset after class, Kim had probably meant no harm, he exchanged friendly insults with Alix all the time, but for sensitive Ivan it was just not the same. She carefully folded it up, offering it to Ivan as she approached him.

"Don't let him get to you, Ivan," she said, opening her mouth to say more– before remembering she probably shouldn't reveal that she knew him or who had written the note.

"How do you know my name...?" He asked, and panic surged through her.

"I– um– it was in the note," she nodded towards the paper. "I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have read it without your permission–"

"It's fine," Ivan muttered, turning away glumly as he took it. "It's no secret, I'm just a wuss like Kim said. I can barely say a word to Mylene, let alone tell her that I..."

"There are other ways to tell her besides words," she said, bumping up against him. "Songs, flowers, a gift– just show her how much she means to you."

Ivan smiled, though it looked forced. "Thank you."

"That. Was. Amazing!" An excited voice squealed, and they turned to see Alya charging up to Beetle, her phone basically being shoved into his face. "A real life superhero! Are you going to be defending Paris from now on? How did you get your powers? Gah– I have so many questions, um, er–"

Beetle grinned. "Don't worry, me and my partner plan on keeping Paris safe," he reached out, throwing an arm around Lady's shoulder as he pulled her close. She let out a small yelp as the sudden action, and Alya pulled back. "As for who I am... how about Crimson Beetle? Yeah– I like that. And the little Lady here is...?"

He turned towards her, and her mind blanked on what she should be called. Lady... Lady Black Cat? Lady Feline? Well, if he was crimson, then...

"Lady Noire," she decided after a moment. "You can call me Lady Noire."

A chirping filled the air– she was down to only two paw pads on her ring, while Crimson Beetle had three spots on his earrings. They shared a glance, knowing they needed to go now if they didn't want to detransform in front of everyone. Crimson pulled away from her, drawing his yoyo, while she extended her baton.

"Let's do this again soon, okay?" Crimson said to her, still grinning that grin, and he gave her a bow– before throwing his yoyo and swinging away.

She watched him go, before glancing at Ivan and Alya. He still seemed to be in shock, while Alya looked uneasy– which was quite different from her eagerness moments ago, but it made sense that all of this would be overwhelming. She gave both of them a nod, before vaulting away.

Maybe she actually could do this hero-thing.

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

"Mmmm!" Tikki chirped happily, taking a bite of the pudding Adrien had offered her. "This is amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it," he said with a smile, watching the news report about Crimson Beetle and Lady Noire. "My personal chef made it."

"And there you have it," the reporter said. "The amateur footage shows that the monster Stoneheart was stopped by what appears to be two superheroes– Crimson Beetle and Lady Noire."

He paused the TV, looking at the image of him and Lady Noire, his arm around her. He usually didn't think much of his public appearances, he just did them to make his father happy, but this was different. He looked much more relaxed than Lady did, her bright blue eyes edged with uneasiness, as if not knowing what to do with the spotlight. He hoped she was doing alright, she had seemed hesitant, but had really stepped up to the plate when it mattered. She had come up with a plan in just seconds too, and even though they had only known each other for a short time he was sure they were going to be good friends.

Friends. The thought sent chills through him, and he sat up. A friend– he may have not been able to make it to school today, but he had still made a friend! A smile flickered over his face, and his determination to make it to school returned at once. Chloe had helped him register, and he wasn't going to let their hard work go to waste. Tomorrow he would go to school, and he would make even more friends.

"Well," Tikki said, hovering next to him. "What do you think? You like being a Miraculous holder?"

"It's amazing," he said, smiling at the little kwami. "Thank you so much."

"No, thank you, Adrien," she said. "You're the one that went out there and fought, and that was really brave of you."

He leaned back against the couch, watching as Tikki selected another piece of food from the tray his chef had prepared for him, humming happily. He touched the earrings in his ears, wondering how he would explain where they came from. He had them pierced for photoshoots in the past, but he rarely wore any earrings on his own. He could worry about that later though.

Because for the first time in a long time he wasn't alone.

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

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"It's gross!" Plagg said, crossing his arms.

"It's macarons!" Marinette cried. "How could you not like macarons? My dad made these, and he makes the best pastries in Paris!"

"Bleh!" Plagg said, the kwami sticking his tongue out in disgust. "No way, I don't want to eat any of that!"

Marinette closed her eyes. "Okay then, what do you want to eat?"

Plagg grinned. "Cheese."

"Cheese?"

"Yes, the finest quality of camembert– I'll accept no less!"

"You just want a hunk of plain cheese?" Marinette said, crinkling her nose. "You'd think you'd want a meal or something after that fight."

"Cheese is a perfectly balanced meal," Plagg said, crossing his paws.

"Who hurt you?" Marinette said in a whisper.

"Huh?"

"Surely you want more than just cheese!"

"Cheese is the only thing I want."

Marinette sighed, but hopefully her parents wouldn't question why a chunk of their cheddar was about to go missing.

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

"Nooroo, wings fall."

Nooroo was trembling as he came flying out of the brooch, the kwami struggling to find his balance in the dark room. This had been the first time he had sent out a champion in so long, and he looked at his holder fearfully. She stared out the window, her face as stern as always, the silence in the air palpable.

"Master?" Nooroo said uncertainly. "How do you feel?"

A smirk tugged at her lips, and Nooroo found himself letting out a small sigh of relief. Still his eyes darted to the brooch carefully pinned to her chest, before letting them flick back up to her face. He had firm orders not to touch his own Miraculous, so he remained there hovering in the air, white butterflies dancing around them.

"Citrine is a fool," she said, her smile growing. "He sends out the Ladybug and the Black Cat? The very jewels we desire? Tell me Nooroo, why would that old fool do that?"

Nooroo tapped his paws together, wondering how he should answer. He regarded his newest holder closely, who took on the name of 'Monarch' when transformed. He thought it was a fitting name, as she carried herself like a queen. She was smart, calculating, and her calm demeanor made for a good Butterfly. Still his worry was there, especially since she tended to keep herself removed– and as part of the Empathy duo that wasn't the best trait for her to possess.

"You are sending champions out under a negative influence," he finally said. "The Ladybug represents purity, and can easily cleanse the energy you've infused into your champions. I am sure its restoration powers also played a role in that decision."

"And the Black Cat?"

"The Ladybug and Black Cat are an Alpha Pair. You cannot activate one without activating the other," Nooroo replied.

Monarch let out a small chuckle. "This is even more simple than I expected. The very Miraculouses we need are the ones we'll be fighting. Granted this champion wasn't able to lay claim to them, but I'm just learning the ropes after all."

Nooroo hesitated. "You're going to send out another champion?"

"Of course," Monarch said, her cool gaze shifting over to the kwami. "Though I think we should talk to the city's new heroes first, don't you think? Give them a chance to make the right choice before we continue on fighting."

"I don't think that's safe, Master."

"Of course it isn't, which is why we'll send a champion to deliver our message," she turned, her heels echoing through the room, before she paused. "'Champion' doesn't really sound fitting for our purpose though, does it?"

"No, Master," Nooroo replied, drifting after her. "What you created was no champion– it was a devil if anything."

This wasn't what his powers were meant for, but at this point he was used to his Miraculous being used for selfish means. For nearly the last two centuries he had been passed from hand to hand, and never was he found in the presence of an honest and true holder. Just those who wanted to twist magic for their own gain.

"A devil, huh?" Monarch said. "Perhaps so. A devil, a little demon of our own creation– an akuma."

63 notes · View notes

maximumjinx · 5 years ago

Text

Ladybug’s Finale Chapter 4

1, 2 3

“What are you doing for lunch?”

Marinette only stared at her blonde desk mate. She must have heard him wrong.

��Eating?” Was the only response she could think of. Fantastic.

Adrien giggled, which was off-putting since Marinette was pretty sure she’s never seen either Adrien or Chat giggle. Adrien usually politely smiles. Chat chuckles. This was new.

“I meant-” He smiled so easily, “can we eat together?”

Marinette wanted to say yes, but she had already promised Fu she would go in for another training session.

However, she was pretty far ahead if her suit and weapons had anything to say about it.

“If you’re free, don’t you want to eat with Nino?”

“Oh, I’m absolutely not free.” Adrien grinned even wider. Marinette was afraid Fu may have broke him. “And he’s not my biggest fan right now.”

“Wait-” she raised an eyebrow, “you’re not free?”

“I have a piano lesson. But I’m tired and feel like breaking my diet with sugar.”

Marinette stifled a laugh.

“Sure, I can help with that.”

“Perfect.”

When lunch rolled around, Marinette was sure they weren’t going to slip past the rest of the class unnoticed.

“Sunshine, I love you boy but you definitely owe me an apology.” Alya stood tall with Lila and Nino behind her, blocking the door. Adrien only groaned. Marinette stood on edge.

“Alya I will, but not until my friend gets an apology first.” Adrien narrowed his eyes and slung an arm around Marinette’s shoulders. She was stiff as a board.

Nino only looked confused, “Are we not all friends?”

Adrien gave him a sad smile and turned to Marinette. Oh, she was supposed to answer this one.

“We are,” she said gently, “but if I’m honest you guys haven’t been very good ones lately.”

Marinette could feel venomous words begins to pile in her mouth. Everything she wanted to say and scream to her classmates and Alya. She clenched her fist and felt her chest grow cold.

“What are you talking about?” Alya defended. “You’re my b-best friend.” She said ‘best’ weakly, glancing at Lila who remained silent. Marinette knew she wasn’t Alya’s best friend, they haven’t been that for a while.

“Marinette, why are trying to tell Adrien that we’re bad friends?” Lila’s lower lip trembled, a perfected move that sent the class into a jumble of overlapping whispers.

“Dude, you turned my bro against me?” Nino looked like he was a puppy that had just been kicked.

“That’s not cool!”

“Aren’t you always preaching unity?”

“Marinette, you’re supposed to accept everyone!”

Marinette barked out a sharp laugh. The class fell into silence. She glanced around the room at people she hadn’t spoken to in months. Turned against an everyday Ladybug in moments with just one line from Rossi.

“I do accept everyone. Except those that have hurt me and my friends.” She looked directly at Lila, who still wore glistening tears. “And right now the only person to have stood up for me, defended me, hell- even spoken to me- is Adrien.”

Alya looked like she wanted to refute that, but months of radio silence between the two girls reminded her that Marinette had a point.

Adrien took his arm off Marinette’s shoulder and instead offered her his elbow.

“Not to end this incredibly uncomfortable conversation short,” he glanced at the class, “but I’m starving.”

She tentatively put her arm around his and the two walked out. Alya moved aside, lips tightly pressed together. Lila sent Marinette a seething glare.

Marinette however, felt a bit better. She felt a small amount of weight relieved from the pit of her stomach. She still has more to say, but Marinette was beginning to feel less numb.

It was still a lot. It felt as if her heart were buzzing awake with pins and needles, after keeping her emotions in check all this time. She glanced at Adrien as they walked to her house.

She wasn’t beginning to get feelings again, right?

—

No, Marinette decided she was not.

Well, at least a little less after watching the boy hungarily and messily scarf down 12 (yes, 12) filled croissants.

“You’re gonna regret that later.”

Adrien only shrugged.

“I’ll die with dignity.” He said, chocolate and jam covering half his face.

Marinette passed him a few napkins, chuckling as he flushed pink and quickly scrubbed his face.

“In my defense, salad isn’t quite as messy.”

“What about dressing?”

Adrien sat straight, placing his ring and middle finger on the bridge of his nose. Marinette could almost see the outline of glasses.

“Too much sugar and oil,” he spoke in a perfect impression of Nathalie, “you’re father expects clear skin for shoots.”

Marinette snorted, “So you had rabbit food? That explains a lot.”

“Like what?”

“Like why you looked miserable 99% of the time.”

“Touché.”

The two sat in her living room, not quite going into her bedroom not for fear of finding embarrassing, but it would be hard to explain why she had a detailed chart of akumas and Gabriel Agreste in her room.

“So-“ she knew why, but she wanted to ask, “Why grow a spine today?”

“Ouch,” Adrien smirked, “that was harsh.”

“Yeah, well.”

Adrien nodded. It was fair. Why today? After his talk with Ladybug, giving up Plagg, and training with Master Fu he decided why stop there. If he was going to change into someone worthy of a miraculous he had to start with the person that got Fu’s attention.

He could hardly tell Marinette though.

“I can’t think of an answer that would satisfy you.” He warned.

“Then how about the truth?” She turned her body on the couch and waited.

Adrien sighed, leaning back to let the food inside him settle. He turned his head to face her, his hair beginning to curl around his cheeks and a top his head.

Marinette blinked. He looked exactly like Chat like this.

“Guilt, for being a bad friend when I knew what Lila was doing bothered you.” He dropped his eyes from Marinette’s gaze. “Not bothering- it hurt you. I’m also trying to change myself. I learned something recently that really put my world on its head. It changed my perspective on who I was and who I want to be. I want to be better than ‘Adrien Agreste’.”

“But that’s you, that’s who you are.”

He shook his head.

“I dislike half the things I do. I don’t eat, don’t dress comfortably or how I like, and I don’t speak out. I didn’t against my father and I guess against what was happening to you. I can never say sorry enough.”

“Well, I didn’t reach out either.” Marinette gave a weak laugh. Adrien watched Marinette fiddle with her food, and sat up.

“You can talk to me. Tell me about these last few months. If you want to, that is.”

Marinette shrugged.

“I got a lot done, like how I used to before Alya and you came to our school.”

“I already knew you can be productive.” He nudged her gently.

“I guess it was a little lonely.” She didn’t want pity. So she didn’t look at him. “I missed class events. They didn’t invite me because my invite got lost or was sent to the wrong number. Then they didn’t invite me because they forgot. Then, they just...didn’t.”

She steeled herself, and kept going.

“They didn’t talk to me. They didn’t come to things they promised beforehand, or help me on projects, or include me in anything! Every single thing I’ve done for them, because I wanted to, because they were my friends it all disappeared like none of it mattered.” She had to calm down. She felt her body begin to warm up, and dissolve the numb she had put around herself. “I...didn’t matter.”

She didn’t know if Adrien responded, she was too focused on stopping the negative thoughts. She had to be numb, Hawkmoth can’t akumatize numb.

Adrien opened his mouth, but before anything came out the two heard a large crash followed by screams on the street.

They whipped around to face one another, eyes wide.

“Akuma.” They both breathed out.

“I have to go!” Adrien jumped up, immediately wincing. He was beginning to regret his sugar spree.

He felt a lacking on his finger. He had to get to Fu as soon as possible.

“Yup, go ahead, be safe!” Marinette rushed, all while almost pushing him out the door. Once the lock clicked she let out a breath and a small smile. “See you soon Kitty.”

“I know I totally made this decision, but I’m so damn tired and running without a suit on through impending doom after busting my ass this morning is a terrible consequence.” Adrien wheezed, finally arriving at Master Fu. Plagg phased through the door with the ring immediately, before Adrien could raise an arm to knock.

“Took you long enough kid.”

Adrien couldn’t take a breath to glare at his kwami, only muttered a Claws Out.

Chat Noir raced to where the screams sounded the loudest, spotting his partner’s dark red hood in the midst of the chaos.

“You look winded.” She smirked when he landed.

“No way,” he gasped, “I just like taking deep breaths of air. All at once.”

She snorted, then pointed to where a dark purple figure was in the center. The Akuma was levitating in the air, black streaks coming from their eyes and down their face and neck. The Akuma’s power wasn’t completely known yet, it seemed to be hitting people with a beam, but there was no physical reaction from the victims.

“You think it’s Rossi again?” Chat asked, unable to make out who the Akuma was, however it did look like it had a feminine shape.

“Then the city would be on fire.” Ladybug looked at those running away. It seemed that everyone hit was collapsing, some hunched over and others openly sobbing. “What is she doing to them?”

“Let’s dodge her beams and kick her butt?”

“Sounds like any other fight.” Ladybug pursed her lips. This akuma didn’t feel right.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir!” The akuma screamed, desperately into the air. “To make this pain stop, I need your miraculous!”

Chat wanted to run in, claws blazing, but Ladybug looked hesitant. She wrapped her arm around his waist and swung them to a rooftop on the side, out of reach but within ear shot.

“What are you doing to these people?” Ladybug shouted, the victims beginning to wail.

The akuma only cried, without the petty malice of other Akumas. “They’re experiencing their worst guilt ten times over. All their regrets, their mistakes are flooding them once again.”

Chat’s eyes widened. “Oh geez.”

“Okay we really have to avoid that.” Ladybug muttered. She lunged, searching for something to break. The Akumas form was skintight. She scoffed, Hawkmoth needed to upgrade his designs.

“Oh god, he’s a freaking designer. What the hell, Agreste.”

“Meowch Bug, what did I do?” Chat called, whipping his baton towards the akuma. Fu taught him earlier, the cat miraculous is supposed to handle the brunt of the work. Distractions were fine, but his job was to hold them down. The baton hit the akuma in the gut, wrenching her out of the sky and slamming her into the pavement.

Ladybug could now see her closely. Her suit looked like melted plastic, blues and purples bleeding into one another and held together with what looked like black string tied around her waist over and over.

“Where’s the akuma?”Chat placed a glove on the string, and suddenly screamed in agony.

“Chat?” Ladybug suddenly panicked, seeing her partner put a bloody hand away. The material of the Akuma’s suit immediately spiked into sharp, glass-like shards upon contact. It has been the first thing to have pierced through the magic fabric of their suits.

“What the fuck?” Chat immediately jumped back, the akuma breaking out into a broken laugh.

“You can’t stop me. I’m Remorse incarnate.” She hiccuped, flying into the air once again. “My emotions are my weapon. My guilt is your downfall.”

Ladybug pulled Chat out, ducking behind a building as he tended to his hand.

“How’s your hand?” She could see it begin to heal, the leather of his suit building over the torn skin.

“It’s fine, I’m worried about Plagg though.” He furrowed his brows.

“What is it?”

“I got a good look at her.” He turned to Ladybug, clearly upset. “It’s Alya Cesaire.”

--TAGLIST--

@shannaro-sakura @uninspired-writer @magic-miraculous @mividaexo @juhavs @salsyy301 @liamnl @reblog-trasher@autumnhunter1 @grimmhallow31 @f0xylegs @amelyhot @marichat00@peachedpocky @sturchling @elmokingkong @corabeth11 @akana-sama@ephemeral-firefly @dani-ari @whatsupwithjinx @bobothyross @introverted-book-enthusiast @saltystickofbutter @kristycocopop @s-tabcra-b @yes-friends-it-is-i @razzledazzle247 @rosesareskyblue @themamaravenclaw @sili-a @mysweetchaton @silvergold-swirl @internet-or-sleep @zoeytheweeb @friedchickening @crayon-lord-kyksei @subtlyundead @gwennex

#hahaha cliff hangers #I love asks #so please send me some #ladybug's finale #maximumjinx #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #chat noir #ml salt #comment tag if you want to be tagged #salt fic #plot fic #Lila rossi #alya cesaire #Marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrienette #ladynoir #writing

419 notes · View notes

breg21 · 6 years ago

Text

Ladynoir Month: Identity Reveal

@ladynoirjuly2019

Ao3 FFN

*Sees the prompt for today* Well, if I must…..

Hang onto your hats, kids. We're going to have some fun with this one.

P.S SORRY THIS IS OUT LATE. WE HAD A STORM AND OUR POWER IS OUT (I'm on mobile, even though I really didn't wanna use my data) Ir's currently one in the morning and the heat is a pain.

"So, I had a thought."

Ladybug lifted her head just enough to rest her chin as she peered up at him through her lashes. "That's' a dangerous pastime."

He lifted his own head to look down from where she was cuddled into his side, looking back to the stars littered across the nighttime sky, he smirked. "I know."

She sighed, but went to put her head back on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Let's hear it. What have you been thinking about?"

He didn't beat around the bush. "I was thinking about what kind of house we're gonna have one day."

She giggled. "And what kind of house were you thinking about?"

He had been thinking about it a while now, actually. He knew his lady liked small, intricate things. Nothing big or flashy. But she needed enough room for her designing— he found out a while ago that she loved fashion— and he also knew she wanted a small family.

"A nice size house." He tapped on the tin roof beneath them as he answered easily enough. "Something similar like this one. Nothing too big or sophisticated. Just simple. But big enough for three kids." She hummed in agreement. "Maybe a connected designing studio for you to work in. Also, a close kit living room and dining room so we can have all our friends and family over for special occasions and all be close while we eat dinner."

His good mood must've been contagious, because she seemed to have caught it. "Don't forget a study of your own for when you go into whatever physics career that you do."

He smiled. They both found that whether it be a teacher, or something else, being in physics, something with it, was what he wanted to do. "Sounds good to me. What do you think, bugaboo."

"It sounds perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Just then he remembered something. "Oh, before I forget, I got us another ticket to see Jagged's next concert. Don't forget to raid the costume room."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But nothing as ridiculous as before."

"Wouldn't dream of it, bugaboo."

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

For a time now, she and Chat had been running out of excuses as to why they couldn't be with the rest of the student's during the Akuma attacks and the easy answer was fear. Marinette had always been a timid person and her being, well a coward, fit her personality from an outside perspective.

While her friends didn't use that word, they did understand her certain quirks and the fact that they helped her devise ways of meeting up with her then crush, really drove the thought home that she wasn't one for standing up in the face of danger. The thing was she was starting to contradict that quirk a little bit thanks to one Lila.

She could not describe in words all that was wrong with that girl and while she knew there had to be some reason behind her actions, whether it was an untreated chemical imbalance, or the fact that she simply thought her actions didn't have any consequences, it made no difference to Marinette, she had to stand up to her.

And because of that, she couldn't use the excuse of cowardice anymore. She was stuck with having to come up with different ways to excuse herself from the class and while she knew some of those excuses were not perfect she never expected what came next.

Her best friend meeting her alone at her locker asking her the unthinkable. "Marinette, are you being blackmailed?"

She was shaken at the outlandish question. "What? What are you talking about?"

There was a hint of shame in Alya's eyes, yet she didn't back down trying her best to be understanding of whatever situation she thought her best friend was in. "Mari, the entire class has noticed you leaving during the Akuma attacks and while we used to just think you were afraid it's becoming more and more obvious that there is something different happening. While I don't like giving into rumors well…"

Rumors? There had been rumors going on about her? "What?" Her voice was meak seeing the pain on Alya's face.

"You are the only one besideds sunshine who has never been Akumatized and while I don't like the thought of it, things just don't add up."

She almost jumped back from what Alya was implying. "So what, do you think I'm being blackmailed by Hawkmoth so I don't get monsterfied! Alya where is this coming from, I mean what reason would I have to even be Akumatized?"

Alya simply shifted her head in the direction of Adrien's locker.

Marinette nearly shrieked. "I have a boyfriend!"

Alya looked away as Marinette's voice began to crack. "You know I have one, it's just-"

"Complicated," The blogger sighed. "Listen, girl. Me and all the other girls have been helping you for nearly a year to get Adrien and the moment he finds somebody else you just 'miraculously' gain a boyfriend. We spent so much time and effort in helping you, girl. The least you can do is open up to us because we get it. It has to be hard after all that time but no, you chose to lie to our faces."

It was like a slap to the face. A painful one. Without another word, she turned and ran to the only safe place she knew in the school. It was ironic really, where it was, seeing as who had given her the key.

Digging out the key to the costume room, she tried to get the key into the lock, but fumbled a few ties before it finally slid in and she heard the click of the doorknob. She twisted the knob and pushed the door open, quickly slamming the door behind her, and leaning her weight back against it.

It was then, and only then, did she take notice of the other person in the room when her heartbeat finally slowed and her breathing evened out.

Another person, as in, Adrien Agreste.

Well, okay then.

"Adrien." Her voice was still weak, and scratchy from crying, but she tried to put some volume behind it. "Hey, what're you doing here?"

He was the very definition of a deer caught in the headlights. "Oh, hey, Marinette." He moved away from the clothes rack of the costumes that were behind him. "I was just… looking for a pair of pants, I tore something with the ones I'm wearing, and I'm finding something to wear in the meantime." He leaned his elbow against the rack, as if he was trying to act cool, and innocent.

It was not working, whatsoever. He was definitely not a good liar.

Because his dad could easily send him a pair of pants, along with being able to fix the pair that was ripped in a blink of an eye. But he chose this as an excuse.

But, as much as she should, being in the mindset that she was, she just couldn't really bring herself to care at that second. There was too much piled on her head and she just wanted to be able to breathe at the moment. She just wanted to forget.

"Marinette, are you okay?"

And that was the question that broke her. No, no she wasn't okay. And she didn't quite know how to be okay after everything with Alya, because how did you get through something so tough with someone who was supposed to be your best friend. The one person you're supposed to trust the most.

She didn't know. She really didn't.

The sob came out in heavy hiccups as she fell to the floor, burying her head into her arms on her knees. No dam stood now, just the vulnerability and pain she had been dealing with because of Lila. It stung.

She didn't hear the approaching footsteps, but she felt the hand on her arm before Adrien tried to comfort her. "Mari. Shh. It's okay, I promise. It really is. You wanna tell me what's all going on?"

She choked back the sobs, but boy, did they want to come through. "T-they think." Another hiccup. "They think I'm lying, about where I am, about mu interge-dy." Hiccup. "And it all comes from becau-se they think I'm lying about having a boyfriend and being over you."

Through blurry eyes, she saw the outline of what resembled guilt. "I'm so sorry, Mari."

"Not your fault." She said, hardly any sound to her words. "They just don't get it. I've moved on, I needed to for me. I'm so happy with the guy I'm with. And they don't understand why I can't tell them about him, but they can't know. I want to tell them, I wish I could tell them bad. I need someone to talk to about him, and gush, and just get it all off my chest."

Her eyes began to clear as she wiped away the tears and could see him shift so that he now sat on his butt instead of his back hunches. "Some people just don't understand, and they never will. What's important is finding the people accept it. Even when it's hard."

A dry laugh clawed its way up her throat. "Yeah. I wish I could just confine in someone that would believe I could trust. Someone that doesn't doubt me when I say I have a boyfriend. It's hard to keep it bottled up."

"That's it, I'm gonna talk to Lila after school. It ends here." He continued to softly run her arm in what comfort he could give, and she really couldn't argue with that. "Well, if you want to, you could tell me who he is. No pressure, but if you need to let it out, I'm here. Always."

She shouldn't. It was dangerous, and could cause so many problems down the road. But she was hurting and tired. No one knew Ladybug and Chat were dating. It couldn't be tied to her at the moment with being Ladybug. And she just wanted to get it out. So, she did.

Inhaling a deep breath, she stood to full height. "You promise you won't tell anyone? Not a soul."

He zipped an imaginary line over his lips, showing that he would.

"Okay," she whispered, nodding. Bracing herself of what she was about to say, she pushed herself onto the tip of her toes, bring her mouth to his ears, as to make sure that there was no possibility that anyone else could hear. "It's Chat Noir."

Just as she dropped back to her feet, she was met with the gobsmacked expression, jaw nearly to the floor, eyes almost out of his head, probably at the fact that she was dating a superhero. Because she understood how shocking it was.

Just then, the bell decided to ring and she knew she had to get to class. "Thanks, Adrien. Remember, no one can know." She turned, feeling a million times better than before, and jetted off to her next class.

Only if she saw his still frozen form.

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

Chat knew Marinette wasn't a liar. He knew that. So, why did she claim that they were dating? Was she telling the truth?

I'm dating Chat Noir. She started dating a mysterious guy that she just couldn't talk about to anyone— even Alya.

Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe he had died in the last akuma, because no way could he be lucky enough for this to be his reality. Just no way.

Because he was only dating one girl— she wouldn't make up stories, she just wouldn't— and if she was telling the truth, that could only mean one thing and his heart picked up and his palms began to sweat at the mere thought.

I'm dating Chat Noir. That necklace in her bag. The one she just seemed to keen on keeping it from anyone's watchful eye.

And his breathing was becoming too hard, as the swelling in his heart was starting to get too big for the confines of his chest. It was just too impos-

Arms came out of nowhere, and slipped around his waist. A soft, caring voice came from behind him. "Hey, kitty. What's wrong?"

I'm dating Chat Noir. Cats didn't like her and when she gave her excuses, as if she knew the exact reason, it was ultimately related because of her scent. So soon after he marked Ladybug.

If this was a dream in the end, he didn't want to wake up.

He choked. "H-hey, bugaboo. Nothing." But he wouldn't turn in her hold, his eyes couldn't meet hers, not after hearing something that he just couldn't unhear. He kept his face out to the city.

She temporarily unclasped her arm around him and moved to his side, and dropped to the ground, pulling him along with her. "I don't buy that for a second, Chat."

Chat sighed, he'd been caught. He knew she wouldn't believe his lie. He leaned into her, needing her touch for what he needed to say. "I don't know what to say exactly without spilling identities."

Her demeanor didn't change. Still soft, tender, and caring as she was. "I'm not worried about identities anymore, kitty. Not as much as I was. I talked to Master Fu. If you need to talk about something, then please do."

Something in him just sparked. Because if she talked to Master Fu about identities, that meant something big, and the way they talked about it hinted, that just maybe she wanted to know. She wanted to reveal.

And as much as she always said— and he believed her one hundred percent— it was more of physical proof that she wanted him for a long long time.

Just maybe forever.

He didn't realize he was spacing out on her until she was waving her hand in front of his face. "Chat. C'mon. What's all going on?"

He didn't know how to even go about this. How did one even start a conversation about identities and of the such, because that was so different from the rest of all the other times? It was real, and here, and it wasn't going away.

He pulled away momentarily, climbing to his feet to look out onto the city so he could actually collect his thoughts before he spoke. "What if I told you, I overheard a couple people talking today in school?" His words weren't loud, he couldn't put the energy into them.

Even without looking at her, he could tell by her tone that she was confused. "Okay….and why does that have you down exactly?"

Everything that he had been denying up until this point was resurfacing and he couldn't deny at how utterly stupid he felt.

Should he? Shouldn't he. He wasn't sure, but he did anyway. "She said she was dating me. As in Chat."

He heard her breath hitch, and it made him brave enough to turn and face her, to face this. When his uncertain gaze meant her shaky one, it was an answer all in its self. "Sh-she did...well, um..who?" She asked in a meak whisper.

He wouldn't lie to her nor could he keep this from her if his thoughts were true. He owed her that much, and he hadn't done it on purpose, he didn't mean to find out her possible identity without her actually telling him.

But the guilt was still simmering in the pit of his gut. She had every right to know now that he did.

Air was dwindling to none. "Marinette. Marinette Dupain Cheng said we were dating." He stalked forward, shortening the distance between them, every inch by inch until finally, they were nose to nose. "I know she's not a liar. Nor would she make up something as serious as dating a superhero. That's not who she is. She's amazing and kind, and selfless."

She blinked. "Oh."

The air may have been thin, but he could still chuckle somewhat. "And I'm hoping to every kwami in existence that what she said was real." His tongue went to wet his dry lips. "So, please, bugaboo. Tell me what she said was real. Please tell me I'm dating Marinette."

A few beats. Longer seconds that they should've been. It was more of an eternity than anything he had ever experienced.

She was shell shocked, that much he could tell. But she answered his question. "Yeah, kitty." Her words breathless, but coherent. "You're dating Marinette."

In a flash of pink light, Marinette stood in Ladybug's stead. She was obviously trying to make herself look small, hiding in her own body with her nerves screaming at her, because this was still a scary and unknown situation, but she still held her want of the reveal on her shoulders.

It took only a fraction of a second for him to realize that he had been right, and proceeded to grab her by the waist, and spun her in tiny little dizzy circles. He could hear her laugh, that laugh that he so often heard every day and didn't know, and it was so amazing.

It was like hearing it all over again for the very first time.

She was telling him to put her down, but it was between laughter, and there was no firmness to her words, so he continued. He couldn't get enough of the smell of sweets, vanilla, and baked goods that he had for so long associated with Ladybug. How could he had not seen it before, it was so clear.

Her laugh, her personality, heck, her looks. Those ocean blue eyes that he loved more than anything in the world. Everything that made Ladybug, came from Marinette, and it made him giddy.

When he finally calmed down, he settled Marinette back on her feet, but refused to let her go from his hold. Her grin had to be as big as his, if not more so, and he loved her more in that moment than he ever had before.

"It's you." and before she could respond, his lips were on hers, hard, fierce, but brimming with love. He was scattered brain, that much he could connect in his head, but when she started to kiss back after the initial shock of him kissing her in the first place, he couldn't really care.

It was her, his brain chanted over an over until it hurt, but it was nice. Because he could smell him on her and it drove his heart absolutely mad with happiness. He wanted this, her, this moment, and the rest that they would create together later on.

When he finally pulled back from her lips— a challenging act all on its own— he was rewarded with the sight of bruised rosy lips, eyes half lidded, and definitely thoroughly kissed. By him.

Through her short little pants for breath, she said, "Well, that was an excited greeting." She giggled to show she held no menace in her words. "So," her finger tips gently touched the edge of his mask. "Do I get to see who you are under the mask?"

That was when the rest of the situation hit hard. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more to the point where he was crying. It was so ironic.

But, unfortunately, she took that as a bad sigh. "Unless, I mean, you don't want me to know…."

He stopped before he could make another sound so he corrected his mistake. "No. No, princess. I didn't mean it like that at all."

"Oh?" Her eyebrow arched, clearly still suspicious. "Then what did you mean?"

"We're a mess." He put simply. "A beautiful, chaotic mess. And I'm pretty proud of that if I'm being honest."

Without a seconds hesitation— his arms still wrapped around her with an iron grip— his own transformation drops, and he watched as her face went from curiosity, suspension, and eagerness, to shock, mind blown, and finally, ecstatic happiness.

And, boy, did that make him feel whole.

"So." She said. "That's how you knew."

He nodded before letting his forehead fall onto hers. "Yeah, that's how I knew. Kinda lied about the whole overheard part, sorry."

Eyes shining with unleashed tears, her hands went up to lightly trace his jaw in awe, as if she didn't believe what was before her. "It's fine, kitty."

Kitty. He was still her kitty.

He loved that. "Guess that means we're finally done dancing around each other, huh?"

"Yeah." She shrugged without much thought, but the smile was still very much real. "But I guess that just proves my point even further."

He could hear the challenge, and he took the bait like a catfish to a worm. "Oh?" His eyes narrowed. "And what point would that be."

She booped his nose. "I'll always find you, kitty." She pushed herself up, letting their lips connect in an almost slow meet, but before she did, whispered. "Always."

AND THERE WE GO.

I can't go to bed because I gotta watch over the animals until the powers back on, so that means I actually have time to catch up on comments.

Please enjoy my one am morning brain. It's gonna be fun. Lots of love!

#ladynoirjuly2019 #LadyNoir #ml #mlb #miraculous ladybug #love square

27 notes · View notes

real-fakedoors · 7 years ago

Text

under leaves so green - CHPT 13 - Miraculous Ladybug

After the Dupain-Cheng family purchases a flower shop around the block from the Agreste mansion, Chat Noir frequents the spot in search of company from the manager-but-not-really Marinette. Beneath the mask, Adrien starts to struggle with how cute she looks in that green apron. (AKA: the not-really flower shop AU where basically everything is the same, but Marinette is extra stressed by her job and Adrien tries to be supportive)

Cross-posted on AO3 and FF.net

Chapter 13: Coffee Roses, Crepe Gardenias

In which, Adrien goes out in his pajamas, Marinette bruises her knuckles, Ladybug considers a career in plumbing, Chat Noir is basically freaking out, and Chloe is... well, Chloe.

Adrien probably should go back to sleep.

It was early - really early.

It was so early that the sky was still pitched in the tones of forgiving purple and forgotten ebony, the cusp of dawn still weak in the rising daytime.

Sleeping sounded nice, but he lay awake in a dark room with a head full of thoughts.

For the second morning in a row, he had woken up without need of an alarm or the knock of Nathalie at his door, and both nights previous he had gone to bed far later than he should have.

Unlike yesterday, though, Adrien didn’t even have the excuse of early morning sunlight, glaring accusingly across his face.

Rolling over in a his valley of dark sheets, Adrien pulled his phone towards him and checked the time.

“Five o’ one,” he grumbled quietly, head heavy with lost sleep. Still, the lids of his eyes refused to droop with satisfaction, every inch of his mattress suddenly feeling uncomfortable and restrictive. It was too warm in the room, and the blankets felt like a cavern of dreams sacrificed in vain to another morning.

Rolling over, Adrien’s attention was drawn to the windows at the end of the room, where the daubs of black night still streaked the sky, and it looked inviting.

With no sound in the room but the light hum of a sleeping kwami, the teen could just barely hear the workers in the house begin their daily service. It came in waves, a tapping pair of shoes or a closing door, and once, he heard someone sneeze. Birds began to sing, and the quiet distractions added to the steady rise of awareness that woke his brain, creeping up further with each passing minute.

After several minutes of just existing - the bare minimum - Adrien realized his room had grown entirely still.

He shifted his head back on the pillows, gazing up through his fringe. A droopy pair of green eyes shined down at him, blinking slow.

“‘Morning, Plagg,” Adrien yawned as he sat up in bed. A much smaller mewl of sleepiness followed, and the kwami rubbed his eyes.

“Sup,” replied his companion, shifting on the pillows as Adrien stood up and crossed the room, unlocking a few of the windows along the wall. Plagg watched him, and Adrien could feel her curious green eyes follow his movements; it was unusual for them to go out in the morning unless beckoned by the demands of an akuma, but right now, the cool promise of a sleeping Paris seemed a welcome reprieve.

“Plagg?” He called, brows raised. Without complaint, the black presence floated up from the sheets.

“Claws out.”

Immediately, his skin felt lighter, the sweat that dried to the back of his neck caught the morning breeze and his skin erupted into oddly enjoyable gooseflesh beneath supple leather that straddled his skin. It was the feeling of being alive, and lately, he reveled in every minute he had.

Chat Noir took to the rooftops, stopping not far from his home, just high enough that passersby would not notice but near enough that he could watch the city come to life.

Cloudless sun and temperate weather was forecasted for the day ahead, which, especially after yesterday’s unbearable heat, Chat was grateful for. Legs dangling from the roof, he hummed along to the quiet overture of day switching shifts with the night. Early commuters, people on bicycles, dog-walkers following their pooches to-and-fro, and traffic began to buzz with the call of careers, cashing in their early morning dues.

Soon, he guessed, Marinette would join them in the listless symphony of work. Anxious to see her, Chat wondered if he might get to work with her again today; it was a fun partnership, much like that he had with Ladybug. Feeling a bit selfish, the black-suited hero even toyed with the idea of leaping over to her balcony right this moment, but he didn’t want wake her unfairly.

Princesses need sleep, he thought with a wry smile.

So, for the time being, Chat was content to watch the city from the sidelines. That didn’t mean he had to be entirely without company.

Murmuring a few quick words, he dropped his transformation.

“That was fast,” Plagg commented as he fluttered down to Adrien’s knee, perched over the side of the building.

The blond shrugged. “Thought you’d like to join me.”

“We are literally one being as Chat Noir, you know,” his kwami replied in false exasperation. “I see the same things you do.”

“I know that,” Adrien huffed, scratching Plagg on top of a head to calm his morning grumpiness. “But I feel weird talking to myself outloud to talk to you. I thought this seemed less weird.”

Plagg grumbled a small “... whatever,” and curled more comfortably onto Adrien’s pajamas, apparently enjoying the petting too much to come up with a more clever rebuke.

After a few moments, the teen lobbed a question at the kwami. It was heavy, one that had been weighing on his mind for a few days.

“What do you think about telling Marinette I’m Chat Noir?”

Plagg peered up at his charge, thoughtful while he considered his response.

It’s not like he could say he was surprised.

In truth, Plagg wanted Adrien to just admit it to the girl, so he and Tikki could spend their time together more easily, to just get the silly love square they were trapped in over with. A being old as time, though, he knew that was selfish and irresponsible - and that was coming from him, not to mention what Tikki would say. She was the responsible one in their little kwami world.

They had to figure out some choices on their own, but he also wouldn’t outright lie to his charge.

Slowly, he construed an answer. “Hmm… well, I think it’s dumb, and you’re dumb for thinking it.”

Adrien snorted derisively and rolled his eyes. “I was being serious, you know.”

“So was I, but I also wasn’t finished,” his kwami answered with a clipped tone.

“Oh. Well, go on then,” Adrien prompted.

Vaguely, the teen made a note that Plagg’s tail was flickering in an odd pattern, but otherwise, his expression was unreadable.

“I think it’s dumb, but I understand why you might want to tell her. It’s hard to keep secrets from the people you care about. Thinking with that heart of yours instead of your brain, as you do, it’s not a surprise you’d be want to do something dumb. The real problem isn’t what you want, though.”

Adrien already understood the meaning of his kwami’s words. Pressing his lips together, he finished the explanation. “... It’s about her safety.”

“Right.” Plagg frowned and rolled over onto his back, looking much the cat as he did so.

“That sucks,” the blond pointed out.

“Yeah,” his kwami agreed with a small shrug. “So even though you’re stupid, I think you’re just the right amount of stupid that you won’t do anything stupid.”

“Wow, Plagg, thanks. You’re such a big help.”.

Plagg rolled over and yawned. “I know, I’m the best.”

The pair grew quiet for a time, Plagg cozying up into a ball of black fur and lulling into an easy sleep, but Adrien was still feeling very awake. His mind was abuzz like the rising Paris day, still tinted in black from each horizon, but with some tonal shades of color beginning to sprout from the East.

Adrien recovered his phone from the pocket of his pajamas, doing his best not to disturb Plagg. He was intending to use the chance to Google some lore about flora, maybe impress Marinette with a “oh-so-natural” story about some obscure plant in the shop, and she would stare blankly with those pretty blue eyes.

“Wow, Adrien, I’m so impressed. You’re so handsome and intelligent, I’m just so lucky!” She might say. Maybe.

In reply, he might brush it off like she does, each time she impresses him. “Heh, well, it’s just a fact I picked up on the side. Nothing too impressive, really.”

The silly daydream played out for a minute, but Adrien nearly dropped his phone in surprise when he noticed the very same girl’s name on his screen.

Marinette had left him a voicemail, only a few minutes after he turned to Chat Noir; as his alter ego, all of his civilian wares (aside from his ring) were inaccessible.

Frowning, he lifted the device to his ear.

It crackled for a moment, there was a light swishing noise, and then it went out again.

“Hmm,” Adrien frowned at his phone. “Maybe she rolled over her phone in her sleep?”

Eliciting a very non-manly yelp, the phone started ringing again and he nearly thrashed Plagg off his lap in the process.

“AH-HEY! What gives?!” The kwami screeched, rubbing his cheek where Adrien’s knee had made contact with his face.

“S-Sorry! Mari’s calling me…” Scowling, he cleared his throat and accepted the call.

“Hi, Mari. What are you doing up so --”

Again, he was greeted by a loud crackling sound, and Adrien pulled the phone away in irritation.

He tried again. “Marinette? Can you hear me?”

A little distant, Adrien caught what sounded like a conversation. The first voice was forcefully feminine, and oddly pitched. “ --n’t you worry. You can rest easy knowing.... Paris brats ...to your rescue.”

Marinette’s voice was much louder, and much closer. “Planifcateur, you can’t do this! Snatching up local shopkeeps who weren’t able to help you - it’s not right!”

“Please,” said another voice, not quite as clear as Marinette’s, but closer than the first. Adrien thought it seemed familiar, too. “We are all trying our best to meet the needs of your -- ”

“Silence!”

That he heard loud-and-clear.

“If everything was proper, and neat, and ordered… have happened! My job… problem. Now...”

A weird clicking sound punctuated her speech.

Marinette cut in. “Madam Cesair-!”

“Let’s stay on schedule!”

The line went dead.

He blinked a few times, the feeling of cold water splashing his face and leaving him out to hypothermic danger, skin paling with the slow sense of recognition. Plagg’s own eyes had gone wide - apparently, his sensitive hearing made it easy for him to pick up on the message. Staring from the phone to his kwami, then the phone again, he felt confusion and concern course through him in the form of furious adrenaline.

“Hawkmoth,” Plagg said, almost spitting the word.

Ignoring the lump forming in this throat, Adrien did not hesitate. Now was not the time for that.

“Plagg, claws out.”

For a being without wings, Chat Noir flew across the city, leaping in the cool morning air of Paris with more pressure mounting in his chest than he’s ever known. His heart moved at a pace that would put the fastest runner of the Schneider Electric to shame. It was like someone had decided to excavate his chest cavity from the inside, and it only pushed him faster and faster over the rooftops.

He reached for his baton and tried to call Ladybug.

No answer.

Frustrated, he growled and put the device away. He was already upon the roof of Marinette’s terreanial paradise, and the place seemed empty without her. The absence of the life within, fueled by the love of a black-haired Nightingale, sucked the personality and light right from the walls. A lamp run out from oil, the place was vacant in more ways than one.

This wasn’t like the last akuma attack, a stranger with a familiar target. His - her - Marinette was in danger, and Alya’s mother, and possibly others, too.

Glaring at the glass, Chat’s reflection glared right back. The call was a serendipitous clue as to the context of the situation, but it was also terribly stress-inducing. He assumed Marinette must’ve just tried to call anyone she could without putting herself in danger, probably to notify the police.

Luckily, or not, Chat Noir was not the police.

So what did he know? Chat reviewed what little information he had.

Planifcateur, the Planner, had an interest in Marinette and Alya’s Mom. Specifically, using them as hostages to lure out himself and Ladybug. There was some sort of problem with Planifcateur’s job, probably related to her getting akumatized…

A stirring wind ruffled his hair and tickled his ears, and Chat Noir heard a buzzing sound grow nearer and nearer. His attention flickered above, spotting a familiar TVi helicopter.

“Well, that’s helpful,” he half-smirked, but his heart wasn’t really in it. There wasn’t anyone around to hear his comment or offer a witty remark.

Chat set off into the dewy mist, ill met by moonlight. The evanescent glow of a new moon provided little in the way of illumination - not that he needed it with scoptic senses - but the omen of dark skies didn’t help his growing trepidation.

It only took a few blocks of following after the news helicopter to establish a sense of the akuma’s path. Most attacks concentrated around the school, the Eiffel Tower, the television station, City Hall, or Le Grande Paris for one reason or another. Tonight, as Chat leapt closer towards a specific edge of town, he grew increasingly uncomfortable at the sight of a hotel he’d had lunch in just the day previous.

Marinette had mentioned that morning about sending away some “goons” from the store, claiming they worked at Le Grande Paris. Something about being unreasonable, and the encounter ended with her refusing their business. Given the rest of the evidence available - Madam Cesaire worked at the hotel, and the growing volume of sirens over the steady, rhythmic pounding of the city below as he neared the location - it was all likely related.

Wait…

Something about that wasn’t right.

During an akuma attack, depending on how recently the plot began to unravel, Paris was in one of two states: total catastrophic panic, people running and screaming from ground zero, or eerie, bone-chilling silence. The stacco thumping of marching feet on pavement was as unusual as it was troubling.

Chat paused in his pursuit, scowling into one of the main drags that would guide him right to the hotel, and the sight was almost beautiful, but even more, it was disturbing. An otherwordly sea of stars in the sprawling Mâcon countryside, a hundred, no, maybe a thousand? A thousand tiny lights twinkled in the hands of civilians. From apartments, houses, businesses and even stopped cars, people streamed into the roads and sidewalks, meandering in unison. All of them were, in some manner, gripping technology in their hands. By the looks of, mostly cell phones and personal tablets were secured close to each person’s chest, absorbing their attention by way of a crisp white-blue light that reflected eerily back at each person’s face, clouding their eyes.

“I’ve heard of technology addiction, but this…” Chat murmured. Reaching for his baton again, he tried to contact Ladybug (thankfully, the fundamentals of computer engineering didn’t seem apply to magical items, as the light of his baton remained acid green).

Still, no answer, and the thought brought a grimace to his lips. He could only hope she was being delayed and hadn’t happened to be on her cell phone when this mess started.

A quick inhale of night air steadied him, and Chat flashed across the Parisian skyline towards Le Grande Paris with a mixture of fear and purpose driving his sprint.

The black-suited hero had been doing this long enough to know that sometimes, it was best to wait for Ladybug, and others, it was best to gather information on the scene. His partner’s lack of response was not reassuring, and without knowing what Planifcateur had planned for the hostages, he knew there was really only one option. There was no time to waste.

“... Marinette,” he whispered through grit teeth, leaping a bit faster. Within minutes, the lights of the hotel were visible, a beacon through the morning.

His heavy boots thumped against the stone roof, landing across from Le Grande Paris. The place was a portrait of bustling activity, and he scowled at a loud, shrill laugh at the end of the street.

A massive television screen flickered to life, though none of the people mindlessly going to-and-fro so much as glanced at. The image on the screen suggested it wasn’t intended for them anyways.

Wearing a sneer, a biting tone called out across Paris. “Ladybug and Chat Noir!”

Nadja Chamack, wearing a grin he’d seen on models a dozen time - a strained, fake, forced smile - stood on the left side of the screen, and on the right must have been the Planner.

Her body was a swirl of red and crisp, bright white. Draped in a luxurious scarlet pants-suit, her attire was a level of business-professional that would have impressed even his father. Along her nose, an over-exaggerate pair of ruby-red glasses swooped out almost a foot on each side from her temples. From head-to-toe, the woman was decked out in all sorts of technology that shimmered in the darkness. A bluetooth headset, a slim tablet in her hands, some sort of sophisticated, technological watch on her wrist. Electronics under her touch were replaced by LED machinations into glowing monstrosities of power, and Chat could only guess which one might contain the akuma.

“You have an appointment in the basement of Le Grande Paris with me. The only acceptable forms of ID are your Miraculous! I’d suggest you don’t be late…”

She stepped off-screen, and Chat clenched his jaw. Tied up on a large pouf was one Chloe Bourgeois, scowling at the camera.

“I don’t --” she started to say, but Chat didn’t even hear her. Around the room, at least a dozen people marched around stiffly to the tune of the same hypnotism that drew in all the civilians below.

One of those individuals happened to have dark, messy hair.

Marinette was scowling - and damned be if it wasn’t adorable - at a large array of flowers and plants already occupying pots. He couldn’t imagine they were from the flower shop, as the place seemed in pristine (though empty) condition when he left the scene a few minutes earlier. She was one of the only people stationary, sitting cross-legged on the ground, hands ever-busy with the task she’d been set to.

Ah.

Now it clicked.

Everyone was working, and by the looks of it, working hard. Sweeping, cooking, driving, brewing coffee, and, in Marinette’s case, pruning and plucking at petals without any of her usual enthusiasm.

The Planner was putting everyone to work - tireless, back-breaking work. She waved a wicked goodbye into the camera, replacing it with a large digital timer.

5 00

4 49

4 48

4 47

…

“Five minutes?” Chat groaned, rolling his head back. A little more quietly, he glared at his baton. “LB where are you?”

Without back-up, he felt very much a kitten walking into the Canine’s Den, but what choice did he have? The Planner didn’t elaborate on what she intended to do with Chloe or the others, but the threat behind her words needed no explanation. Someone was going to get hurt.

Grumbling, he leapt down to street level, his scowl flickering at the doorman. The man gave Chat a polite smile and gestured for him to continue, but with a conspicuous vacancy in his eyes - replaced by the same radiant white glow of the Planner’’s electronics.

No one made any move to capture him or harass him for his miraculous; indeed, if he didn’t know better, no one even noticed him. Everyone seemed content to be distracted by their work, a bustle of life in the lobby that had no time for his distractions, apparently.

Chat strode to the stairs, forgoing the elevator, and quickly descended to the basement.

The level was designed to split into an octangular set of hallways, each of the eight walls in the central service areas extending to different sections for the staff - cleaning and laundry, deliveries and postal service, etc. A shadow of the glamour of the rest of the hotel, everything was still painfully polished and posh, but without the same level of detail. No velvet furniture or glittering chandelier here.

In the center of the basement atrium that connected the many hallways was a familiar picture - Chloe, being berated by the akumatized victim, tied up and her expression flashing between anger and annoyance. From Chat’s perspective at his little window in the stairwell, he couldn’t see Marinette, but none of the other workers seemed to be harmed. Alya’s mom shuffled past at one point, encumbered by a massive container of vegetables, and her expression suggested she was in pain. Judging by the size of the bin, Chat could only guess the weight was something close to Ivan’s body mass, and she was hauling it across the room and out a set of doors.

A resounding crash erupted off to one-side, drawing the eyes of few - Chat, Chloe, and Planifcateur all turned to the sound.

The Planner marched down one of the hallways, pursuing the sound. “What is this racket? Bringing disorder to my perfect schedule?”

Seizing his chance, Chat swiftly slipped through the door and looked around.

“Chat N--!” Chloe, began, but he silenced her with a succinct “shh!”

Hissing quietly, he opened the doorway to the hotel. “Everyone, listen, I’ll get you out but you have to hurry - whatever you do, don’t look… at…” His voice trailed off when he noticed no one was paying attention to him, bustling around without so much as batting an eye.

Except one person, who was positively beaming.

Chat slinked across the length of the room and almost threw himself into Marinette.

“Mari.” Chat managed to speak her name, a desperate question answered by her hug. She was okay, and her voice was a sigh of sweet relief.

“Hi, Chat,” she whispered back. “Everyone’s been - er, I don’t know exactly. Brainwashed. I think it has something to do with their technology…”

He hardly heard her, just nodding into her shoulder and relishing her perfume and soft arms. A million worries itched his throat in the form of unspoken questions. Are you okay? What happened? How did you get here? Are those your pajamas? Why aren’t you a mindless working-zombie like everyone else? Who cares - hey, I’m Adrien, and I was so worried - did you mean to call me earlier? How did you manage that? Can I kiss you again? Just to make sure you’re really okay?

They hadn’t the time for any of his words, though, as the sound of crisp heels clicked towards them. Flinching, Chat hurriedly helped Marinette to stand. “Okay. I don’t know if I can get them all to follow... but, let me at least get you and Chloe out of here…”

Marinette pulled a face. “Chloe should be plenty to disrupt her plan - she’s the one Planifcateur wants.”

The blonde swung her ponytail around and hmmp’d rather pointedly, but did not disagree. Chat pulled Marinette by the wrist towards the stairs, letting her lead the way while he stopped to scoop up a hampered Chloe. Quiet and quick, they climbed the stairwell to a bustling hotel of hypnotized workers, buzzing around to tend to their duties. It made bounding towards the glittering front doors easy enough - that is, until they reached them.

“Hold on!” A heavy-set man stepped in front of them, clad in a dark uniform that offered his name - Rémy - but his eyes were cast in alabaster by the technological hypnotism.

Chloe barked an order before Chat or Marinette could react. “Rémy, stand aside. You’re to keep unwanted guests from entering or leaving the premise, but I can go as I please, thank-you-very-much.” His gaze flickered over Chat and Chloe, eyes narrowed and nodded, but grabbed Marinette by the wrist and dragged her to one side, and she cried out in his iron grip. “Mme. Bourgeious and Chat Noir may go. But you don’t have a visitation pass.”

A cataclysmic urge bubbled at Chat’s throat, coming out instead as a growl. Struggling to put Chloe down with her bound limbs, he scowled in concern when he heard Marinette speak-up.

The girl cleared her throat, using her free hand to pat her shoulder-strap clutch. “Sir? I do have a pass, it’s in my purse.”

Squinting distrustfully, Rémy reluctantly released his hold but hovered over her, calling her bluff, duty bound to do his job by the akuma’s magic. Marinette whipped her arm back to her chest and massaged her wrist with her other hand. The blonds met eyes, and Chloe shook her head - don’t look at me.

Chat was prepared to intervene - no way Marinette’s claim was true - but something about her confident smirk made the cat swallow his tongue.

Rémy did not leave and inch of personal space as the dark-haired girl fumbled with her purse, opening the clasp and digging around.

“Here we go,” she said evenly, and in a quick flash of pale skin, she brought out her hand, balled into a fist, and made direct contact with the man’s jaw. With a sickening crack of his teeth gnashing together, the doorman collapsed backwards, sprawling on the floor.

Chat’s felt his own jaw go slack, blinking stupidly.

I’m going to marry this girl, I swear.

“W-what did you do to Rémy?!” Chloe squirmed in Chat’s grip, metaphorically floored at how easily Marinette had very literally floored her doorman.

“What I had to,” she stated with a shrug, as if she hadn’t just single-handedly knocked out a man twice her size and her age, turning briskly to head out into the Paris streets.

Chloe’s lip twisted back, curling with displeasure. “Well? Are we going or what?”

“Uhh…” Chat gulped, feeling a little flustered, and sauntered after his unfreakin’ believable girlfriend. “Right…”

Sighing, Marinette rubbed her sore knuckles, spotting Chat and Chloe emerge from the building. She had taken refuge around the corner of the first-floor cafe patio, separated from the street by an ornate metal fence. Really, it didn’t do much in the way of “cover,” but none of the people mulling about seemed interested in her. They were all too consumed with their work.

With a wry smile, she felt like she knew the feeling.

With little time before Planifcateur would noticee Chloe was gone, she waved a hand for them to join her. With his night vision, Chat had no problem spotting her, but even then it was hardly necessary. The square was plenty bright with the slightest peak of daylight starting to creep upon the horizon, enhanced by the many businesses that were open much earlier than appropriate for a Thursday morning.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” Chat whispered as he fell into a crouch beside her, still holding Chloe bridal style with bound hands and feet, and his ears were drooping from stress.

Marinette gave him a sympathetic smile and opened her mouth, but she was promptly interrupted.

“I mean, of course I’m fine, that stupid coordinator wouldn’t dare touch a hair on my head.” Chloe pointed her chin forward, and Marinette rolled her eyes.

Chat merely grimaced. “That brings up a good point, but we should get out of the streets. Come on,” he turned around and offered Marinette his back. “Piggy-back?”

“Pfft,” she chuckled but did not protest, awkwardly climbing astride his hips and locking her arms around his neck while doing her best not to touch Chloe at risk of Bourgeois cooties.

Impressively, Chat managed to get to a roof with only a little fumbling, using a few awnings and balconies to help along the way. Considering he was carrying two young women, the cat had kept his balanced impressively well.

“Okay,” he began once he deemed they were high enough and far enough from the hotel. “Tell me as much as you know.”

Marinette frowned when she slid from his back, watching him pull out his baton and try to call Ladybug. She had agreed to flee the streets with him because he would have insisted anyways, but that presented a different problem to her now. How was she supposed to get away from them?

Chloe, naturally, decided it prudent that she speak first. Chat set her down carefully and worked on her bonds while she explained her half the story.

“Well, I needed a status report of my reception orders, so I summoned the staff to give a full rundown in my room.”

“Why so early?” Marinette grumbled, feeling the ache of lost sleep weighing down her bagged eyes.

Chloe scoffed. “If you knew what kind of work went into planning something like this, Marinette, then you’d understand. I’ve been up before 5 AM everyday this week. Someone’s got to keep those oafs in line.”

It took most of her self-control not to laugh at that - like Chloe understood the first thing about real responsibility. Chat seemed to be taking in her explanation seriously, so Marinette did her best to maintain some semblance of composure.

“And the Planner was one of your employees, I take it?” Chat asked, sounding about as exasperated as she felt.

Chloe seemed a little irritated but accepted his hand when he offered to to help her stand.

“Yes. Madam Pomeroy. She’s my coordinator, and I just - I didn’t mean to make her so upset, but I was upset! I’ve got a lot of pressure on me for this to go well, okay?” The blonde crossed her arms and ducked her head, looking predictably petulant in a canary yellow set of sleepwear.

“So what did you do?” Marinette asked, not impolitely. She knew Chloe wasn’t always intentionally hurtful.

“I - well, she said we weren’t going to have enough food or flowers, and those are two of the most important things when trying to make a good impression. Potential donors could be attending the reception - not that you’d know that,” she sneered slightly at Marinette, but Chat stepped between them.

“And?” He prompted.

“And I said if she didn’t get it together, I would fire her by the end of the day,” Chloe finished flatly.

Before either of them could continue the increasingly derivative conversation, Marinette offered her two-cents, partially in an attempt to get away from Chat so she could transform.

“Well, I was on my balcony, because I couldn’t sleep and I was grabbed by her and brought to the hotel. When I got there, Madam Cesaire and the others hadn’t been… uh, hypnotized, I guess? She went on this spiel about how we wronged her, how it was our fault she failed,” Marinette paused to glare at Chloe. “But anyways, I think the whole hypnotized thing has to do with looking at your technology - phone, tablet, whatever. Anything that has a calendar, I think. And she can do it with her own tech, too - if she flashes the screen at you, you’ll become a ‘worker’ too.”

Marinette frowned, recalling when Planifcateur appeared behind her on her balcony, blocking the skylight. By some miracle, she had, by coincidence, brought her purse outside so she hadn’t been separated from Tikki, and when she tried to talk the woman down, Madam Pomeroy pulled out her tablet and tried to ensorcell her into the manacles of her mind-control, but the woman stopped abruptly. She could have sworn Hawkmoth was speaking with the woman for the way she muttered, but it wasn’t clear about what. Marinette used the chance to pretend she had been put under her spell anyways, so she might find out more about the woman’s plans…

It was scary when she got to the hotel, though. Unlike when Mme. Bustier had been akumatized, these wanderers were not exactly mindless - seeking the reprieve of kisses - but everyone was all but turned to robots. No emotion, no register of familiarity when she walked into the basement, nothing. The whole thing had been plain creepy.

Chat pursed his lips, taping his claws along one arm. “Got it. I need to go back, but I want you both to stay safe. Can you stay here?”

His request, she could tell, was mostly intended for her. It was sweet how Chat worried for her, but that wasn’t a promise she’d be able to keep.

“Uhh… sure,” she lied, shuffling her slippers along the gravely rooftop.

Chloe seemed less than enthused. “Ugh, fine, but I’m not staying out here. It’s gross and dirty.”

“Oh my ganache, just go Chat Noir. We’ll go through that door and hide in the building.” She gestured towards the rooftop entrance, presumably opening to a stairwell, while shoving the cat towards the edge of the building. At present, Marinette was thoroughly done wasting time with Chloe’s complaining.

He seemed a little reluctant, and he turned back to her at the ledge. To her surprise, Chat wrapped her in a hug, holding her tightly.

“Please be careful, Mari. Hide. She’ll come looking for you both.”

“I will, now go. Paris needs you, silly cat.” She tried to sound reassuring so he might leave with some confidence, and his ears perked slightly.

In a flash of black, her partner was leaping back to the hotel, so she made quick work of ditching Chloe.

“Let’s go,” she grumbled slightly, marching towards the door, Chloe grimacing but quiet in her compliance.

She indicated Chloe to go first, and promptly slammed the door once the blonde was inside.

“Oh no, there’s tech zombies climbing up the building!” Marinette cried in false fear. “Hide, Chloe, you’re the one they want! I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will save the day…” She let her facade fade out, listening to the door. After a pause, the sound of clipped of footsteps could be heard descending the stairs.

Marinette touched a hand to her heart and breathed a large, heavy sigh of relief.

Before her lungs were emptied, Tikki was out of her bag, and her usually bubbly gaze was hardened by the familiar call of duty.

“Ready?” She said with a stern brow, and Marinette merely nodded.

“Tikki, spots on!”

Greeted by a rush of pink light, red spandex flowed outward from her earrings to her toes, from her heart to her hands, and with a relieved intake of breath, Ladybug stood, looking out over Paris.

Thankfully, Chat hadn’t taken them terribly far away from the scene so the heroine managed to make excellent time, swinging to the hotel in mere minutes.

Screaming welcomed her to the square. Angry, lurid shouting, and the shrieks intensified each time Chat bounced around the street, over cars, off of lamp posts, behind mail dropboxes. It was a little unnerving to see so many civilians milling about during a fight, but they weren’t really paying either party much mind. A mailman stooped over Chat Noir to work on the postal bin, which comically interrupted her partner’s personal space, but otherwise none of the diligent “workers” were involved.

“Where did you take her!?” Planifcateur howled, continually trying to catch Chat Noir’s gaze in the face of her tablet, her voice amplified unnaturally by the bluetooth at her ear like a microphone.

“Ugh.” Ladybug dropped down to the pavement, opting for a bold introduction to give Chat Noir a chance to regain his wits.

“Planifcateur! Stop this madness!”

A little smug, Ladybug noted the adored look Chat shot her when she appeared, but the reception from Planner was less than warming.

Releasing a maddened cackle, she pulled back her tablet and turned it instead on herself.

The device glowed a deep red under her touch, and began to vibrate violently like an alarm clock.

“Aghh,” Ladybug moved to cover her ears, the chime going off all around them, ringing sharply from the electronic devices held by every civilian who had fallen victim to her hypnotism. Chat had just leapt beside her, but he buckled under the sound, probably having it worse for his sensitive feline-hearing.

After a painful ten-seconds of mind-numbing buzzing, reverberations echoing down each Parisian street, all of the civilians halted their industrious tasks. Eyes burnt crimson, they turned in unison towards the pair of heroes across the length of street and began marching, faces wicked and twisted.

“Ahh, LB, I was starting to think you were leaving meow-t to fend for myself,” Chat sighed and stood properly, backing up slightly as the workers began to advance on them.

Ladybug scoffed and shook her head. “Is now really the time for that, Chat?”

“There’s never a bad time to lion the mood,” he said, shimmying his shoulders up against her. They stood back to back, yo-yo and baton ready respectively.

“That wasn’t even good,” she remarked, laughing despite her claim. “Let’s get to higher ground, shall we?”

Without further ado, Ladybug lassoed herself to the nearest awning, at least to free them of the encroaching crowd. Chat touched down beside her only a moment later, and he looked uncharacteristically severe.

“We can’t hurt civilians,” he noted, using his baton to gently nudge some of them down as they started to climb the sides of buildings. “So we should focus on Planifcateur… I think the akuma is in her main tablet, by the way.”

Humming her agreement, Ladybug narrowed her eyes while gazing over the crowded streets.

“Where did she go…?”

It was difficult to tell with the hordes of brainwashed, now hostile, people swarming the streets, but there was no clear sign of the akumatized victim anywhere. Had she gone back to the hotel, to seek cover and let the people of Paris do her dirty work?

Sounds a lot like Hawkmoth, Ladybug thought grimly.

“Marinette!” Chat blanched, looking sickly pale beneath the suit, and Ladybug had much the same reaction.

“W-What?! H-h-how did…” She stuttered, windpipe unable to process his claim. How did he know it was her? What had given her away?

“What?” Chat shook his head, running an anxious hand through his hair and bringing back his baton. “She must have gone after Marinette… er, mostly probably Chloe Bourgeois - uh, civilians, I rescued before you got here. She’s really furious with Chloe for threatening to fire her, and I don’t know, probably wants to throw her from the Eiffel Tower or something. Doesn’t it usually come to that?”

“Bite your tongue, chaton,” Ladybug laughed and nudged him, feeling gravity return to her temporarily suspended reality. He hadn’t been addressing her as Marinette, but rather, answering her question. “If she’s after Chloe, then there’s no time to waste.”

A quick flick of her wrist, and Ladybug had secured her yo-yo around a far away building antenna, propelling herself back the direction she came. Chat swung ahead of her, taking the lead.

Oh right. I’m not supposed to know where ‘Marinette’ is.

Acting a little aloof once they landed, Chat Noir’s ears were perked for any suspicious sounds.

“They’re inside.”

“Thanks, genius,” Ladybug strode over to the blasted open door, smirking.

Chat seemed too on edge to acknowledge her teasing. “How should we do this? Do we just try to corner her in the building, or should we lure her out? There’s at least two non-brainwashed people here, maybe away would be safer?”

“No, this will be the best use of time, I think. The civilians should be okay if they’re hidden, but right now the building should be empty of workers. If we bring her out, more people will inevitably get involved and make things complicated.”

Scrunching his nose, Chat reluctantly agreed and followed her down the stairs, both listening intently for any sounds that would give her away.

It didn’t take very long, only going down two floors when a blood-chilling scream came from a hallway. Chat wrapped his claws around the door handle, ready to leap onto the scene, but Ladybug stilled him with a hand.

“How about we make plan to fight the Planner, first?” She offered, and at that, Chat seemed to relax marginally. He seemed more stressed than usual, Ladybug noted, but assumed that was out of fear for ‘Marinette’. As her civilian self, the two had become good friends, so it was probably a little unnerving to not know if she was safe.

A guilty little pang went off in her stomach, but there wasn’t much to do about that now.

“Lucky Charm!”

Twirling her weapon with familiar intention, Ladybug scowled in concentration while the magic coursed through her fingertips, trailing out through the weapon in a quick flash of pink light.

“Keep Chloe safe, and I’ll...” A red-and-black polka-dotted plunger dropped into her hands. “Uh…”

For the first time all evening, Chat Noir laughed, and it was a sound that brought a smile to her lips. Familiar, reassuring, she didn’t realize how much she needed to hear it until he was covering his mouth to keep quiet, shaking with giggles in the cramped space of the stairwell.

“What in the name of cats are you going to do with that?” He managed through his snickering, and Ladybug felt herself flush a bit.

“I have absolutely no idea. But I’ll figure it out, we should go while we still can,” Ladybug nodded firmly, and Chat threw open the door.

The stairs opened to a long, almost cynical-looking hallway. Vague grey walls and rough charcoal carpeting stretched far and narrow into a series of doorways, lit by ineffective fluorescent bulbs. It was almost reminiscent of a hotel or a dingy apartment building, if not for one door, busted off the hinges and hanging obnoxiously out from the wall. It might have seemed the perfect setting for a horror movie.

That wasn’t exactly reassuring, and it was uncomfortably quiet. Still, with the grounding presence of her partner beside her, Ladybug did not fear.

She led the way down the hall, inanely holding the plunger like a sword, and they turned the corner expectantly.

It was quiet for a moment, a blue-tonal office with modern accents and sleek glass windows stretching across the far wall. One was smashed, with shards littering the floor in the pretty warm reflection of the sunrise. Through it, a breeze carried with it sinister words.

“Now Mme. Bourgeious,” rang a toxic voice from outside. “You will see what it’s like to work hard for once in your life! I hope you’re not afraid of heights.”

“Let’s go,” Ladybug said, voice quiet and severe, and carefully stepped over the glass and out the window.

It opened to a very thin terrace that wrapped along the building, and standing on a lift used for window cleaning, the Planner was poised with a shaking blonde gripped by two burly men on each arm. Presumably, they had been the cleaners occupying the lift before it got a little more crowded, and their eyes had the same glazed-over, empty white stare that the civilians had at street-level.

Without hesitating, Ladybug leapt to the lift and stood on the railing, gripping the suspension wires to steady herself. The whole platform began to shake and sway lazily, at least thirteen stories from the streets below, earning another hair-raising shriek from Chloe.

“End of the line, Planifcateur. Let Chloe go!” She declared, fearless despite the uneven footing.

The red-suited woman laughed and thumbed through her tablet, musing. “I’ll see if I can pencil that in - I think I might be able to, if you hand over your miraculous.”

She could feel her partner’s presence on the terrace just behind her, and he mewled an ever-Chat-like response. “While your checking your schedule, think you could work in a quick fight?”

Before her goaded response came, Chat’s baton flickered through the opening at their feet - Ladybug, still perched on the railing of the lift, was untouched - and swept it over four sets of feet, sending them all sprawling.

Seizing her chance, Ladybug dropped down and threw Chloe over her shoulder, not even bothering to check her aim, and she heard the girl plop safely into Chat’s arms.

A hand wrenched her down a moment later, and the Planifcateur was furiously irate, her tablet turned hypnotic white once again. She tried to turn it the heroine’s face, but Ladybug closed her eyes and struggled against the hands of the workers.

While the chaos of too many hands and too many voices struggled in the swinging lift, it was the instability of the whole circus act that had her worried. Even as Ladybug, she nor her three attacks would be much good against a thirteen story drop into cement, and the listless swaying of thin wires, strained by what surely exceeded the weight capacity of the metal lift, was enough to make anyone’s stomach turn ill.

In the chaos, they wrenched the plunger from her hands, and stripped her of her yo-yo. Restrained, Ladybug struggled while another hand moved to her face.

Her earrings beeped.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to live by a routine, sweet Ladybug?” Planifcateur lulled over her, and Ladybug flinched away as someone tried to pry open her eyes. “You would never be late, never disappoint anyone, never step out of line. Imagine how much easier it could be. The weight of the Paris, no longer on your shoulders!”

“Ghhhhh,” she growled, lips pressed together in her struggle. The hand came back again, and seeing no other way, Ladybug promptly bit the fingers that inched nearer to her mask.

“Yaow!” She heard, rather than saw, Planifcateur flinch backwards, followed promptly by a disturbing, squishing, sucking, suctioning sound.

Chat Noir’s voice entered the mix. “Got’cha! Usually LB handles this but…”

Ladybug’s eyes fluttered open in time with the second beep of her earrings, somewhat in surprise but mostly emboldened by the sound of her partner’s confident voice, peering down the length of her body best she could. Chat was perched on his baton, suspended from a notch in the buildings edge, and in his hands he had the plunger, with the Planner’s tablet suctioned to the end of it, and her yo-yo clasped in the other.

Looking much the cat who swallowed the canary, he smacked the tablet into the side of the building, and the front of it shattered with a satisfying crunch.

“No!” Planner screamed, reaching uselessly over the ledge at her broken eletronic. Ladybug felt the hands that gripped her to the floor of the lift loosen, and she watched the men blink away the clouds of white that distorted their vision.

“Heads up!” Chat yelled, tossing her weapon over the lift, and she easily snatched it in her fingers. The moment the weapon was returned to her grasp, a familiar mixture of duty and power rushed through her veins.

Flipping dexterously over Planifcateur’s head, Ladybug landed back on the ledge, grabbed the plunger from Chat’s outstretched hand, and quickly cleansed the akuma before it fluttered off.

“Bye, bye, little butterfly,” she waved with a comfortable sigh. As Madam Pomeroy shook her head in confusion, Ladybug tossed the plunger high into the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Sure as the sunrise that finally brightened the Parisian skyline, all returned to normal, workers halted abruptly in their erroneous responsibilities, the lift, the men, and Madam Pomeroy all materialized back inside the building, glass now repaired, and Chat turned to her with an award-winning smile.

“Pound it!” They declared another victory in unison, and Ladybug’s earrings blinked for the second time.

“Ah, gotta bug out,” she said swiftly, preparing to swing off. “Til next time, chaton!”

Quick as the wind, Ladybug bolted from the scene, the air whipping her fringe from her face. Once the hustle-and-bustle of the akuma attack was out of earshot, she found an alley in time with the fourth and final beep before she lost her transformation.

“Tikki, spots off.” Ladybug exhaled with a strained sense of relief. In her place, Marinette leaned against the bricks in the damp alleyway, catching a spent kwami in her cupped hands.

“Great work, Tikki,” she declared with a tired smile, and her kwami returned the gesture.

“If you feel up for it, you might want to head back to that building,” Tikki suggested with a tiny yawn. “Chat Noir might be worried about you-you.”

“Oh, right,” she hastily opened her bag. “Okay, in you go. Sorry I don’t have any cookies, I’ll stop somewhere on the way home.”

“Thank you,” Tikki blinked blearily up at her charge, and Marinette gave her a little nuzzle with her finger before shutting the bag.

At a light jog, Marinette wound around a few blocks and caught sight of the building, now surrounded by the predictable bustle of police cars and emergency vehicles. News cameras were everywhere, the mayor was making a statement with Chloe tucked safely under his arm, and there was no Chat Noir to be seen.

That brought a worried frown to her lips, and Marinette tried to approach the entrance.

“Whoa, whoa, sorry miss,” claimed a familiar security officer. It was Monsieur Raincomprix. “Can’t go in here; it’s a crime scene at the moment.”

She grimaced. “Oh, c’mon, Ladybug fixed everything - there’s no danger in there!”

“Just standard procedure,” he stated with a set jaw. “Please, stand as--”

“Marinette!” The voice came from above, and Monsieur Raincomprix looked up with enough time to shield himself reflexively.

Not that Chat Noir was going to hit the man, necessarily, but the hero certainly did loom a little protectively over her when he landed beside them.

Swiftly, he made to hug her, but spotted the press scurrying over to them immediately. Chat bowed instead.

“It looks like I showed up just in time, we wouldn’t want you knocking out two grown men in one morning, would we?” Chat wore a cheeky smile, but he lowered his voice. “Don’t go scaring me like that, Princess. I was so worried when I couldn’t find you.”

Marinette raised her brows high along her head, biting her tongue to keep from smiling. “I didn’t take you for a scaredy cat.”

He sighed dreamily. “Oh Mari, if you ever tire of that Agreste guy, please, call me.”

“Yeah, right. Don’t hold your breath, minou,” she stuck out her tongue, and they both shared a quick laugh before Chat was entirely engulfed by the cameras. Marinette managed to catch Alya’s Ladyblogger eye and waved, walking off before anyone could question her.

By the time she reoriented herself, Marinette was on the outskirts of the din, near the the medical vehicles. Most victims of Hawkmoth’s cruelty at least suffered from shock, if not some variety of stress-induced anxiety, after being akumatized, so the EMTs usually came prepared with heart monitors and some sort of mouth tube that was supposed to help regulate breathing.

A lone Madam Pomeroy sat in the back of an ambulance, doors open wide and legs dangling over the edge, breathing steadily into the breathing apparatus. One man and one woman in uniforms stood nearby, the former filing some sort of report while the other chatted with Mayor Bourgeois over Chloe’s well-being.

“Hey there,” Marinette greeted, hesitantly smiling at the woman. Her gaze flickered up at her, then away, laden by guilt.

Frowning, the teen moved a little closer, bowing her head. “I just, um… I wanted to apologize. About the other day.”

That decidedly got her attention, and Madam Pomeroy’s eyes went wide behind her glittery glasses. Marinette squinted when they caught the light, but continued.

“I didn’t know how important the flowers were to your plans, and I’m sorry that it caused you so much grief. I was a little unfair because I knew you worked for the hotel and…” She wrinkled her nose, shooting a glance over towards the Bourgeoises. “I guess I wasn’t being a very good business person. So, I’m sorry.”

The woman looked decidedly dumbstruck by Marinette’s self-admonishment, and her breathing regulator seemed even more necessary.

“If you’re still looking for the flowers, though, I’d be happy to try to make it up to you. If you’d still like to do business, that is - I probably can’t do all seventy orders, but I’d be glad to pitch in.”

“I… ” Madam Pomeroy lowered the balloon from her lips, eyes darkened with shame. “You are very kind, Mme. I’m the one who should be sorry; I let me stress get the best of me, and then I just snapped and…”

Marinette held up a hand, wearing her warmest smile. “That’s okay. Anyone could be a villain on their worst days - the important thing is breaking the cycle. So…” she dug in her purse, and Tikki gave her an encouraging little nod. The girl handed Madam Pomeroy a business card, but only after scribbling her personal number on the back.

“Call anytime, or text me. My cell’s on the other side, and we’ll do our best to fulfill the orders. Okay?”

The woman accepted with a quizzical look, but her expressions eventually turned to one of gratitude.

“Well… thank you,” she paused, squinting at her name on the back, written above her mobile number. “Marinette.”

Bowing and starting in the other direction, she bid the woman farewell. “You’re welcome. Take care, and don’t work too hard!”

Turning the corner from the early-morning madness, she released a low sigh and gazed at the blue skies beginning to peak out through the stained sunrise. It was probably already 7, she guessed, and it would probably be a loss to actually stop to get Tikki food rather than just heading home. Her kwami was undoubtedly tired, but the time it would take to find a shop that was up-and-running properly after the confusion of the akuma would take longer than just returning to the comfort of the bakery. Besides, she knew Tikki preferred sugar of the non-processed variety when possible, so Papa’s cookies seemed a better option anyways.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t very near to home. It would be quickest to wait for a bus, if things had totally returned to normal operating procedures, but that was hindered by the same problem that came from the shops along the drag. It wasn’t clear if the buses would run on schedule, so Marinette opted to walk instead, only a tad self-conscious to be strolling down the street in her pajamas; it was like the mayor declared Dress-Down Thursday, for almost everyone was in the same disheveled, bed-headed, bagged-eyed state that she was in.

The worries over her trek back to the bakery turned out to be for naught, interrupted by a voice by the time she reached the end of the block.

“Mari! Wait up!”

She faltered, surprised by the trill that danced up her spine, and spun on the spot.

“Adrien?” Marinette sounded bemused, not as embarrassed as she should have been. It’s not like this was the first time he’d seen her in pajamas, recalling when they were running from Gorillaz. Compared to last time, her hair might not have been brushed, but she also wasn’t wearing a ridiculous disguise, so she was already a leg-up. “What are you -- oh!”

The blond caught up to her and almost knocked her over with the force of his hug, wrapping her so tightly in his arms that it felt like the wind had been forced from her lungs. Then again, Marinette was almost always breathless around him anyways.

“A-Adrien, what’s going on? What are you doing out here?” She squeezed back, reveling in his warmth, partially surprised but mostly overjoyed to see him. Honestly, she should have been more concerned about the fact that they were very publicly embracing in the middle of a Parisian sidewalk in their pajamas, but his pounding heart and haggard, but notably relieved, breathing was more invigorating a way to wake-up than any cup of coffee.

Stepping apart, his hands moved to her face, one brushing a bit of her hair away and the other holding her cheek. Marinette felt her skin redden under his touch.

“Oh, um… yeah, I guess, the same thing as you?” He grinned, wide and silly, gesturing towards his unusually casual clothing. A simple black t-shirt paired with full-length bottoms made of light, breathable cotton, the blue and gray pinstripes only made him look impossibly taller. “I, uh, guess I was ‘working on’ something. Maybe modeling? I don’t know, I just remember ‘coming to’ and the Ladyblog said that you were one of the primary people targeted by the akuma. I can’t believe I managed to find you after all of that, geez, I was so worried,” he shook his head and chuckled, the sound making her knees wobble.

Beaming, Marinette moved her hand to his, still cupping her furiously red face. “Thank you, I’m sorry you worried. I’m glad you’re okay, too.”

His attention moved to her fingers, resting over his own, and he raised a brow.

“What happened here?” Adrien took her hand in his, examining her bruised knuckles with amusement. “Did you hurt yourself during the attack?”

“...Ahh,” Marinette averted her eyes, very aware that he was holding her hand very close to his lips. “Hah, haha, yeah, sort of. I might have… punched someone…?”

At that, his smile was so bright, dimpled and brilliant, Marinette couldn’t help but turn bashful and draw her hand back.

“It’s not like I wanted to! I had to - it was this whole thing with Chloe and Chat Noir… ugh, believe me, it’s not that interesting of a story.” She ran a hand down her face, not particularly proud of the fact that she flattened a grown man in front of them, but it wasn’t like she had much of a choice at the time.

“Please, Mari, tell me everything. I’ll walk you home?” He took her arm and began down the sidewalk, hardly giving her time to process before they were on their way. Marinette had half-a-mind to ask if he’d had coffee this morning for how animated he was, but that was impossible given the context.

“W-wait, what about your schedule? Won’t Nathalie be upset?”

At that, Adrien paused and pursed his lips. They were still at the end of the block, and to their immediate left was an obnoxious round sign for the most recent Gabriel line, with his face plastered directly in the center. Beside it, there was a trash can, and Adrien promptly walked over and dropped his phone into it.

Marinette balked, and he just gave a little shrug. “Oops. Guess it was lost during the akuma attack.”

He caught her eye and shot her a silly wink, so she shook her head and fought a smile.

Shyly, she mumbled, “W-well, okay,” and Adrien resumed guiding her home.

Well, he was supposed to be watching where they were going, but he had eyes only for her, laughing along to her story, each chuckle pellucid like a soft soprano. That she had so captivated his attention was making her increasingly bouncy, adding ferverant details to the night’s antics as they went down the sidewalks, talking probably too loud to hear herself over her thundering heartbeat. It seemed so loud, Marinette was certain he could hear it too.

At a comfortable pace, she recounted everything that happened up until shoving Chloe through the door at the top of the building and turning into Ladybug, and Adrien was full of questions the whole way. What did she think of Chat Noir? Why did she think she didn’t get ‘hypnotized’? Where did the woman gather them? Each time, Marinette did her best to be honest and laugh and smile along with him, a little dazed that all of this was happening. The lack of sleep, rush of morning adrenaline from her superhero duties, and final comfortable lull of being walked home by Adrien, Adrien Agreste, Adrien her boyfriend… It was a little too much.

She always imagined the first time she woke up at the crack of dawn with Adrien beside her, both in pajamas, might not have been quite like this. (Her imagination usually included, um, fewer clothes.) Still, having this time to just talk with him early in the morning, both tired and almost slap-happy from a restless night, was better than she could have ever asked for. It was special and strangely intimate, though the streets were still full of confused people trying to return to their normal lives.

As they neared the school, the bakery just coming into view, a few young women and a pair of men stopped them.

“O-oh my god! Are you Adrien Agreste?” A redhead gushed, her friends seeming embarrassed but curious. The men were almost more excited than the the first girl, and Marinette could tell they both were wearing similar pajamas to the boy at her arm - presumably, Gabriel brand.

Adrien chuckled and scratched his neck, stopping so as not to be rude. “Uh, heh, yep.”

“Oh my - wow! Wow, I’m a huge fan,” one of the men said. She suspected he was also of some Asian descent, but his skin tone and eye shape suggested south-eastern Asia - maybe Vietnamese?

“Me, too. This is unreal!” The redhead was almost bouncing, and Marinette did her best not to interrupt. She slipped her arm out of Adrien’s and took a tiny step back, letting his fans have their moment.

“Could we, er, get a selfie with you? Please?! It would mean so much to me!” The girl asked, and at that, her friends no longer seemed ashamed. They all more-or-less layered on the request, with plentiful please’s, sounding just about pitiful.

Frowning, Adrien glanced towards her way. Marinette offered him a timid smile and nodded for him to go ahead.

“Well… sure, yeah. No problem.” Adrien adopted his familiar “model face,” and seeing it now actually made her feel a little sad. It wasn’t the Chesire, goofy grin she’d come to expect from him anymore. It was just small and a little too perfect to be right.

“Agh, there’s too many of us! Justin, back up - ”

“Stop it Danya,” another shoved slightly, and Adrien looked increasingly uncomfortable as the friends argued, trying to all squeeze into frame.

Marinette pursed her lips and stepped forward, hand outstretched. “I can take the picture for you.”

The gaggle seemed surprised but certainly pleased, and one of them handed her an iPhone. Adrien smiled gratefully, and Marinette quickly snapped a few photos.

“There,” she passed back the phone, all of them looking over shoulders to get a better view.

“Aw man, my eyes were closed in that one - oh, but that’s good,”

“Thank you again, Monsieur Agreste!”

“Yes, thank you!”

“Take care, Monsieur Adrien,” the redhead said with a rather suggestive wink, and Marinette sucked her teeth a little irritably. The girl reminded her too much of Lila for it not to leave a bitter taste in her mouth, but she tried to remind herself of her own advice to Madam Pomeroy not an hour earlier.

The important thing is breaking the cycle.

Adrien and Marinette quickly sped off after that, neither speaking for a few awkward seconds while they distanced themselves from the group.

“Sorry,” he blurted suddenly, eyes on the pavement. They were passing the school, so the bakery was only a few dozen steps away.

Marinette slowed her pace. “Why are you sorry?”

“That - they, er, I didn’t mean to interrupt your story. And then that girl at the end…” His lips twisted down, and the ebony-haired girl stopped and squeezed his arm.

Feeling unusually gutsy, Marinette cleared her throat and met his gaze seriously. “Don’t say that - they were just excited to see you. I know I would be, if I wasn’t lucky enough to be here with you myself. And...” she touched a finger to his lips, as if silencing him. “You’re too cute to frown. Smile?”

Without telling twice, he did as she bid, and Marinette could feel his breath exhale onto her finger as his lips parted into the smile that she loved.

He interrupted her quiet admiration with a gentle kiss against her finger. “Thanks. You’re pretty cute yourself, especially with bedhead.”

Now it was Marinette’s turn to frown, but it was tough to keep the smirk from returning. “Gee, thanks.”

“I was serious!” He said, falling back into stride towards her house.

The girl could only chuckle and shake her head, though her laughter quickly faded when she spotted her parents in the front window.

“Ah… Maman and Papa were probably worried sick…”

“I don’t blame them,” he admitted, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “I was nearly worried sick myself.”

“I’m sorry,” she said honestly. “I feel bad about all of this.”

Adrien sighed slowly, coming up to the front door and stopping momentarily. “Don’t be. You’re just precious to them, and to me.”

Without a care that her mother and father were watching, not even ten feet away and separated only by glass, he leaned down and brought their lips together, slow and soft, and Marinette felt herself sigh into him, lavishing the warmth that flowed through him. It was brief, a ray of sunshine through the cloudy skies, but she wondered if he could taste the love on her lips, the feelings she tried so desperately to share each time their noses bumped, each inhale of him she was granted like a gift from above.

Breathless, they pulled apart, and Marinette’s body felt strained from his absence. Just a moment of his closeness was enough to addict her to the sensation, and if not for her mother’s staring, she might have just ravaged his lips again right then and there.

Instead, the girl flickered her attention toward the bakery and tried to appear shy for the sake of her mother, but the woman didn’t seemed interested in modesty. Instead, her mother was smiling, nodding, and giving her the largest thumbs-up she’d ever seen.

“Uggggggggggh,” Marinette dropped her head, and Adrien laughed when he realized why. He gave her mother a thumbs-up in return, and Marinette nearly shoved him.

Instead, resigned, she invited him inside.

“G’morning,” Marinette yawned as she pushed open the bakery door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The smell of leavened bread and saccharine sweets soothed her exasperation almost immediately, attuning her senses to feelings of home. More than setting off pangs of hunger in her stomach, she felt the long night catch up to her, and her body begged for sleep.

“Oh honey,” her mother replied, coming to the door to greet them and swiftly wrapping her daughter in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright. I’m sorry you got pulled into the chaos too, Adrien. We’re all sort of a mess, aren’t we?”

After giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek, Sabine took a step back and gestured towards her wrap-style pajamas, reminiscent of a cheongsam, covered by one her many aprons.

Adrien smiled politely. “Oh, I’m just glad Marinette’s okay. This is probably the first time I’ve ever been out of the house in my pajamas. It’s sort of fun, isn’t it?”

“Fun isn’t exactly the word I’d use,” Marinette commented quietly, shooting him a good-humored grimace. “But did you want to stay and have breakfast? You’re here in your pajamas, it almost seems necessary.”

“That’s an excellent idea, but” her mother frowned, tapping her chin. “Our whole day is sort of thrown off with this akuma business, so we’re running behind on everything. Maybe you’d rather go out to that cafe around the corner?”

Her mother sent them both a not-so-subtle wink.

“Oh,” Adrien’s fingers fumbled between them, seeking her hand, so she helped him find it with electric fingers. “Well, if you’re sure, I would love that. How about it, Mari? My treat, pun-intended, of course.”

Her father piped up from the back, and Marinette could hear the sound of the oven opening; he must be working on the morning loaves. “Thatta boy! I knew I had a good feeling about this one, Mari!”

Chagrined, Marinette buried her face into Adrien’s arm, twisting to still hold his hand. “Papa…”

Her mother and that stupid head of blond hair seemed amused by her displeasure, sharing a hearty bout of laughter, but all of her irritation vanished when she felt a soft kiss against the top of her head.

Rebooting from her short-circuited system, Marinette quickly bid her parents goodbye (snatching a few day-old cookies and shoving them in her bag for Tikki) and began dragging Adrien down the street, back into the refreshing Paris air.

“They’re unbelievable, I swear. Sorry.” She avoiding his eyes, too embarrassed by the way they acted to do much else.

Adrien gave her fingers a squeeze. “That’s okay. Now you know how I felt yesterday at dinner.”

Scrunching her nose, Marinette couldn’t argue with that, but her pink cheeks did not fade until they made it to the cafe.

“So why’d your parents recommend this place?” He gazed at the sign. “Hang-Over-Easy? Oh my god, it’s a… a pun. This is the most beautiful gift I’ve ever received.”

She snorted and led him inside. “Well, they’re a twenty-four hour place, bar by night and breakfast by day. Maman probably figured the akuma wouldn’t mess with their routine.”

Adrien hummed a response, more concerned with his study of the eclectic bar-but-sort-of-cafe. The walls were bright yellow and boldly outlined in black, each surface decorated with varying degrees of egg-themed paraphernalia. It seemed especially funny juxtaposed beside the bar, stocked as it was with plenty of alcohol - after an early morning akuma attack, there were already a few patrons sipping on drinks.

Marinette left him to it for a moment, trying to catch the eye of the hostess.

“Um, a two-person table, please.”

The woman nodded. “Inside or out?”

“Oh,” she frowned, and turned to Adrien. “Do you have a preference?”

Blond locks shook across his forehead, so perfectly messy that it really wasn’t fair.

Swallowing her urge to shower him with a hundred kisses, Marinette sent a strained smile to the hostess. “Outside, please.”

They were led to a table, and it was certainly a treat to see everyone in Paris walking around in their early-morning wares (aside from the occasional person who had bothered to change - Adrien and Marinette agreed that those people were ‘no fun’). It seemed like most citizens were considering a productive day’s work to be a loss, and Marinette was feeling a little indulgent herself. How nice it would be to just skip out on the shop today, to spend the whole day lazing around with Adrien like this…

“Oh, Mari,” he sat up a little excitedly. “What’re these?”

“Hmm?” She blinked, following his gaze to a modest plant in the center of the little table. Bushy like a shrub, she frowned down at the yellow planter.

The flowers were tiny and few, radiant white against the deep green foilage. The small petals crossed over one another, sort of twisted to resemble a miniature vortex.

“I’m… I’m actually not sure. Maybe a Pinwheel Flower? They go by a dozen different names though - East Indian Rosebay, Coffee Rose, Crepe Gardenia... ”

Before Adrien had the chance to comment, their waiter appeared. A large, grizzly man with a kind smile and bushy gray beard, his nameplate read “Jean.”

“How’re you folks doing today?” He greeted warmly, not bothering with a pad and pen.

Adrien flashed a smile, and Marinette was pretty sure her heart stopped beating. “Absolutely great, thank you. I’ll have a coffee, please.”

“T-t-Two.” Marinette stuttered when their attention turned towards her. She felt dimwitted, forgetting herself so easily. Maybe she should have asked the EMTs for one of those breathing apparatuses they had given Madam Pomeroy.

“Cream or sugar?”

“Both please, and do you have crepes?” Adrien asked, and the man nodded. “Let’s get two of those, as well. Whatever flavor you recommend.”

Raising a brow, Marinette licked her dry lips as Jean walked away. “I thought you didn’t drink coffee?”

His cheer was irresistible, and he wore a lopsided smile. “I’ve taken a liking to it lately. And, if this is a Coffee Rose... or ‘Crepe Gardenia’, or whatever,” he pointed at the flower on the table. “I just thought, when are we ever going to get to have breakfast with a flower literally named after breakfast foods? I thought it might just be fate.”

“Fate,” she repeated, testing the word on her tongue before turning a reserved shade of pink. “I guess... it might be.”

Somehow, after years of falling for Adrien, and more than a few times actually falling over Adrien, things were finally, finally falling into place. He seemed almost as giddy around her as she him… just, with better coordination and manners. The curse that had rooted her Summer break to a halt, the job that had sentenced her to hard labor for crimes she didn’t commit, seemed to have been forgiving after all.

Marinette had him, all to herself (to Nino’s chagrin, if yesterday’s texts were any indication).

He and Alya had been instrumental to this, too, and she was abundantly thankful to her friends. Their patience with her and persistence with him had finally made sense of a stupidly confusing puzzle, sorting through the mess to find the corner pieces and wait for them to fill in the middle.

Adrien leaned forward a bit across the table. “Marinette? Are you okay?”

She would never tire of the way her name sounded from his lips. It only made her heart thump harder against her ribs.

“Yep. Just trying to remember the lore to these… I don’t remember much, since Mo never grew them. All I really remember is they’re nocturnal.”

“Nocturnal?” Adrien blinked, brow furrowing over the pot.

“Sort of. That type of flower - apocynaceae - bloom brightest during the night, and they’re supposed to smell really lovely. The sun drains them, and they don’t do super well during those hours. It might be early enough that you can still smell them... I guess it makes sense to have at a 24/7 place,” she mused, looking around the open-style patio that led into the bar.

Adrien, cued by her explanation, leaned forward and inhaled a few inches above the buds.

“Oh wow,” he remarked with a dreamy smile. “These do smell really great. C’mhere.”

Her hand had been resting on the table, and he gently tugged it forward so she would come nearer. The sudden proximity, divided simply by a small flower, made her blush even harder.

She caught his eye, and neither of them seemed at all interest in their conversation anymore.

“You’re pretty,” he said, quiet and sincere. Marinette’s lashes fluttered when his breath danced across her cheeks.

“And you’re silly,” she murmured with a teasing smirk.

Adrien squinted at her, and he looked about to say something when Jean reappeared with their coffee.

“Alright two cups -- whoa, sorry, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything!” He chuckled when they both flew apart, the sound a little uncomfortable.

Marinette, probably three octaves too high, answered. “Nope! Just fine thanks!”

The waiter left them their drinks and swiftly disappeared, the whole time Adrien fighting off waves of laughter.

“What?” She demanded, reaching for the cream.

Green eyes appraising her, he merely shook his head. “I just can’t believe you can go from fearlessly knocking someone out with your bare fist to being so cute and blushy like that. I can’t believe I get to date you.”

Marinette spilled some cream on her lap, startled as she was by his statement, and he didn’t let up while passing her a napkin.

“And not to mention how you are adorably clumsy. Gosh, you’re something, Mari.”

At that moment, she was definitely something reminiscent of a young Parisian woman, having breakfast in her pajamas, melted into a puddle of adoration and nerves. She was something, alright, something totally overcome with how in love she was with this boy.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculers #miraculous #miraculous fanfic #tales of ladybug and cat noir #ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #marinette dupen-chang #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien x marinette #chat noir x marinette #marichat #adrinette #adrienette kiss #adrienette #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #flowershop au

37 notes · View notes